Sunday, 26 January 2014

Evaluation - question 7

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Now coming to the end of the coursework I am looking back at my skills audit to see what I have learnt and improved on.


My biggest improvement from the skills audit was 'have you ever used photoshop?' I answered no to this originally. Since then I have used photoshop every week. I now feel very comfortable using this site, and have used it to advance my coursework and my music magazine in many ways. One example of this is using photoshop to cut out the from the my backing photo and place it over my masthead. This makes it look much more professional and effective.










                     
 











Thursday, 23 January 2014

Evaluation - question 6



Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?


Throughout the magazine industry, various technologies are used – as a crucial part of creating a magazine. Before beginning this topic, I was aware that different technology was needed, but not to the extent it is, or the sort of software and programs used. This became more apparent to me as I became reliant on these programs in order to create any sort of professionalism in my work.


In the magazine industry, technology is used within all aspects. The planning and preparing for the creation of the magazine will need messaging programs such as: Email, Same time and an internal instant messenger these will all be vital for anyone contacting other people in the same business or other businesses, for idea sharing, comments and discussion points.  After this, planning and creating sites will be needed, a common one is Indesign. Indesign allows planning space and also has all the features to create a professional magazine. Photoshop is also used for any editing of work or photography for the magazine. Technology will also play a crucial part in the printing, sharing and distribution of the magazine created.


Fortunately, these programs were available for my use allowing me the tools I need to create a professional looking magazine.  For my planning I used:  to plan my media products I began by sketching them by hand. I chose this to begin with because it’s quick method to roughly jot down any inspirations and thoughts I already had by this stage. Although this isn’t a technology, in order for this to be displayed I needed to photograph my work (using a digital camera). Then by removing the SD card as inserting it behind the computer my sketches were able to place it into my blog to show the first stage of the planning.


To create my magazine I used:  to create my media products I majorly used Indesign. I chose this because I became aware that professional media products are created with this program, and I wanted to ensure I didn’t disadvantage myself in anyway but using programmes I was familiar with but didn’t supply the features of Indesgin. After a few lessons I became more confident and able to complete the tasks required on this software. Another specific technology I used to create my media products was Photoshop. I chose to use Photoshop because it had many specific editing tools to fix up different aspects of my work. An example of this is the ‘cut out tool’ allowing me to cut around photos or writing and place it on my work, in which ever placing necessary.  This is a well known program, used all over in different professional institutions.


Furthermore I used some technologies in order to display my work and planning on to blogger, to do this I used: To upload and display my work I used scribd , a site which enabled me to embed the URL’s of my different work into blogger. I chose this because it was recommended to me as it wasn’t always possible to just upload a piece of work. I also used slideshare to upload any presentation work i created, as again it’s not always possible just to upload.


Using all these technologies in my work opened up to me the importance of technology in media products, as without them my work wouldn’t of been possible ( My work was without any distributing, printing or sending around too).


Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Evaluation - Question 4

Question 4:

I have created an interview with a person from my target audience. Asking them questions about themselves and their lives to get an idea of who my target audience is. Questions included of age and hobbies.







Evaluation - Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?


For question 2 (How does your media product represent particular social groups?) i have created a collage ( on pixlr - an editing photo site which has allowed me to create a collage of the different aspects) to present different features and the miss-en-scene used throughout my media products, including of my front cover, contents page and double page spread.

The main aspects i have looked at in this college is the different features that represent and portray the social group of the music magazine. ( Teenage girls, interested in pop music).

















Monday, 20 January 2014

Evaluation - Question 1

In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


In this evaluation question I have compared my final media product to different real media products. The red text shows challenges against media conventions. Whereas the green text shows similarities between my media product and real media products.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The conventions used in my front cover were:
 
 
Headline
Masthead
Strap line
Puffs/plugs
Cover lines
Fonts
Information points


 


The conventions used in my contents page were:



Masthead
Strap line
Images 
Page numbers
Headings
Sections





The conventions used  in my double page spread were:

Masthead
Subheading 
Drop capital
By line 
Columns









 
 
 
 
 



Wednesday, 15 January 2014

Music magazine - planning and creating of the double page spread

What is a double page spread?

A double page spread is two pages which are a continuation of each other, so the left page content continues across to the right. These page can then be viewed together so it is necessary the design is consistent. Regularly shortened to 'DPS'.  A list of features that are usually included in the double page spread are:


- Heading: Tends to be the largest piece of text on the page, and consist of name of an artist being interviewed. It should reveal what the 'DPS' is going to be about. 

- Subheading: Usually located underneath the heading, summing up the text in a few lines.
- Drop Capital: Causes and indention on the other lines, and is used at the beginning of the text.
- Pull Quote: This is a quotation in the article which is enlarged to stand out from the article.
- By Line: A very small piece of text including the journalist’s and photographers name.
- Main Image: A large image or collection of them which would usually cover either the whole page or half. 
Rough Time plan for creating my double page spread:

Lesson 1:
In lesson 1, I aim to plan my double page spread, I will do this by firstly making a mind map followed by flat plans of the designs.
I will do this by Lesson 2: In lesson 2,  I will begin to use InDesign placing different mast head versions and cover lines into the workspace, inserting them onto a clean document. I will also make a shooting script, to plan the photos i will be taking before next lesson.
Before lesson 3: I will need to take all my photos ready to insert on lessons 3.
Lesson 3: Place the masthead and cover lines on to my document with the photos.

Planning:

Here I have created a basic mind map of ideas for my double page spread, looking into ideas about: text style, topic, the photo and the tagline.


Next I have created some flat plans to draft the different design ideas: 



Proposal

In my double page spread the content will be about an up - coming music artist of my chosen genre ( country pop ). I will complete this as interview, question and answer style piece asking a range of questions about their life and career that will be of interest too for my audience.

The images I will use will be photographs I have taken of my artist from a photo shoot. This image will be of the same artist that is on the front cover but in a different outfit and a different location. This will give the photos variation.

In relation to the target audience, my model will be a similar age to the aimed audience group so that they will be able to relate. It will also be focused on the genre of the magazine.

The responses given will be created when thinking about how the artist I have created would've responded and thought about due to their age and interests, potentially being more attractive and of more interest to my target audience. I want to create a double page spread that remains in the initial colour scheme, yet  in a clean and sophisticated style making It pleasing to the eye.   I will use colloquial language so it's easy to understand yet still full of interesting facts and information for the reader.

Creating the double page spread








First Final draft 

On Reflection 

When looking back at what i have created - like my other pieces i feel that even though the text reveals why she is dressed like she is it still doesn't  fit the criteria of the music magazine. Due to this i will retake my photos and focus on more techniques ( rule of thirds, use of lines, high key lighting) as well as taking into consideration the content. 

New photography











My final double page spread