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

The first thing that I've learnt while doing this task is how to use Photoshop properly, at first when I was making my preliminary task I was very confused with how to use Photoshop. But as I progressed through the course I got better at using Photoshop I learnt what the different icons did and how to use them. Another thing that I think that I've learnt and improve on is how important the picture is to a magazine, for the prelim task I took my pictures in the class room without any tripods, lighting and white screen. In fact for the mise en send for the photo I used the white board in the classroom, but when it came to taking my pictures for my actual magazine I booked to go in the AVS room and had all the equipment to take a good picture. So I had the tripod, lights and white screen and then when I started take the pictures you could really see the difference in picture quality. I learnt when taking the pictures how the shadow in the background can really effect the quality of the image and when I was taking my prelim photos I didn't even take the shadow into consideration.

When looking back to my prelim front cover I can see that I did not have any knowledge of how to position things or what layout I wanted to use that is why things look muddled up, however after I did some research into how to lay things out on the front cover it became much more easier to work out where things should go and then I used this knowledge on my music magazine. I have learnt how important the positioning of text and images on the front cover is. Next I learnt how important the colour is on the front cover, on my prelim cover I used colours that I don't think match and this made the cover look unprofessional and not nice to look at. When crafting my music magazine cover I had looked at other music magazines for help when choosing a colour and then once I found the right colours to have on my music magazine I added them and this made it look much better than the prelim cover, so I have learnt that the colour used on the front cover of a magazine can decide weather the cover looks smart and professional or looking like it's been made within 20 minutes. Lastly for the front cover I learnt that the font is a vital factor on how the end cover will look like. So on the prelim cover I just used the fonts that were available at the time without giving it any thought, but when making the music magazine cover I did research into fonts trying to find fonts that will suit my genre of music and that will look good on a magazine cover.





My prelim contents page is not very good, because looking at it I can see that I did not have any ideas or knowledge of how to construct it. Starting off with the layout of the page I did not know were to place the photo on the page and also I did not know where to put the contents on the page. However when making my contents page for the music magazine I did research into contents page used my real magazines and selected a style that I liked and then used it. I have learnt how important the layout is to a contents page because if you don't get it right it can make the page look unprofessional. The picture that I used in the prelim task were taken in the class room and the quality of the picture were not very good as I did not use any of the camera equipment. Also I did not know what kind of shot to take so I just took any random picture, but when it came to taking photos for my magazine I had a shot in mind that I wanted to use and I had all the proper camera equipment so the quality of the picture was much better. The fonts that I used in the prelim contents page were again from the computer and once I did research I found good fonts that would good for my magazine and fitted well with the genre of music that I chose. I have learnt how important it is to chose a good font because if you don't use a font that fits with your style of magazine it can make the magazine look bad.  

In conclusion I feel that I have learnt many things when it comes to making a music magazine, the most that I have learnt is how important the lighting and the camera work is when it comes to taking a photo. I have also learnt how difficult it is to choose the right colours, fonts and layouts to have on a page.

Draft 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Cover
For the masthead I used the font Freshman, I used this font because it was bold and chunky and that's what I wanted from the font. Also I chose this font because it would stand out when it is on the shop shelve because of the colour of the font, its black on a white background and this combination works well to attract people. So when my audience walk past my magazine they will be able to see it with ease. As for the positioning of the masthead I have placed it at the top of the page in the middle, I did this because I think that it is the most effective way to get people's attention. Also because the masthead is in the middle it will be able to be seen in the shop shelves with more ease. The model that I used on my front cover has a  similar style of clothing as the artists that are in this genre of music that I chose. This will help attract my audience because they will be able look and read about fashion that they like and will be able to relate to the artist more. I have positioned the model in the centre of the page so that when people look at the cover their attention is focused on the model.

Contents
For the contents I made sure that the actual contents fitted my style of music so that the reader would understand and enjoy what's inside the magazine. I did not want to too much off topic because the customer would not understand what I'm writing about, so I wrote stuff like "Justin Jailed?" this keeps the reader interested in the magazine and will make them want to read the whole story inside. For the picture that I used on the contents page I wanted to keep the same style as the front cover so that it relates with my intended audience so the model on the page is wearing a white t-shirt with a colored graphic on it. I chose this clothing because its the sort of clothing that my audience would buy and wear, this will help attract the audience because they will be able to relate to the artist more.

    

Double page spread
On the double page spread I used a pull quote from the article so that the reader gets a little taste of what's in the article, this will make the reader interested in the page and make them want to continue reading. I used a nice font for this so that they can understand what the text is saying and so that it gives the page a more professional look. Again with the model I wanted to use the same sort of style that I used on the other two pages, so I went with a blue sweat shirt with a white graphic on it. I used this top because it would allow me to use that colour on the page, this would help attract my audience to the magazine.

Draft 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The best institution for my magazine is Prometheus Global Media, this is because they are one of the worlds best institution for magazines and distributors. They are based in New York and there magazine are sold all over the world and this will give my magazine a chance to become a success.They have won many awards for their magazines which means that they are a successful institution. The way my magazine would be distributed would be monthly at the price of £2.99 and will have subscriptions and be sold in shops. I think that this a fair price to sell the magazine because of the audience that it is aimed at. They could make an app so that people could download it and get general information on the magazine, this is also good because technology is becoming more advanced and more people have smart phones.  

Draft 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

         

              

I have decided to compare Teagle my artist to Usher. I used UK tribes to identify what kind of social group would buy my magazine, and the ones that best suited my magazine were Townies, Mainstream and Stylers. Usher is a very well known R&B artist and in terms of clothing he is very similar to my artist as they both look very smart and do not advertise brand names as much as other artist and this fits very nice with the social groups because they don't like to wear big brand names. The difference in terms of clothing is that Usher likes to wear sunglasses a lot and my artist does not it's just like a personal signature. I feel like to appearance of both artist are similar to because they both want to look their best when they go out in public. There are some differences with these two artist because Usher is older and a different ethnicity to my artist but they still very similar. I feel that Usher is a great comparison to Teagle because he is already representing these social groups in a great way as he has featured on many mainstream magazines that's why I chose him to compare to my artist and using the same sort of clothing as Usher would help to connect with my chosen social groups more. The contents of what's inside my magazine represents the social group that I have chosen because it has the sort of music that they like in it, it has mainstream music, celebrity news and that's what my social groups like so that is what I have included in the magazine. This helps represent them because it has what they like in it.  

Draft 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Front cover
For the title of my magazine I wanted to have something that relates to music in some sort of way, so I went with PlayList as my title. I chose this as the title because it's similar to Q magazine and Billboard magazine as their titles are related to music, also I used these magazines as inspiration for my magazine. As for the positioning of the masthead it is in the centre at the top of the page  so that it can be spotted on a shop shelve, I took the idea from Billboard magazine as they have their masthead in the centre at the top of the page so have used this idea for my magazine. The font that I used for the masthead is called freshman, it is similar to other magazines as it's bold and easy to see but it has it's own twist to it because it has an old school american theme to it, this gives the masthead it's own unique style to it, so I have used and developed this idea . The layout of the front cover is very similar to the H convention because there is text on each side of the page and going across the page, however there's not that much text as I didn't want the page to look to busy with text and the text at the side of the page does not go all the way down the page, so in a way I have challenged this idea and adapted it so that it fits my style. The clothes that my model was wearing were not branded so that they would fit my music genre which was mainstream/R&B also this will help attract people to my magazine, I got the idea from Billboard magazine as they don't use any branded clothing on their front covers so that they attract all sorts of people. I used this convention for my magazine in hope that it would attract people to my magazine. So I had the model wear a leather jacket with a white T-shirt, this gave the front cover a professional and smart look to it. This style also fitted with my artist so this style continues throughout the magazine. As for the pictures the model is always looking directly at the camera so that the page has more effect on the reader, this idea came from Vibe and Billboard magazine as they use this a lot in their magazines, this is a convention that I have used. The photo on the front cover is a mid shot of my model as I did not want a close up of the model or a long shot as I didn't feel that it would work for the front cover as do a lot of music magazines. I have only used four colours on the front cover this is because I didn't want the page to look to colorful and on Billboard they use up to three or four colours on their front covers so I liked the idea so again this is a convention that I have used in my magazine.










































Contents page
On the contents page I have used Vibe magazine and Billboard magazine for inspiration, in the top left side of the page I have added the title of the magazine this is because many music magazine do this and it is a nice touch to the page and makes it look professional this is a convention that I have used from Vibe magazine. My contents page has only one picture on the whole page, I did this because I thought that it gave a nice look to the page which readers would enjoy to look at, also I seen this used in Vibe magazine and I really liked it, again this is a convention that I used from Vibe magazine. Its the same with the layout of my contents page Vibe magazine gave me the inspiration for the layout as they have all the contents on the left side of the page, and I liked the way it looked so I used it for my magazines contents. I also thought that this layout would work well with the type of magazine that I made. The shot that I used was again a mid shot of my model, I used a mid shot for this page because any other shot would not work with the layout that I went with on this page and also I think that a mid shot is the best shot for this layout, this again is a used convention from vibe magazine. The clothing that my model is wearing on this page is different to the ones they are wearing on the front cover, they are wearing a white t-shirt with a blue and green graphic on it. I used this T-shirt so that when it comes to choosing font colours I have something to work off from. The fonts that I used on this page were Beatnik sf for the word contents and for the actual contents themselves I used Diamond light sf, I used these font because they fitted the genre of music that I chose and also they fitted the layout of the page well. 

Double page spread
In terms of layout on the double page spread I have placed the picture on one side and the article on the other, this came from Q magazine as they do this a lot with their double page spreads so I used this convention on my own magazine. The shot that I used in this page can't be classed as a close up or a mid shot it's in between the both of them, so in a way I have challenged this convention to suit my magazine. I wanted to use this type of shot because it's an eye catching image. Next I've used a pull quote from the article and put it in the top right corner, this is so that the page gets the readers attention and it is used in many music magazines. This is a convention that I have used on my magazine. The font that I have used on this page were Arial for the article and for my artist name I used Orator std, I chose Arial for the article because it is easy to read and many magazines use simple and easy to read fonts in their articles so that people ca understand them and read them properly. I chose Orator std because I wanted a font that stands out and catch peoples attention and again this is used by many magazines to make the page look nice to look at and grab peoples attention. 

Draft 4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product would be people aged between 15-25, they could be either male or female and they have an interest in mainstream/R&B music. They are mostly interested in the major artist out right now such as Justin Timberlake and Drake. My magazine will be published every month and would be priced at £2.99 and the intended audience would be happy to pay that priced because the magazine would be full of great content and news that people will want to read. There are three types of tribes that would want to buy my magazine and they are Townies who prefer to go with the flow and enjoy keeping up to date with the latest celebrity gossip, they enjoy listening to all the chart music and are often referred to being the "normal" type of people. The next type of tribe would be Mainstream, this tribe is very similar to the Townies so they enjoy chart music and they like to watch prime time TV. They also like to listen to radios such as Capital FM and BBC Radio. Fashion wise the Mainstream tribe are happy to stick with anything that is available in the high street they don't like big brand names, so shops like Next and River Island would be their type. The last tribe would be Stylers, they would buy my magazine because they like the kind of artist that would be featured in the magazine such as Chris Brown and Kanye West. This tribe likes to go out to music festivals and enjoy listening to the radio. The Stylers tribe like to have the latest in technology so for example they like to have the latest TV's, phones and tablets. People who do buy my magazine would be interested in mainstream music and not indie/alternative, so they would expect to see big names within the magazines such as Beyonce and Usher otherwise they would not want to buy the magazine. My magazine will offer it's readers the chance to see the latest fashion trends and styles so this would attract the intended audience to my magazine. My magazine would appeal to my intended because it is similar to other mainstream magazines such as Billboard and Q, the styling that I have used on my model on the front cover, contents and the double page spread is well suited to my genre of music because it is linked with R&B artist and this will help to attract people to my magazine.    




       

Draft 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

For this course I had to use many technologies and learnt lots of new skills for programs that I have never used before. It was a challenge to work with some of the programs  because I had never used them before but in the end of the course I started to get the hang of them.Technologies that I used were Photoshop, cameras, computers, memory cards,animoto, soundcloud, scribd, blogger, lights, the white screen, tripod and a USB stick.

Programs/websites

Adobe Photoshop
This was the main technology that I used  to make my magazine, it was a bit of a challenge for me because I had never used it before. It was hard to just know what the icons do on Photoshop but once I knew what they did and how to use them Photoshop became much easier to use, I have learnt a lot about Photoshop and how you can edit pictures so for example I did not know that there was a spot healing tool. What was useful on Photoshop is that it give the users the ability to add layers to their work, this allows for the user to change or add to what they are making without changing the whole picture so this was very useful to me. 

 
Blogger
I used blogger to put up all of my work so that it could be checked to see if I was doing it right and so that my teachers could see what I was doing. I was already familiar with Blogger as I have been using it since I started year 12 so I already know how to use it properly. I think that it is a good way for you to get feedback on your work without printing it out because people can just comment on the work and then you can amend those mistakes, I have been using Blogger for all of the work that I have produced and putting it all on Blogger so that my teachers can see what I'm doing.



Soundcloud
This was the first time that I had ever used Soundcloud but I found it very easy to use and I got to grips with it very quickly. I used this website to create my 20 song playlist that have inspired my to choosing the genre that I did, it was important to get the proper song as there are a lot of mix tapes and other playlist on Soundcloud that would have the song that I want but others as well. But now I know how to use it well.


Scribd
I had used scribd before so I knew how to use it and upload documents. Using scribd makes your work look neater and more professional so that is why I used it. Also if you are using Blogger it is hard to work with pictures so this makes it easier to have pictures in your work and make it look better.  


Animoto
Again this was a website that i had never used before but this was very easy to understand and make a short video/presentation. I used Animoto for my 25 word pitch, it was very easy to make and understand it is. You just add music that you want playing in the background or use the ones that they provide and then you simply write want you want in the text boxes and add pictures.  



Equipment


The Nikon D3000
For my photos I used the Nikon D3000, I don't have much knowledge about cameras so I used the one that the school provided. I did have a few issues to start off with as I did not know how to zoom in but eventually I got the hang of it. The camera gave me some really clear pictures and I was very happy with the quality of the pictures. I think that it is important to get good pictures so that the final product looks good and using the Nikon D3000 gave me that opportunity.

  
Computers
For the majority of this course I have been using computers, the new things that I have learnt is the new programs that I have used, but other than that i have not learnt anything new because I use computers almost everyday and I am used to everything on it. However without this equipment I would not be able to complete this work.

 

USB stick & memory cards 
When using these two types of equipment I did not learn much about them, but they are vital when doing this course because without the memory card I would not be able to save the pictures while I'm taking them. Without the USB stick I would not be able to save my work on it and continue it at home and meet all the deadline days.





Tripod
 Again with this piece of equipment I did not learn much but I needed it to take a good picture and make sure that the pictures were aligned properly so this was the best piece of equipment that would allow me to do those things.

 

Lighting & screen
When I was taking my pictures I did not realize how important lighting was when taking a pictures, so I have learnt that lighting is very important when taking a picture. The lighting can make the difference between a "good picture" and a "great picture" and it makes the model standout which allows for the reader to focus on them. Next the white screen, that was important to my pictures because I wanted a background that would be plain and make my model stand out and the white screen. These two pieces of equipment work very well together make pictures look a lot better.



  

My Finished Magazine

Target for the week

This week I plan to finish my magazine, I need to finish the front cover and choose which picture I'm going to use for that page. Also I need to choose the colours that will be used on the front cover once the front cover is finished I will make any changes to the other pages. Also I am going to add a picture of the interviewer on the double page spread because its a used convention and will give my magazine a unique look to it.

Targets for the week

 My target for this week is to take some new photos of my model and use them in my magazine. Then I will change the text of the front cover and make it more interesting to read, I will also have to play around with the layout and size of the pictures so that there is not much white space.