Friday, 2 March 2012
EVALUATION: QUESTION 5.
The following video displays my target audience reviewing my actual production work and what they actually think about the way its layout out, the content and the actual production (photos, shot type, ect.) This is evidence that I kept my planning and tried to stick to my pre-planning for my layout design as best as possible.
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
EVALUATION: QUESTION 7.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the fullest product?
The stage of planning and research was a very important aspect of my work in general, as it helped me gain knowledge for what in general wanted to achieve with my production work and what my final outcome would be. The task of research itself was useful to my decisions on what I wanted my production work to look like, as researching other similar magazines gave me an idea of different house styles, layouts, fonts, ect. It definitely prepared me for the task ahead and it also allowed me to get an idea of what this type of audience were looking for in a magazine, what kind of articles would interest them, ect.
My time organisation was good, yet could have been better. There were a few problems along the way yet I felt considering the circumstances, I kept to my time plan and completed the work in enough time. The blog itself definitely helped me keep on time and to schedule, showing me what task had to be completed by what date and how long I left to complete a certain task. My technical skills have definitely improved throughout the task, as now I understand what shot connotes what representation. Using a portrait setting to take a picture of the main front page image helped as it fitted better with the front page and looked a lot more professional. Again, taking influence from real media products and magazines allowed me to have a look at real magazines and how they grip audiences. I specifically wanted eye contact to be used within my images as it connects the audience with the magazine and the model, drawing an audience in. A medium close up was used for my front cover (a shot taken from shoulders upwards), which zooms in on the models face and emotion, this also connects the audience with the magazine and the model. The decisions taking on lighting was also important, as I wanted to use lighting my advantage, showing emotion through this. Using low key lighting against the models face to connote a difference in personality, intriguing the audience into reading more. Taking into consideration that my target audience was young adults/teenagers, I wanted to keep my magazine looking professional yet still being able to pull in a younger reading. The use of different colours and fonts through out the house style helped me keep the magazine looking new and fresh, yet also looking quite sophisticated.
The biggest thing that I have learnt and gained from this task is too widen my views on specific age groups and social groups, as they aren’t always how they come across to others. For example, all though my magazine was aimed for a mainstream, teenage audience, I was still able to make it look sophisticated and high end. Also, my time organisation is something I must work on in future tasks, even if things do pop up. I have definitely improved since my preliminary task, as now I feel more organised and knowledgeable about certain software and media terms, which makes me more confident when trying to complete tasks.
The stage of planning and research was a very important aspect of my work in general, as it helped me gain knowledge for what in general wanted to achieve with my production work and what my final outcome would be. The task of research itself was useful to my decisions on what I wanted my production work to look like, as researching other similar magazines gave me an idea of different house styles, layouts, fonts, ect. It definitely prepared me for the task ahead and it also allowed me to get an idea of what this type of audience were looking for in a magazine, what kind of articles would interest them, ect.
My time organisation was good, yet could have been better. There were a few problems along the way yet I felt considering the circumstances, I kept to my time plan and completed the work in enough time. The blog itself definitely helped me keep on time and to schedule, showing me what task had to be completed by what date and how long I left to complete a certain task. My technical skills have definitely improved throughout the task, as now I understand what shot connotes what representation. Using a portrait setting to take a picture of the main front page image helped as it fitted better with the front page and looked a lot more professional. Again, taking influence from real media products and magazines allowed me to have a look at real magazines and how they grip audiences. I specifically wanted eye contact to be used within my images as it connects the audience with the magazine and the model, drawing an audience in. A medium close up was used for my front cover (a shot taken from shoulders upwards), which zooms in on the models face and emotion, this also connects the audience with the magazine and the model. The decisions taking on lighting was also important, as I wanted to use lighting my advantage, showing emotion through this. Using low key lighting against the models face to connote a difference in personality, intriguing the audience into reading more. Taking into consideration that my target audience was young adults/teenagers, I wanted to keep my magazine looking professional yet still being able to pull in a younger reading. The use of different colours and fonts through out the house style helped me keep the magazine looking new and fresh, yet also looking quite sophisticated.
The biggest thing that I have learnt and gained from this task is too widen my views on specific age groups and social groups, as they aren’t always how they come across to others. For example, all though my magazine was aimed for a mainstream, teenage audience, I was still able to make it look sophisticated and high end. Also, my time organisation is something I must work on in future tasks, even if things do pop up. I have definitely improved since my preliminary task, as now I feel more organised and knowledgeable about certain software and media terms, which makes me more confident when trying to complete tasks.
EVALUATION: QUESTION 6.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The new technologies we were able to use for own production work helped me greatly, as it allowed me to make my work look a lot more professional and well presented, which would appeal then to a wide audience. The new technologies allowed me to edit my images in Photoshop, which also helped me create my front cover itself. This specific programme allowed me to edit the images in the programme itself, adding effects and clearing up any mistakes that needed to be fixed, which again made my magazine look a lot more well groomed and professional. The cameras themselves helped me capture the best image possible, especially when used in portrait settings. Blogger.com helped me keep my work tidy and easy to access, which helped a lot as it allowed me to keep my timing on track. The internet itself helped me a lot through the task, it helped me analyse other media products for my planning, being able to contrast influence magazines with my own. It gave me an idea of what I wanted my media products to look like and how they would turn out, this allowing me to constantly contrast and show links between planning and production. A lot like Photoshop, InDesign was software that really helped and made a difference to my production work, as I feel now I have gotten use to the programme itself, knowing how and what to do within the programme. It allowed me to design and create my contents and double page spread, letting me decide on the best layout, which helped the overall appearance look more professional.
Blogger.com helped me present and organise my planning and pre-production, but also keep up to track with my actual production work. It allowed me to keep all my work overall in one place and it helped oragnise my work ethic, instead of panicing and worrying. It presents work in a clear war, allowing me and others to read and view the blog and the work in an easy way, clearly seeing which part of the planning is which. Social networking sites in particular allowed me to gather information and feedback from my target audience, gathering information straight from the best source. The ability to virtually upload my production work on to say, Facebook, was very useful. This allowed my audience and potention readers to take a look at the magazine and the layout, giving opinions and ability to say what could be changed.
The new technologies we were able to use for own production work helped me greatly, as it allowed me to make my work look a lot more professional and well presented, which would appeal then to a wide audience. The new technologies allowed me to edit my images in Photoshop, which also helped me create my front cover itself. This specific programme allowed me to edit the images in the programme itself, adding effects and clearing up any mistakes that needed to be fixed, which again made my magazine look a lot more well groomed and professional. The cameras themselves helped me capture the best image possible, especially when used in portrait settings. Blogger.com helped me keep my work tidy and easy to access, which helped a lot as it allowed me to keep my timing on track. The internet itself helped me a lot through the task, it helped me analyse other media products for my planning, being able to contrast influence magazines with my own. It gave me an idea of what I wanted my media products to look like and how they would turn out, this allowing me to constantly contrast and show links between planning and production. A lot like Photoshop, InDesign was software that really helped and made a difference to my production work, as I feel now I have gotten use to the programme itself, knowing how and what to do within the programme. It allowed me to design and create my contents and double page spread, letting me decide on the best layout, which helped the overall appearance look more professional.
Blogger.com helped me present and organise my planning and pre-production, but also keep up to track with my actual production work. It allowed me to keep all my work overall in one place and it helped oragnise my work ethic, instead of panicing and worrying. It presents work in a clear war, allowing me and others to read and view the blog and the work in an easy way, clearly seeing which part of the planning is which. Social networking sites in particular allowed me to gather information and feedback from my target audience, gathering information straight from the best source. The ability to virtually upload my production work on to say, Facebook, was very useful. This allowed my audience and potention readers to take a look at the magazine and the layout, giving opinions and ability to say what could be changed.
EVALUATION: QUESTION 3.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
When deciding on what and who my magazine should be aimed for, I had to first consider a genre to work in and what ideas to base around my music magazine. The decision to work in the music genre of ‘Rock n Roll’ was taken as I myself enjoy reading and listening to this genre of music, so I felt this would help me through my planning and through my production. Like many other magazines out there, the step has to be taken to decide on a specific audience for my magazine and whether or not they are going to be a mainstream or independent audience. I decided to aim my magazine to a mainstream audience in particular, as I personally felt this would get the wider reading and this kind of audience would enjoy this genre of music a lot than say an independent audience would. Another advantage of aiming my production work at a mainstream audience is that then I could include more items within the magazine, I felt I had a wider range of things to discuss as it would be going out to a wider audience. The magazine dealt with many issues and topics that could appeal to many, which in the long run would be better for a mainstream institution as it means more sales.
In my research and planning, I explored many different magazines and distributions that could influence my own design work, as they also all appealed to the same audience type and social groups to which I wanted to aim my own work at. Of course, all my main influences were from a mainstream institution, as then I could see the best techniques to draw that audience type in. Although I aimed my magazine for a mainstream audience, I also wanted to aim it for a niche audience, specific to the genre of music and the genre of magazine that I was working in. The genre of music I was working in is quite specific, yet it also appeals to many, this made it a lot harder to decide on what content to use and how to set it out.
Two of the main influence magazines I picked out were ‘Kerrang!” and “NME”, which were both great help when it came to deciding on how to plan and produce my own work. These two magazines are both quite mainstream magazines, as they both appeal to a wide reading; yet work in a specific genre of music. Both used the same kind of house style and layout to which I wanted to use for my own work, the same colours (red, black, white) were used in both, which is another reason why they were both influences to my work, as they showed how use the colours to their fullest. Although, unlike “Kerrang!” magazine, “NME” used a more professional layout and house style, which would obviously attract a higher end market, yet still attracting the music fans they wanted. Both these magazines also use Media 2.0 to a great advantage, as they both have their own websites and they are both involved within other media production (radio, TV, ECT).
Obviously I couldn’t reproduce this in my own work, yet this showed me that these magazines are main stream and appeal to a wider audience, as they are involved within Media 2.0.
I would want my magazine to be sold in a quite well known, main stream institution, as it would fit into the genre of music that I am working in. Like “Kerrang!” and “NME”, my magazine would appeal to a high end market, yet attracting a wider reading as it includes a very well known genre of music. The technologies available allowed me to make my magazine stand out and look a lot more appealing, which is what I wanted to achieve with my magazine. The decision to distribute my magazine through main stream institutions would bring a positive outcome, as it would enable my magazine to sell to a much wider, mainstream audience, bringing in more profit. Obviously, the same principle would go for my advertising, I’d want it o be advertised in the same mainstream way, getting out to as many people as well. The advantage of doing this is that independent artists are able to then promote themselves through the mainstream magazines, which would be something that I would want to do with my magazine.
When deciding on what and who my magazine should be aimed for, I had to first consider a genre to work in and what ideas to base around my music magazine. The decision to work in the music genre of ‘Rock n Roll’ was taken as I myself enjoy reading and listening to this genre of music, so I felt this would help me through my planning and through my production. Like many other magazines out there, the step has to be taken to decide on a specific audience for my magazine and whether or not they are going to be a mainstream or independent audience. I decided to aim my magazine to a mainstream audience in particular, as I personally felt this would get the wider reading and this kind of audience would enjoy this genre of music a lot than say an independent audience would. Another advantage of aiming my production work at a mainstream audience is that then I could include more items within the magazine, I felt I had a wider range of things to discuss as it would be going out to a wider audience. The magazine dealt with many issues and topics that could appeal to many, which in the long run would be better for a mainstream institution as it means more sales.
In my research and planning, I explored many different magazines and distributions that could influence my own design work, as they also all appealed to the same audience type and social groups to which I wanted to aim my own work at. Of course, all my main influences were from a mainstream institution, as then I could see the best techniques to draw that audience type in. Although I aimed my magazine for a mainstream audience, I also wanted to aim it for a niche audience, specific to the genre of music and the genre of magazine that I was working in. The genre of music I was working in is quite specific, yet it also appeals to many, this made it a lot harder to decide on what content to use and how to set it out.
Two of the main influence magazines I picked out were ‘Kerrang!” and “NME”, which were both great help when it came to deciding on how to plan and produce my own work. These two magazines are both quite mainstream magazines, as they both appeal to a wide reading; yet work in a specific genre of music. Both used the same kind of house style and layout to which I wanted to use for my own work, the same colours (red, black, white) were used in both, which is another reason why they were both influences to my work, as they showed how use the colours to their fullest. Although, unlike “Kerrang!” magazine, “NME” used a more professional layout and house style, which would obviously attract a higher end market, yet still attracting the music fans they wanted. Both these magazines also use Media 2.0 to a great advantage, as they both have their own websites and they are both involved within other media production (radio, TV, ECT).
I would want my magazine to be sold in a quite well known, main stream institution, as it would fit into the genre of music that I am working in. Like “Kerrang!” and “NME”, my magazine would appeal to a high end market, yet attracting a wider reading as it includes a very well known genre of music. The technologies available allowed me to make my magazine stand out and look a lot more appealing, which is what I wanted to achieve with my magazine. The decision to distribute my magazine through main stream institutions would bring a positive outcome, as it would enable my magazine to sell to a much wider, mainstream audience, bringing in more profit. Obviously, the same principle would go for my advertising, I’d want it o be advertised in the same mainstream way, getting out to as many people as well. The advantage of doing this is that independent artists are able to then promote themselves through the mainstream magazines, which would be something that I would want to do with my magazine.
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