Final Products

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

When looking back at my preliminary task, I feel I have progressed massively. I have done this by adding more text and being aware magazine conventions. I feel by understanding conventions, this has benefit me when creating my front cover as allows me to think more about the layout of my magazine cover. The research I carried out when creating my music magazine helped me make specific choices during the production of my magazine as looking at existing NME magazine covers gave me inspiration and ideas as to how to create an effective and attractive front cover. In comparison to my college magazine, my music magazine looks a lot more professional; I have achieved the professional look by applying my Photoshop skills by using the 'blemish' tool and the 'FX' options. I feel I have definitely improved on my camera skills as on my preliminary tasks, I have not followed conventions such as eye contact with the audience and it is not a close up. On my music magazine, the artists have direct eye contact with the audience and it is also a medium close up which is a key convention.

If I were to recreate my music magazine, I would change the text inside my plugs; I would add something along the lines of 'free poster inside' because it is conventional for a magazine to have a poster inside. I would also add another features story as I do not have many and I feel more will attract the audience.

When looking back at my preliminary task, I felt this helped my practice my Photoshop skills by playing around with the 'spot healing brush' and the 'text' tool. This task introduced me to the future tasks I would be faced with when creating my final music magazine, it allowed me to feel more confident when using Photoshop as I already had an insight as to how to use it.

My Photoshop skills have improved vastly from my preliminary task to my final magazine cover. I have learnt  how to use more advanced tools such as the blur tool, the spot healing tool and the FX option. I have learnt how to achieve the best image as possible, for example, I have learnt how to space my models into the correct space so I am not wasting space like in my preliminary task. I have learnt how to position my models so they look more appealing to the audience, for example, by positioning the female models on the side so they look attractive and appealing. By having the female models facing straight forward, directly opposite the camera, this  makes the models look wider and broader at the shoulders however by positioning the models on a side, they look smaller and more feminine. On my preliminary task, the masthead is over the head of my model, this is a disadvantage as the models will not be the key feature of the magazine and the audience will not be attracted to the magazine by the models but by the masthead. On my final magazine cover, I have positioned my models over the masthead so they audience are attracted to the magazine. This is a key convention on magazine covers. My preliminary task do not include one main feature story therefore this is unconventional and does not appeal to the audience. The use of one main feature story is to directly drag the audience into my magazine therefore it is conventional for my magazine to include this. I have used conventions on my music magazine cover such as using the '+' sign as this will illustrate to the audience that there is more inside the magazine.

6. Evaluation; what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

If I wanted to achieve well throughout my media course, I had to learn how to correctly use Photoshop to a high standard.  I had never used Photoshop before and therefore struggled when dealt my first task however I continued to progress on Photoshop by practicing and practicing. I eventually became confident on Photoshop so that I could begin to create my front cover, contents page and double page spread.  I used Photoshop in many different ways, for example, I edited my original image by removing any  uneven skin tones and removing any spots,  I whiten teeth, added text to my magazine front cover and lots more. Below are some examples of how I edited my front cover, contents page and double page spread.

Front Cover Image

                                        Before                                                        After

Contents Page Image

                                           Before                                                       After

Double Page Spread Image

                               Before                                                                         After

5. Evaluation; how did you attract/address your audience?

4. Evaluation; who would be the audience for your media product?

This questions links to question two. The target audience for my music magazine is females aged from sixteen to twenty-five. Women are stereotypically interested in gigs, downloads, party’s, festivals, fashion and trends when they are around this age. My magazine is specifically targeted for 16 – 25 year olds however I have included artists such as Nirvana who formed in 1987 to expand my age range. This is good as my magazine may now appeal to the older generation of males and females who enjoyed Nirvana’s music.

3. Evaluation; what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Question Three by Jaaaye on GoAnimate

2. Evaulation; how does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

Throughout my front cover, contents pages and double page spread I have achieved continuity by using the same text font, for example, on my contents page and my double page spread I have used ‘Gill Sans Ultra Bold’. I chosen this font as it is bold, chunky and it stands out to the audience. On my contents page, I have used the same font (Gill Sans Ultra Bold) for each heading; the reasoning behind this is to make it easy for the audience to navigate around the page. This text is used for headings therefore whenever the audience will see this text used throughout my magazine; they will instantly know that is a heading. At the beginning of the text on my contents page, I have used a drop cap, the reason I have used a drop cap is to illustrate that is the beginning of the article or information. I have also used a drop cap on my double page spread; to again illustrate the beginning of the article. Throughout my front cover and my contents page I have kept the same colours: black, white and red, this is iconographic of my magazine and will make it easier for the audience to relate too. However on my double page spread I have not stuck to the colour scheme, I changed the colours to blue, white and black. This reasoning behind this is to match the text and the page to the models outfits. The page numbers on my contents page do not clash with the page numbers I have on my double page spread. On my front cover and my double page spread I have used the same artist, this is good as the main article (Scarlet - “We’re Big Enough”) is the main feature story in the magazine therefore I have dedicated the double page spread to them however I have not used the same artist on my contents page, I took this photograph of Bell X1 with my phone at one of their concerts. When I was creating my front cover, contents page and double page spread I used the inspirations of NME front covers, contents pages and double page spreads. I research these magazines on the internet to help me, as too where it’s best to place plugs, bar codes and more.