Evaluation- slide 13 Conclusion

In conclusion i am very pleased with my final product. I feel that if my magazine were to hit the shelves then it would appeal to the audience that i have targeted it to. If i was going to start the task again there are a few things i would do differently. For example i would possibly make the contents page a little less cramped and spend some more time on the DPS as it was a little bit rushed towards the end. I would also have take the time to do more research on other magazines. But overall i am pleased with what i have produced and look forward to continueing onto A2 media next year.

Evaluation- slide 12 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?(contents)

No.5 the spacing in my contents page on the preliminary task is poor. There is a block of writing which isnt attractive to look at. Looking at my contents page in Ministry there's a lot more going on and the page is very eye catching.

No.6 the competition in Ministry is something i didn't think of using in the school maagzine. it obviously attracts the audience and is just one of many things that makes the contents page look more interesting.

No.7 The titles for the articles in the contents page in Ministry have a larger bold green writing which is a main word or two that sums up the story. then after there are a few words that give a little bit more. I think this was a better idea that just writing the page number and an article title as it gives the reader a little bit more information on what they're reading.

No.8 Clubber of the month this is a completely new idea that i thought of to put in the magazine. It's definately a big progression from the preliminary task as i haven't just used what you'd expect to see on the contents page (pictures and writing). there is something which the consumers can get involved in and is yet another attraction for the target audience to buy the magazine.

Evaluation- slide 11 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I have learnt many things between doing the preliminary task and completing my final product. I will firstly look at how my front cover has improved.
No.1 the logo which i used in my preliminary task was very basic. There was also the white box behind the silver logo, i didn't know how the remove this so it had to stay which doesn't look good over the red background. In my Ministry the logo is spot on, it blends in really well with the magazine's house style and people that have looked at it commented saying it was one of the best points about my final product.
No.2 next i looked at the background, my school magazine has a plain red background which although is eye catching it is a bit too much and it dorwns out the pictures and the text. When doing my final piece i used a picture as the main feature for my background. This i believe will attract the audience more as it's something interesting to look at and it gives them a push to carry on reading into the magazine.
No.3 In Ministry i have used sub headings about the main articles. this tells the reader what they're going to be reading about inside the magazine. When they look at these if the stories interest them then they will pick up and buy the magazine. In the first task i haven't used these at all, the reader has no idea what other stories are in the magazine except the main headline.
No.4 On my schhol magazine front cover i've used multiple pictures. After doing more research into real media products i've learnt it is mroe effecting to just use one large image. So when i started out doing Ministry i decided to use the one main picture, this definately gives a more effective look as the consumer is drawn to just one thing rather than the three images.

Evaluation- slide 10 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Through constructing this product i have learnt so much about technologies especially photoshop and blogging. I now feel confident when using both and will carry these skills forward when doing Media Studies next year and hopefully i'll be able to develop my skills further.



Firstly starting with blogging which was something i had never done before, i had viewed blogs online but never created one. When we first started out doing this in September blogging was completely new to me as you can tell from my first picture. my first blog was very simple, no pictures included just plain writing, it looks quite boring. After looking at other peoples blogs i saw that there was much more you could do with them. I found out how to add pictures and how to c hange the writing etc. These new skills helped me to create a more professional looking blog.



Secondly photoshop is something that i started off hating but i have grown to love. At first i could not get to grips with it at all. Looking at the front cover of my preliminary task it is quite clear to see that i had no idea what i was doing. But after being very persistant i have come to learn so much about photoshop. I started out with the text slowly learning how to do different things with it. I used the help section on photoshop which i found really useful as it talks you through it in a simple way. I also watched some videos on youtube which helped when it came to editing my pictures. I now know how to create loads of different text styles, i can change the colour, the size, the background shading i can even create a glow around the edge which you'll see in my magazine. Next i moved on to editing my pictures, i learned how to change the lighting to make the photos more clear. Also i learned to change the colour of particular parts on the picture, on my front cover picture the hair accessory the girls are wearing started out blue i changed it to purple so that it would match the colour scheme. In the picture at the top of the slide i put a boarder around it to make it stand out. I also edited the picture to make it look sort of worn, i believe this gave it a good effect and made it look different to your everyday photo. Using the layers was something i also mastered after much practice, being able to put one layer over the next so that it is on top of previous layers. Cropping, feathering and the magnetic lasso tool were also things that i mastered using on photshop.

Evaluation- slide 9 How did you attract/ address your audience?

The first thing that i did when trying to attract my target audience was to make an eye catching front cover. Obviously this is the first thing the customer sees and if the front cover is not interesting they wont even pick it up off the shelf.

My front cover has very bright colours that draw your attention to it straight away. If my magazine was on a shelf you couldn't miss the neon purple and green colours. The name of my magazine "ministry" kind of gives away what the genre is too, i took the name from Ministry of Sound which is a well known dance music label. The articles on the front page are all things that would be of interest to my target audience.

Competitions are always a good seller. Things like this attract students in particular as they don't always have a lot of money and they love freebies and winning competitions. A holiday to ibizza is the prize for the competition featured in my magazine, a holiday liek this isn't something a young person would be able to afford so they would be attracted to buy the magazine with the chance of winning this.

The pictures definately attract the target audience. All the pictures are of young people who the target audience can associate with. Seeing people just like themselves in the pictures i believe is a good way to attract them as they feel as if they're part of the magazine. Also the pictures of the dance group catch your eye and make you want to read about what's going on.

Throughout my magazine i use accessable language which all people can understand. This attracts the audience as they know it will be an easy read not something they have to really concentrate on. They can read it whilst on the train or whilst having a quick break. I have written the articles just how i would speak and as a young person this is what i want to see when i pick up a magazine so i think my target audience would feel the same.

Having information on the best places to go, the latest gossip and news from the dance scene would attract my audience because they want to know where to go for a great night out. They also like being in the know about the best artist and new tracks that are coming out.

Overall all these things together appeal to my target audience and would attract them to buy my magazine from the shelf.

Evaluation- slide 8 Who would be the audience for your media product?

Here i will explain why this is the target audience i have chosen. Firstly and most importantly the magazine is aimed at young people, this is because between the ages of 17-25 is typically when people spend their weekends clubbing. It is what we call the "youth period" in a persons life. Also at this age many people are at college or university and clubbing is part of that lifestyle. As the magazine is based around dance music and what goes on in the clubbing world young people are the ones that are going to want to hear what this magazine has to say.

Secondly i have aimed my magazine at both sexes, this stops the market for my magazine being so niche. Although it may be harder to cater for both men and women it will eventually account for more sales which is really what media is all about. Dance music is a genre that you don't associate with either sex so i thought i should aim my magazine at both. The features in the magazine just appeal to young people not male or female.

The magazine is aimed at mainly students and young workers. As i said before going out to clubs is something that the majority of people in university do. The students are always looking for bargains and new places to go, my magazine offers both of these which would definately appeal to the audience. Also young workers who have just come out of uni are still usually up for a night out. Young professionals also always want to be in the know and be at the hottest night clubs.

the interests of my target audience are all things that are part of a young lifestyle and having fun. Which is what my magazine is all about. Give aways, festival information, nightclub lists etc someone that has these interests would love my magazine.

Finally i chose working/middle class background as part of my audience profile. This is because it is an easy audience to cater for and people from these backgrounds are the people that you see out in nightclubs.

After recieving feedaback from fellow classmates, when they were asked what the audience for my magazine was they were all pretty much correct. I'm pleased with this as it shows that i've done what i set out to and my target audience would actually go out and buy the magazine.

Evaluation slide-7 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I would chose Baur Publishing to distribute my magazine. Firstly because they already publish some of the most successful music magazines. This especially appeals to me as they publish kerrang wgich is a magazine i studied before started my own, i took ideas from it and used them when making my own media product. Baur publishes magazines internationally which is something that IPC doesn't do as it's a UK based company. I think that my magazine would appeal to people in countries all over the world so Baur would be best suited for this. Dance music is big in countries such as Germany and Sweden so if i went with Baur they'd be able to distribute Ministry in these countries where it would sell. My magazine is a monthly, IPC is known for it's weekly magazines rather than monthly so this is another reason to go with Baur. Finally Baur is a larger more recognised company than IPC so this would benefit my magazine helping me distribute it and promote it.

Evaluation slide 6- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In my magazine particular social groups are represented through text, colour and pictures. firstly my magazine is in bright colours such as green and purple, we usually associate these colours with the younger generation as they're bold and fun. The text in my magazine is written in common language. This means that the articles featured are written for the everyday person to understand and are written as we speak. Colloquial language is used throughout. This is what we expect of young people who would be reading the magazine, this is how they would speak in everyday life. Finally the pictures are the thing that represents the target social group the best. All the pictures in my magazine are of young people out having a good time. The group photo especially shows a huge group of fresh faced young people coming together in one place all dancing and drinking. The pictures represent what young people are about, going out and having a good time with their friends.

Evaluation- slide 5 in what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products continued (Contents)

Here is how my media product uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions on the conents page of real media products.

No.9 Competition- one of the main features on my contents page is the competition. It stands out and your attention is drawn to it. As you can see there is no competition on the mixmag contents page.

No.10 Article- this is something i have never seen in mixmag before. I thought my "clubber of the month" idea was really good as it gets the public involved and gives someone a chance to be featured in the magazine. This i believe would appeal to my target audience as on a night out it is common to get a good picture of someone and i'm sure their mates would love to see one of their own pictures in a magazine. this is one of the main ways in which i have developed the forms and conventions of this real media product.

No. 11 main picture- In mixmag there is a large picture which takes up a lot of space on the contents. instead of doing this i chose to put more information on the page. instead of having one main large picture i've used a few pictures all roughly the same size which again are directly linked with the article.

House style- throughout my whole magazine i have used the same text type and colours. I have also used a recognisable logo. Mixmag doesn't have a house style. Again here i have challenged what you would usually see in a dance music magazine. If i were to produce another magazine i would again use the same texts and logo but would change the colour scheme to a different three colours. I think having a house style makes the magazine memorable.

Evaluation- slide 4 in what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products continued (DPS)

Here is how my media product uses or develops forms and conventions on the DPS of a real media product:

No.5 pictures- on the DPS in mixmag they've used a lot of pictures, i decided to challenge to use only a few images that are all very eye catching and they also link directly with my interview. In mixmag there are many pictures used which i feel distract the attention of the reader from the main story. Also my pictures are a lot clearer than the ones in mixmag.

No.6 background- both my product and the professional product have used one block colour for the background. But i have gone with a very bright eye catching colour where as mixmag has used a dull grey/black colour. The colour of my background also fits with the house style of my magazine.

No.7 text- the article in mixmag seems to be very wordy, also the text type is very small. This can put off readers as they "can't be bothered" to read it all and will just move straight on. In my double page spread the interview is very easy to read and isn't too long, the idea is that the reader will stay interested the whole way through the text. With the text a have used a convention of real media products, the colour of my text is one that shows up well on the background. using a dark colour over a bright background gives a good effect. Mixmag does this but in the opposite way using a light colour over a dark colour again drawing your attention.

No.8 sub heading- It is very clear what it is on my DPS, in large edited font you can see it's an interview. This lets the reader know straight away what they are in for as when you look at the page you are drawn to this particular piece of text. In the mixmag issue it's not as easy to distinguish what it is the article is about, it doesn't jump stratight out at you on the page.

Evaluation- slide 3 in what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.

Here is how my media product uses or develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products:

No.1 logo- on the front cover of my magazine and all throughout you will see a logo of a toxic waste sign. This is something that mixmag doesn't have, there isn't a logo they use for their magazine. I believe using a logo is a good way to attract an audience as it's something easy to remember and can be associated with my magazine. For example everyone knows the nike logo is a swoosh.

No.2 competition- The professional product doesn't have any competitions featured on the front page. I though that by putting this on the front it would attract readers to pick up the magazine from the shelf. In some issues Mixmag does contain competitions, it is obviously something a lot of magazines use to attract readers so here i am using a convention of real media products.

No.3 main picture- The main picture on the front of my magazine is a group of young females, this isn't too disimilar to the main cover of mixmag. Although instead of using an artist in the picture i've used a group of dancers, this isn't something you would usually see on the front cover. i used the group of girls because it is true "sex sells" a group of attractive girls does help shift the magazines from the shelf.

No.4 music varieties- At the bottom of the front cover you will see different genres of dance music, this is something that some magazines do use but is not something mixmag the UK's top selling dance music magazine uses. I though putting this there would challenge the norm of a dance music magazine. It tells the reader what they're going to be getting in the magazine.

Evaluation- slide 2 introduction

Here is my media product. I created it using adobe phtoshop and each of the photos featured were taken by me. it took me about 3 months to completely finish. This includes the preliminary task which is where it first started and i started to use photoshop and blogging continueing on to the research for my final product and finally this evaluation.

Final Piece

And here is the finished product! Turned out pretty well i think :)

Mixmag presentation

School magazine evaluation

Over the last 2 weeks we've had to make a front cover and a contents page for a school magazine. We had to put our photoshop and photography skills to use to do this.

On the front cover i used 3 images- one of the dance show, one of a business day and one of two sixth form students. The image of the stage shows us that the school is active in doing shows and students work hard to put on shows for large auiences. The bottom right image is one of younger students in the schoolworking together on one of the business days in school. This re-inforces that the school is Business and Enterprise based. The picture in the bottom left of the sixth form students next to the logo showa they are proud of their school they're also smiling which shows they're happy to be there. In the top right hand corner there is the school logo, this was an obvious for the front page! It's there so the reader knows where the magazine is from.

There isn't alot of text on my front cover. I made up a small quote that links with the schools specialist subject. This tells the reader what the school is best at and what it specialises in. The title of the magazine is right in the middle in black bold writing. I used this text so the reader knew exactly what the magazine was when looking at it. Also the black goes with the red background and the other text which is yellow. These 3 colours are ones which are associated with the school and the school's uniform. Under the main picture there is a headline which shows that is the main story in the magazine.

The contents page also has a recd background with the black writing on top. It makes the text easy to read and again is the colours of the school. There are page numbers and short sentances about main articles that are going to be in the magazine.

In the top right corner there is again the logo of the school. I used the older logo on the contents page to keep things different, also if the reader didn't recognise th one on the front they'll be sure to recognise this classic! In the bottom right there is a picture of a working sixth form class room with text just the the left giving a sneak peek of what's going to be in the next weeks magazine. As it's an OFSTED report the picture links with the text as the classroom looks to be hard at work and all students are always on best behaviour when OFSTED are in!

One strength i think my magazine has is that it's obvious what it is. No matter where you saw you you would know straight away that it is a magazine from St.Mark's school. The colours used, logos and pictures all make it obvious.

A weakness of magazine is that is doesn't look very professional. It may not attract the reader if it was on a shelf as it does look quiet boring.

If i were to start the task again i'd make alot of improvements. Firstly the magazine didn't turn out at all how i had hoped. The pictures on the front cover and contents were ones i took from the shared area on the school computer as the pictures i took would not upload onto the school system. If you have seen my previous blog about my mock up of the magazine you'll see alot of differences! So next time i'll bring in my own camera and lead to use so i know the pictures i take will definately get onto the school system.

Also i had started my magazine in a previous lesson but in the last lesson before it had to be in i couldn't find it on the system anywhere. So i had to start from scratch with one hour to do both the contents page and the front cover. So in future i'd be alot more careful when saving work and i'd leave more time to do it so i could do it as i'd planned in my draft.

From the preliminary task i've learnt quiet alot. I need to plan more carefully and in more detail. I also need to use my time effectively and decide when i'm going to do certain things (BE MORE ORGANISED). I did also learn i few tricks on photoshop which i'll take with me when doing my music magazine.

School magazine plan

This is the plan for my school magazine. I've decided to use the school colours in my text (yellow, black and red). All the text will be bold and easy to read.

I'm going to take my pictures tomorrow around the school. My main story is about a show that the school will be putting on so im hoping to get a good picture of the school stage. I'm also going to include pictures of the common room, the lunch hall and a working class room. I believe these picture will represent the school well.

I'm also going to put the school logo on the front cover and the contents page. The contents page will have a sneak preview of what will be on the next school magazine and also answers to games that would be in the magazine.

The stories that are advertised on the front are ones i believe that would appeal to the students of the school and also the parents.

So lets see how it turns out tomorrow!

HOMEWORK- magazine cover analysis

For homework I had to analyse a magazine cover of my choice. I'll be looking at how it appeals to the target audience, text, language, images and other techniques that are used to make people want to buy the magazine.

Firstly the images on the magazine are very good. The one that catches your eye first is the one of Rihanna. She is a celebrity that is very popular as a fashion icon. There has been a lot of news about her recently and she's been talked about all the time. This will attract the reader straight away. Also the picture of JLS singer Aston on the front cover always attracts the ladies. At the bottom of the front cover we can see 3 celebrities wearing dresses that can be found on the high street, this makes women believe they can look like that if they buy the dress. This is a great advert to have on the front as women want to read on to find out more.

The text on the front is in bold fonts which straight away draws attention. The colours black white and pink are easy to read and catch your eye straight away. The text near the pictures is linked to the picture. The quotes from the celebrities are attractive to the readers too.

The language used in the text is easy to read for anyone and contains a lot of slang which appeals to the general public. Alliteration is used which helps to keep the head lines stuck in your head.

I believe this is a great magazine cover as the target audience is addressed perfectly. The magazine is obviously aimed at women so the editors have put celebs, fashion and beauty on the front. Everything a woman loves! My only criticism is that it may be a tad busy but apart from that a very good cover.

Analysis of university magazines

Today we looked at two front covers of University magazines. One called Newsman by Newman unviversity in Birmingham, the other is QUAD by Queen Mary University of London. We annotated the front covers, commenting on images, text, conent, layout, logo and how the traget audience is addressed.


The Newsman for me wasn't a great front cover for a University magazine. The images were very busy and were not clear. Also not everything on the front cover is relavent to University so may not appeal to the target audience. There is something on the front about video games linking to childhood obesity, this is not needed in this type of magazine let alone to be on the front cover. Although the magazine overall for me isn't as good as QUAD it still has some positive points. The pictures that are easily visible link with the text (the piggy bank and coping with university finance). Also you are told the exact date when the magazine was issued. Lastly there are lots of bright colours where the magazine name is, but overall the colour scheme is a bit much.

For me the QUAD magazine looked a lot more professional. Although the front cover is simple it is easy on the eye and it;s obvious what the magazine is about. The pictures are mostly all good for the magazine, the one i think is slightly irrelivant is the one of Queen Mary. But most of the pictures are to do with success and aspiration. The picture of the students after passing their course is great, they all look very happy and shows the University can bring you success. The text on the left hand side links with the three pictures of the Professors and what's going to be in the magazine. Overall i think QUAD is a good magazine cover as it appeals to the audience, looks professional and you know what the magazine is going to be about.

Preliminary Task Information

In today's lesson Mrs Cliffe outlined what we'r going to have to do in our preliminary task and also gave us a few hints and tips for our magazines.

We were asked to talk to eachother about: Traget audiences, images, language, content, how to attract readers and logos/colours. A lot of ideas were given and i think that my notes are really going to help when it comes to actually starting this task!

After making our own notes we watched a slide show about the secrets of magazine covers. There were lots of hints and tips that would help us when doing this and finally doing our music magazine. One tip i found useful was that green, white and black were not great colours to put on the front cover of a magazine also that in pictures it's more attractive if the person has their eyes wide open. Obviously I'm not going to write all the secrets down because that would be telling!

Lastly we got to look at some of the front covers from last year. We spoke about them as a class then rated them out of 10. Looking at covers that have been made by other students gave me some good ideas and also showed me things i should steer clear of like over crowding the front cover. It was good to see the reaction from the class and to hear what they said.

HOMEWORK.

This is the picture i started with. If you have read my previous blog, you'll be wondering where the trolleys are! Well sadly i couldn't use that picture as we couldn't get it onto the school system. So i decided to get a picture from google images.
So going from my base picture i've managed to turn it into my front cover. I've added text, pictures and i've also edited the picture slightly. I firstly chose the background picture because it's a beautiful picture of the English countryside. This ties in with the name of my magazine "Our Country" the name of the magazine denotes that it will be about England. But also the word country has a double meaning, the magazine it's not just about the country England it's about England's countryside. I used this particular text as i thought it would appeal to the audiencei've aimed the magazine at. It adds a bit of class to the front cover. For the main articles that are featured i used a more clear and bold text. I done this so that it was easy for the reader to see what will be featured in the magazine. I super imposed a picture of Bill Oddy onto the cover as he is someone who everyone associates with nature. He is a famous t.v presenter, nature lover and book writter. There is an interview in the magazine with him too so i thought he should have a main place on the front cover to attract readers. I also took this picture from google images, i then cut it out using the magnet lasso tool. I then used the "free transform" option follwed by cut and then i pasted Bill onto my front cover. Lastly i edited the original image slightly. I enhanced the colours of the water using the colour editing tools and i also made it look brighter by lowering the shadow and by putting the brightness up. I done this to make it more pleasing to the eye (not that it wasn't a lovely picture anyway).

All together i believe that the tools i and techniques i used on photoshop helped me to produce a good front cover for a nature magazine.

Yesterdays lesson 20/01/10

In yesterdays lesson we were let loose with the cameras! We were asked to go and take pictures of whatever we liked for the front cover of our nature magazine we'd be doing in our next lesson. I took a really good picture of the stream near our school, it had 3 trolleys dumped in it and i'd planned for the main feature of my magazine to be about how the environment is being ruined. I also took other pictures of the little patches of woods around the school that had been littered and ruined. Overall a good lesson!

Photoshop.

First time posting a blog and it's about photoshop, lovely. Well today we came into the library and learned about photoshop. I now know how to edit pictures in different layers. I know how to feather them, enhance them and do other wonderful things. Hopefully what i've learned today will help me when making my magazine.