1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In my media coursework I created a music based magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread which i have constructed by looking at example music magazines, based on my chosen genre, such as NME, Q magazine and several others.
In my front cover I included, a large mid shot image which I taken myself which had to be suitable for my genre of music magazines, the clothing had to be appealing and any props used such as instruments like Guitars, Drum sets etc. I included a left hand side third, cover lines, puff/plug, Date/price/barcode/features and promotions. I had to make a masthead for my magazine cover myself and I chose the masthead I used because it stands out and goes with my magazine colour scheme. In my Contents page I included columns, images, captions and a colour scheme which would all be found in a real magazine. For my contents page i had to make lots of improvements and changes but decided to use a image of the Internet to go in my contents page, but the text and layout goes with the rest of the magazine.
My Double page spread is the final thing I constructed, in which I included my main image which was a photograph i taken myself, varied font and page numbers. I had to follow the colour and design scheme of my front cover and contents page, I also had to think about the images I had taken in which I was going to put in my magazine, was it suitable and did it apply to my magazine. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine represents a certain genre of music which I chose, it is Indie music. This genre of music magazine would appeal to people who like that music, from teenagers to young adults, sometimes older adults. From the research I carried out my magazine is aimed towards teenagers from about 15 year's old and male and female audience, also from my research I found out what parts of magazines appeals to my audience, so I used this to create my colour scheme, my article, images and features within the magazine. My inspiration was the NME magazine which is similar to my magazine as it is the same genre and target audience, the image I used would be similar to those that would be found in a music magazine such as NME, and I stuck to using genre based images.I chose a reasonable price for my magazine as £2.50 as this was the price that was most commonly chosen in my questionnaire results.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product media product and why?
My magazine would be distributed in a shop, such as a general supermarket or in a music shop such as HMV which sell music magazines and Cd's and DVDs, it is a widely based store and is a big branch for the sales of music Cd's and magazines. Music magazines could also be sold online (web zines). Magazines are also sold in book stores which sell music magazines. Online magazines are published by all magazine companies such as NME and Q magazine, my magazine would be suitable as an online magazine, as it is similar to these magazines. Schools may also sell weekly or monthly music magazines if they have a library, which normally sell magazines as they are brought out. My magazine could also be distributed at a gig, which could be promoting music Cd's or selling magazines, this would be a good way as people who go to gigs look out for up and coming music artists and bands, and this would be the same way for my music magazine.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
My target audience is teenagers upwards from about 15 years old. I chose this target audience because it was the most appealing age range for music and my chosen genre. I haven't changed my audience throughout my process as i thought that the one i chose was the most suitable, it is the easiest age range for me to appeal at. I didn't find it difficult to aim towards this audience as I knew what they preferred and demanded from a music magazine and genre through the research i carried out. From my questionnaires and interviews I found out single opinions and opinion's of people in a group or on their own, and asked them questions like how much they would pay for a music magazine or how often they would buy one. The answers from these questions would help me to construct my final magazine pages, and help me aim towards my chosen target audience. My choice is partly based on my personal influence because my favourite genre of music is also Indie, this is useful as I know quite a few bands and artists that I could include in my magazine, and I know a lot of friends who are the same age as my target age group who also like this genre of music.
I intended to attract my audience by making my magazine appeal to them, through the images I used, they had to stand out, also the colour scheme I used, it had to stand out and look good, the features i included in my magazine would also grab attention, such as posters and Cd's,etc. Also my magazine must follow the Genre of Indie music. I didn't manipulate my images for my covers as I felt they were ideal for my magazine, but all I did was cut around the images and place them on my cover and magazine pages. The article for my magazine must also pull my target audience in, it must be interesting and stand out. The price of my magazine was based on the early research I carried out, and from my questionnaires I found out the price that would be the best and what I should include in the magazine to grab peoples attention. The masthead I chose to use must have also been appealing and must be a key part of the front cover to attract my target audience, the masthead I chose is bold and stands out on the page and appeals with my music magazine. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The software I used during the process was; Adobe Photoshop, where I got my manipulation ideas, and I used this to create my front cover and contents page. I also used Adobe Indesign, I used this to create my double page spread. These are collaborative software, which I used for the construction of my music magazine. I used additional software such as Microsoft word to write up my article for the double page spread and Blogger.com was used so that I can type up my evaluation and have my work analysed online. In photoshop I manipulated my chosen masthead and cut around the images i wanted to use for my pages, and i added small items like Barcode, Price, Web address and Date to make the magazine look like a real magazine. Indesign helped me to create my DPS and to organise it. I had to manipulate bits of text to make it stand out more, like adding strokes and shadows to the text. The only manipulation i had to do was that I had to clone part of the person’s hair to make his hair look full as the original photo had the top of the head cut out because of the position of the shot. It was necessary to do this because it was covering my masthead, so I moved it down to reveal most of my masthead. I also made minor effects like shadows for the text and colour strokes for the text to make it stand out on the background. The photos above are images I had taken to include in my final magazine product, the one with the guitar is the image I used for my front cover and I didn't manipulate it, but just cut around it and placed it on the page. The images below are my contents page and my DPS. 
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In my preliminary task i had to create a magazine for my school, it helped me learn the basics of photoshop and indesign, as i had to create a front page and contents, some of the things i used for the preliminary task i have used to progress with the construction of my front page, contents page and Double page spread on Photoshop and indesign. The difference between the preliminary task and my final magazine are that on the music magazine has a lot more detail and is constructed better, it has a colour scheme, uses better images and has better layout. (Masthead, Text Left hand side third). On the preliminary task i used adobe indesign to create the front page for the school news magazine, and to do the contents page was also indesign. I inserted images and logos of my school website and of the Internet. After using both collaborative software's, i preferred to use adobe photoshop as i found it easier to have control of the layers and is easier to deal with text and image manipulations.
No comments:
Post a Comment