Evaluation Question1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (I.e. of music magazines)

The title

My title is not very unique and is quite plain compared to other magazine titles but this; I think works well with the genre of my music magazine. Although the font is quite formal unlike some magazines such as ‘Kerrang’ which is quite un-tidy for the font; but works well because of the genre of music it links too.

Photos and Images

I have developed photos further into editing compared to other magazine pictures. My photographs and edited by using filters to contrast or make them bolder or fainter. Although magazines such as Interview have used editing using black and white but also added a tint of another colour such as the example below of singer Ellie Goulding there is a slight colour of blue within the photo rather than plain white and black. Yet I do think Interview magazine does show a lot more modelling photographs. My magazine also has a lot of images which have been taking outside which shows a difference to the normal pictures in magazine’s being took inside on sets.

Colour schemes

The colours I used for my magazine were quite neutral, for example the cream and the gold/green colour which all created quite a calm colour scheme for the magazine cover. Although I did use black a lot in my magazine as I wanted parts of the text to stand out rather than be too soft with the cream background. Many other magazines seem to keep to all bold colours or all neutral colours whereas my colour scheme has a slight twist with both sharp colours (black) and mellow colours ( creams, light browns and greens and blues).

Page Layouts

The pages are presented in similar ways to the normal magazine. For example the double page spread; the writing is shown to be in columns with images and quotes around the information. The images however are overlapping and I have used various editing to make them fade into each other. The front cover is also conventional; the masthead is at the top of the page with quotes, band names and other various cover lines around the main picture, although it is not very common to have a full picture as the cover background. My contents page is pretty much the same as any normal contents page of a music magazine. It has the list of things that are included in the magazine, although the layout of this is quite unique as I have more or less put it into the paragraph style which is quite squashed together.  There are also photos to show what is going to be involved in the magazine with numbers equivalent to the page numbers they are on.


Front Cover


Acoustic Magazine is of a simliar genre to my magazine, although the layout and designed, compared to my own is very differntly set out. Acoustic Magazine uses quite bold colours, such as red white and black whereas my own magazine, Unplugged has a more softer tone for the front cover as i have used quite neutral colours shown in my colour pallet in the above section. I think my magazine creates a more female effect to the magazine, but Acoustic magazine seems be for a more male and female target audience. I have used more handwritten style fonts unlike the bold fonts on the Acoustic magazine.
Although my magazine does have the usual conventions of a magazine, such as the eye-catching coverlines, the price and also a single image on the front.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine can include a variety of social groups. I have included music and also there is a hint of creativity with editing of photographs. The double page spreads below are examples of similar music genres (Taylor Swift). They are alike my magazine because both of the musical artists are young females, attracting a more female audience. The neutral colours that I have used throughout my magazine present a stereotypical soft acoustic feel to the spread and also the way the photographs have been took in the examples and in my own magazine are simliar. For example the musical artist is often not looking directly into the camera; making the photograph look more natural and not asif it was an actual photoshot. 

I wanted to use simliar photographs to ones of Taylor Swift as  I think the images of her show what my genre of music is. I tried to use natual light- sunlight, to create the summer effect to my magazine. For my mock I used similar style clothing to represent the almost 'country' or 'folk' style. Yet in my second photoshoot i wanted the images to abit more bolder and more casual to attract more of an auidence, not just young girls.

Evaluation Question 3



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

Code and Theory are an independent institution which would work well with for my magazine. The company has worked with magazines, fashion industry, consumer products and various others. Because my magazine is quite unique and also has a lot of elements of fashion within my magazine it would help with the fan base because the company already have links to fashion magazines also. They also produce websites for the magazines which means that as the magazine becomes more known to the public, and site can be produced to introduce more fans and people that are interested. Although it is a independant company it is becoming more and more popular and has won awards for their offices in New York and San Fransico.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Ella is 18, studying art, music and English literature.  She is very creative and is interested in photography and using it with her art work. She also enjoys going to festivals, rather than gig and single band concerts; she prefers to have a variety of bands and artists to listen too. She enjoys going to gigs because not there are well-known bands yet also un-known bands that interest her and that she likes to find out about the listen too. On her Ipod would be bands such as Mumford and Sons, Frank Turner, One Night Only, The Strokes, Taylor Swift, Snow patrol and also less known musical artists such as Neon Trees. There will also be music that is more well known and more than likely in the top 40 charts to keep up with the present music. She will enjoy acoustic versions of songs rather than the original and also will be interested in older classic rock and folk music. For example Dire Straits, The Eagles and Bryan Adams.
The flowered patterns on my magazine would target Ella because they are feminine. Although, Ella can be quite the tom-boy she still is the 'girly' girl underneath.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

How does my magazine attract the target audience? on Prezi

Pattern- The flowered pattern has a lot of influence on my target audience. It introduced the female audience to my magazine, which is what I want. Because of the thought of flowers being feminine, females will automatically be attracted and think ' wow that’s pretty' therefore it has caught their attention which is the idea.
Photographs/Edits- The range of photographs in my magazine will attract an audience which is interested in the photography side of art/media and also because of the included edits this will attract the more creative person. Therefore even if the person interested in photography is male he would look at it for that inspiration rather than just the female information/style to the magazine. Although on the downside the pattern could put the male audience of my magazine before they look at the creativity side of it.

Evaluation Question 6

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

For the majority of my magazine I used Adobe Photoshop Elements to produce the pages I needed for my magazine. I had not had a lot of experience with the programme but with practice and help I managed to learn the basic’s to develop my product. With Photoshop I learnt how to ‘cut’ out an image such as a person and then use another background for the image to lie on. Within my magazine I also included the opacity tool to create the effect photos were fading out into the background and so to make them less bold. After experiencing the programme for several weeks I became a lot more accustom to it and found it easier to work with. I also found out how to do various other effects on Photoshop; such as the enhancing and brightness tool, and changing the filters of photos.

I also used various online editing sites (Picnik and Rollip). I used these for the filters on my images. I learnt how to use the contrasts and brightness on these sites to get the filters to look how I wanted them to look on the photographs.  

I also used my mobile phone to transfer the work I did at home to the computers at school. I Have never tried this before but I found it quite easy and simple; like using a memory stick.

 

The camera I used was DSLR which i borrowed from a friend. I had never used a camera like it before and found it incredible to use. I tried out different effects and focusing which made the photographs look professional. I did learn about the compositions and positions of the model when taking the photograph and how to focus on different elements of the shot.

It was quite difficult to take a show when outside and using sunlight because of the shadows and in many of my shots I could see my own shadow over my model which did not look very professional, so it took some time for my sort out the perfect place to stand and take the picture effectively for the shot. Here is an example of a shot that i struggled to take of because of the sunlight.

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

For both tasks I used,mainly Photoshop to construct the magazines. For my school magazine prelim I learnt to use the eraser tool, which helped to make the image look smoother on the background and therefore i could use a block coloured background. For the front covers of the magazine i used totally different camera shots. For the school magazine i used a more zoomed in shot, but not a close up and also used the eraser tool. Whereas for my final front cover i used a more mid shot photo on a more detailed background of the picture.

For the contents in the school magazine i used simple fonts and did not use the full potential of photoshop, although for my final contents i used techniques such as changing the opacity and learning how to use layers and how to bring photos,writing and other objects forwards or behind other objects. I also used many photo editing sites such as Rollip and Picnik which i did not use for my school magazine.

Overall these programmes have helped my knowledge to improve my magazine to get it looking professional. With practice with Photoshop it has helped to improve my final magazine look well finished and neat.

The shot in my prelim magazine is a side/mid shot, and also my final magazine is a similar shot.

In my prelim the image was quite small and left a lot of blank space for my to write cover lines, although this was good in one way because it was easy to see it also made my magazine cover look quite bare and boring looking. Although for my final magazine because i used a full image for my cover it made it easier to make it look not so boring and dull. Although it look some time to fit the cover lines of effectively so they were not covering the main image of the model. And also it was hard to find a coloured font that showed up on the background that was eye catching.

The title for my prelim was not very bold or noticeable and was quite a dull font for both the title and the cover lines. The contents was quite bare and not very eye-catching for the reader and left a lot white plane space which did not look professional or realistic. Whereas my magazine showed a variety of colours and fronts to make it interesting and effective. Although there is still some plane space in my contents I have used the flowered pattern to cover up this and make it look more professional and smart looking.

New Article

Rosa has every reason to have a smug look on her face; after all she is the new acoustic sensation! At only 19 she is already heading for the musical spotlight.

Rosa strolls into the room like she’s just meeting up with an old friend. After infecting the population with her captivating songs I still don’t think she can quite grasp the reality of this dream come true.

Good Morning! Nice to see you today

Morning, good to see you too!

Wow, three late night gigs in a row, bet you haven’t been getting up this early in the morning lately then?

Oh god know! I didn’t think I’d be able to make it today, I’ve been that tired! Reminds me of getting up for college back in the days!

Have you been taking your music career a lot more serious recently?

Well, I’d like to say yes but truthfully, not really. I’m still the un-organised person I was before all this hit the scene! I mean at times I can be quite serious with important parts of my career but most of the time I’m just having a laugh and probably a bit annoying…

What is it like to have had this happened to you so fast?

I can’t really explain it ‘cause I can’t remember that well. It all happened to fast; I never really expected it to happen. It feels like only days ago I was singing round my bedroom for fun, now I’m singing round stage full of people singing my songs; it’s just the weirdest thing to experience.

So, what was it like being nominated, and winning as the best uprising artist 2011? Must have been a pretty big thing for you

Wow I can’t say in words how surprised I was when I was only nominated for it! I think you could tell how I felt when I ran on stage to collect the award! Can’t say I can remember much of it after the night I had afterwards! 

How are you feeling about your soon to be released album – ‘The World Comes Alive at Night’?

Well, I’m pretty excited but at the same time nervous.  It would be incredible if people love my album as much as they loved my singles, but oh well we’ll have to see how it goes.  

So I over heard some tale that you were going on tour this summer with the band One Night Only?

Haha, I wondered when this would come out! I think they found out I’m physically in love with them somehow and so asked me to tour with them. It’s going to be unbelievable for me.  I just can’t wait for it all to kick off in August.

Do you fancy telling us when the tour dates are to keep us out of our misery?

Well I would love to tell you, but to be honest I don’t know an exact date; but I know, its killing me too!

Do you have plans to be in any festival line ups this year?

So far it’s just Glastonbury! Which is great cause’ a lot of my favourite acts are going to be on the same stage as me.

Any future plans in the up-coming months you want to tell us about?

Apart from the events we’ve just talked about I can’t say there’s much cracking on in the next few months.  There is a small summer gig in Newquay on the 5^th of July I’ve been asked to play at so if your out that way don’t forget to come see me!

Is there any reason to the name of you album?

Well to me, the world does come alive at night! Lately that’s how it’s been for me and the band I’ve been with. We’ve been sleeping all day and partying all night long! It’s a bit different to a couple of years ago when I was bed by 10!

To a lot of people you seem the innocent type, do you agree?

I’d agree with that I like to keep myself to myself.  I know I’m not the kind of girl to get messed up with drink and drugs, but I do know how to have a good time and I wouldn’t say I’m the miss ‘goody goody’ everyone thinks I am.

You seem to have took all this fame pretty well, how do you cope?!

To have people recognise you and approach you is great, I love it. But there’s always the people that try to put you down by criticizing I don’t get them kind of people, if they’ve got a problem keep it to themselves cause I can’t be dealing with them!

I also heard that you’ve started on your next album as well? You’ve been busy lately haven’t you?!

Haha, I can randomly wake up with tunes and lyrics in my head. I have to write them down as soon as cause’ I don’t want to loose them! I haven’t really started my album just get I’ve just been gathering a few ideas together. It still has a lot of work to be put into it but I love the challenge.

Good luck with it all. Have you had much inspiration from other artists to help you along the way with you music?

Defiantly! I couldn’t have made the music I have without some of the old band I grew up listening too, thanks to my mum and dad! Frank Turner and Tiffany Page are pretty excellent singers too and influenced me on so many of my songs!

Finally, what do you have planned to do today?

Well, I was thinking of maybe doing some shopping, most of my clothes are lost cause’ of being on the road for such a long time! I’m hopeless at keeping things together. Then I think I might go sleep and prepare for another night out performing. Lives great for me at the moment!

Well, it sounds like your enjoying yourself! And I don’t blame you.

Thanks for the chat and good luck in the future.

Thank you for having me its been great.

Final

photo negatives Idea

To make my double page spread a bit different i liked the effects of layers so i scanned old photo negatives onto my computer and to not make them so bold played with the opacity tool on photo shop to make them look washed like. I did this also with various photos on my double page spread. i am pleased with he out-come and think it looks quite artistic and unique.

Photograph filters

This filter gives a stained effect. There is quite alot of the yellow picking up on the image and the sun-light is enhanced dramatically. The background has almost turned to a blue colour which looks quite unusual.

This filters gives the photograpgh a vintage blurred effect which i think is quite differnet, yet i do no think it will be suitable for my magazine because it makes the photo look dull and old.

This effect, like the first enhances the sun-light quite a lot. It has also made the colouring qutie pale which could work well the with the calm mellow feel to my magazine.

In this image i have the filter has been darkened around the sides and generally all over quite a dark deep filter. I do not know wether this style will fit well with my magazine, unless i use the tool on photoshop to make the opicaity less so it fades the pictures slightly. So it is not too bold for the magazine.

I really like this filter as the sun - light has been enhanced, like various others, yet it has a more summer feel o the image which is what i wanted for my magazine.

This filter also gives a vintage effect and has the darker edges but not quite as bold as the filter before. The image is also quite contrasted although parts are pastel like colours, comparing well with the darker shadowed areas.

In this image the filter has brightened the overall image. This works well to keep the natural picture but also the enhance the colours to make them bolder, for exampe the green grass and then blue sky. It give the effect of summer to the photograpgh.

This image has a hint of a black and white filter throughout, yet the colour is still coming through. There is quite a lot of contrast in the filter and again the light has been enhanced which has make the model look a lot more paler. I do not think it gives the right bold, bright effect for my magazine and is quite dull looking.

These last few images are very similar and all,  i think, work very well with the enhanment of sunlight to make the images brighter and noticable.

Edited Artist Profile

After having feedback on my mock up magazine i decided it would be best to develop a new artist profile as i wanted to make my magazine more grown up and realistic.

Age - 20
Name – Rosa Gilmore
Songs released – Tonights The Night 
Albums Released – Say It How You Mean It
Gigs/Concerts – Local concerts and also smaller venues in Manchester, Portsmouth, Leicestershire and Birmingham
Favourite band/artists & musical inspiration – Icarus Account, Frank Turner, Tiffany Page, Taylor Swift, One Night Only, Vampire Weekend.
Favourite Quotation –

Teachers Feedback

Front Cover -
- more emphasis on the masthead
- check spelling
- decided whether I want the guitar in the shot
- add a bar code
- better separation between the model and the background [ layer model onto background so you can change opacity of background ]


Double Page Spread -
- add more to article
- article is 'wish washy' and young tone to it


Contents -
- spelling
- make page numbers fit contents
- too much blank space, use pictures to fill space
- have numbers on pictures to relate to each other


I think I need to concentrate on the article to make it more grown up and more interesting for the reader.
I also think that it might be better to have just one page on the contents, therefore there will hopefully be not alot of un-filled space making it look bare. I think I will have to keep checking my work over and over to make sure I do not have small spelling mistakes in my work as it will look un-proffesional. 
I think the picture on my front cover could be changed to a more grown up pictures, because as i've looking through my work i do feel the magazine had a 'childish' tone to it, as my feedback has made me realise this.


The feedback I recieved has helped me a lot to look back on my work and change parts which do not work well.

Ideas

This is an idea I had for my contents. I realised my first idea would be quit difficult to do because there would be a lot of space and it would be hard to fill.

Although if I was to use this idea for my final contents page I think I should add some more images at the bottom so there wasn't so much open space.
I have still used the patterned flowers on my contents because for my double page spread i could use them again to relate back tot  he contents and make it all link up together. I have used the same colours as the pattern for the colours of my font. I have also added a picture similar to the front cover to make it all link together.

This is an idea I hd for the front cover. It is quite differnet to my first idea, yet I think this works better because there is more darker areas where i can add more coverlines and make them stand out more. I have again used the colours for the coverlines as the same of the pattern in my contents page to link them all together.

More Photographs

These four photos are my favorite pictures. I think the sun n the background looks really effective and professional. I think that with some editing i could get the images looking how i would wanted them in my magazine. Also because parts of the image are quite dark they could look good as my front cover because i could add quite a lot of coverlines on my cover, unlike in my mock up cover the image was very light and had quite a lot of colour which made it difficult to add as many coverlines. 

These images also would look very effective on the front cover, yet i think it will be difficult to add cover lines because the models clothing is very dark so i would be hard to add text onto the different colours. If i wanted to used this image i could use photo shop and cut out the model and use edits and filters to tone down the darkness of the model and make the opacity better.

These images are quite natural which could work well in my magazine because that is the type of effect i was looking for in my magazine.

I think these type of images will work well in my double page spread. I could used a full page to put one of these images on or i could use half a page and add more smaller images as well.

These are also some of my favorite images. I would really like to include these in my magazine. I could used them as my contents page and just use the image as the background, or i could add them to the double page spread with various other images. I would prefere one of these images to be quite large in my magazine because otherwise i do not think it will have the right effect.

I like the colous on this photograph because it is bright and the blue sky makes the image a lot more 'summery' which will work well with my magazine because most of the image inspiration i put on my blog are photos took in the summer.

This image is quite serious which would look good in my magazine because most of the images are with my model with a happy expresssion. Although i do need different facical expressions to expand the pictures in my magzine. I really like the focusing on this image.

I am not sure on wether i like this image or not. I like the how the sun is shinning onto the models face, yet i am not sure on the pose in this picture.