Tuesday, 4 March 2014
Tuesday, 4 February 2014
Evaluation: Q7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back to the preliminary task back in September, I have improved a lot regarding the creation of my magazine. In the preliminary task, I used Photoshop to create the school magazine which allowed me to solidify my knowledge of the programme.
When it came to making my final magazine product, we used the programme InDesign which allowed us to create an improved and professional look. As the whole programme's sole purpose is to create magazines, it was clear as to why we should use it - there are a wide variety of tools to use opposed to Photoshop where there are only the minority. When it came to taking images for my preliminary task, they lacked professionalism and I didn't take into consideration the poses, costumes and props very well.
The photos, I feel, finalise the whole magazine and if you end up with a bad set of photos then it will highly influence how professional and successful your magazine becomes. When it came to my real photo shoot, I prepared a lot beforehand unlike how I did for my preliminary task as I wasn't very prepared at all. I planned out exactly what photos I wanted and planned all of the outfits and make-up and hair looks beforehand so I knew what my cover and overall magazine would roughly look like. I took over 200 images in total, so I had a wide variety to choose from in contrast to the preliminary task where I only had around 5 images to choose for the front cover!
As you can see from the comparison of my two front covers, the preliminary magazine lacks realism unlike my music magazine which looks similar to other music magazines on the stalls. My progress mainly came from looking at a huge variety of real music magazines and using their codes and conventions and adapting them to my style of music. This meant that I was sure that my magazine would be as successful as other top magazines on the market. The main skill that i gained between making my preliminary task and the real thing.
Planning also made a huge difference when it came to the whole creation of my music magazine. When we created the preliminary magazine, we weren't given a lot of time to plan, prepare and organise exactly what we wanted our magazine to look like, or plan the features such as the images, sell lines etc. When I planned for my music magazine, I made sure that I had a list of contents ideas, sell lines and a well-written article as well as a draft drawing of the front cover as I didn't want to fall back into the same hole that I had with my preliminary magazine. This meant that the content of my magazine fitted in very well and effectively with the genre and overall vibe of my magazine.
Overall, I definitely learnt how to enhance the magazine's quality and professionalism opposed to my initial school magazine for my preliminary task.
Evaluation: Q6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
Prior to this project, I was quite familiar with Photoshop so I was able to get started straight away with editing my phones in a professional manner. In GCSE media, I was taught the basic skills of Photoshop and how different tools are used to create certain effects. I have previously used Actions on Photoshop which are preset edits which enable you to 'play' the edit onto your image. I gave my images an authentic and rustic look which fits within the genre of the magazine and makes the overall image appear more classy and professional. Using these Action effects enable me to grasp the vibe of the magazine that I wouldn't have necessarily been able to capture without the tool. I also used the Magic tool a lot to remove the background from images, as well as the Patch tool to remove any small blemishes and make the image appear more soft. I enjoyed playing around with the brightness and hue's of the images as well, to make the colours appear more vivid on the magazine to really capture the essence of the magazine.
InDesign is a much more professional program to make magazines opposed to Photoshop. It provides you with a template which you can input onto each page, (eg. page numbers, issue numbers). This made the flow and creation of my magazine much quicker and really sped up the process of creating my magazine. This also allowed me to focus more on the content instead of wasting time creating necessary boxes which I would have had to create in Photoshop. The text input in InDesign allows you to fit your text around photos in a very simplistic way - Text wrap lets you select a picture and the text automatically fits around the picture just like that! You can also change the distance of which you which the text wrap fits around. InDesign also features a tool called Paragraph Styles; this enables you to set each part of text to a particular setting where it basically forms a duplicate of the main set style. This makes it a lot more easy and quick to create text such as titles and subheadings as you don't need to keep going back and change the font style and size for each format. You are also able to make colour swatches and save them onto the document so it was a lot easier to get the colours of my house style quickly when I needed them without losing them. Each tool I used on InDesign added a new, professional look to my magazine which made it clear as to why top magazine editors use this software to create their magazines. It's very quick, easy and reliable whilst creating an incredible end result. I found it very easy to work with and believe that these little changes really go a long way in contrast to Photoshop which all add up to make the final product look more appealing to the audience.
To take my images, I used a Canon SLR camera as it enabled me to take high quality images which is mandatory for any successful magazine. As my magazine needed to be completed to the best of my ability, I felt it was necessary to use a white screen as it allows the audience to focus on the model and nothing else. White screens are effective because they are very simple and plain, and can easily be edited on softwares such as Photoshop to enhance the image. The lights enabled me to change the way my images appeared and allowed me to create the best looking images for my shoot, and the lights also allowed me to cast the shadow I wanted so that the editing process was a lot easier and smoother. The lights and the SLR camera were the most important to me as they created high quality images which made my magazine look professional and realistic.
To take my images, I used a Canon SLR camera as it enabled me to take high quality images which is mandatory for any successful magazine. As my magazine needed to be completed to the best of my ability, I felt it was necessary to use a white screen as it allows the audience to focus on the model and nothing else. White screens are effective because they are very simple and plain, and can easily be edited on softwares such as Photoshop to enhance the image. The lights enabled me to change the way my images appeared and allowed me to create the best looking images for my shoot, and the lights also allowed me to cast the shadow I wanted so that the editing process was a lot easier and smoother. The lights and the SLR camera were the most important to me as they created high quality images which made my magazine look professional and realistic.
Evaluation: Q5) How did you attract/address your audience?
The main way in which I attracted my target audience was by the cover image and content featured inside the magazine. The initial attention-grabbing feature is the compelling close-up image I used on the front cover which appeals to the audience and intrigues the audience to purchase the magazine. The colour scheme, of which follows my popular house style of red, white and black, attracts the audience as it's big, bright and bold which stands out and makes the magazine look attractive for the buyer.
I decided to create two front-covers to enhance audience interaction as I know what appeals to them and what will ensure the magazine to sell. The first cover features the model giving direct eye contact whilst looking bare and wearing red lipstick - this makes the model appeal to both genders as she can be seen as an idol to women and quite sexualised to males therefore engaging both of the sexes to purchase the magazine to find out more about her as she lures them in. The second front cover features the same model, however this time she is screaming with the lyrics and thoughts in her mind surrounding her. This cover is for fans of the artist and the magazine; this helps the magazine to sell more as it gives a better insight to the artist's life and makes the audience want to own both covers as it's a special edition feature of which is quite rare to buy; as fans they will feel obliged to own it.
Once the audience opens the magazine, they are glued to all of the hot topics I have chosen to include in the contents page and they won't know where to look first. The list along the left hand side of the contents page contains a list of all of the features in the magazine; I have chosen to list the features in this position of the magazine because it is typically the first thing that the audience looks at and the features are somewhat the highlights of the magazine as they're different in each edition which makes the audience quite excited to see what is contained in the magazine. I have also included a mini review on the conents page to maximise and increase new acts as almost every reader will go to the contents page whereas they wouldn't all necessarily visit a page of someone they don't know about. Regulars are listed on the right hand side which informs and locates the normal features to the audience. By having everything neatly laid out on the contents page, it makes it uch easier for readers to navigate theselves around the magazine with ease.
My article tone is very relaxed which also puts the reader at ease; it allows the to relax and enjoy the magazine and pictures inside it and creates personal relationships with them. By having a very light-hearted interview, the reader is able to laugh along with the article and understand it fully which enables them to really enjoy it.
Appearance-wise, I decided to make my magazine have a very sleek, professional and chic look. The house-style of my magazine is red, white and black - colours which connote power, love and passion - all of which I believe my magazine has. Red is also a very gender neutral colour and highlights the beauty and loyalty of the magazine. Red appeals greatly to the audience therefore making it look professional and attractive to the buyer. This gives the magazine a style that people will remember and look for in the future, especially on shelves as it is very eye-catching.
By using all of my own images, I felt it gave the magazine a real and genuine look. Using self-taken gig images immediately informs the reader of the sort of concerts which will be discussed, whilst also indicating that the magazine interacts with the audience and credits the gig-goers by using their images - a lot of people are interested in being featured in magazines for their own taken images therefore using this feature has created a unique selling point for my magazine which attracts my audience.
In earlier blog posts, I mentioned using new media to attract my specific target audience as through research I discovered that my target audience are thoroughly engaged with spending the majoirty of their time online on social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. I have taken to these social networking websites by creating accounts with them to promote the magazine further. This enables the audience to stay in the loop constantly with the magazine and increase personal relationships with the magazine and help them to gain more information. I have also created a QR barcode onto my contents page so that the readers can scan their smart phones to link them straight to our website.
I decided to create two front-covers to enhance audience interaction as I know what appeals to them and what will ensure the magazine to sell. The first cover features the model giving direct eye contact whilst looking bare and wearing red lipstick - this makes the model appeal to both genders as she can be seen as an idol to women and quite sexualised to males therefore engaging both of the sexes to purchase the magazine to find out more about her as she lures them in. The second front cover features the same model, however this time she is screaming with the lyrics and thoughts in her mind surrounding her. This cover is for fans of the artist and the magazine; this helps the magazine to sell more as it gives a better insight to the artist's life and makes the audience want to own both covers as it's a special edition feature of which is quite rare to buy; as fans they will feel obliged to own it.
Once the audience opens the magazine, they are glued to all of the hot topics I have chosen to include in the contents page and they won't know where to look first. The list along the left hand side of the contents page contains a list of all of the features in the magazine; I have chosen to list the features in this position of the magazine because it is typically the first thing that the audience looks at and the features are somewhat the highlights of the magazine as they're different in each edition which makes the audience quite excited to see what is contained in the magazine. I have also included a mini review on the conents page to maximise and increase new acts as almost every reader will go to the contents page whereas they wouldn't all necessarily visit a page of someone they don't know about. Regulars are listed on the right hand side which informs and locates the normal features to the audience. By having everything neatly laid out on the contents page, it makes it uch easier for readers to navigate theselves around the magazine with ease.
My article tone is very relaxed which also puts the reader at ease; it allows the to relax and enjoy the magazine and pictures inside it and creates personal relationships with them. By having a very light-hearted interview, the reader is able to laugh along with the article and understand it fully which enables them to really enjoy it.
Appearance-wise, I decided to make my magazine have a very sleek, professional and chic look. The house-style of my magazine is red, white and black - colours which connote power, love and passion - all of which I believe my magazine has. Red is also a very gender neutral colour and highlights the beauty and loyalty of the magazine. Red appeals greatly to the audience therefore making it look professional and attractive to the buyer. This gives the magazine a style that people will remember and look for in the future, especially on shelves as it is very eye-catching.
By using all of my own images, I felt it gave the magazine a real and genuine look. Using self-taken gig images immediately informs the reader of the sort of concerts which will be discussed, whilst also indicating that the magazine interacts with the audience and credits the gig-goers by using their images - a lot of people are interested in being featured in magazines for their own taken images therefore using this feature has created a unique selling point for my magazine which attracts my audience.
In earlier blog posts, I mentioned using new media to attract my specific target audience as through research I discovered that my target audience are thoroughly engaged with spending the majoirty of their time online on social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. I have taken to these social networking websites by creating accounts with them to promote the magazine further. This enables the audience to stay in the loop constantly with the magazine and increase personal relationships with the magazine and help them to gain more information. I have also created a QR barcode onto my contents page so that the readers can scan their smart phones to link them straight to our website.
Evaluation: Q4) Who would be the audience for your magazine?
The audience that I hope to appeal to are males and females aged between 16-24. My magazine is targeted towards both genders as it contains features that appeal to both. I believe that my age range is effective because they are very engaged with music, especially upcoming artists opposed to older generations who seem to lean more towards popular and well known musicians. Those younger than 16 are less likely to listen to listen to indie/alternative music as they usually listen to pop and chart music which differs to my genre. Also, the language used in my magazine can sometimes be too explicit for those under 16 years old.
My target audience varies from young adults to mature adults within the social class of ABC1 so it caters to a lot of people. The typical individual of this audience tends to follow the latest trends and keep up with new styles and upcoming artists as well as popular artists too, which are all big features that I would like to highlight in my magazine.
I researched into my target audience and the age, gender and what they would like to see inside my magazine and built my project around the feedback I gained. I received gender neutral feedback, 50/50 female and male so that my magazine isn't biased or gender specific as it aims to cater to the widest audience that it can.
Models and content of my magazine also played a huge part in whether or not my audience would read my magazine. I feel that using a female model was very successful as it attracts both genders of the audience as well as everyone within the age range - males would find her attractive whilst women would look up to her as an inspiration. I used my friend, Ruth, as she has a very distinctive look which I feel represents the magazine very well whilst also appealing to my target audience, and I thought that she was perfect for the style of magazine that I wanted to create. The content I included was very typical of those who listened to my magazine would be interested in. These included: festival and gig listings, album and single chart and reviews and the latest news from top artists.
I think I succeeded in creating a magazine that appeals directly to my target audience as once I had slowly started to gain feedback, I found that the majority of the comments received back were all positive and demonstrated how the audience felt that they could connect with the magazine very well. It also portrayed how the audience would enjoy and even purchase my magazine, which was very encouraging as it confirmed how I had created a magazine which fulfilled all the necessary requirements and can even go up against existing and extremely successful music magazines such as Q.
The psychographics of my magazine will apply to lovers of music festivals, 'fan girls', merchandise collectors and those who enjoy reading and being kept up to date with the latest news and information about music and their favourite artists. I believe that my target audience will fit within the 'mainstreamer' and 'reformers'; they are very individual and independent people who do not like to follow the crowd. Their social habits will be consumption via hard copies from shops such as WHSmith and newsagents, as well as reading online or on apps as they enjoy to be 'on the go'.
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