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

Looking back at my preliminary task i believe there is no comparison in the quality of work between that and my final product. My preliminary task, although it followed conventions of a basic magazine front page set up was not to a professional standard. The photo shop skills i used were little and basic while the contents page of the magazine i made was totally tacky cheap and very unprofessional looking. The colours on the page a dull and boring and the page is set out in a very un-inspiring way. The sizes of text on the page vary while text along the banner on the front page is difficult to read.

Just at a glace of both products it is clear to see to anyone that i have learnt alot about photo shop and have expanded and developed ideas using the software to a much more professional standard.

While carrying out this piece of work i have learnt alot of photoshop and mastered alot of new skills on the software such as how to use the magnetic lasso tool effectively and taking pictures which are of good quality and suitable for manipulation. Carrying out research in depth before carrying out my final product allowed me to rethink ideas i had previously and adapt them to be of a suitable good, professional quality and learn from the lack of that in my preliminary task. I have also learnt to lay out the pages in a more friendly and relaxed manner, when comparing my preliminary and final product the final product is alot less angular than my preliminary task, this gives it a more relaxed and consumer friendly feel. The colours used in my final production are more eye-catching and appealing, between the production of the preliminary task and my final pieces i have learnt the colours use din my previous piece were not attracting my audience at all and that something much more dramatic needed to be produced.

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

For this product i used a few various pieces of technology. The first being a digital camera to take the pictures. It was important that i learnt to make sure i used the correct settings for the photos being taken, long short close ups, moving images etc. The mastering of the technology was easy enough as its something i use on a regular basis, however getting the technique of the shots right was the important part, making sure the lighting was right and the focus was right, this was the difficult part of the picture taking process but i feel i overcame it well.

The other main piece of technology i had to learn to use correctly was photo shop. This took alot of work to accomplish, considering this is a very high tech professional piece of software i believe that my final product i created was pretty well giving my lack of experience on the software. I learnt how to use various aspects of the software like mastering how to use the magnetic lasso tool, this could be a painstakingly slow process and required alot of concentration on the photo or image you are trying to cut of it all messes up and you find yourself having to start again. Adjustment of the brightness and colours on the page was also another tricky task, it was difficult to not always select all the layers which could then change everything as opposed to just the one bit you wanted to edit. The the use of the hue and saturation elements of the programme. The use of the magic wand was also another skill i feel i mastered to perfect my work. This allowed you to select whole chunks of information at a time, however in doing this it could sometimes not always select the right things, it was important it was only used on simple things like text or it would not work correctly.

To show what i have learnt in the progression of the project i have included a construction analysis of the front page of my blog below to demonstrate the tools i used and what i learnt.

I started by gathering myself a background, this is a grey background of a wall in the underground tunnel, this will serve as a good back layer underneath the other backgrounds.

The i added a black square background over the top of the grey layer and added on a textual effect to this layer, this text was found on DaFont.com , then creating this merged two layers together to make this black background and text as one layer.

Cutting out my main band image, and erasing the two further back members who don't fit in the image well and cutting out the image of the train using the magnetic lasso tool i then add these two images to the page. ( of magnetic lasso tool bar, image during process of being cut, and page so far)

I then have added Bright blue lines, along the banner where the headline is and the top and bottom of the black part of the background, this then makes these areas stand out, it also starts to show a development in the page as it seems to be coming together better. This is done simply using the paint tool.

I then added the title which was again discovered at Dafont.com, this I then edited by using the blue colour again, selecting it with the dropper tool, then using the paint tool drawing the blue around the title, this is a long process and incredibly fiddly.

I then added the barcode and poster images along the bottom of the page, this i done again by simply by selecting these images and pasting them onto the photo shop document and resizing them. The blue effect around the edge of the posters was again made in the same way at the title had, using the paint brush tool.

I then added all the text onto the page, this was done simply using the texts on the photo shop software, Changing the PLUS to blue was done easily by using the tin of paint tool and using the dropper to select the correct colour.

Evaluation 5. How did you attract / address your audience?

To attract my audience i made sure to follow conventions which had been proven to be successful in current top selling magazines, such as the positioning of the magazine mast head and the Headline in a become in certain position on the page. Doing this following conventions on the simple parts of the magazines will make sure the audiences eye is drawn to the magazine on first off. The main image i have used is a Good appealing one to use to draw the audience when combined with the picture of a underground train in the background. The train allows our eyes to be drawn due to the colour and to focus on the image of the 3 people on the page. The people used in this image all follow conventions that the audience want to see e.g the happy guy, the serious guy and the sexy member of the group. The posters pictures used are good bright vibrant colours so that they appeal to there customers and make them want to buy the magazine for the posters more, The promise of new knowledge in the plus section of the magazine as well as the headline of the top story mean that people become even more drawn to the magazine Using the bright white against the Black and Blue makes a good contrast so that the plus section stands out well to the audience.

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

The audience for my media product was previously described in my analysis of a chosen target audience previously in the blog. The target audience will be of teenagers and young adults between the age range of 17-22 ... because of this my magazine needed to have stories which would appeal to all of them, looking at my contents page i believe i have found a balance in the stories to attract a various number of readers while all still being in my target audience range. Here is a link back to a previous post in my blog which will explain my target audience in more detail.http://nicola-drewett.blogspot.com/2010/03/analyzing-target-audience.html 

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

Once a magazine has been created its important that you can find a publishing company to print it. Doing some research i have found 3 potential music magazine producers. These are IPC media http://www.ipcmedia.com/

FuturePLC http://www.futureplc.com/

Rhrinegold publishing http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/

Rhinegold is a majority music based music publication magazine. Because of this it at first appears to be

a perfect publications company. However on further research into the company it becomes

apparent that this company only produces magazines of a educations based music industry. Because of

this the publication would be unlikely to publish my magazine as one its not educational, and two

it really doesn't fall into any of the music genres that the company publish. Because of these they will

not be interested in my rock / indie magazine. FuturePLC may be more likely to want to produce my

Magazine, they specialize more in classic rock as well as producing a variety of guitar magazines. They

Also produce a couple of Metal magazines such as MetalHammer. Because of this FuturePLC may well

want to publish my magazine as its still within their genre of rock but totally different to what they

currently publish. If I presented my Rock / Indie magazine to them they would most likely produce it

as they currently don't have a magazine falling under this particular genre and would be keen to expand

into this niche of the market, my magazine is a ideal opportunity for them to potentially take over alot

of the music magazine industry, making strong competition against other publication companies.

IPC could also be another potential magazine publican, they produce a variety of Magazines including top

seller NME, because of this the publications however would be wary at producing a similar magazine which

may reduce falls in one of the current best sellers. If they were not already publishing NME they would

most likely publish my magazine unstably as my magazine brings similar qualities to that of NME.

Evaluation 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups

My media product represents the rock indie social group. It represents them in a successful way. When most people are asked to describe a typical rock or indie person they will stereotypically think of men long longish hair and girls typically with dyed hair. These people will traditionally wear black or dark outfits normal contrasted b a splash of colour across the dark clothing. The images i have used throughout my media product follow these conventions with all the models fitting the stereotypical views of a rock / indie person. The colour scheme of the magazine also follows conventions of rock and indie colour themes and vibes. With the electric blue, Black and Grey colour scheme, the black and grey fitting well with the darker rock side and the electric blue bringing out the bright funk like side of rock the colours work well in co-ordination with the magazine genre and the images used in it. The white writing used for text also works well as a bright and eye catching colour against the others as it doesn't blend as simply as they do, meaning that they white draws the audiences attention as well as portraying a mishmash and fun environment through the text, referring to the fact that this social group is represented to be of a mishmash and not following the rules of normal society.

Looking at my magazine it is apparent that There is a particular Racial group is being portrayed throughout my magazine. All the people across my magazine are white, this is not due to a racist reasoning but more on the fact of following conventions. Looking at all the magazine i analyzed there is no other ethnic minorities other than white people. Because of this the trend generally shows rock / indie magazine are full of mostly white artists so here i followed conventions and used white models for my work.

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

My media product, uses, develops and challenges form and convention used across the magazine based area of media work. My media product will follow the conventions of the headline along the top of the page, Barcode in a non obtrusive position on the page. When comparing my magazine to that of the rock sound front page i analysed earlier in the blog, my magazine front page follows styles such as the headline across the middle and the picture layout on the page. I believe however my front page has developed ideas within the front page of rock sound, such as the development of the main image to make the images more eye catching and appealing to the audience to see. My front page where its following conventions does it well and simplistically creating a inviting and attractive piece for the audience which follows the standards they expect to see from other magazines meaning nothing feels out of place and it blends in well along a range of magazines while still catching the audiences attention. My magazine challenges the convention of not having a pug on my front page however looking at my front page it was very difficult to find a suitable coloured pug which would suitable work with the colour scheme on my front page for example if i were to use a pug like this it would not look right and would be out of place. As this sort of colour will not work on my page it limits the availability of uses of the pugs as the while point is they are meant to stand out and if you cant use a bright eye-catching colour like yellow there is no point putting a pug in as you wont be able to find one that will work effectively or look right.



On my contents page my page will again follow convention, with a varity of pictures and text in a organised format it looks like a basic contents page from any other actual magazine. When comparing my magazine to Other music magazine mine doesnt follow the totally same conventions as they do. However when looking at mine in comparison to NME's contents page i can see mine is totally different to theres, however i believe that mine is alot more appealing to the public than NME's because its clearer to read and laid out in a more user friendly manner. Looking at mine i believe that it has a more eyecatching appear than the NME despite follwoing a style of music magazine layout.

Looking at my double page spread I believe this one works well in the way i have laid it out. Looking at it i believe it is of a similar style to that of NME's double page spread however with my own individual twist. This is because i believe the style of the amount of writing on that page of NME was too much. On my double page it has less writing which i believe works better. However mine still follows similar conventions to that which NME stick to such as the house style colour scheme, of blue black, white and grey. Similar to that of NME which follows its colour scheme of Black white green and grey. Mine also follows the conventions of quotes within the page and smaller pictures on the spread. I believe my double page has followed conventions well and looks goood and to a professional standard.