Final Post

To the examiner,
I hope you enjoy reading through my AS media coursework blog. My blog post are clearly labeled and you can navigate through these using the lable cloud on the right.
I have really enjoyed my AS year in media and I have put a lot of hard work into producing my final magazine.
Thank you!

Final Magazine

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?

Evaluation Question 6

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

5. How did you attract/address the audience?

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

Try our video maker at Animoto.

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

A company like Blaze Publishing will ensure that my magazine sells by getting the magazine into shops and on shelves. For my magazine, I think that of the three circulating methods, Paid Circulation is best suited as this will ensure a profit is made after publishing my magazine.

I think that Blaze is a suitable institution to distribute my magazine as this institution publishes 'Acoustic' magazine. 'Acoustic' Magazine is a similar genre to the magazine that I produced.

 I think that Blaze is a good institution to publish 'Awe' magazine as they can use their expericences from publishing 'Acoustic' magazine to help to sell, promote and publish it.

Blaze may not want to publish my magazine as they already have a magazine of a similar genre (acoustic) and this may put them off investing in AWE magazine as they are already selling a magazine that is a similar genre.
I think that they may invest into the publishing of my magazine as Awe magazine differs to Acoustic magazine as it is not focusing on the instrument, but the artists. Awe magazine will feature many different artists with personal interviews whereas, Acoustic is very to the point and has a more male-based target market shown through the red, grey and black colour scheme.

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

Evaluation question 2 from eleanorsimmons

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

Evaluation Draft: 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?

I think that by comparing my preliminary work to my final magazine shows how my skills have developt throughout the planning, research and making of my magazine.
Even though I have used the same backdrop on each shoot, I can definitely tell that my final magazine's images are of a better quality as I have learnt from my preliminary that lights are an important aspect to consider when taking photographs.
I think that I have learnt how to make my magazine layouts more aesthetically pleasing, by using different colour schemes which compliment the content of the pages. I have learnt the importantace of choosing the correct font to suit the genre of the magazine.

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

Adobe Photoshop CS6

I used this programme to construct my many Double page spreads, Contents and Covers. At the beginning of this project, my skills were very limited as I had never thoroughly used photoshop. Yet I did quickly develop on photoshop as it is a programme that is not hard to navigate. I found photoshops '30-day trial' very useful when it came to the last stages of making my magazine as it allowed me to use photoshop at home as I would at school.

Canon 1000D (Camera)

I used this camera on my draft images, I found this camera very comfortable to use as I am used to taking photos with it.

Fuji FinePix (Camera)
I found this camera very easy to use. Yet personally I am used to DSLR's, so I found it frustrating not to be able to use all the other functions available a DSLR. Yet this camera was great on a tripod so it didn't blur.

Lights/White Pop-up background.
Without these lights, my images would not be as good quality. Also if I did choose to use the magic wand tool on photoshop it wouldn't require as many steps as the image will contrast more with the background.

Computer
I have used my own computer at home and the ones at school. I sometimes found the school computers frustrating as they occasionally crashed. Though this did help me to learn to save my work regularly. But I have done most of my work at home on my iMac as this is how I prefer to work.

Prezi
I used this online programme to give a visual representation when presenting my ideas in my 25 word pitch. I think that this programme is very useful and allows me to present my ideas creatively. It has recently become a lot easier to use, as you can import Powerpoint files straight to it, like Slide Share.

Slide Share
I used Slide Share to present my initial test shots on my blog. I found this very easy to use, as like Prezi you can just import Powerpoint files.

Microsoft Powerpoint
This is very easy to use, I used this programme to layout the slides that I would later import onto Prezi or Slide Share

Animoto
Animoto is an online programme where you can upload your images and it has professional-looking animated templates. I used this to present my moodboard and used a HTML code to upload it onto my blog.

Memory Stick
My memory stick is where I kept most of my work as I worked on two computers, so this made it easier to transfer to each computer. Yet, my memory stick occasionally couldn't store all my photoshop trials as there wasn't that much space available.

Internet Explorer/Google Chrome
As I present my work on blogger, I need access to the internet. I find google chrome a lot easier and quicker to use and I think it is easier to upload images using google chrome.

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

Cover

• Bold, interesting title.
• 'Local Gig guide' 'Open Mic guide'. This will attract my audience if they're musicians themselves. 
• List of featured artists that are popular in this genre, they would want to read more about them
• Quote 'I'd never wear a meat dress.' This references Lady Gaga's crazy outfits. This attracts the audience as it shows that this artist is not as worried about her appearance  unlike mainstream pop artists.
• Natural pose with distinctive eyes, this shows her carefree attitude, which may attract the acoustic folk audience.

Contents Page:

• Use of image with an acoustic guitar, reinforces genre of magazine which makes the audience want to read more.
• Also, an image of a new artist may generate more interest in the magazine as it is showing new singer/songwriters in the magazine.

Double Page Spread:

• I have used two pull quotes on my double page spread. 'I'd Never release anything without putting my heart into it'. This will attract my audience as if they have an interest in songwriting they would relate to this quote. My second quote 'I must have played over 150 gigs last year...' this again could relate to the reader as it shows that she appreciates music and playing gigs.

I hope that certain aspects of my magazine reflect the target markets' own interest, hobbies and style as this will make them feel as though they can relate to the magazine much more and it will make the reader feel much more comfortable when reading the magazine as they would have a much more personal connection to the images and article.
Also, i think that if this magazine is promoting artists that are similar to their own style it will make them feel more confident as they will look at the 

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

My ideal target audience for this magazine would be a female between the ages of 16-30, who has an interest in acoustic music and songwriting.
The reason I have chosen a wider age range, is that folk music is not very popular between teenagers nowadays as more mainstream musc is being produced, and there is a wide older audience for this genre, yet I feel that the style that I based my magazine around wouldn't attract much of an older audience.
My audience should be interested in artists such as 'Laura Marling', 'Ben Howard', 'Bon Iver', 'Lucy Rose' etc. These artists all feature on my cover/contents. Yet they are not 'celebrities' which shows that my magazine shouldn't interest an audience that wants to read about celebrity life or mainstream pop stars.
I aimed to create a magazine that targeted a wide audience of both genders between the ages of 16-30. 
An example of this is a 17 year old female student. Currently studying her AS levels in creative subjects. She regularly attends gigs around her local city and has a big interest in music and follows many musicians. Her style is simple, I hope that this reflects her in my magazine as I thought about the use of a more simplistic layout, and styling the artist in neutral clothes to reflect her not being worried about her image. This is my ideal target audience that I think that my magazine is aimed at, and I hope that readers similar to my exampled reader can relate to a magazine that reflects there interests, hobbies and style.
In my article the language used was semi-formal with some shortening of words. I wanted to keep the tone less formal to keep the readers attention as the audience are probably reading this magazine causally and if it was too formal it may put the readers off carrying onto the rest of the magazine. This has also shown through the question and answer layout as this is quick and easy to read and keeps your attention throughout.

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

A company like Blaze Publishing will ensure that my magazine sells by getting the magazine into shops and on shelves. For my magazine, I think that of the three circulating methods, Paid Circulation is best suited as this will ensure a profit is made after publishing my magazine.

I think that Blaze is a suitable institution to distribute my magazine as this institution publishes 'Acoustic' magazine. 'Acoustic' Magazine is a similar genre to the magazine that I produced.

 I think that Blaze is a good institution to publish 'Awe' magazine as they can use their expericences from publishing 'Acoustic' magazine to help to sell, promote and publish it.

Blaze may not want to publish my magazine as they already have a magazine of a similar genre (acoustic) and this may put them off investing in AWE magazine as they are already selling a magazine that is a similar genre.
I think that they may invest into the publishing of my magazine as Awe magazine differs to Acoustic magazine as it is not focusing on the instrument, but the artists. Awe magazine will feature many different artists with personal interviews whereas, Acoustic is very to the point and has a more male-based target market shown through the red, grey and black colour scheme.

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

I don't really think my magazine has a stereotypical group as a target audience, but my magazine was aimed at readers between 16-30 years old that have an interest in songwriting and acoustic music.

The right image is the image I used on the cover of my magazine, and the left image is of an acoustic/folk artist called Laura Marling.

I think that these artist look very similar in the way they are dressed. Both are wearing plain, basic clothes, this portrays that they are not as worried about their looks unlike mainstream pop artists. This helps to reinforce the folky genre of the magazine.

I think that their poses are very similar as well. They both look a little unaware that the image was being taken, making the pose seem very natural. Also the way that both of their har styles are natural, and how both artists have natural coloured hair helps to represent an easy going, young social group.

Evaluation Draft: '1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)'

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

I feel that 'Awe' is a suitable name for a magazine of a folky, acoustic, indie genre as it's quite memorable and original. I have tried to keep the title of my magazine a small amount of letters this could be seen as a convention as it is used on lots of magazines. I originally thought that 'Awe' could stand for 'Acoustic Weekly Entertainment' using the same idea as NME magazine, but after developing the style of my magazine I decided that I wanted to make it a monthly magazine.

Graphology is important to consider when making a magazine, as the way in which you layout the page determines where the readers eye is drawn to first. I think I should have considered this much more than I did when producing my magazine, and considered the use of the convention that is the golden spiral, as this would have attracted the reader to certain features within the magazine.

I have included lots of generic conventions on the cover of my magazine such as:

• A masthead across the top, starting from the left.
• The featured artist in the centre of the page, looking at the camera. 
• The artists name central in a bold font, with a quote from the article underneath.
• Other features either side of the artist's image.
• Barcode doesn't stand out, with price, issue and date in a bottom corner.

My contents page layout does challenge some generic features of other magazines as I have included the images of the features of the magazine over the top half of the page, most other magazines would have text down one diagonal half of the magazine and images down the other and The contents title in the centre of the page rather than across the top. Yet, I have included some generic features like the content of the magazine is in columns.

On my double page spread I have included an image, which takes up one of the pages. Looking back on this now, I wish I didn’t spread that image across the whole page as I could have included a bigger article with more pull quotes. Also, I have challenged a convention by using two columns instead of three, after looking through some magazines; most use three columns to make the spread more aesthetically pleasing and quicker to read.

When I was photographing the model, she wore three outfits. But all the images I have used in my magazine include her in a black top with a patterned skirt. Looking back on this now, I should have chosen an outfit, which reflects the folky genre much more. Yet I feel that I have made up for this by the way in which she is posing, with her long hair trailing off her shoulders, this helps to reflect the folk genre. I have included an image of her with a guitar on the contents, this definitely is a convention used on many magazines of a similar genre, as most singer/songwriters and artist of the same genre are represented through acoustic guitars.

The way in which an image is framed and the quality of the image will determine where and whether the image is placed in the magazine.  I chose a mid-shot image that included the artist central and looking at the camera. This is a lot more conventional than my draft, yet I think the image on the cover of my draft was taken with a higher quality camera, which I think made the image look more professional, even though it was outside rather than against a white background.

I have challenged a convention by using the artist’s name as the title of the article rather than a phrase or quote. Yet, my article is very conventional as it is set as a Q&A, which most magazines use to enable the reader to read through it quickly without loosing interest. For the title of the article (the artist’s name) I used a font called VTS Chalk as that I thought stood out among the article and looked very interesting. For the article I used a font called Champagne and Limousines, which is a simple yet effective font. The use of contrasting fonts is used on many magazines as it draws the eye to the title as it stands out.

I chose to produce an acoustic, indie folk and singer/songwriter magazine. I think that this was quite hard to do as there are not many magazines in the market with a similar genre, so I had to take other magazine layouts and put my own twist onto it. My magazine suggests that it is of this genre; as the font that I have used for the title looks very folky, the image of the artist does not make the reader initially think of mainstream pop as the model is posing in a very natural way, without a ostentatious outfit on.

Most magazines use the three-colour palette; I have done this too, and carried it out throughout my magazine on the cover and Double page spread. Yet on my contents, I have kept the font Black on a white background, as I did not want to attract the readers eye away from the top images as they are what the reader will see when they open the magazine.

2nd Draft Contents

An issue with the contents page on my last draft is that the photo frames surrounding the pictures are not my own images. I have replaced these with pictures of frames that I have taken.

I do not think that this looks as good as my original 2nd Draft contents as the frames look do not look as straight or neat as the ones on my original. 

2nd Drafts

 

 

Test Shots against White Background

Test Shots (2)

Test Shots (2), a set on Flickr.