Evaluation Video!

Blog 62:
Eventually my video has uploaded.
I spent a long time recording and editing this video (and even longer uploading it!).
Here is my media evaluation final video!

Evaluation Update

Blog 61: 
I am currently uploading my video evaluation onto YouTube and then onto Blogger. 
However this is taking longer than expected!!! I am hoping to get it uploaded ASAP but YouTube is proving to be very unpredictable! 
Should have my Evaluation on my blog shortly! 

Evaluation

Blog 60: 
Over the past few days I have been planning and filming certain parts of my evaluation. Today I am planning to film the rest and edit it. I am going to use windows movie maker to edit my evaluation as it is simple and available to me. 
My evaluation deadline is on Wednesday 7th May, therefore I have 4 days to make my evaluation, however I hope to have edited it by sunday evening. 

Evaluation: Question 7

Blog 59: 
Question 7 is: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
My notes for this question are: 

o   Comparison- photoshop, InDesign

o   How to use the tools

o   Using the codes and conventions- research, inc blog

o   Time management

Evaluation: Question 6

Blog 58: 
Question 6 is: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
My notes are: 

o   Photography- Canon EOS 1100D. The shutter speed and exposure, aperture. Used manual setting to change. Zoom and Focus. Shots/Angles/Rule of Thirds used (Long, mid, close up etc.)

o   Photoshop- Magic Wand, Clone Stamp, Spot Healing, Healing brush, Burn, Smudge, Blur, Layers, mask tool. Before and After.

o   InDesign- Grid + Boxes, Insert, colours, display performance, text, fonts, create shapes (e.g Polaroid’s). 

Evaluation: Question 5

Blog 57:
Question 5 is: How did you attract/address your audience? 
My notes are: 

• Feedback from target audience (twitter q&a) 
• Interviews with my target audience- ask about each page and what they like 

Evaluation: Question 4

Blog 56: 
Question 4 is: Who would be the audience for your media product?

My notes are: 

o   Teenagers

o   Young Adults

o   Male + Female

o   Music Enthusiasts 

For this part of the video I intend to interview my target audience.

Evaluation: Question 3

Blog 55: 
Question 3 is: 
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

My notes for this question are: 

o   IPC Media consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. UK's leading consumer magazine and digital publisher. Almost two thirds of UK women and over 40% of UK men. Websites reahes over 25 million global users every month. Publish NME (Style model) + Time Inc.(owned by Time Warner) is Parent company -It publishes 130 magazines 

Evaluation: Question 2

Blog 54:
Question 2 is: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My notes for answering this question are: 

I think the two main social groups that I have represented in my magazine is Teenagers and young adults (from around 14-25), and the indie genre.

The stereotypes of the ‘indie’ group are:

o   The ‘indie’ group- dedicated to music, fashion consious and like to shop at vintage shops, enjoy festivals and gigs, are laid back and fun loving, are environmentally friendly and their style is edgy (often sporting the messy hair look and mis-matched clothing), confident in themselves

The stereotypes of teenagers and young people are:

o   Age = teens- rebellious, youthful, want to have fun, fashion conscious

As part of my research I conducted questionnaire which helped a lot in the creation of a magazine which is suitable for the target audience

Represented in Mag

- Front- festival, edgy style, messy hair + feathers (hilly), laidback (outdoors), vintage (Polaroid’s), environmentally friendly (outdoors)

-Contents- edgy style (different shaped boxes, Hilly’s awkward pose, font), festivals + gigs (gig reviews and festival section), laid back + fun (Amy & cath laughing, editor’s note style of writing), environmentally friendly (hilly and Hannah)

-DPS- edgy (Hilly’s hair, expression, leaf, polaroid’s on slant, font in different colours, article content, other images), festivals (mentioned in article), confident (small picture of hilly on steps), environmentally friendly (outdoors, nature, leaf, meditation-suggests Buddhist?), dedicated to music (new album).

o   Gender = both (say about hilly-edgy, cath & amy- feminine, Hannah-relatable, Josh)

Compare to other photos of the genre. 

      

Evaluation: Question 1

Blog 53: 
Question 1 of the evaluation is:
  How does the product use forms and conventions of real media products? 
I have made notes on how I will answer this question for my evaluation video. 
Notes: 

  o   Front cover- Large, snappy title(like NME eyecatching as is red, draws reader), main story, mid shot- most of mags did this, exclusives/ free products – entice reader to buy ,price- in top corner like nme- not too big or distracting, date, other features, barcode- convention as is necessity conveniently placed

  o   Contents- page numbers- big and bold stand out like nme, 1 larger image- shows main story like nme, large title, editor’s note- convention in all mags, familiar layout ‘weekly…’  

  o   DPS- 1 image side 1 text side 50/50- pete dochety- solo artists tend to have 50/50, quotes- give suggestion of article , small text- intro gives overview and captivates audience, captions- convention, 1 large picture, catchy headline- usa got the love Q

  o   Talk about developing conventions e.g blocky polaroid’s, 2 detailed boxes on contents

Evaluation Task

Blog 52:
Now that I have finished my magazine task I have to answer 7 evaluation questions. 
The evaluation is worth 20 marks of the coursework. 
I am going to make a video answering these 7 questions. 
The questions are:
 1.       In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and                                conventions of a real media product?

 2.       How does your media product represent particular social groups

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

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

 5.       How did you attract/address your audience?
 6.       What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this                         product?

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

Final Cut

Blog 51: 
So yesterday was my final cut deadline. 
I handed in my three final pieces; Front Cover, Contents and DPS. 
I am very proud of my work and have worked extrememly hard for the past few weeks in creating my magazine using the codes and conventions of a music magazine as well as what my target audience want from a magazine. 
I am especially proud of the progress of my front cover and contents, as they have changed dramatically. I believe my final cut is a lot more professional that my draft and had improved a lot. 

Article

Blog 50:
Today is the day of my deadline so I have been tying up all the loose ends of my magazine ready to hand in. 
The main thing I did today was proof read and change small things in my article. I changed spelling and grammatical errors and rearranged the order of the article so it flowed better. 
I am quite proud of my article and I think it fits well with the genre and theme of the magazine. 

Photoshop

Blog 49: 
So I have realised when photoshopping my final photos that I haven't uploaded a lot of the photos I have photoshopped. So I will show them to you now, with the new additions! 

Amy & Cath (Jigsaw)

My girlband 'Jigsaw' are featured twice in my mag- on the front and contents. 

Therefore I had two photos of Amy and Cath to photoshop. Their photo-shoot was in the studio, so I had to use the magic wand tool and masks to photoshop the white sheet out of the background. This proved difficult, and probably took the longest to photoshop out of all of my photos. 

Josh 

Josh's photos were also taken in the studio. His photo was easy to edit in comparison! Here it is.

Hannah

Hannah's photo-shoot was outdoors and therefore I edited the contrast and colours of her photo. The photo didnt need that much change, just to be brightened.

Hilly DPS- smaller images

I used the burn tool as well as the hue and saturation to change the colour of the images. 

The images now stand out more. 

Update 5

Blog 48:
I have 2 days until my deadline I have achieved most of my aims. 
The only tasks I need to complete now are the polaroid position on my DPS, and to re photoshop those photos. I will have these done in no time and will upload my progress onto my blog soon. 

Front Cover Changes

Blog 47: 
As I said in my previous blogs, my front cover is in desperate need of editing and rearranging. Therefore I have changed the image. I have also altered the layout and positioning of my text and smaller image. I have changed the polariod in the top corner and instead made just a normal box with a blue outline. This matches the new blue writing I have introduced to the side bar of text. It gives the magazine a splash of colour and makes the text stand out.
 I also changed the font to keep it all the same as advised in my target audience feedback. I added a circle shape to the top corner to give it more variety and it is similar to NME front covers as they usually have a circle on their front covers. 

             BEFORE                                                                            AFTER

Photo Inspirations 2

Blog 46: 
My front cover image is very striking and original. When researching indie artists and styles I found that many of the settings were outdoors and more prominently in the woods. 
Here is my Front Cover image with its inspirations: 

The images are all in a wooded area. This makes it look magical and natural. The models in the images all have long, floating hair and most of them have a hairband or hairpiece in. Their outfits seem quite tribal and typical of a festival outfit. My image of Hilly has hints of these inspirations in it. 

Photo Inspirations

Blog 45:
In order to create an authentic and professional indie magazine, I researched into the genre and style. I found specific trends in the images I found. I did not want to completely replicate these images for my magazine, however I used them as inspiration for my images. 
This is my contents image and the inspiration behind it. 

The images give off a slightly awkward look. It makes the model look edgy and typically indie through the fashion. The models all look individual as they are wearing items such as hippy glasses, over sized jumpers and big boots. The settings of the photos are in keeping with the indie theme as all but one of them are outside. 

I think the image of Hilly fits with the indie vibe as it has a similar style to the images of the models. 

Contents Page Update

Blog 44: 
As I said in my previous blogs, I am going to make some changes on my magazine for the final cut. One of these changes is to the layout of the contents page. 
I have altered the layout on InDesign, to make it like my style model, NME. 
I changed the photos, instead of the image of Amie and Jess I used a photo shopped image of my new model, Hannah. Instead of all the text down one side I moved and edited the text so it was placed in separate places on the page. I added a 'plus' box and got rid of the 'fix favourites' section. This is an NME contents page alongside my Rough Cut Contents and my new FIX contents page. 

NME Contents

Old Contents Page

                                             

New Contents Page

Photo-shoot 5

Blog 43: 
On Wednesday I did another on location photo-shoot, as I mentioned I would in a previous blog (38). I went on this shoot with my new model, Hannah. For this shoot we went to the wooded area of the backtracks in Whitley Bay. I chose this location as it fits with the festival style of the magazine. I also wanted Hannah to be a solo artist that has quit a band, so the outdoors could symbolise her freedom. 
I got a lot of great shots that I could potentially use on my contents page. 

Photoshop Front Cover

Blog 42: 

This is the photo from my previous blog. I have now edited it on Photoshop and will be using it on my front cover. 
I cropped the photo so it would fit neatly on the page.
I used the clone stamp and the spot healing brush on her skin to cover blemishes and imperfections. 
I used the burn tool on her eyes and eyebrows to define them. 
I changed the brightness, contrast, hue and saturation. 

Front Cover Update

Blog 41:
Today I came into school and made a major change on my music magazine. 
The first thing I changed was the picture on the front cover. 

This was the original photo, that had been photo shopped. I decided, with the help from the target audience feedback, that this was the main thing that needed to change as it made my front cover look empty. Although the outfit and hairstyle complements the genre, the white background ended up dominating the page. The hair was also an issue to Photoshop as it was messy to edit and cut out. 


Instead of this photo from the studio, I have decided to change it to a photo taken on location from photo-shoot 1. I think this was a good choice as it connects with my Contents photo and my DPS. 
This is the image I have chosen to use: 

This photo fits with my indie genre as her outfit and hair is edgy and tribal. She is outside which fits with the festival theme and also the stereotype that indie kids like the outdoors and nature. The shot is good as it is a mid shot and therefore fits with the conventions of a front cover and matches my style model, NME. Her eyes are directed into the camera, therefore engaging with the reader. She is hiding behind a tree so it suggests she is hiding a secret and that you will find out inside the magazine what the secret is. 

I am happy with this decision as I think it will make my front cover look better and more professional. 

Holidays

Blog 40: 
For the next 2 weeks my blog posts will be quite slow as it is the Easter holidays. I have a lot of work to do, including the making of my final cut magazine. I have exams in 4 weeks therefore I also have so much revision to do. I am booked to come in to school on the first Wednesday, and the second Tuesday and Thursday. I will be doing my media magazine, so I will keep my blog updated with the changes I make. 

Photoshop

Blog 39: 
I have been using Adobe Photoshop to edit the photos on my magazine. I have been working on my main image for my DPS, and making it look more professional for the final product. 
I chose the picture of Hilly with the leaf as my DPS image as it is a close up and suitable for the genre she represents (indie). 

    BEFORE                                                                                                              AFTER

This is the photo before and after photoshop. 

As you can see I have increased the brightness and contrast. 
I used the burn tool to define her eye make up and her eyebrows. The background setting was already out of focus on the original photo but on the edited version I made it more blurry so Hilly stands out more. I played around with the hue and saturation until I was happy with the colour of the photo and made Hilly more tanned as well as making her 'festival' bracelets and feathers more vivid. I used the clone stamp retouch her skin- by copying one section of an image onto another- and the spot healing brush to remove any blemishes on her skin. 

Update 4

Blog 38: 

I have decided to change some of the photos on my contents page. I am planning to go on a location photo-shoot with a new model, Hannah, to get some new photos. This will add variety as there will be a mixture of studio and location images. 

Unfortunately that means I have to cut an image that I have used in the rough cut. I am not sure which one at this point but as soon as I have made a decision I will update my blog :) 

Feedback

Blog 37:
 The feedback from my target audience has helped me decide the improvements I need to make before the final cut of my magazine.
It has made me aware that my Front Cover needs the most work and is my weakest page. The DPS is the page that does not need any major changes and just needs tweaking. After looking at the comments for the contents page I have decided that this page also needs to be changed in order to look more professional. 

Before the final cut I plan to: 

• Change the photo on the front cover- this is because the current photo makes the page look too empty. 
• Decide on one or two definite fonts to use throughout 
• Re photoshop my photos, to make them look more professional. 
• Change the layout of my contents page to fit my style model and so it fits the whole page.
• Add page numbers & an editors note
• Adjust the positioning of the polaroids and quotes on the DPS. 

Hopefully I will be able to get all of these changes done before my deadline, which is on the 23rd April. 

Rough Cut Feedback

Blog 36:
Yesterday I received my feedback for my magazine rough cut, from my target audience. I got a lot of feedback, both positives and areas to improve. So here is the feedback I got:

Things my target audience liked about my Front Cover:

• Polaroid style
• Red and black colour scheme (bold colours)
• Good Layout
• Title stands out
• Appropriate photo style
• Play on words
• Freebies 

Things to improve on my Front Cover:

• Typo -(26t not 26th)
• Too much white
• Better cropping 
• Blurry image
• Fonts vary too often

Things my target audience liked about my Contents Page:

• Evenly spaced
• Polaroid style 
• Use of the word 'Fix'
• Photos suit the genre
• Not cluttered

Things to improve on my Contents Page:

• Too much white
• Alignment to be arranged better
• No page numbers 
• Fonts vary too often
• Add a blurb/editors note

Things my target audience liked about my DPS:

• Colour scheme appropriate for genre
• Photo is really good/professional 
• Looks genuine
• Polaroid style
• Logo in the back
• Quotations 

Things to improve on my DPS:

• Inconsistent spacing of the blue writing 
• Make quotes bigger
• Introductory paragraph to be moved down slightly 
• Top Polaroid looks out of place                                                                                                                                                                                     

Double Page Spread Rough Cut

Blog 35:

This is my DPS draft.

The heading is a question- 'Who's Hilly?'. This suggests that you will find out who she is in the article (this is true). The 'Hilly' is in pink text, rather than black. This shows that she is important as her name stands out. It also shows her personality as being individual. 

As I said in my DPS reviews I have used three columns of text. I think this looks neat and professional. There are two quotes inserted into the article, which seems to be a convention of DPS. There is a pink drop capital, in the same colour that 'Hilly' is in. Therefore it not only fits with the conventions of a music mag, but fits Hilly's image. 

There is an introductory paragraph. This paragraph is centred on the right hand side of the page, and the important words are highlighted in the pink. 

On the left side of the page, there is an image of Hilly. The image covers the whole page and is a close up. It shows Hilly's quirky style as she is holding a leaf to her face and you can see in detail the feathers and braids in her hair. There is also two other photos of hilly in polaroids, which fit with the theme of my magazine. They have quotes in them, which is similar to the contents page and also the captions that come with photos on a DPS. 

Contents Page Rough Cut

Blog 34: 

This is my Contents Page draft. 

The heading is 'This Week' as my style model, NME, is also a weekly magazine. The name of the mag 'FIX' is repeated in every section of the contents page to make it link together. 

The large image is of Hilly, who the DPS and Front Cover is based on. On this photo she looks quirky and fits with the indie genre. Below, there is three polaroid's, in keeping with the theme on the front cover. My models from the cover, Amy and Cath are in the middle polaroid, and on either side is Amie and Jess, and Josh. 

In the corner, similar to NME, there is a offer box, which advertises savings on the magazine. It is in red as it stands out and sticks to the colour scheme. 

The text down the side has 3 sections; Weekly Fix, Festival Fix and Fix Favourites. In each section there are page titles that are in the magazine. This is similar to Q's contents page. 

Front Cover Rough Cut

Blog 33: 

This is my first draft of my Front Cover. 

The image of Hilly is a mid shot and covers the majority of the page. It was taken in the studio and was edited on Adobe Photoshop.  In the corner of the page there is a polaroid with my models Amy and Cath in. Their photo was also in the studio (see previous blog posts).

The font of the magazine title and all the fonts in my magazine were downloaded from 'Da Font'. The title of my magazine, as suggested on my 'Initial Ideas' moodboard is 'FIX'. I chose this as it is suggests that the magazine is a dose of music. I also think it is short and snappy and fits nicely on the page. The title of the article on my main artist, Hilly, is 'HILLY GRAIL'. I chose this as it is a play on the words Holy Grail- the definition being : A cup or platter used by Jesus Christ during The Last Supper or [a] thing which is eagerly pursued or sought after. I think this fits with Hilly's article as it is about her album of the same name. Therefore suggests that the album is also eagerly sought after. 

There is a barcode in the corner, on its side, similar to NME's. The colour scheme is red and black. This is because it looks bold and stands out. There is 'Free Festival Polaroid's'. This is because it will entice the reader to buy the magazine as it is free. It will also appeal to my 'indie' target audience as polaroid's are seen as being retro, which is a stereotype of indie styles. There is also a 'Plus' bar on the side with artists names such as 'Arctic Monkeys', 'Lana Del Rey' and 'The Black Keys'. I used these names as when I was doing my research with my target audience they mentioned these names as artists they were interested in. 

Update 3

Blog 32: 
So today is my Rough Cut deadline, and I have handed in my Front Cover, Contents and DPS, to get feedback on improvements I need to make and features to keep. I have been working hard for the past couple of weeks in photoshoots, on InDesign, Photoshop and researching to get these pages complete for the 1st draft. I will keep you updated with the feedback I get and I will upload the rough cuts shortly. 

Questionnaire Findings

Blog 31:
My Questionnaire findings have been helpful in the development of my magazine. 
I found that all 15 of my 'target audience' sample expected to see bold colours, information about artists and bands, 1 main feature and exclusives in a music magazine. 
My sample also agreed that they want to see 1 main artist, exclusive info and lots of colour on the front cover. They want to see pics, colour and detailled quotes on the contents and on the DPS they want to read about life and interviews from artists and bands. 
I made a pie chart of my target audience's interests. 

I found that all of my sample are interested in bands and music. The majority of my sample enjoy socialising, fashion and reading. Therefore I will include this in my magazine in order to appeal to my target audience.

I found that my target audience prefer small venues. 7 people from my sample dont mind where the gig is, as long as the music is good and there is a good atmosphere. I will use these findings in my magazine.

Questionnaire

Blog 30: 
In order to atract my target audience (indie and teens) I conducted a questionnaire to find out their personal views and opinions on music magazines. 
These are the questions I asked: 

·         What do you expect from a music magazine?

·         What makes you want to buy a music magazine?

·         What do you want to see on a front cover?

·         Contents page?

·         Double page spread?

·         What do you want to read about, in terms of a music magazine?

·         What are your hobbies and interests?

·         Who are your role models?

·         Do you attend gigs/concerts regularly?

(circle)

Yes                              No

If yes…

·         Where do you prefer a gig to take place?

(circle)

Small Venue                Arena              Stadium           Don’t mind

·         What are your personal views on the following genres of music:

Indie

Rock

RnB

Dance

            Thank you for taking part in my Music Magazine Questionnaire.

Photo-shoot 4

Blog 29: 
Last week I did another photo-shoot!!! 
This photo-shoot was with Hilly, my main model and Cath & Amy, who I plan to have on my contents page. 
For Hilly, as you know, I want her to have a unique fashion sense, so her outfit was another aztec playsuit in a beige colour. 
I wanted Amy and Cath's photos to be poppy-er than the other photos I have taken, as I wanted their band to be more of a cross over pop/indie group- like Lily Allen, Florence and The Machine and Icona Pop. Therefore their style is casual but slightly glamourous. The casual part is Amy's shorts and Cath's top, and the glamour comes from Cath's hair style and disco pants, whilst Amy has a floaty and detailed top. 
The photos turned out really well. 

Here are a small selection of the 270 photos taken!!!!