Evaluation- Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation- Quesstion 7

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

After completing both my student magazine and my music magazine I can see a definite clear difference in my work. This was down to not being able to use the software and programs at the beginning it was more of a ‘trial run’ and I just to get used to what was actually going to be available to us to use in order to make our product conventional.

After looking back at my skills audit I can now safely say that I can:

-          Use a mac

-          Open an application via finder

-          Scan images in onto the mac

-          Create and upload recent entries to my blog

-          How to apply the rule of thirds correctly in terms of positioning for images

-          Use indesign

-          Use photoshop

-          Add special effects to make text and images look more effective and more aesthetic

You can clearly see that in my music magazine all of the spaces are filled there is hardly any blank spaces at all. One that stands out in particular is the contents page, in my student magazine there was a lot of space and it didn’t really fit together and like up to create a full page. However after learning from that mistake I took that into consideration and decided to make more images and more text to stop this happening. If you look at my music magazine contents page you can see that there is no space at all and it looks extremely conventional as I used it alongside Q magazine whilst I was creating it so I always had something to follow and look back on to make sure that it was all fitting the way it should in terms of a conventional layout.

If you look back at my student magazine front cover you can clearly see that it has been put together by a student as all the text boxes are still visual and also they don’t link in together they just all sit hanging there is nothing that actually connects it all up together. However looking at my front cover I really like it I feel that it looks very conventional I like how its turned out so much that I feel my student magazine was a fail, but on the other hand I just put it down to practise I wasn’t expecting my first attempt to be brilliant I was expecting it to turn out how it has now. I don’t mind that it didn’t really look that good because you can see the clear improvement from the student magazine to my music one.

The photography is completely different I used the college’s camera when I took my front cover image for my student magazine and I hadn’t started using my DSLR in photography yet so it was all a blur to me I didn’t know anything about photography. I didn’t really even know about the rule of thirds. By the time I came to my photography on my magazine I had been on my AS photography course for nearly a whole year and had previously completed projects at a very high standard so I was then motivated by this to go out and take a range of images for my magazine, all of my images even the ones that didn’t come out so well I loved because they all have their own character and effect to them they all have their own meaning (otherwise I would have clicked the shutter to actually take the image).

I feel that on my student magazine I used all of the wrong fonts it was kind of a decision to use them because I felt a bit rushed for time ( a future improvement). The mast head on my student magazine looks like it has just been cut out of a website or out of paint this look is horrible and I don’t like it. Now understanding how to use indesign I got a font that I liked for the masthead (title of my magazine) It is both simple and straight forward.

Having had lots of time to look at the different conventions of a music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread I have been able to clearly identify the dominant ideologies used and the entire standard conventions used in our world today.

I am extremely happy with how my final product has turned out and I don’t think that I could of done it any better If I tried however I do understand and appreciate that there is always room for improvement. I am very pleased that the more time I put In at home to make my front cover look right actually paid off. I feel that my contents page is virtually the same as the one from Q which was what I initially set out to do. My double page spread I based on an article from Q magazine I did this because Q magazine is very simplistic and conventional.

Overall I am very pleased with the work that I have produced and I hope to carry forward my knowledge to a future idea.

Evaluation- Question 6

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

Evaluation- Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation- Question 3

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

http://www.slideshare.net/jesamondo/question-3-ipc-media

Evaluation- Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social group?

http://www.slideshare.net/jesamondo/question-2-powerpoint-12227824

Evaluation - Question 1

In what way does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Change of artist name

After putting together my ideas, I have decided that I am going to change my artist name. At first my artist was called Ellie- Country this was a good name however it was to original and to close to the genre of 'Country and western' and I the more I looked at it and saw it on paper the more I didn't like it. Having looked at other female country singers I have decided that Ellie is a good name and my model looks like an Ellie so this I am going to keep. Having looked at different names I have decided to come up with Carolina. This name is both relevant and conventional to my target audience. Ellie- Carolina is now my final name and relates well to my genre and reflects my target audience.

Final design of my double page spread

Final contents page

Final design for front cover

This is my final front cover, I think it has worked out well however I do think that there could be some key sections looked at and re-presented. I used a front cover from country weekley that was virtually the same this way i knew that it was going to look professional.

Drafts of my double page spread

Above are my double page spread drafts, I have used these drafts to develop my work further. I have looked at other double page spreads such as Q and Kerang magazine.

Drafts of my contents page

Above are my drafts for my contents page. I have used various techniques to develop my knowledge in Indesign. I have created my contents page around the magazine Q becuase I feel that it is a god representational structure.

Drafts of my front cover

Above are three drafts showing part of my desin for my front cover. I have used a variety of tools such as the swatches and stokes to add colour to my work.

Masthead fonts

Above are some fonts I wanted to use, however after studying them in more detail I didn't think that they were really that conventional when I compared them to some real life music magazines so with that in mind I looked for something more basic and conventional.

Inspirational front cover

Above is an example of a front cover from a country and western music magazine called Country Weekley. This is what my front cover is inspired by and when you look at them together and compare them they are vertually the same. This is a good thing becuase I wanted to create a conventional front cover.

Favourite double page spread images

Above are the final two images that I have chosen from my shoot for my double page spread. After looking at them I have decided to keep the top one as my image. Although in my opinion the bottom image is nicer looking and has a bit more quality to it the top one is more conventional has a close up shot and is more of an eye catching image.

Double page spread images

Above are some images from a shoot I did for my double page spread. As you can see I have taken these images on location to try and keep the natural setting as close to the orginial genre as possible.

Favourite front cover images

The images above are my final two images out of the first shoot I did, after I studied them closely and related them to conventional images I decided to pick the top image as my final image and you can see my progress as you go up my blog - finding drafts and ideas right until me final image of  my final piece.

Features of an interview on a double page spread

Main Image-is usually the left page at the beginning of the article

Headline-particularly in interview articles the headline tends to be the name of the featured artist. It is usually in a different colour, font and size etc.

Subheading-this is normally linked to the article and is bolder and more eye catching then the main text but is normally black.

By Line-this is smaller then all text and illustrates the people behind this article for instants the photographer or the editor.

Caption-this is found in a small box in the corner of the picture and is used to describe what is going on in that image. The box is coloured so it draws the attention of the reader.

Pull Quote-this is a quote which is taken out of the text, enlarged and high lighted. This allows the reader to understand the basis of the interview without having to read the whole thing. It is usually in Italics and surrounded with the main body of text.

Drop Capital-this is used at the start of the article. It is simply an enlarged first letter it makes the article look more appealing to the eye.

Music Magazine Research - Report

The genre of music that I have chosen is Country and Western. I think that this genre of music will be easier to create into a music magazine and also will be relitivly easy to photograph which is why I have chosen in, I have no intrest in this genre at all.

Country and Western is mostly heard and popular in america however people listen to it in England particually in parts of Devon and Cornwall.

The target audience for this genre of music is typically older, country people and it maybe seen as a male dominant/ male intrest.

Below is an image that represents the target audience of this genre.

Music Magazine Research- Voxpops Video

Music Magazine Flat Plans

This is my front cover flat plan:

This is my contents page flat plan:

This is my double page spread flat plan:

Mini proposal for double page spread

I aim to create an interview double page spread. This is a traditional convention of a music magazine (it appears a lot of the time) of my chosen genre, country and western. I will take some more images probably in the woods to create a countryside effect and use the best one as my double page spread. I will use my best friend as my model for this image (same artist as on the contents page and front cover). I will dress her in relevant clothing to show her in her natural environment this way it will look both conventional and appealing to the eye. I will use all of the conventional ideas from other music magazine double page spreads therefore I will always be referring back to a conventional look.

Front cover images - shoot 2

Above is my second shoot. The blue background goes well with the artists clothing however after comparing it with the pink images I feel that they are in themselves of better quality as they are positioned and composed better.

Music Magazine Initial Ideas

Music Magazine Proposal

Front cover images

Above are some images I took on my first shoot for my front cover, I think the pink background goes well and it makes my artist stand out however I am intending on doing another shoot with a blue background behind so I can then see which one looks both conventional and accurate.

John Denver- Country Roads

This is aother example of a Country and Western music video

Audience research - survey

I have created a survey to research about my chosen genre and to see what the public thought about it. After collecting all of my research I will gather the outcomes and put it into my final design work to show I have considered other peoples opinions.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?PREVIEW_MODE=DO_NOT_USE_THIS_LINK_FOR_COLLECTION&sm=7roIuWdhfFkFCIzYxR034COZuSrDe9Ki1%2bjjWDBmlEw%3d

Dolly Parton - 9 to 5

This is one example of a Country and Western music video

Music Magazine Additional Research

The music genre that I have chosen for my magazine is Country and Western musc as explained in my report.

Popular artists of this genre are:

- Dolly Parton
- Katherine Dawn
- Aaron Tippin
- John Carter

Prezi

Below is a link that goes to my prezi which is all about the conventions of Music magazines in our world today.

Chosen magazine genre

I have chosen to do my genre on Country and Western as I feel that this both a challenge and exiting genre to choose. Below is a bit of information about Country Music itself.

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboyand southeastern American folk music. Country music often consists of ballads and dance tunes with generally simple forms and harmonies accompanied by mostly string instruments such as banjoes, electric and acoustic guitars, fiddles such as violins and harmonicas.
The term country music gained popularity in the 1940s in preference to the earlier term hillbilly music. The term country music is used today to describe many styles and subgenres. In 2009 Country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, and second most popular in the morning commute.

Music Magazine Research- Annotated Covers

To help with my personal research I have annotated two magazine front covers of completely different genres. I have chosen pop and western.

For this magazine cover, the genre of music and possibly the target audience are given away by the main image and the clothing of the artist featured “Cheryl Cole”. These connotations show the genre of music as the artist in the image looks simple yet from a younger generation. The masthead and font would attract a potential reader to pick up the magazine and quick browse the cover lines and information given. The graphics and the colour scheme has been used well and defiantly appropriately the red colour matches in well with the logo of Q as it is also a deep red.