Friday, 30 April 2010
Friday, 23 April 2010
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Evaluation Activity 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?
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I believe that between the completion of the preliminary task and that of my now finished coursework task I have altered and changed in several different ways which has made me able to achieve the higher, previously unreachable grade boundaries.
- Since the creation of my original preliminary task, I discovered a variety of different and unique effects that I did not have previously. An example of this would be how I have created my front cover and had the character on the front cover shown in black and white, whereas his t-shirt (the striking orange colouring) is still very bright.
- Another element that I have worked harder to achieve throughout the transition between my preliminary and my finished piece of coursework is that of opacity, before all my photographs were literally copy and pasted from the photographs that I had taken on my camera; now, however I have discovered that "messing" and experimenting with the opacity allows different effects to be felt across my magazine and allows the colour scheme to come across furthermore.
- One of the most obvious changes that I have made between my preliminary task and that of my final coursework task is that I have begun to alter and change how I see the task - originally, my perception was to attempt to copy a magazine (which, in some respects did work well) however, as I carried on further and began experimenting with different layouts and graphology - a trait, which I believe comes across in my second contents page.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Evaluation Activity 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
My camera itself, I have had for around 18 months and although I would say that I am not a camera genius, I do believe that the work that I have complied together and completed as party of my media coursework has all been very good, considering the lack of "professional" photography that had done in the past.
Photoshop itself is a programme that I have used before, although my usage was limited as I had only used it very briefly in year 11 and at the beginning of year 12, again I managed to try out different experiments and I did manage to discover a whole array of different effects, transitions and buttons to assure that my finished piece was to as high a standard as was possible and resulting in me acquiring the best grade at the end of the project itself.
Overall, I believe that this project has given me a better understanding o what it is that I ned to do to reach the top grades. I now know how to work a Photoshop documents and how exactly I would manipulate a document to assure that my grades were to an absolute top; I have also learnt, especially through use of my own digital camera, that some of my own work is genuinely better than I gave my self original credit for and that I need to have more confiedence in myself and working on a computer itself.
Read about my finished magazine cover page and the processes that took place within, here.
Read about my finished magazine contents page and the processes that took place within, here.
Read about my finished magazine double page spread and the processes that took place within, here.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Monday, 12 April 2010
Evaluation Activity 4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Read about the original research that I complied about my target market and all of the elements within, here.
Sunday, 11 April 2010
Evaluation Activity 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Now that my “mock up” of Harmony Magazine is nearing it’s completion, I need to go about looking for and researching indepth possible means to have my piece published and broadcast into the public eye so that people can purchase and enjoy my finished project.
There are two ways in which this could occur. The first of which is if I was a smaller business I would have to enquire into getting a large loan from a local bank; if we were, however a larger organisation, a series of shareholders and investors would have to be sourced to assure that all the costing were met and obtained by the company reproducing my magazine.
Once this process has happened, I would have to go about finding a publisher that would produce my piece and then a distributor to assure that my piece would be thrust into the public eye as quickly as possible - this means advertising anywhere possible; television, radio programming and social networking websites being three of the most commonly used ones in today’s society. It is of absolute importance that there is the correct amount of advertisement, under or over exposure could cause major problems for the future of the magazine itself!
A company that I have researched and that would in retrospect, be willing to invest in Harmony Magazine would be that of Bauer, the company behind the founding of many magazines, including that of Kerrang! Magazine and other, similar indie and rock magazines, those of which would fit within my target audience grouping. The advantage of choosing Bauer to express an interest is that the company itself specialises in a similar genre of music as that of Harmony Magazine; another advantage is that the company itself is British based, and has a lot of contacts in and around the United Kingdom to help me along with my development.
There are two ways in which this could occur. The first of which is if I was a smaller business I would have to enquire into getting a large loan from a local bank; if we were, however a larger organisation, a series of shareholders and investors would have to be sourced to assure that all the costing were met and obtained by the company reproducing my magazine.
Once this process has happened, I would have to go about finding a publisher that would produce my piece and then a distributor to assure that my piece would be thrust into the public eye as quickly as possible - this means advertising anywhere possible; television, radio programming and social networking websites being three of the most commonly used ones in today’s society. It is of absolute importance that there is the correct amount of advertisement, under or over exposure could cause major problems for the future of the magazine itself!
A company that I have researched and that would in retrospect, be willing to invest in Harmony Magazine would be that of Bauer, the company behind the founding of many magazines, including that of Kerrang! Magazine and other, similar indie and rock magazines, those of which would fit within my target audience grouping. The advantage of choosing Bauer to express an interest is that the company itself specialises in a similar genre of music as that of Harmony Magazine; another advantage is that the company itself is British based, and has a lot of contacts in and around the United Kingdom to help me along with my development.
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Evaluation Activity 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
From left to right
- Alex Turner, lead singer of Arctic Monkeys;
- Oli Sykes, lead singer of Bring Me The Horizon;
- Russell Brand, Television Comedian, Hollywood Actor and former Radio 2 Presenter;
- Simon Neil, lead singer of Biffy Clyro).
- "Shaggy", unkept hair. This feature could, perhaps shows the persona of the characters that are being written about and discussed within my mgazine and may show some form of rebellion and need to act out that comes across in each of the characters.
- Dress sense. Both males are shown to be dressed pretty casually in some form of a t shirt and denium jeans (this does however alter between each photograph that is viewed).
- Music genre. Both these men are shown to be in the indie genre of music, both of which have had "smash hit" songs which have been very well known for a great deal of time and are still well known to an array of different people.
- Success. Although some of there songs have achieved similar success, the Arctic Monkeys are still - by far - the most well known band out them and Iglu and Hartly.
- Nationaility. Sam Martin is American; Alex Turner is British.
Similarities between Sam Martin & Oli Sykes
- Long hair. Again, perhaps showing that each o these characters is going through some sort of rebellion, perhaps an element that is displayed within there genre of music (explained below).
- Dress sense. Both males are shown to be dressed pretty casually in some form of a t shirt and denium jeans (this does however alter between each photograph that is viewed).
Differences between Sam Martin & Oli Sykes
- Musical genre. Sam Martin is shown to be in an indie-electro band; Oli Sykes is shown to be in a screamo band.
- Tattoos. Although not seen, Sam Martin has a tattoo of the band that he plays within, Oli Sykes, on the otherhand is covered in tattoos based on every different aspect of his life - both that of childhood and adulthood.
- Nationality. Sam Martin is American; Oli Sykes is British.
Similarities between Sam Martin & Russell Brand
- "Shaggy", unkept hair. This feature could, perhaps shows the persona of the characters that are being written about and discussed within my mgazine and may show some form of rebellion and need to act out that comes across in each of the characters.
- "Internationailty". Both Russell Brand and Sam Martin have both been discovered in the United Kingdom and in America.
Differences between Sam Martin & Russell Brand
- Nationality. Sam Martin is American; Russell Brand is British.
- Russell Brand is not shown to be a signer - he's a comedian-come-actor.
- Russell Brand is shown to be much more famous than Sam Martin - having appeared in several Hollywood movies and in an array of different circumstances.
Similarities between Sam Martin & Simon Neil
- "Shaggy", unkept hair. This feature could, perhaps shows the persona of the characters that are being written about and discussed within my mgazine and may show some form of rebellion and need to act out that comes across in each of the characters.
Similarities between Sam Martin & Simon Neil
- Nationality. Sam Martin is American; Simon Neil is Scottish.
Friday, 9 April 2010
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Evaluation Activity 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
The “mock up” issue of Harmony Magazine and all of the elements that I incorporated within it meets the generic conventions and form of other, real life media products in several ways.
As with every magazine, there is a particular genre that is associated with the contents of what is being written - like Kerrang! Magazine being that of the rock and “emo” genre and Q Magazine being that of the indie and alternative genre. My specific magazine - which features singer, Sam Martin from the indie-electro band, Iglu and Hartly - shows the main focus of the magazine to be about new and up coming music (mostly that of indie music through to more alternative sounding music) that is surfacing in everyday lifestyles - a feature which, I do not think is clearly displayed on most mainstream magazines and made clear that that is the main purpose and genre of the magazine that is being purchased. I also believe, that through the use of the signer from the nearly-unheard of band, this would encourage people to venture into trying and attempting to assure that people know that there band actually exists, again, a trait that has not really being thoroughly discussed in most, “bigger” magazines.
One of the most common practises within any designing is the use of the colour pallet that is used throughout my magazine. In my finished piece, I have used a variety of different colours, however I have always managed to tick to the three main colours of black, blue and white (the colour which have stuck with me since the very beginning of the assignment that was given), like NME Magazine, however there are a few differences, for example; in the average issue of NME Magazine, the three main colours - blue, red and white - are used, however a different colour is used on the colour of the models that are being displayed and allows a diversity of colourings to be used throughout.
With every magazine there is always a striking photograph on the front cover that attracts people into taking an interest and buying the magazine that has become available. The model that I have used in my finished piece is shown to be signing using an average microphone - again, “cementing” the idea of the piece being about live music and new music that has arisen - he is also shown to be dressed wearing “indie” style clothing, like in other magazines, the use of the action on the front cover allows for a feeling of the featured artist to be written about within the magazine itself. I took inspiration for this element from the Q Magazine and that of Muse front man, Matt Bellamy smashing a guitar into the Q magazine logo, displaying that that specific band is rowdy and is not going to go unnoticed a similar statement that I would like a present towards my magazine and the acts and artists within.
I also, as every magazine that is available to a large market, have a striking masthead on the front cover, which shows to those that would be buying the magazine what sort of music that the magazine may include and could (or could not) stop a reader from putting down a magazine and moving on to the next one that is available. The masthead is, arguably one of the biggest features of the magazine and should stand out on a page; I decided to create a masthead that would “mix together” the mastheads of both Kerrang! Magazine, NME Magazine and Q Magazine, these specific magazines all work well at creating a striking feature to attract there audience, Kerrang! Magazine and NME Magazine have the font of each of there magazines in bold fonts that are capitalised, this feature allows for the font itself to stand out and - dependant of the name and style of the font - allows the audience to get a feel of what would be the finished content of the magazine upon purchase.
As well a the use of a masthead, I also have the use of different cover lines within the different elements of the magazine’s front cover itself. Unlike magazines such as that of Kerrang! Magazine I have attempted to cut down my cover lines to keep them as clean and as simple as Kerrang! Magazine’s most “grown up” competitor that I am now, attempting to rival through the addition of Harmony Magazine to the shelves of shops in the United Kingdom itself.
In my content page, I decided that it was here that I was going to attept to try and stay away from previously used magazines and magazine contents pages that were similar to what were already available on the market.
Looking in Q Magazine, Kerrang! Magazine and NME Magazine, I decided that I was going to try and avoid a similar layout. I did, however decide to copy NME Magazine and Kerrang! Magazine with the way in which the contents page would be set out in the columns, I also decided - similar to that of Kerrang! Magazine - I was going to incorporate a short synopsis of each article, as well as (if appropriate a photograph of the article and the bands that are involved within that specific piece of writing).
I also decided, similar to that of Q Magazine and Kerrang! Magazine I was going to attempt to incorporate font and colours from the previous pages (and subsequently throughout) as well as the date of the magazine’s initial release, in an attempt to assure that people knew as much as possible about the product that they would soon be investing within, the use of the date being displayed within allows for people to set up a subscription service (if necessary) and also allows for any collectors to harvest the products and collect them for themselves.
My double page spread was, by far the most unique element of my finished magazine, this element allowed me complete free range of what photograph I was going to develop and then use within my finished piece. Although unique, I did become inspired by the article that was written about Ke$ha in the New To Q, section in a recent issue of Q Magazine. I decided that I liked the use of the simple and "clean" photographs in which not a great deal of action was actually happening (contrasting to the front cover and referring back to the specific genre of each f the featured artist) within them and decided that I wanted to incorporate this element into my finished deign.
As with every magazine, there is a particular genre that is associated with the contents of what is being written - like Kerrang! Magazine being that of the rock and “emo” genre and Q Magazine being that of the indie and alternative genre. My specific magazine - which features singer, Sam Martin from the indie-electro band, Iglu and Hartly - shows the main focus of the magazine to be about new and up coming music (mostly that of indie music through to more alternative sounding music) that is surfacing in everyday lifestyles - a feature which, I do not think is clearly displayed on most mainstream magazines and made clear that that is the main purpose and genre of the magazine that is being purchased. I also believe, that through the use of the signer from the nearly-unheard of band, this would encourage people to venture into trying and attempting to assure that people know that there band actually exists, again, a trait that has not really being thoroughly discussed in most, “bigger” magazines.
One of the most common practises within any designing is the use of the colour pallet that is used throughout my magazine. In my finished piece, I have used a variety of different colours, however I have always managed to tick to the three main colours of black, blue and white (the colour which have stuck with me since the very beginning of the assignment that was given), like NME Magazine, however there are a few differences, for example; in the average issue of NME Magazine, the three main colours - blue, red and white - are used, however a different colour is used on the colour of the models that are being displayed and allows a diversity of colourings to be used throughout.
With every magazine there is always a striking photograph on the front cover that attracts people into taking an interest and buying the magazine that has become available. The model that I have used in my finished piece is shown to be signing using an average microphone - again, “cementing” the idea of the piece being about live music and new music that has arisen - he is also shown to be dressed wearing “indie” style clothing, like in other magazines, the use of the action on the front cover allows for a feeling of the featured artist to be written about within the magazine itself. I took inspiration for this element from the Q Magazine and that of Muse front man, Matt Bellamy smashing a guitar into the Q magazine logo, displaying that that specific band is rowdy and is not going to go unnoticed a similar statement that I would like a present towards my magazine and the acts and artists within.
I also, as every magazine that is available to a large market, have a striking masthead on the front cover, which shows to those that would be buying the magazine what sort of music that the magazine may include and could (or could not) stop a reader from putting down a magazine and moving on to the next one that is available. The masthead is, arguably one of the biggest features of the magazine and should stand out on a page; I decided to create a masthead that would “mix together” the mastheads of both Kerrang! Magazine, NME Magazine and Q Magazine, these specific magazines all work well at creating a striking feature to attract there audience, Kerrang! Magazine and NME Magazine have the font of each of there magazines in bold fonts that are capitalised, this feature allows for the font itself to stand out and - dependant of the name and style of the font - allows the audience to get a feel of what would be the finished content of the magazine upon purchase.
As well a the use of a masthead, I also have the use of different cover lines within the different elements of the magazine’s front cover itself. Unlike magazines such as that of Kerrang! Magazine I have attempted to cut down my cover lines to keep them as clean and as simple as Kerrang! Magazine’s most “grown up” competitor that I am now, attempting to rival through the addition of Harmony Magazine to the shelves of shops in the United Kingdom itself.
In my content page, I decided that it was here that I was going to attept to try and stay away from previously used magazines and magazine contents pages that were similar to what were already available on the market.
Looking in Q Magazine, Kerrang! Magazine and NME Magazine, I decided that I was going to try and avoid a similar layout. I did, however decide to copy NME Magazine and Kerrang! Magazine with the way in which the contents page would be set out in the columns, I also decided - similar to that of Kerrang! Magazine - I was going to incorporate a short synopsis of each article, as well as (if appropriate a photograph of the article and the bands that are involved within that specific piece of writing).
I also decided, similar to that of Q Magazine and Kerrang! Magazine I was going to attempt to incorporate font and colours from the previous pages (and subsequently throughout) as well as the date of the magazine’s initial release, in an attempt to assure that people knew as much as possible about the product that they would soon be investing within, the use of the date being displayed within allows for people to set up a subscription service (if necessary) and also allows for any collectors to harvest the products and collect them for themselves.
My double page spread was, by far the most unique element of my finished magazine, this element allowed me complete free range of what photograph I was going to develop and then use within my finished piece. Although unique, I did become inspired by the article that was written about Ke$ha in the New To Q, section in a recent issue of Q Magazine. I decided that I liked the use of the simple and "clean" photographs in which not a great deal of action was actually happening (contrasting to the front cover and referring back to the specific genre of each f the featured artist) within them and decided that I wanted to incorporate this element into my finished deign.
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