Evaluation

This is my full evaluation. It contains the first 5 questions in the series of essays for the evaluations. There is a mixture of voice over, camstudio and Prezi's.

Diary Entry

I have now finished all of my media coursework. Everything has been converted and uploaded. My magazine has been uploaded and I am now in the process of converting my evaluation video.

Audience Feedback

Magazine Final

Diary Entry

This week is the final week of my media coursework.
I am trying desperately to finish all of my evaluations which are taking a long time to render. I found out why, this is due to me rendering in a too high quality for what is needed. I have shortened the quality down so that it will be easier to render from Premier Pro.
Also, I am using variety in the way that I display all of my work.
I am using: Scribd, Prezi, Premier Pro, Photoshop, Youtube, Slideshare and of course Blogger. These are a great way of organising all of my work to achieve the best grade possible. In the last few days all I need to do now is upload my final magazine and render another video.

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

I began my preliminary task at the beginning of the school year. GCSE’s had taught the basics of adobe Photoshop and how to create a good magazine, however, I needed to create a great magazine. Baring this in mind I went about creating a magazine for the school, that focused on all age groups from those just starting school to the sixth formers who are in there final months at the school. The target audience was hard as it covered a wide age range and the ages in there were very diverse.

The main image on my front cover is a full bleed. This means it fills the entire page. I changed the image on my real cover as I took a very good image and wanted to use that instead. The title is called 'The people' which will entice a variety of audiences as my magazine is meant for the entire school. All of the sell lines entice these audiences as they all relate to different years in the school: 'GCSE choices, We can Help!'. This will obviously draw attention from Year nine students as they are in the GCSE choosing process.

'School Survival Guide', is aimed at year seven students who are new to the school and want to know how to cope with the everyday pressures of high school. Finally 'Top Tips For Exam Survival', the target audience here is for year eleven, twelve and thirteen students as they are undergoing there GCSE, AS or A2 exams.

All of these sell lines help to 'sell' the magazine to the intended target audiences. The colour scheme suits that of boys and girls so will entice a variety of year 8 boys to year 11 girls, who maybe worlds apart in terms of their hobbies, likes and dislikes.
The colours on the page will b[Image]e bright and vibrant as they will attract and entice people to come and view it and the the sell line will 'sell' the magazine.

My contents page has a list of random pages on the left hand side, easily viewable for anyone, making for easy reading. There are no long or complicated words or phrases to suit all abilities. There are images of the students in the school so that they can be related with and a picture of the headmaster for a special article on him in this weeks edition of The People.
The website is in full view for people to see, this advertises the magazine on the front page and on the contents. Also on the front page is the price, which is 50p. The price is not expensive which allows both rich and poor, upper and lower class people buy the magazine, as the school has many different social classes and people benefit economically differently.
No bar code as it is a school magazine and there is no need.

The puporse is for all to enjoy and what I have included succeeds this.
From this task I had a basic understanding of a magazine and how it worked. I understood all the codes and conventions of a magazine such as where sell lines go and what features should be on the front. For my preliminary task I took a few pictures with a relatively low price digital camera. These pictures are not very good quality and do not look as appealing as on the front of my magazine. I took this on board for my final piece of coursework as I then used a better high quality camera to take professional images that suited my magazine.

Moreover, when creating my preliminary task, I used basic fonts. These basic fonts were boring and dull, suitable for a school magazine however, they did not look realistic nor very enticing to and potential reader. I downloaded fonts from dafont.com for my real magazine. These fonts were unique and looked very appealing to all of my audience (predominantly males from 14 to 24). Although the fonts were good enough to appeal to other audiences. With these, I could add effects to make them 3D or add a drop shadow to emphasise key pieces of information I wanted the audience to see. The Bevel and Emboss tool allows me to create a 3D piece of text that stood out and looked professional.

What have you learned about technologies from the process of construction of the product?

What have you learned about technologies from the

View more presentations from JamieAllen8.

Diary Entry

After finishing my magazine, I printed them out and put them in my folder. Then I got a sample of media students to evaluate my work. I got three students to sit around a table with my work in the middle. The first question I asked, was just to discuss my magazine. I filmed it all on a video camera and then imported all the videos into Adobe Premier Pro and editied the vidoe to make a short video of 6.5 miniutes long.
In total I asked 6 questions, for example...
Does my magazine represent its target audience?
What is your favourite part of the magazine?

Diary Entry

I finished my Inide magazine called 'Amplified'. I comnpleted my Front cover, contents page and double page spread. It took me a while to comlete these but eventually I finihsed. I cam into school during half term to complete it and itwas very benefitial. I amk now currently priniting it onto A4 so it can be analysed by my peers.

Question 5

The main way that I attracted my audience was by the front cover. The front cover is the first thing that the audience and will be attracted to. It needs to be different yet still follow the conventions. If the magazine is different it will attract attention to it, although if it is too different, many people will be put off by it. By following convention, the target audience automatically assume that this will be a magazine they want to read as it is aesthetically pleasing to them. My magazine is an Indie style music magazine. The cover model depicts a typical Indie male, wearing a white teacher with an image of New York City, skinny jeans and Vans shoes. These are all signifiers of an Indie person, and this immediately attracts Indie fans.
The cover model is staring directly into the camera lens, to give the effect of him staring at the reader. This breaks the fourth wall and makes it personal to the reader. This creates a relationship between the reader and the cover model, enforcing them to buy it. The lighting shines onto his face, making him stand out. The lighting also casts a shadow on one side of his face, making him seem mysterious and thus, implying there could be another side to him and in turn the magazine. This creates the theory of escapism, in which the reader can escape into the walls of the magazine.
At the top of the page is a well known American band, touring around the world. These big world tours increase the area of the target audience. It states that there are reviews and articles on the tour inside the magazine. This is used to build the personal relationship between magazine and reader in which they are conceived as a friend who would recommend music that you would enjoy.
Due to the audience being driven by social networking sites, the fact that the Facebook and twitter ensigns are situated on the front cover means that they will go over in the shop and pick up the magazine. This constant hunger for socialisation leads them to be active users of current social networking zeitgeists such as Facebook and Twitter. To keep up with these current trends I have created a Facebook and Twitter page in which my audience can follow attracting them to purchase the magazine.

Diary Entry

Today I started my final double page spread. I inputed images of my cover model and wrote up more of my article. It is now over 1000 words long so is suffiecent for a double page article. I still need to add effects to other pages and tighten up my contents page.

Question 4

Who is the target audience for your magazine?

The target audience for my music magazine is teenagers from the age of 14 to adults up to the age of 28. My magazine is an Indie style magazine and this suits the age group it is targeted at. In the 2000s, the changing music industry, the decline in record sales, the growth of new digital technology and increased use of the Internet as a tool for music promotion allowed a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success. This new commercial breakthrough and the widespread use of the term "indie" to other forms of popular culture, led a number of commentators to suggest that indie rock had ceased to be a meaningful term. Popular culture is mainly used to describe the 'young people' of this day and age, meaning that Indie music is targeted at young people. The songs on which they sing represent young peoples views and hobbies. Some are negative talking about drugs, sex and rebellion. However, more recently, Indie sings have described love, friendship and 'having a good time', three very distinguished features of young peoples lives.

As well as the predominately teenage/young people age group, the sex that will be the majority of the readers will be male. The connotations of the colours red and black suit the male gender more than the female. However the colour red could also symbolise femininity leading many females to purchase the magazine. The strong bold text highlights a male dominated magazine although.

The cover model is of a similar age to the target audience, this attracts that age group to the magazine forcing them to buy it. In this months magazine, there is a male on the front page. However if a female was on there then it would attract both males and females.

The magazine is an affordable price for teenagers which also entices them to buy the magazine and increase revenue.

Diary Entry

Today I got feedback from my peers aboout my double page spread, this is what they said:

Overall it is good, however you need to make the background a more appealing colour abd change the black font as it is boring.
Dominic Averkiou

The picture is really good as you have changed the apature sight to blur the background.
The font is good, but there needs to be more text.
George Blake

Question 3

Condé nast

View more presentations from JamieAllen8.

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I believe my media product (an Indie music magazine) represents my social group due to its layout and colour scheme. The design of the front cover and contents page ensure that the target audience are represented first, the any other social group who wish to purchase the magazine. By laying out the magazine in a way that targets the target audience, the sales of the magazine will be higher and achieve greater revenue.
Firstly, the colour scheme best describes my target audience. The predominant colour of black implies the audience are sophisticated and chic. Coupled with the red it suggests the reader is rebellious and ‘loud’ yet still holding some moral values. The grey (small amounts) gives the reader a sense of intelligence and articulate, making them seem more confident about themselves as a person. The colours also attract a different audience as well as the predominant teenage group. The black connotes maturity and intellect, whereas the red signifies youth. Therefore they attract both older and younger people due to the connotations of the colours.
These colours have been chosen instead of light colours such as: yellow or pink as I think those colours would add a certain comedic value to it and not efficiently represent the social group. The Indie, rock genre connotes darker colours, reflecting the mood of the listener and bands that are associated with it; these being Foo Fighters and Two Door Cinema Club. Both the bands ‘badges’ feature black and some red. Therefore these colours will be suited to this magazine.
The model used on my front cover is of a similar age to my target audience, thus meaning they can easily relate to him and purchase the magazine. The camera places the model at eye level implying that the audience can interact with him easily as well as adding to the approachable nature of the magazine.  The clothes that my model wears, relate to the genre of the magazine. Skinny jeans and Vans, suggest that the model is leading in fashion and enforces the audience to buy. 

Question 1

Media Essay

Front Cover

The masthead I have used is very simple yet effective. I have based it on similar mastheads such as ‘Q’ and ‘NME’ as these too are typical indie magazines. The word ‘AMP’ is typical in Indie music as many amplifiers are used to create the music that is associated with the genre. The drop shadow adds emphasis and this draws attention to the magazine. The colour red is strong and bold and also connotes danger or romance. A tenuous link lies with how the reader will feel excited reading the magazine and feel an emotional connection when reading it.

The medium close up shot I have used for my main image is used to draw attention to my magazine. The lighting shines on his face adding emphasis to his ‘cool’ and relaxed facial expression. Two emotions the readers will feel when reading. My models eyes are looking away from the camera. This is due to him being and up and coming star, he looks in to the distance as a metaphor for looking into the future, to see what his career entails. This does and does not conform to typical Indie magazines. Some such as NME, predominantly feature the cover model looking directly at the camera, attracting the audiences attention. 

The button I have used is black, contrasting with the white text. It gives the name of a famous Indie band that many readers of my magazine will be influenced by. By putting it at the front it draws the readers in and sells the magazine. The other sell lines are of other big indie band s our festivals. Due to the fact that it is an autumn issue, there are pictures of the summer’s festivals. This is a USP as many people who visited the festivals will want to recollect their memories of the summer.

I have included a bar code due to the fact that is essential on every magazine and without it then the magazine could not be sold. The website is located under the title so it is not spilling onto the page, yet subliminally being messaged onto the reader.  The slogan is used to attract attention to the magazine and be a recurring phrase in the readers head, constantly associating it with the magazine.

Contents Page

The model sits in the centre of the contents page surrounded by text. This is so that the model is the focus of the reader’s attention. It is important to include the date and issue number in my contents page as to keep up a common appearance throughout my magazine, that a monthly reader will recognise.

The web address on my magazine and the fact that there are links to websites allow for different people to access the magazine in ways they prefer. This increases the audience as it relates to more people. As well as that, Facebook and Twitter are located in the corner as most teenagers (target audience) are obsessed with the social networking ‘craze’, once again allowing for a wider and more general target audience.

The plug, ‘Bands Index’, is used to allow the reader to easily search for the bands they like and then locate them without having to scan the entire magazine. The black and white contrast one another making the texts stand out.

The main image is of my mode who also features in my article. By focusing the entire magazine on him, it means all the readers reading about him will become excited. I have taken pictures of him in a quiet location to capture good images. He is standing/leaning, against a brick wall. The wall implies simplicity yet could also stand for the building blocks to his career.  He is also looking away to suggest he can see his future. The fact that he lacks facial expression, exemplifies that the future is ambiguous, causing the reader to feel nervous. This relates back to the colour red connoting excitement and nervousness.

Double Page Spreads

My first double page spread is very simplistic. It contains an image of my cover model. I have taken the picture landscape to fill the entire a3 page. The cover model is on the left of the picture wearing typical Indie clothing: Skinny Jeans, Polo, Vans. I have not centred him as I wrote a pull quote on the left hand side of the magazine. This is very simple but creates excitement for the readers who have eagerly anticipated the magazine. On the top of the page there is a gradient which is prominent throughout this article. This implies that the article is separate and more important than the rest of the magazine.
My next double page spread is the opening article to my magazine. It begins with a few simple ‘get to know’ questions. It then elaborates and I ask about his career and go onto ask about more personal aspects of the musicians life. My model is a typical Indie singer.

Everything I have spoken about in this evaluation conforms to the typical Indie music magazine. Magazines such as ‘NME’ and ‘Q’ are my magazines inspiration and I have used the colours, layout and some of the content very similar to these magazines.

Diary Entry

Thuis week was the week where we had to evaluate out own and our classmates work. On Photoshop we displayed out work and opened the annotation tool where we wrote about the strengths and weaknesses of eachothers work. I gave constructive criticism to everyones work and people did the same to me.
I then went about recording all of my data collected so I could create a good survey, and imprive my work to my best ability.

Diary Entry

The week before Christmas was very stressfull because many of my coursework pieces were due. I worked very hard to complete: Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread. Also I did my sell line ideas after creating these on Adobe Photoshoot.