I think I've kept fairly up to date throughout the production, although some parts were rushed in order to to reach deadlines. My blog was always pretty behind, as I'd do a task first then update my blog about it, slightly after. Also, I did a lot of work out of lessons, as it would have limited my time seriously if I'd only done work within lessons.
When doing my research I was constantly behind, generally because of the length of my analysis and the detail I went into. By the time I had to do my proposal pitch, I hadn't finished all my contents research therefore couldn't include conventions for it, although it was required. I did receive feedback not to forget about the contents, but it was just because I hadn't finished the research! But I eventually got up to date, and had a good solid idea of conventions and forms used in music magazines.
For my audience research, I managed to get that finished for my presentation, although it was rushed. I'd collected my research and got brief conclusions for the presentation, but I had to carry on my more in-depth analysis afterwards.
My planning was all done separately for cover, contents and DPS, so when we were were set the schedule when we were beginning creation, with deadlines of when drafts and finals were in, I had to build in time for planning. I was set about a week's worth of lessons to each piece of my product, but I managed to get everything in on time, some drafts even went in early, so my time management was great during this part of the production.
I'm now completed before the final deadline for our blogs, before our access is removed, so all I have left to do for a deadline is transform my evaluation into a presentation and wait for feedback on a certain evaluation question which is a bit ambiguous (therefore I'm not sure how to answer).
Friday, 12 December 2008
My Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I think that although my product is generally conventional, as I was worried about it's credibility, there is one unconventional twist about it.
My genre challenges the real media products, as most music magazines are focused on rock music, whereas I chose to surround mine on popular, chart, mainstream music. I did this because I believed that it is still the most common interest of people in Britain, and I thought it deserved to have a magazine purely dedicated to it, rather than mainstream music lovers having to flick carefully through magazines like Q and Clash for small features on their favourite artists.
My genre is present in every element of my product, and has changed the way I've used codes, as obviously with such a different genre it means my reader is somewhat far from the average music magazine reader. Those who read Clash and Spin are predominantly male, and mine has evolved to become aimed at female readers mainly. Typical music magazine readers are often characterised by the gig-goer stereotype, constantly listening to their iPod, plays an instrument, tried to be in a band at one stage or another, but I don't believe such an obsession with music is required to have a genuine interest in it, enough to buy a magazine about it anyway.
That is the main way my magazine challenges real products, and really the rest of the features are quite conventional, but I consider them to be slightly developed in the way they have been manipulated in order to appeal to my unstereotypical reader.
My language is basically conventional, but I think the style of sarcasm and other humour used is more out there as it is slightly blunter than that of Q, and very opinionated therefore acting as a source of personal identity. This was to represent the strongness of the genre, often considered as not "real" music which was the theme I was trying to prove throughout my product, especially through the name.
The smaller features of language are all very conventional for that of a music magazine, in the forms of the features listed in the contents, the generally straightforward denotations, the Q&A style of my interview and the way artist's names are used. So the format of all of my language is the same as most media texts, but the style in which it is written is slightly developed in a sense.
A specific feature which challenges the convention of another topic closely linked in with musical entertainment is the way I've chosen to have another section on a range of topics. This borderlines on teenage magazines, which I think is really something different and unusual.
My images all the way through my product are very conventional through the concept of them. The simple poses, minimalist look, shot distance, plain backgrounds and facial expressions of them all add to there conventionality. The way I've edited them with high contrast and high brightness is unusual, but I think it's an example of how I've manipulated a convention to fit in with my genre and style, as I think they look more lively and fun, connoting that music isn't serious, it's for leisure.
For my colours I have stuck to the conventional amount, and used black and white, so is typical on paper. But I think the bright colours I've used means there's never really any darkness like on a lot of magazines, but again is an example of how it's been twisted to fit to my female audience. It isn't that neutral anywhere, but is very fresh and lively as the bright colours I've used both have very energetic connotations as I've explained. So in some consideration, they've just been developed in order to match my unconventional genre and readers.
The layouts I've used have also been conventional, but with an edge. The cover for instance, has the masthead on the opposite side. A tiny difference, yet I think it's very noticeable and slides my product out of level with other similar magazines. The contents again, pretty typical columns of text and images, but over 2 pages and again my DPS shows the twist of 2 images. All these are not major, so I wouldn't consider them to be challenging that of a real magazine, but I think the fact these small changes run throughout as part of my house style means they're like a signifier proving my magazine is different, if only by a small margin.
My fonts are something I demanded on keeping plain, as I always noticed it never ever varied on real products when doing my research. It's vital they are plain as without this simple element the magazine loses credibility instantly because it would be indistinguishable as one of its own kind next to similar products.
Overall, my magazine has enough conventions to be counted as a music magazine, but I think the variations and edge it has to it distinguish it from real media products in a positive way.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
As a main theme of my magazine was to represent the strength of the genre, I feel I’m representing the fans of that genre as real, strong people, a contrast to the representation of them often portrayed by other media and social groups. For example, people who like mainstream chart music may be considered as mindless drones by some die hard rock music fans, just because their attitude to music is less serious, but I think my magazine counters this. Through my strong connotations of the title, the shock language and sometimes offensive humour I think I represent chart music lovers to be individuals and a force to be reckoned with, which I think is effectively positive.
Also, I think I represent females well. The bold colours again show they’re not a weak gender and the clothes my models wearing also represents how women don’t need to be shown sexually, they can have an impact in other ways. I think there’s quite an independent vibe because of the strength I’ve aimed for, so it represents women in their own right, not in connection to men. Generally as my cover artist is female, it shows authority. But it isn’t a tomboy style, because although the colours are bold and strong, one of them is still pink. However it is a hot pink and has much more feistier connotations than pastels.
Because my audience will mainly be old teenagers, I think a representation of them can be drawn from my product too. Because my product’s style is so clean and fresh, it puts a positive light on teenagers, as there’s no grunge and it’s very organised. So at first glance, it basically present’s the younger generation as goody two shoes, but then on closer inspection where the blunt sarcastic humour and bad language come in, it puts a rebellious spin on how teens are represented. Yet it still holds some dignity and maturity because the bad language is infrequent and the humour is sometimes quite clever.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I would hope a publishing company like Bauer Publishing would take on my media product.
They already publish a few music magazines - Q, Kerrang and Mojo. I think as mine is unconventional in any selection of music magazines, there’s a gap for it in this area of their publishing. It also publishes only 1 teen magazine, therefore a music magazine aimed at that audience may be welcome.
Plus as they publish a massive range of women’s magazines, it means there’s an even better place for my music magazine as it’s aimed more at women. I think the unconventional style of my magazine would fit in with their publishing as they also publish Pop, a quirky fashion magazine, so showing they’ve experimented away from the norm before.
Also as it’s the same company that owns Big City radio stations, like Metro Radio and Kiss, it provide a complimentary link to my area of mainstream music and an intertextuality relation.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
When deciding on my target audience, my initial open ended criteria was “anyone older than 12 who felt stupid reading Top of The Pops” (which actually doesn’t exist anymore!) but I developed this to 15 – late 20s, both genders and interested in mainstream.
Throughout the production of my product I feel this has evolved more, and became more specific, especially with my audience feedback exercises and looking at the media packs for Clash and Spin.
Firstly, it’s developed to be more aimed at females than both genders, but I’m glad of this because of Clash and Spin readers beings predominantly male, making mine for a more alternative audience than existing media products. Also as I mentioned before, because my genre of music is more unusual for a music magazine, my audience is also more unusual.
Far from the typical male music magazine reader, characterised by the gig-goer stereotype, constantly listening to their iPod, plays an instrument and trying to be in bands at one stage or another, my female audience exists. My audience will probably have less of an obsession with music, and it will act as a leisurely part of their life, enhancing it rather than ruling it. They would still be interested mainly in mainstream music, but may just like a wide variation.
From my audience feedback questions I’ve learnt my audience is basically a normal girl, no one with an extreme lifestyle or anything, someone who often fits in with trends and likes mainstream elements of other things in life, but may have an individual streak in their fashion sense or personality making them a little edgier and stronger than a completely average girl. However, they are quite sophisticated and mature I think, and have a well rounded lifestyle equally split into different parts of life.
How did you attract/address your audience?
Generally, to attract females, I gave the whole style of my magazine a very neat organised feel, which I think is definitely more suited to females than males. I made sure everything matched perfectly, even the artist’s clothes fitted in well with the colour scheme. Also I think my reader’s overall attitude is made obvious in the presentation of my magazine. Obviously their sense of music is appealed to by the fact I used real artist’s from the mainstream genre to get this across.
The colour scheme is a large part of how I addressed my audience, as it’s very fresh and light, hopefully mirroring my reader’s sense of fashion and general lifestyle. There’s no darkness and a very optimistic look, representative of the stereotypes who may read my magazine. Also, the bright colours will be much more appealing to a female, especially the pink, and these colours may be popular in their clothes.
The light-hearted humour in the language is a reflection of how my reader’s view music, not seriously at all, but just in a casual leisurely way. I think this feature particularly is very telling of what kind of people I want reading my magazine. The DPS is less heavy with music info, again showing my readers don’t consider it a life supply, more of an enhancement. My quote in the contents also sends out this message, as it’s about partying with music, effectively a luxury of life.
My individual magazine feature, which consists of elements from other parts in culture, is also designed to attract my well-rounded readers who will have mainstream interests in other things like TV, films and comedy.
To appeal to my reader’s strong streak, I think the blunt and often offensive language will be on the same level as their own attitude. Also by the artist I used on the cover, it provides a possible role model for my kind of readers.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
From each part of my audience feedback I’ve learned different things.
From my questions I asked to 2 other people, I’ve learned that my preferred readings have come across well, hopefully because of the way I’ve encoded my product and used recognised codes and conventions, plus making sure they co-ordinate with dominate social values so that they’re more likely to be decoded correctly. I think I’ve proven this on a small scale in the way that the majority of my intended meanings matched the way my sample interpreted them. Hopefully, this wouldn’t vary too much across a more widespread sample if my preferred readings agree with hegemonic trends. These similarities mean I’d be more likely to attract my target readers, and my product would be a success.
From my quotes I've learnt that my product is pretty realistic. Each one commented on the professionalism and high standard which is obviously really positive. Also my target readers were judged well as female, teens and early 20s. Although I planned it to not be gender specific, after I noticed my cover seemed more aimed at females, I carried on this theme, and now I'm glad after finding out the majority of Clash's and Spin readers are male, as it makes my audience a bit more different.
They show that my photos are a vital piece to my product as they were praised specifically in 2 of my quotes, for the standard and how well they represent the style of the magazine and artist. The language is said to be a main element that tailors it to my target reader, as it doesn't waffle, and probably because of humour and style. The way it's presented was also noticed to appeal to readers, as it was a carefree style, but also an effective, neat layout with an obvious house style, which is something I'd aimed to achieve throughout my production
One quote said it veered from a mainstream teenage style magazine, appealing to the niche market, but I think it means when it is included with the teen magazine genre (rather than music genre), it's more different that mainstream, which can be considered positive as maybe it's appealing to more individual, mature teens.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
My main IT resources used throughout were the Internet, Publisher and Photoshop, general DTP. I’m fairly experienced with these from general work and my GCSE Media Studies practical production.
For my research I used Google Images and Flickr to save some high quality images of covers, contents and DPS to analyse and form conventions. I’ve never used Flickr before, but I’m glad I found it. To get images of real magazine features I'd found I used a scanner to get them on the PC. I also learnt I could use the Internet to download media packs from Spin and Clash's websites to learn more about reader profiles.
For my planning, I learnt I was able to scan sketches of layouts and poses to try out on layouts which were very helpful. That also allowed me to post images of my sketches on my blog. Using Publisher, I made developed drafts for each of my pages which were very important in the creation process as I had a guide to follow.
Technology in the construction stage was arguably the most important, as obviously my whole product came together using Photoshop, where I think my skills developed because a higher standard was need for this product. Because it's such an advanced programme I felt it really extended my creative decisions and I could do anything I needed to change really, and I feel my skills were developed enough to make what I needed. In order to take images, I used my camera, another important technology in construction, and although mine was fairly low quality, it still was obviously vital for the factor of original photography. I learnt about shot distances and lighting in order to get the best out of my images. Also I used the Internet to download the perfect font for my style, which I believe was a major help in the professionalism and credibility of my product.
In the evaluation stage apart from using this blog to type it up, I didn't use much technology. I used my blog to show people my product and one of my quote sources delivered the quote to me through a comment. I did also email my questions to people, so in a respect I used more IT than I noticed, as it's just a natural occurrence to me now.
Overall, I learnt that different technologies are extremely efficient when producing something so IT orientated. It helped me with my time management and generally made everything easier.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
A major thing I’ve learnt is that a lot more consideration can go into things, to get better results and to have better reasoning to use them. Just extra detail and research into things can go a long way.
Thinking more about language and fonts especially can help fit into conventions more easily, so therefore gives a more professional finish.
I feel I’ve learnt more about image editing in the progression because I was thinking so much more specifically, like where shadows should be and the shot distances used. Trying out different poses and facial expression is also very important, as this is something I didn’t really do at all in my preliminary task, I just jumped straight in there, but I think this was partly to do with the medium close up control.
Also I think my ability of making effective layouts has grown, as my cover layout on the preliminary tasks were very simple and straightforward, but I know that on my full product the layouts have much more advanced thinking behind them and therefore work better.
I think that although my product is generally conventional, as I was worried about it's credibility, there is one unconventional twist about it.
My genre challenges the real media products, as most music magazines are focused on rock music, whereas I chose to surround mine on popular, chart, mainstream music. I did this because I believed that it is still the most common interest of people in Britain, and I thought it deserved to have a magazine purely dedicated to it, rather than mainstream music lovers having to flick carefully through magazines like Q and Clash for small features on their favourite artists.
My genre is present in every element of my product, and has changed the way I've used codes, as obviously with such a different genre it means my reader is somewhat far from the average music magazine reader. Those who read Clash and Spin are predominantly male, and mine has evolved to become aimed at female readers mainly. Typical music magazine readers are often characterised by the gig-goer stereotype, constantly listening to their iPod, plays an instrument, tried to be in a band at one stage or another, but I don't believe such an obsession with music is required to have a genuine interest in it, enough to buy a magazine about it anyway.
That is the main way my magazine challenges real products, and really the rest of the features are quite conventional, but I consider them to be slightly developed in the way they have been manipulated in order to appeal to my unstereotypical reader.
My language is basically conventional, but I think the style of sarcasm and other humour used is more out there as it is slightly blunter than that of Q, and very opinionated therefore acting as a source of personal identity. This was to represent the strongness of the genre, often considered as not "real" music which was the theme I was trying to prove throughout my product, especially through the name.
The smaller features of language are all very conventional for that of a music magazine, in the forms of the features listed in the contents, the generally straightforward denotations, the Q&A style of my interview and the way artist's names are used. So the format of all of my language is the same as most media texts, but the style in which it is written is slightly developed in a sense.
A specific feature which challenges the convention of another topic closely linked in with musical entertainment is the way I've chosen to have another section on a range of topics. This borderlines on teenage magazines, which I think is really something different and unusual.
My images all the way through my product are very conventional through the concept of them. The simple poses, minimalist look, shot distance, plain backgrounds and facial expressions of them all add to there conventionality. The way I've edited them with high contrast and high brightness is unusual, but I think it's an example of how I've manipulated a convention to fit in with my genre and style, as I think they look more lively and fun, connoting that music isn't serious, it's for leisure.
For my colours I have stuck to the conventional amount, and used black and white, so is typical on paper. But I think the bright colours I've used means there's never really any darkness like on a lot of magazines, but again is an example of how it's been twisted to fit to my female audience. It isn't that neutral anywhere, but is very fresh and lively as the bright colours I've used both have very energetic connotations as I've explained. So in some consideration, they've just been developed in order to match my unconventional genre and readers.
The layouts I've used have also been conventional, but with an edge. The cover for instance, has the masthead on the opposite side. A tiny difference, yet I think it's very noticeable and slides my product out of level with other similar magazines. The contents again, pretty typical columns of text and images, but over 2 pages and again my DPS shows the twist of 2 images. All these are not major, so I wouldn't consider them to be challenging that of a real magazine, but I think the fact these small changes run throughout as part of my house style means they're like a signifier proving my magazine is different, if only by a small margin.
My fonts are something I demanded on keeping plain, as I always noticed it never ever varied on real products when doing my research. It's vital they are plain as without this simple element the magazine loses credibility instantly because it would be indistinguishable as one of its own kind next to similar products.
Overall, my magazine has enough conventions to be counted as a music magazine, but I think the variations and edge it has to it distinguish it from real media products in a positive way.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
As a main theme of my magazine was to represent the strength of the genre, I feel I’m representing the fans of that genre as real, strong people, a contrast to the representation of them often portrayed by other media and social groups. For example, people who like mainstream chart music may be considered as mindless drones by some die hard rock music fans, just because their attitude to music is less serious, but I think my magazine counters this. Through my strong connotations of the title, the shock language and sometimes offensive humour I think I represent chart music lovers to be individuals and a force to be reckoned with, which I think is effectively positive.
Also, I think I represent females well. The bold colours again show they’re not a weak gender and the clothes my models wearing also represents how women don’t need to be shown sexually, they can have an impact in other ways. I think there’s quite an independent vibe because of the strength I’ve aimed for, so it represents women in their own right, not in connection to men. Generally as my cover artist is female, it shows authority. But it isn’t a tomboy style, because although the colours are bold and strong, one of them is still pink. However it is a hot pink and has much more feistier connotations than pastels.
Because my audience will mainly be old teenagers, I think a representation of them can be drawn from my product too. Because my product’s style is so clean and fresh, it puts a positive light on teenagers, as there’s no grunge and it’s very organised. So at first glance, it basically present’s the younger generation as goody two shoes, but then on closer inspection where the blunt sarcastic humour and bad language come in, it puts a rebellious spin on how teens are represented. Yet it still holds some dignity and maturity because the bad language is infrequent and the humour is sometimes quite clever.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I would hope a publishing company like Bauer Publishing would take on my media product.
They already publish a few music magazines - Q, Kerrang and Mojo. I think as mine is unconventional in any selection of music magazines, there’s a gap for it in this area of their publishing. It also publishes only 1 teen magazine, therefore a music magazine aimed at that audience may be welcome.
Plus as they publish a massive range of women’s magazines, it means there’s an even better place for my music magazine as it’s aimed more at women. I think the unconventional style of my magazine would fit in with their publishing as they also publish Pop, a quirky fashion magazine, so showing they’ve experimented away from the norm before.
Also as it’s the same company that owns Big City radio stations, like Metro Radio and Kiss, it provide a complimentary link to my area of mainstream music and an intertextuality relation.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
When deciding on my target audience, my initial open ended criteria was “anyone older than 12 who felt stupid reading Top of The Pops” (which actually doesn’t exist anymore!) but I developed this to 15 – late 20s, both genders and interested in mainstream.
Throughout the production of my product I feel this has evolved more, and became more specific, especially with my audience feedback exercises and looking at the media packs for Clash and Spin.
Firstly, it’s developed to be more aimed at females than both genders, but I’m glad of this because of Clash and Spin readers beings predominantly male, making mine for a more alternative audience than existing media products. Also as I mentioned before, because my genre of music is more unusual for a music magazine, my audience is also more unusual.
Far from the typical male music magazine reader, characterised by the gig-goer stereotype, constantly listening to their iPod, plays an instrument and trying to be in bands at one stage or another, my female audience exists. My audience will probably have less of an obsession with music, and it will act as a leisurely part of their life, enhancing it rather than ruling it. They would still be interested mainly in mainstream music, but may just like a wide variation.
From my audience feedback questions I’ve learnt my audience is basically a normal girl, no one with an extreme lifestyle or anything, someone who often fits in with trends and likes mainstream elements of other things in life, but may have an individual streak in their fashion sense or personality making them a little edgier and stronger than a completely average girl. However, they are quite sophisticated and mature I think, and have a well rounded lifestyle equally split into different parts of life.
How did you attract/address your audience?
Generally, to attract females, I gave the whole style of my magazine a very neat organised feel, which I think is definitely more suited to females than males. I made sure everything matched perfectly, even the artist’s clothes fitted in well with the colour scheme. Also I think my reader’s overall attitude is made obvious in the presentation of my magazine. Obviously their sense of music is appealed to by the fact I used real artist’s from the mainstream genre to get this across.
The colour scheme is a large part of how I addressed my audience, as it’s very fresh and light, hopefully mirroring my reader’s sense of fashion and general lifestyle. There’s no darkness and a very optimistic look, representative of the stereotypes who may read my magazine. Also, the bright colours will be much more appealing to a female, especially the pink, and these colours may be popular in their clothes.
The light-hearted humour in the language is a reflection of how my reader’s view music, not seriously at all, but just in a casual leisurely way. I think this feature particularly is very telling of what kind of people I want reading my magazine. The DPS is less heavy with music info, again showing my readers don’t consider it a life supply, more of an enhancement. My quote in the contents also sends out this message, as it’s about partying with music, effectively a luxury of life.
My individual magazine feature, which consists of elements from other parts in culture, is also designed to attract my well-rounded readers who will have mainstream interests in other things like TV, films and comedy.
To appeal to my reader’s strong streak, I think the blunt and often offensive language will be on the same level as their own attitude. Also by the artist I used on the cover, it provides a possible role model for my kind of readers.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
From each part of my audience feedback I’ve learned different things.
From my questions I asked to 2 other people, I’ve learned that my preferred readings have come across well, hopefully because of the way I’ve encoded my product and used recognised codes and conventions, plus making sure they co-ordinate with dominate social values so that they’re more likely to be decoded correctly. I think I’ve proven this on a small scale in the way that the majority of my intended meanings matched the way my sample interpreted them. Hopefully, this wouldn’t vary too much across a more widespread sample if my preferred readings agree with hegemonic trends. These similarities mean I’d be more likely to attract my target readers, and my product would be a success.
From my quotes I've learnt that my product is pretty realistic. Each one commented on the professionalism and high standard which is obviously really positive. Also my target readers were judged well as female, teens and early 20s. Although I planned it to not be gender specific, after I noticed my cover seemed more aimed at females, I carried on this theme, and now I'm glad after finding out the majority of Clash's and Spin readers are male, as it makes my audience a bit more different.
They show that my photos are a vital piece to my product as they were praised specifically in 2 of my quotes, for the standard and how well they represent the style of the magazine and artist. The language is said to be a main element that tailors it to my target reader, as it doesn't waffle, and probably because of humour and style. The way it's presented was also noticed to appeal to readers, as it was a carefree style, but also an effective, neat layout with an obvious house style, which is something I'd aimed to achieve throughout my production
One quote said it veered from a mainstream teenage style magazine, appealing to the niche market, but I think it means when it is included with the teen magazine genre (rather than music genre), it's more different that mainstream, which can be considered positive as maybe it's appealing to more individual, mature teens.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
My main IT resources used throughout were the Internet, Publisher and Photoshop, general DTP. I’m fairly experienced with these from general work and my GCSE Media Studies practical production.
For my research I used Google Images and Flickr to save some high quality images of covers, contents and DPS to analyse and form conventions. I’ve never used Flickr before, but I’m glad I found it. To get images of real magazine features I'd found I used a scanner to get them on the PC. I also learnt I could use the Internet to download media packs from Spin and Clash's websites to learn more about reader profiles.
For my planning, I learnt I was able to scan sketches of layouts and poses to try out on layouts which were very helpful. That also allowed me to post images of my sketches on my blog. Using Publisher, I made developed drafts for each of my pages which were very important in the creation process as I had a guide to follow.
Technology in the construction stage was arguably the most important, as obviously my whole product came together using Photoshop, where I think my skills developed because a higher standard was need for this product. Because it's such an advanced programme I felt it really extended my creative decisions and I could do anything I needed to change really, and I feel my skills were developed enough to make what I needed. In order to take images, I used my camera, another important technology in construction, and although mine was fairly low quality, it still was obviously vital for the factor of original photography. I learnt about shot distances and lighting in order to get the best out of my images. Also I used the Internet to download the perfect font for my style, which I believe was a major help in the professionalism and credibility of my product.
In the evaluation stage apart from using this blog to type it up, I didn't use much technology. I used my blog to show people my product and one of my quote sources delivered the quote to me through a comment. I did also email my questions to people, so in a respect I used more IT than I noticed, as it's just a natural occurrence to me now.
Overall, I learnt that different technologies are extremely efficient when producing something so IT orientated. It helped me with my time management and generally made everything easier.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
A major thing I’ve learnt is that a lot more consideration can go into things, to get better results and to have better reasoning to use them. Just extra detail and research into things can go a long way.
Thinking more about language and fonts especially can help fit into conventions more easily, so therefore gives a more professional finish.
I feel I’ve learnt more about image editing in the progression because I was thinking so much more specifically, like where shadows should be and the shot distances used. Trying out different poses and facial expression is also very important, as this is something I didn’t really do at all in my preliminary task, I just jumped straight in there, but I think this was partly to do with the medium close up control.
Also I think my ability of making effective layouts has grown, as my cover layout on the preliminary tasks were very simple and straightforward, but I know that on my full product the layouts have much more advanced thinking behind them and therefore work better.
Audience Feedback - Quotes
I gathered a few detailed quotes from a range of people, who were hopefully unbias, although doing it for the creator of the product is bound to be slightly influential on what to say. I asked if they had any general comments about my magazine, then asked who they thought it was aimed at and how professional it looked.
These are the quotes I've had;
These are the quotes I've had;
"Overall, the magazine looks very attention grabbing. I like the choice of
colours, they compliment each other very well. The information on the contents page is presented very neatly and easy to read. The photos are relavant and the model represents P!nk very well. The text on the double page spread is displayed well, with no waffling. I think the magazine is aimed at teenagers, preferably girls who are interested general pop/RnB music. I think the magazine looks very professional as the layout is superbly done, and has an obvious house style. I would consider buying this magazine for myself.""There is an excellent sense of house style across the pages. The photography is of a very high standard and really captures the spirit of the magazine. I believe the magazine is aimed at a female audience, teens to early twenties. I think this because of the language used and the carefree style of the overall piece."
"I am very impressed with the very professional look you have created. It appears to be aimed at a female audience probably late teens. This looks different to the usual teenage magazines, possibly moving away from the mainstream and therefore I think you are appealing to a niche market."
They're generally positive, and I'll talk about them more in my evaluation.
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Audience Feedback - Questions
This is more of a risky way of assessment, but I do think it is a good indicator to see if I've created that sense of a reader profile through my encoding of my preferred readings. This would be very important to a real magazine, as they'd need to sell their reader profile to advertisers to persuade them to use their magazine. I'll answer a set of questions with my preferred readings with what came straight off my head, and gather a small sample of what others answered to see if they match or at least similar, as everyone associates connotations with different, although often similar things. The list of questions and my answers are;
What breakfast cereal do they eat? Coco Pops
What car/mode of transport do they use? Small cars, bus, metro
What accommodation do they live in? Parents’ homes, flats
What do they drink? Lemonade, Red Bull (similar energy drinks), Alchopops
What TV shows do they watch? American dramas and sitcoms e.g Ugly Betty, Friends, The OC, Gossip Girl and reality TV
What music do they like? Mainstream/chart music
What is their favourite meal? Pizza
What sport do they watch and what sport do they play, if any? Don’t watch, netball, tennis
Who is there partner or are they single? Single or in short-term relationship
Where do they go on holiday? America, France
What shop is their favourite? H&M, Primark
What is their favourite colour? Purple
What genre of film do they like? Comedies, Romantic Comedies
Do you think they go to more gigs at the Carling Academy or the Metro Radio Arena? Metro Radio Arena
Answers I got from several people are (+ to separate each person's answers);
What breakfast cereal do they eat? Coco Pops + Shreddies
What car/mode of transport do they use? Small cars + Cheap cars, mopeds, metros
What accommodation do they live in? Small houses, terraced + Apartments rented accommodation, houses
What do they drink? Smirnoff Ice + Lemonade, Cider, Boost
What TV shows do they watch? X factor, reality TV shows + That 70's show, The OC, American Dramas
What music do they like? Pop + Punk, Pop
What is their favourite meal? Spaghetti bolognese + Spaghetti bolognese
What sport do they watch and what sport do they play, if any? Play and watch tennis + They don’t watch or play, maybe tennis occasionally
Who is their partner or are they single? Single + They’re single, free spirits
Where do they go on holiday? Italy, Spain + Greece
What shop is their favourite? Topshop + H&M
What is their favourite colour? Green + Green
What genre of film do they like? Comedy + Romantic comedies and just comedies
Do you think they go to more gigs at the Carling Academy or the Metro Radio Arena? Metro Radio Arena + Metro Radio Arena
Although it should be expected, the way a lot of the answers match is quite odd. Hopefully this means my codes and conventions are widespread and recognised enough to have formed an accurate typical reader to most people. Most of the answers were very similar or had similar factors about them, and only an odd few were very different, like the favourite colour one, the holiday destinations, and the favourite meal. These answers were more sophisticated than I'd intended, but that's not a bad thing, in fact it's really good. Like for the favourite meal, I'd thought my reader would have preferred fast, easy food, like pizza, but my sample answers both suggested the sit down meal of spaghetti bolognese suggesting a much more traditional, conservative reader I think. The holiday destinations were less cosmopolitan than I'd aimed for, and more exotic, which I think is interesting and also a bit more cultural, reflecting well on my target readers.
What breakfast cereal do they eat? Coco Pops
What car/mode of transport do they use? Small cars, bus, metro
What accommodation do they live in? Parents’ homes, flats
What do they drink? Lemonade, Red Bull (similar energy drinks), Alchopops
What TV shows do they watch? American dramas and sitcoms e.g Ugly Betty, Friends, The OC, Gossip Girl and reality TV
What music do they like? Mainstream/chart music
What is their favourite meal? Pizza
What sport do they watch and what sport do they play, if any? Don’t watch, netball, tennis
Who is there partner or are they single? Single or in short-term relationship
Where do they go on holiday? America, France
What shop is their favourite? H&M, Primark
What is their favourite colour? Purple
What genre of film do they like? Comedies, Romantic Comedies
Do you think they go to more gigs at the Carling Academy or the Metro Radio Arena? Metro Radio Arena
Answers I got from several people are (+ to separate each person's answers);
What breakfast cereal do they eat? Coco Pops + Shreddies
What car/mode of transport do they use? Small cars + Cheap cars, mopeds, metros
What accommodation do they live in? Small houses, terraced + Apartments rented accommodation, houses
What do they drink? Smirnoff Ice + Lemonade, Cider, Boost
What TV shows do they watch? X factor, reality TV shows + That 70's show, The OC, American Dramas
What music do they like? Pop + Punk, Pop
What is their favourite meal? Spaghetti bolognese + Spaghetti bolognese
What sport do they watch and what sport do they play, if any? Play and watch tennis + They don’t watch or play, maybe tennis occasionally
Who is their partner or are they single? Single + They’re single, free spirits
Where do they go on holiday? Italy, Spain + Greece
What shop is their favourite? Topshop + H&M
What is their favourite colour? Green + Green
What genre of film do they like? Comedy + Romantic comedies and just comedies
Do you think they go to more gigs at the Carling Academy or the Metro Radio Arena? Metro Radio Arena + Metro Radio Arena
Although it should be expected, the way a lot of the answers match is quite odd. Hopefully this means my codes and conventions are widespread and recognised enough to have formed an accurate typical reader to most people. Most of the answers were very similar or had similar factors about them, and only an odd few were very different, like the favourite colour one, the holiday destinations, and the favourite meal. These answers were more sophisticated than I'd intended, but that's not a bad thing, in fact it's really good. Like for the favourite meal, I'd thought my reader would have preferred fast, easy food, like pizza, but my sample answers both suggested the sit down meal of spaghetti bolognese suggesting a much more traditional, conservative reader I think. The holiday destinations were less cosmopolitan than I'd aimed for, and more exotic, which I think is interesting and also a bit more cultural, reflecting well on my target readers.
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Planning My Audience Feedback
On my research into how to gain audience feedback, I read something that suggested I download some media packs off popular magazine websites, so I downloaded those of Clash and Spin. This is probably something I should have done when I was deciding on my target audience, as they have reader profiles that are so specific, but I think I can use the information off these to inspire me for ways collect audience feedback. It also gives me an idea of what my audience should be looking for. Just something I noticed when reading them, going back to my genre idea, they are really focused on expressing the fact that their readers are individual and lead the crowd, so I'm very glad I chose to do a very mainstream magazine as I think it means my audience is wider. Also something unusal, both magazine have much larger proportion of men readers, so even though mine began as not gender specific, maybe it's a good thing it's it developed into a magazine aimed at females.
I have 3 methods to collect audience feedback, mainly to see how well I have encoded features aimed at my readers and to see how realistic people think it is, and they are;
- Quotes - I want to get some fairly detailed quotes off some hopefully unbias people about who they think it's aimed at and if it looks professional.
- Questions - I've got a list of seemingly obscure questions I gained from a media textbook, and I'd fill them in myself according to my preferred reading of my magazine, and ask a small smaple to do the same and see if their answers match at all with mine. Hopefully this idea will work, but it may be slightly too obscure.
- Magazine stand - I had the thought of asking my local Borders if I could just place cover on the music stands for an hour or so, and watch discretely to see if anyone picks it up or looks at it. I think this would be a real test of professionality, but I'm doubtful that I'll be able to carry out this experiment, but it may be worth asking.
I have 3 methods to collect audience feedback, mainly to see how well I have encoded features aimed at my readers and to see how realistic people think it is, and they are;
- Quotes - I want to get some fairly detailed quotes off some hopefully unbias people about who they think it's aimed at and if it looks professional.
- Questions - I've got a list of seemingly obscure questions I gained from a media textbook, and I'd fill them in myself according to my preferred reading of my magazine, and ask a small smaple to do the same and see if their answers match at all with mine. Hopefully this idea will work, but it may be slightly too obscure.
- Magazine stand - I had the thought of asking my local Borders if I could just place cover on the music stands for an hour or so, and watch discretely to see if anyone picks it up or looks at it. I think this would be a real test of professionality, but I'm doubtful that I'll be able to carry out this experiment, but it may be worth asking.
My Complete Product
This is everything put together so I'm now ready to start my evaluation and audience feedback.
Monday, 8 December 2008
My Final DPS
This is my final DPS, which I'm very pleased with because I think it looks really realistic.
It is basically exactly the same organisation of my developed draft, as everything went very according to plan including my photos. I've added small features like the page numbers and "Words by" part, just for that real professionality and to draw everything together.
I've made this background to look like a room and although I'm not totally thrilled with it, I think it gives an interesting appearance. The way it's quite grainy actually works in my advantage I think, as it looks less plain and unreal, and the shading of it just gives some variation to the background. I think it's subtle but I don't think it would be the same without it. I've also burned it in parts to create dull shadows of where my images are to try and make it look like they're part of the same photo.
For both my images, all I've really done is even out pigmentation, heightened brightness and contrast and added a drop and internal shadow. I also managed to remove the shadow from my sitting image, as there is on the original image on her back. I did this by just smudging and covering it with similar colours. I think the shadows on the headphone one work really well, similarly to the headphones image on my contents, so it's just like there's something good about that set of images. I was really pleased I managed to have the headphone wire leaking into the frame, because I think it's just one of those tiny quirky differences that looks really good.
For the font of the title I did use an image of P!nk's logo, but I've cut it out and coloured it to suit my house style. I think using the Gill Sans MT was the right decision, as it looks much more like an interview in a magazine. I've also used the drop cap 4 lines into it which is the typical amount looking at others.
My first draft is shown here and like my contents, it's incredibly similar to my final draft. I got some suggestions on how I could improve it, even just things to try, which included;
It is basically exactly the same organisation of my developed draft, as everything went very according to plan including my photos. I've added small features like the page numbers and "Words by" part, just for that real professionality and to draw everything together.
I've made this background to look like a room and although I'm not totally thrilled with it, I think it gives an interesting appearance. The way it's quite grainy actually works in my advantage I think, as it looks less plain and unreal, and the shading of it just gives some variation to the background. I think it's subtle but I don't think it would be the same without it. I've also burned it in parts to create dull shadows of where my images are to try and make it look like they're part of the same photo.
For both my images, all I've really done is even out pigmentation, heightened brightness and contrast and added a drop and internal shadow. I also managed to remove the shadow from my sitting image, as there is on the original image on her back. I did this by just smudging and covering it with similar colours. I think the shadows on the headphone one work really well, similarly to the headphones image on my contents, so it's just like there's something good about that set of images. I was really pleased I managed to have the headphone wire leaking into the frame, because I think it's just one of those tiny quirky differences that looks really good.
For the font of the title I did use an image of P!nk's logo, but I've cut it out and coloured it to suit my house style. I think using the Gill Sans MT was the right decision, as it looks much more like an interview in a magazine. I've also used the drop cap 4 lines into it which is the typical amount looking at others.
My first draft is shown here and like my contents, it's incredibly similar to my final draft. I got some suggestions on how I could improve it, even just things to try, which included;- Switching the left page number (on contents too) to make it a mirror image
- Put a quote from the article somewhere
- Have small hints of green - "Words by.." and the quotation marks
- A small corner title categorising what section of the magazine it was
I tried all these changes on my second draft, as seen here. I had no problem changing the page number as this is something I genuinely hadn't noticed until then, and I understood why. I tried putting a quote on, although it had to be in pink because I couldn't use white or black because of the placement, so I'm not sure if I'm keen on it. I added some green, I don't know if if makes the quote look a bit messy compared to the very fresh neat feel of the rest of the page. I then added a little phrase in the top left corner, "Cover Character", telling the reader this is a feature from my cover, which I think is something I'll stick with as it's subtle and what would be a handy navigation tool for the reader looking through the magazine.
On gaining more feedback from my teacher, she liked the changes, although when I said I felt the quote made it look a bit messy she suggested I alter the hue of my model's shoes to keep it all together if that's what I was unhappy with. She also suggested I make the quotation marks smaller, just so they don't cover any parts of the words and recomended I changed the feature in the top right corner. In the end I did decide to use "Exclusive" as it is that conventional emotive phrase used commonly. It gives the reader the sense that they're reading something no one else has, that it's special to them, which is why so many magazines, and not just in the music genre, use it. I think the combination of the style I've put it in helps with the connotations, as it's bold italic (or DemiOblique as Photoshop calls it) which I think gives it that fast, fresh, important look. I've also turned it to have it running verticalling down the page just to give it an edge, I also feel it fits better this way. So with these changes I created my final DPS article at the top of the post.
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