Post-Production Feedback

Q7. Looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to a full product?

 

I made some major improvements after discovering how to use photoshop, heres a list of different things i added compared to the previous college magazine.



Comparison between my college magazine and music magazine.

- College Magazine

plain font mast head

bland colours

puffs

barcode

brief coverlines

- Contents page

one image

page names and numbers

-Music Magazine

highlighted texts back ground

rectangle boxes

edited fonts

large bright masthead consists of different colours and effects

head moved forward infront of masthead

texts have shadows and outlines

text are size adjusted in order of importance

-Contents page

various images in various different sizes

page numbers on images

regulars box

red rectangles

red cross

editors note

editors image

page numbers, topic on that page and brief desrciptions

Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I learend to use the transform tool effectively to rotate and position my images, i then used the rectangle tool to strategically size and fill a rectangle, further applying the knowledge of my transformation tool in order to slightly adjust the angle at which i would like my rectangles to be turnt to.

I also used the lasso tool to create an outline following the layout of my text in order to create a highlight in the background of the image, putting it onto a layer of its own and moving it beind the text.
   

                     

I used a normal selected font from the menu but i wasnt pleased with the look as i wanted the individual letters to be as close together as possible, so i begun individually putting text together. this was not time effective and eventually became very difficult. after a while searching and exploring photoshop i found a tool that allows me to decrease the size within the individual letters when written as a whole which was alot easier and time effective.

Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Q4.Who would be the audience for your media product?

My targeted audience would then make an impact on IP publishing opening up a whole new department for them, teens everywhere I’ll be kept up to date with the latest trends and gossip. This is my main priority with the targeted audience, to cater to those who love the world of media and music and want to know what’s up to date. Appealing to their needs and establishing a trust link between my readers so that they feel fulfilled every time they open my magazine to read it and they always see an icon that appeals to them as youth possibly a role model to so they have someone to aspire to and look up to.



Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

After researching different publishing houses I established a pattern in the mode of publish, most publishers had different genres within their franchise. I was looking for a publisher who was willing to take on a music magazine in order to reach out to a different audience, publishing and distributing my magazine. I assumed that they would be willing to take me on in order to widen there company and bring in new income from a different source, targeting a much wider audience and widening there horizons.

The publishing house I have is imagine publishing this would be suitable as they are a more modernized company and target people with an interest in their main focus instead of targeting people with a specific budget this companies interest is in providing information and keeping there readers up to date.

By publishing my magazine within Imagine publishing it is guaranteed to make a profit as they are opening up a whole new aspect into their company and targeting a completely different audience from there original. Therefore there would be no conflicting with an audience within their company, maximising their profits becoming more established with a female audience drawing attention from the cosmetic and fashion advertisement companies etc. As imagine publishing are more technological therefore receive support from the game manufacturing adverts, this could be useful in my music magazine to appeal to the male audience . Using a music magazine would then reach out to other social groups other than game and technology lovers and drawing attention from advertisement companies and sponsorships, becoming well established by music lovers through other musical aspects.

imagine resources are fully equiped in order to make my magazine a success and open up a new genre in the company, generating income from another social group in society and open doors for the advertising world to reach another target audience.

I would probably distribute my magazine in music orientated shops and well known super stores  e.g. Hmv, Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and all the main supermarkets and well known corner shops and market stalls that are licensed to sell etc.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The target audience for my music magazine is teenagers, male and female who enjoy hip hop and RNB. I have portrayed this through images and font, firstly my font has graphite in it which is closely associated with youth and my image is off a young adolescent who is about the same age as the audience.

The original magazine I used as an exemplar had a woman half naked looking very provocative, I refrained from using this look as I prefer a more original and subtle approach. I utilized the headphones as props and the hooded jacket as it suggests that he is young appealing to the target audience’s sense of style further encouraging them to pick up the magazine. The clothing also gives of the impression that he is a laid back character which is a wide representation of the male aspect in teen years. The use of a man on the front cover encourages girls to pick up the magazine due to attraction but also encourages boys to pick up the magazine due to aspiration, possibly trying to emulate the character.

The laid back features of the magazine appeals to the audience strongly the use of headphones suggest that they are closely associated with music and the latest technology e.g. IPods. The use of a black boy may appeal to the black community also RNB is generally associated with black America whilst other races still enjoy this genre of music.

The casual colours reflects calm nature and laid back attitude whilst the red reflects the loud confident, fun and playful side, always looking for something new to indulge in. Everything on my front page has a specific way of representing the particular audience for e.g. the squared of edges on my texts, highlights and boxes etc. I didn’t want my front page to be plain as I know youths like to see a bit of style and coordination, I made the writing big because I want my audience to be drawn in and stay in. I used the colloquialisms bang bang because I know that it is commonly associated with youths also possibly due to the environment society the live in the sounds maybe relatable.

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My magazine emulates a music magazine that I researched; I used the codes and conventions of the magazine so that my finished product followed the music genre attracting the targeted audience. I carefully followed the real music magazines details for e.g.  The use of a large mast head, this is a main convention that is used in a variety of magazines my original masthead was big, bold and rather plain but it worked with the whole theme of the magazine.



I followed this convention and developed it by adding my own style to it. I developed it in order to make my magazine stand out in a significant way so that when people see my magazine they see that it has a rather acquired look about it whilst still being suitable to the targeted audience. I searched my fonts in Photoshop experimenting with colours and sizes I used two different fonts to give it a balance. The first font called old English text mt, was a graphite type, I used this to give it a youth vibe as graphite is commonly associated with young people of today which are my targeted audience I then used another simpler but bold font called show card gothic it gave the masthead a cool calm look instead of over complicating it with lots of different features. I then placed the masthead behind the main image which is a constant convention used in my exemplar magazine. I feel this made the magazine look more professional and alike the magazine I was emulating.

I used other conventions such as a barcode and a date line although the magazine I used did not have a date line I decided to add one to complete my look although I have followed the conventions of this magazine I have also added others that my exemplar may not have followed. I placed my date line below the masthead as I want it to be a key part of the head of my magazine as if I made another magazine it would follow that convention.

A key convention used is cover lines as they give a brief over view on what is being featured in the magazine. The short sharp cover lines are the main selling point so I had to make them interesting without giving out to much information making my audience anticipate the rest.. I used a very plain font style (myriad Pro) as I was trying to create a laid back comfortable feel to my front page; I stuck to a theme of three colours (red, grey, black and white) this allowed my front page to have bits of colour without over packing it giving it a more structured look. My cover lines are arranged in a vertical style flushed left and right, the majority of it is in the same size apart from my main featured article, I have written the name of my star in bold white writing and placed it in a black highlight so that my audience assumes straight away that my magazine has a feature on a new upcoming star by the name of Jordan.

On my front cover a followed a very traditional convention of putting a medium close up shot of the person featuring in my main article, I followed this convention as it is a good way of introducing the artist being covered in the magazine allowing the audience to get up close view of them almost physically and learn a bit more about them through the text. I had my model stand in a very comfortable non complicated position as I wanted the audiences’ first impression when they viewed the front page to be that my model is good looking and positioned in calm manner rather than him standing in a complicated position or dressed inappropriately or in a provocative manner.

My contents page also follows codes and conventions of an original magazine I included multiple images of various sizes. I used these images to link the titles on my contents page and to briefly illustrate the issues of discussion. In order to fully attract my audience I included pictures that linked to my front page and also linked to the youth scene e.g. swag, images of clothing and other famous music stars.

I used a consistency of square shaped images and boxes, the extra red boxes were fillers as well as adding colour to the contents page. My regular’s column covered all the consistent articles featured in my magazine monthly so that the reader can easily access specific pages. I flushed my writing left and right so that the writing did not dominate the pages but the images did.

I also made use of an editor’s note in order to show appreciation to my readers and further inform them that the information was 100% and I also wanted to encourage my readers to read on and never lack faith in the magazine.

In my double paged spread I followed conventions of an original magazine. Firstly I used a neutral tone on the background then I used deep colours red and black in order for the writing and the Image to pop. I used a drop capital to emphasize on the first word and I also changed the colours of each paragraph so that it is readable and attractive to my audience.

The main title slants in a strategic way in order to abstain from the normal, adding flavor and developing the conventions of a double page spread.

Double Page Spread Final

Final Contents Page

Final Front Page