Perliminary task brief:
"using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a
new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of DTP.”
The Main Task
The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine.
All images and text used must be original, produced by the candidate(s), minimum of four images per candidate. To be produced individually.
As you can observe from the two briefs the main task is a lot less specific, this gave me the chance to be alot more creative in my ideas. During the entire process i have learnt many things below is a list:
Research was extremely different between the perliminary task and the main task. The perliminary task involved minimal if any research, so the only thing i did look at was a few existing student magazines and thats as far as it went. But for the main task i looked in to shared features of similar magazines, publishers, forms and conventions and even into adorno's theory. All of these helped me gain the knowledge needed to create my final peice.
I also went about planning the two pieces differently, for the preliminary task i did no planning at all - it was all just trial and error until i found a piece i was happy wit hh. However with the main task i had already researched forms and conventions and shared features i then went onto create several different layout templates this meant when creating my final piece i had an idea of what i wanted to do, and by doing this i managed to save time and created a magazine appealing to the correct audience.
Once i had finished the planning and researching the next step was taking the photographs needed for the final pieces, for the perliminary task i speant one hour maximum (one lesson) just wondering around college with a camera taking photos of the college and a few of my friends. There were no real logistical arrangements or planning behind it, this was my first mistake. This was because when i came to use my photos i realised id got a very small amount of photos that could be used. this created limits to what i could do with the perliminary task. so for the main task i did the complete opposite to this i planned when where and who were going to be in my photos, and had several different shoots planned this way i new that i would have more images to choose from meaning i could be more creative when producing my final piece.
When it came to creating my magazine the skills i learnt in the perliminary task really helped me, although my knowledge wasn't great i still had a sufficient amount, and the more i used certain software the more i learnt.
Overall i feel that i have learnt a great deal in the progression from the perliminary task to the main task both in my knowledge of media and in my software skills.
Tuesday 21 April 2009
what have you learnt about technologies from the proccess of constructing this product?
Production (hardware skills)
When i had formed my idea for my final piece the first thing i did was to take the photos to use for the magazine cover and spread. I used a dslr camera for this and all of the images were taken within a photography studio. The camera used was my own so i already knew how to use it, however the studio within the college has recently gone through a refurb and was boasting a variety of different backgrounds, lights and various other equipment that i had never used before. I needed to become fammiliar with these new editions to the studio quickly and aptly to achieve good photographs. After a few test shoots i found a setup i was happy with and discovered how seperate lighting creates different moods within a picture. For my main cover photo the lighting is quite dark as i wanted to achieve a fairly serious mood and i wanted the features on the face to be more obscure than usual, then there is an element of mystery and the model looks more like a rocker.
In the picture of the girl i aimed to soften the lighting but not make it so bright that her facial features cannot be vividly seen.
I felt the use of lighting really helped me photos as they create the mood that goes with them. The lighting is also whats responsible for highlighting the props and features within a picutre so without the use of lighting nothing would prominently stand out.
Post production (software skills)
The next thing that i used was photoshop, this was to edit my images, although i had used photoshop before it had only been for very basic things nd my knowlegde wasn't up to an adequate standard i felt for these photos.However after a lesson from my teacher on how to polish the photos to a professional standard i got to work on my own, this proved to be very time consuming aswell as frustrating but after a number of attempts i finally masterd the technique to a standard i was happy with. This was a very accomplished feeling and gave me enthusiasm to make more effort with each photo.
Finally i was to piece together my magazine using quark express. This proved to be very frustrating as i have only used it once before and that was on the prelimnary task so getting it to do what i wanted was difficult. The main problem i encountered was getting the text where i wanted it as i had yet to discover how to do it properly. However after a few more lessons when i had gathered research on how to successfully work this programme it became easier and i finally was able to achieve the look i wanted.
When i had formed my idea for my final piece the first thing i did was to take the photos to use for the magazine cover and spread. I used a dslr camera for this and all of the images were taken within a photography studio. The camera used was my own so i already knew how to use it, however the studio within the college has recently gone through a refurb and was boasting a variety of different backgrounds, lights and various other equipment that i had never used before. I needed to become fammiliar with these new editions to the studio quickly and aptly to achieve good photographs. After a few test shoots i found a setup i was happy with and discovered how seperate lighting creates different moods within a picture. For my main cover photo the lighting is quite dark as i wanted to achieve a fairly serious mood and i wanted the features on the face to be more obscure than usual, then there is an element of mystery and the model looks more like a rocker.
In the picture of the girl i aimed to soften the lighting but not make it so bright that her facial features cannot be vividly seen.
I felt the use of lighting really helped me photos as they create the mood that goes with them. The lighting is also whats responsible for highlighting the props and features within a picutre so without the use of lighting nothing would prominently stand out.
Post production (software skills)
The next thing that i used was photoshop, this was to edit my images, although i had used photoshop before it had only been for very basic things nd my knowlegde wasn't up to an adequate standard i felt for these photos.However after a lesson from my teacher on how to polish the photos to a professional standard i got to work on my own, this proved to be very time consuming aswell as frustrating but after a number of attempts i finally masterd the technique to a standard i was happy with. This was a very accomplished feeling and gave me enthusiasm to make more effort with each photo.
Finally i was to piece together my magazine using quark express. This proved to be very frustrating as i have only used it once before and that was on the prelimnary task so getting it to do what i wanted was difficult. The main problem i encountered was getting the text where i wanted it as i had yet to discover how to do it properly. However after a few more lessons when i had gathered research on how to successfully work this programme it became easier and i finally was able to achieve the look i wanted.
who would be the audience for your media product? how did you attract/address your audience?
The target audience of a music magazine is people with a special interest in this case wanting to learn to play the guitar, the audience profile for the consumers are that they will most likely be a succeeded, aspirer or achiever or a combination of these. This means that they are driven, ambitious successful, and want to better themselves. They will be post materialists in that they want 'to be something later' because of the nature of special interest groups they can rate anywhere within the jicnars scale. Special interest groups are a demographic no matter what the audience’s age. According to the life stage categories they will come under either decision pending, in that they have no idea what they want to do with there life, or have career commitment, in that they know what they want to do and are going to go out of there way to do it. To sum all of this up I would say:
"its for anyone who wants to better themselves, they know where they want to go and what they want to do, but still aspire to the greater things in life, they are confident in what they do and enjoy doing it."
Once i had established my audience and created the magazine i then went out and tracked down my target audience armed with a questionaire, copies of the magazine and a camcorder, to see how effective my final piece was. below is a copy of this questionaire.
comments back from the questionaires include things like " i really liked the way it was easy to read and how key elements grabbed your attention."
when i asked a girl what she liked about the magazine she said she "enjoyed reading the article about Kelly T" this is unsuprising as this was the double spread i graphically dedicated to the female proportion of the magazines audience. I then asked if the reason she enjoyed this aspect of the magazine was because of the genre that was used and she replied that it was as she herself is interested in music. This successfully proves that this genre of magazine appeals to both genders equally and that i have laid it out in a way which doesnt just interest one.
All people replied yes to the first question, which meant i had fulfilled my criteria of publishing a front page which grabbed the attention of the public and managed to quickly and aptly display what it was about.
When asked about whether the final piece was a believable result to be a genuine and authentic magazine people replied that it was. This was because of the added details i included such as the barcode and price. Another person said that they thought the font inparticular was reminiscent of a music magazine. However a few people thought that some of the photos didn't look that professional but i had limited resources.
Over half the people i asked question five replied that the bold fonts were particularly effective. I was hoping that the photos i took would've grabbed more peoples attention but i don't think that they were to a high enough standard.
Overall i think doing this questionnaire was very helpful to getting to understand what people liked about my magazine and where i went wrong. This way i can know what techniques to use and leave out next time if i try and achieve this again.
"its for anyone who wants to better themselves, they know where they want to go and what they want to do, but still aspire to the greater things in life, they are confident in what they do and enjoy doing it."
Once i had established my audience and created the magazine i then went out and tracked down my target audience armed with a questionaire, copies of the magazine and a camcorder, to see how effective my final piece was. below is a copy of this questionaire.
comments back from the questionaires include things like " i really liked the way it was easy to read and how key elements grabbed your attention."
when i asked a girl what she liked about the magazine she said she "enjoyed reading the article about Kelly T" this is unsuprising as this was the double spread i graphically dedicated to the female proportion of the magazines audience. I then asked if the reason she enjoyed this aspect of the magazine was because of the genre that was used and she replied that it was as she herself is interested in music. This successfully proves that this genre of magazine appeals to both genders equally and that i have laid it out in a way which doesnt just interest one.
All people replied yes to the first question, which meant i had fulfilled my criteria of publishing a front page which grabbed the attention of the public and managed to quickly and aptly display what it was about.
When asked about whether the final piece was a believable result to be a genuine and authentic magazine people replied that it was. This was because of the added details i included such as the barcode and price. Another person said that they thought the font inparticular was reminiscent of a music magazine. However a few people thought that some of the photos didn't look that professional but i had limited resources.
Over half the people i asked question five replied that the bold fonts were particularly effective. I was hoping that the photos i took would've grabbed more peoples attention but i don't think that they were to a high enough standard.
Overall i think doing this questionnaire was very helpful to getting to understand what people liked about my magazine and where i went wrong. This way i can know what techniques to use and leave out next time if i try and achieve this again.
what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
After researching publishers and what they do, aswell as the publishers of similar magazines i believe that my product will fit in within the media world and has the potential to be owned by a major publisher. Whilst i was researching a large majority of similar magazines were all owned by future plc, this suggests that they have a basic interest within this area, however more research into future has lead me to find that they are owned by Pearson plc, another horizontally integrated media conglomerate who own such publishers as penguin. Which leads us to the question of whether it is actually about peoples interests or whether it is all about profit, and the evidence shows that it is more aimed at making profit than anything else. so it is this company or one of simmilar value that i think will distribute my magazine.
Future plc is owned by a major media conglomerate so their main interest is going to be income, given the type of magazine this is i feel that there is alot of potential to make money through advertisement, making it even more appealable to publishers. The speciality of this magazine is learning a new talent and educating people on different aspects of the guitar as well as being informative about popular bands. There is a large market for this kind of topic at the moment as the guitar is appealing to people of all ages. I think this is why people especially publishers and those working in the advertising industry will be interested in my product. There is a lot you can do to promote this magazine and to help it sell better it could even be suggested that you get something free with it. There are many different ideas that can be branched off my central focus of producing a magazine for guitarists and wannabe guitarists.
Although i have only designed a magazine there is potential for the idea to be put in place elsewhere for example you could create a website turn it into an ebook or even create merchandise, each of these coming with there own benefits all of which are financial. This variation of merchandise also makes the product more appealing to a wider range of people, for example children or those not keen on reading will appreciate the ebooks. This means perhaps people will start learning about the guitar from a younger age and therefore become more advanced quicker in their life. Website are something universal and easily accessible, it is also a lot less effort to type in a web address than it is to go out and buy a magazine. Therefore this could also be a good idea for my magazine to transform into in the future.
Future plc is owned by a major media conglomerate so their main interest is going to be income, given the type of magazine this is i feel that there is alot of potential to make money through advertisement, making it even more appealable to publishers. The speciality of this magazine is learning a new talent and educating people on different aspects of the guitar as well as being informative about popular bands. There is a large market for this kind of topic at the moment as the guitar is appealing to people of all ages. I think this is why people especially publishers and those working in the advertising industry will be interested in my product. There is a lot you can do to promote this magazine and to help it sell better it could even be suggested that you get something free with it. There are many different ideas that can be branched off my central focus of producing a magazine for guitarists and wannabe guitarists.
Although i have only designed a magazine there is potential for the idea to be put in place elsewhere for example you could create a website turn it into an ebook or even create merchandise, each of these coming with there own benefits all of which are financial. This variation of merchandise also makes the product more appealing to a wider range of people, for example children or those not keen on reading will appreciate the ebooks. This means perhaps people will start learning about the guitar from a younger age and therefore become more advanced quicker in their life. Website are something universal and easily accessible, it is also a lot less effort to type in a web address than it is to go out and buy a magazine. Therefore this could also be a good idea for my magazine to transform into in the future.
how does your media product represent particular social groups
When forming my end product I was very conscience of the audience that i was trying to appeal to. I wanted this magazine to catch the attention of the younger audience, and so attempted to make the cover and pages more inticing to the younger generation's eye. This is because it is more likely that younger people will be more willing to want to learn guitar. I don't want to make the magzine look too immature though as people in thier 20's would still be interested by the prospect of learning how to pla the guiatr.I kept the layout for the front cover quite simplistic and informative as teenagers with a short attention span are just going to glance at covers hoping to be interested by a title or article within the magazine.
I think that my cover represents dominant ideology as it features is a man with a guitar, and the fonts and styles used are typically recogognised at being aimed at men. They're big, bold and catch your eye. Not much attention has been paid to making them appear attractive as these fonts are designed to inform. The man featured on the front cover is displaying typical male attributes as well, he appears aggressive and controlling by his facial expressions and body language. He is violently grabbing the guitar and assuming an authoritive pose. The background is black and some of the text is red, these colours are very threatening and masculine. It wasn't a direct aim of mine to make this cover particularly appealing to the male majority of a teenage audience but the devices i used have done so.
The centre spread represents emergent ideology in that it is aimed more specificly at women, this brings forward the idea of women being equal to men and how they can do everything men do. Men would always be thought of as the more active of the genders, and women were the figures that stayed home. Playing the guitar is something that used to be a fairly male dominated talent but now more and more females are becoming interested in adopting this skill. Guiatr players are normally dominantly represented by men and there has been an absent representation of the portrayal of women in this field. I think it is important when making a magazine about a subject which is becoming more neutral amongst the genders to make the spread appealing to both men and women as well.
In terms of trying to appeal to people within a certain class system i have tried to make the magazine fairly universally appealing. The models i have used are your every day teenager or young person in general, they're wearing simplistic clothing and don't posess anything glamourous in the photos. The models look ordinary and make the magazine more appealing to people as they can easily imagine themselves being like these people.
I think that my cover represents dominant ideology as it features is a man with a guitar, and the fonts and styles used are typically recogognised at being aimed at men. They're big, bold and catch your eye. Not much attention has been paid to making them appear attractive as these fonts are designed to inform. The man featured on the front cover is displaying typical male attributes as well, he appears aggressive and controlling by his facial expressions and body language. He is violently grabbing the guitar and assuming an authoritive pose. The background is black and some of the text is red, these colours are very threatening and masculine. It wasn't a direct aim of mine to make this cover particularly appealing to the male majority of a teenage audience but the devices i used have done so.
The centre spread represents emergent ideology in that it is aimed more specificly at women, this brings forward the idea of women being equal to men and how they can do everything men do. Men would always be thought of as the more active of the genders, and women were the figures that stayed home. Playing the guitar is something that used to be a fairly male dominated talent but now more and more females are becoming interested in adopting this skill. Guiatr players are normally dominantly represented by men and there has been an absent representation of the portrayal of women in this field. I think it is important when making a magazine about a subject which is becoming more neutral amongst the genders to make the spread appealing to both men and women as well.
In terms of trying to appeal to people within a certain class system i have tried to make the magazine fairly universally appealing. The models i have used are your every day teenager or young person in general, they're wearing simplistic clothing and don't posess anything glamourous in the photos. The models look ordinary and make the magazine more appealing to people as they can easily imagine themselves being like these people.
in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products
Looking at tuition magazines I have discovered a few similarities within them, the magazines i have looked at are total guitar, guitar techniques and guitarist. the similarities are endless, the first main point is that all 3 magazines are published by future plc.
In terms of the structure and layout of the magazines, they are all the same. The font type for the mast head is very similar this being a white serif font. The images used may look different as they are of "different bands" but they are still all the same full body shot photos with the front man holding a guitar. the overall layout is very similar with the screamers, main cell and cover lines all being placed within the same spaces for example The main sell is placed to the left hand side of the cover and is in the same font and colour as the mast head, making it as much of a focal point as this and this is the same on all the magazines, its almost as if the covers for all are based on the same template and the only difference is the bands within them. so it is this template that i have attempted to follow
however there are times when i feel it challenges the forms and conventions usually used, according to Susan Haywood genres are not static but shifting and slippery, evolving over time. And this is exactly what i feel my magazine is doing. for instance for the masthead i have used a combination of both serif and sans serif fonts within the masthead, which is rarely if ever seen within the type of magazine that I am producing. The reason I used both is because generically serif fonts are aimed at the older more mature generation and sans serif fonts are aimed at the younger more modern generation, and i felt by mixing the two it would create slight controversy but at the same time produce a magazine that is aimed at a wider audience.
Secondly I have designed my centre spread to appeal more to the female audience. I have used particular techniques like choosing a font that has feminine attributes such as appearing thin, delicate and neat. The lighting is softer and the model displays signature female qualitites yet striking quite a masculine pose. I think this challenges the normal conventions of males dominating the music industry. In this picture the main focus is the girl who is positioned in the centre of the double spread. Her costume is fairly simple, but her sunglasses become a proiment feature and are therefore more noticable in contrast with her feminine face.
On the contents page i have used the same font as the front cover so carry on the continuous theme. The pictures i have used are both of males but in different stances, one is relfective and calm and the other is frustrated. the first frustrated/ angry image is simmilar to that to how you would expect a man to be portrayed (dominant ideology) the second however is alot more calm and some would say the man is in quite a camp pose. this represents emergent ideology within the 21st century of the "new man" who is in touch with his sensitive side, and it is this image that i feel challenges the forms and conventions of other peices of simmilar media.
In terms of the structure and layout of the magazines, they are all the same. The font type for the mast head is very similar this being a white serif font. The images used may look different as they are of "different bands" but they are still all the same full body shot photos with the front man holding a guitar. the overall layout is very similar with the screamers, main cell and cover lines all being placed within the same spaces for example The main sell is placed to the left hand side of the cover and is in the same font and colour as the mast head, making it as much of a focal point as this and this is the same on all the magazines, its almost as if the covers for all are based on the same template and the only difference is the bands within them. so it is this template that i have attempted to follow
however there are times when i feel it challenges the forms and conventions usually used, according to Susan Haywood genres are not static but shifting and slippery, evolving over time. And this is exactly what i feel my magazine is doing. for instance for the masthead i have used a combination of both serif and sans serif fonts within the masthead, which is rarely if ever seen within the type of magazine that I am producing. The reason I used both is because generically serif fonts are aimed at the older more mature generation and sans serif fonts are aimed at the younger more modern generation, and i felt by mixing the two it would create slight controversy but at the same time produce a magazine that is aimed at a wider audience.
Secondly I have designed my centre spread to appeal more to the female audience. I have used particular techniques like choosing a font that has feminine attributes such as appearing thin, delicate and neat. The lighting is softer and the model displays signature female qualitites yet striking quite a masculine pose. I think this challenges the normal conventions of males dominating the music industry. In this picture the main focus is the girl who is positioned in the centre of the double spread. Her costume is fairly simple, but her sunglasses become a proiment feature and are therefore more noticable in contrast with her feminine face.
On the contents page i have used the same font as the front cover so carry on the continuous theme. The pictures i have used are both of males but in different stances, one is relfective and calm and the other is frustrated. the first frustrated/ angry image is simmilar to that to how you would expect a man to be portrayed (dominant ideology) the second however is alot more calm and some would say the man is in quite a camp pose. this represents emergent ideology within the 21st century of the "new man" who is in touch with his sensitive side, and it is this image that i feel challenges the forms and conventions of other peices of simmilar media.
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