Evaluation Q7

How do you think you have progressed from you r preliminary task?

Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel that I have learnt the basic essential skills from Photoshop that aided me in creating my magazine production. I this transition I think I have gotten quicker at selecting the right tools to use in Photoshop, and got better co-ordination and prediction skills to determine how to layout my magazine product. I also think I have progressed in removing the background of an image as I do it much quicker now. I have now gotten better at determining which colours go best with the background I have created, I can predict the size of the canvas in Photoshop better and no longer have to try again or edit it to correct size I have made a basic size of page which is 2250 pixels in height and 1500 in width. Comparing to the preliminary task and the final product you can see that my skills have progressed from being a beginner in Photoshop and i am now able to do more things in Photoshop. I have used layers to apply a background which I made and transfer the models image onto it along with the masthead and blend it in and create more effects for a neater finish, I used the layers to make somethings stand out more, In the final media product I made more use of the lighting and vibrance adjustment layer so the rest of the features weren't lost in the background so you get the clarity you see on the front page than on the preliminary task                                                                                                              

       

As you can see that my skills have progressed from using an image with a background to being able to transfer an image to a prepared background and adjust the colours to fit and adjusting the layers to fit into a more unique design. I am able to adjust the cover lines to fit in with the background and colour scheme and create shapes for text that look conventional and professional without just copying a logo to put onto the front page. I have created my own logo in the background whereas in the other one I looked up a PNG and used that. I used a Camera with larger portrait lense to capture the image I have for my magazine cover. The camera I used for the preliminary task was a smaller canon powershot.

Evaluation Q6

What technologies have you used and what have you learnt?

The technology software I used to construct my media product, the music magazine was a programme called Adobe Photoshop CS6, I have learnt many skills in this process on how to use Photoshop to get the desired effects I want. I learnt how to create a background using the paint bucket tool, then creating a gradient by going onto the gradient tool and choosing the one I wanted. The other skills involve firstly using the clicker tool to select, then removing a background with either the background eraser or the lasso tool to cut away at the undesired parts in order to blend the model into the chosen background. I found when I removed the background out of the photographs the edges of the model were very rigid ,so I selected the image and went onto the select bar at the top and went onto refine edge to smooth out and fade the models image into the background. I learnt how to colour correct with the colour replacement tool to get rid of colours which didn’t look right with the background a particular problem with the image I had before I edited it was that the colour balance had too much orange so I used this tool to even out the colours after I used the curves adjuster. I did this with the eyedropper to select the tone from the skin originally then brushed over to correct. I also used the colour correct option to adjust hues without having to go to the curves graph to do it. I learnt to use a clipping mask to protect the colours I didn’t want corrected like the skin tone when I got it right. I used the order of the list of layers, to make everything appear in front or at the back of the model by moving the layers to the correct order on the list. I learnt how to insert and edit text then make it the size and shape needed with the font and size bar, then I went onto the characters tab and found different options to make the text bold or italic. I have found that Photoshop is a highly complex programme that can do a lot of interesting edits such as corrections, swaps.

To take the pictures I used a digital camera specifically a Canon power shot 360, I used this camera because it had a good portrait lense whereas the other choices such as my Samsung galaxy didn't have as high resolution. When I uploaded the images with a USB lead, I saved them as Jpeg's and cropped out the unnecessary parts in the images to get portrait eye level shots before I imported them into Photoshop.

Evaluation Q5

                     How did I approach my target audience?

In order to attract my target audience I used many different features and techniques that I found from my research, which was the survey and the analyzing of other magazines.

I used a certain layout to make sure my magazine was eye catching to the readers, such as putting the masthead at the top, so it’s the first thing they see, then put the main cover line beneath her head to show people the main content was about her, with the rest I put them lower down but not so people wouldn’t recognize them so they understood the main focus. I made my model large by enlarging her so she took up most of the page so it seemed as everything was revolving round her, she was dressed in clothes that were appealing to rock and I made her large in a portrait shot to make sure that the people who were into rock were drawn to the magazine as teenagers and young people don’t always have large attention spans.

I arranged the colours in a certain way to show the readers the genre and significance of certain pieces of content on the magazine. For example I used the colour red to ensure that the main cover line was seen first and to show that it was more significant than the rest, the colour red shows energy, danger and rebelliousness which were the main themes that attracted people who were interested in the rock/metal genre which attracts teenagers mostly. I used blue as the background to make the models features and the text on the pages stand out, also to represent the easy going and carefree nature to the rock genre, therefore attracting my target audience. I used black as the colour for my mast head to make it block stand out against the background so people recognize it as an individual brand. I made the other cover lines different colours that were less easily recognized than but easily noticed by the reader so they wouldn’t be lost in the background.

The font types and sizes I used influenced the readers to stay interested on the magazine, for example I used the largest font for the masthead to show significance, I also used a broken glass type of font to appeal to my teenage audience and this is large to make it easily noticed by the reader. I made my main cover line the largest so it would be more significant to the reader and make them interested in it as it is bigger than the rest of them, I adjusted the size of the font so it wasn’t too small to read or to big that it would drown out the rest and keep the attention on the main subjects. I used simpler fonts for the main body text and the cover lines so it would be easy to perceive and read.

Evaluation Q4

                      How did I attract my target audience?

The target audience for my media product is young people specifically teenagers and young adults aged between 14-35, individualists and people who are largely interested and influenced by rock music, the research in different areas has helped me largely in the production in order to decide this. The research I did was a survey and analysis of magazines based on elements.

One piece of research I have done is analyzing different magazines from all different genres based on codes and conventions, font types, genre. These have helped me realize what exactly people are drawn to when it comes to a music magazine, as I took apart the magazines I had using the microelements and pieced together the information to discover how a magazine uses its features to attract a certain target audience in the media. I have realized that some font types and colours are better for certain genres to appeal to the target audience of whom they are sought after by. For example pink, orange and blue may look good on pop magazines so possibly attracts mainstreamers from the media, or another feature sought after by mainstreamers on the model could possibly be trendy clothes that are in season of that issue. Or rock genre may have colours such as black, red, orange and blue to attract people who are interested in that genre of music. I did this research to see what people look for in a magazine and what catches peoples eyes specifically so I could make my magazine product the same. I also found out new an different things I could put on a magazine to make it more noticeable.

I made a survey to find out peoples preferences in my local area so I could find out what features appeal to the many people in my local area, such as price and economic group, genre, popular clothing choices, how often they listen to music, buy or read a music magazine. These have helped me decide that my model should be youthful as well as the clothing choices by the model, I found out that the most popular choice of genre in my local area survey results was rock/metal music and   the genre was a big part of my magazine because of this research my magazine contains content that is of the rock genre such as colour, model, dialogue, clothing etc. This gave me an idea of what to base my magazine on in general with these results I analyzed them and saw which ones people preferred or liked the most I then included it in my finished magazine product. I posted the survey out on social media such as Facebook and sent it to people via email and Whats App and collected the results as charts for each question on survey monkey.com. I also used social media as a lot of people aged 14-35 use social media so I could find out what my target audience liked specifically by directly targeting them where they would most likely be, possibly making the media product more enjoyable at the fact that they had a say it in.

Heres a link to the survey I used:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/38DTXXP

Evaluation Q3

                   What media institution should I use and why?

https://prezi.com/1yfupdehj4i0/what-media-institution-should-i-use-and-why/

This is the link to my Question 3 prezi presentation

Evaluation Q2

How does my media product represent particular social groups?

https://prezi.com/lmuovwgyhout/untitled-prezi/

This is the link to my prezi presentation that shows the second part of the evaluation

Evaluation Q1

How does your media product develop or challenge codes and conventions?

My media product, which is a magazine based on the rock genre has used codes and conventions to make it easy to read and understand. I have used these to create a standard magazine that can be sold by a retailer.  

On my cover page I have used these codes and conventions portrayed here to show that it is about rock in particular, these conventions draw in my target audience especially, for example my target audience is teenagers and younger adults, so I made the genre rock as it was popular and it is a boisterous genre much like youth, I used the colour red on the main cover-line to also show energy and youthfulness in order to be conventional to the genre. The masthead is in big bold black font and is called “impact” to show liveliness and to describe the attributes of rock music so it’s the first thing people think of. The masthead is at the top so its easily noticed by customers, the model takes up the page to show significance and fluentness. The barcode, price and date line on the bottom shows that its able to be retailed, the masthead is in unique font to show house style and individuality.

On my double page spread I have used codes and conventions to give it the appearance of a standard double page spread for example I have included the colour blue, white and black to show consistent house style, I have also used the same model to continue the genre and the style throughout. The model is on the left side making it conventional and easy to read, the article writing is on the bottom of the page like most rock music articles I have seen so it doesn’t look to busy, the heading “behind the scenes” is the main focus of the page so is in white and at the top to stand out and clearly show the reader what its about. The models expression shows wildness and youth, these attributes are also associated with rock showing typical body language and personality of the people from that genre its in, the title is titled adding a boisterous effect to it once again continuing the genre of the magazine, the pull quote on the left page is with the model showing the personality as its next to the face, the font is quite blocky and goofy adding a youthful way to the article showing that the genre is of a “carefree” nature.

On the contents page of my magazine I have used codes and conventions to make it look like an interesting contents page that will be informative and eye catching at the same time. I have used a red polygon shape to emphasize the information and make it look like the contents is fun and lively. The model on the page is coloured in blue to blend in with the page as more emphasis is supposed to be on the contents, so you’re not distracted by the model when you read it, this is a convention used by most magazines. The title “contents” is in the same font as the front covers masthead to show house style and continuous theme/genre throughout. The models position makes her look unprofessional, empowering people of particular economic groups such as unemployed, working class etc. and being typical to the genre its in.

On the editors page I used codes and conventions to make this page easy to understand as it’s mostly about dialogue, the colour scheme is simpler than the rest of the pages in blue, black and white showing more significance of the editors writing on the page than on the main subject of the magazine and the blue background stands out to show that the house style stands out. The body font is small, bold and in white to make it easy to read and to show significance of the text as it stands out from all the rest of the colours showing significance. The blocky font of the title shows that the genre and main focus of magazine is youthful and boisterous as the blocky text represents unsophisticated nature of the magazine itself.