Final Evaluation Question One

Final Evaluation Question Two

How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

My media product is aimed at a mass audience of predominantly females, aged approximately between 15 and 35; whilst in the research and planning stage of the coursework, I spent a lot of time researching and refining my idea of who my audience would be. To do this I used resources available on the Internet, such as Channel 4 and Crowd DNA’s collaborative ‘UK Tribes’ research project, which looks at the groups and sub-categories within modern day society to help distinguish audiences. The video below explains how their work and research is carried out and the importance of understanding your audience; it also shows the separate groups that they have distinguished. As my magazine is pop genre, I was aware that the audience would be a widespread, mass audience; using UK Tribes, I placed my audience into the mass category of ‘Trendies’ in order to better understand my audience, their personal interests outside of pop music and the sub-categories my audience could contain. ‘Trendies’ is a large and quite mainstream social group that I feel captures and matches the large and widespread genre of music that my media product is placed within; the main interests within a basic summary of this group would be music and fashion, for this reason I aimed to make sure that on-trend and mainstream fashion was as evident within my product as the music. I also wanted it to be clear that this was the group represented by my cover artist.

Channel 4 and Crowd DNA's 'UK Tribes' Project:

When creating my cover artist, I thought carefully about the sort of artist’s I wanted to base my artist around; for this reason I chose artist’s commonly featured in pop genre magazines, such as Billboard and Q, who have strong ties with fashion as well as music, e.g. Katy Perry, Beyonce and Jessie J. 

Artist Profile:

 ‘My cover artist is Sapphire; a 20 year old, talented pop singer with an individual style and unique voice. Her main influences are Jessie J and Lady Gaga; who inspire her style and fashion sense. She also takes inspiration from her idols; Beyoncé, Adele and Nicki Minaj; strong willed and independent female artists who have many talents and dance and write music as well as singing. She got into pop music at a young age and has always been a fan of strong female artists such as Rihanna, Britney Spears, Beyoncé and Pink. She grew up in the midlands, in a nice house with her parents, two sisters and their dog, Bruno. She went to a local school and left high school having achieved 10 GCSE's, 2 As Levels and 3 A-levels. She went to De Montfort University to study fine art; but left in her 3rd year after being scouted at a local talent competition, which lead to Sapphire getting signed by a top music production company in London. She now lives in central London.’

Artist Comparison:

My artist has a lot of similarities to the artist’s I based her around; for example, her clothing is very similar and equally stylish and on-trend, she wears bright colours like these exiting artists, which also conforms to the idea of the pop genre using bright colours. The use of on-trend clothing also helps to appeal to the ‘Trendies’ social group through their interest in being ‘up-to-date’ with the latest trends within both music and fashion elements of ‘popular culture’. My artist also has a strong individual look, despite her wearing mainstream clothing, which helps to create the illusion of a 'brand' and 'franchise' surrounding the audience. Styling the artist in a singular colour for the cover and contents shot also helps to create a bold image for the artist, this connotes the artist as a strong and distinct artist in the music industry, who is consequently capable of competing against these existing and successful artists.

Final Evaluation Question Three

Evaluation Three

Final Evaluation Question Four

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Final Evaluation Question Five

How did you attract/address your audience?

Final Evaluation Question Six

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

During the production of my final product and the coursework I have learnt how to use and developed my skills of using many different technologies and software. These include online facilities such as DaFont, SlideShare and Scribd; Web 2.0 facilities such as Blogger; presentation facilities such as Glogster, Prezi, SlideRocket, Animoto and iMovie; Photoshop software and photography equipment. Throughout all of the coursework I used my MacBook Pro to do my work, this helped me to keep all my work organised and saved in one area rather than on both a Mac and PC; I also used my iPhone and iPad, as these allowed me to work on-the-go, using the Blogger, Prezi, Adobe Photoshop and YouTube apps, as well Safari.

Research and Planning

During the research and planning stage of the coursework I used many different technologies to help me. For example, when research existing products I used Google search engine to find images, which I then placed into word documents to annotate and analyse them, before uploading them onto Scribd, which allowed me to embed the documents onto my blog. Using Blogger in this way helped me to keep all my research in one place, making it easier for me to refer back to it when necessary. I also used Photoshop CS6 during the planning stage to create mock-ups of my ideas so that I had a visual idea on which I could make a decision and gain feedback. I also used Photoshop to edit test shot photographs, experiment and improve my skills. When taking the text shots I used a compact digital camera, which meant that these were not in great quality. I also used a website called ‘DaFont’, this allowed me to find different and interesting typography for my magazine, I collected several options from the website whilst in the planning stage.

Production

The production stage of my coursework mainly consisted of photography. For the first draft and test shot images I used a compact digital camera, and no lighting, to take my photographs, consequently, these were not of a high quality and became slightly blurry when placed into Photoshop for editing. For this reason, I reshot my photographs for my final product; this time I used a Digital SLR camera and lighting to generate better quality images. Once all my images were taken I uploaded them onto my blog, as this allowed me to gain feedback and keep them all in the same place, so that I could access them from anywhere.

Post-Production

During the post-production stage the main technology that I used was the Adobe Photoshop CS6 software; this program allowed me to edit my photographs and arrange the layout of all 3 elements of my media product. I developed a lot of Photoshop skills during the post-production stage and I used tutorial videos available on YouTube to do this. I also spent a lot of my own time practicing and refining my skills to make sure my photograph edits looked as realistic and professional as possible. During post-production I also used Blogger to regularly post updates on my work, changes, and added research, as well as extra feedback.

Evaluation

During the evaluation stage I have used many different technologies and platforms to present my ideas in different ways. For all of my evaluation answers I used word to write a draft, and Scribd to upload these to the Internet and embed them into my blog, this allowed me to keep them all in one area that I could access at any time from anywhere. For the final evaluation questions I used a different presentation method for each question; the first being a Prezi presentation. To make this presentation I used the online facility to paste my essay into a presentation format, I then also edited this on the go using my iPad and the ‘Prezi’ app. The second evaluation question I presented in the form of blog post, into which I embedded a relevant YouTube video, several images of examples of existing texts and a split screen image that I produced using Photoshop CS6. For the third question I used Scribd to embed my evaluation in word document form, including images and examples within the document. The fourth question I presented using SlideRocket, an online facility that allows you to create slide shows similar to those made on Microsoft PowerPoint; however, creating this on an online format allowed me to access and edit it from anywhere, including on my iPhone and iPad. This website also allowed me to embed it directly on to my blog, as opposed to a PowerPoint presentation where I would have to first upload it to SlideShare in order to embed the document. To present the fifth question I created a video using iMovie, in which I placed some text and images of my final product; I then uploaded this to YouTube and added annotations in speech bubbles before embedding it into my blog. For the sixth question I created another blog post, but also added in a video that I made on Animoto to go alongside the text. For the seventh, and final, question, I used Glogster to present my work and add annotations before embedding the pages into my blog.

Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

Final Evaluation Question Seven

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

In the progression from the preliminary text to the final product I have made significant improvements. In the preliminary product my photography skills were at a very basic level, and the images themselves were very low quality. I also had no experience in Photoshop at this point, and so consequently my editing was limited to cropping the image, and this was done poorly. In the final product these differences are clear, as here I had furthered and developed my photography and Photoshop editing skills. In the final product I took much better photographs, using a DSLR camera and lighting equipment to ensure high quality images. I had also spent a lot of time refining and perfecting my editing skill, so my editing here is much better, and the cropping has improved significantly as I learnt to use the ‘masking’ tool on Photoshop for the final product.

However, there are elements that are similar between my preliminary cover and final cover, and this is due to my understanding of magazine conventions. For example, within both covers I have a clear 3-colour pallet, which both use a bold colour with black and white. I have also included the same, conventional, position of the masthead, coverline and artist; and the same shot type of the artist. However, the masthead is much more complex and eye-catching in my final product, this shows my progression in Photoshop skills and considerations of typography. The cover lines are also very basic and limited; I changed this within my final product and also challenged the conventional content of cover lines. The final shot of my artist is also much more powerful and professional, helping to boost the professional finish of my final product; this appearance contrasts my preliminary cover because my preliminary work looks like an amateur publication.

The colour choices within my final product are also much more vibrant, helping to make the product eye-catching and intriguing; this is most obvious within the contents. Within my preliminary contents page I used several grey tones and a darker background, this makes the text less accessible because it's not easy on the readers eye. The higher contrast between the black and white makes the text much easier to read, this choice of colours also continues the theme from the final cover page, making the tie between them stronger, which helps to create a better sense of branding and image for the product as a whole; this was a link that was not clear or defined within the preliminary product that I created at the start of the course.

Evaluation Question Drafts

Evaluation Question One Draft

Evaluation Two Draft

Evaluation Three Draft

Evaluation Four Draft by Alice Hoar

Evaluation Five Draft

Evaluation 6 Draft

Final Products

Below are my final cover, contents and double page spread for my music magazine media product.

Further Editing

Final Font Decisions

ABSENDER - masthead, magazine title, contents title, pull quotes, cover lines

ALFAOWNER SCRIPT - contents headings, page numbers, captions

NOTEWORTHY - main text on double page spread

ABADI MT CONDENSED LIGHT - contents text

WHITE RABBIT - artist's name (cover title and article title)

Second Draft

Cover Page Considerations

Within the production of my second draft cover page, there are several elements that require careful consideration and many that require research and influence from existing texts.

Masthead
Below is an image containing my 3 ideas for the reconstruction of my Masthead for the second draft cover. These use either just black, black and white, or one main colour with black and white to follow the 3-colour-pallet conventional rule within pop genre media texts.
This first example uses the font 'White Rabbit' - I really like this typography and feel that it could work as a masthead because it is noticeable and memorable; however, I do not feel this is best for my magazine because the format of the font is unconventional and abstract fitting more the the indie or electronic genres. I think would work best as a cover line font for an important or main cover line. 

This second example uses the font 'Noteworth' -  I like this typography because it is used throughout the other elements of the magazine and therefore ties it all in together; however, I don't think that this has enough impact as a font.

The third example used the typography 'absender' - this is a block/bold font with impact, which makes it ideal for a title/masthead font. This is also similar to those within existing texts such as 'Fader' (shown below on the left). The use of a red square with white writing in also ties in with existing texts of the same genre such as, again in, 'Fader' and also in 'Q' (shown below on the right).

Main Image
After consideration of my photographs, I have selected and edited my final cover shot; below you can see the final edited photograph against the original, this shows the progression of my editing ability.

Main Article Cover Line
The main issue I have found with the main article cover line is the placement. To help decide where this may look best I have researched some existing texts and found some examples I like and can use for inspiration. Within the 'Fader' cover pages below the position varies from the middle, bottom and side.

The images below contain my cover image and some ideas on placement and typography for the artist's cover line. The bottom one of these images is my favourite because the font really stands out and has a unique and interesting look that would intrigue the reader. The typography used within these images is as followed: first - 'The Lost Paintings, second - 'Remachine Script', and the third - 'White Rabbit'.

I think that the 'white rabbit' font in the bottom picture works the best, however I would make it larger. I am also considering layering 2 words and changing the opacity as shown below:

Other Features

Other features that will be included in on my cover will be the issue number, issue date, price and barcode. I will also add in extra cover lines.

Contents Page

Here are three designs for my second draft contents page, the first being the original development of one of my layout ideas and the other two being developments of this.

Contents Layout Considerations

Having created a second draft double page spread with a very distinct style I feel that the contents needs to have a similar, strong theme. To make this work, and help run a theme through, I have decided that incorporating the 'black line' idea, as within my double page, into the contents may work well. The images below show the original 'Vibe' magazine article from which I got the idea of lines and their contents page that does the same: 

I also intent to carefully consider the layout of my work, as this is key to the overall look of the contents page and something that did not work well in my previous (first draft) contents page. Below are the three variations on layout that I am currently considering for my second draft contents page:

Font Decisions

Having created my second draft double page spread, I have decided to make some decisions on certain typography that I want to use and where it will appear within my media products. This will help with continuity in my products and help keep the variety of fonts to a minimum. The image below shows where I will use fonts and the fonts' title:

Second Draft - Double Page Spread

Taking into account all of my research and first draft feedback, I have created a second draft double page spread. This includes all the ideas previous discussed in my post-feedback changes posts and incorporates my new photographs and editing skills.