Evaluation Activity 7

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

I feel I have learnt a lot when I comes to how much preparation and work is needed in creating a magazine. The preliminary work look very amateur and very basic not what you would ever find on a magazine shelf. My skills using photoshop was quite limited and I found it hard to use at the start, also I think the amount of planning and thought that went into the design was more or less nothing. We also used school digital camera which didn't have the best picture quality and the images were taken in one lesson.

Another thing I have learnt is how much detail is need to create a certain representation of a social group and how to attract them. Also that even minor things such as the style of clothing would greatly effect who would be interested in reading. 

The overall look of the pages look much better than my preliminary ones. There is no empty space and the layout has improved substantially.  Also choosing an appropriate font has also made a huge difference in the look of the magazine and following conventions set by existing magazines has helped this. I found that once I had got the simple tools worked out on photoshop I saw it a lot easier to create what I wanted to create. 

Improvements to the front cover is the main image that I used, I knew exactly what sort of shot I would want for the front cover compared to the preliminary pictures. The cover lines are more exciting and resemble a conventional magazine. 

The contents page I think has seen the most improvement from the beginning from literally only a few lines of words to something substantial like my finish one. This just shows how much I feel my design skills and media knowledge has increased since I started this media studies course. Also from my research into existing magazine I have become more aware of how music magazines all follow some main conventions as to how they structure their pages. 

Finally the double page spread when I did my first draft I had a rough idea what I wanted it to look like. I have made improvements along the way but I feel the underlining idea is still within the DPS. Such improvements like enhancing and modifying the main photo really made a difference from the first draft

To conclude the amount I have improved on has been quite substantial and overall I'm really pleased with how my final magazine turned out. 

Evaluation Activity 6

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

The equipment I used

Nikon S800 digital camera - I used this for taking my test shots so I would get an idea of how my final shot were going to turn out. This was very useful for several reasons it let create some mock ups for a magazine so that I would know what positions worked for photos and what did not. I also learnt a lot about where the camera should be positioned and how to take pictures more efficiently.  

Nikon D60 SLR - This was used for taking my final pictures for my magazine, the picture quality is very good and clear. There was also a setting I used to adjust the shutter so I could create the light effects for some of the photos I took, some were used for the contents page. I felt that because I had taken some mock up picturs before I knew what shot I needed to take, to ensure that I had plenty of images to play around with I took more that I thought I would need. This ment taking the same shot 4 or 5 times but with different contrast and settings to see which worked best.

School Computers - Though was very useful in researching and blogging about the various media task we did, I found them extremely frustrating to use photo shop. They were very slow to use which is why I ending up practically creating all of my drafts and final designs at home. I feel that if they were more effient at running photoshop then maybe I would have been able to go into more details and improve my magazine draft further to gain a better mark.

Dell Laptop XPS M1330 - This is my laptop at home which I used for creating the drafts and designs, I also had photo shop installed for this purpose. It was very fast at loading photoshop which also ment that it was much faster at processing the actions I told it to do. Without this I dont think I would have finished my work on time.

Websites and software I used

Photoshop elements 5.0 - I used this version of photo shop in school because this was the only version that was available. I had not used photoshop before I started media studies this year but I found it easy to do certain task but still struggle to do some today. I have improved at cutting pictures however and adjusting them to various postions, this ment that when I was creating my final pages It did not take as long therefore alowing me to make more changes and improvements.

Photoshop elements 9 - This version I used when I was at home I found it a bit easier to use than the version that was at school so I worked better with this version.  The interface I thought was better and easy to navigate, it also included a help guide which I used a couple of times. Furthermore it had more features than the older version which ment that I could create different effects that I couldnt before.

Scribd - I found this website quite useful in uploading my word documents and embedding it into my blog, saved a lot of hassle of moving images and adjusting layouts of docs etc. The service required a username and password which ment that I could save my documents and use it for other purposes. Overall its a real time saver.

Blogger - For uploading my work I have completing for media studies and finding help/guidance in creating my magazine. Sometime I felt that blogger was quite frustrating to use especially when you think you have saved your work and it hasnt, it is quite simple to use but I hadnt used it before this course so I first had to adjust to using it.

Animoto - I was quite impressed with this website services it enabled me
to create impressive looking presentations with some images and some short sentences. I created my 25 word pitch using this service. Its a real time saver that allowed me to creat something different and unique and I would definatly use it for other projects and purposes in the future

Evaluation Activity 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

From the start I wanted the cover to be the most attractive and well planned out of the 3 pages as it is the first thing the readers see I feel it makes it extremely important to get right. The masthead along the top 'Stream' it is very clear, underneath the masthead is the issue number and the month. This follows the conventions set by other music magazines, the cover lines telling the readers what content they would expect to find inside the magazine. I highlighted the more poplar features to draw the potential buyers in. Another convention I have used that is used frequently by Mix Mag a competition being advertised on the cover using the words 'WIN' and making it stand out like a sticker on the page. The featured artist within my magazine is the feature image that most people would look at first I therefore put a lot of effort into making it look as professional and powerful. At the bottom of the page is a banner that includes other information that is related to my magazine, Q magazine is a music magazine that is known to incorporate banners in their front covers.

The colour palette keeps consistent with the front cover for continuity reasons which also look more professional. I have also include images of a different artist to get a variety of photos. Similar to magazines such as Q magazine I have included a monthly 'Regular' sections things such as competitions are in this section so this may entice the readers to buy the next issue. In the bottom left corner is a subscription offer this is often included in magazines, the font used for 'Content' is also the same as the front covers masthead. I also included a band index which I was inspired by NME I think this would allow the readers to navigate the magazine much easier, also eliminating the need to skim through the pages to find what artist they would want to read about. All of the articles and features are split into different sections these are 'news of the month, features, reviews and regulars' I felt this would be another unique way that readers would find it simpler to find what they were looking for quicker.

I tried to make this DPS as unique as possible as most DPS are unique in themselves anyway. Certain convention that I followed were having a main image which is positioned on the right page, I tried to make him look prominent and have a theme with the picture. The idea being that Jayke is looking at his music career in the future, I thought this would make the readers think about the meaning of the picture while they were reading the article.I have used column which is a standard convention within a magazine, I have also inserted a quote that should interest the readers and encourage them to read the article. And finally to keep the page looking interesting added a few extra photo of the featured artist

Evaluation activity 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

This person would buy my magazine for several reasons. He has a wide variety of music genres he listens to and buys weekly magazines such as NME and Kerrang. They tend to only focus on more mainstream artists whereas my magazine has a few different less known electronic artists.  Also the layout and design of my magazine is similar to this. He has also named as one of his favourite music artists pendulum, they are a feature in my magazine so that would entice him to give my magazine a try. The age that they are aswell fits with my target audience the planning and research I have done has been specifically to make it as attractive to that age group as possible. Another thing that was highlighted in his profile is that he reads The Sun. The Sun is a tabloid newspaper that is an easier shorted norws paper this tells me that he likes articles that get to the point and are quite interesting to read, and would not want a dull and boring long article to read. So he would read my magazine because it is straight to the point. For the average male clubber they would be interested in the technology side of my magazine this is because they may be curious as to what goes into creating the next electronic mix.

Evaluation Activity 3

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

I think an already established publisher such as IPC (International Publishing Company) would be the best way to distribute my magazine. My reasons for this are that to set up a private company to produce and to publish a new issue every month would be very expensive. Whereas IPC already has the right sources and owns over 90 brands of magazines, I would have enough funding however to publish the magazine for a year. Hopefully by then we would have gained enough regular readers to cover the costs of the magazine.

 There are 20 million people in the UK alone who read a IPC magazine so they have quite a large market share compared to other publishing companies they publish a wide variety of different magazine genres such as TV entertaiment, high street fashion, Motoring, Outdoors and of course music magazines. NME is one of their owned music magazines, because of the knowledge and expertise this media institution has with NME and that it has 1 Million copies in circulation. I think that they would help greatly in getting my magazine out there in the first place. Also as my magazine has some similarities to NME eg band index, then I think that would attract current readers of the NME. 

 And as far as I'm aware IPC doesn't have a magazine dedicated to the Electronic genres so I think this could be a unique selling point when it comes to pitching the brand.  

Evaluation Activity 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The type of social group that I am tryin to attract my magazine for are those that fit into the clubber social group which are also known as Ravers. The males from this group would be the ones who I would be targetting, they tend to wear jeans and have t shirts with graphic prints on them. Types of brands that they like are Diesel and topman they are known to go to music festivals such as V festival which is more mainstream. V includes some electronic bands and DJ in its line up which is what I focused on in my magazine. And as the names suggests they like to go to clubs on a weekend night out so they quite like listening to DJ's and bands. Also those assocated with this group about 50% read magazines. They are also big fans of technology and games consoles, I have included a section that focuses on the technology side.

The key points that I wanted to represent was a sense of the youth culture of today targeting 15-21 males, the headphones used are also 'skull candy headphones' which are a well known brand of headphones within this particular age and social group.  

What I also focused on the headphones, this is because of growing fashion of wearing headphone, they are also associated with DJs like my artist. I took inspiration from Tiesto wearing a shirt which is the same as what my artist is wearing. Also as he is known as a solo artist that does a lot of DJ sets in various clubs I thought I would associate my artists with that background 

Difference between the two are obviously the hair style is different Tiesto has shorter hair than my artist, in these picture the positions of the headphones are different in each photo. In other photos they are changed however. 

So to conclude the males I am targetting are classed as clubbers they are very out going and are out a lot at the weekend or a club. They follow a simple dress sense graphic t-shirt and jeans which is also what my artists wear in the magazine.

Evaluation Activity 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)


My magazine I thinks conforms to the conventions of existing magazines. The masthead 'Stream' needed to stand out so that it would be noticed when in the shelf of a shop, the issues afterwards would also keep with this theme to create consistence that would hopefully make the magazine look iconic in the near future. Cover lines alongside the main image are also commonly found on most music magazines with it being a monthly magazine I wanted it to have a Q magazine sort of feel which focused on with the contents page. I also wanted it to have conventions and inspirations from other magazines such as NME which also has a very well known masthead. The colour palette (black, blue and white) is kept to 3 colours which a lot of other magazines follow the same rule, this remained consistent throughout the pages. The band index I included in my contents page is inspired from the index that appears in NME's  contents page. I wanted readers to be able to find the artists they would most likely want to read about without having to search through the whole magazines, this way the readers would not get bored and stay more interested in the magazine.
There are some elements within my product though that I feel don't apply to conventions set by already established magazines magazines. Firstly the genre my magazine focussed on is Electronic the magazines that I have taken most inspiration from tend not to feature my particular genre. This is why I wanted to focus on the technology side of the music as well as the club element. This makes my magazine different from the current magazines that would probably feature something different each month.

Some generic key conventions present in this magazine cover are within my front cover as well. The masthead is well displayed and effective also in the top right corner a label for a competition is used. I also incorporated this into my front cover as well it was in a different position however. Another convention that is the same is the positioning of the bar code. But the differences are that there are cover lines on both sides of the cover whereas on mine they are placed on the right side only. And finally the main image though have a similar facial expression and stance on the cover my image is on the left side and fills the page mainly.

Final draft - Double page spread

Final draft - Contents page

Final draft - Front cover

First draft improvements: Feedback

Cover:- The name for my magazine was good and was also well thought of maybe looking at adjusting where photo is positioned is a possibility. What needs to be improved however is that my cover lines need to be more exciting such as saying what has DJ Jake done. Also my 'win these' bubble needs to say what you are exactly winning for example 'win these skull candy headphones'. Finally the continuity from how I spelt Jake on the front is different from the main article due to me spelling it Jayke.

Contents:- This was the weakest out of the 3 pages i need to have a greater variety of articles written. And to keep uniformity with the cover I should change the font for the date to the same on the front of the cover. More variety of artists or photo would improve the page as well.

Double page spread:- my article was little too polite so needs to be changed to make it seem more exciting to read. And my main image on the right of the page needs to be edited so that it fades with the white background.

Over all I think my first draft went well there is a lot of room for improvement but I think I'm on the right lines. I need to ensure that my magazine has the impact right from the cover so that my potential audience is drawn into my magazine.

Magazine Draft

Double page spread mock up 3

I feel this is the better out of the other double page spread mock ups I have created. This is due to the position of the image I also think it worked well with a white background. So this mock up I think I would take the most influence from when designing the draft double page spread

Double page spread mock up 2

I like how the image takes up one side of the double page spread because it reminds me of  one of the NME double page spreads that I analysed. So due to that it seems more professional than the last mock up. How I could improve the article side of the page is changing the colour of the words to the dark blue from my colour palette so that is easier to read.  

Double page spread mock up 1

What I think works really well with this double page spread mock up is that all of the space on the page was filled there isn't anywhere that is empty. Also the columns for the article are the same width, the position of the image works quite well too. I may decide to put the image for the final design in a similar place. 

Contents page mock up 1

I went for the simplistic approach for this mock up because then the image would be more significant. Also the first article is about Jake so readers will be more inclined to read that featured article. I like the numbers of the pages being in a different colour to what the article is, I think this will be one feature that I will use in my final design for my contents page. 

Front cover mock ups

I feel this is the better of the two that I have created. The whit background works really well with the central image, also I  kept with my colour scheme of Dark blue, grey and white. I also feel that the pose that the model is in would be easy to replicate with my model. Underlining the text I thought made it stand out from other magazines if it was on a shelf. So overall I think this a good mock up that I have created.

I went for a different background for this mock up I thought it made the main image stand out making it look visually better to a consumer. I particularly like the font that I used for the mast head. what i could have done better though would be to fill the empty spaces a little bit more. The image I used was one out of my collection of final photo which I took so this has given me an insight into what my final design may look like.

This mockup I dont feel went quite well when I was creating it I was comfortable with photo-shop and I had problems trying to do simple things such as changing the colour of the text. However there are some good aspects of the cover the central image matches the colour palette. The font for stream also keeps in line with the tron theme. But from experience of trying to get a good shot from behind like the central image I don't think that I would try to replicate the shot used.

Article - Question and Answer

[Insert artist name] has gained a bit of attention in recent months, after being scouted at a small venue in Leicester. He has been attracting large crowds with people having to be turned away due to capacity at the venue. His new electronic style and influences makes his live performances stunning to watch. We caught up with him while he was on a break on his latest support tour for acclaimed band pendulum.

Welcome [Insert artist name] how are you finding you new found fame?
It’s been quite overwhelming but I’m really enjoying it. I mean only a few months ago I was a nobody, now I'm hearing my songs being played on radio 1 its crazy.

Your new album which is due out later on in the year, tell us a little about that?
I wanted to try and grab people’s attention by having a different style of electronic that nobody has heard before. It has a sort of energetic feel but you could listen to it while you were just chilling.

Your currently supporting pendulum on tour how well would say you get on with them?
All I can say is there an amazing lot and such a laugh to hang around with. And the talent they show when they play live its just breath-taking. I’m quite honoured to be playing with them. We’ve also been talking about doing a demo for a track so a few ideas are kicking about at the minute.

How do your fans respond when your onstage, do you get a buzz when you’re up there?
Its immense I mean it’s the best feeling in the world. When I’m playing it like nothing else matters and I get that vibe from the crowd it’s really hard to explain (laugh) but it’s awesome.

I know exactly what you mean, you’ve been compared to daft punk and the chemical brother would you agree with this?
That’s a tough one; I would agree that I take influence from them but not that we were in common. I mean daft punk and chemical brothers are two completely different extremes of electronic and I’m somewhere in the middle a bit of both if you like. So yes you could say there are some similarities but I only would take some influence from them.

That lead’s nicely on to my next question, so who would you say influences and inspires you the most musically?
There not really a particular group I say that I take my inspiration from a lot of different artists. Electronic band like pendulum and the prodigy are some that inspire me.

What were your musical inspirations when you were growing up?
Well my family's been quite musically engaged as long as I can remember so it just came natural to start playing. I would say the most inspirational to me when I was growing up though was my parents because my dad used to play the piano and mum would sing, not professionally but they gave me that pushed that started this all off.

So about this rumour that you had been on drugs in the past any comments you wish to say?
I knew this question would get asked sooner or later. Well it’s like this we all do things that we regret later on and this is one of them I admit I did some stupid things but we all have at one stage or another. You ask anyone I mean I’m not proud of it and just want to say that I’m clean now and have been for a while and I don’t plan on going back on that.

Could you tell us what it was like playing for your first gig?
I was really nervous, it was probably the scariest thing I did in my life but I just thought to myself this is the beginning so I’ve gotta make it look good because it’s the first gig. And with family were right behind me I knew that I would do it. I mean when got up on stage the crowd just went wild I felt like I was on top of the world. Then when I scanned the crowd I could see my family right at the front (laugh). It was a great night.

Sound like quite a concert, so what other plans have you got lined up in 2011?
Well I might be making an appearance at a festival I cant say when or were yet though so stay tuned. If my first album goes down well then I will move on to writing new material. But let just see how thing turn out.

If you didn’t become a music artist what would you be?
Hmm well I haven’t really thought about that because music was just the way I wanted to go when I was younger it means so much to me. However I did at one stage consider joining the army and to fight on the front line.

What made you think of this?
It was through my older brother who is a soldier I looked up to him when I was younger he a big part of my life.

And our final question is what genre’s of music do you listen excluding electronic and could you name a couple of artists?
 I enjoy listening to loads of stuff like rock, alternative you name it. Linkin Park are a good band Kasabian and I also enjoy hearing the Foo Fighters their awesome.

Well thanks a lot for talking to us [Insert Artists name] we at stream wish you the best of luck in 2011 and hope to talk to you again soon.
Thanks very much I very much appreciate it.

Test Shots

After shooting some test shot I have short-listed 5 which I thought were the best.

This close up really works well because the first thing that you would centre your attention on the headphones around his neck. This would stick with my genre of electronic due to some of the artists being DJs. I could see this photo being on the Double page spread as one of the main images because he is a new artist this could be the introductory shot.

This shot makes the model look tall and authoritive which may suit as a front cover photo.  The only downside to this photo is chair on the left which we didn't move when we took the photo. Other than that I feel it is a good photo. The camera angle is a mid shot that is central. This makes him stand out which is why it would suit a front cover.

I like the pose in this photo however the way that the camera is angled makes him look less dominant. The way that Jake is looking away gives the impression that he is thinking and looking into his career in the future. It would also suit as one of the photos on the contents page.

The way the camera is angles for this photo makes it look quite effective. However the way that the headphones are positions makes it look a bit amateur. I will try to include  the camera angle in my finished magazine though. How Jake looks away at the camera makes it seem less synthetic and more natural. It would suit as a double page spread photo because then it could be used as the full page. The left side would be used for the article.

This shot would be suitable for the contents page it would not suit the front cover due to you cant see his face. But after you open the front cover you would recognise Jake. The one bad thing on this photo though is that Jake is not in the centre but that was my fault not being in the right position.

The Golden Spiral

This is an example of a golden spiral in photography. It’s based on a golden ratio that is meant to visually represent the part that our eyes are first drawn to. It was originally discovered by Pythagoras who was a philosopher and mathematician. By applying the golden spiral to pictures to our magazine images then it may make our magazines look more pleasing and draw the readers in.

Magazine Institutions

IPC (International Publishing Company) Media -

They are largest magazine publisher in the uk they own over 90 brands and sell 350 million magazines every year. The company operates under 5 devisions which are Connect, Inspire, Ignite!, Southbanks and TX.  Their magazines are designed for three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women. Music magazines they publish are NME and Uncut. IPC magazines was established in 1968

 

Development Hell Ltd -

They are an independently run media group that is based in London. They publish the music magazines The Word and Mix Mag they are published on a monthly basis. In 2009 they aquired the world biggest clubbing network DontStayIn.com. They revamped mix mag after buying it in 2005 and gave it a new look and design. The World in 2007 and 2008 was voted UK's 'Music Magazine Of The Year' it was launched in 2003.

Bauer Media Group  -

Operates in 15 different countries, a german based company that was founded in 1875. Popular music magazines that they operate are Q magazine and Kerrang. They have offices in the following countries

Germany , USA, Spain, France, Austria, Poland, Portugal ,Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Mexico, China, Russia, Slovakia, United Kingdom and Nigeria. In their UK history they started by launching bella in 1987 which is a womens magazine.They also do a number of tv listings such as tv choice and total tv guide. Overall worldwide their circulation of magazines a week is 38 million

Artist Profile

Artist Profile

Magazine Pitch

My pitch I thought went quite well. The class knew what my concept for my magazine was and were able to ask me some questions. I was asked how how my magazine name was devised, how would I show inspiration from existing magazines in the final version, would my music artist include custom costumes such as a mask and what would my double page spread article would be about.

So my responses to these questions were that the name stream was one of a few names that I consulted with some other people, I then did a survey (shown in previous post) that asked which was the best and stream came up top It was also the name I preferred.

Secondly the inspiration I would want to emulate in my magazine was the type of design that Q and more up market magazines follow. I would also obviously show inspiration from magazines that talk about my genre like Mix Mag and DJ mag but the way that they are set out does not appeal to me. So I want to go for a Q magazine feel but with a different genre.

Thirdly I decided that I want to feature a solo artist and I've already thought of the person I want to photograph. I would have them dress casual but smart an example way of dressing would be a leather jacket with a graphic t shirt or a dark shirt with jeans.

Finally the idea at the moment that I have about the double page spread is an article that talk the process that goes into making an electronic genre song such as the equipment involved etc. Or may a question and answer session with the solo artist.

Making the pitch made me think quite a lot about the final design and I have made changes to it that where not in my original plan. But I think these changes have been made for the better so overall I think my pitch was successful.