Evaluation: Question 7

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

The layout of my magazine has completely changed compared to my college magazines layout. I didn't fill the space at all making the cover look unprofessional and not entertaining to readers. I made sure my music magazine would be full of interesting cover lines and the space would be filled with interesting things included in my magazine. I made sure I stuck to my guide lines on my music magazine front cover so that t would keep that professional look.

The picture for my college magazine was taken on my IPhone so the image quality clearly isn't as good as it could have been, so to get a professional looking photograph I used a Canon SLR camera, with a flash giving me a clear image of my model and excellent lighting. I made sure my model was in better suited clothing for my music magazine cover photograph making sure every detail of my magazine link with my genre. Also to give more professional look to my photograph, I tested a few locations and found on which I could used on my cover instead of superimposing my model onto a coloured background.

The colours on my college magazine look childish and under developed, whereas because at the stage of making my music magazine cover I had a lot of knowledge about colours and font sizes, I made sure it all looked 100% professional. I researched many font styles and colour to make sure I could achieve the best looking masthead and cover lines etc possible.

The layout for my music magazine is structure much better than my college magazine as it looks much more professional and more like real music magazine. Whereas my college magazine has again a lot of white space and nothing to really catch the readers eye. The college magazine lacks page numbers and things included in the magazine, but for my music magazine I took my time researching other magazines of my genre to see what I could include to appeal to my audience.

The image on my music magazine clearly looks much more professional, as I used a Canon SLR camera to achieve these images. Whereas my college magazine image was taken on my IPhone so the clarity wasn't as good as it could have been. Also the cutting out of my photograph is clearly not as good as it could have been, yet if I was to cut the image out again now, I have the skills to make it look professional. 

The colours used on my college magazine really make it look very immature. The space on the page doesn't appeal to any audience as nothing is there to interest you. I researched other magazines of my genre to see what colour schemes they used, and I thought it would look the best for me to use neutral colours as these colours are associated with my genre. Also I made sure this time my model wore clothes linking with my genre and that would appeal to my audience other than in my college magazine where my model wore plain, boring, black clothes.

Evaluation: Question 6

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

I have used IShowU in the research, planning and evaluation for my magazine, to show what work Ive done and what work I still have to do.

I have used Blogger throughout the research for my magazine, process of producing my magazine and the evaluation it. After each lesson I would upload my my work from that lesson to show the moderator what Id been working on.

 I have used Prezi throughout the production and evaluation of my magazine.

I used Photoshop to create my front cover, contents page and double page spread for my music magazine.

I used IPhoto to upload images from my camera to my computer to work on for my magazine.

I used Flickr to talk about the media distribution for my magazine.

I used a Canon SLR camera to take all the pictures for my music magazine.

I used Facebook for social networking feedback for my magazine.

                                    

Evaluation: Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation: Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product? why?

The person I have drawn represents my audience because she looks the same style in which my magazine is and this style of person would be interested in buying my magazine. Izzie Jenkins would be the type of person to buy my magazine as she already has a passion for media as she studies film at university. She is interested in the artists my magazine would include like Justin Bieber, and her style is very much R&B linking with my magazines genre. As Izzie is 18 she is into gossip about celebrities and wants to keep up to date with the latest showbiz news, so she will buy my magazine to keep up to date with all she needs to know.

Evaluation: Question 3

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

Click on each photograph to go to Flickr

Evaluation: Question 2

How does you media product represent particular social groups?

 

Posture/Gesture: Both images have a similar posture/gesture, both models are stood up tall, with a strong gesture, both are pushing their chest out making them look sophisticated and powerful, this links my model with my story well. They both have their arm near their had making them look mid movement or pose.

Angle: Both images have been taken front on, both looking down the lens of the camera, this again makes the models look strong, powerful and fearless.

Shot Type: Both images are similar in shot types, my shot is a medium long shot, and so is the other models shot however more of her leg is showing in the photograph.

Lighting: They both have high key lighting on their faces, however the background of my model makes the lighting look much darker compared to the other models.

Costume: Although straight away when you look at both models, there are no similarities in their costumes, when you look in more detail I gave my model a statement necklace to 'bling' up her outfit and fit with the R&B genre.

Expression: Both models have a similar facial expression, both with their mouths slightly open and eyes a little closed, looking though their eyelashes, this makes them look sexy, sophisticated and powerful. I want to make my model look as if shes in mid pose/movement like the other model is doing also.

Hair: Although both models have different length and colour of hair, they both have more hair over the right side of their head, this makes the photograph look less structure and more natural.

Make-Up: Both models have quite natural looking make-up on, with more black around the eyes, however the other model has more eye shadow on than my model, as this suits her skin tone more.

To conclude I have represented young females within my magazine as being strong, fierce and independent. Independent because they are always stood in the frame on their own and with a strong stance, and fierce/strong because their attitude portrayed through their facial expressions makes them look as if they are ready for anything and fearless, which I feel is a good representation of females, for younger females to look up to.

Evaluation: Question 1

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

Layout: USE -At the top of the cover I have named the artists included in my magazine the same way Vibe magazine has done. This looks better than having the masthead right at the edge of the page. I have placed the masthead at the top of the cover also the way Vibe magazine have. And lastly I have placed all the text around the model making her look the most important thing. DEVELOP -I wanted to incorporate the pose of the model into my models pose as I think it links well with the R&B/chart genre my magazine has. I made my model put her hand on her head looking like shes mid movement, and she had an opened mouth they same way Vibes magazine model does. I placed the image directly in the middle of the page unlike Vibes' where its just off center. Also the bar code is in the bottom right hand corner, I did like the fact the bar code look white so I turned my whole bar code white instead of a white box around as Vibe does. CHALLENGE - Vibe magazine doesn't have a tag line, but I wanted my readers to know straight away what this magazine offers so I placed three key words to my magazine discretely into my masthead to give extra detail.

Colour: USE -I have used different colours through out introducing my my artist to make different things/the most important things stand out for example her name. DEVELOP -When writing my cover lines I highlighted important words to catch the readers attention like Vibe magazine does, but i only changes the certain words to a couple of shades darker so it doesn't over power the masthead and main story. CHALLENGE -I have used neutral colours throughout my magazine, and stuck to the three colour rule of beige's, white and black, where as Vibe magazine used a bold bright red.

Photographs: USE -Vibe magazine's model has her mouth slightly open to show that shes either mid dance of movement and I wanted my model to do this also. DEVELOP -I thought it looked goo seeing the models arms on Vibe magazine, so got my model to move around touching her head and body so they would be in the shot and I ended up with this great shot, linking well with the R&B/chart style. CHALLENGE -Vibe magazine's model is looking through her eyelashes and tilting her head back to make her look sexy, linking with their genre. Whereas my model is looking straight on to the camera getting a full view of her face as shes a new artist.

Story: USE -Vibe magazines language is quite basic and to the point and I used this style of language also to grab the readers attention straight away. CHALLENGE -None of the cover lines are the same stories as my cover lines, I came up with my own interesting stories to grab the readers attention.

Fonts and Font sizes: DEVELOP -I liked the bold statement font for the masthead and cover lines so I researched into different fonts and found my own which had the same effect as Vibe's. 

Layout: USE -I have put the title 'contents' in the top right hand corner the same way Vibe magazine has, because I think its a good way of using the space on the page, and by cutting the word in half on different levels really catches your attention as you try to realize what it says. Also I have used the 'features' the same Vibe magazine have, by putting them all down the right hand side underneath the title, leaving enough room for the large picture standing out on the page. DEVELOP -I placed the model on the left side of the page the same way Vibe does, but I chose an image where my model isn't front on to the camera giving my image an individual look. Underneath my page numbers and whats included in my magazine, Vibe has a fashion section,  used their idea, but changed it to 'regulars' as my magazine is a monthly issue.

Colour: CHALLENGE -I have chosen a completely different colour scheme for my contents page than Vibe has used as my genre would be suited better with darker and neutral shades. Although I have incorporated Vibe's title in my magazine I have stuck to my genre and colour scheme and used a light brown to make it look my own.

Photographs: DEVELOP -I liked the way the hand is positioned on the models body on Vibes' contents page, so I asked my model to include her hand in the shot, making her look like shes in mid-movement, or like Ive caught her off guard, making it look less structured. CHALLENGE -I asked my model to stand side on to look like shes mid movement, unlike Vibe's magazine whereas their model is stood straight on facing the camera. Also my models face looks more natural than Vibe magazine's model as I wanted my model to look like I caught her off guard unlike Vibe's model as he purposely looks like hes in a photo shoot.

Story: CHALLENGE -I came up with all my own stories to include in my magazine so it would be personal to my genre and magazine.

Fonts and Font sizes: USE -I liked the way Vibe's title looked on the contents page, so I researched bold fonts and found one as close as I could to Vibe's font, also tried to get a similar size as they did so it would fill in the space nicely, like theirs did. DEVELOP -My contents page number and what is included in my magazine are of a similar small size like Vibe's text, but I used my own font that fitted well with my genre.

Layout: USE -I embedded another image into my text, so it breaks it up and doesn't bore the reader. Also I made my model the main thing on the page also like Flavour's magazine has done. DEVELOP -I chose to make a passage of my text to stand out as the main introduction to my artist, Flavour magazine has also had this idea but theirs is in the middle of the text and look completely different to mine.

Colour: CHALLENGE -I haven't used the same colours as Flavour's magazine at all even the back ground colour is different making the magazine fit my own genre.

Photographs: USE -The model takes up most of the double page spread like Flavour's magazine does, I thought this was a good thing to do on my page so she stands out the most to my audience. Also with my genre being R&B/chart the connotations with R&B are associated with strong black females with roots back to soul music. DEVELOP -Although my models facial expressions are completely different, I wanted her to have her mouth slightly open and smiling so show that shes mid laugh or movement.

Story: CHALLENGE -In Flavour's magazine their style of text is like a report, talking about the artist and not including her in the text, unlike my text where I used an interview style including my artist talking herself in the questions and answers.

Fonts and Font sizes: DEVELOP -I used the same sort of small sized font, however I used a sans serif font to stick with the conventions of a music magazines. CHALLENGE -In the introduction to my text I have used various different font sizes and Ive also made some word in bold so they will stand out like "latest chart topper" and "Ivy Grey".