Final product

This is the finished content, cover and double page spread of my magazine:

Evaluation Question 7

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

 

After looking at these two screenshots, one being my actual finished magazine front cover and the other being my preliminary magazine front cover, I can see a few dramatic differences.
For example looking at the colour schemes, on 'The College' cover I have used a burgundy and white colours and on TMM I have completely changed and used purples. I believe the decision behind this was to make it fit more with what my target audience would like to see and I personally believe that the colours used on the left screenshot were possibly too vibrant.  Another thing that has changed from my preliminary is the model (obviously), but looking at the left model you can see that she doesn't necessarily know what to do, in comparison I found it easier to direct the model on the right and tell her how to stand, which kind of facial expressions to pull etc. Furthermore you can see from the preliminary that the writing on the covering the image up, whereas after playing around on Photoshop I was able to figure out how to place the title behind the model.  

The fonts on the my preliminary were simple and at the time I thought fitted the magazine concept, however for my actual magazine I decided to use fonts from an online website named DaFont.com, they had a wide variety of fonts to choose from and as you can see I chose something basic but also affective as I believe it stands out and will attract my target audience.

Moving on to my current contents page and my preliminary contents:
 

 

As you can see my preliminary task contents page was very bland and didn't stand out or contain enough information, contrastingly my TMM contents has a lot of information, colour and images which will stand out to my target audience. Also looking at the two different layouts or my magazine, you can tell by looking at the left image there really isn't a layout that anyone could follow, however for the other contents page I have ensured that I created different sections to make it easier for the reader to follow and find certain things.

Something else I thought would be important to include in my contents page was a down bar reassuring the readers that they can follow us on all types of social media sites to keep up with the news.

 

Overall I think that my final product is a lot better than my preliminary task, for the reasons stated above, but I also believe that having a go at using Photoshop for the practice gave me more confidence and enabling me to create a decent final contents, cover and double page spread.

 

Evalution Question 6

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

 

This project has taught me a lot about a vast amount of technical side of things. For a start I bagan using a Mac computer, which was at first rather hard to adjust to as I had never worked on one before, but once I began to work with it more and more I found out that it was particularly hard to work. Overall I do feel comfortable with using the Mac and I believe it has better facilities than other computers, so I am more confident in the fact that I have composed a good enough product.

 

To take my images I had to use a camera, the Canon Ixus 105. I didn't find this a difficult task as I have used many different camera's in the past. So once I had my images I had to transfer them to the Mac and I did this by firstly using a cable which went into my camera and my laptop, then I saved the images onto my memory stick which fits into the Mac. I found this rather easy as I have done it numerous occasions.

I began using photoshop, on the Mac, to complete part of my work. I, again, struggled with this software, fortunately though my friend knew how to use so was able to help me, so after a few lessons I got to grips with it and after this I was more at ease with this software and could do quite a lot, like editing my model, removing backgrounds etc.

 

 

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

 

I addressed my audience by using sell lines. The sell lines included things such as 'free posters' and listed many different, famous artists within this industry, making the audience feel more attracted to the magazine and hopefully want to buy it.

 

To attract my audience I used colours which I believed would turn my audiences heads. The colours coordinated and contrasted very well. Another thing which attracted my TA was the model I used for my cover. She is the typical indie girl, dressed appropriately and makeup is natural-esc.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My magazine is aimed at both males and females of around the ages of 16-21. They have the typical Indie interests such as gigging, socialising, listening to music, Festivals etc. My magazine cover I think is something that my TA would find attractive and if they saw it in a shop they would immediately think about picking it up. Just by looking at the image used on the cover I think that the females will admire the clothing, hair and makeup and aim to look like her and I think the males will be attracted and think she looks pretty 'cool'.

Once the TA open up the magazine and look at the contents page they will be greeted by bold purples (this matches the front cover) and enough information to inform them what bands/artists are inside. There are also more images of the cover girl which may interest the audience even more. 

I asked a friend of mine, who enjoys reading the likes of NME and Q, what she thought of my cover page, contents page and DPS. Her response sounded something like this:

 "I really like the colours which have been used on both the over and contents, as they match and make the writing understandable but also very bold. Another thing which stands out to me is the bands that have been included as they match the genre of the magazine perfectly!"

Evalution Question 3

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

 I believe that IPC Media would distribute my magazine because it works along side NME, which is a dupe of my magazine. They are of the same genres. If they sell a lot of copies of NME, then audiences may be more likely to buy mine.
My magazine will be distributed through shops and there is also an online subscription which readers can use if they wish, as it may make the payments easier for them. 
"IPC Media ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Time In., is a digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year."
This makes me feel more confident in choosing this media institution as it tells me that it sells over 350 Million copies each year and by them publishing my magazine there will be a greater income.

Evalution Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

As you can see from the image my model is looking directly at the camera. The image is a medium shot as I wanted to ensure that my models clothing/hair would be shown on the image, I believe that is what the readers would prefer because they like to see exactly what their favourite artists are wearing so they can in a way use them as a template. As you can see by looking at the other image there aren't many similarities apart from the fact that it is also a medium shot. The fact that my image is looking right at the camera shows quite and empowering side to them and entices the audience as once they look at the magazine they will immediately see the main model which will draw them in even further, the image on the right shows quite a provocative shot of a female singer, this contrasts with my image a lot as my magazine does not premote those type of things. I decided to have my model standing in-front of a white backdrop to create more of an effect and I've noticed that other typical indie magazines have plain backdrops, Q magazine have completely gone against my technique and have instead opted for a black background. The clothing my model has on is that of the type of thing you would see the likes of Indie 'guru' Alexa Chung wearing, alongside the hair and the opposite picture is a typical pop culture image, trying to change peoples persepctive of the model at hand.