7/04/2011

Today I completed my final question for my evaluation, question 3. I have now completely finished my AS Media Coursework and everything is on my blog ready for marking. The evaluation was a lot harder than i had imagined and it took time, analysis and research to complete but I have finally finished.

I am happy with the coursework I have created overall and I really enjoyed creating my own music magazine. I have learnt a lot from my mistakes and others around me and it has enabled me to produce a piece of work to a professional standard.

Media Evaluation- Question 3

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Media Evaluation- Question 7

Media Evaluation Question 7

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

At the start of this course, I knew how to use the basics on a computer and understood how to use programmes such as Word, Power Point, Excel and Publisher. I had no knowledge of working with Apple Macs at all so this was a new experience for me. This came at quite a struggle because the layout and format of programmes on a Mac is very different to a Windows computer. With the help of my tutor, I became aware of how to use a Mac and from then on it was a lot easier.

 I also learnt how to use complex programmes on the Macs such as InDesign and Photoshop. Some people in my class had already used Photoshop but I was completely new to it. I had previously used other photo editing programmes such as Picasa so I had some understanding of them, but Photoshop was a lot more technical and complicated. With help from my peers this time, I was able to successfully use Photoshop and create well-edited pictures. InDesign was a completely different story. We had to use this to create our whole magazine so it was extremely important that we learnt how to work it correctly. We spent about half a lesson being taught where the necessities for building our magazine could be found, but this still confused me and I found it hard to get to grips on using the software.

The student magazine I created was part of my preliminary task and was basically a trial run for my music magazine I would later create. This enabled me to explore InDesign and try out different techniques and skills within it. This was a great help to me and really improved my ability on InDesign and encouraged me to be more adventurous with what I was doing. You can see my progression from my student magazine to my finished music magazine because I have used many more technical elements in my music magazine. I found out how to create ‘bubble writing’ effects on my font and also how to shadow it. This made my final magazine look more professional and also allowed me to make it more attractive to my target audience. I don’t think that I thought enough about my target audience’s interests whilst making my student magazine, so I took this into account when creating my music magazine. The mistakes I made in my preliminary task helped to produce a well-thought-out music magazine that attracts a certain audience by the way it has been constructed. This was a big progression made by me and I felt more comfortable and knowledgeable about InDesign whilst creating my music magazine, and hoped this would show in my work.

Another aspect of this task that I was quite new to was photography. I had never taken pictures that had been planned (in a photo shoot) before and was worried that my pictures would look amateur. I have to admit that for my student magazine I didn’t give a lot of direction to my models and I basically just used friends who happened to be there when I had a camera. Not a lot of thought went into my photography work for my student magazine. You can see this because the position of my models doesn’t fit the preferred layout for a magazine. Some of the cover lines overlap onto one of my friends’ head because I forgot about leaving space at the left hand side (as you look at it) and at the top for the title. However, making more mistakes in my preliminary task stopped me from making them on my actual music magazine. I set up a photo shoot when taking pictures of my sister for my magazine and I instructed her on what to wear and also did her hair and make-up the way I wanted it. I also positioned her correctly and told her what poses to make to ensure that I was taking pictures that would reflect on my target audience.

I feel like I have progressed a lot from the start of this task and my preliminary stages to now, my finished magazine. I have learnt how to use more complex programmes and my knowledge of ICT has improved greatly. I am more aware of how to use Apple Macs and professional software now and this experience may lead to help me in the future.

Media Evaluation-Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

On the front cover, I used a photo of my younger sister. This will automatically create a younger audience because they will be interested in an artist who is around their age. I dressed my sister in a black lacey dress so she looked sophisticated but girly at the same time. I also dressed her specifically like that to make her look like a ‘pop’ singer rather than ‘indie’ or ‘rock’. However, the black and lace on the dress could attract a different social group to my targeted one such as rock or punk social groups I asked my sister to smile in most of the photos I took of her because on young teens’ magazine covers, the celebrity is usually smiling rather than pouting. The positioning of my sister would attract the typical ‘teenage girl’ social group, which is what I was initially aiming for.

The mise-en-scene of my magazine communicates that the social group I am targeting are energetic and enthusiastic because of the bright colours used throughout. The pictures used in my magazine contents page and double page spread are all girly and help to highlight the youth of my artist. I think that as a result using these images, I will attract a similar social group to the one portrayed by my artist.

My product presents its target audience by the colour scheme and age of the artist I chose to use. Also the cover lines and celebrities included in them represent the age group that I am targeting.  Also, the questions asked in he interview with Aisha Thompson are typical questions that young teens would want to know the answers to. The answers that Aisha has given are also very inspirational which presents a young audience because they are more likely to have dreams that need to be inspired; an older audience would have already gained inspiration throughout their lives.

I have slightly changed one of the representations of my target audience in my magazine though; the colour scheme. In my double page spread, I toned down the bold and electric colours because I didn’t want to over-power the interview and text by it being too colourful. I still kept the pink colour scheme, but added grey to create a balance of colours. This could change the way my product represents its target audience because it makes the magazine a bit more sophisticated, maybe edging towards being targeted at a slightly older age group.

The representation of my media product definitely supports dominant ideas about my social group. All in all it looks very girly and fun and involves splashes of colour. Using my younger sister as the artist for my magazine also contributed to supporting the dominant ideas because of her age and the fact that she looks innocent. 

3/04/2011

Today I completed Question 5 of my evaluation. I firstly did it on a word document but then had to change it onto a powerpoint presentation because it wouldn't copy and paste the whole document and images onto my blog. I answered this question through a detailed analysis of my front cover, contents page and double page spread and I really enjoyed answering this question.

Tomorrow I need to go into college early to upload my answer to Question 2 onto my blog because it's saved on the apple macs in college so I can't put it up at home. Throughout the rest of the week I am going to complete question 3 and 7 to complete my evaluation and my coursework as a whole.

Media Evaluation- Question 5

'How did you attract/address your audience?'


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2/04/2011

Today I completed my evaluation question 1 that I had started at college yesterday. I then uploaded it onto my blog using 'slideshare'. I will continue to complete the remainder of my evaluation questions at home to enable my coursework to be complete by Friday 8th Arpil.

Media Evaluation- Question 1

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1/04/2011

Today I started on Question 1 of my evaluation which was 'In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?'. I did this on a powerpoint presentation to analyse my music magazine against an existing 'Top of the Pops' magazine. I am going to finish this question at homeand then Questions 3, 5 and 7 at home in my own time. I will then need to put all of my evaluation work onto my blog for it to be marked next Friday.

Finished Double-Page Spread

Here is my finished double-page spread. I haven't changed much from my original draft except the layout for the title. I decided that my double-page spread would look a lot neater if I kept the two sides seperate and didn't have any text or images over-lapping the pages. I think that this has made my double-page spread easier to look at and generally more appealing. It looks simple and informal which is the look I was intending to achieve and, it will attract my target audience because the two seperate pages makes the layout appear less busy and easier to read.

Media Evaluation- Question 6

http://prezi.com/lgqgbhdps8nm/media-evaluation-question-6/

Media Evaluation- Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience I chose to aim my music magazine at is young girls, ranging from the age of 8 to 14. I decided to target my product at this audience because I have an interest in ‘pop’ music and found it easier to create a magazine with a genre of music that I understood well. I used ‘Top of the Pops’ music magazine as almost a style model during my design work. I did this because the magazine is also targeted at the same audience as mine, which gave me basic layout ideas that obviously attract that certain audience.

This specific age group and gender will have many other interests too, which may also lead them to buy my magazine. Most girls share the same interests including fashion, boys, make-up and celebrities. Young girls of this age will probably be watching programmes on channels such as Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. This allows me to already know that they will be attracted to a magazine that has singers that are known through those channels on the front cover. For example, people like Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato. My target audience will also be starting to experiment with different things and styles. Music will be a main factor in these experiments as girls will start listening to different styles of music and artists. To encourage these new interests I have incorporated fashion into my music magazine. Young girls, about the age of 10, start to become intrigued by fashion and creating their own style. My music magazine guides them to unique and up-to-date fashion aswell as exploring the styles of their favourite celebrities.

The other media that my target audience consume will be television as I’ve spoken about already. These will include channels such as Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and CBBC. They will also be interested in ‘pop’ music and other magazines in general. The magazine types that they would be most likely to consume would be ones such as ‘Sugar’, ‘Bliss’ and ‘CosmoGirl’ which include aspects of my music magazine within them. Fashion is a big part of young teenage magazines for girls as well as celebrity gossip. I added in both of these features to my music magazine to make the magazine more appealing to my target audience. 

Music Magazine Proposal

Again, I forgot to post my proposal before hand so here it is, alongside all of my original pictures from the photoshoot I took of my younger sister and the few I took of my friend Kath Mathews.

Music Magazine Proposal

The genre of my music magazine is going to be ‘pop’ so my target audience will be females. The age range of my target audience will go from 8 to 14; I think this is appropriate for the style of magazine I would like to produce.

I have a few ideas for music magazine’s name such as Breakdown, Coda or Acappella. I looked up ‘music terminology’ on the internet because I wanted the name of the magazine to apply to music aswell. My favourite out of the three is Acappella because it’s more feminine and catchy.  I also had to think about a name for my new star that would appear on the front cover and double page spread. I wanted to create an unusual name so that it would be more memorable. I thought of Clarity, Faith, Aisha and Trinity, my favourite is Aisha. The full name of my star will be Aisha Thompson because it’s simple but unique.

The font possibilities for my title are: Acappella (Rockwell Extra Bold)

                                                                Acappella (Dotum...with BOLD)

                                           Acappella (Eras Demi ITC)

                                                   Acappella (Gisha)

                                                         Hobo std (font isn’t available on Microsoft word 7)

All of these font choices are quite similar because I want to use a simple but bold font for my title.

Coverlines: ‘Get a Cheryl Cole Fashion Fix’

                    ‘Aisha Thompson Uncovered’

                    ‘104 Top 2010 songs’

                     ‘Could you be Aston’s Girl?’

                     FREE- Enrique Iglesias Poster

                                 Mini Songwords Book

I chose these coverlines because they will attract my target audience. Other than music, young girls are interested in fashion, boys and gossip. These are all incorporated in my coverlines and are therefore aiming to attract young girls.

The colour scheme I have chosen to use is pink, yellow and purple because I have done a lot of research into music magazines with a similar genre and target audience as mine such as, ‘Top of the Pops’ and ‘Smash Hits’. These both had very colourful, bold and eye-catching colour schemes which I thought would be a good idea to use for mine aswell. ‘Top of the Pops’ and ‘Smash Hits’ are both good selling music magazines, so if I follow their lead, hopefully I will also be able to create a successful music magazine. I will make my front cover my own, I’m not going to just copy the front of an existing music magazine, I just wanted to research some ideas to enable me to make a magazine suitable for my target audience. I think that the colours pink, yellow and purple are quite weird to use together but, that’s what will make my front cover stand out and look more appealing to consumers. The colours are all very girly also which is what I am aiming for from my magazine as a whole.

For my model I am going to use my 13 year old sister, Rosanna. I chose to use a young model because once again I think it will attract a younger audience. People are intrigued by what other people the same age as them can achieve, or have already achieved. You find it more interesting to read about people your own age, as you can relate to them more. I am going to take the photos in my house and I will dress my sister in a black dress so she still looks her age, but also has a sophisticated look to her aswell to obtain the older age group of my target audience.

On my contents page I am going to continue my colour scheme but tone it down a bit so that the magazine doesn’t start to look too over-the-top. I am going to use another, smaller, photo of my sister on the contents page and also a picture I took of my friend Kath and of my GHD’s (as a prize). I would also like to add a box on the side as a letter from the editor and for the rest of the page I’m going to try to make the layout very simple so it’s easy to follow.

On the double page spread I am going to do an interview (Q&A) with my ‘pop artist’ Aisha Thompson. I would like to use another big picture of my sister that takes up most of one page and then three or four much smaller ones on the other page to make it look less formal. I am once again going to continue with the colour scheme but tone it down. I am planning on using monochrome colours alongside the pink used on my front cover and contents page because I don’t want the attention to be taken away from the interview because of a harsh use of colours. I would also like the large picture of my sister to be in black and white whereas the smaller ones can be in colour. I hope that this will look effective because of the use of different tones.

Below are all of my original photoshoot pictures of my sister (unedited) and spontaneous pictures of my friend Kath Mathews which I ended up using in my magazine too.

Music Magazine Initial Ideas

(I forgot to put this up previously so here are my initial ideas for my music magazine.)

Initial ideas for my Music Magazine

Name of Music Magazine: Breakdown/Acappella/Coda

Colour Scheme: Purple and White/Bright blue, Purple and Pink/Pink, Yellow and Purple

Model on Front Cover: Solo Girl/Solo Boy/Mixed Gender Group

Font for Title: Dotum (with bold)/Hobo std/Rockwell Extra Bold/Gisha/Eras Demi ITC

Font for coverlines and the rest of the magazine: Arial/Times

Double Page Spread: Interview (Q&A)/Biography/Autobiography

Published: Monthly/Weekly

Genre: Pop/Indie/Rock

Target Audience: Teenagers-Young Adults/Young Girls

26/03/2011

Yesterday, Friday 25th March, I completed an additional question on my evaluation in class. I did question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? I answered this questions using the website 'Prezi'. This was the first time I had used this programme and with the help of my friend I eventually got the hang of how to use it and it became quite simple and fun. I really enjoyed using the website which was good because I need a range of different technology/ICT types to achieve a higher grade for my evaluation.

I am still looking for a 'Top of the Pops' magazine so I can complete the analysis of a real magazine against my own for questions 1. Hopefully I will be able to get one tomorrow and do this question in class on Friday or at home in my own time.

18/03/11

Today I have completed Question 2 of my evaluation, 'How does your media product represent particular social groups?' I did this as a word document in the style of an essay. During the week I was planning to purchase a Top of the Pops magazine so I could complete Question 1 at home but, that weeks magazine was a special and was all about Justin Bieber. This wouldn't have been any good to me because I need to compare my music magazine with pages from an actual music magazine. It wouldn't be accurately compared if I used a special edition Top of the Pops magazine because it's not their usual style.

I am going to keep searching for the next Top of the Pops magazine that isn't a special edition and then will complete Question 1at home. Next week I will complete another question in lesson and I may experiment with the website 'PREZI' so that my evaluation contains a range of different technologies and programmes.

11/03/2011

Today I started working on my evaluation for my music magazine. I was going to start with the first questions but realised that I needed an existing music magazine to compare to mine so I will have to go out and buy one to do this effectively. I had a look at some of the other questions but felt that question 4 would be the most appropriate question to start with. This questions is about the audience I have to chosen to aim my product at. I did this in the format of a written explanation because I thought it was the best way to fully  interpret my reasons for picking the audience I chose.

Next week I will work on question 5 in class and hopefully start on question 1 during the week, as long as I am able to get a 'Top of the Pops' music magazine soon.

Today...

Today I finished my first draft of my double page spread and I am happy with the result. I wanted to continue my colour scheme of my front cover and contents page and I think I managed to do this. I made my double page spread a little less bold than my contents and front cover because I didn't want to over-do it and make the magazine look too overwhelming. I will continue to touch up my double page spread, contents page and front cover until my deadline though.

Double Page Spread

Today I started my double page spread. I haven't concluded on a font choice yet but I have sorted out the colour scheme so that it fits in with my front cover and contents page. I have also pasted in my interview so I am almost done with the whole project. However, I need some help with technical parts of my double page spread which I will ask my media teacher for on Friday to enable my work to look more professional.

Picture Edit

Today I also edited one of my images for the double page spread. I have four possible photos to use for the double page spread but I will probably only use two or three depending on how it looks when I set it out. I am planning on making all of the pictures black and white to make it look more unique and also, to make sure the images don't dominate the pages over the text.

22nd February

Today I continued with my music magazine progress at home. I don't have an apple mac or 'indesign' at home so I can't actually work on my presentation but, I have written up my interview questions and answers so all I will need to do for my double page spread is the layout and pictures. I will continue with the creative side of my double page spread when I am back in college, during my breaks or before my lessons start. I hope to finish my music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread very soon.

Here is the work I have done today, it just includes most of the text that I will be using n my double page spread.

Interview with Aisha Thompson

Newly discovered sensation Aisha Thompson, 13, describes her journey, dreams and favourite things to Acappella.

“I would love it if I could...combine my love of dance and singing together”

“The paddling pool went up in flames and everyone ran around screaming”

When did you start singing and who is your inspiration?

My mum always says that I sung before I talked, so I guess at a very young age. But, I actually started singing lessons at the age of 4 and have carried on ever since, I love it. My inspiration for music has to have come from Beyonce as my dad was mad about her during my infant school years and her music was always being played. She inspired me to start singing and is now my idol, all thanks to my dad’s crazy obsession.

Why did you become so interested in music?

Well, as I’ve said, my dad had music playing constantly so my upbringing involved a lot of musicality. I also took dance lessons ever since I was three so I guess that was the beginning to my musical dreams. Dance involves a lot of musical awareness and I enjoyed it a lot. However, I started playing the piano at the age of 6 and the guitar at the age of 9 so these two instruments also helped to encourage my musical dreams.

You started dancing before singing, why did you not choose to continue into a career of dance?

See, that’s a difficult question to answer because I have never really given up on dancing. I still take tap, modern and ballet lessons and I am in quite high grades now for all of them. When I started to get into singing, I never thought that I would enjoy it or be good at it at all so dance was always my main priority. But as my musical knowledge built up, I had an increasing love for music. I am not at all giving up on dancing, I would really love it if I could eventually be a massive star like Beyonce and combine my love of dance and singing together.

You seem like a very out-going and bubbly girl, so you must have had a few crazy adventures?

Right okay, there is one but I have to urge people not to try what I did! When I was 9 I decided to put on a show in my back garden. My parents both got involved and helped me put up and hand out posters to local people and friends. On the day, I thought that I needed to put on more of a show or I got out my paddling pool and filled it up. I put the bottom of my slide into the paddling pool because I thought the performance would be much more unique if I could sing on my slide and then splash into the water at the end. Remember I was only 9 so my brain wasn’t brilliant, and my common sense was very little!!! My parents agreed to this for some reason, even though they knew the consequences of electrics, my microphone, and water. Of course, I’m sure you can imagine what happened next...I was meant to hand my microphone to my dad before I slid into to water at the end of my song but, I forgot and by then it was too late. The paddling pool went up in flames and everyone ran around screaming whilst I just looked at my dad’s furious face! On the plus side, everyone said I did a great performance. :D

I see that you’re very up-to-date with the latest fashion trends, I have spotted your gorgeous leopard print loafers, love them. What would you say if your favourite fashion piece in your wardrobe?

Ohhh, you don’t ask easy questions do you? I would have to say that at the moment, my favourite clothing item has to be my brown aviator jacket from River Island. I am absolutely in love with these jackets because I adore fake fur. I wear this jacket practically every day; I wore it in today aswell. It goes with almost everything in my wardrobe which meant that it was a must have for me. I don’t like buying clothes unless I can wear it in at least two different ways, or more if it’s pricey.

You’re working your way up the ladder to fame now though, so money shouldn’t be a problem.

A lot of people keep saying that to me, especially my younger sister Tara. She keeps saying that I will be able to buy anything I want soon but that’s not really the truth. Well I mean I could I guess, but I’m not going to. I’m only 13 so I don’t want to be wearing designer labels that cost stupid amounts when I can still buy ordinary clothing like other girls my age. Even though my life is changing a lot, I still want to experience my teenage years like a normal teenager. That means saving my money and spending it sensibly as well as having fun with my friends.

Acappella have been itching to ask you this question...what is your most prized possession?

Okay, this is easy, it’s my ipod. Everything I do involves music in some way. I use music as a way to relax, to concentrate and also to hype myself up for a big or important event. I also love it because it’s lime green, my favourite colour!

Aisha, we know your mum started your career off, but how exactly did she do it?

Well, she introduced me to singing lessons and as I progressed as a singer she took me to a recording studio to create a CD to send off to labels. My mum must have sent a copy of my CD to about seven record labels, some big and some small and less well-known. We started to give up hope after a year and I was about to have my first audition for X-Factor, when we got a phone call from Columbia Records, the same place Destiny’s Child first got signed. My singing career was then in their hands, and that’s how I got where I am now.

Is there any advice you want to give our readers who are interesting in following in your footsteps?

Yes definitely, I just want to say follow your dreams and never give up on something that you want. I believe that everyone has the ability to be a star, it’s just about whether you choose to let it shine through. I had a lot of people telling me that I wasn’t good enough and it dropped my confidence for a long time. Don’t allow anyone the privilege of taking your dreams away from you, if you believe in yourself others will believe in you too!     

  

Contents Page Finished

This lesson I have finished my contents page. I added in a few other pictures that I took myself, including one of my friend Kath and another of my GHD's. I am very pleased with what I have achieved today and all together I think that it looks good against my front cover. I tried to keep the same colour scheme, and I will continue doing this throughout my double page spread.

Any work that I do after today will be done in my own time as I have no more class time left. I will need to start and finish my double page spread, including pictures and an interview with my 'new' celebrity Aisha Thompson. I want to keep the bright and fun colours in my double page spread, to fit the genre of the magazine and to attract my target audience, young girls.

Finished Front Cover

This is my front cover of my 'pop' music magazine. I have used really bright and girly colours to match my target audience. I took inspiration from Top of the Pops magazine front covers which are very eye-catching and bold. This makes the genre of my magazine obvious, because it's vibrant like pop music itself.

Today I have also started my contents page however, I think I will go and buy a few 'pop' music magazines to get ideas on the typical contents layouts for this particular genre. This will help me to complete my contents page next week.

Todays Work

Today I have made more progress with my front cover and have almost finished it. I have made the colour scheme brighter and more fun but I would like to add a background colour to make it more vibrant. I have come up with all of my coverlines now, it's just the final changes to my design work that needs to be done.

Front Cover Progress

Today I have started laying out my front cover. I have placed my edited picture in the right position and have created my title and a few of my coverlines. I also decided on a colour scheme of purple, white and black because I will be aiming my music magazine at young girls. I think the colour scheme will be suitable for my target audience.

Front Cover Picture Editing

Today I have chosen my picture that I will use for my front cover. I used photoshop for the first time and editied my picture, removing the red eye and making the background white. I had a bit of trouble using photoshop as I was new to the programme but my peers who had used photoshop before helped me to understand how to use it.

The picture has tunred out the way I wanted it to and next week I will start to create my front cover on indesign.

Photo Shoot

Today I did my photoshoot for my front cover and double page spread images. I used my sister as a model and photographed her in a range of different poses to make my music magazine look more interesting. I had to do a bit of preperation to clear space and to find somewhere with a suitable background that would then be easy to edit from and I also did my sister's hair, make-up and clothing.

I think that the photoshoot was successful and the pictures have turned out the way I wanted them. My music magazine genre is 'pop' so I wanted to pictures to be girly but sophisticated. I hope that they produce this message to the audience successfully too.

Todays work

Today I have done research for my Music Magazine as a part of my proposal. I have been researching celebrity photo shoots for ideas for my front cover picture and, have been looking at the front covers of 'top of the pops' for coverline ideas. This has helped me to create part of my proposal but I will now need to create ideas for my double page spread and contents page.

I have come up with a few names for my music magazine and topics to base my coverlines on. I will take photos for my front cover in the up-coming week.

Report on the Representation of 'Pop' Music Magazines

Completing this report has helped me to understand the message that 'pop' magazines give out to the public in more detail. I now know how important it is to portray the right messages through different aspects of the magazine. The front cover is very powerful, but so are the stories and images inside the magazine. This have shown me how much I will have to consider in creating my own music magazine, and making it appealing to my target audience.