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

<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_7549444"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ellasophieharding/media-evaluation-question-3-7549444"

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?'


<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_7499845"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ellasophieharding/media-evaluation-question-5"

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

<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_7550232"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ellasophieharding/media-evaluation-question1-7550232"

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.