Friday, 1 April 2011
Thursday, 31 March 2011
7) Looking back at your preliminary task (the college magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
At the beginning of my coursework during the preliminary task I didn’t really have a clue of how to use Photoshop. However as the weeks progressed I developed many skills including how to make the page A4. As you can see in the preliminary task my front cover and contents page was square rather than A4. But I have now developed other skills such as editing my images using the crop tool, magic wand tool and quick selection tool. These tools allowed me to cut my images out from the background they were on. Therefore I being able to construct a successful image for a front cover of a music magazine allowed me to develop what will be hopefully become a well-known music magazine.
Other tools that I used that allowed me to construct a music magazine front cover were the text editing side of Photoshop. By using the various tools I was able to squeeze the text up similar to that seen on today’s music magazines. I was also able to change the size and font of my writing so that it fitted with what my magazine image was looking for.
The tool I found most useful when I was using Photoshop to construct my music magazine was the fact that could give the text a border to help the writing stand out. The stroke effect helped me to give the text I wanted my target audience to read more than others a more enhanced look. As you can see my text stands out more from the grey background by giving it either a yellow or black border.
I chose to layout my magazine as I did because I have seen that Kerrang and Rock Sound do this and they seem to sell their magazines quite well, therefore if I use a similar layout then my magazine will most probably catch my reader’s attention. I needed to research into existing music magazine that have a similar target audience so that I could get ideas into what I should include in my magazine and how it should be layout, etc.
Throughout my construction of my magazine I asked for feedback of my target audience to see what they liked, disliked and how I should change my magazine. This allowed me to develop my magazine into what I think is a fairly good looking music magazine. Also to make sure my magazine was as good as it could be I made sure my text was spelt correctly and that any corrections were made where possible. By proof reading my text it allowed me to notice where mistakes has been made and it helped me construct a more successful media product.
At the beginning of my coursework during the preliminary task I didn’t really have a clue of how to use Photoshop. However as the weeks progressed I developed many skills including how to make the page A4. As you can see in the preliminary task my front cover and contents page was square rather than A4. But I have now developed other skills such as editing my images using the crop tool, magic wand tool and quick selection tool. These tools allowed me to cut my images out from the background they were on. Therefore I being able to construct a successful image for a front cover of a music magazine allowed me to develop what will be hopefully become a well-known music magazine.
Other tools that I used that allowed me to construct a music magazine front cover were the text editing side of Photoshop. By using the various tools I was able to squeeze the text up similar to that seen on today’s music magazines. I was also able to change the size and font of my writing so that it fitted with what my magazine image was looking for.
The tool I found most useful when I was using Photoshop to construct my music magazine was the fact that could give the text a border to help the writing stand out. The stroke effect helped me to give the text I wanted my target audience to read more than others a more enhanced look. As you can see my text stands out more from the grey background by giving it either a yellow or black border.
I chose to layout my magazine as I did because I have seen that Kerrang and Rock Sound do this and they seem to sell their magazines quite well, therefore if I use a similar layout then my magazine will most probably catch my reader’s attention. I needed to research into existing music magazine that have a similar target audience so that I could get ideas into what I should include in my magazine and how it should be layout, etc.
Throughout my construction of my magazine I asked for feedback of my target audience to see what they liked, disliked and how I should change my magazine. This allowed me to develop my magazine into what I think is a fairly good looking music magazine. Also to make sure my magazine was as good as it could be I made sure my text was spelt correctly and that any corrections were made where possible. By proof reading my text it allowed me to notice where mistakes has been made and it helped me construct a more successful media product.
6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The main programs and technology I used were Photoshop to produce the magazine and blogger to display my research, preliminary task, main task and evaluation. Technology used to help create my magazine was a Nikon D-90 and a USB. I used the USB to transfer pictures from my home computer to the college computer as I edited my images at home.
At the beginning of the task, when I created the preliminary task I was very poor at Photoshop and this can be seen in the first task. However as the weeks progressed I have learnt more and more in how to use Photoshop. I can now crop, edit, cut out and paste images. This has enabled me to get great looking images for my magazine. A good example of an image I am happy with is the image on the front cover.
An advantage of using Photoshop is that it gives great results, however you have to have the knowledge of how to use it otherwise it is fairly complicated. Another disadvantage of using Photoshop is that when you are putting text on the media products there is no dictionary therefore you cannot see where you have made a typing area. Another advantage of using Photoshop is that it is the best editing software on the market therefore almost anything is possible.
When I took my images I considered camera angle so that my front cover image enticed people to pick up the magazine and buy it. For my main image the shot distance was fairly close so that you could see their facial expressions. I tried to get a fairly simple background so that when it came to cutting the image out it was easier as you could just select the image.
The main programs and technology I used were Photoshop to produce the magazine and blogger to display my research, preliminary task, main task and evaluation. Technology used to help create my magazine was a Nikon D-90 and a USB. I used the USB to transfer pictures from my home computer to the college computer as I edited my images at home.
At the beginning of the task, when I created the preliminary task I was very poor at Photoshop and this can be seen in the first task. However as the weeks progressed I have learnt more and more in how to use Photoshop. I can now crop, edit, cut out and paste images. This has enabled me to get great looking images for my magazine. A good example of an image I am happy with is the image on the front cover.
An advantage of using Photoshop is that it gives great results, however you have to have the knowledge of how to use it otherwise it is fairly complicated. Another disadvantage of using Photoshop is that when you are putting text on the media products there is no dictionary therefore you cannot see where you have made a typing area. Another advantage of using Photoshop is that it is the best editing software on the market therefore almost anything is possible.
When I took my images I considered camera angle so that my front cover image enticed people to pick up the magazine and buy it. For my main image the shot distance was fairly close so that you could see their facial expressions. I tried to get a fairly simple background so that when it came to cutting the image out it was easier as you could just select the image.
5) How did you attract/ address your audience?
My magazine speaks the language of my target audience in that it has quite a sarcastic and informal tone. This is intended to be like this because it helps to attract my target audience. For example on the double page spread the caption underneath the photo says ‘BRING IT ON!’ This suggests an informal tone. This is a connotation to my target audience because they are accustomed to this kind of terminology. People will want to be associated with my magazine because it gives them a kind of higher social status. If someone asks you if you read ‘DECAY’ you can say yes I have subscribed to it. This portrays a positive image of you because you read this magazine.
The unique selling point of my magazine is that it comes with free gifts and posters each week. Although most magazines these days come with free gifts, the gifts will be of top quality but the price of the magazine will stay the same each week. However once a year there will be a bumper edition of my magazine which will contain more pages, with more competitions and free stuff such as posters and stickers.
I constantly asked a member of target audience for feedback throughout the production process for their thoughts and new ideas. From the feedback I changed several features of my magazine the main change of my magazine was the title. I asked my target audience as what name suited best out of the following: Decay, Limited and No Limits. I originally used No Limits but from feedback they decided that Decay suited the type of magazine I was producing.
My magazine speaks the language of my target audience in that it has quite a sarcastic and informal tone. This is intended to be like this because it helps to attract my target audience. For example on the double page spread the caption underneath the photo says ‘BRING IT ON!’ This suggests an informal tone. This is a connotation to my target audience because they are accustomed to this kind of terminology. People will want to be associated with my magazine because it gives them a kind of higher social status. If someone asks you if you read ‘DECAY’ you can say yes I have subscribed to it. This portrays a positive image of you because you read this magazine.
The unique selling point of my magazine is that it comes with free gifts and posters each week. Although most magazines these days come with free gifts, the gifts will be of top quality but the price of the magazine will stay the same each week. However once a year there will be a bumper edition of my magazine which will contain more pages, with more competitions and free stuff such as posters and stickers.
I constantly asked a member of target audience for feedback throughout the production process for their thoughts and new ideas. From the feedback I changed several features of my magazine the main change of my magazine was the title. I asked my target audience as what name suited best out of the following: Decay, Limited and No Limits. I originally used No Limits but from feedback they decided that Decay suited the type of magazine I was producing.
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
This image represents the people I am targeting my magazine at; the post-hardcore scene. A demographic profile of my target audience is 16-25 years old, both genders, living in the UK, either single or in a relationship and their social status ranges from C, C1, D, and E. The psychographics of my target audience are either reformers; people who want to improve the world or individuals; people who are young, they are normally hard to classify.
People would buy my magazine because it is specifically produced for a certain type of genre of music. This genre of music is post-hardcore. Many people follow this type of music. Bands such as We Are The Ocean, A Day To Remember and Enter Shikari are post-hardcore bands therefore are going to attract lots of attention. If I include many well-known bands in my issues they will sell because people will want to know what these famous bands are going to be doing.
There will be many advertisements in my magazine but the products advertised in there will be aimed at the same target audience as my magazine. A good example of a product or company that may advertise in my magazine would be a clothing company such as Loud Clothing. They would advertise in my magazine because they aim to sell their goods to people who would buy my magazine. Another business that would most probably advertise in my magazine is one that sells music tickets for gigs and festivals. These include ticket master and last minute. Products such as food and drink mya not be advertised in my magazine as much because people buy the magazine for music and not to be bombarded with ads about food.
This image represents the people I am targeting my magazine at; the post-hardcore scene. A demographic profile of my target audience is 16-25 years old, both genders, living in the UK, either single or in a relationship and their social status ranges from C, C1, D, and E. The psychographics of my target audience are either reformers; people who want to improve the world or individuals; people who are young, they are normally hard to classify.
People would buy my magazine because it is specifically produced for a certain type of genre of music. This genre of music is post-hardcore. Many people follow this type of music. Bands such as We Are The Ocean, A Day To Remember and Enter Shikari are post-hardcore bands therefore are going to attract lots of attention. If I include many well-known bands in my issues they will sell because people will want to know what these famous bands are going to be doing.
There will be many advertisements in my magazine but the products advertised in there will be aimed at the same target audience as my magazine. A good example of a product or company that may advertise in my magazine would be a clothing company such as Loud Clothing. They would advertise in my magazine because they aim to sell their goods to people who would buy my magazine. Another business that would most probably advertise in my magazine is one that sells music tickets for gigs and festivals. These include ticket master and last minute. Products such as food and drink mya not be advertised in my magazine as much because people buy the magazine for music and not to be bombarded with ads about food.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
My magazine would most probably be distributed by a slightly smaller printing company than IPC, one of the biggest multinational media companies in the world. A publisher such as Dennis would be most appropriate for my magazine. They are a medium sized publisher.
An advantage with going with a medium sized publisher is that you’ve got good distribution deals with some of the country’s leading magazine stockists; such as WHSmiths. However a disadvantage of this is that it limits your editorial interdependence, therefore the company you are using to publish your magazine may make you pay as much attention to advertisers as you do to your audience in order to maximise profits.
I have not gone with Bauer because they already publish Kerrang therefore if I went with the same publisher I may not be getting as bigger market share than if I went with a different publisher. Although IPC are Bauer’s biggest rivals, I have not gone with these because they will limit your editorial interdependence.
Depending on the successfulness of my magazine, I will consider expanding my magazine maybe into a radio station, similar to that of Kerrang. I will also debate whether to make my magazine readable online, although I may be losing money, at the same time, by people reading the magazine on the website, it is a way of promoting the magazine. The online magazine doesn’t come with the freebies, but if the magazine advertises ‘what to look forward to next week,’ then people might go out and by the product. Also if my magazine gets as popular as Kerrang then I could maybe get a sponsorship deal with a music festival or tour etc.
My magazine would most probably be distributed by a slightly smaller printing company than IPC, one of the biggest multinational media companies in the world. A publisher such as Dennis would be most appropriate for my magazine. They are a medium sized publisher.
An advantage with going with a medium sized publisher is that you’ve got good distribution deals with some of the country’s leading magazine stockists; such as WHSmiths. However a disadvantage of this is that it limits your editorial interdependence, therefore the company you are using to publish your magazine may make you pay as much attention to advertisers as you do to your audience in order to maximise profits.
I have not gone with Bauer because they already publish Kerrang therefore if I went with the same publisher I may not be getting as bigger market share than if I went with a different publisher. Although IPC are Bauer’s biggest rivals, I have not gone with these because they will limit your editorial interdependence.
Depending on the successfulness of my magazine, I will consider expanding my magazine maybe into a radio station, similar to that of Kerrang. I will also debate whether to make my magazine readable online, although I may be losing money, at the same time, by people reading the magazine on the website, it is a way of promoting the magazine. The online magazine doesn’t come with the freebies, but if the magazine advertises ‘what to look forward to next week,’ then people might go out and by the product. Also if my magazine gets as popular as Kerrang then I could maybe get a sponsorship deal with a music festival or tour etc.
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