Finished magazine

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

Before working on the preliminary task I already had detailed knowledge with using a DSLR camera, had simple knowledge on Adobe photoshop and had no knowledge at all with QwarkXpress. The task helped me to improve the knowledge I already had on these technologies and give me a basic knowledge on the programmes I had no experience with.

I was then able to develop my use of these technologies in a more sophisticated way, this was especially noticable in my use of photoshop, in which I primarily used image manipulation as a skin perfecting tool in the preliminary task but then developed the use of the editing software in the final piece. I achieved a variety of effects I hadn't known possible before and this helped to create the right mood for my genre of magazine.

In the preliminary task I found Qwark Xpress very difficult and frustrating, however I have now become much more comfortable with it and find it easy to import images and text and organise page layouts.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 2

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3) What kind of media institution might distribute your magazine and why?

Media powerpoint question 3

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4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

My magazine was aimed at aspirers, radicals and underachievers who have an enthusiastic interest in indie/folk music. I developed this genre through the research into indie-rock magazines and decided to put a twist on it. Rather than having a loud, rebellious image to them my target audience have a cool, mellow and intellectual demeanour.

I was aiming to reach students at college or university, however there would be some mature personalities in high school and therefore my target age range was 14-21 and a mix of male and female.

An example of a typical reader of an indie-folk magazine.

I asked a couple of members of my target audience on what they thought of my magazine, and here are there responses;

Name: Jess Townsend

Age: 16

Gender: Female

Music: Indie

What genre would you say this magazine is?

"Hmm, initially i'd say folk but then you've got some reference to indie in there so i'm going to say indie-folk"

What do you think of the layout?

"Yeah I like it, on the front cover the model leaning to the left balances out the information on the right and the fact he isn't looking at the camera makes him look cool"

Is there anything you would change?

"Making the model face the camera might have grabbed my attention more, and the text boxes look a little bit plain just being white."

Would you buy it?

"Yeah i'd buy it, it looks well done and proffesional and it would interest me.

How much would you pay for it?

"Hmm, the way it's done makes it look expensive-ish.. i'd say about £2.20

Name: Josh Taylor

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Music: Rock/indie/alternative

What genre would you say this magazine is?

"Folk/country"

What do you think of the layout?

"Yeah it's good"

Is there anything you would change?

"I'm not too sure about the white boxes on the front cover, and you could add a couple more images to the double page."

Would you buy this magazine?

"Yeah it looks like it would have bands that i'd like in it"

How much would you pay for it?

"£1.50"

Name: Leah Dennison

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Music: Indie/ Alternative

What genre would you say this magazine is?

"Definately folk, bit of indie?"

What do you think of the layout?

"Yeah I think it's really good, I like the main image"

Are there any changes you would make to the magazine?

"Err, maybe put in a couple more pictures on the double page?"

Would you buy this magazine?

"Yeah, probably"

How much would you pay for it?

"£1.20"

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

Adobe photoshop Cs3

I was already familiar with this product prior to the task, however through this I have become much more comfortable using the programme and it's tools and have discovered aspects of it I didn't know about before. The reason I was already familiar with the product was through my previous use of it in my photography lessons. This proved difficult as I was use to setting my DSLR to take RAW files (which maximises image quality) however, the media rooms have photoshop Cs3 which doesn't accept RAW files and this resulted in a lot of time being wasted trying to convert the images.
Alongside my use of Adobe Photoshop, I also edited my pictures in Adobe Lightroom. Again, I was already very familiar with this product and I find this the easiest way to manipulate images.

QwarkXpress

At first, QwarkXpress looked very daunting. However, after some getting used to I found it easy to create my contents page and double page spread. The programme made it simple to include and organise pictures and text, and you don't have to worry about layers like you do with photoshop, but you must make sure your images are edited the way you want them before using them in Qwark as it is solely a programme for arranging items rather than an editing software.

Facebook

Facebook has been very useful to gain feedback from target audiences on various aspects of my magazine. It has meant that fonts, colours and images have all been looked at by members of my target audience and has helped me come to conclusions on how to develop these features.

Youtube

Youtube has been very useful in showing evidence of my research into target audiences. I was able to video target audience members, asking their opinions on my magazine, and embed the videos into my blog.

Blogger

Blogger has been my online record of my coursework, detailing everything from my initial research, to rough drafts of my magazine, audience research and finally my final magazine. This was the only technology that was new to me when beginning this task, but it was easy to use. It was simple to include text and images and after being taught once, eventually easy to embed videos from Youtube.

Nikon DSLR Camera

I used my own camera for all the images I took in my magazine and so I already knew all the features of it and how to use it.

1) How does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product is similar to the current magazines shown above, which all present the genres rock and indie rock. Therefore I purposefully took inspiration from these magazines as I intended my magazine to present an indie/folk genre. The similarities between my own magazine and the others listed are the typical elements of a magazine such as a masthead, barcode and strap lines but also the features specified for the genre such as the font and language. The font used in my magazine and the current ones is a sans serif font, typically used to connote colloquialism and to appeal to younger audiences. The language mine and the other magazines have used is a chatty, informal style but as well as showing intelligence.

However, my media product shows some difference in style and content because it was an indie/folk magazine. This is shown through the colour scheme being quite neutral, laid-back colours as apposed to NME’s ,for example, bright red, black and white scheme.