My Final Products

Front cover- 

Contents page-

Double page spread- 

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

Another thing I maybe could have changed in my final product was the colour scheme. I think it would have been helpful to sell my product more as the audience would have enjoyed the look. I think sometimes the grey, yellow and red colour can be a bit dreary or dissapointing, so maybe if I used brighter/lighter colours, it would have helped my magazine to sell more. This also could have made it look a bit more professional as normally magazines don't use dreary or dark colours. 

Evaluation question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the course, I learned how to use different technologies to present my work. This includes media formats such as Prezi, SlideShare, videos and GIFS, I feel very confident now in using these means to present my work, and I especially enjoy using SlideShare as it allows you to present a simple Powerpoint in a very sophisticated way. I have also learned how to embed these said media formats to present them in my blog. Learning this has allowed me to be able to present my work in a way that is different than just typing it up in a blog post.

Throughout the course, I also learned how to use Blogger, the means of showing my planning, making, and evaluation of my media product. At the beginning I didn't know to do things like embed videos, media formats or even include an image. Through using this and getting advice from my teachers and class mates, I have learned how to do this and can now use Blogger very efficiently.

The presentation shows what I have learned whilst using Photoshop. During the making of my whole media product, I used Photoshop to make the products. It shows how I now know how to go about making certain products and that I am very confident with making them now. This is a massive improvement on how I felt using Photoshop before at the beginning of the course.

I have also learned how to safely share my products and my files. I have done this by using an external hard drive and a USB. This helped me to make sure that my files were saved in multiple places to ensure that I would never lose the files and be stuck with having to do it all over again. This will also help me in ensuring that my final products are available to me at any time. 

Evaluation question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Ensuring that you attract and address your audience is an aspect of your media product which is very important. Addressing and attracting your audience will allow for your product to have more fans, more people purchasing it, and more people being informed about the indie/alternative genre. In conclusion, me looking at my reader profile and including thing within my product that will appeal to my audience will help me sell more of my product and make it more relatable for my readers. Using specific iconography associated with my genre of music will also make my readers feel like they belong to this type of magazine, further making them purchase my product.

I used my reader profile to allow me to have more information on the kind of audience that would be purchasing my product. This allowed me to know what the audience would want, and include it into my product. This will attract my audience as they will understand what is included in my product, and will see things that they enjoy or like, which will also attract them.

Evaluation question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Mostly, the majority of people who would be my audience and the readers of my product would be people who listen to the indie/alternative genre. This is because I will be talking about artists and bands regarding that genre of music, so people who listen to that specifically will be more inclined to read my magazine. 

Evaluation question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think my magazine would be distributed by someone such as Time Inc UK (formerly IPC Media) or Bauer. I feel this would be because magazines such as NME, which was my main inspiration for my media product, is distributed by IPC Media yet I feel as if they wouldn't possibly want to distribute another magazine of this type as they already have two music magazines within this type of genre.

So, I think I would most likely want my media product being distributed by Bauer Media. This is because I feel like they would most be interested in distributing a product within the indie rock genre as they have more different music genre magazines than IPC Media distributes. Even though they distribute Mojo and Kerrang!, those magazines deal more heavily with rock/alternative music than my product does, making it different and a new idea.
With having a distributor and producer such as Bauer Media, my product will be directed at more of a mass audience than it would if my product was distributed by an independent publishing company such as TeamRock. Bauer Media directs more at a mass audience because it also produces products such as Heat, Q and Yours. Being directed at a mass audience, I can expect to sell more of my products. Also, as Bauer Media sells to more a mass audience, I can expect for it to reach my target audience easily as Bauer Media already sells to that audience, making it very accessible for them.
However, Bauer Media also produces quite niche and artistic magazines such as Empire, Practical Photography, and even Bird Watching.

This wide range of magazine types shows to me that they care and cater for the different interests of their customers, which I enjoy the ideology of. I would enjoy knowing that the distributor of my product cares about their customers and caters to their needs and interests.
The wide range of magazine types also shows Bauer Media's wide range of customers. This indicates to me that there could be people who are looking for an indie rock magazine, and Bauer Media would be more willing to distribute a magazine of my type as they already know they have a wide range of customers.

I think that I will make my product available for people to purchase in stores and also on their iPad or iPhone/Android. I will allow them to purchase it on their tablets/phones as the audience that I have directed my product at use their phone/tablets quite a lot. This will allow them to easily access my product as they will be able to go onto their phone and easily go and read the magazine. However, I am selling it in stores as well, because some of the audience might be older and would want to have a physical copy, or they might not understand how to purchase it online.

Evaluation question 2: How does my media product represent particular social groups?

Obviously a genre is not a social group, yet I feel like in this modern time, people can portray a certain type of 'music genre' with what they wear and so forth. In that way, I aimed to have my media product portray this genre as a style throughout my magazine. As the genre of my media product was indie/rock, I created it in a way that would appeal to a range of fans. I did this by including artists from different sub-genres of the indie rock genre. As my most listened to genre of music, I generally stuck with the main genre of indie rock. I chose this because a lot of popular magazines are of this genre, such as NME, Indie, and sometimes Q magazine. I felt like there wasn't a magazine that was within the indie/rock genre that was for the age/social groups that I am (young adults and students).
To come up with what the artist on the cover would be wearing, I looked at what they wore within that genre for men, and also what the men in that particular social group wore.
I have highlighted the tartan shirt, which is what my subject wore in the main photo. A lot of them also wore hats/beanies, which is something that my subject wears in some of the photos.

I have also chosen for my subject to have his whole torso on show in the image. The photos above show how indie artists (Alex Turner, Ed Sheeran and Ezra Koeing) all have photos in this similar style. This will further help to represent this genre as my artist looks similar to these.

I have stereotyped the artists included within my genre somewhat. I did this by including the big 'indie' artists such as Arctic Monkeys, Black Keys and The Vaccines. I did this as it would appeal to my target audience more if I used the 'stereotypical indie bands'. I did this because they are more well known within that genre and are what people think about when asked about the 'indie rock' genre. 

Evaluation question 1: In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Throughout my media product, I used the same fonts and the same three colours (yellow, red and grey) within my colour scheme to create a sense of continuity. Using the same fonts and colours throughout makes my product look more professional, and will attract more people to purchase it as it looks well made and thought out. As a consistent colour scheme is a convention, my product challenges this. This is because I have chosen to use yellow as one of my main colours. This colour comes through lightly, yet I used this colour as the only colour for my masthead. This yellow colour stands out to the audience as it is bright, and it also has connotations to the bright and happy culture surrounding the indie genre. However, it can be argued that this isn't challenging conventions as I have taken the yellow colour idea from an NME cover, which I have highlighted in my Prezi. Looking at Google for NME covers, I have noticed that quite a lot of people have used the colour yellow in their masthead, so yet challenging conventions, I am still following the consistent colour scheme which is a convention used in other magazines.

I have used quite dark colours within my magazine colour scheme, such as dark red/maroon and grey. This is a colour scheme that is rarely used within magazine, as seen below. This is one way that I challenged the conventions of a colour scheme. I chose the colours because it fit well with the colours that the artist was wearing, and fit with the fonts that I used. But in the magazine Kerrang!, they use quite dark colours as well, as this connotes the metal/rock genre. However, at the same time, their use of bright colours allows it to pop and to not look dreary. 

I have also used the same artist on my front cover, contents and double page spread as he is the main story and should be featured in all of these pages. This is a convention which is used thoroughly throughout magazines, so using this in my media product will make it look professional, which I feel like it has done.

I have also included the stories on the front cover into the contents page to ensure that there was continuity within this.

Double page spread- making

Conventions of a double page spread: 

• Main image of the band/artist
• Main article in columns
• Pull quotes
• Other pictures of the band/artist
• Main title of the article
• Page numbers in the bottom corners
• Name of the author of the article and the photographer of the image
• Stand first
• Drop cap

To start my double page spread, I had to change the size of the canvas to an A3size. This will allow me to be able to have two sides to the pages, as there are two pages instead of one.

Next I have inserted the image that I am wanting to use, and I have gotten rid of the background, the same way that I did in my front cover image.

To make the image fully blend into the background, I blurred the outside of the image to make it look as if he was actually in the background. This makes it look less stand out-ish from the background and makes the whole image in the double page spread look better. 

I felt like the background of the double page spread looking sort of boring, so I added in a checker-board image to the background. I set the opacity to 16% to make it appear not too strong to take away from the main image and the article. This allows the background to have a more stylish look to it rather than just a plain background. 

To add in the text for the article, I saved the Photoshop file as a image and then put it onto a Publisher in a file. This lets me type in my article and put it into columns. This will also help me when I am adding in the pull quote as the article will form around the quote, which makes it look even and appealing. 

Second Contents page draft

Since doing the first draft of my contents page, I have changed some things to make the page look more realistic or to just make the whole aesthetic of the page look better.

To start, I changed the pull quote that is from the main feature article. I did this because the previous quote didn't quite match with the feature article, so I changed this to make them all match and to make it more realistic. I also made the box more yellow to make it stand out more against the photo. 

I changed the colour of the box above the main feature image from yellow to red. This is because it went along with the colours on the front cover better, and allowed for the text to stand out more. I have also changed the font and colour of the Contents title so it can add more yellow into the page, instead of it all being grey and red. 

For the headers for the contents page, I made the text for the words 'News', 'Reviews' and 'Exclusives' a bit larger and a darker red so they were more readable and stood out more. 

In the left bottom hand corner of the page, I have added in social media addresses into the page. This is so people who wanted to get in touch with my magazine through the internet would know how to do so through the magazine itself. 

Contents page- making

When I started my contents page, I had to make an A4 canvas to work on. I changed the colour of the background to a light grey, so that it would match with the background in the front cover. The first thing that I did was add in a picture of the artist on the main cover. I made this the largest image to be sure that the readers would know that it is the front cover article. I had added a pull quote from the article to help draw in the readers, and above the image I added in the masthead, and a 'Contents' title for the page. 

On the left hand side, I added in a band index. This includes all of the bands talked about in the magazine, with their page numbers. Underneath that I have added a letter from the editor, and I have also put a layout with titles for the other articles.

I have decided that I wanted to add little arrows next to the articles that are on the front cover. This will further show the reader where the items that are on the front cover are if that is what they are interested in.

To add the text over the arrow, I just used the text option and typed it over the arrow.

To add the black rectangle to make it stand out more, I just used the rectangle box, and placed it over the text and arrow. I then changed the colour of the box to black to allow you to see the text on it. 

I didn't want the box to stand out too much, so I changed the opacity of it so it wouldn't be too overbearing. 

I've made some changes to the contents page, I have added in the red colour. I have done this to match it to my contents page, as I have added the red colour in there. 

I have decided to add the album covers into the Reviews section of my contents page. I like this because the readers can recognise the albums, and go to that page because they want to read that specific article. To do this, I just merged the image into a layer on the contents page, and adjusted the size to fit into the contents page section that it is supposed to be in. 

I have added in the bottom left hand corner a subscription box. I used the first two drafts of my front cover as the 'previous magazine issues' to make it look like a real magazine. To make the subscription box, I drew a rectangle with the Rectangle tool. 

I then opened up my first drafts of my cover page, and resized them to make them smaller to fit into my contents page. I did this by using the Rectangular Marquee Tool to make a rectangle around the image, and then Free Transformed it. This allowed me to make the image the size that I wanted it to be to fit in the contents page. 

Once I added the image into the contents page, I resized it again and rotated it using Free Transform under the Rectangular Marquee tool. When I had resized it how I wanted it to be, I then applied the transformation. 

To finish this, I moved the image exactly where I wanted to be. 

To finish this whole subscription box, I need to add the very first draft into it, the same way I added this one in. To finish it, I will add some text telling the readers how to subscribe. 

Front Cover final draft

I have made many changes to my front cover throughout the whole making process. I have had three different front covers as I was making them and changing them.

First draft:

Second draft: 

Third draft: 

With my third draft, I changed the main image. I did this because the image I chose before didn't show much of his torso, and because it was such a close up shot, I couldn't fit so many feature stories onto the cover because the image took up too much space. So in the third draft, I changed the image. I changed the masthead from the first draft to the one that I used in the second and third draft because I felt like this font and colour stood out more to the reader and they would be able to tell what magazine it was. In the third draft, I added in a plug, and I also added in the issue number and date. I also added in a 'boom' image to make the '2015 Year of rock' feature story stand out more. I also moved around the main feature story quote and artist name to the middle of the page and but box/outline around it. This helps the reader know that that is the main feature story, and since it is in the middle of the page, it helps them look straight at the story. 

With the plug, I made it bright yellow. I did this because the people who might potentially buy my product might pick it up because their eye catches the yellow plug. This might entice them to buy my product as they will notice it, and then read it, wanting to win the 2 tickets, making them purchase and read my product. 

Changes to front cover

After making my first draft of my front cover, I decided that I thought I could make a more efficient and better front cover than I had made. So I changed the fonts and added more colour to the front cover (yellow and red) that my previous front cover didn't have.

Before: 

After: (still working on it) 

I have changed the masthead font from Breamcatcher to Birch STD and changed the colour from black to a yellow. I did this to ensure that there would be more attention drawn to the masthead, allowing readers to know what magazine it is. I have also made the font larger, and placed it behind the main image to make the main cover image stand out more.

I have changed the colour scheme from black, grey and white to black/grey, yellow and a light red. I have done this to allow more colour to make it look like a proper magazine with colour to make it stand out amongst others. 

I have also made the other text on the front cover more easily readable by changing it and making it larger. I have also made some of the feature stories in yellow font as this allows them to stand out more. 

UPDATE: 
I have changed the cover image of my magazine. The previous picture I was using was a bit too much of a close up, and I have changed the image to allow more of his torso to be seen.

I wanted to place my masthead behind the head of the person in the main cover image. To do this, I needed to remove the background from the image, so that I can place the masthead behind him. To do this I needed to use the Magic Wand tool to get rid of the background. I then clicked on the background of the image, and deleted it. This allowed the background layer to be seen through, which I can change the colour of this using the Paint Bucket tool.

After I added the masthead and all of the feature stories and other features of a magazine, my newest front cover looks like this. I have added text for the feature stories, and I have used the Shapes button (custom shape tool) to make the little pin at the bottom and the explosion shape where 2015 is. I think the 2015 in the explosion shape really makes it stand out so the readers will look at it. I might go back and change the size of the main feature story to make it stand out a bit more, I might put it in the middle of the page rather than on the bottom. 

UPDATE: 

This is my final front cover. I have only changed a few bits on the final cover from the previous draft, but I think the changes I have made really make the magazine look realistic, and make some features of the magazine stand out more. I have also added in a plug in the final front cover, as I was missing it in the previous draft. 

First Draft

               

Magazine images

These are some of the main images that I was considering using for my main cover image. 

This may be a good picture to use as this is conventional medium shot which is normally used in other magazine cover images. This shows off the person, and shows the costume that they are wearing. He is wearing a beanie and a shirt, which goes with my genre.