Finished! Finished! Finished!

I HAVE FINISHED THE COURSEWORK! Such a good feeling! All in all, I think I have stuck to the task and my own, initial aims through a lot of independent work and increasing creativity throughout the task. I feel much more confident with using such programmes now, as well as being more confident in my ability to be self sufficient. I am extremely pleased with my final products - they look exactly how I wanted them too, and they seemed to please my target audience too. HAPPPPPPPY!

Recording Time...

I wrote out a script to follow for my second evaluation question, and was really happy with the outcome. However, when it came to recording my ideas, this proved much more difficult. I suddenly lost the ability to read notes and talk, which wasn't helpful! However, after 19 attempts, I finally managed to achieve a good quality recording! Ready to move on to the other questions now yay! 

Using Prezi...

When we first started using Prezi in lesson, I really enjoyed it, as it was a different way of us presenting our information. However, I am currently finding it really difficult to work with! So this first question has taken up a few days of my christmas holidays... 

Evaluation!

Introduction:
'Be Original' is a magazine aimed at the young, adolescent age gap. It is a modern pop magazine, with the aim of encouraging young people to go ahead and peruse their dreams in the music industry. However, this was not to be done in an obvious way, and so the magazine is very simplistic and not too 'in your face.' It still does include a few bolder, bright features, which have a connotation of being 'fun' like the genre suggests. 'Be Original' includes a lot of inspirational styled stories to fit with its intentions, such as those featured on the front cover and the double page spread. As for class, 'Be Original' is aimed more at the working/middle class groups, due to the age group it is meant to appeal too and the stories included. This is also reflected in the price. However, the magazine does not exclude any social groups. This magazine had an aim to be different in the style and the angle of the genre it was looking at, however it still follows the codes and conventions of many magazines. 

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

PREZI:




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

AUDIO RECORDING:

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

SLIDESHOW:




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

PREZI:





5. How did you attract/address your audience?
 

VIDEO RECORDING:



ANALYSIS:

1.     Does the work cover of ‘Be Original’ conform to the genre of Pop, taking in to account the use of images and typography?

In answering this question, the focus group all agreed that ‘Be Original’ definitely conformed to the genre, simply by being able to identify it with existing Pop magazines. However it was noted that the front cover did come across as more feminine. However, the girlie image portrayed was countered by the blue colour scheme used for the typography, suggesting that the cover has managed to appeal to its target audience. 

When asked if the magazine had moved away from a stereotypical view of Pop, the group knew immediately this meant the young, informal idea. The group said that ‘Be Original’ had a more formal structure and layout, which helped it to achieve a more modern interpretation. They also commented on the language, ‘a non stop pop lifestyle insight.’ They saw this as being more mature, and therefore appropriate to the target audience.

2.      What aspects would attract you to this magazine – the tone, the images, and the colour?

The group mainly commented on the use a positive looking image, as this would stand out from others on the shelf that they see as being more miserable and dull. It was also commented that the magazine looks more light hearted and this was attractive.  This suggests that a positive tone is effective is addressing this particular age gap. This also suggests an effective way of addressing my audience was the use of a positive image and the lighter colour schemes, having the connotation of being relaxed.

3.     Do you find the statements used on the cover effective in making you want to read on? Which statements in particular?

The main cover lines the focus group picked up on were ‘my lyrics changed my life,’ and ‘get’s crazy,’ as they said they wanted to know what these statements went on to refer too. They got them interested in the articles effectively. This suggests vague statements are effective in attracting this age gap. Also, the focus group made reference to the selling line, ‘your music, your inspiration,’ as this made a more personal link with them. It also suggested the stories inside were all unique, and that they could find something they wanted to read about. This suggests personal statements were effective in making an emotive link and engaging with this audience.

4.     How well do the three pages fit together and conform to the genre?

The focus group general stated the features that linked the three pages together, were the use of similar colours, typography and layout. They said this gave a more relaxed feel to the whole magazine, too. However, they also suggested the pages weren’t too the same, which appealed to them. This differs from other magazines I had previously looked at, as some did maintain the exact same look throughout. They also suggested that the magazine was non-biased when looking at all three pages, suggesting it then appealed to both genres. This was due to using images of both boys and girls, which then appealed to the entire focus group more.

5.     What sort of tone do all of the images produce?

The magazine has been generally said to be light hearted throughout the discussion. They also suggested the magazine revolved very much around the music, which is different to magazines today. They also linked this to the title, ‘Be Original,’ as it is an original magazine. This suggests my audience is addressed through the magazine coming across as slightly different, and being purely about the music. Also, the light-hearted tone meant that readers were less intimidated and more attracted. This was a key aim throughout the project, so it is good it was a success. My judgement of this age gap throughout was good, meaning I was successful in attracting my audience through images of regular people.

6.     Overall, what are the strengths of this magazine and would you be attracted to it?

The focus group suggested that this magazine was feminine, as the boys in the group weren’t as attracted to it. This suggests that an effective was to address the audience would have been to use an image involving a boy and a girl. However, the focus group also agreed that if the singer were to be really famous, boys may also be attracted to it, as well as taking into consideration the fact there would be numerous issues. This idea is true when looking at magazine featuring artists such as Katy Perry, who boys are attracted too as well.

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

WRITTEN REPORT:

Adobe Photoshop:

This programme allowed ‘Be Original’ to take its professional, finished look, as this programme encouraged the use of tools that helped us to do this. The Quick Selection/Magic Lasso tool was useful, as it helped to select the models hair and eyes, and alter the colours. I was also able to use this tool when selecting the entire model, and move her head in front of the masthead and adding a textured background. I learnt the Refine Edge tool was especially useful when it came to making my models eyes and hair look professional and complete, as it ‘feathered’ and ‘softened’ the edge of the area selected and meant the change didn’t look too rapid and drastic. It was subtle, meaning it almost looked natural and therefore more appealing to readers. The colour changes were done using ‘Adjustments,’ and in particular, the ‘Colour Balance,’ ‘Hue/Saturation’ and ‘Brightness/Contrast’ tools. These were simple to find and use, as they were just sliders, and learning to use a combination of all three meant I could select the exact bold colour I wanted. This helped the eye contact to be a bolder feature on the cover, which is most important when attracting readers. These tools could also be used on the images as a whole that were taken in perhaps a darker lighting. These tools brightened the image and enhanced the whole page in which they featured.
I also learnt how to adapt my masthead to make it look more memorable and like a logo, so I could use it with my page numbers on my double page spread (this helped to link the pages together.) I used a 'stroke' tool, which enabled the two words to appear differently, by adding an outline. It also made the wording appear much bolder and obvious at the top of the page. 

I also learnt to use other tools, which made the cover look neat and professional. These included the ruler, the ‘Colour Pick’ tool and shape tools. The ruler lined up all the text on each side of the cover, and the shapes, text and images on the contents page. This made the pages look neat and easy to read. It also helped to convey a formal interpretation of ‘Pop,’ which was an aim of ‘Be Original.’ The shapes on the contents page simply enhanced this idea. The ‘Colour Pick’ tool also helped, as it meant all the colours on the page were identical. This is one problem I faced, as one of my peers noticed my colours didn’t look the same. Therefore, to overcome this, I learnt to use the ‘Colour Pick’ tool, which not only selected colours, but also taught me to read the numbers to check if all colours were identical. The pages then looked well finished.

Adobe InDesign:

This programme allowed ‘Be Original’ to create a professional looking Double Page Spread. One tool that aided this process was the use of inserting an image using the ‘Snap’ tool. This not only inserted the main image, but could also be used to insert the same background colour on the opposite side of the page, using the ‘Colour Pick’ tool too. Once this had been done, the image looked to continue across both sides of the page, making the spread look complete and united. To further aid this idea, the ‘Gradient Feather’ tool was also used, as this continued the shadowing from the image across both sides of the page. Another tool used on InDesign to create a neat and professional look, was the tool that inserted columns. This made the text looked neat and lined up, and could easily be continued throughout all columns inserted to resemble a real media product.

Photography:

In the Prelim task the images taken used a lot of natural lighting. This is because they were taken outside. This posed a slight problem, as the images weren’t properly enhanced and bold. The outdoor background also came as a challenge when editing and being able to read text. Therefore, in the real task, professional lighting and use of the studio was used to make the images stand out more. The lighting brightened the entire room, and along with the use of a plain background, the image stood out a lot more. The bright clothing also aided this idea. However, another problem faced during the photography process was the weather. Some images were still taken outdoors, to fit with the initial aims, however the bad weather meant the lighting was darker than the images taken indoors. To overcome this, I used minimal images of this kind and Photoshop (see above) also aided the problem.

QuickTime & Prezi:

The QuickTime and Prezi programmes were used throughout the evaluation. I learnt and put into practice the use of Audio Recordings and Movie Recordings on QuickTime, which was simplistic and a very quick process, meaning the evaluation was simple and easy to finish. The only problem faced with these programmes was confidence, as it was hard to initially begin the recordings, and it sometimes took a few attempts to create a sufficient recording. As with Prezi, this programme was a lot harder to get to grips with. Learning to edit the paths and work with the templates and inserting text was at first difficult. However, once this idea was more frequently used it was much easier. This programme and these ideas created a much more efficient way of displaying information. Through more frequent use of this programme, I also learnt to make my information more concise. This made information easier to transmit and interpret too. The evaluation progress gradually became much quicker.

iMovie & YouTube:

With my audio recording, I had to upload it to YouTube. This was a simple process, however it could only be done with Movies – not just an audio recording. So, I learnt on iMovie how to add an image to an audio recording to make it YouTube compatible. This made the upload process much easier, and I was able to do this completely independently.

Blogger:

To display all of our work, we used a website called ‘Blogger’ which allowed the information to be displayed chronologically and easy to read/find. I learnt how to create an individual blog, and how to post images and text. This made it easy to display information in order of when it was done, meaning the examiner could view our process of creating the product. However, one problem faced with this website was that some information was published before other information, meaning we had to learn how to alter the time to change the order. This was simply done by editing the date and time, recreating the chronological order.

Other tools:
Another tool I learnt to use was how to ‘Screen Grab.’ This proved one of the most key technologies throughout the entire project. This simply allowed me to take pictures of things on screen. It was key in displaying my final products, as well as illustrating the process of my work. This made the process much easier to explain, as it could be seen and therefore better explained. It was also easy to use alongside Blogger. 

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the 

progression from it to the full product?

COMPARISON:

In the Prelim task, we only used the Adobe Photoshop programme, and only used a few basic tools. These included basic things, such as learning to change the colour, text, size of text, inserting images and linking these ideas together. The Prelim task allowed us to develop these basic ideas, so that we could develop them even further when it came to creating our real product. These basic ideas of text and colour eventually lead to learning other, additional tools, such as the 'Stroke' tool. This allowed my masthead to come across much bolder and memorable. As for other tools, such as those to do with editing my main image, I did not learn to use these until I began constructing the main product. My initial main image for 'Be Original' was not successful, due to lack of knowledge of these tools and me making it look to 'fake.' This, in effect, was my Prelim for the editing side of things, as I learnt that tools such as 'Colour Adjustments' and 'Refine Edge' were more key and had to be used differently. My Prelim task image was not good for learning these tools. The natural background made the image very hard to edit. However, the Prelim did teach me the simple idea of inserting the images into Photoshop. All in all, the Prelim task was adequate in teaching me what looked right and what didn't, and where I needed to adapt initial ideas. For example, the Prelim helped me to develop the idea of putting page numbers onto the images on the contents page.

My individual research on magazines and images also helped me to develop and create my main product. It was important to match the forms and conventions of regular magazines, as this is what appeals to readers and what makes a magazine. This individual research also helped me to adapt the ideas I found out about, to create my own, unique ideas. For example, the layout of my pages I based on existing magazines, but made them my own. Therefore, my creativity and confidence with my ideas was boosted. This succession can be seen from the Prelim to the main task, as I did not use my own research during the Prelim. 

Conclusion:
In conclusion, I feel my task has been able to stick to it's initial aims reasonably well. The magazine has managed to uphold a formal and natural look, so not to intimidate readers. It has also been able to attract the correct age group of 16 - 24 year olds, as well as the correct socio-economic group, through features such as the stories included, models used and the use of social networking information. However, it was mentioned in question 5 that the magazine came across as more feminine, and didn't appeal to the males in the focus group. Yet, this was justified due to the fact the males didn't know the singer. If it were to be someone like Katy Perry, they would be more attracted. Therefore, on the whole, the magazine has stuck well to its initial ideas and has been a success as sticking to and revolving around the main aim - music.