Shannon Clarke's AS Coursework Blog
Monday, 25 January 2016
Sunday, 24 January 2016
Question 7 "Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?"
When I started the preliminary task I had no skills or knowledge of using InDesign or any of the other programs listed in Question 6. Having little understanding of how to use the software’s in the preliminary task meant I produced a student magazine of which I was not proud of - I feel as though I didn’t put my full potential and ability into the task and I produced a poor quality piece of work. When it came to start producing the main task I felt increasingly more confident as I had been taught many new features and I had watched many videos on YouTube explaining how to do certain things on InDesign. I have learnt how to make my practical work look more professional by asking my target audience what they think and doing my own research into what indie/pop magazines look like and what content they feature.
During my preliminary task I did little research and this didn’t help me in analysing my magazine pages. I did more research for my indie music magazine which helped me with designing and constructing my magazine as I knew the forms and conventions of indie magazines, as well as what the layout should be like. The preliminary task contained no continuity and the layout was unprofessional, the key conventions were all over the place and it looked very complex. The magazine I produced for my main task looked more professional as I stayed with only a few colours to create a sense of simplicity and continuity throughout my magazine (green, white, black). The general conventions were placed more appropriately in my music magazine as I knew what would look best as I had done a lot more research, for example, my images on my contents page were placed far more appropriately as they were next to the relevant information.
I also spent more time on the photography aspect of my music magazine as I feel the photographs are what draw the readers in (it’s the hook that 70% of people buy magazines based on). I learnt how to make my photographs look more appealing to my target audience – I used a proper digital camera to take the photographs and I used a spotlight with the images with a white/negative background. In the live photographs I focused on how my models were being represented. In the (long-shot) central image featured on my double page spread, the model looks slightly moody, but in the bottom left hand corner, in the secondary image, the same model is smiling/laughing. This is because I wanted to beat stereotypes of ‘indie’/hipster people, people assume they are moody or in a bad mood all the time. I beat the stereotype as I showed that she is happy and can have a good time.
Wednesday, 20 January 2016
Tuesday, 19 January 2016
Monday, 18 January 2016
Saturday, 16 January 2016
Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Tuesday, 12 January 2016
Re-draft of my Evaluation for my Main Task
1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The key conventions of a music magazine are the
masthead, brand identity, splash, barcode and price, house style, coverlines,
central image, streamline, mode of address, articles trailed, pug, puff and a
headline. The front cover of a magazine has to include a central image, a
masthead, a headline and splash is common, coverlines are too. A typical
contents page has a masthead, a list-like format of the contents (the most
important things the magazine is featuring or what the writers think the public
will enjoy most), a few images relating to the contents on the contents page,
page numbers of the most important things the magazine is featuring. A typical
double page spread in a music magazine contains an article or interview of an
artist of band. A main image, large amounts of text, the masthead, a title and
secondary images are commonly featured on a double page spread.
I wanted to create a magazine that was unlike
any other already available, so I had to research indie/alternative magazines
already in the market of which I wanted to appeal to and then I had to put my
own ideas to it.
During my research, I noticed that many of the
indie magazines I analysed had only one word as their masthead, and also in one
block colour of capital letters, e.g. DAZED, MOJO, FLUX. Therefore, I kept within
the conventions by making my masthead one singular command word written in
capitals (EXPLORE) and one block colour (green). However, to produce a magazine
unlike any other, I reduced the weight of my type and increased the tracking. I
also noticed that indie magazines such as DAZED and MOJO positioned their
masthead at the top (and centred) of the front cover.
The magazines I researched had a very informal
mode of address and spoke in a laid-back way. In my research I found that an
informal but sophisticated mode of address was used in the majority of the
music magazines I analysed as it relates well to my target audience as it
connotes friendliness and contains forms of formal language.
The majority of my fonts were sourced from
Adobe InDesign so I actually have an overlap of fonts as I was limited to the
fonts I could use, but, this creates continuity between my magazine pages. For
example, a few words in my splash on my front cover are of the same font as the
text in my article on my double page spread. This creates a consistant house
style throughout my magazine. The majority of my fonts are sans-serif, meaning
that my characters do not have small lines at the end of them. Sans-serif fonts
were originally used for younger readers; they connote a sense of simplicity
and youth.
The mis-en-scene of my images follow and abide
by the key conventions of real indie music magazines. Upon research into ideal
images for my music magazines I discovered that the majority of the photographs
used looked professional and well edited. The majority of the photographs I saw
were live shots or taken with a background. I included photos with clean,
negative, white backgrounds and photos with busy and natural backgrounds. The
clothing my models were wearing were simplistic but also trendy and unique,
which is to be expected from young and upcoming new artists.
2. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
The social group I have represented is mainly
teenagers to young adults who are interested in the indie/pop music. I have
represented them by including photos and images in my magazine of that
particular social group. I feel as though I’ve tried to represent them in an
alternative way which reflects a more emergent ideology. I have used more
pictures than text I think, except for the Double Page Spread - my research stated
that the DPS pages contain more text than images. I have constructed the
representation of my target audience through elements of photography. My model
for my front cover was chosen because she has the right image; she’s of the
similar age of my target audience who enjoys listening to indie/alternative
music.
During the research and planning stages of
producing my media product, the audience research, audience profile and artists
profile were very important as I wanted to ensure that the certain product I
was making attracted my target audience and appealed to them. I carried out
research and did an audience profile on my target audience by asking questions
and asking them to fill out surveys and questionnaires. From my research, I
found that my target audience like both new, upcoming music and old, greatest
hits, some listen to records, buy music from stores such as HMV and online
stores such as Apple Music. My findings made me realise that I will need to
feature new, upcoming artists who have an interest in older, more experienced
bands and artists. I will also need to ensure that my artists have a similar
clothing style as my target audience. My artists (who feature in my magazine)
dress in a different and unique way that is till simplistic and contains
elements of being fashionable. The model on my front cover is wearing an aztec
patterened jumper/sweater with tights. I styled her in a very unique way which
represents my audience (social group) as it is not mainstream meaning it does
not ‘follow the crowd’. The jumper is vintage and my model bought it from a
thrift shop – this also represents my target audience as they can be found shopping
in charity/thrift shops too.
3. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product?
Referring back to my Student Pitch I can see
that some indie/pop magazines are run by the magazine themselves. For example,
The Wire’s publisher is The Wire Magazine LTD (a private limited company) which
has been run independently since December 2000. I would not be able to do this
with my magazine as it’s newly available in the market - I wouldn’t have the
right resources or skills to provide advertisement for the magazine in order
for it to sell well. Dazed and Confused is another indie magazine, but is
published by Waddell Limited. It’s a niche publishing company. I think they
would like to distribute and publish my magazine as, although it’s fairly
similar to Dazed and Confused, it has certain aspects about it which Dazed and
Confused doesn’t have. For example, my magazine offers reviews of old and
upcoming new artists, how the readers can get involved.
The main companies that I have found that would
be the best for distributing my magazines would be either: Waddell Media LTD,
The Wire LTD, or Bauer Media. These three groups would benefit the growth of my
magazine because they all represent magazines that are innovative and current
but also appeal to a niche market.
I think Waddell Media LTD would like to
distribute my music magazine. Waddell Media has really influenced my own
magazine – the company has had many years of experience to help it establish
its readership and they’ve also uncovered how to appeal to a specific target
market and to be successful. Waddell LTD have been very successful for many
years so they have experience in reaching out to their alternative target
audience and this appeals to me because I want to be able to attract my ideal
target market, which is the indie/alternative (niche) market.
The institution already publishes a magazine
called DAZED, therefore I feel as though even if they are already publishing an
alternative magazine they have room for a slightly different one. If they did
publish my magazine, I feel as though they would utilise that audience they
already have for their publication and transfer that knowledge to my magazine
EXPLORE and provide it with the best possible chance for success and
growth/expansion.
I am pricing my magazine at £3.50 which is
considerably lower than the magazines I researched. I have priced it at this
price because my ideal target audience will probably not have a lot of
disposable income, and, I think, £3.50 is a reasonable price to pay for my
magazine considering my content and the fact that my magazine is published
seasonally (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter) only four times a year – that’s
only £14.00 every year! I would also include product placement in my magazine,
such as the type of adverts that are included in DAZED (new albums, new films),
this would be something that I would like to feature in my magazine as I would
have a small film section. I would also have fashion adverts as well as brands
that are of a similar style to my design of the magazine and also the artists
in it. I would include brands such as Urban Outfitters, Topshop, Topman,
rokit.com, vintage stores such as Farah Vintage, Beyond Retro and marketplace on
ASOS. Using product placements allows my readers and potential readers to be
drawn in because they are based on things that my target market is interested
in. Hopefully Waddell Media LTD would be aware of this and they would want to
publish my indie/alternative music magazine.
4. Who would be the audience for your
magazine?
I feel as though the gender would be mainly
female and the age range can vary from 16-30 but more specifically 18-24 year
olds. My audience would be quite alternative and appeal to a niche market. I
want to beat the stereotypes of ‘indie’/hipster individuals by representing
them in a happy/smiley way. Most people assume that this group of people are
quite moody and like to keep to themselves. I want to produce a magazine that
will appeal to both types of people.
They would dress quite fashionably and shop at
places like Urban Outfitters, thrift/charity shops, vintage shops like
‘rokit.com’ and perhaps Topshop/Topman. They would mainly buy their clothes and
materials online with their disposable money from working.
Their education could vary from college/sixth
form to early work - this means that their annual income could be quite low or
average, meaning that their disposable income would be low, so the price of my
music magazine would have to be fairly cheap so my audience would be able to
afford it. As the magazine would be cheap, the content would be less than a
£5.00 magazine would contain like Vogue, or Elle, or Dazed. They would enjoy
fairly cheap magazines full of content appealing to them.
My alternative audience’s interests would be
photography, fashion and creative arts. Their hobbies would be reading,
photography, going to concerts of their favourite artists and bands and being
outside with nature.
The buying habits of my target audience would
include concert tickets, unique clothes and jewellery, CDs, records/vinyls and
maybe DVDs of the indie genre.
The music my audience would listen to would be
indie/alternative artists and bands like The Pretty Reckless, The 1975, Lana
Del Rey, The xx, The Neighbourhood, Mayday Parade, Two Door Cinema Club and
Royal Blood. They wouldn’t tune into radio stations such as Capital FM or BBC
Radio 1 ad they do not play music appealing to my target audience.
5. How did you attract/address your
audience?
I attracted my target audience by producing an
eye-catching front cover to draw them in, 70% of people buy magazines on the
spur of the moment so the front cover is a very important aspect. In my
planning and research I came up with a list of possible names for my magazine,
after a while I finally decided upon EXPLORE. I chose this firstly because of
it’s
nature, when you see this name you instantly think of something adventurous and
inspiring and it can be interpreted in many ways. The distance between the
letters of EXPLORE is called tracking and the use of a single command word
creates a sense of simplicity. The use of the capital letters for EXPLORE
creates emphasis and excitement as the letters are bolder and larger than
lowercase letters - they stand out to the viewer more and they can easily find
the title they’re looking for in a magazine stand if the masthead is bold and
easily readable.
The colour scheme on my front cover is quite
dark but it contains elements of greenery which connotes the adventurous side
of the magazine. The word explore, to me, connotes the colour green, this
symbolism is continued throughout the magazine as my masthead is of that
colour. The colour green is quite striking and would stand out to the viewers.
I used a variety of fonts suitable to my
magazine to appeal to the mark scheme for the main task. The fonts I used were
candara, MoolBoran, Ebrina, Sakkal Majalla, Hobo Std and Plantagenet Cherokee.
The fonts I used were mainly sans-serif (characters without handles) as my
research stated that many indie music magazines didn’t have these ‘handles’ on
the end of characters as it felt to formal for their magazine. In my planning I
noticed that the magazines I researched had a large amount of space between the
letters in a word or sentence; this is called tracking. I wanted to continue
the use of tracking in my magazine so I used it on my magazine pages.
Throughout my magazine I kept all my images
relatively the same; they were all edited in Photoshop using levels,
saturation, curves, balance and many more techniques. They were all in colour
and some were taken outside, and some in a studio with a blank background. This
creates a contrast and allows the readers to see both sides of the magazine.
The mode address, the way in which the magazine
speaks to the reader, is fairly informal which can be linked to the genre of
the music magazine. Spoken in a relaxed and chilled way allows the reader to
feel more connected to the person speaking (especially if it’s on the double
page spread - the reader can create a connection with the article).
6. What have you learnt about technologies
from the process of constructing this product?
Blogger is an online blog posting website of
which I used to document my planning and research of my music magazine. I
learnt how to embed presentations from SlideShare into a blog post, and I also
learnt how to add high quality images into Blogger. The strengths of using
Blogger is that it enables me to clearly organise my work and I can edit and
update my work whenever I feel that I need to. A drawback of using Blogger is
that in order for me to upload a file/image, it has to be in a JPEG format, so,
when I wrote something in a Word document, I had to copy and paste it into
Blogger and waste time sorting out the fonts and text size. This was rather annoying
as like I said, I feel as though it just wasted time.
I used SlideShare to upload and make
presentations onto. A drawback of SlideShare is that I found it quite difficult
to navigate myself through the website – I found it very confusing and I had to
watch a few YouTube clips teaching me how to use it. Another drawback is that
you have to post all your presentations to your clipboard. A positive of
SlideShare is that it is really easy to upload to Blogger. You just find the
embedded code on SlideShare, copy it, and paste it to a new post on Blogger.
And after a while of using it, I found it incredibly easy to navigate my way
around the website.
InDesign is a designing and constructing
software of which I used to produce my magazine pages. After using InDesign for
my preliminary task, I felt much more confident in using it for my main task. I
had a greater understanding of how to navigate my way around the software. I
knew how to add text boxes and images, I knew how to export my magazine pages
and I felt very familiar with the software. I learnt how to use tracking,
kerning, drop caps, the baseline and what the bleed line is. Some negatives of
InDesign are that there weren’t that many fonts available to use, therefore the
fonts I used were not the fonts I wanted to use originally. I had to compromise
with the ones available, so my magazine did not look how I wanted it to.
Photoshop was a really useful software for me.
I already knew how to use the editing software so I felt as though I saved a
lot of time; I didn’t waste time watching tutorials on YouTube teaching me how
to do things. Photoshop was useful for the manipulation of my photographs. I
was able to brighten, crop, adjust the levels and curves and recolour my
images. This was very useful as it enabled me to create photographs and images
relevant and appropriate for my target audience. A drawback of Photoshop is
that I had to try out and ‘test’ the effects before applying them to the photo
which wasted very valuable time.
I had to take five of my own photographs to
feature on my magazine, so, I had to use my own digital camera. I was already
familiar and confident with using a digital camera so I didn’t waste time
testing out the different functions and options. An advantage of using my own
digital camera is that it turns on relatively quickly which enabled me to take
a lot of photos quickly. This didn’t allow me to waste any time. A drawback of
using a digital camera is that it could’ve had a few extra effects or functions
available to enable me to test them before editing them in Photoshop.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full
product?
When I started the preliminary task I had no
skills or knowledge of using InDesign or any of the other programs listed in
Question 6. Having little understanding of how to use the software’s in the
preliminary task meant I produced a student magazine of which I was not proud
of - I feel as though I didn’t put my full potential and ability into the task
and I produced a poor quality piece of work. When it came to start producing
the main task I felt increasingly more confident as I had been taught many new
features and I had watched many videos on YouTube explaining how to do certain
things on InDesign. I have learnt how to make my practical work look more
professional by asking my target audience what they think and doing my own
research into what indie/pop magazines look like and what content they feature.
During my preliminary task I did little
research and this didn’t help me in analysing my magazine pages. I did more
research for my indie music magazine which helped me with designing and
constructing my magazine as I knew the forms and conventions of indie
magazines, as well as what the layout should be like. The preliminary task
contained no continuity and the layout was unprofessional, the key conventions
were all over the place and it looked very complex. The magazine I produced for
my main task looked more professional as I stayed with only a few colours to
create a sense of simplicity and continuity throughout my magazine (green,
white, black). The general conventions were placed more appropriately in my
music magazine as I knew what would look best as I had done a lot more
research, for example, my images on my contents page were placed far more
appropriately as they were next to the relevant information.
I also spent more time on the photography
aspect of my music magazine as I feel the photographs are what draw the readers
in (it’s the hook that 70% of people buy magazines based on). I learnt how to
make my photographs look more appealing to my target audience – I used a proper
digital camera to take the photographs and I used a spotlight with the images
with a white/negative background. In the live photographs I focused on how my
models were being represented. In the (long-shot) central image featured on my
double page spread, the model looks slightly moody, but in the bottom left hand
corner, in the secondary image, the same model is smiling/laughing. This is
because I wanted to beat stereotypes of ‘indie’/hipster people, people assume
they are moody or in a bad mood all the time. I beat the stereotype as I showed
that she is happy and can have a good time.
Monday, 28 December 2015
Draft of Main Task Evaluation
1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The key conventions of a music magazine are the
masthead, brand identity, splash, barcode and price, house style, coverlines,
central image, streamline, mode of address, articles trailed, pug, puff and a
headline. The front cover of a magazine has to include a central image, a
masthead, a headline and splash is common, coverlines are too. A typical
contents page has a masthead, a list-like format of the contents (the most
important things the magazine is featuring or what the writers think the public
will enjoy most), a few images relating to the contents on the contents page,
page numbers of the most important things the magazine is featuring. A typical
double page spread in a music magazine contains an article or interview of an
artist of band. A main image, large amounts of text, the masthead, a title and
secondary images are commonly featured on a double page spread.
2. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
The social group I have represented is mainly
teenagers to young adults who are interested in the indie/pop music. I have
represented them by including photos and images in my magazine of that
particular social group. I feel as though I’ve tried to represent them in an
alternative way which reflects a more emergent ideology. I have used more
pictures than text I think, except for the Double Page Spread - my research stated
that the DPS pages contain more text than images.
3. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product?
Referring back to my Student Pitch I can see
that some indie/pop magazines are run by the magazine themselves. For example,
The Wire’s publisher is The Wire Magazine LTD (a private limited company) which
has been run independently since December 2000. I would not be able to do this
with my magazine as it’s newly available in the market - I wouldn’t have the
right resources or skills to provide advertisement for the magazine in order
for it to sell well. Dazed and Confused is another indie magazine, but is
published by Waddell Limited. It’s a niche publishing company. I think they
would like to distribute and publish my magazine as, although it’s fairly
similar to to Dazed and Confused, it has certain aspects about it which Dazed
and Confused doesn’t have. For example, my magazine offers reviews of old and
upcoming new artists, how the readers can get involved.
4. Who would be the audience for your
magazine?
I feel as though the gender would be mainly
female and the age range can vary from 16-30 but more specifically 18-24 year
olds. My audience would be quite alternative and appeal to a nice market. Their
education could vary from college/sixth form to early work - this means that
their annual income could be quite low or average, meaning that their
disposable income would be low, so the price of my music magazine would have to
be fairly cheap so my audience would be able to afford it. They would enjoy
fairly cheap magazines full of content appealing to them. My alternative
audience’s interests would be photography, fashion and creative arts. The music
my audience would listen to would be indie/alternative artists and bands like
The Pretty Reckless, The 1975, Lana Del Rey, The xx, The Neighbourhood, Mayday
Parade, Two Door Cinema Club and Royal Blood.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my target audience by producing an
eye-catching front cover to draw them in, 70% of people buy magazines on the
spur of the moment so the front cover is a very important aspect. In my
planning and research I came up with a list of possible names for my magazine,
after a while I finally decided upon EXPLORE. I chose this firstly because of
it’s
nature, when you see this name you instantly think of something adventurous and
inspiring and it can be interpreted in many ways. The distance between the
letters of EXPLORE is called tracking and the use of a single command word
creates a sense of simplicity. The use of the capital letters for EXPLORE
creates emphasis and excitement as the letters are bolder and larger than
lowercase letters - they stand out to the viewer more and they can easily find
the title they’re looking for in a magazine stand if the masthead is bold and
easily readable.
The
colour scheme on my front cover is quite dark but it contains elements of
greenery which connotes the adventurous side of the magazine. The word explore,
to me, connotes the colour green, this symbolism is continued throughout the
magazine as my masthead is of that colour. The colour green is quite striking
and would stand out to the viewers.
I
used a variety of fonts suitable to my magazine to appeal to the mark scheme
for the main task. The fonts I used were candara, MoolBoran, Ebrina, Sakkal
Majalla, Hobo Std and Plantagenet Cherokee. The fonts I used were mainly
sans-serif (characters without handles) as my research stated that many indie
music magazines didn’t have these ‘handles’ on the end of characters as it felt
to formal for their magazine. In my planning I noticed that the magazines I
researched had a large amount of space between the letters in a word or
sentence; this is called tracking. I wanted to continue the use of tracking in
my magazine so I used it on my magazine pages.
Throughout
my magazine I kept all my images relatively the same, they were all edited in
Photoshop using levels, saturation, curves, balance and many more techniques.
They were all in colour and some were taken outside, and some in a studio with
a blank background. This creates a contrast and allows the readers to see both
sides of the magazine.
The
mode address, the way in which the magazine speaks to the reader, is fairly
informal which can be linked to the genre of the music magazine. Spoken in a
relaxed and chilled way allows the reader to feel more connected to the person
speaking (especially if it’s on the double page spread - the reader can create
a connection with the article).
6. What have you learnt about technologies
from the process of constructing this product?
The technologies I have used are Blogger (to
post my blog posts), InDesign (to create and produce my music magazine),
Photoshop (to edit the photos featured in my magazine), SlideShare (to create
presentations of my music magazine) and a digital camera (to take the photos for
my magazine). I already had many strengths in using all of these technologies
as I used them in creating my preliminary task, but I now have a greater
understanding of how to use InDesign as I have been introduced to many new
features such as tracking, kerning, drop cap, the bleed line, baseline and many
other features of the InDesign software.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full
product?
When I started the preliminary task I had no
skills or knowledge of using InDesign or any of the other programs listed in
Question 6. Having little understanding of how to use the softwares in the
preliminary task created a student magazine of which I was not proud of - I
feel ad though I didn’t put my full potential and ability into the task and I
produced a poor quality piece of work. When it came to start producing the main
task I felt increasingly more confident as I had been taught many new features
and I had watched many videos on YouTube explaining how to do certain things on
InDesign. I have learnt how to make my practical work look more professional by
asking my target audience what they think and doing my own research into what
indie/pop magazines look like and what content they feature.
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