Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
Friday, 3 May 2013
Thursday, 2 May 2013
Evaluation: Question 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
After completing the main task, it is surprising how much my technological skills have improved. Also, being introduced to various applications means that I am aware of the possibility of posting information in a more creative way, and displaying my ideas in a way that is visually appealing.
Adobe InDesign is the application that I used most during the year. At first, I was completely lost and found it very difficult to use. However, with some help, and practice from creating a school magazine as well as a mock up cover of Q Magazine, my ability to use the software significantly improved.
Once I got the hang of it, it is a very useful application, however the only issue I had with it was the lack of variety in the choice of fonts. Although this was resolved when I downloaded the free trial at home, which had a larger range.
I was quite lucky with Adobe Photoshop, as I had used it multiple times for my AS level Art, however, I didn't have to use it to the complexity as I did for my magazine.
Removing backgrounds on images was the main technique I used, however I found multiple ways of doing it, from manually drawing around an images before deleting the background, to using the 'quick selection tool,' which is much faster but less precise.
It is a time consuming process, and I was lucky in the fact that I only used it for two images.
I had never used blogger before, and I was skeptical because I'm not a huge fan of online blogs. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Blogger is an easy to use online application, with a simple layout and design, that allows you to create posts with ease.
Unfortunately, later on in the year, I had to to most of the blogging at home, as the school had actually blocked the website. Although, I found being able to use blogger on a smartphone particularly useful, as I could blog on the go.
I did actually enjoy using a blog to post my coursework, because I could constantly check my work, edit areas and keep track of what I was doing and how long I was taking.
I also learned a lot about photography. I discovered how important it is to take into account every aspect of the shot, such as the composition, lighting, mise en scene etc. I also learnt that the distance of the shot is important, as I had a lot of trouble with pixilation in InDesign because I took the photograph too far away from the model, and zooming in was not an option. I ended up having to do three photoshoots before I received the outcome I desired, however I think that because of these mistakes, I've learned that planning is extremely important, and I feel that I have a better knowledge of how to use a camera professionally.
Throughout this course, I was also introduced to an online application called Prezi. This software allows you to display information in a creative and visually appealing and complex manner. There is a huge variety of patterns to choose from, and the animations and transitions between various areas make the experience more enjoyable than a plain PowerPoint presentation!
Flickr is an online software that I used briefly for my evaluation. It is an online photo sharing application, that allowed me to highlight areas of my finished magazine pages, and analyse them, before publishing the analysis, where the reader can hover over an area that they want to know about. I found this to be an interesting way of displaying my work, and in an very organised manner.
I hope that the things that I have learned from using these applications will come in useful in the future.
After completing the main task, it is surprising how much my technological skills have improved. Also, being introduced to various applications means that I am aware of the possibility of posting information in a more creative way, and displaying my ideas in a way that is visually appealing.
Once I got the hang of it, it is a very useful application, however the only issue I had with it was the lack of variety in the choice of fonts. Although this was resolved when I downloaded the free trial at home, which had a larger range.
I was quite lucky with Adobe Photoshop, as I had used it multiple times for my AS level Art, however, I didn't have to use it to the complexity as I did for my magazine.
Removing backgrounds on images was the main technique I used, however I found multiple ways of doing it, from manually drawing around an images before deleting the background, to using the 'quick selection tool,' which is much faster but less precise.
It is a time consuming process, and I was lucky in the fact that I only used it for two images.
I had never used blogger before, and I was skeptical because I'm not a huge fan of online blogs. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Blogger is an easy to use online application, with a simple layout and design, that allows you to create posts with ease.
Unfortunately, later on in the year, I had to to most of the blogging at home, as the school had actually blocked the website. Although, I found being able to use blogger on a smartphone particularly useful, as I could blog on the go.
I did actually enjoy using a blog to post my coursework, because I could constantly check my work, edit areas and keep track of what I was doing and how long I was taking.
Flickr is an online software that I used briefly for my evaluation. It is an online photo sharing application, that allowed me to highlight areas of my finished magazine pages, and analyse them, before publishing the analysis, where the reader can hover over an area that they want to know about. I found this to be an interesting way of displaying my work, and in an very organised manner.
I hope that the things that I have learned from using these applications will come in useful in the future.
Evaluation: Question 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
To answer this question, I used the online application 'Flickr,' which allows me to display my images, and annotate them. To see the annotations, just hover the mouse over the desired section of the page.
Here is a link to the RIFF front cover:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95425626@N06/8700292368/in/photostream
Here is a link to the RIFF contents page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95425626@N06/8701396913/in/photostream
Here are the links for the RIFF double page spread;
Page 1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/95425626@N06/8702786362/in/photostream
Page 2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/95425626@N06/8702786938/in/photostream
To answer this question, I used the online application 'Flickr,' which allows me to display my images, and annotate them. To see the annotations, just hover the mouse over the desired section of the page.
Here is a link to the RIFF front cover:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95425626@N06/8700292368/in/photostream
Here is a link to the RIFF contents page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95425626@N06/8701396913/in/photostream
Here are the links for the RIFF double page spread;
Page 1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/95425626@N06/8702786362/in/photostream
Page 2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/95425626@N06/8702786938/in/photostream
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Evaluation: Question 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The obvious answer to this question, and probably the only answer, is to choose Bauer Media.
Bauer are a huge publishing companies, known for magazines such as Q, Kerrang! and Empire. The main reason why Bauer would be the best option is because they are the biggest privately owned publishing group in Europe, that offer 300 magazines in 15 countries.
Another selling point is that Bauer Media is a multi - platform publishing group, offering TV, Internet and Radio - a must if I want to promote RIFF and for it to become as successful as the likes of Q Magazine. This is also fatal, as my target audience are younger, and are therefore more up to date with the latest technology, and will be more interested in interactive readership.
Future PLC is another publishing company that I would consider, as they are responsible for magazines such as Total Film, however the fact that Bauer Media pretty much dominates the magazine industry, it is the only choice if I really want my magazine to be successful, and known as well as Kerrang!, for example.
I also feel that Bauer would be appropriate as they own the successful rock magazine, Kerrang!. This means that there is definitely an audience out there, as RIFF is the same genre. However, if RIFF was real, it might not be very successful, as Kerrang! already exists and there is not need for another magazine of the same thing.
Frontline is probably the best option for RIFF's sales and distribution company, as they are the UK's leading company, responsible for distributing magazine published by Bauer. Frontline sells and distributes over 160 of their Shareholder Publishers' magazine titles, 58 being the top 200 best selling titles in the UK.
From doing some research on their website, Frontline seem like not only the best distribution company, but a very trustworthy company that would inevitably help sales of RIFF.
Bauer are a huge publishing companies, known for magazines such as Q, Kerrang! and Empire. The main reason why Bauer would be the best option is because they are the biggest privately owned publishing group in Europe, that offer 300 magazines in 15 countries.
Another selling point is that Bauer Media is a multi - platform publishing group, offering TV, Internet and Radio - a must if I want to promote RIFF and for it to become as successful as the likes of Q Magazine. This is also fatal, as my target audience are younger, and are therefore more up to date with the latest technology, and will be more interested in interactive readership.
Future PLC is another publishing company that I would consider, as they are responsible for magazines such as Total Film, however the fact that Bauer Media pretty much dominates the magazine industry, it is the only choice if I really want my magazine to be successful, and known as well as Kerrang!, for example.
I also feel that Bauer would be appropriate as they own the successful rock magazine, Kerrang!. This means that there is definitely an audience out there, as RIFF is the same genre. However, if RIFF was real, it might not be very successful, as Kerrang! already exists and there is not need for another magazine of the same thing.
Frontline is probably the best option for RIFF's sales and distribution company, as they are the UK's leading company, responsible for distributing magazine published by Bauer. Frontline sells and distributes over 160 of their Shareholder Publishers' magazine titles, 58 being the top 200 best selling titles in the UK.
From doing some research on their website, Frontline seem like not only the best distribution company, but a very trustworthy company that would inevitably help sales of RIFF.
Evaluation: Question 2
How does the media product represent a particular social group?
I decided when creating my reader profile that RIFF would be targeted towards teenagers/students who are into the rock/metal scene. Because of this, for the most part, I based the pages of RIFF on real pages of Kerrang! Magazine, as the target audience is the same.
The colour scheme that I used throughout my magazine firstly reflects the social group. Black, white and yellow are the main colours that run throughout my magazines, as well as red, which are the most common colours used in rock magazines. The guitar neck in the masthead is also something that the social group can associate themselves with, as well as the rock bands mentioned, such as Fall Out Boy and Bullet For My Valentine.
However, out of the front cover, I think that the images are what reflects the social group most. In the main image, the model has styled hair, eye make up, such as quite heavy eye liner, and a lip piercing. Although this might stereotype a typical rock fan, I think that it is perfect for the cover, as just by looking at the model, it is recognisable as a rock/metal genre magazine.
I also included free posters in RIFF, which would definitely appeal to someone heavily influenced by the music scene, and a fan of rock music; which leads to another stereotype of a rock fan having posters all over their walls. However, I think this is certainly true, especially a teenage rock fan. Although there is no sign in the main image that she is an artist, her style associates her with rock music, which was what I was going for initially.
The competition to win a guitar and a PlayStation also represents a specific social group, which I included as competitions like this are often featured in Kerrang!, and because of a similar target audience, I thought that it was appropriate.
For my contents page, I feel that the images reflect the particular social group the best, as the model featured in the photographs is a fan of metal music herself.
Although one would have to extremely closely, the septum piercing (bull ring) on her nose is another aspect that represent the social group, as stereotypically, fans of rock/metal music are also fans of piercings (of course not true for everyone!).
Similar to the front cover, the bands that are mentioned on the contents page heavily reflect the social group, as it is the type of music that they would listen to. The language used also reflects this, such as phrases like, "Down Rachael's Rabbit Hole," represent the adolescent and immaturity of the social group that RIFF is targeted towards.
The way the article is written, in my opinion, reflects the social group, as I specifically wrote it to try and sound like someone from this group, as this 'artist' is. Again, immaturity is shown through the title, 'Rachael in Wonderland,' and the 'band's' name, 'Demonic Shadows,' reflects the genre of the music and the type of person who would listen to it, and read RIFF.
The colour scheme here again is targeted to a specific social group, as they are similar to the colours found in Kerrang!.
The second page of my article features a photograph of the artist. The mise en scene of the image would hopefully appeal to the social group, and the model's outfit also.
I also thought that creating an artist that had a drug addiction would be appropriate for RIFF, as the readers are teenagers/students, who may have used, or might be pressured into using drugs/alcohol. This can then provide a positive example, and an overall moral; not to take drugs.
I decided when creating my reader profile that RIFF would be targeted towards teenagers/students who are into the rock/metal scene. Because of this, for the most part, I based the pages of RIFF on real pages of Kerrang! Magazine, as the target audience is the same.
The colour scheme that I used throughout my magazine firstly reflects the social group. Black, white and yellow are the main colours that run throughout my magazines, as well as red, which are the most common colours used in rock magazines. The guitar neck in the masthead is also something that the social group can associate themselves with, as well as the rock bands mentioned, such as Fall Out Boy and Bullet For My Valentine.
However, out of the front cover, I think that the images are what reflects the social group most. In the main image, the model has styled hair, eye make up, such as quite heavy eye liner, and a lip piercing. Although this might stereotype a typical rock fan, I think that it is perfect for the cover, as just by looking at the model, it is recognisable as a rock/metal genre magazine.
I also included free posters in RIFF, which would definitely appeal to someone heavily influenced by the music scene, and a fan of rock music; which leads to another stereotype of a rock fan having posters all over their walls. However, I think this is certainly true, especially a teenage rock fan. Although there is no sign in the main image that she is an artist, her style associates her with rock music, which was what I was going for initially.
The competition to win a guitar and a PlayStation also represents a specific social group, which I included as competitions like this are often featured in Kerrang!, and because of a similar target audience, I thought that it was appropriate.
For my contents page, I feel that the images reflect the particular social group the best, as the model featured in the photographs is a fan of metal music herself.
Although one would have to extremely closely, the septum piercing (bull ring) on her nose is another aspect that represent the social group, as stereotypically, fans of rock/metal music are also fans of piercings (of course not true for everyone!).
Similar to the front cover, the bands that are mentioned on the contents page heavily reflect the social group, as it is the type of music that they would listen to. The language used also reflects this, such as phrases like, "Down Rachael's Rabbit Hole," represent the adolescent and immaturity of the social group that RIFF is targeted towards.
The colour scheme here again is targeted to a specific social group, as they are similar to the colours found in Kerrang!.
I also thought that creating an artist that had a drug addiction would be appropriate for RIFF, as the readers are teenagers/students, who may have used, or might be pressured into using drugs/alcohol. This can then provide a positive example, and an overall moral; not to take drugs.
Evaluation: Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
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