We used one Media lesson to focus on photographic techniques that we could apply to our own photography when we come to do it. We learnt the importance of the different techniques which is shown in my video. For example, having an eyeline match on the front cover of a magazine immediately draws the reader in as they feel that the model/figure is looking at them directly. After this lesson, I feel that I have gained knowledge on what is important in creating a quality image when photographing a model or a subject and intend to apply these techniques to my own work when the time comes.
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Photography Lesson
We used one Media lesson to focus on photographic techniques that we could apply to our own photography when we come to do it. We learnt the importance of the different techniques which is shown in my video. For example, having an eyeline match on the front cover of a magazine immediately draws the reader in as they feel that the model/figure is looking at them directly. After this lesson, I feel that I have gained knowledge on what is important in creating a quality image when photographing a model or a subject and intend to apply these techniques to my own work when the time comes.
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
Evaluation!
Evaluation- Question 1.
What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I have chosen 9 elements from my magazine which i feel help make my magazine look like a real media product. I have put the above in a table and made a Prezi on each one. Click the links below to view.
Click HERE to see my Prezi on my masthead VIVA
Click HERE to see my Prezi on my contents page text.
Click HERE to see my Prezi on my front cover image.
Click HERE to see my Prezi on my sell lines.
Click HERE to see my Prezi on my Introduction paragraph on my DPS.
Click HERE to see my Prezi on my DPS image.
Click HERE to see my Prezi on my sell lines.
Click HERE to see my Prezi on my main sell line.
Click HERE for my Prezi on my Contents page title.
I have also added annoted versions of my final product to show you how i think it helps fit in with the conventions of a real media product.
Evaluation- Question 2
I wanted my final product to be a Retro style magazine. I tried to have the theme of my magazine based on the main topic of my double page spread in my case this being Zara Fox and Ellie Goulding. Before taking pictures for my final product I researched images off Ellie Goulding holding guitars as I knew I wanted my model to be holding a guitar to stick with the retro theme of my magazine. Underneath you can see how I tried to link the two together but also how I managed to change parts of it. I chose Ellie Goulding as she is very popular with the young music lovers nowadays and is looked up to for her voice, dancing, looks and fashion but is also very loved for how she is individual and doesn't follow the crowd in everything she does.
Obviously in the both of the photos the girls are holding a guitar which is the main similarity with my photos. They both share very similar facial expressions this being very natural, but I’m my photos I made sure my model had an eye-line match and was looking straight into the camera. In addition to this both models are wearing similar clothing, both very retro and individual, but Ellie’s clothing seems to be a lot brighter than Catherine’s as the back ground is very dark. As well as these both they both have their hair down and limited makeup. I done this to send a message out that to the audience about ‘naturalism’ and that you don’t need to be caked in makeup to look good. Although both their hair is down they share different hair colours and hair lengths. The lighting in the photos is similar as the models face is lit up on both sets of images. I wanted to light up my models face so it would grad the readers eye quickly and so straight away they would be aware on who the main part of my magazine would be about. The background of my images is a lot different to Ellie’s as I wanted mine to be plain and simple so I would be able to put text behind the images making sure it was easy to read and stood out well where as the back ground of Ellie’s photo is very busy and it would be hard to read if you were going to put text behind it. Both models have a similar pose this being quite relaxed and natural holding the guitar. Although the guitars are different colours i made sure they were both acoustic as it fits in better than any other type with my retro theme. I wanted the audience of my magazine to look up to my model and wanted the front cover image and double page spread to send out a moral to never stop believing in your dreams. Overall I think that the elements of these photo represent the young social group who enjoy retro/indie-pop music which is reflected throughout my magazine.
Evaluation- Question 3
What kind of media insituation might distribute your media product and why?
My magazine 'Viva' is similar to the other retro music magazines found 'Spin' and 'Blender.'
I researched both of their magazine publishers in detail, but also looked closely into their own online websites.
Click HERE to visit Blenders official website- published by Dennis Publishing, company of Alpha Media Group
From doing research on my two similar magazines I found out they are both very popular through out the UK.
Click HERE for my Prezi on SPIN.
Click HERE for my Prezi on BLENDER.
Which company would i choose to publish my magazine?
I also chose this company they didn't have a Retro magazine like mine, so i wouldn't have to compete with any other magazines.
There are different ways I could get Buzz Media to distribute my product these include:
- The internet
- The actual Magazine (paper format)s
- Subcription
- A VIVA app for mobile phones
- Offers (free magazines)
Evaluation- Question 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
When deciding the audience of my product I thought about type of music I liked my self, and what I thought my friends would be into as well. To help me decide on the audience for my magazine I thought about what would be easiest and how I could make my magazine relate to that audience. I decided on a audience of around 13-25 as I felt this is the age range which can relate to the style of music (retro) of which I was planning on creating my magazine on. I was lucky enough of have some of my friends in this age range and asked them a few quick questions my music choice and they gave me some valuable answers which helped me with my product. Underneath is the 5 quick questions I asked them and also there video responses.
1. Do you like retro music?
2. Do you know any retro artists?
3. If so, who is your favourite?
4. What’s your artist’s favourite song?
5. Would you recommend listening to retro music?
5. Would you recommend listening to retro music?
If this link doesnt work please look at the image of my reader profile below.
I have also put links below to the websites of the artists included in my profile, but also because my audience would be interested in this so I felt showing this would be beneficial.
These below are the type of peeople who I aim to taget my magine at.
Evaluation- Question 5
How did you address/attract your audience?
To help address/attract my audience I used the typical conventions of a retro style magazine. I also used the interesting articles and images to attract the readers. The text on the front of my product was engaging and addressed the readers directly helping attract the audience. I used the program Flickr to show you my product.
Click HERE to see my front cover on Flickr.
Click HERE to see my contents page on Flickr.
Click HERE to see my Double Page Spread on Flickr.
I also have done annotated versions of my products and told you about how the magazine and the content will attract the audience. I will also show you this through Flickr.
Click HERE to see my annotated front cover.
Click HERE to see my annotated contents page.
Click HERE to see my annotated DPS.
What have you learnt about technologies from the constructing of this product?
Throughout the progress of this course i have learnt a lot about technologies and gained a large amount of skills from different programs of which I have used to create my final product. This included learning how to use Mac computers, Photoshop, Da Font, and gained knowledge on YouTube.
Before coming in to college i had never used Mac computers, and had no idea on how they worked, or on how to use them. I had to learn how to open programs, how to save how work, how to log on correctly. It was a huge jump from the normal computers I was used to. After a few sessions on the Macs had pretty much figured out how they basically worked.
This is me using photo shop to edit my model. It was very difficult at first to get my head around it. I gained a lot of knowledge on tools on which you can use to edit your images and magazine. I learnt to use most of the tools on the image below and managed to use at least half of them when editing my final product. I now feel that I would successfully be able to use the programme again and be successful in my outcome.
I used YouTube in the research part for my magazine. I research songs by the artists I wanted to base my magazine one. This included Ellie Goulding, Lana Del Ray and Paloma Faith. I also used this in my blog when telling what music interests I was into and also the type of music I liked listening too.
I used a program Da Font in progress of making my final product. Da Font is a online programme which allows you to download any font you want. Once you have downloaded the font, it allows you to install it into your computer and use it whenever you want. Most of my fonts on my front cover are downloaded from this website. It helped me a lot with my magazine to achieve the professional look i wanted.
To take photo's for my magazine I used a Nikon digital camera. I took my photos at home. All my photos were took either using a tripod or handheld. I used the zoom tool, panorama tool and lightening tool when taking my photos to create the look i wanted with my photos.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression to that to your full product?
Before doing my preliminary task I had very little experience on Photoshop other than what I had done whilst I was at school. I managed to remember the basic skills but had no idea about all the advanced tools the programme involved. Underneath is a picture of my preliminary task and my final product so you can see the difference and how advanced I got working with the Photoshop tools compared to knowledge I had when doing my preliminary task. We were only given 2 hours for our preliminary task.
I feel that the progress I have made overall has been amazing. The overall look of my preliminary task is very armature and doesn't have the professional look i managed to gain by the end of the task. It looked very basic and boring. I would say this went for both my front cover and contents page. I Asked my friend on what she thought about the difference in my two products and have posted underneath her response.
Preliminary Task.
Final Product.
My and my peers response and feedback on my two tasks.
Thursday, 21 February 2013
Madona and Eminem.
In the workbooks giving to us by our teacher there was a article about Madona mauling Eminems critics. Beneath is the article and the questions of which i have answered. this helped me which my magazine research.
Facebook page
I made a Facebook page to keep people were associated with my magazine updated on how It was coming on. I only added people to the group who are linked in with the magazine. I kept this a closed group.
Above is a picture of the group.
I kept adding images of my magazine in steps so the people included in the group could see how it was coming on. I also asked for feedback to see if there was anything they thought i could change or anything they thought needed improving.
My friends gave me some good feedback on my product. They told me to use a darker Colour on my double page spread as it would look effective and also different. I took this advice on board and used black on my DPS. I felt happy with this choice and used it for my final piece. They also told me to add a bright Colour through out my magazine. I took this on board and use a bright pink as one of the colours in my Colour scheme.
Tuesday, 12 February 2013
Looking at Magazines.
When we were first given the task to make a magazine very excited to work on power point creating my own product. Our teacher showed us some music magazines that were professional to get some ideas but also the ones off her class off previous years of which had got the higher marks. I got al ot of ideas from this. We also got told about the primarily task we had to do. I got nervous about this as our teacher old us we only had 2 hours.
Looking at magazines really helped me as I learnt where the masthead goes, the type of image which normally goes on the front cover, language used in sell lines and Colour schemes etc. I didn't realize the type of poses the models were doing reflected on the type of magazine it was until I looked through this power point. I learnt about the different style or fonts and the Primary and secondary Codes. Underneath are some of the magazines i looked at.
Looking at magazines really helped me as I learnt where the masthead goes, the type of image which normally goes on the front cover, language used in sell lines and Colour schemes etc. I didn't realize the type of poses the models were doing reflected on the type of magazine it was until I looked through this power point. I learnt about the different style or fonts and the Primary and secondary Codes. Underneath are some of the magazines i looked at.
I could tell the target audience for this product by the text, colour scheme, pose of the model and content. The bright colours suggest a younger audience along with the pose of the model being very immature and childish. The main sell line 'your a star' connotes a younger audience as this isn't the type of thing you would say to an adult, and also links in with school as you could receive stars for good behaviour.
I could tell the target audience once again for this product by the colours and text. I found this magazine a lot harder to tell the target audience as although the model is wearing limited clothing her pose suggests other wise, and could be a woman's magazine to make them feel better about them selfs. I guessed this magazine is for both male and female as the sell lines talk about unisex subjects.
I could tell the target audience for this product automatically by the models pose and clothing. We know this magazine is for men as the model looks very seductive which will appeal to men. Also at the beginning one of the sell lines talks about tools which obviously is a male subject.
Screen Shots with my Model
I was lucky enough to have my friend accept to be my model for my magazine. I took the photos in my house on a plain white wall and also a couple against my garden fence. I took into consideration the type of magazine i was planning on doing with the places I took the photos. Underneath are screen shots of my model accepting the challenge to be my model.
Institution Research
I spent some time researching different magazine companies which have been sucsessful when publishing magazines. I also researched some sucsessful music magazines i knew off and found who which companies had published them. This is what i came up with.
Kerrang is published by Bauer Media Group
Top of the Pops is published by BBC Magazines
Vibe is published by Intermedia Parteners
Q is published by Bauer Media Group
NME is published by Bauer Media Group
I decided the most sucssessful magazines were all published by the same company so it would be a good idea to publish my magazine with them. I have chosen to publish my magazine with Bauer Media Group. I have chosen this because they don't produce a product like mine apart from NME and Kerrang which would mean they wouldn't be a large competition between the three products. The company already produces music magazines so i would be pretty confident that they would take on my product aswell.
Kerrang is published by Bauer Media Group
Top of the Pops is published by BBC Magazines
Vibe is published by Intermedia Parteners
Q is published by Bauer Media Group
NME is published by Bauer Media Group
I decided the most sucssessful magazines were all published by the same company so it would be a good idea to publish my magazine with them. I have chosen to publish my magazine with Bauer Media Group. I have chosen this because they don't produce a product like mine apart from NME and Kerrang which would mean they wouldn't be a large competition between the three products. The company already produces music magazines so i would be pretty confident that they would take on my product aswell.
Initial Ideas for my magazine.
I want my magazine to be based on retro style music but also include chart music. I Thought I would base it around artists like Ellie Goulding, Lana Del Ray, Kate Nash and Paloma Faith. I chose this because this is the type of music I prefer most so i felt I Know more about this genre for my magazine. I want to use quite basic colours but use them effectively at the same time. I would also like my model so be holding a guitar. I plan to stick with my initial idea for my final product.
If I didnt stick to this idea I would like to do a magazine just based on chart music. I think this would be a good idea as chart music is always changing and i could include loads of different styles. Underneath is the current top ten and the type of music i would be basing my magazine on if i chose this idea.
Colour and Font samples.
I chose to base my magazine on retro based music.
I thought fonts like Times New Roman and Georgia would be the best to suit my type of magazine. I have carried on using these two font throught out my magazine. Underneath is a sample of the two fonts.
Times New Roman
Georgia.
As for the colours for my magazine I wanted to base them on the main colours on my front cover image. The main colours were dark red and black. Underneath is my main cover image.
I thought fonts like Times New Roman and Georgia would be the best to suit my type of magazine. I have carried on using these two font throught out my magazine. Underneath is a sample of the two fonts.
Times New Roman
Georgia.
As for the colours for my magazine I wanted to base them on the main colours on my front cover image. The main colours were dark red and black. Underneath is my main cover image.
I added a third colour of dark durple as i felt a third colour needed to be added to liven up the front cover. Alot of my text has a drop shadow on just to make it look that bit better and make it stand out better.
BLACK
DARK RED
DARK PURPLE
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Working on my magazine
I have started working on my magazine and thinking about the text I am going to use for my double page spread. On the photos below I have started using photoshop to edit my photos and make them look better and more professional for my front cover. I chose this photo for my front cover image as the models head isn't cropped out meaning i could move the model down the page in order to place my masthead above.m I also chose this image as the model is looking straight into the camera with a good eye line match.
On this image above I am editing and lengthening my models eyebrows. I done this using the colour match tool to get the correct colour then then brush tool with a softened brush to create a softer less blunt finish.
Here is the before and after picture after I have done a little bit of editing on my model.
Underneath is my product so far. In this image I have edited my photo removing all skin marks and removing the back groud but also edited the colour of her clothing and removed the finger marks from the guitar. I created my masthead using da font and edited it in photoshop to give the look I have now. I have decided to keep my backgroud white as it makes it easier for everything else to stand out. I used the background colour of the masthead to link in with the models guitar linking the colour scheme. The black banner along the botttom is for a pull quote of which i havnt decided yet.
The images above are all of me working on my front cover. I have gradually being adding selllines and advertisements to make it look like a professional magazine. I havnt of yet finished my front cover.
On this image above I am editing and lengthening my models eyebrows. I done this using the colour match tool to get the correct colour then then brush tool with a softened brush to create a softer less blunt finish.
I have also started on my text for my double page spread.
This is my work for my article so far. I decided to base my article on a new upcoming star who made her fame from youtube videos.
New star, Zara Fox shines to the top.
How Zara Fox 16, made fame from her YouTube videos
What started off as a young girl singing alone in her bedroom soon became child hood stardom. After several failed attempts by various prestigious record labels including BMG Music, Decca Records and EmI wanting to take on Zara she finally decided to sign on the dotted line and seal the deal with DEF JAM who also produce the music of the world selling, Rihanna.
Zara's family first discovered her talent at the age of 7 when she performed the leading role in the school musical, Annie. Amazed at how talented little Zara was after hearing her sing for the very first time, her parents recorded and uploaded the performance to YouTube. Surprisingly after only a week on the web, the footage had over half a million views and had gone viral around the world. One person in particular who was blown away by the young star was singing sensation Ellie Goulding and has been following her ever since.On Zara's 16th birthday, Ellie called her unexpectedly and told her it would be more than a pleasure if she would work with her.
" At first i thought it was one of my friends playing a joke" explains Zara, " but when i found out It was actually her I threw my phone across the room and started crying to my mam. I was so happy and couldn't wait to start working with her. I felt like i was dreaming."
But it wasn't just Zara who felt like she was in a dream. Charles 47, Zara's Dad and Carol 43, Zara's Mam both stated they couldn't believe there daughters success.
" We are the proudest parents in the world, we knew she could do it" stated the parents, " our little girl a world wide superstar, feels surreal to us!"
Ellie Goulding, 26 claims she has never been so happy to find a youngster with such talent. Ellie plans on releasing a new single with Zara this November, which she aims to call ‘Endless Dreams.’ Ellie told VIVA she chose this name to show all the other young musicians out there to never give up and follow their dreams just like Zara did.
Zara also told us that her life has changed to quickly. “ Ive read about things like this happening to people in magazines before, but never even imagined it could happen to someone like me. I had only dreamed about it.” Zara told VIVA to allows follow your dreams cause one day they will come true.
But one thing Zara said from the beginning of this journey was that she would never let the fame change the person she was inside. She didn’t want to let it get to her head. She promised her friends and family she will still always find time for them, because without their support none of this could ever of happened.
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This above is my work for my article so far. I have been given postive feedback from my teacher and she has told me what i can change to improve. For example before feedback my headline was, ' New star Zara Fox tops the charts'. My teacher said it would be more catchy to change it to 'shines straight to the top' as its a pun and sounds more catchy.
Here is the before and after picture after I have done a little bit of editing on my model.
Underneath is my product so far. In this image I have edited my photo removing all skin marks and removing the back groud but also edited the colour of her clothing and removed the finger marks from the guitar. I created my masthead using da font and edited it in photoshop to give the look I have now. I have decided to keep my backgroud white as it makes it easier for everything else to stand out. I used the background colour of the masthead to link in with the models guitar linking the colour scheme. The black banner along the botttom is for a pull quote of which i havnt decided yet.
The images above are all of me working on my front cover. I have gradually being adding selllines and advertisements to make it look like a professional magazine. I havnt of yet finished my front cover.
This is my contents page so far. The images above are my gradual stages of my contents page.
working on my double page spread.
This is my up to date double page spread article. I decided to give my magazine a change and add the black background to vary my magazine slightly. I added a pull quote on my image where there was a lot of spare space.
This is my up to date contents page.
My front cover still needs finishing as there is a lot of spare space that needs filling. I added the bright colour pink to contrast with the dark colours on the cover. I also feel it brings life to my front cover.
MY FINAL PRODUCT.
This is my front cover of which i sent to the examiner. I rearranged some of the words and pictures before sending it. I was happy with my product and felt confident sending it away.
This was my contents page which i sent to the examiner. Once again i felt happy with my product and felt confident about my piece.
This was my DPS of which i sent to the examiner.
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