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2.How does your media product represent particular social groups? 24/04/2016
3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
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4.Who would be the audience for your media product?
28/04/2016
Who would be the audience for your media product? from basicallytricia
5.How did you attract/address your audience?
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5.How did you attract/address your audience?
28/04/2016
My target audience's opinion:
6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
28/04/2016
Throughout the process of constructing my media product I have used a variety of new technologies such as Page Plus, Photoshop, Prezi, Slideshare and a digital SLR Canon camera. All of these new technologies helped me to show my idea's when creating my magazine and it shows the decisions and changes I made as it shows a timeline of how I have developed my knowledge and skills.
When using technologies such as Photoshop and Page Plus I have documented them onto my Prezi or Slideshare to show the progress I have made and how each task I have done has had an effect on the outcome of my media product and I have explained my progress and why I have done what I've done in order to make my final media product organised and to appeal to my target audience.
In the beginning, I had little knowledge in how camera's have certain settings for different purposes and I learnt this on the day of our photo shoot as me and my peers tried the 'shutter mode' and this enabled the camera to take photos that were fast paced. For example, there is a shot where me and friends are jumping and the shutter mode enables the shot of us jumping to be taken at the perfect timing. Using certain settings enabled us to show that I can now use the camera to create professional, original images that I can be used for my media product.
Beforehand, we had to set up our photo shoot, we angled the soft box lights at certain angles so that when we took our photos you could see each one of us, so the brightness is at the right angle. Not to mention, the backdrop was important; we mainly used a white backdrop as me and my two other friends decided to wear black. The white would make our photo stand out more and this would mean we could edit it easier if we ever needed to on Photoshop. We used certain props for my product such as headphones, crowns and hats. By using props it shows that I have used other resources for my magazine rather than just me and my friends modelling. We also took a close up of our make-up and I have used this image on my contents page to show I have a range of images for my magazine and this links in with the social group I have represented as the young female teens and adults can relate to the products as it isn't high end and they can afford to buy the brands.
During my photo shoot, I applied the rule of thirds onto my photographs so that I know where I want the angle of my photos to be taken or where the point of interest would be on my photo. This article on the importance of rule of thirds shows how significant it is for taking photographs for not just magazines but any media products. For my photos I have done the same thing and applied this as it helped make me decide how my photos should be taken and how I can use the negative space.
link (http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/rule-of-thirds)
Example of applying rule of thirds:
Furthermore, I used Photoshop to edit my photos by editing the brightness, the skin tone colour and the sharpness of my photos. I used Photoshop to edit my polarized photos for my magazine, this made it easier for me to edit my photographs and add frames onto my photos as it was quicker and accessible as I used it on the school's computer. However, I had no knowledge of how to use Photoshop, after my Photo shoot I was given help and guidance and picked up the basic skills needed to edit my photos for my front cover and managed to produce my front cover. I also used Photoshop to make my logo and to colour it to suit my colour theme so that it was recognisable to my target audience.
I used Page Plus for my double page spread and contents page. Page Plus enabled me to type my article and insert images onto my media product. Page Plus also provides guidelines and I used this to make sure that all my images and font where positioned correctly and that it was in order, so it wouldn't look muddled and chaotic as it needed to look neat and clear so my target audience can easily read it.
Moreover, I used Prezi and Slideshare to present my ideas and progress when constructing my product. These two technologies show how each of my task is relevant and how each one is different as it covers all the basics of how my magazine was made. It is important that I use these two websites as they show the developments I have made. Most of these technologies are used today as many people engage in them today to present their idea's and plans.
Lastly, Blogger was not something I had the chance to use however I did hear of the website before. Using blogger did create some difficulties for me as I was new to how it functioned and how I was to post my progress. Overtime, I quickly learnt the skills to use this and to add codes onto the HTML for my work to be shown onto the website. Copying the embed code for my Prezi's and Slideshare was easy I knew how to code beforehand so I knew one important skill before using Blogger which was an advantage for me as it was quick for me to make any adjustments if there were any problems with the coding.
Lastly, Blogger was not something I had the chance to use however I did hear of the website before. Using blogger did create some difficulties for me as I was new to how it functioned and how I was to post my progress. Overtime, I quickly learnt the skills to use this and to add codes onto the HTML for my work to be shown onto the website. Copying the embed code for my Prezi's and Slideshare was easy I knew how to code beforehand so I knew one important skill before using Blogger which was an advantage for me as it was quick for me to make any adjustments if there were any problems with the coding.
7.Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
28/04/2016
Looking back my preliminary task, I had very limited insight on how media products were made, why they had a massive impact on society and the codes and conventions of media products. However, gradually I slowly learnt all these; I even studied theories and studies on media users and institutions like Bauer Media Group to gain a better understanding and in the end I managed to attain most of the important key facts and statistics through my research.
For my product I was able to access various new technologies which opened up opportunities on how to show the journey of me making my full product and what I used to make my final and full product. For example, I was able to use Photoshop to edit my photos and turn them into polaroid photos. Without the use of Photoshop, I would've never been able to do this and make my magazine original and stand out from other ordinary music magazines. I also got the chance to work with my peers as a team and take different shots such as long shots, medium shots, close ups, extreme close ups and high angle shots. This shows I have a variety of shots, I haven't used the same angle again and again as it would look plain, repetitive and boring.
I have learnt how Maslow's hierarchy of needs audience theory and Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory is an important key knowledge in understanding my target audience and how important media products are for people today in society. I have applied this to my preliminary task, my main music magazine task and evaluation; they play an important role as they go into depth of the media users importance and how they effect institutions in today's generation.
For my main task, I have been able to use more editing options on Photoshop as I adjusted the brightness, how sharp I want the photo, the effects, the contrast, adjust the skin tone colour, how to blur photos etc. These have enabled me to know how to use Photoshop and how they have a big effect on how photo's look on magazines as the target audience want something bright and eye catching. With my main task, I have had more thought and progress as it is much more complex in constructing my final product as it needs to look realistic, professional and appealing to my target audience. Not to mention, my product needed to look intriguing so they would be persuaded to purchase the magazine. For my final product, I have had to do more research and analysed more magazines such as front covers, double page spread and contents page that are not only music magazines but other genres to show a range.
My front cover, contents page and double page I have had to take more time on them and needed more thought as it needed to suit the needs of my target audience. For my preliminary task, the target audience wasn't a niche audience, therefore I had to make sure that it would appeal to a range of people. For my main task, I was able to choose my target audience and focus on a niche audience if I wanted to. This gave me more of a clear idea on what I wanted my magazine to look like, regarding the layout, the style, the colours used and so forth. Although, I had a clear idea this did not make it easy as niche audiences are known to be more loyal I needed to be specific on how my magazine was going to look and what was going to be included. I made a survey for my target audience to answer as this would benefit me so I would be able to get their opinion on how my magazine should look in order to appeal them and suit their needs.
For my double page I needed to make sure it was entertaining and in my preliminary task I never had to do a double page spread so it was my first time doing this section of my product, therefore I needed the public's opinion for this and I did this by carrying out a survey on survey monkey. I then analysed the results and carried out what the public wanted onto my double spread by including certain topics they wanted covered in order to keep it entertaining. For my double page spread I also needed to do some research as I never produced a double page, this was an advantage as I would need more time in order to know what to include, what most music magazines included, what the layout was like etc. However, it was difficult as all of them were different so I needed to think outside the box and do the same as not one of them were ever the same. I did a flat plan in order to plan my double page so I would have an idea of how the layout was going to look like. I used Photoshop for this, again this was quite tough as I had to experiment on what font I was going to use, what images I was going to include as I needed a variety and most importantly what I was going to write for my article to be entertaining. In the end, I managed to write up a complete draft of my article, covering more than one topic and adding quotes to connect with my target audience and be able to build a relationship with them. I then managed to choose a font to use for my article as my aim was to make it seem handwritten and give the impression it was informal and I achieved this as I was pleased with the outcome.
For my contents page, I continuously made changes to as I wasn't happy with the result. With my preliminary task, the contents page was easy and straightforward as the topics I wanted to cover were relatable to my target audience, however with my media product this was the opposite. Since I was basing it on a niche audience, I had to be specific and because I was covering new artists and bands I had to make sure the ones I chose were new within the pop industry as I had chosen 'Pop' for my music genre. I had to mimic real media products with the amount of pages I needed to include as most magazines had 50 or more pages and by having it any lower my media product wouldn't look like a real media product. As for the images, there need to be a variety and I was constantly stuck on what images to include as mine had a certain framework and I wanted to mimic the book 'If I Stay' for my inspiration to make it look different and unique than other media products. Manipulating this was challenging as I needed to crop and edit all the photos to make sure it was correct and aligned in the right places. I mainly used Photoshop to achieve this and used the skills I previously learnt when designing my front cover. I also added convergence into this to notify my target audience another method to connect with my media product.
Overall, I have learnt alot of skills during the whole process of making my media product from the preliminary task to the full product. I can now use Photoshop and Page Plus and be confident in what I am doing as I can edit images on Photoshop and use Page Plus to include texts, images and box outs for my media product. I have also done a large amount of research as shown on my main task on certain media products and the way they have been designed and presented as I have followed the codes and conventions of these real media products in order for mine to look professional. Not to mention, I know know how to use a Canon camera for photoshoots and produce clear and relevant images for media products and how the rule of thirds, the composition of images, props and backdrops are vital for my magazine as they are effective. Lastly, I know now that the leap from my preliminary task to my full product is much more difficult and different as real media products have a more complex concept.
28/04/2016
Looking back my preliminary task, I had very limited insight on how media products were made, why they had a massive impact on society and the codes and conventions of media products. However, gradually I slowly learnt all these; I even studied theories and studies on media users and institutions like Bauer Media Group to gain a better understanding and in the end I managed to attain most of the important key facts and statistics through my research.
For my product I was able to access various new technologies which opened up opportunities on how to show the journey of me making my full product and what I used to make my final and full product. For example, I was able to use Photoshop to edit my photos and turn them into polaroid photos. Without the use of Photoshop, I would've never been able to do this and make my magazine original and stand out from other ordinary music magazines. I also got the chance to work with my peers as a team and take different shots such as long shots, medium shots, close ups, extreme close ups and high angle shots. This shows I have a variety of shots, I haven't used the same angle again and again as it would look plain, repetitive and boring.
I have learnt how Maslow's hierarchy of needs audience theory and Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory is an important key knowledge in understanding my target audience and how important media products are for people today in society. I have applied this to my preliminary task, my main music magazine task and evaluation; they play an important role as they go into depth of the media users importance and how they effect institutions in today's generation.
For my main task, I have been able to use more editing options on Photoshop as I adjusted the brightness, how sharp I want the photo, the effects, the contrast, adjust the skin tone colour, how to blur photos etc. These have enabled me to know how to use Photoshop and how they have a big effect on how photo's look on magazines as the target audience want something bright and eye catching. With my main task, I have had more thought and progress as it is much more complex in constructing my final product as it needs to look realistic, professional and appealing to my target audience. Not to mention, my product needed to look intriguing so they would be persuaded to purchase the magazine. For my final product, I have had to do more research and analysed more magazines such as front covers, double page spread and contents page that are not only music magazines but other genres to show a range.
My front cover, contents page and double page I have had to take more time on them and needed more thought as it needed to suit the needs of my target audience. For my preliminary task, the target audience wasn't a niche audience, therefore I had to make sure that it would appeal to a range of people. For my main task, I was able to choose my target audience and focus on a niche audience if I wanted to. This gave me more of a clear idea on what I wanted my magazine to look like, regarding the layout, the style, the colours used and so forth. Although, I had a clear idea this did not make it easy as niche audiences are known to be more loyal I needed to be specific on how my magazine was going to look and what was going to be included. I made a survey for my target audience to answer as this would benefit me so I would be able to get their opinion on how my magazine should look in order to appeal them and suit their needs.
The layout for my final product was very different to my preliminary task as I need to make it look similar to a real media product and this took time and more thought. My front cover in my preliminary task used secondary images but in my final product I had to obtain primary images and I did this through the photo shoot, I spent 3 hours taking various photos to obtain multiple images. Images are vital for a music product as pictures say a thousand words. I did research on how images effect media products and social media in order to understand how images are important for my magazine, this would enable me to gain knowledge and ideas of how my magazine needed to appeal to my target audience. For example, Instagram is used for people to post images and Instagram has grossed to becoming one of the most downloaded apps on phones, this shows how convergence has made a massive impact to society as images are used to attract media users. It also a known fact that articles that includes images get 94% more total views, this fact just shows how vital images are and how I needed them to be eye catching, intriguing and interesting in order for my target audience to purchase and read the magazine.
(link: http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/05/28/6-powerful-reasons-why-you-should-include-images-in-your-marketing-infographic/)
Furthermore, for my magazine it was essential to include convergence to show that not just magazines ware the only way to communicate with the pop music fandom as there is a large majority of them that are prosumers, this is explained in question 4 in my evaluation page. Convergence is important as the power is in the hands of the audience as a mass rather than with individual audience members. By having a mass of audience, they can all come together connect on social media and ask questions to on social media about the magazine and they can be updated online than just the magazine as social media is now more accessible and digital age has emerged to becoming one of the important methods in advertising media products to audiences. This will enable my target audience to have an impact on the production and be a part of the production of my magazine as I can learn what appeals to them and what doesn't. For my preliminary task, I mostly focused on the local neighbourhood as my target audience needed to have heard of the school, however for my music magazine i was focusing on people all over the world and by using convergence I can be able to interact with them as many of them live in different countries.
For my double page I needed to make sure it was entertaining and in my preliminary task I never had to do a double page spread so it was my first time doing this section of my product, therefore I needed the public's opinion for this and I did this by carrying out a survey on survey monkey. I then analysed the results and carried out what the public wanted onto my double spread by including certain topics they wanted covered in order to keep it entertaining. For my double page spread I also needed to do some research as I never produced a double page, this was an advantage as I would need more time in order to know what to include, what most music magazines included, what the layout was like etc. However, it was difficult as all of them were different so I needed to think outside the box and do the same as not one of them were ever the same. I did a flat plan in order to plan my double page so I would have an idea of how the layout was going to look like. I used Photoshop for this, again this was quite tough as I had to experiment on what font I was going to use, what images I was going to include as I needed a variety and most importantly what I was going to write for my article to be entertaining. In the end, I managed to write up a complete draft of my article, covering more than one topic and adding quotes to connect with my target audience and be able to build a relationship with them. I then managed to choose a font to use for my article as my aim was to make it seem handwritten and give the impression it was informal and I achieved this as I was pleased with the outcome.
For my contents page, I continuously made changes to as I wasn't happy with the result. With my preliminary task, the contents page was easy and straightforward as the topics I wanted to cover were relatable to my target audience, however with my media product this was the opposite. Since I was basing it on a niche audience, I had to be specific and because I was covering new artists and bands I had to make sure the ones I chose were new within the pop industry as I had chosen 'Pop' for my music genre. I had to mimic real media products with the amount of pages I needed to include as most magazines had 50 or more pages and by having it any lower my media product wouldn't look like a real media product. As for the images, there need to be a variety and I was constantly stuck on what images to include as mine had a certain framework and I wanted to mimic the book 'If I Stay' for my inspiration to make it look different and unique than other media products. Manipulating this was challenging as I needed to crop and edit all the photos to make sure it was correct and aligned in the right places. I mainly used Photoshop to achieve this and used the skills I previously learnt when designing my front cover. I also added convergence into this to notify my target audience another method to connect with my media product.
Overall, I have learnt alot of skills during the whole process of making my media product from the preliminary task to the full product. I can now use Photoshop and Page Plus and be confident in what I am doing as I can edit images on Photoshop and use Page Plus to include texts, images and box outs for my media product. I have also done a large amount of research as shown on my main task on certain media products and the way they have been designed and presented as I have followed the codes and conventions of these real media products in order for mine to look professional. Not to mention, I know know how to use a Canon camera for photoshoots and produce clear and relevant images for media products and how the rule of thirds, the composition of images, props and backdrops are vital for my magazine as they are effective. Lastly, I know now that the leap from my preliminary task to my full product is much more difficult and different as real media products have a more complex concept.
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