Evaluation

Introduction
I have now completed the final product, I now plan to complete an evaluation of the final product, I plan to answer the following questions

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. How does the media product represent particular social groups?
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience for your media product? How did you address/attract your audience?
5. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
6. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I have decided on these questions as they will potentially answer the questions needed to make the task into a real media product, its audience and its distribution institution. I also wanted to evaluate myself and the process I went through as I feel by doing this If I do another project like this I can learn from the mistakes and make an overall better product.

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I think that my media product is fairly similar to existing media products that are currently on the market. My media product sticks with the typical conventions of a music magazine in the fact that I have a contents page and double page spread (typical features of a music magazine).

Front cover
I have also kept to the typical convention of the front cover, In the fact that I have one main cover image. The cover image also fits in with the genre of magazine that I have chosen which is really important as it needs to attract the target audience. I also made sure that the costume, facial expression and body language of the model all fit in with the genre of 'Hip Hop' as this is very important due to the fact that all existing magazines insist on the cover image matching their genre or target audience. I also decided against using props, even though some existing magazines use props I wanted my models facial expression to draw in the reader instead of the reader getting distracted by a prop.

I have also kept the masthead at the top of the page as I thought by going against this would make it stand out less which meant that it would be less of a  focus which isn't a good thing. I also made sure that font fit in with the genre I was aiming at, I did this because I wanted the front cover to be completely urban instead of everything being urban related and then the masthead to let the whole thing down. I also made sure that the name also linked in with the genre as having a magazine completely linked to urban then having a name like 'classic' would ruin the whole vibe and genre. I also wanted to follow in the footsteps of existing magazines such as 'vibe' as they are very much genre orientated.

  

Contents page
I have however gone against typical conventions on my contents page. This is due to the fact that a contents page generally has in-line square text that is easy to read and follow mine weaves in the shape of a vinyl so is not aligned in any way, however I have kept to the convention of having several sections on the contents page, this is due to the fact that it makes the contents page easier to follow and to find the article you would like to read more easily.

Existing magazines also traditionally have several pictures showing what is to come through the magazine. I didn't do any of this as I wanted to create something different and individual to that magazine as I thought this is something that could make the magazine recognisable if it was mass produced. I decided to only have one picture as by having one picture means that the focus is on that one picture instead of spread around between several pictures. I also think that several pictures work best if the text and pictures are aligned which mine are not. I also have incorporated images into the background so layering pictures on top would also take focus away from this.

I have also gone against conventions in the articles as I have included articles that aren't linked to music, Even though this is a music magazine I found out through my research that my target audience wanted real life stories so I have included them, this means that I can please my target audience and encourage them to buy the magazine (eg ....

Double page spread

In terms of my double page spread I have followed conventions in the fact that I have one main image that takes up one page and the artists name being a main focus, However I have gone against conventions as the image is usually on the left hand page I decided to go against this as I wanted the writing to follow on form one another but also wanted to have the 'Miss Fitz' next to the image and if that meant having the image on the opposite page this is what I was going to do.

I stuck to typical forms of having little images on the page as I felt that the page needed little images on it and they fit in well with the interview. I also didn't think that the main image was enough for the double page and also i wanted to have a double page spread that was similar to the basis of existing magazines and existing magazines generally have smaller images on the page

I also went against the typical background as I went for a very cluttered one I wanted the page to feel very colourful and hip hop so I decided to grasp this in the background. I really wanted the page to be more hip hop related through the background and more R&B related through the text and images, as by doing this I could merge the two culture together and get the mix of genres that I wanted for the magazine.

2. How does the media product represent particular social groups?
I decided to go for a hip hop/ R&B theme as these two groups are similar but different at the same time, They go well together so I wanted a magazine that could bring them together. I will talk through each of the pages that I created and how I have used the images to link in with these social groups

front page
The front cover links in with R&B/ urban more that hip hop, I wanted the front cover to be striking and daunting. this is why I decided the cover image to be urban and 'street'. Firstly I decided on the costume that the model was going to wear, I decided on a hoodie as this is something that I link with urban clothing. Then I decided on the shot type that i was going to do, I decided on a mid shot as I wanted most of the attention to be on the face. However I decided not to go for a close up as I still wanted focus on the outfit and body language.

I also conducted some research into the main images used on vibe's front cover and found that the shot type used and the body language was very similar to mine, this meant that my magazine had grasped the genre well and would be a contender against the existing magazine's front cover.

Contents page
I decided to go for more of a hip hop style for the contents page, I tried to grasp the culture of 'hip hop' through my own knowledge of it. I link music and 'decks' as a part of hip hop life, this is why I wanted to incorporate the vinyls into the contents page. I also decided to use an image of a break dancer, this is because I wanted to incorporate the hip hop side into the magazine and felt this was a good way to achieve this.

Double page spread
I used four images on my double page spread, I used one main image and three smaller images.

The main image is more R&B as I wanted to have a serious facial expression and a slouchy laid back body language. I also made sure that the t-shirt was colourful and slouchy as this is what my research came out with.

The smaller images
I went for more of a fun, artistic vibe for the smaller images as i wanted the little images to grasp the artist's personality and how they act when they are on tour as this is what the magazine is essentially about.

 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I conducted some research into IPC media as they are a very well known and widely used distribution company however they do not publish any hip hop music magazines this could be regarded as a positive or a negative, the positive is that I wouldn't have competing magazines being published by the same company as mine however this could mean that they wouldn't have the knowledge about R&B / Hip hop magazines which could put my magazine at a disadvantage against competing companies. I could also use Inter Media partners as they currently publish magazines such as 'Vibe' this means they would have knowledge on the genre of music that I am doing and would be experienced and would be able to help make the magazine successful however on the negative side I would have a competing magazine also being published by the same company ; however this could mean that the institution could make us both a very high standard so we would moth get a good chance in the market.



4. Who would be the audience for your media product? How did you address/attract your audience?

Evaluation ta

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I have addressed my target audience through the images that I have used as they are linked to Hip Hop or R&B through the body language and facial expressions. I have also tried to keep my audience happy through the articles that I have included due to the fact that they are all linked to hip hop music or hip hop / street culture. I have used my research, and through the opinions of my target audience I found out that the majority of them wanted real life stories and hip hop related topics, so I have included them in the issues as keeping my audience happy means it will encourage them to buy each issue.

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

Evaluation

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6. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I think that my preliminary task was quite basic as I was unsure about the technologies needed and the software that I needed to use. I had basic knowledge about what made a good photo and how to use photoshop. So I was unable to make a professional looking front cover due to my lack of knowledge. However after during the course of making my music magazine I was able to learn new skills and make an overall better magazine.

I felt that I have learnt how to use photoshop to a much better standard and have learnt what each of the tools do through trial and error. I had hardly ever used photoshop so have only used the basic tools before, so by experimenting with the tolls I was able to see what I could create and then I was able to understand the type of product that I would be able to create using that software

During my preliminary task I also used the in-built text tool on photoshop; this meant that there wasn't alot of choice and there wasn't genres of text. Through using a search on google i was able to find http://www.dafont.com/ this gave me a site which had text that linked with certain genres and gave me much better text for the music magazine

I also learned how to use a camera more effectively, I decided that I wouldn't conduct any research as I wanted to find out what I could create not what everyone else has already created. I took over 50 photos as I wanted to try out all the different functions on my camera, this way I could find the best setting for the types of images I was attempting to take. compared to the preliminary task where I took all the photos in the same setting and only took around 12 photos in total. I learnt that it was better to take more photos as by taking more there is more likely yo be a photo that works well.

I also learnt about the lighting of an image. with the preliminary task I just took photos without thinking about the lighting. I learnt that lighting was a significant part of a photo through the failure of the first set of images. this meant that I took a lot more care and thought into the lighting of the images which helped me to create a better product.

I have learnt a lot through the course of these tasks and have learnt a lot about the practical side but also what happens behind the scenes to create a magazine and about the distribution of magazines. This helped me widen my knowledge of existing magazines and helped me to create an overall better product.





I am really happy with the overall product and I think that it is of a professional standard, and could potentially be sold alongside existing magazines, and through the response of the target audience I believe that the magazine would also sell well.

Feedback from my target audience

Introduction
I am now going to conduct another survey using http://www.surveymonkey.com/ to get feedback from my target audience of how well they think the magazine has gone.

This is the survey that I created

Click here to take survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LKVL668

These are the questions that I asked

1. How well do you think the magazine had gone overall?
2. How well do you think the magazine fits in with its genre?
3. Do you think that the articles are appropriate and something you would like to read?
4. do you think that the images are effective?
5. Which page do you think is most effective and why?
6. is there anything about the magazine that you would change? and why?

I have found out that my target audience are really happy with my magazine, they said that they thought that the images worked well and had come out well. I found out that they also thought that the magazine tied in well with the genre of music magazine that I was trying to target. They also said that they also thought that they would read all of the articles that I included, I wanted to ask this question as I didn't really know if the articles were what they would like to read as I took a big risk. Each person said that they liked different pages for different reasons for example, one person said they liked the contents page because it differs from existing contents pages. I also asked if the would change anything about the magazine as I wanted their opinion so that if I made another magazine I could learn form them. I was told that the price needed to stand out more as it was unnoticeable at the moment, I was also told that the interview on the double page spread needed to be longer as it was too short and "readable in seconds".

I conducted this to find out if my magazine was successful and the results have confirmed this, even though there were a few things that they would have done differently, I think that it has been successful and of a professional standard.

Completed magazine

Here is my completed magazine in order of the pages, I think that the magazine has come out very well, and fits in with the genre of magazine that I chose.

creating the magazine - double page spread

Introduction
Finally I am going to create the double page spread for the magazine. this is the final page that I am going to create and it will contain several of the images that I chose. The double page spread is about a current artist called 'belle' and her profile and a comment about her on tour.

The first thing that I started with was the background I took a picture of a wall however the image was really dark and I wanted a reddish wall. I tried to brighten the image and change the colour scales however this made it look worse. I decided that it would be better to use an existing image as this way I would be able to find an image of a red wall. I then pasted the image into photoshop and copied it twice this way when I stretched the image the wall wouldn't be out of proportion with the main image. I also wanted to have some graffiti on the wall to give it that urban edge and to make the wall seem less boring. I searched around my local area however the graffiti that i found was either of poor quality or of an offencive nature so I couldn't use it. Again I had to turn to the Internet for the image however in this case I found an image in black and white and I coloured the image myself so it was slightly differed from the original so it was just copying.

Next I moved onto the main image. I was still unsure about the main image that I was going to use so I thought that it would be best to try both of the images to see which worked best on the page and as a larger image...

 ...after trying both images I have seen that the image stood up looks better than the one of the model sat down. This is due to several reasons such as when the model is stood up she is the full focus of the page (which I found out in my market research was important to the customer) where as when she is sat down she is not as easily seen and not the main focus. Secondly the one where the model is sat down has the edge of the knees chopped off. so it had to be put right against the edge which made it even less noticeable. When the sat down picture is used more focus is on the background as this shouldn't be like this.

Next I proceeded with adding the smaller images, I really wanted the page to look like the hip hop artist herself had made it so I wanted to include Polaroid photos of her 'on tour' I took a plain Polaroid image from off Google and pasted the image into photo shop 3 times. I then rotated the images to make them look less neat as this is more urban than classical. I layered my own images over the top of the Polaroid images. I took out the backgrounds of the images so that the images that I took looked more like Polaroid images.

The next stage was to add the article. I didn't like the idea of just adding the text onto the wall as this made the background seem pointless. The side with the image looked like she was really stood there and the Polaroids look as thought they have been stuck to the wall. adding the text will ruin the illusion of the wall and graffiti being real. So I decided to add a poster onto the wall with some tape on either side to make the wall seem real and as if the poster and article were stuck to the wall. 

This is the magazine by this point

All I need to do now is add the main content which is the interview with 'Belle'. I will also sort out the minor issues such as the backgrounds of the smaller images. I will either have to make them fully black (as they are currently 2 shades of black) or add in particular backgrounds such as a stage or a wall.

Finally I decided to write the article, I decided that I would ask one of my friends who are interested in hip hop music to play the role of 'Miss Fitz' and I asked them some questions and they answered them, This then gave me my interview to put on the double page spread.

This is the completed double page spread

creating the magazine - contents page

Introduction
I am now going to create the contents page for the music magazine. I plan to create the contents page with the image of the guy break dancing as I think that this will look good down the side of the table of contents. In this section of my blog I am going to explain each of the steps I did to make the finished page.

The first thing that I started with was the image. I chose the image of the guy doing a handstand as I wanted a hip hop image compared the front cover, this was they would differ meaning that the front cover would really stand out. I began by putting the image into photo shop and adjusting the size and brightness of the image. by doing this it made a clearer picture and a picture that fit better in the space I had picked out for it.

Next I moved onto the font of the 'Contents'. again I used http://www.dafont.com/ as there are hundreds of different fonts to choose from and a specific section for urban type fonts, which is exactly what I am looking for. I just took a screen shot of the text and pasted this into photo shop, all I had to do was remove the background (using the magic wand tool) and the text was then finished.

This is what the contents page looked like at this point.

I then added a CD/Vinyl as I wanted something to put the cover lines on, I then added the cover lines. However the contents almost looked half finished so I decided to change my idea, I firstly changed the font of ' contents' as I really didn't like the previous font. I decided to go for a bolder font, and to add a red glow like on the front cover to create continuity through the magazine.

However I still didn't think the contents was effective as it still looked half finished and the red didn't work well as it was a severe contrast to the front cover. I decided that I would add more cover lines and change the colour from red to blue.

I firstly added another vinyl to the bottom corner and shrunk the image down to a smaller size and perched this on top of the vinyl. This meant that I had more space for cover lines and they wouldn't all be squished onto one vinyl. Also by having 2 vinyls meant that I would be able to have different sections to the contents page which most existing contents pages have.

I then created the separate sections, I had; this issue, the big gig guide, latest and next weeks issue. this meant that the contents page would look more ordered and not half finished.

I didn't like all of the writing in blue as I took focus away from the section headings and the masthead. so I changed all of the articles into a white font instead as this would be easier to read and would help the masthead and headings to stand out more.

I also decided to add a picture in the bottom corner as I felt the contents needed more pictures. however it looked out of place, so I decided to have a turn the age effect and to have the page turning over to reveal part of the image, This made the picture look a lot better and it also filled to empty space in the bottom right hand corner.

This is the finished contents page

Creating the magazine - front cover

Introduction
I am now going to create the front cover of my magazine, I plan to use the image of the boy with the green hoodie as it is very urban and eye catching. I am now going to discuss how I created the front cover in photo shop and explain how and why I used each of the tools to create the final document.

Firstly I started by photo shopping the cover image, All I did was use the 'rubber' tool and 'magic wand' tool in order to get rid of the background of the picture. I did this because the background of the picture wasn't thought out and the background was of a busy street and a garden which isn't urban so I had to take this out. I also played around with the contrast and brightness tool in order to make the picture brighter, this was really important to do as the facial expression was not easy to see and this needs to be seen.

Next I added a background of the chain link fence. this was more urban than the old background so fits in well with the genre. I took the image from the Internet as I took a picture of a chain link fence but to get the background out of the picture I had to put a piece of paper being the fence, This in turn meant that I had to zoom right into the picture so the fence was out of proportion to the model which looked really bad and unprofessional. so I took the image from the Internet instead and this looked a lot better as it was in proportion with the main image.

Then I added the font that I decided to use after the research. I found the font on http://www.dafont.com/ I just typed in the text that I wanted included and then took a print screen of the font. I then changed the size and the colour on photo shop using the fill tool and scale tool. I really wanted a graffiti style font and this site gave me exactly what I wanted.
This is what the front cover looked like at this point.

I then decided to add another colour to the masthead as I thought this would help it to stand out, I just added a colour outline effect and that added a blue colour around the back, after moving it around I was able to make it look 3D and it was really effective.

Next I added all of the articles around the side of the image. I used http://www.dafont.com/ to get the correct font and then added added each one by one. I also changed the colour to be black as I thought this looked better than the white. I also added a small Eminem picture as I was giving away a free poster so the image I meant to look like that poster. I also hand wrote 'Miss Fitz' as I wanted it to be as if she had written her own signature.

I also decided to change the price and the subheading' into blue font as I wanted these to stand out against the articles as I wanted them to be read first.

This is the finished front cover



Photoshoot take 2

Introduction
I decided to re-do the photo shoot as I was unhappy with how the first photo shoot turned out. I decided to try and do exactly the same type of photo's with the same models and clothing as they turned out well on the other photo's but I really watched how the lighting was working to see if the images actually came out.

The photo's

I took over 50 photos as I wanted to have a range of different photos to choose from and having more photos means that one is more likely to work.

here are all of the photos I took.

The chosen photos

I am now going to show the photos I decided to use for the magazine and I will explain why I am going to use them.

I would like to use this image on the double page spread as I would like to have a profile on a current artist. This image works as the microphone is very clear which suggests a singer or in this case a rap artist. Her jewellery is very clear which it should be for a rap artist. I also really like the facial expression as it is serious for a rap artist but also a little smirk suggests a fun hip hop side which is what I wanted for the artist. I also like the fact that she is looking straight at the camera as her eyes draw in the reader. however there are also negatives to the photo due to the fact that her knees are cut off which means that it will have to be placed against the side of the page so that it won't look too odd. Also her outfit isn't really visible so her hip hop jeans and shoes aren't visible which means that if people don't read the article she may not be seen as a hip hop artist but more like someone with a microphone.

I want to use this image on the double page spread, I will either use the image as a back-up main image in case the other one doesn't work or I will use it as a smaller image on the page. I like this image as it is very forceful and urban rather than the fun hip hop ones. I think that the image will work well as the artist as she has a very 'full of herself' stance. Also the microphone is still vi sable so it is clear that she is a singer/ rap artist. Again her jewellery is visible which is good. I like this image and will definitely use it somewhere in the magazine.

I would like to use this as the cover image. as it is very R&B and urban which is the type of image that I want. I will have to take out the background in order for the image to be effective as the location wasn't where I planned it to be. I will take some photos of a location such as the skate park and I will use photo shop to place the image in, this way the image will fit in with the genre better.

I am going to use this image on the contents page as I think it will look really good down the side of the contents page I wanted the image to be more hip hop as there are a lot of urban images that I am using so I would like something different for the contents page.

  I am going to use this image on the double page spread as this image is as if she is performing and the article is going to be called 'on tour with....' so this image fits in well.

I am going to use this image on the double page spread as it is as if she is getting ready to go on stage. it is also very relaxed with is urban and in this picture you can see the full outfit which was very important to me to have as I spent time planning the outfit so it needed to be included somewhere. 

Conclusion

These are the images that I plan to use in my magazine. I think that they will be very effective and all fit in well with the genre. I will have to manipulate the images in order to make them more effective. I will do this using photo shop.