Rob Wilson AS media coursework blog 2016: As

Showing posts with label As. Show all posts

Monday, 18 April 2016

Note to the examiner

Throughout this media process I have learnt a variety of skills involving technology and new computer programmes that will help in the future. I have also improved my skills within organisation and planning as I needed to have everything in place so it is ready for the deadline of our coursework and so I had to ensure that each task was completed which has helped me understand the planning and process of work like this. Thank you for taking the time to asses my blog I hope you enjoy it.

Finished magazine

This is my completed music magazine from the task given to us. Please click onto the images for a better view.

Preliminary magazine

This is my preliminary task that involved me making a magazine for my school/college and this was the first time that I have used the camera and studio, It was also the first time that I have used the

computer software.

Monday, 11 April 2016

Dismantled magazine

Dismantled magazine from Rob Wilson

Sunday, 10 April 2016

Final photographs

Here I have made a few mood boards/collages to show some of the photos that I have taken for my music magazine. I have chosen the best photos that I took to be in these mood boards and overall I took 187 photos. This allowed me to have the best chance of having decent photos for my magazine.

Wednesday, 23 March 2016

Evaluation activity 7 - Draft

Evaluation activity 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I felt I have made a large amount of progression since when I first did my magazine to now. I felt that my Photoshop skills have improved a large amount and I feel confident when using programmes similar to this now. I feel confident in using the different tools to create different effects and to make different styles for my magazine. I feel I have improved my knowledge on mise en scene and how important this is in order to produce a magazine as I realise now that there has to be a co-ordination with the clothing and that certain backgrounds can have different effects on the reader and how that they relate to the magazine. I felt that my camera work has improved as I know of a lot of shots that I can use to take for my magazine and that the shots of the artist can have a impact on peoples view on the magazine.

(im planning on having a moodboard of some of my shots also im not 100% sure what to talk about in this question and how much I need to cover each point)

Evaluation activity 6 - Draft

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

There are a variety of skills that I have learnt throughout this project within my media coursework that I have found very helpful and that has helped me produce the media product that I wanted to. The equipment I have used I would not normally be able to use due to costs and availability and so I have tried to use as much of the equipment as possible in order for me to achieve a good quality product and so I can maximise my skill range in this project for later life.

For the majority of my project I have used Blogger which is a service that allows you to post work so that others can see such as teachers. It has been really good to use and I have learnt that I can use websites like this to produce work that I have done. I have been able to post the majority of stages of my work onto this so that I can clearly see my progression in this project. https://www.blogger.com/

To be able to use the online social networking website Blogger I was required to use the website Scribd in order for me to upload documents. I have learnt how to embed files and adjust the codes so that the size of the file is smaller to fit my blog. This website was very helpful as it allowed me to upload lots of files to present my work to teachers and others. https://www.scribd.com/

I have learnt to use the programme Survey Monkey which allowed me to question my class mates and my target audience and it also produced the data that I required so this was a skill that I learnt as I can now present this information easily to others.

Photoshop- This was the most important computer programme that I have used throughout this process it allowed me to create my magazine by adding images, creating a background, moving images and adding text. This programme basically built my magazine from start to finish. This programme was very hard to use but by the end of the project I found it very easy to use and very comfortable to use. Using this programme has allowed me to use another skill that I will defiantly use in the future. I had to use this programme on the computers at school as I could not get this programme at home. Using this software allowed me to be more creative during the designing process and it also allowed me to give a good finish to my product as it allowed me to align text and images to very precise measurements.

Camera- The camera that I have used was the school camera and it was a very good camera to use I really learnt a lot from this as I have learnt what sort of mise en scene I need to consider when taking a photo such as the background and it also taught me that I need to consider outfits so that they co-ordinate with the other models, I have learnt a variety of techniques since using the camera and different angles that I can use when using the camera. When using the camera it allowed me to think of what sort of shots I needed for my magazine and taught me to think ahead and plan for my magazine.

Tripod- I used this tripod so that I could get a good photo without the camera moving which cause the photo to become blurry so I learnt the ways to adjust the tripod to suit the camera and angles that I was after such as portrait and landscape shots.

Studio- I have learnt how to set up a studio to take a photoshoot, I learnt how to set up lighting and what sort of lighting is best for a photoshoot and also what lighting produces the best photos and what effects it has on the images. I have learnt how to organise my models on the background so that I can get a good photo.

Photos will be added for final version

Evaluation activity 5 - Draft

Evaluation activity 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Front page-

To attract my customers and my audience I have used bright colours to make my magazine stand out also it has a link to nightclubs as there is usually bright lights and so I thought that this may have a connection for my magazine. I have used a similar pose to the Mixmag that I used as inspiration as if my target audience are buying this then it must be relevant to the audience and they must find it appealing if they are buying the issue. I also used a smart layout for my front cover as I thought that if it looked presentable then this would be a good selling point. The font that I used was blocked and this was relevant to my magazine and my audience as looking at other magazines they all generally use bold fonts that will stand out. I also went for a clear layout with the pink texts as I saw on my Mixmag copy that they usually used bright coloured texts and I thought that this would be a good idea for my magazine. I wanted my magazine to be different other magazines available as I think some can look scruffy with all the bright colours used so I wanted to use a different style that not many magazines other that was quite bland but still was appealing. To attract my audience I mentioned artists related to my genre that are also big names within my genre so that it stood out to my audience. I also wanted my magazine to adapt a modern look so that it fitted in the shop well.

Contents page-

I also took some inspiration from Mixmag contents page and how it was also laid out in Mixmag they use a double page so I used a similar layout for a single page as I wanted it to be different to Mixmag. The layout I went for was a formal layout that was very organised and clear for the audience to be able to read without being bored or finding it too colourful. I also used a similar colour scheme to my front cover so the magazine co-ordinated well. The font I used was similar to my front cover in a sense that it was smart and still blocked so that it was clear and looked good. The artist that I used within my contents and also the other headings were related to my genre so this would appeal to my audience and it would also attract them to purchase this magazine. I also used two images so that it would look good and not look boring for the audience. I thought this was key as my audience would most likely want to see photos and action of gigs and artists.

Double page-

For my double page spread I used two photos as previously mentioned my target audience would most likely prefer to see photos rather than text and also after looking at Mixmag’s double page they used 1 large image that interacted with the audience and it also looked interesting on the page so I decided to use two photos of my artists so that the audience did not get bored when looking at my magazine. For my texts I have used columns so it red easier on the page and so it looked better in line with the pictures. I decided to use a question and answer format for my article as I wanted to use a chatty, informal style with my audience and I also thought that this would appeal to them the most as they are interacting with the article and also learning more about the artist. I also followed my colour scheme onto this page as well as I thought it looked smooth and it co-ordinated well on the page.

Evaluation activity 4 - Draft

Who would be the audience for your media product?

After looking into my target market and what social groups that I am aiming to appeal too I have a good idea of what sort of interests and brands my social groups are likely to like, I have also looked into what sort of lifestyles they may have. I am aiming to appeal to both genders as I feel this music category can be liked by lots of people. My age range can be a variety and can have a broad range but I decided to choose between 18-25 year olds as I thought that this age would be the most likely to go to concerts and gigs that involve artists within this genre, I aimed to appeal to the majority of people in this genre but I thought that this age group would be most suitable for my magazine style and the context that is in the magazine. Another contributing factor to why I chose this target audience is because their lifestyle will be very busy as people of this age could be at university so they would have to live cheaply but they are likely to go out with their friends to clubs and gigs which involves these genres of music that I am styling my magazine on. The problem with these gigs and concerts is that they may require a minimum age which is usually 18 so that there can be alcohol consumed legally by the customers and so this limits the amount of people I am aiming to appeal to as anyone under this age may not be able to go to these festivals or gigs so they will be less likely to purchase this magazine as it will not relate to them. The reason to why I chose to end my target audience at 25 is because this is a age where people start to find long term jobs and have to save money for other expenses such as rent, mortgage and tax so I thought that they would be unlikely to spend as much money on concerts as they would have and so this magazine may not appeal to them.

After researching what sort of people would fit into my target audience I found a suitable match to describe them on the website www.uktribes.com/ this is the definition and explanation of my target group- Chavers are all about the big night out – drugs, booze, dancing and getting smashed with their mates! With commercial EDM (Electronic Dance Music – think Calvin Harris) dominating the charts in recent years and festivals popping up in cities all over the UK and Europe; the Chavers are alive and one of the most familiar stereotypes of UK youth culture. A friendly, down to earth Tribe that will spend big on a holiday over everyday essentials, the Chavers (especially the live-for-the-weekend students compared to the music-junkies) are much more welcoming than the name suggests.(www.uktribes.com/). This definition proves that my social group like to go out and party but they are usually young and like to have a good time. We see that they mention students and so my magazine will have to fit in with this and that’s why I’m charging an average price of £3.99 for my magazine as they it will not be seen as too expensive. I also made a survey to check if my price was reasonable and we saw that 85% of people said they would be prepared to pay between £3 - £3.99.

My audience as previously mentioned are most likely to be young and so they are likely to participate in sporting activities and this would be a key interest within this social group, due to the age range some of my social group could still be in education or at university and so this would take up most of their time so maybe going out partying or to gigs would be a interest for them as they may not get as much spare time to relax. If they are university this may cost a lot of money so it would limit how much they would spend shopping but they would like brands like these Fred Perry, Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, Adidas, Nike, Supreme, Calvin Klein, Carhartt, Converse , Obey. This is all urban clothing that is popular amongst this generation and what is in fashion at the moment, my social group would also like upcoming brands.

(I am planning to have a branding mood board for both genders). (I am also going to add 2 profiles for an average member of my target audience so that it is clear who I am aiming at.

Saturday, 19 March 2016

Evaluation activity 3 - Draft

Script:

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A publishing company has the role and responsibility of creating information for the general public to view in a variety of ways such as newspapers and in my case magazines. A publisher can be a variety of people such as the author for example, usually larger companies will hire out staff specifically to produce their product to the public. A publisher has a large task of making the magazine a success as they can manage the business operations and also to make sure that there is high quality content available. Some of the skills required to be a publisher for a magazine company is that the publisher should have a good knowledge on what is available on the current marketplace and what is considered good and bad my the public so that they are likely to have a success with their production. The publisher has to usually hire a team of staff which can include members of staff such as photographers, writers and editors to help create the product they are aiming to sell to the general public. In my case I had to complete these roles myself by taking photos, writing articles for the double page spread and also editing any work that maybe considered bad or needed adapting to make it better. Obviously if our magazines were going to be sold on the market place the publisher would hire a advertisement team which will advertise the media product to raise the chances that the product will be a success.

After doing some research into production companies and institutions I decided on a production company that would most likely publish my media product, I chose to use the company ‘Development Hell ltd’ the main contributing factor to why I chose this company was due to the fact that they also publish for Mixmag which is the magazine that I took inspiration from and Mixmag is the most popular magazine within my genre of music amongst my social group and so I thought that they would be relevant to produce my magazine as they have ahd experience in producing magazines within my genre. The company also have good experience within the magazine industry as they were reincorporated in 2001 which gives them 15 years of experience in publishing magazines. The company is also based within London which is helpful for my magazine as it is made in Britain and this means that it breaks down transportation costings for my magazine. If I was to publish my magazine to the public this company would have the job in making sure the magazine would be produced to a quality standard and by completing tasks such as writing articles and editing the magazine if any problems arose.

The distribution of magazines is key as this is how much the product is sold, and how many copies are viewed. There are several ways that a magazine can be distributed such as online and by being printed which is a common theme although with advances in technology this could change and result in more companies distributing their magazine online so that it is made available to more people around the world as the internet is a very popular source used in everyday life. Within distribution there are 3 main circulation categories which are paid circulation, non-paid circulation and controlled circulation, paid circulation is where a person buys a issue of a magazine whether that be a subscription or a single payment. Non-paid circulation is where there is not a price for the magazine and it can be viewed for free examples of this could be magazines on planes and the way these companies make money is through advertising of other companies such as fashion companies. Finally there is controlled circulation which is magazines that are very specific and are controlled by industry for people who are qualified to read them and this is likely to be found in places of work where the staff may require it to perform their job such as a warehouse. My magazine would fit into the paid circulation figure category as it is being produced monthly for a cost. My distribution company would be Development Hell as previously mentioned they publish and distribute Mixmag which is what magazine I took inspiration from. They have a variety of links which retailers in order for these magazine to reach my social groups and shops that would most likely sell this magazine to the public.

To produce my magazine I would have to require funding from a company to ensure that I have the correct equipment available to use for my magazine and that it can be distributed correctly otherwise if I have no funding it will not be distributed as much as it could be. Some magazines rely on advertisement within their magazine to get money to create profit but to also fund the magazine itself. If I was to publish my magazine to the public this would be the way that I would get funds to keep producing my magazine. Also after the sales of my magazine I would be able to use these funds to ensure that I have money to produce other issues. If people have a subscription to my magazine then this would bring in funding for my magazine as well, the price I have chosen to charge for my magazine is reasonable within the current market but it also leaves room for profits and money to be reinvested within the company itself. My production company would also provide funding for my magazine to be produced but they would take some of the profits to replace their funding in the long term. There will be gigs that want support from our magazine and they may want advertising for these gigs, interviews with artists performing at the gigs so they may provide money for my company.

Thanks for listening.