Note to examiner

To Examiner,

throughout the course I have learnt many new skills and especially the importance of time management. By doing this course I have been able to develop my skills to create a final media product which I enjoyed making and I hope you enjoy viewing.

Thank You
Charles Timms

Final Magazine Design

Preliminary Magazine

Evaluation 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?

My magazines vary hugely because I have learnt more skills, techniques and conventions over time which will have increased the quality of later magazines compared to older versions. The skills I have learnt since the preliminary completely change the look and style of my magazine designs for the best.

Mise en scene and camera work

Firstly looking at the framing you can see the huge improvement, the College magazine has the subject too far back leaving far too much white space however the Vine's subject is closer and makes for a more interesting looking magazine. White space makes the reader think subconsciously that the magazine is not as full and therefore not worth buying another reason against having the subject framed improperly and in this case too far away is that the reader does not see the subject's features well and would not feel as much of a connection with them. Secondly since the preliminary magazine I have learnt a lot about mise en scene and how to style my model the right way. The preliminary magazine's model was photographed in his own clothes that he happened be wearing however I learnt that this can cause problems as the clothes may not be right for the genre I am shooting for which in this case is indie/alternative. In my final magazine I chose a dark green parka for my subject to wear because it is alternative and would attract the right audience. I chose a second outfit for him too which was a shirt for the contents page and a jumper for the double page spread these were all indie outfits. I learnt from looking at other magazines to vary the models clothing to keep the content original and interesting rather than the same thing from different angles. The backgrounds on my magazines vary hugely, my preliminary magazine uses a very simple white background and my final magazine uses a black background with stars on top to make it look like the model is in space. The simple white background is boring unless it is filled with something else and all of the pictures used in the preliminary magazine have white backgrounds making the whole thing rather boring to look at and could lose the readers attention however once I had researched other successful magazines I realised I needed to vary the setting more to keep the readers attention. In my final magazine I used different settings which made the magazine a lot more interesting and more balanced rather than just black and white with very limited colour. I decided that using limited colours was the best idea, the black and white with the red/burgundy colour on top drew the readers attention to the most important information. Next I changed the lighting more often rather than just using the studio and the light boxes to get a perfect lighting effect I used natural light in some pictures to get a more natural look to the magazine and to give a certain feeling to a band for example if the band/artist are more peaceful and innocent looking I would take a picture around nature however if the band is more 'hardcore' I would use a more urban setting which is a bit darker and harsher. The poses my models used have changed very slightly as I have learnt how much this can change the look and perception of the artist, as you can see on the 'College' magazine the subject has a slight smirk which makes him seem more playful and would not be taken as seriously however my final magazine model is completely serious so he would be taken seriously as an artist and because he is playing to a persona. On my first magazine the photoshop skill was not very good as the spot healing brush was used improperly and made the subjects skin look unnatural however the final magazine uses the spot healing tool well and although the skin still looks slightly unrealistic it is far better than the first attempt. I learnt a lot about using photoshop in the time making these magazines and I believe it shows through in the final piece.

Preliminary photos above and final pictures below

Text layout and other graphics
The magazines vary hugely in how they are presented, the text layout makes a huge difference in the look and general feel of the magazine. My preliminary magazine uses a more hectic and full cover page style which uses different sizes of text as well as different colours. The way the text is lay out is not perfectly aligned on purpose to give the magazine a hectic look which also makes it look full which makes readers think the magazine is full of content. I got the hectic look partly from NME's cover pages and the rest was my original idea, I chose not to bring this to my final magazine because I wanted to follow convention and have a more simplistic magazine that would suit my target market. My final magazine uses simple style which I learnt how to make by researching other indie/alternative music and fashion magazines. On my contents pages I learnt that I needed to make my final version more busy and interesting which I think I managed well however the preliminary contents page is very poor and looks unprofessional.

Evaluation 6

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

Camera
For the photographs I used the Canon 1100D it produced the best image. The test images I took with it were impressive with great quality and a crisp look. The impressive images indicated that I should use the camera for my final photo shoot which will be crucial to the success of my magazine because if the images are poor customers will not want to buy the magazine. I had to find the right settings to get the right look I wanted and I also decided I could get a better picture by taking it portrait for the cover page so there is less white space wasted.

Lighting and other
For some of my pictures I used artificial lighting to get the best effect and light the subject nearly perfectly. I used two or three light boxes depending on the effect I was going for. I used a white background to make the models stand out more on the front of the magazine and to make it easier to cut the subject out from the background in Photoshop.

Photoshop
I used Adobe Photoshop CS6 and CC to make my magazine. My photo editing skills were definitely improved by the continued use of the program and I got better and faster. I learnt how to cut out pieces of images such as people with different tools; how to use layers; how to improve how pictures look and using fonts the right way. I learnt how to use nearly all the tools on offer and feel like I improved on what I knew before I started this project.

Online sites and other programs
I used many different websites and programs to produce my magazine. Firstly I used Blogger to create my coursework blog where I put everything I have done and used as well as research to show in an easily accessible way. I used iMovie to make a pitch for my magazine which I had not used properly before so it was very educational using it. I uploaded my pitch to YouTube, I had never uploaded or used YouTube from the creator end before so this was a good learning curve. I used Google to find images and research as well as finding fonts with Google Fonts or 1001 Fonts. Finally I used UK Tribes which was brilliant for helping me work out which groups to target and which not to.

Pictures of me using the studio to take photos

Evaluation 5

Evaluation 4

Evaluation 4
Some of the text may appear out of alignment as uploading the powerpoint has changed the framing.

Evaluation 3

Evaluation 2

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS? 

Evaluation 2 was produced as a magazine double page spread on Photoshop:

Evaluation 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)

For the masthead of my magazine 'The Vine' I used the font Hattenschweiller which is already on the school computers. The font is very big and bold so that it captures the interest of potential readers, this convention is used very often with all magazines seen in shops. I chose to use the name "The Vine" because of a number of reasons firstly it is linked to the saying 'I heard it through the grape vine' meaning to hear something from someone that has been passed from person to person by word of mouth which could be confidential or secret, The Vine passes information about small indie bands and artists which justifies the name. The second reason is because grape vines have many grapes on them just as 'The Vine' has many different articles and different pieces of information. My target audience like to find new indie bands and artists so the name felt apt for them. My masthead is similar to magazines such as 'NME', 'The Fly' and 'Vibe' which are all also very big and bold and catch the eye of the consumer. My masthead is the second most obvious object on the page behind the main picture of the artist. I chose to make my magazine very simple to cater for my target audience who tend to like a minimalist look.

    

The graphology of my front cover is extremely simple. I only used three fonts one for the masthead; one for the subtitles and one for any other text. The fonts I use are Hattenschweiller, Rockwell and Helvetica they are all very simple but on a varying scale. The masthead font is very simple and bold; the subtitle font (Rockwell) is a serif font so is slightly more interesting and draws the eye of the reader; Finally I use the Helvetica font because it is a simple sans serif font that the reader will read after the masthead and subheadings however I did also use it for headings on the cover as it went well with the rest of the page. I used white for all my text on the cover because the background is black, this contrast makes the text pop out on the page which catches the eye of the reader. All of the information the reader needs to know is placed well and in white so that they can see it such as price, date and issue number. Next I placed the other information the reader needs to know, a brief show of the contents. This is placed towards the bottom of the page in a simple font that is practical and easy to read. This is so the consumer can see at a glance what is in the magazine, the artist's names on the front can attract people. The picture of the subject is placed centrally above the masthead but behind the subtitles. This is because the picture needs to be as big and as interesting as possible to gain the attention of readers.

Costumes, props, iconography used to reflect genre

The pictures taken in my magazine have a specific look to attract the target audience. The costumes used are relatively indie, the subject is wearing a knitted jumper and basic dark blue skinny jeans with a silver watch. These items of clothing would be considered indie and attract the target audience because they could either already dress like that or aspire to. On the cover page the subject 'Beanboozled' is wearing green parka coat which is considered indie. The subject's haircut is also specifically chosen because the swept back top and short sides is currently in fashion. The artists clothes are always very simple and make the reader concentrate on his face more than the costume, this is so they remember how his face looks. The colours the model wore are quite dark which contrasts the white text especially on the front cover as well as making the model pop out on the double page spread because the background is white.

The camera work and framing of the images is relatively simple. The cover page image is a mid shot of the model with eye contact, this creates an intense image which can catch the eye of the reader by looking into the subjects eyes which have been captured well because there was good lighting when the picture was take so the colour is really brought out in his eyes. The double page spread's main picture does not have eye contact because it did not need to pull in the reader in the same way a cover would need to gain the attention of potential buyers however it still has to be interesting. The shot is a slightly further back mid shot shows the model's legs as well as his torso, this is to show more of his clothing which is interesting to some readers making the magazine cater for a few different readers. 

The title of my magazine is the name of the artist 'Beanboozled' this is a convention I am using because a lot of magazines do this with famous artists names to gain the attention of the potential reader/buyer. Examples of the use of artists names to get attention are everywhere for example I have taken the front cover of 'Loud and Quiet' magazine, as you can see it uses Katy B's name in a big font to get attention. I used the Rockwell font because it stands out and is interesting which again will gain the attention of the reader. The article seen above was published by 'Q' and I decided to use the large watermark letter in my double page spread, I also tried to copy the way the picture is but I left too much white space around the subject making the page look empty. Next time I would zoom into the subject more. The header I used challenges convention because it curves with the B. The fonts I used varied Rockwell is quite fancy and good for titles however it is hard to read if it was to be used for articles so I used a simple font for the paragraphs this is using a convention.

The genre is Indie/alternative this is shown in a lot of ways in my magazine. For a start the simple cover page only uses white for the text and only has limited text, this is because I am aiming for an audience that enjoy simplistic stylish magazine covers. Other magazines in the same genre such as Loud and Quiet and The Fly use the same style. My contents page fits the indie genre by mostly using black and white apart from the pieces I really want the reader to look at first.

The artists in my magazine are represented in different ways, Beanboozled (the main artist) is seen in his pictures as very confident because of his image he is trying to portray. The way the model is stood and his general body language indicates the confidents. Beanboozled's portrayal matches how bands such as the Arctic Monkeys are portrayed, in quite a serious light. However The 'Arctic Roses' are portrayed more naturally and in a slightly 'weird' way so they are more relatable and seem like normal people to the reader, which challenges convention in most cases. Magazines have used this technique but it's rarer than the serious look.

The colour scheme I decided to go with was nearly completely black and white because this fits the genre of indie music and the target market enjoy this style of simplicity. This colour scheme develops the convention of indie/alternative music magazines for example Loud and Quiet uses this simple colour scheme. I chose to use yellow on the contents page so readers would naturally go to the yellow parts first which are the most important. Finally I made the double page spread black and white with a green 'B' for Beanboozled, I did this because the page was too dull and needed some colour to make it more interesting for the reader.

Cover Page Making Process

Some processes will be put into one picture as they are simple or repetitive.