Magazine Evaluation: Question 6 + 7

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? (Q6)

While working on my magazine, I have learn how to use two different technologies which were Blogger and Photoshop (these two were the main ones). When using Blogger, it made me more responsible to make sure that I display work all my work that I have done for my music magazine. By using this, this helped me make sure that I have all my work in one place and so that it can be easy to organise my work and clearly see what I need to add as I put my plans on there. Also, I did use, Prezi as way to make my presentation look presentable.

When I first started out on Photoshop, I had a very limited use as i could only add a picture and text. As I progressed, I learnt how to use different tools like the "Gradient Tool" to help my make my backgrounds and "Eyedropper Tool" to make sure that I have the correct colours for my scheme. I as continued to make my magazine, I have development my Photoshop skills which has help me improve and construct better version of my front page and contents page.

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product? (Q7)

When I first started out, didn't have any knowledge of about music magazine and their conventions, let alone on creating one of own. When we finally got started on everything, I did find it difficult because nothing was going right and when research the conventions of from current magazine cover, some did have them but some didn't I didn't want to screw up. After a while, I started to get into the rhythm of things was apply to take some conventions from existing and apply them to create my own music magazine.  Finally knowing about the convention, I started to improve on my Photoshop skill to create better pieces of quality work as my skills increased. If I was given work again, I do think that I could improve because of the skills the I've picked up. This project has taught me so good skill that I can apply in other project around the Photoshop area. But overall, I do think that I have improved compared to when I just started.

Magazine Evaluation: Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

When talking to my target audience, I asked if they could give me some feedback on what they liked about my music magazine. When looking at the front page, they said that they liked the picture I used because it made the  think about the rawness that comes with acoustic music and everything is stripped back to the basic. Also they liked the fact that I used the colour scheme from the artist to use as my writing and the boxes. They though that the colours show the lightness that come with acoustic music have. They also included that the light colours that I used make it more pleasant to look at that other magazine because they fell like they something they of over clashed with different colours which they think that it can be too much.

They also liked the way that I used a photo of the artist on the front cover with her playing the guitar. They thought that the was I captured her looking away from the because they said it made her look mysterious and wanted to make them read about about her. They comment on the way I include an instrument in my front cover because they already know what kind of magazine and know that it's all about live music. To make sure that I used the right picture for my front cover, I did do a tally from my classmate to see which was the best photo. This helped me connect with my audience because I'm letting them know that this magazine is for them. They thought it was clever that I used a pun for my slogan of "Electrical Not Included" because it was a smart was to explain my magazine.

When I did my double page, what my audience like is the fact that I positioned my image because it make it look like she is looking at her name. They also liked the way I used the space on my page by adding red strips. They thought that it really made my article pop out of the page which attracted them.

As I made my music magazine cheap price of £2.99, they thought it was reasonable. I made sure that I didn't over price my magazine because my audience are still in school/university and still dependant on their parents to give them money.

Magazine Evaluation: Question 4

Who would be the audience for your product?

When looking at my target audience, it would be 16-20+ years and open to all ethnicities because I didn't just exclusive to only one ethnicity so I wanted to makes sure that I was open to everyone. I think this will help widen my audience as my target audience are the type of people to read and keep up with all different types of music trends. At times, my audience does like to step away from the electrically produced music and step into the acoustic version of songs. The reason for this is because they want to hear to emotion that the artist really have because they feel like you lose it because of the overcrowding the loud noises.

Due to their age, they are still current on school or university and when they are ready, they would like to work in a world, connected media like being a reporter, interview, music blogger. The reason for this is that they like to be in the centre of music from all music from all areas of genres up close and personal. Their social class is working class as both or single parent will be providing for them.

Magazine Evaluation: Question 3

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

Due to the fact that my media product (music magazine) is based around acoustic  music, I think that my magazine would be distributed in festivals like Coachella and BBC Radio 1 and concerts. I think this is one of the best ideas for this because my target audience would attended these events frequently as they are around 16-20+ years. The reason for this is because they are at that age where they can prove for themselves and go to these things. My product would also be sold as a webpage as a subscription for they can have access to all the latest new about their new live artists. This help me get to more international audience to get them close to other different international. Also, because of their age, I would make an app to access my music magazine via smartphone or tablet because they are always on the move so I want to make sure that can read it everywhere they can go, without having a physical copy. My magazine would be distributed during music concerts as the would be special magazine about that artist and that would attract my audience people, as they are everything they need to know right there and then. making it more popular. If my audience like it then  my magazine can become noticed for be up close and personal with the music. When looking at the company to help me distribute my when in the USA/Canada would be Festival Distribution as they look at acoustic style of music.

I would make sure that I would distribute it in shops because I'm keeping the price of my music magazine at the minimum of £2.99 to make sure that my target audience can afford it because they are the working class and I don't want them spending to much

Magazine Evaluation: Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social group?

I think that my music magazine doesn't really represent a social group that much but I do think that people who are hipster or indie maybe attracted to my magazine. The reason why I think this is because they are all about listening to music that is unappreciated and is bored of the same old electrical beats.

The clothes that I made my model wear help me think about representing social groups.  I wanted to make sure that I had a pattern. I think that the flower pattern helped because my theme for my music magazine is acoustic/folk and this theme of music is all about the music being natural. Flowers are seen as being apart of nature so I wanted to connect my music to be striped back to its natural components. This links to my background because it is basic and that connects with the theme because it's about being basic to putting it together to make something beautiful.

Also, the colours that I used shows the calmer side of the social groups. The white, pink and green shows the lightness of the music and not always about being in you face but feeling the flow lead you there. When I used the red, it shows that sometimes acoustic music needs to have that attention because they have emotion that gets the audience to notice them, just like social want society to see them.

Magazine Evaluation: Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

Front Page

For starters, when looking at my front page, I made sure that I had the normal traditional conventions of this media product and for this it's a music magazine. When I did my first attempt at a front cover, I realised that there was too mush going on as the bright colours of the background clashed with the white sell lines to had to start over. For my second attempt of my front page, I only had the title, slogan and sell lines. This looked very boring as most of the writing was in with and I didn't use the space on the page to make it seem like a real music magazine. However while making my improvements, I made sure that I made sure that I use the space around my page and the colour scheme that I made which is the white, green and pink yo use it around the page . An example of this is that I added pink and green box around some of the sell lines to make my audience know that are the important stories that are inside my magazine which made my front cover stand out more. I added a logo so that they know that when they see this symbol, they know its linked to "Natural Tones".

Contents Page 
For my contents, applied the conventions of having different images on my page. The reason for this is that I wanted to make it seem that those images are like the poster that my audience can have if their rooms. Also have the other content that will be in magazine followed by the page number to my audience know where go.

Double Page Spread

When creating my  double page spread, I made sure that I had one main image of my artist. This is because to make my artist seem like they are confident and they know what they are doing. This helps make may artist seem inspirational and my added a quote on what she has said in the interview make her seem wise. When constructing my interview, I made sure that it was going in columns just like a normal music magazine. I used the colour scheme of the pink to use for the background and the green for my logo (including the pink "NT" text).

I added a small introduction about my artist before my interview, this makes the audience what to get to know if they know the song and if they want to learn more about the artist being interviewed. When looking at my contents page, you can see that I have added red to make it stand out against the white and pink background.

Front, Contents and Double Page Spread