This is a short video of two classmates that are reviewing my magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread and also commenting on positives and negatives. I filmed the video on an iPhone 4 and uploaded it to YouTube before embedding it in my blog. Some of the most common possible improvements highlighted were that some of the contents was too minimalistic and that I could have used the space more efficiently, which for majority I completely agree with. However i was going for a more simplistic look so some of the features picked up on, were in fact deliberate. The most common positives where about the colour scheme and the fact that it wasn't too cluttered and that it kept a uniform style throughout the sections of the magazine, which is what I was trying to achieve so I'm pleased with this outcome.

Final Products

Updated Front Cover

After further analysing and comparing my music magazine to real music magazines I discovered that my magazine was missing information such as a price, issue number and date. I decided to correct this because I feel that small details help to authenticate my product. I analysed music magazine covers and came to the conclusion that the majority of magazines place information such as the date, issue number and price, next to or around the barcode. I decided to place the date on top of the barcode, seeing as it is often portrayed as the more important piece of information because sometimes it is placed under the masthead. I then added the price down the side of the barcode, followed by "UK" to add establish the magazine's origin and add authenticity.

7. Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To Full Product?

Looking back at my preliminary task i feel that i have learnt a few subtle yet important techniques and skills. Such as the three colour rule, where the main colour scheme of you magazine should be black, white and one other colour (usually red). I have also learnt that you should use a Sans Serif font for titles and headings, whereas a Serif font is more commonly used in body text and occasionally sub-headings. I also learnt how use text more effectively, for example putting a red box behind white text to create a more eye catching and bold title, which will emphasise whatever it is that its saying.

6. What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the process of creating my music magazine I have used a variety of different media technologies, which have assisted me in the production media product. Through using these technologies I have learnt new skills and further enhanced my current skills with each of the media technologies.

Hardware:
I used various different platforms of hardware in the production of my music magazine. The most used item during the process was the computer, seeing as this was used to run the software and assemble my magazine. I used two computers in total which were a Packard Bell ixtreme desktop computer (my home computer) and a dell desktop computer (the school computer), both running Windows 7 operating system. Through using the computer I didn't learn very many new skills, seeing as I use a computer on a regular basis and the tasks weren't too different from normal.

The other main piece of hardware I used was a camera. This was used for taking the photographs that were imported into the various pages of my magazine. For this I used my Apple iPhone 4, and utilised the inbuilt 5 mega-pixel camera for the numerous shots. The camera worked well, however seeing as it was only 5 mega-pixels, when I went to scale it up to fit in my magazine the images started to blur and loose image quality a little bit. During the use of the camera I learnt that the amount of light that enters the lens, will dictate the quality of the image. So seeing as the lens on my camera was small, I would get better quality pictures it brighter environments.

Software:
There was only one main piece of software I used to create my music magazine, with the exception of the Windows Photo Viewer (which I used to view the photographs I took), which was Adobe Photoshop CS5.1. I used this program exclusively to create the designs of the front cover, contents page and double page spread. We had access to Adobe InDesign CS5.5 however, down to personal preference, I chose to stick with Photoshop because I am more familiar with it's features. Despite the fact that I am familiar with how Photoshop works I still learnt a lot of new skills, such as how to create a depth of field through masking as well as how to utilise layers efficiently to create depth to and image.

I also used Microsoft Office Powerpoint 2007, which wasn't used directly in creating the magazine but instead to produce a presentation that explained effective uses of the Liquify filter tool, which I presented to the rest of my media group in an exercise to share knowledge of Photoshop. Even though the presentation was a relatively minor project I still learnt how upload a presentation to internet and embed it on a web page.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience with many features, firstly the title. The title is large and red at the top of the page and contrasts with the background, this will most likely be the first thing a customer would see. Also the title is short and relevant to the magazine and my target audience: "Beats". This refers to the fact that hip-hop is based around a beat, it always starts with a clear defined beat and then arists rap/sing over the top. Next is the main image which is of a teenager wearing clothing that conforms with the hip-hop culture, seeing as the customer is also most likely a follower of this culture becuase of the fact they are interested in the magazine, they are likely to be able to relate to image. Then there are the sub-headings highlighting the content of the magazine. All of the sub-headings are relevant to the music or the culture which will appeal to my target audience and make them want to buy the magazine.

Inside the magazine the text is quite informal, however not to a childish level. This is so the readers still feel they are being adressed as an adult, which is the desire of most young people (my target audience), but also so that is isnt boring or difficult to read.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product

The target audience that my music magazine reaches out to is young adults and teenagers between the ages of 15-25 years old and that are a fan of the hip-hop genre of music. This includes both male and female. They would be followers of the hip-hop culture so that they can take advantage of the other articles that are non-music related however are still connected with the culture of the music, e.g. clothes and lifestyle. They will also be interested in not only the the big names of the business but also up and coming stars, so that they can broaden their interest in different artists and styles of hip-hop.

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

The kind of media institution that i would like to distribute my media product would be one that has a good reputation for producing good quality content, which preferrably includes magazines especially of the music variety. This way they will understand from experience the best way to distribute and get the most out of my magazine. Bauer Media Group for example, is a multinational media company which i think would be best suited to distribute my magazine. This is because for a start, they are a multinational media company so they will be able to distribute my magazine multinationally which will give it more recognition and a wider audience. As well as that they own "Q" magazine and "Kerrang!". This means that they have had experience with music magazines before and also there is a gap for my genre of magazine. On top of that Bauer Media Group also own tv channels such as "Kerrang! TV" and "Q TV" aswell as radio stations including "Kerrang! Radio". Therefore there is much potential for my magazine to grow and be devoloped into a music network rather than just a magazine. Similarly the other option i could choose would be to go with a media institution that has experience in distributing my genre of music magazine because they would know how to approach my audience, however i feel that Bauer Media Group is the best media institution to distribute my media product.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents the social groups of young people, in particular those who enjoy music and to a more specific point, those who listen to the hip-hop genre of music. This is represented by the image of a teenager on the front cover, dressed in average clothes that a teenager of that social group would wear. For example, a hooded top and more importantly a pair of trendy headphones, which are much desired by people of this social group, due to them being designed by a hip-hop star. Also the front cover my music magazine has reference to a festival, which is part of youth culture. Aswell a references to articles within the magazine that, depsite not being about music still may be of interest to people that are fans of hip-hop and therefore part of that particular social group.

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

Front Cover.

For the masthead I used a Sans Serif font. This conforms with the the usual conventions of real music magazines, for they typically use Sans Serif for titles and mastheads rather than body text. I also used a red font colour for the masthead as well as white and black for other sub-headings, which also follows general conventions of music magazines. Most magazines intentionally use black, white and one other colour (usually red) in their colour schemes, this is to create a sense of regularity and make it recognisable as a music magazine. In my opinion I believe that the red disrupts the flow of the black and white and is easily readable. As for the image, mine challenges the usual convention because the person is not looking directly at the camera whereas in other magazines such as VIBE the majority of the people on the front cover are looking directly at the camera.

Contents Page.

For the text inside my magazine and on the contents page I used a Serif font. Which is commmonly used as body text in most music magazines. However I still used it for the contents page title as well. My colour scheme of red, white and black continues into the the contents page from the front cover which is consistent with the forms of the real magazines because it formulates a sense of regularity within the magazine. In my magazine the subheadings of each topic within the magazine are alot larger and take up more space than in other music magazines, the main reason for this is that there arent as many pages to cover in mine, so i decided to make them bigger to emphasise what there is.

Double Page Spread.

For my double page spread, whilst continuing with my red, black and white colour scheme, I follow the forms of other magazines in some ways whereas in others I challenge them. For example, I have one large image offset to the side of my page like in alot of other double page spread designs. However I also have vey little in the background and overall it has quite a clean look, whereas in other designs there are alot of pictures and colours in the backgound. For the backgound colour (as I didn't have have an image covering all of it) I used white, mainly becuase it appears to be the colour of choice on the professional magazines, so I decided to conform to that.



Contents Page Comparison

I took an example from the contents page of VIBE magazine, which is a music magazine of the same genre as my one, and comapred it to the contents page of my magazine. Compared to most other magazine it shares the layout style as mine, where there is one main image with the text laid out around the main feature. The majority of other magazines I have seen have alot of other pictures and seem quite cluttered in my opinion. So I went for a more simplitsitc look. In the VIBE conetents page, the image is alot less saturated whereas mine still has a large variet of colour. Overall I felt the two different designs were very similar with, of course, subtle differences e.g. The title. Which I hope can allow my magazine to fit in but still stand out with other magazines.

Masthead Font

Music Magazine Front Cover Feedback

As with the school magazine front cover, I asked some of classmates if they could give me some feedback on my design and overall, there was more positive feedback than negative. The most common comment thats was made, was  that it keeps a clear colour scheme which is what I was aiming to do. After researching other music magazine covers one of the noticible factors that came up was the the vast majority of them have three main colours: Black, white and one other colour (usually red). Most of the negative comments where that it could be interpreted as a bit bland and boring. Which I think is true, however I didn't want to overload it with content to the point where it became messy.

My Music Magazine Front Cover

Vibe Magazine Analysis

Having finished my school magazine cover and contents, the next task is to create a music magazine cover so I have decided to research and analyse current  music magazine covers within the same genre of music as mine shall be. This issue of VIBE magazine follows the majority of conformities that most other music magazines do. For example, it predominantly uses three colours: Red, Black and White, which is common amongst successful music magazines. It uses different layers for the title, main image and the other text, which gives the magazine some depth and makes it stand out more clearly. Any extra space is crammed with other text about the contents of the magazine, i.e interviews, stories etc. Aswell as other articles that arent related to music but may still appeal to people who are a fan of this genre of music, which could help to broaden the target audience of the magazine.

Photoshop- Depth of Field Tutorial

This is a video tutorial that I created myself, outlining how to get a depth of field effect in post production using Adobe Photoshop CS5.1. The programs used in creating this consisted of Adobe Photoshop CS5.1, I used this program to actually create the effect demonstrated in the video, and Camtasia Studio 7, this program was used to record my screen as well as my voice and combined them together and published them straight to YouTube. YouTube was the video sharing site of my choice to upload to because of the fact that it was most compatible with Blogger, the site used for my blog.