post production feedback

                                       

post production feedback

post production feedback

Q7) Looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to a full product?

since doing my preliminary task i have learnt many skills that have helped me progress to the full product. One of the main things i have learnt that has drastically improved the quality of my magazine is following the conventions of a real magazine and how to present the layout to a high standard in order for it to look appealing. Looking back at my preliminary task it did not look like i was fully aware of the conventions of a real magazines as it looked really poor.for e.g. the masthead and the cover lines are the same font, also the text are right at the edge of the magazine this makes it look very unorganised likewise the cover lines are slightly blending in with the main image.

One of the main tools i have progressed in from my preliminary task to the full product, that really helped enhance my music magazine was the use of photo shop. When making my college magazine i was unaware of how to use photo shop. Analysing different real magazine had really helped my get ideas on how my music magazine should look like, also through the use of photo shop it had helped me to my advantage as i was able to edit images to the standard of a real magazine. Unlike my preliminary task i was not able to manipulate my pictures or use photo shop to my own advantage as i was unfamiliar with these tools.

my preliminary task only consisted of a front cover and a contents page. however my music magazine consist of a front cover magazine, a contents page, and a double page spread.

Through the progression of my preliminary task, i have learnt how to fully attract my targeted audience through the conventions. i felt i had done poorly in my preliminary task as the does not give off any signs or symbols that represents any genre's or a specific audience.I learnt how focus on a particular social group. My music magazine circulated around three specific genre's, so i was able to narrow down and categorise my target audience and target group. my preliminary task consist of a wide audience most specific people in education. roughly the age of 16-19. This meant that i had to research my target group and present my magazine in a way were it will appeal to my target audience.

Since my preliminary task i learnt how to use canon E05 400D camera effectively to my advantage, in taking good quality pictures. with my preliminary task i was unaware on how to keep the camera into focus.

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

From the process of constructing this product i learnt many things about technology that helped construct my magazine, that i was unfamiliar with before. Firstly through the process of constructing the magazine i learnt the basic and how to use a canon E0S 400D camera to take all my images i also used a bowens gemini esprit gm500 for the flash kit i also used a 60cm soft box to comunicate with each other using a radio trigger. One of the conventions i followed from a real life magazine is to take all my images vertically. I mainly struggled on keeping the lenses on focus as my images consisted on a lot of movements. All my images were taken in separate locations to give it  consistency of excitement. This could be argued that i have challenged conventions from a real magazine, as stick to one location. However some magazines consist of different backgrounds for each image. I also decided to use different backgrounds for each image in order to get different lighting's effects. Also in order to create my desired effect and good quality of images.I had to be aware of the timings i would take my picture as some of the images were outside. One things i was not in control of was the weathering and the brightness outside, so i had to be prepared and fully equip for the actually day of the shoot. I had to stay consistent and stick to the same make of the camera in order to get the same consistency of quality of images, this could prevent any pix elated images from occurring.

another technology i found i had learnt alot from is the use of photo shop, as my skills on photo shop was very poor as i was unfamiliar with photo shop before the constructing of my college magazine. I used photo shop CS3, to construct my music magazine.

One complex technique i have learnt was to edit the photograph and its background . In doing this i had edited the lighting and contrast of the picture. Another thing a did to prevent spreading the image across the magazine is click on the image edit - transform- the scale.

step 1. on photo shop to edit my image i, selected an area of the blue background

2. went transform -> scale. i enlarged the selected area

3. i then clicked on layer-> merged down. in doing this it placed the separate images together.

4.then select polygonal, select and join around the area you need to edit.

5. go on select and modify->feather-> place a number you want example. 25.

6. go on filter-> blur-> Gaussian blur 

I also learnt that photo shop was very useful in creating JPEG files which was need to upload images on to my blog, as photo shop is not accepted onto blog because of the amount of memory it consists.

I also made my own  borders using polygonal lasso tool  from photo shop as i helped me draw accurate straight lines in order for my product to look more presentable

I also used the graph as a guideline for my magazine as i need to be very accurate with the placing of my text and images

Similarly, in photo shop, i learnt how to use the stroke tool and drop shadow, which helped in making a particular text and out and look look 3 dimensional for example my mast head. i felt it was really simply and easy to use, but i finding it was quite difficult as i was not aware in the beginning that you had to double right click the layer [text] is in the hand hand column where all the layers are placed.

Q5) How did you attract/ adress your audience? colour etc...

Using my audience research as my guidelines, i feel i attracted my targeted audience through a respectable amount of ways.One in which i attracted my target audience is through all the conventions in my front cover. This is illustrated as i carefully choose two model's who i felt fit my perfect description that fell in the three genres, also they are roughly the same age as my target audience. So my audience could associate and relate themselves with my two models. My models are attractive, this helps attract the opposite sex as well as my target audience. Both models are wearing different styles of clothing that represents the three genres associated; one of the models are wearing a base ball jacket and her hair is in a Afro curl. The jacket looks quite masculine this contributes to the male audience also towards Hip hop and R'n'b. However the other model is wearing a yellow jumper and a denim waist coat over it, she is also wearing a colourful body con skirt; this looks more feminine whereas the use of colours clashes. Giving a funky look to it. I also introduced a rainbow eye shadow which symbolises individuality; each colour represents a specific style that fits into the genre of these music.

Another way i attracted my target audience is by keeping the focus on the hip hop, funky and R'n'b music theme. Additionally, i used well known names in my magazine to attract my audience and issues that i felt was relevant and would appeal to my target audience, for e.g. one of my cover line includes a well known R'nb singer "John Legend : contributes towards charity". I also included a new artist as well such as Jacob Latimore to keep it contemporary and opened. similarly the headlines in my contents page included a sample of a eyeshadow inspired look as it is also relevant, as it includes a mainstream well known artist "Nicki Manaj". It also shows how i can circulate different aspects into music e.g fashion plays a main role in music as each genre of music has a specific look.

Throughout my magazine i used different san serif fonts to give the magazine a attractive and sophisticated look, which i feel works very well with the genre of music. I used a san serif font i downloaded from dafont.com and added edition's to the mast head using photo shop effects such as (drops shadow , bervel emboss). Also as the magazine message is 'The Unexpected', this is translated to readers as they feel that they are encouraged to express their unexpected side of them. This is also introduced by the selling line (slogan) ".. believe in the unexpected...".

Similarly, i also used a graffiti font (from dafont.com) when i was introducing the main cover line. This would attract my audience because the font is bold, appealing, and is easy to read.It is also very different to the other cover line fonts which makes it stand out.

Another way i attracted my target audience was through the colour scheme of my magazine was mainly based on re, yellow, blue, white, and black as these are the colours associated to the genre of music. The majority of colours are bright likewise i had to use some dull colours like black, as i didn't want my magazine to look to Bright. i had to use black and white to tone down the bright colours as the main image its self is very bright, and i want the min image to talk for itself not the writing. I also attracted and addressed my target audience through the type of language i used. throughout my magazine the majority of the time i used formal standard English which would engage with both audience however i also introduce colloquial language in it as i am targeting a young audience as well. I chose to make my magazine versatile in the sense that everyone in American and England are not restricted to certain words and phrases such as 'SWAGG'.

on my contents page i attracted my target audience by keeping relevent and interesting information consistent, likewise it is very well organised and is placed into a specific category's thereby allowing them to read on because it easy easier for them to know what they are looking for as it would be in a specific genre. Everything is set clearly with readable, suitable size of fonts so the audience wouldn't have a problem reading.

Q4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

As stated in my audience research 'SWAGG' (the unexpected) is targeting a young age range 16-25 both British and American. that's why i included the phrase 'SWAGG' as the phrase was originated in America. I choose this audience as R'n'b. funky and hip hop are highly popular in both countries America and England.

I decided to target a younger audience as the majority of artist featured in my magazine are young artist, also they are from either America or England. My content and terminology used in my magazine are quite colloquial and informal, as informal language are most popular with the younger age range. So it would appeal to them. However my magazine would appeal to an older audience as it cross reference with politics and the artist, as it involves the artist contribution towards charity.

In terms of ethnicity, although Funky, Hip hop, and R'n'b music are usually associated with black male people. 'SWAGG' (the unexpected) target all ethnicity's and both gender's. I decided to include only female images to strongly involve females, as its is well known that 'males' are more interested in Hip hop, and R'n'b. So i wanted to get the female audience more engaged. The magazine is targeted for people who have a greater passion for music, people that like to go into depth with music. Not just listening and gathering information from false sources or just listening to music through Ipods or mp3's, but for people who want o know the truth behind music and the artist's.