Media Evaluation Question 7

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

When I first tried to create the Preliminary task of creating a college magazine I did not know how to use the right tools and programmes for making it. I had never used a programme like Photoshop or Indesign before so I have definitely learnt some skills in navigating these programmes when trying to create my magazines. I had loads of problems with my original front cover for my student magazine, the main problem being that I did not apply the rule of thirds to my image, this meant that most of my text and my puffs and plugs laid across my main image making my front cover all messy. The font I used was hard to read due to the colour being the same as the background and it didn’t give that much information, I used all of these negatives to try and make my music magazine much better. Through having a lot more time for preparation I was able to plan out where I take my photos for my front cover, this controlled the whole style of my magazine, by taking the photo that I took of an image in the woods of a girl in a flowery dress I was able to signify to the audience the age group who I would sell the magazine too the style of the magazine and the genre of the music through the fashion that comes with it.

I produced a skills audit at the beginning of creating my magazines, one of the skills need to improve on was skills in Photoshop, I had absolutely none as I had never had the chance to use it before, this should through my work as I used Photoshop to create both my front covers for my student magazine and for my music magazine and my Photoshop skills have definitely developed as the magazines covers have improved greatly, the are more spaced less messy and much easier to read, this is all due to having more experience with Photoshop and being more prepared for the task. Through creating my music magazine I do feel there are areas where I could improve on if I were to do the task again, one of these areas would be when creating my contents page I used Photoshop to edit my photos together, in future when faced with this task I will use the programme Indesign as it is much more suited to the task. I have learnt a lot about time management and the certain tasks need to be completed in time to proceed with other tasks, when creating my contents page I did not have a large range of models for my photos to use so I had to wait to get more photos before I could continue, If I were to be faced with this task again I would keep track of what I have to do and have more deadlines for when they are suppose to be done by, in doing so I believe I can be more on top of my work.

Contents Page

Media Evaluation Question 6

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product constructing this product?

Throughout creating my music magazine ‘Wave’ I have used new programmes and different forms of technology that I haven’t used before, It has gave me more confidence in the production of my own media product and I would know what to do if I was asked to do it again and could improve on it.

The first thing I did in the production of my magazine was to place a photo shoot, I had never used my camera before so I was just experimenting with what I could do, when finally choosing photos that would suit the style of my magazine I used Photoshop to edit them and turn the picture into the front cover of the magazine. I have never used Photoshop so I had no idea what I was doing, the first thing I did was try to edit the photo by making it black and white however I still wanted the girl to be in colour in the photo as it caught you eye as the only form of colour on the page, I managed to crop the girl out and place her on top of the black and white image, after tweaking the photo a lot I was able to make the image approachable, I now feel a lot more comfortable with Photoshop and I would definitely use it again if I was need to create something of this format. When placing a photo onto Photoshop for my magazine front cover I was able to have grid lines on my page to show the rule of 3rds, this was very helpful in placing my photo and in placing my text and subheadings.

For my double page spread I used the programme Indesign this programme was perfect for the task of creating a double page spread as It had already made the layout for the 2 pages, I just had to fill one page with a photo I had a taken but first I put the photo into Photoshop so I could mess around with saturation and edit it so it looked more stylish and fitting into my magazine, after I was happy I placed it into Indesign and started on the three columns of text for my interview, I made sure I started the interview with a drop capital as this added to resembling a real music magazine.

If I had to create a magazine again I would use photo shop for the front cover page and I would use Indesign for my double page spread again, however I would not use Photoshop on my contents page and I would probably use Indesign for it as Indesign would make the page look more composed and where I have used Photoshop I just looks like a bit of a mess.

Double Page Spread

Media Evaluation Question 3

Media Evaluation Question 4 - 5

Media evaluation question 4 5 from Luke Predeth

Evaluation Question 2

Media Evaluation Question 1.

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

In this essay I shall be writing how my musical magazine ‘Wave’ has been presented to resemble real music magazines such as Q and NME magazine.

When creating the idea of my music magazine I looked at other magazines with the same genre and look that I wanted, as I was trying to create the genre of indie music. I looked into such magazines as Q and NME for my research and planning, this is where I decided what the layout of my front page shall look lik, I tried to copy the layout of having a musician pose for the front page and that is the only image on the front and then have the text beside the person, the text is grouped together in a colour scheme that matches the magazine, I have tried to copy this from a front page I found of Q magazine.

I used the colour scheme of red and white for the front page, I chose these colours as they matched the dress of the girl on the front of the magazine. The picture I have used shows a girl in a dress in the woods, I have made the woods black and white whilst keeping the girl in colour, in doing so I believe I have created a focus on this girl, the setting of the picture on the cover and the girls dress suites the summer time so I decided that this would be a seasonal magazine, much like when magazines have photo shoots in the snow when it is winter.

I consistently used colour scheme throughout the whole magazine and also kept all the font for the headings the same, in doing so I believe that I would create a sense of similarity within my magazine if I was to go on to produce further issues.

I have placed my title of my magazine ‘Wave’ in the top left corner, I looked at other magazines such as Q magazine and NME magazine that have also placed there title here, in doing so this is the first place the viewer would look when picking up the magazine naturally reading right to left, top to bottom.

I choose the picture for the front cover page as I was able to apply the rule of thirds, in doing so I was able to leave space down the left side for the text, here I placed what could be found within the magazine such as bands and what this week specialises in, again this is because the eye would naturally look to the left of the page for text. I have used a plain bold text on the cover of my magazine so it is easily perceived by all of the readers.

Cover Page Plan

This was the original plan for the cover page.

Final Cover Page

With my original image I took this photo of my friend Katie Moore in the woods, I decided that this would look good as a cover page of my magazine as the colours of her lipstick and her dress would aim towards a good colour scheme for the magazine and the fashion really shows the style of an indie music magazine.

I turned the background of the image black and white using photo shop, by using this we put Katie as the main focus of the image, it makes the colours really stand out in the magazine. I added a name for the magazine, I choose the words 'Wave' as it reminded me of new wave music and I thought that might be quite fitting for the theme. I added some names of bands on the front that will be inside the magazine this suggests to the reader what music genre this magazine will be aimed towards, I couldn't decide at this point what formation or font to put the text into.

This is the final cover page that I used, I added a lot of detail to the front cover using font and colours. I added a barcode in the lower right corner to keep to the conventions of a music magazine, I decided that the colour scheme of my magazine much like Q Magazine will be red and white, the red was mostly chosen as it matches the lipstick of katie and her dress. I have grouped together all the texts of the bands  so they are neatly formatted on the side, in doing so this gave me more room to add in a plug inside a box that is the colour scheme of the front cover, I used other magazine front covers such as NME and Q magazine to base this plug on. I used different fonts for my text to try and group different texts and to add more detail into the image. 

Music Magazine mind map

Skills Audit

Contents Page

Student Magazine Front Page

I used this picture as it shows one of our students using the services provided at the collage, this being the library. my magazine is just called Southdowns collage, this title is plastered across the top of the page so it can recognisable in the issue. i have the issue number lower below to show us what issue we are on. on the front we have plug ins of what can be found inside and also questions that might engage the audience and make it clear to who the magazine is made for.