Tuesday 27 April 2010

My Evaluation Presentation

Here is the video of me presenting my Evaluation:

Y12 Eval Frankie
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Evaluation

I have come to the end of the practical side of my Media Studies AS Level and have really enjoyed producing my magazine. Here is my final evaluation with notes:


Slide 5:
Language:
-Young people are most associated with talking in colloquialism’s to differentiate themselves from adults and create their own identity. Also, sometimes in people from less high social gradings colloquialisms are used as it is the language their ancestors were taught due to a lack of education and has been passed down through families. As my magazine targets young people from middle social gradings, the use of mild colloquialisms create a conversational, equal relationship without alienating any readers.
-Swearing is seen as ordinary and accepted by young people. By using swearing, I show I am not talking down to the reader and also a rebellion from other media’s censorship, which is respected by the stereotypical young person.
-The informal and conversational tone of my magazine helps build a relationship between the reader and the magazine and gives them equal status.


Images:
-Young people are generally impressed by appearance and admire peoples abilities to look good. Because my magazine is aimed at males and female, the model needs to be able to attract both. Boys want to date her and girls want to be her.
-The fact that the models are all in the target age group creates a sense of escapism as the readers feel they could achieve the same things. It also makes them feel associated with the artist.
-I have edited the images, making the models skin look perfect. This relates to the idea that young people idolise good looking celebrities and the importance put on looks. Also, I have edited some images to add an unusual and interesting affect. This relates to young people who are part of the facebook/myspace generation and who enjoy editing their own photographs.
-Both male and female artists are represented so that neither gender is dominate.


Colours:
-The colours red, white and black are associated with the rock genre and are seen as the colour scheme in many music magazines, album covers or on merchandise. This makes the magazine attractive to my target audience.
-The red has connotations of danger. Young people find this sort of idea appealing to their sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle.
-Neither masculine or feminine colours.


Content:
-The chose the different articles according to the results of my questionnaire. I discovered that teenagers are most interested in artists interviews, gig reviews and music news and so these type of articles are featured.
-Young people tend to get bored and disinterested when confronted with too much writing. In my DPS, I made sure I had the majority of the spread images and the text in easy to read blocks.
-The article asks the artist the sort of questions that would interest a young person such as band information and the relationship between the members.


Font:
-The masthead font shows rebellion as it appears to be graffitied on to the page. Also, the cover line font is in the style of either a ransom letter or the punk style used in fanzines. Both of these also suggest rebellion.
-The fonts used a decorative fonts and not plain or ordinary. This represents my target audience as they contrast with traditional plain fonts.



Slide 6:
I need a publisher that:
-Produces other music magazines but not in the same genre as they will have experience of the market, however if they have another magazine that is similar they will be in competition within the same company.
-They need to have experience in appealing to my target audience.
-If they have a diverse selection of magazines they will have a wider experience in the magazine industry as a whole.


I looked at six of the most famous magazine publishers:
-IPC MEDIA: Already produce NME magazine which is very similar to HEADBANG!
-BAUER MEDIA: Already produce Kerrang which is very similar to HEADBANG!
-FUTURE MEDIA: Although they produce a variety of rock magazines, they all seem to be aimed at slightly older people and not in my sub-genre.
-The remaining three companies did not produce any music magazines and aimed at very different target audiences to mine.


I decided to create my own independent publisher, HEADBANG! Publishing
-This correlates to my idea of creating my magazine as a mock-fanzine as they were independently published by the individual who created them. As one of the sub genres my magazine focuses on is punk, this would also relate to the punk ethos. Punk ideology was based around individualism, rebellion and the idea that you can do anything yourself if you have the determination to. Their anti establishment and anti capitalist views meant that they often produced their own music, rejecting established record labels and embracing the DIY ideal.
-There will be more time and money available to promote my magazine as they don’t have to consider others.
-The company will have complete control of the magazine and will not have to obey general regulations emplaced by companies.



Slide 7:
-Older people tend to moan that popular music is only either aimed at young people and this is true as they are they main consumers. With every new generation comes new trends. The current rock music scene is aimed at young people, with many of the bands being young themselves and openly part of rock culture.
-My class range is expressive of the people who stereotypically listen to rock music and buy magazines. I feel that upper classes would stereotypically not listen to rock music.
-Rock music is not gender defined and appeals to a wide audience unlike, for example pop which is mainly associated with a female audience.



Slide 8:
-Because my model has direct eye contact with the reader, it connects the two and attracts readers to the magazine.
-The model is taking up two thirds of the page which is photographically pleasing and also makes her dominant on the page as the cover artists is often the main reason why people buy magazines.
-The cover lines are on the left hand side of the page meaning that when the magazine is stacked on a shelf in a shop, they can be seen and attract potential readers as they advertise artists and articles.
-My research shows that free gifts are quite an important element of a magazine and can sometimes sell the whole magazine. It is human nature to be attracted by getting something for nothing.
-By using the word “exclusive” in my cover line, I am showing readers that this is their only opportunity to read this interview and this will particularly attract fans of the band.
-By speaking to the reader casually, you put yourselves on the same level and create a relationship. This attracts readers as they feel involved.
-The fonts are in keeping with the style of the magazine and are therefore attractive to the reader.
-The selling line has connotations of drugs which appeals to young people and their “sex and drugs and rock and roll” lifestyle
-The models are dressed fashionably in clothes associated with the genre of the magazine, which attracts readers as they want to see celebrities they admire and idolise looking good.



Slide 9:
-By following common magazines codes and conventions, I have made the magazine look professional and attractive, meaning it is more likely to be read.
-Because the page is more image focused, it attracts my audience as young people stereotypically value appearance highly and are lose concentration when confronted with too much text.
-I use language similar to how my target audience talks so I identify with them and it is enjoyable for them to read and understand.
-The colour scheme is the same the whole way through the magazine, creating a brand identity. The colours are associated with rock music and liked by my target audience.
-The articles cover the sort of information a teenage fan would find appealing such as band info and gossip.



Slide 10:
-I have used articles that I think would appeal to my target audience such as interviews, news and reviews.
-Each of the articles has a short and snappy name to interest the reader and so there is not too much writing.
-Because I have used a brick wall background, all the the elements of the page, particularly the spray paint masthead look like they have been put on the wall as vandalism which appeals to my audience.
-By using a letter from the editor, I have created a connection between with the reader which makes them feel an important part of the magazine.
-I have used brightness and contrast editing on the images so they look more interesting. This technique is associated with my target audience who often use it themselves to edit the photos they post on social networking sites.
-All the images I have used are of well dressed young people. This attracts my audience as they feel they can achieve what the artists featured have achieved because they are the same age. I also have a mixture of male and female models to appeal to my entire target audience.



Slide 11:
Cloning, Spot Healer and Gaussian blur to perfect skin:
I wanted to perfect the skin of model I was using for Billy Tee. I first used the spot healer brush to remove any spots. This brush sources the area around the spot in order remove it. However, when of the spots was on the edge of the models lip, meaning that the tool could not source the surrounding skin. I insteaded used the clone stamp, which allows you to pick a source point and paste that onto a different area of the image. I sourced the skin just above the spot then painted it on top, meaning it blended in. In order to make his skin completely flawless I used a slight Gaussian Blur which, as the name suggests, blurs the image. I did this on a layer above the image and then rubbed out the areas that weren’t his skin.


Lasso tool to cut around images. Type tool to add text:
I decided I didn’t like the background of my cover image and so used the lasso tool to cut around the model. To make this easier I used a magnetic lasso which clings to the lines at the edge of what you are cutting out. Once I had successfully gone round the outline of the image, it became a selection I could drag out of the image and place on my new background. In order to create the masthead, I used the type tool which allows you to add text to your images.

Brightness and Contrast makes the images interesting, clearer and stylised:
To make my contents page images more interesting I used brightness and contrast. This does exactly what it says on the tin and creates extreme levels of brightness and contrast. Aswell as creating a nice affect, it makes the image clearer as it removes shadow.



Slide 12:
Hue and Saturation tints the image. Motion Blur creates the illusion of movement:
In the film strip on my DPS I wanted to create a serial motion sequence. I adjusted the hue and saturation, which tints the images colours, until it was yellow. I then added a motion blur as my model was running and this made it look like it was at speed. I created the motion blur on a layer above and then rubbed out the model so she could be seen clearly

You can make a layer a selection, then expand, feather and inverse it:
I wanted to make my masthead look like a stencil. To do this I selected the text and expanded it. I then also feathered my selection and inversed it. This meant my new selection was everything except my text but with a small outline and a softer edge. When I used the paint brush, I could only do so within the selection. I loaded a new brush which looked like spray paint and used it in certain areas of the edge of my text.



Slide 13:
Blogger is a website that allows you to create your own blog and I used it to store my work. It is useful as it is a free sharing site that anyone can access, regardless of whether they are a member of it:
-I edited my blog to make it more attractive. I created a header in Photoshop and used as the title. For my own pleasure when viewing my blog. I change the text colour and font on the blog settings to make it more individual.
-I learnt to transport my work as jpegs and add them to my posts by uploading them.
-However, if I was using slideshows or pdfs, I had to use another site to turn them into html and imbed them in the post.-Using blogger also allowed me to follow my other class mates and see what work they were producing. When I log into blogger, I am shown a news feed of recent activity on all the blogs I follow which allowed me to see what different sorts of work was being produced in my class. I could also follow my teachers blog which kept me up to date on what I should be doing.



Slide 14:
When I created my questionnaire earlier on in the project, I stored my results on an Excel spreadsheet. This was useful as you can create functions of the cells to calculate totals for you. You simply type the formula using the Excel codes into the equation bar. I could also create graphs by selecting the data you wished to graph and inserting a chart. This gave you a variety of different forms to present the data, making it easier to read and present.


Slide 15:
Slideshare is the website I used to create embed .ppt and .pdf files on my blog. You upload you chosen file to the website and it creates a HTML code which can be copy and pasted into the “edit HTML” section of you post on Blogger. It also uploads the video to the site, meaning you always have an online back up of your work and you can view slideshows created by others.


Slide 16:
Animoto:
Animoto.com is a great site that I really enjpyed using. You can upload images, type text and upload a song which it makes into a video. I used it to display all of the work I have done on my blog in an interesting way as it has an HTML code you can imded in your post.


Issuu:
I used a Publisher template and added jpegs of the different pages of my magazine. I then created a pdf of the template and uploaded it to Issuu.com and it creates an online vertual version of your magazine. It allowed me to see what my magazine could look like if it was real. It also uploads your magazine to the internet so other people can view it too.



Slide 17:
-Since completing my preliminary task, I have done much more research into codes and conventions of magazines which I have applied, making my music magazine look much more realistic.
-I also did some research into my target audience and created a questionnaire when making my music magazine which gave me a clearer picture of what the reader wanted from a magazine.
-My Photoshop skills have advanced since making my school magazine, allowing me to create different and better affects.
-I now know much more about fonts and know how to download different ones to make my product more unique and attractive.
-I felt that the first brief we were given was quite restrictive in what we could do as it had to be for a school magazine. Therefore I didn’t have as much creative freedom to apply my own interests and style to such a narrow audience. However, the music magazine project meant I could choose from a wider selection of different styles and be more creative in my design.
-This has taught me to approach each project individually, taking note of the subject and audience. Whatever level of skill I had, I would never be able to create a magazine like HEADBANG! From the school magazine brief.
-I have realised how important it is to gain feedback on your designs and redraft them as other people pick up on things better in your work than you do.