Final Products

Evaluation 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

My full product is very much more professional than my preliminary task.

The use of colour is much more proficient in my final product, there is a clear colour scheme with red black and white, where as the colour scheme in my preliminary task isn't as effective as there is blend of too many colours. Also, the image of my artist is much more professional in the way it has been extracted from the background. In my preliminary task, the image is not cut out as professionally and there are edges where the real background shows through, however as my skills progressed I was able to make the image of my final product look much more professional. 

Conventions are used much more in my final product and are used to much more of an effect. I used a barcode and price on my final product which makes it look much more real, giving the product a sense of verisimilitude. I used real R&B artists names on my front cover which gives the impression of my whole magazine being real. This was important for me as I wanted it to look like I had a full magazine, not just 4 pages. 

Evaluation 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have used many technologies in producing my magazine. I have used different programs on PC's and MACS and used different hardware.
Most of my work was conducted using Adobe Photoshop. This software allows you to edit photos, and create projects. I have never used Photoshop so I have learnt a lot just from using Photoshop to create my products. I used many tools on Photoshop:
The first tool I used was the Magic Wand tool:

This tool allows the background to be removed in one click, this was beneficial to me as I didn't need to use a normal eraser and erase around my models.
I used this tool so I could place the models against the white background to match my colour scheme of Red White and Black.

I also used the Polygonal Lasso Tool:

This tool was useful as I could make sure that every bit of the background was removed, making my product seem more sharp and professional.

Another tool I used was the Text tool:

This tool allowed me to add text layers onto my document. This was useful as I was able to create my Masthead and cover lines, and also add text to the contents page and double page spread.

The use of layers also helped me create my product, this gives a '3d' element to the product when in the production stage and allows me to position different layers on top, once finished these layers all get compressed into one.

I used Publisher by Microsoft Office to add the article to my double page spread, I did this as Publisher allows columns to be created and allows drop caps to be added. I did this to make my magazine appear more sophisticated and professional.

To take my images I used a Nikon D70S Digital SLR Camera. I used and SLR as this camera type is used by professional photographers and will produce images with a higher Pixel to Inch ratio meaning my images will be of higher quality.

The fact that the pixels will be higher will produce more images because they are more defined. The camera was easy to use as I just had to press the 'Shoot' button and transfer from the memory card into Photoshop. 

The memory card I used was a SanDisk memory card, this card enabled me to save all my photos and transfer them to Photoshop which was done with ease. It meant that every single shot was saved in folders so I was able to keep my images organised for the Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread. 

I used professional studio lighting too when creating my product, the lighting I used was 'Kuhl Lite Boom Studio Lighting.' This allowed me to use position my lights and create the best lit image for my magazine.

I have used Blogger to present my full portfolio, this was also a new site for me. I have learnt about blog posts, permalinks and labels by using blogger to present my work.

I also used an Apple Mac in my production, I have learnt how to use the iOS of an Apple computer. I have not used an Mac before so I have learnt many things, from screenshotting to using iPhoto to import photos from the camera.

Evaluation 5 -How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

The reader profile shows the audience of my magazine. It shows that the average age of reader is 19, and 70% of my readers are aged between 15 and 22. The brands shown on the right of my reader profile do associate with the majority of audience. Many members of my audience use sites such as Soundcloud and MySpace to stream online music, this shows how digitalized my audience is. over 90% use the internet, this again shows how digitization can be used to promote and market my magazine. Out of the 90% who use the internet, almost all use Facebook and/or Twitter. This would allow social media interaction between my product and readers. The audience associate themselves with brands such as Nike, for the trainers and sneakers, and Apple and Dr Dre Beats.

Evaluation 3 - what kind of media institution would distribute your product and why?

Evaluation 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The demographics table below represents the working and demographic classes of the citizens of Great Britain.

The classes highlighted in Yellow are the classes I believe my magazine is aimed at. I think my magazine represents particular social groups in the use of images on my Front Cover, Contents Page, and Double Page Spread. 

By using a black model I have represented a large group of people who listen to R&B. R&B historically roots from black Americans, and the majority of R&B artists are black Americans. I have used this to represent the social group of the typical R&B singer.
I have set a price of £3.00 for my magazine, it is a monthly edition and features around 120 pages every time. I have set this price to represent the particular social group of students and graduates who are the audience of my magazine since my magazine is aimed at the younger generation, between 14 and 25.
The sell lines I have used represent particular social groups, this is because artists such as Drake and Beyonce are very popular with young people now as they have just played British arena tours and both recently released number 1 albums. Therefore this represents the social group of the target audience as they will want to read about the people they listen too.

On my contents page I included social media links for Twitter and Facebook, this is because these sites are becoming more popular than ever before and it gives a platform for my magazine to interact with readers. The best thing about these sites are that they are free! This means that the readers who may be on no or very tight income are able to interact without having to pay any more money. The use of Twitter would be very different to Facebook as they both work in very different ways. Twitter allows concise 140 character tweets, where as Facebook allows as many characters as you want in a post. This gives a variance and a choice to my audience.

I have allowed readers to subscribe, this represents the social group as they will save money by setting up a yearly subscription, this represents the social group as again money can be hard to come by for students and the younger people in employment, so by offering a discount it shows that the magazine really does understand the needs and wants of its audience.
I have offered a digital subscription service too, this furthermore represents the particular social groups that my readers fit in as many young individuals have iPhones or iPads and by offering the service digitally it gives a more convenient approach to reading a magazine.