7) Looking back at your preliminary task (the college magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
This is visual comparison between my two magazines. I made a video about my progress between these two projects :
6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
In Design was the main technology that I needed to get to grips with during the making of my media product. At first, I found it impossible to create anything on the application. However, as I tried longer and harder to get to grips with it, I began to make progress. After all of this work, I managed to make a contents page and double page spread from my efforts. The main tools I used on this application were the column and paragraph spacing tools. They helped me to lay the pages out in a way that a normal magazine would employ.
I also had to get used to using Photoshop. This was a much easier application to understand and use, but I still found it hard to get to grips with it. I had no previous knowledge of it before I took media but I found it easier to use as it is more visual than In Design in the way that you use it mainly to manipulate images. The primary tools I used on Photoshop were the blending tools that you can use on the fonts which make them stand out from the page. I also used the Magic Wand tool and the Spot Healing Brush which helped me to make my artist look perfect.
I also discovered Final Cut Pro during my media coursework. I found this very easy to use and it helped me with presenting my other evaluation questions as well as my research that I did prior to creating my final product. I isolated sound and images to create videos and this was really effective and useful.
Prezi and Microsoft Powerpoint were also useful for research and for the evaluation part of the course. They helped me to present images alongside with text, to make the information more visual and engaging.
WordPress was an easy technology to use as I had previous knowledge of it prior to this course.
Dafont.com was a great piece of technology as it provided me with the fonts that I used for my front cover and contentsw page.
The camera I used was really effective. I used a professional DSLR. This was easy to use and I was able to explore the different settings on the camera to make the photos even more striking.
Overall, I feel as if I have learnt very much about technology from taking Media Studies.
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
Attached is a prezi that I made for this question.
https://prezi.com/q_aut-zeelve/title/
I also asked one of my friends from Media Studies what they thought about my magazine. They gave great feedback because they were not primarily the type of person who would be consuming my magazine, which gives me a better insight into my product and how I can potentially make it appeal to a wider audience. I will act upon the advice they have given me in order to achieve this effect.
Below are links to the Youtube videos I uploaded for these.
Opinions about the front cover.
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
4. Who would be the audience for your media product? Attached is a Facebook Profile that I created for a potential reader of my magazine. I chose to present myself as the reader profile, because the magazine I created is the perfect magazine for my friends and I who enjoy old music more than new current music. facebook I also made a video talking about my audience which can be viewed on Youtube:
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Due to the fact that I have decided to create a tribute magazine, I have decided to look at a publishing company called TeamRock, who publish a magazine that is similar in some ways to my idea.
TeamRock are a British publishing company, who publish the well known titles Classic Rock and Metal Hammer. This logo would be a suitable company to distribute my magazine because they describe themselves as a new company formed to “provide and create premium content to rock music fans across the world.” My magazine is concerned with this too.
Classic Rock magazine dedicated to rock music and focuses on key bands spanning from the 60s to the early 90s. It also includes contemporary artists that the magazine finds worthy of being included. My magazine is very similar to this because it centres itself around the past, but also includes new bands that are inspired by old music. Classic Rock has published ‘Special Issues’ before, according to different decades such as the 70s, 80s and 90s. These include the best hard rock and metal bands from their respective eras. This correlates with the ideas in my magazine, except that Ode to the Old would include special issues dealing with individual years and it would contain homages to bands of more classic roots like the Rolling Stones and Beatles.
Classic Rock’s demographics are hard to find, but I did find out that it is said to be read by white males from 14-30+. This would be the same of my magazine, except it would also attract females.
TeamRock use a lot of advertising in the magazine in order to further increase profit. They include advertisements from the likes of hmv. I would employ the same methods in order to increase profit, but I would try to include more technological companies, such as Spotify or iTunes, in order to target younger audiences.
TeamRock also have a radio station which plays music that is directly linked with the titles they distribute. This radio station has methods of its own advertisements. The radio creates sculptures of iconic rock artists like David Bowie to increase advertising and sales. Instead of this, I would create a series of Spotify or soundcloud playlists and promote them on social networking sites, whilst at the same time selling vinyls for cheaper prices.
TeamRock have also created a website called classicrockmagazine.com which aims to increase the magazines sales. I think that this is a great idea and I would do exactly the same thing with my magazine title and make it an interactive website that engages readers with the monthly content of the magazine to try and make them even more prone to becoming a niche customer and buying it monthly.
Unfortunately, Classic Rock’s sales have been declining. The magazine saw a circulation dip of 4.6%, going from 56,714 in December 2012, to 54, 109 in December 2013. My magazine would use social media effectively to keep its audience tapped in and keep sales figures up.
2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I tried to capture the type of person that people who enjoy classic rock and retro music would like to read about in this day and age. My brother, who is the person featured on the front cover and double page spread, appreciate older music and value it more than current chart music. Therefore, I think that his overall style accentuates the type of artist who would be included in my magazine because he follows the influences of classic heroes like Jim Morrison and Marc Bolan.
These photos show the exact type of person that I wanted to represent in my magazine. People who are inspired by old music, and whom use this inspiration to make music of their own.
This double page spread, containing Kurt Cobain, presents the type of person who I want to represent as well. Kurt is playing a guitar and as an avid fan, I know that he had vast influences from the past. I want my magazine to have elements of the old music that current artists use for inspiration and creativity.
1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Attached is the powerpoint I created for the first evaluation question.
Double Page Spread Update
I have been playing around with my double page spread for some weeks now and was really happy with the outcome, especially since I had been struggling with InDesign. I had to change the background photo many times because no text was legible as the colours were either too bright or too dark. I used Photoshop to solve this problem and was really happy with the results.
However, as soon as I got the colours right, and started to relax, I realised that the text was not spread properly for the layout. I had to maneuver the text around many times to make sure that it fit for the fold of the magazine. I eventually achieved this effect with some problems, and then I began to play around with my titles and fonts. 
I am extremely happy with the final product. I was using the Rolling Stone magazine as an inspiration and thus the bars on the bottom and top were added for extra effect. I think that they go fantastically well with the photo and the font and add an extra air of profession zest to my double page spread.
Contents Page
Alicia Carpenter's blog 