FINAL PRODUCTS

Here are all of my final products for my AS Media Music Magazine Production:

- My music magazine is a Hip-Hop/R&B genre focus and was influenced by other existing material within this genre such as 'Vibe', 'Billboard' and 'XXL'

- Its title is 'RENEGADE' and the TA (or target audience) focuses on ages 16-22 male and female urban followers of HIP-HOP.

  

This is my first draft of my music magazine front cover

This is my second draft of my music magazine front cover 

This is my music magazine contents page

Double Page Spread - Draft one 

Double Page Spread - Draft 1

Double Page Spread - draft 2

Double Page Spread - Draft 3

Evaluation - Point 7

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

Looking back now, I am very pleased with my progress throughout the year, from my creation of my school magazine 'The CCC's' front cover & contents page to the final creation of products for my music magazine 'Renegade'. I hope that my progress is clear through the production of my final product in comparison to the first task that I was assigned to. I have realised that there is a lot of editing involved in making a magazine, not just in terms of the editing process but also the significance of mise en scene and lighting as well as the Recce of photos.

- My first task was to create a school magazine front cover and contents page. To carry out this task I used my school camera and three talents; two school students and a teacher. I used close ups and mid-shots for my camera angles and cropped the photos. I then added the images to 'Microsoft Word' where I placed the Masthead and the taglines. Although I used relevant symbols, a main cover line and a 'puff plug', at the time I felt that the cover was professional. However now that I am looking back and evaluating, I think that the cover itself is rather simplistic and I should have perhaps used two colour schemes as opposed to multiple use of colours. Having said this, I am pleased with the fact that I considered mise en scene for both of the images that I used. For instance, I took the main image in the library, ensuring that the books & tables were visible in the background and therefore ensuring that the location and relevance of it were clear to the consumer. - I got this idea from the research that I carried out into other existing school|educational magazines such as 'FFH' and 'Back To School'.

Here is a comparison of my preliminary task (left) and final music magazine front cover (right):

Here are some clips that I have recorded to explain the comparison of my two front covers:

Evaluation - Point 6

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

1.) Learnt how to use my camera 

Before I had taken part in a media project involving the use of my own individual creativity I had never really understood much about the importance of technology. While creating my magazine I learnt that using a good camera is essential for taking photos - especially photos for a magazine. When I had created my first magazine front cover for my magazine 'Renegade' I had used an iPhone to take my images for my front cover. At the time I thought that the quality of my photos were great, but after I had conducted further research into camera angles, editing techniques and shooting material of other relevant and existing magazines, I found that the photo quality was no longer up to standard or something that I was satisfied with. Therefore I came to a decision to reform my magazine. Here are images of the before and after of my learning process:

Before

After

As you can see there are some dramatic changes in the process of the creation of my magazine front cover: the font of the text, the talent on the cover, the information and tag lines as well as the image itself. Most importantly, overall, the quality has improved.

For my second and improved front cover on the right I used this Canon Power-shot camera which I am very grateful for.

2.) I learnt how to edit my photos using editing applications and software:

To edit my photos I used three key applications which I now use as my go-to's whenever I am editing a photo!

- So to begin with I used an editing software known as 'Afterlight' which if you read my previous posts you will know plenty about. I used this application to carry out my initial photo editing process and found it to be very useful to me. It provided a wide variety of elements to consider changing, including saturation and sharpness of my images - both of which I had previously not known anything about. Before using the programme I thought of photo editing as adding filters and adding a splash of colour to my photos. This application alone changed my entire view of photo editing as it made me aware of the first stages of editing, before the filters and the text, and most importantly taught me how to manipulate an image and make it suitable for the context of its use - which in this case was my Hip-hop music magazine.

- Next, I used a programme known as 'Pixlr'. I found this to be useful to me because it taught me how to effectively add text to my photos. Not only this, but I learnt how to edit the text itself too. For instance, I used a font called 'American Typewriter'. I learnt how to change the colour of the fonts - to use both black and white colours on the cover as well as change the intensity of each and every font and colour that I chose to use. This was great because it enabled me to clearly portray the tag lines which I felt would attract audience attention in a manner that would make them stand out amongst the surrounding text.
- Lastly I used 'Piclay'. I used this mainly for techniques such as mirroring and layering my photos. I found this particularly useful as I was able to mirror some of my photos multiple times to create the 'quadruple' effect on my double page spread - that has received lots of audience attention!

3.) Learnt how to use a blog:

- Despite the fact that I technically already own a photo blog account known as 'Instagram' I would not refer to myself as a 'blogger', Using Blogger has shown me a new method of blogging, not just through images, but through videos and voice clips, and presentations, and editing text on the blog, the layout of the material on the blog as well as the style of the blog itself. I could go on and create an entire list of things that I have learnt but that would take too long! Instead I will say that I have found the blog so useful to the extent that I now believe I could start my own blog for free, using Blogger, not just for media purposes but for lifestyle. In addition to this I learnt that a blog can be used in many ways including embedding information from other websites such as 'YouTube', this is how I was able to share my audience feedback videos which I am thankful for - while doing this I learnt how to embed links from other sources onto a blog which I did not know was possible before I started using Blogger. I am now confident in the purpose of, and how to use a blog and this has changed my entire perspective of using a blog in a positive way.

4.) Learnt how to upload presentations

- Slideshare and Prezi: While using a blog I learnt how to present my ideas using a combination of words and photos in a fun way... I have learnt that creating presentations as a means of sharing information can be time efficient, easy to produce and a lot easier for the consumer to want to read through!

Evaluation - Point 5

How did you attract/address your audience? 

AS Media - Evaluation - Point 5 from Avigill123

Evaluation - Point 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Deciding on a 'type' of audience is difficult when you live in a diverse society full of a wide range of people with lots of interests. In the modern day, stereotyping people into a particular category, especially in terms of music can be challenging to say the least. However after a lot of deep thought and consideration I have decided that my magazine aims to please both genders from ages 16-25. Despite the fact that I have previously said that I was going to aim to please and meet the specific requirements of female members of the public, I feel that hip-hop music, generally speaking has a high number of male audiences too. In fact, possibly outnumbering females. As my magazine is representative of the modern society it is safe to say that I have created the magazine in manner which is inclusive to both genders, whether through male gaze or being relate-able for females. Another key factor which plays a role in this slight alteration in terms of audience, is the feedback that I received. I found that females were not the only people that were pleased with my magazine, as I also received positive feedback from male members of the public too.
For my magazine I used a female talent as this can be effective in attracting both males and females - males for male gaze and females as a way of relating. I retrieved this information through researching the audiences for 'Vibe' and 'Billboard' music magazines - as my chosen musical genre is the same as these magazines, I made an assumption that my expected audience will be the same or very similar to that of these magazines.

Evaluation - Point 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

After analysing a wide range of media institutions that could be an option when considering which establishment would be likely to distribute my media product, I found that the 'Bauer' company is an ideal match. This is because hip-hop music as a genre is highly popular and will have a large audience, and so a large market requires a large company.
I think that 'Bauer' company will be successful in promoting and distributing my magazine efficiently as well as catching the attention of the correct TA.

If 'Bauer' were to publish 'Renegade' music magazine they would be fully involved the business management sector of the creativity and development of the promotion of the magazine, as well as the entertainment for audiences in terms of concerts, interviews and any other popular forms of encouragement for both the music genre and the magazines success.

Evaluation - Point 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?