Meera Popat AS Media Coursework
Wednesday 6 May 2015
Tuesday 5 May 2015
Monday 4 May 2015
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
When
creating my final product, I used a variety of hardware and software, and in
the process learnt a lot about them. The main piece of software I used was
Adobe InDesign as it was the programme I used to primarily design and create my
magazine. I had no experience in using the software before I initially started
making the magazine. However in using Adobe InDesign top create and develop my
magazine, I followed tutorials in order to give my music magazine a strong and professional
layout. I used tools for aspects of my magazine such as making pull out quotes to
make the magazine look more interesting. Adobe InDesign is usually the software
that most if not all magazine companies use to create their magazine, i.e. companies
such as NME and Q.
As well
as using Adobe InDesign to create the main format and basis of the magazine, I also
used Adobe Photoshop especially for the editing of my photos that were included
within the magazine of which was not available in InDesign. I used the
programme for basic editing of my photos, such as airbrushing with the blemish
tools and adjusting to the correct lightings for the pictures, as that is a
familiar convention used in all magazines, not just in music. I did this on all
of my pictures in order to give my magazine and professional and well polished
look as well to adhere with the typical media conventions. Photoshop was the
perfect software to use to enhance my images and give my magazine a cool, yet
original appearance.
The
photos I edited on were shot in two different locations – one being the schools
studio and the other being in and around the school. For my studio photo shoot,
I used a variety of different models, their names were, Jessica, Tia, Ross and
Jemini. I used a white background for most of my photo shoots which may or may
not have been the wrong decisions as my images did turn out to be very bland. The
lights which I used were the Interfit Stellar X studio flash lights and the
camera I shot on was a Cannon 550D Digital SLR Camera. I used a prime lens which
has a fixed zoom; the camera also allows you to take pictures manually and automatically.
The 50mm lens acts like an 85mm and I chose to use this lens as I learnt that
it was ideal for portrait shots which are what I used primarily in my photo
shoot as this reflects the shot styling of most magazines. The camera had a 1.8
adjustable aperture which is the cheaper alternative to the zoom lens but still
worked just as successfully for my desired shots. I used this camera as a hand
held as opposed to on a tripod to create a more natural variety of shots and
angles of the cameras.
Saturday 2 May 2015
Thursday 16 April 2015
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The type of magazine I have produced is predominantly for
the 16-21 age range and for both genders. What I believe is young readers tend
to be more interested in magazines that do not just focus on one group, whether
that would be male or female or young artists/old artists. This is supported by
the fact that young readers are more interested in new music, of which has
recently come out, for example, the new songs from Fifty Shades of Grey. What
they also like to read and hear about is the latest gossip about albums,
artists and generally the whole music industry. The audience data and the
research I have done also shows how young people are more committed into
finding out about new artists and release dates than adults from the ages of 23
onwards are. I feel as if the social
class and gender of my readers is a lot wider my results highlighted, females
and males were both interested in new media to keep up to date and to
engage with their favourite artists. As my audience aren’t too old they would
be computer literate so things like android phone apps and viewing my website
would be extremely easy for them. This was useful as it meant that I knew I
could add more features using social media into my magazine, for example,
Youtube subscriptions, a Facebook page and an Instagram account. On my magazine
front cover and in my contents page, I have also given readers a chance to win
big prizes such as, tickets to Glastonbury Festival, meeting a
band/artist.
According to my
research I found that my specific target audience enjoy going to festivals,
gigs and subscribing to channels on YouTube. This helps me emphasise the fact
that most of the people who I suppose will be attracted to my magazine will be
from a middle class background which means they will be able to afford the
above and my magazine. This helped me create further features in my magazine
such as ‘Win tickets to Glastonbury, V fest and Reading’. I had to think quite
a bit about the style of bands and artists in my magazine. The reason I only
focused my attention on one genre was because pop has a variety of different paths
it drifts down and therefore there is a lot if not too much to include,
although stating this, it is harder because there is so much to include. At the
moment, there are a lot of songs coming out into the pop industry and therefore
a lot of different bands and artists grasping for attention. This means in
terms of my magazine, the readers will already be educated and will know what
the trend is at the moment and will only be catching up on most of the gossip
in the magazine. From my research I found my target audience would rather I focused
my attention on new up and coming bands and artists, with the popular artists
included at the side. The audience and readers like to have their own taste and
they are not scared of what others think and what they say about their choices
in the taste of music. The pop lovers are mainly full of people who love fun,
bubbly music and love to interact and find out more about their inspirations
unlike any other genre. When thinking about the styles of artists I also had to
think about the way I would present these bands. I had to makes sure the bands
had attention grabbing headlines and the images were sharp, unique and
interesting. I needed to make sure that my target audience would want to pick
up the magazine and actually read it, therefore most of the magazine had to
have certain features added to it that would definitely grab the reader’s
attentions. I had to make sure it was unique to all other pop magazines and
would appeal to my target audience, especially to the gender.
The audience for my
magazine are those of who are from the ages of 16-21. The social class for my
magazine will be grade A. this focuses on the upper middle class who are able
to afford quite a bit. It may also be graded as class C1, this is lower middle
class who are of an administrative job or professional job. These job types
will have a big impact on my magazine as it will be the majority of my target audience.
The psychographics of my magazine will apply to lovers of music festivals, gigs
and those who enjoy reading and keeping up to date with the latest news and
information about music and their favourite bands and artists. I feel as if my
target audience are very individual and are independent people who do not like
to follow the crowd, but will disperse onto many different paths in the pop
genre. Their social habits will be consumption via hard copies from shops such
as WHSmith and newsagents, as well as reading online or on apps as they enjoy
to be on the go.
Tuesday 14 April 2015
Wednesday 8 April 2015
Production Diary
During the last few weeks, I have been finishing off my magazine and starting the cokpletion of my Evalations for the magazine. So far I have completed questions 1-3 and I am starting on question 4.
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