How many real media products are you comparing your piece with?
What have you made of the conventions surrouding this area of the media?
Friday, 14 January 2011
New Technology Two.
Whilst on the course, what developments have been made in the wider field of new technology?
iPads, created by Apple, have definitely made an impact in the real world of media, as recently there has been news of new apps such as Vogue and Marie Claire with a moving front cover. Here is a link for the article, informing the public on this new feature. (www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1339398/All-magic-Emma-Watson-moving-magazine-cover-wouldnt-Hermione-pleased.html) Other magazines are beginning to produce iPad editions, such as Empire (www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/1048601/Bauer-launches-first-iPad-edition-form-Empire). Empire have also decided to cut down on advertising - which is usually a big factor in terms of magazines making their money. This is to allow for more in-depth advertising and integration with editorial.
Another new media gadget that was released in the year of 2010 was a Kindle. It is an electronic device for downloading, storing and reading electronic books, known as e-books. It was developed by a company called Lab 126 which is a subsidiary of Amazon. The Kindle has instant wireless access to Amazon.com and their hug number of e-books (over 115,000 and growing). You can read newspapers, subscribe to magazines and blogs, and play audio files such as MP3's or audio books. The Kindle is compact and lightweight so it is easy to handle. It can be every useful if you are going on holiday and you don't want to pack lots of thick books. Then you can download e-books and read them on your Kindle.
Online magazines are also becoming much more popular due to the less amount of money that people are able to spend on luxury products, such as magazines. www.onlinemagazines.com provides a list of new online magazines. Some on the list involve Arabella, Glamour and GQ. Due to the financial crisis, people are more likely to just read online magazines where they can receive information on their given topic for free. However, this has its disadvantages. Most people enjoy to sit down on the sofa or in bed with their magazine. But if you don't have a wireless laptop, then you can't do this. Also, this actual magazines, you have access to taking it anywhere with you and it isn't hard to carry around, especially now that you have the option of buying a small or larger version.
How might you build those into your product/s?
What is forecast to really take off this year?
It is predicted that social media is going to take off during 2011. Social media budgets will rise in marketing as it plays a huge part across all areas of any business from customer service, product development, sales, HR etc. Brands are now aware that participating in social media on some level is a must and therefore marketing budgets will be shifted to incorporate it.
(media predictions)
iPads, created by Apple, have definitely made an impact in the real world of media, as recently there has been news of new apps such as Vogue and Marie Claire with a moving front cover. Here is a link for the article, informing the public on this new feature. (www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1339398/All-magic-Emma-Watson-moving-magazine-cover-wouldnt-Hermione-pleased.html) Other magazines are beginning to produce iPad editions, such as Empire (www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/1048601/Bauer-launches-first-iPad-edition-form-Empire). Empire have also decided to cut down on advertising - which is usually a big factor in terms of magazines making their money. This is to allow for more in-depth advertising and integration with editorial.
Another new media gadget that was released in the year of 2010 was a Kindle. It is an electronic device for downloading, storing and reading electronic books, known as e-books. It was developed by a company called Lab 126 which is a subsidiary of Amazon. The Kindle has instant wireless access to Amazon.com and their hug number of e-books (over 115,000 and growing). You can read newspapers, subscribe to magazines and blogs, and play audio files such as MP3's or audio books. The Kindle is compact and lightweight so it is easy to handle. It can be every useful if you are going on holiday and you don't want to pack lots of thick books. Then you can download e-books and read them on your Kindle.
Online magazines are also becoming much more popular due to the less amount of money that people are able to spend on luxury products, such as magazines. www.onlinemagazines.com provides a list of new online magazines. Some on the list involve Arabella, Glamour and GQ. Due to the financial crisis, people are more likely to just read online magazines where they can receive information on their given topic for free. However, this has its disadvantages. Most people enjoy to sit down on the sofa or in bed with their magazine. But if you don't have a wireless laptop, then you can't do this. Also, this actual magazines, you have access to taking it anywhere with you and it isn't hard to carry around, especially now that you have the option of buying a small or larger version.
How might you build those into your product/s?
What is forecast to really take off this year?
It is predicted that social media is going to take off during 2011. Social media budgets will rise in marketing as it plays a huge part across all areas of any business from customer service, product development, sales, HR etc. Brands are now aware that participating in social media on some level is a must and therefore marketing budgets will be shifted to incorporate it.
(media predictions)
Sunday, 9 January 2011
New Technology
What new software and hardware have you employed to date?
During the half term, I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a MacBook which gave me access to software such as Pages. Pages was a required programme needed to produce my magazine cover. Another form of software that I own at home, is Photoshop. I usually use this software for my Photography coursework but this media task was obviously a suitable opportunity to use Photoshop. I edited some images from my shoot to use for the front cover so that the overall presentation appeared professional and to perfection. Although I didn't learn much from Photoshop because I've known alot of the processes for a while, I definitely developed skills and techniques with Pages as the software was all relatively new to me, although I had practiced on it a couple of times before, I hadn't gone to the extent of creating a magazine cover. I learnt alot along the way of the process, identifying many new fonts and photo affects.
What developments and changes has this enabled?
Pages definitely introduced me to a new, wide variety of different techniques, settings and options for my magazine cover. These enabled me in creating a unique, professional looking cover that couldn't have been produced in the same way through any other software, which makes it unique. The developments and changes that Pages produced was the masthead font and the faded border of the images. Photoshop changed the images into making them look sharper, brighter and more contrasted. I also created a depth of field affect to highlight the focal point of the images.
What kind of difference has it made?
These pieces of software have definitely enabled me to produce professional looking documents, resulting to being proud of my own work. Without the software, my magazine cover would be pretty average with no unique affects or fonts, which is what Pages gave me access to. Without Photoshop, my images used wouldn't look as affective and appealing as they do now. As a photography student, I am used to the process of editing images to make them look even better and eye-catching. So the difference that these software programmes have made towards my project, is that I have been able to create professional work to my satisfaction. I am a big fan of new media so when iMacs were released, I was eager to try them out. Therefore, Pages was a big inspiration for me. This is also because I took a weeks work experience at a magazine company where everybody used Pages to produce their work, so the programme has always intrigued me. I also wish to perceive a magazine career in the future, so developing knowledge on Pages will definitely help me in that department.
During the half term, I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a MacBook which gave me access to software such as Pages. Pages was a required programme needed to produce my magazine cover. Another form of software that I own at home, is Photoshop. I usually use this software for my Photography coursework but this media task was obviously a suitable opportunity to use Photoshop. I edited some images from my shoot to use for the front cover so that the overall presentation appeared professional and to perfection. Although I didn't learn much from Photoshop because I've known alot of the processes for a while, I definitely developed skills and techniques with Pages as the software was all relatively new to me, although I had practiced on it a couple of times before, I hadn't gone to the extent of creating a magazine cover. I learnt alot along the way of the process, identifying many new fonts and photo affects.
What developments and changes has this enabled?
Pages definitely introduced me to a new, wide variety of different techniques, settings and options for my magazine cover. These enabled me in creating a unique, professional looking cover that couldn't have been produced in the same way through any other software, which makes it unique. The developments and changes that Pages produced was the masthead font and the faded border of the images. Photoshop changed the images into making them look sharper, brighter and more contrasted. I also created a depth of field affect to highlight the focal point of the images.
What kind of difference has it made?
These pieces of software have definitely enabled me to produce professional looking documents, resulting to being proud of my own work. Without the software, my magazine cover would be pretty average with no unique affects or fonts, which is what Pages gave me access to. Without Photoshop, my images used wouldn't look as affective and appealing as they do now. As a photography student, I am used to the process of editing images to make them look even better and eye-catching. So the difference that these software programmes have made towards my project, is that I have been able to create professional work to my satisfaction. I am a big fan of new media so when iMacs were released, I was eager to try them out. Therefore, Pages was a big inspiration for me. This is also because I took a weeks work experience at a magazine company where everybody used Pages to produce their work, so the programme has always intrigued me. I also wish to perceive a magazine career in the future, so developing knowledge on Pages will definitely help me in that department.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Evaluation
Considering this pliminary task was my first major piece of coursework, I feel I did quite well in terms of presentation and planning. I found it hard finding school magazine covers in the beginning but after a while I realised different processes into finding them. Using google, I would search 'school magazines PDF' and there would be lots of results. My flatplans are all a little different to my final cover but I have taken techniques and bits of presentation from each one. As photography is a huge hobby and interest of mine, I particularly enjoyed shooting for the magazine and editing the images. I used Photoshop to edit them, creating professional looking photos and making them look perfect and affective. On the shoot, I explored the school and took many images of students working (experimented with different subjects) and some of the activities that were taking place on that day (such as the Christmas Fair and the opening of the new astroturf). I borrow an iMac during the Christmas Half Term so that I had the facilities to create my magazine cover on the programme, Pages. I enjoyed designing my front cover because I like the design and presentation side to media, such as magazines and CD covers etc. I was also quite proud of the title I came up with, I think 'Over to You' is a very relevant and appropriate name for a school magazine. I decided to do an audience research at the end of the process to see if it would be successful in the real world. The result was that it would be successful.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Audience Research
I asked twenty people of the same audience if they would see this magazine cover and be interested to read it. Here is a chart to show my results:
The results show that my magazine cover is likely to be a success in terms of attracting the correct audience and achieving the purpose.
The results show that my magazine cover is likely to be a success in terms of attracting the correct audience and achieving the purpose.
Final Cover
I chose this layout because it gets to the point and is clear it is a magazine cover as it has a typical magazine design. I like the composition of the images and text put together. I only added one caption because it has quite a busy composition and so I didn't want text to over-do it. I think the one caption sums up the content of this issue of the magazine anyway. 'How we Celebrated Christmas this year' suggests that the magazine will consist of information and images of the activities that the students took part in, in connection with Christmas.
The main image is of a textiles student working (you can see he is doing practical work rather than written, which makes it unique because most school magazines just have a student doing written work). In terms of costume, the student is wearing uniform with an amusing Christmas hat on to symbolise the date of this issue. I also like how the word 'Christmas' is visible on the hat, emphasising the Christmas factor more. The three small images at the bottom have a faded border on a scale of 63%. The images are all of different subjects too - art, resistant materials and textiles. The fading of the images symbolise that all of the images belong together at school, including the main image. The textiles image is of a sixth form student working on her dress that she has made. The position and composition of this small image shows good, A* work. It also adds my own personal touch to the cover because I like fashion. The art image is of three year eight students, smiling and showing off their work against another bright piece of work. The image is colourful and brings in more red (which links with the text colour and the christmas hat). The smiles add happiness which is different to the other images because they all show students seriously working whereas this one is students showing off the work that they are proud of. Linking the image to famous magazine covers, it would be refered as 'super-smilers'. All of the other image don't fit in with any of the other categories; 'romantic', 'invitational' or 'chocolate box' so I decided to make up my own name to suit models who aren't looking at the camera - 'individualists'. This is a suitable category name as it suggests students they are on their own, doing their own thing. The resistant materials image show the students looking up at the teacher, as if he is their idol.
The colour scheme is mainly red which is a bold colour and stands out. Green is also a common colour on the cover, which links with the colour of the uniform. Coincedentially, red and green are christmas colours, which, again, links to the theme of the issue. The lighting is all natural/available light which is realistic. Studio lighting has connotations of being setup, planned and false.
The audience of the magazine are teachers, students and parents. The synthetic personalisation talks to the audience to attract them. The audience would be classes E-C1 families. Anyone in the higher classes are more likely to attend private schools whereas my magazine cover focuses as a secondary school.
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