Essay on Institutions

Evaluation, Conclusion

I think that the overall success of the products I have created is good as I think that I addressed the audience well and created a magazine that links to the genre that I chose.

Evaluation, Question 7

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

Looking from my prelim task to my final pieces, there's an immediate difference- especially regarding contents and quality. I think that the one in which you can see the most development from is the contents page as the prelim contents page was extremely basic.
   When creating the cover page and contents page for the prelim task, I didn't look at existing products nor did I look at codes and conventions in depth. I think this is the reason to why it lacked enough structure, contents and creativity.  However, when looking at codes and conventions within magazines and looking at many existing products, my ideas broadened and I was able to structure and plan how I wanted it to look better- my knowledge widened and I knew more to what I had to do to create successful magazine pieces.


Cover Page

Prelim Task

Final Piece

The cover on the left is my prelim task- cover page. I processed this photo, making it black and white but through the research I've done, I saw that successful covers use colour, not black and white.

  The masthead is separated from the magazine. I think that it would look better as a whole if it was on the bricks, going behind the boys head.

   I feel as if there's many things on this magazine cover that could be improved and overall, it doesn't look professional nor successful.

The cover on the right is my final piece- cover page. I feel since my prelim task, my skills have developed and broadened. I feel like there's a better structure on this piece and the ideas/contents is better. I think that the masthead improved due to it now standing out a lot better.

Cover Page

Prelim Task

On the left is my prelim task, contents page. Although the colours go well together, the page is too extreme basic. I think that the lines underneath the text and around the photos look amateur.   

Evaluation, Question 6

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

At the beginning of creating the 3 media products, I had basic knowledge in the photography area in which I found useful throughout the course. I knew the basic shot types and how to use the technologies (e.g the digital cameras) but regarding the software we used (Photoshop and InDesign) it was my first time using them so I had to learn as I went along, experimenting with different things. This found difficult at times, especially during the start but as my knowledge improved, it was easier to process images and put all the codes and conventions together.

Due to already being familiar with taking photos, I found it easy to think of how I wanted the image for the cover page to look. I wanted to take a variety of images to get a successful portraiture image in which will gain peoples attention on a cover page. To get this I took photos, experimenting with lighting, body language, positioning and props.

For my double page spread, I had to cut a lot of images out to put on to the white background as another layer. I found that in Photoshop, one of the tools I used a lot to do this was the 'Quick Selection Tool'. I found that this was time consuming as to make the photos look good and fit well on to the page, you need to cut around the images and edit them further to make them look neat. To do this, I used the eraser to smooth the edges.

In Photoshop, one of the tools I used a lot was the 'Quick Selection Tool'. I used this in my double page spread as I had various images to edit out of the photo and put as another layer on the magazine. The key skills that I learnt were how to make the way I'd cut the images out look neat, how to erase parts of images, how to process images to make them fit the 'look' of the magazine and how to add text within each product.

During the process of creating my media products, I learnt that when using iconic signs through photography (especially in my cover page) it's best to use photos in which you can immediately recognise the model. The 2 images that I originally took for my cover page of Charley- Shoot 1, I liked a lot due to the colours, the backgrounds and the way she was positioned in both of them. However, if I was to use them on my cover page, it wouldn't of worked well, as you wouldn't of been able to see who she was- which is key to making consumers look at your magazine. For these reasons, I took another shoot with Model Hannah- Shoot 2 and found that these photos were more appropriate.

There weren't many problems I had to overcome but throughout- as said above- it was proven difficult at first due to my lack of knowledge on the softwares we used. I found that when placing the images that I'd cut out on to the double page spread, they at first looked rigid and untidy so I had to smooth them over and make them look the best and most professional as I could. Other small problems that occurred were such as, not enough lighting in photos and the photos not being what I needed (as said above). However I found after I'd taken a wider range of photos, it was easier to see how they can be improved, what one's were most appropriate and how I could make them look better.

Evaluation, Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience? 

I formed a focus group in which I asked questions to. I chose people within a social group that likes the Indie genre. 

Evaluation, Question 4

Powerpoint, evalution 4 from eatmytortoise

Evaluation, Question 3

Evaluation 3 from eatmytortoise

Evaluation, Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a3zt6n9Mdo
In this video, I talked about how I portrayed the models and how I made them look to how I needed them to be to represent the Indie Genre I was aiming for.

Evaluation- Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


http://prezi.com/sqfcdaid-9zq/forms-and-conventions/?auth_key=72ff32f58966850cd6a5d23d4d0d1d7a167fab24&kw=view-sqfcdaid-9zq&rc=ref-24584677

Introduction

I created a front cover, contents page and double page spread for a music magazine targeted at people that are interested in the genre of Indie. There were many ways in which I improved my knowledge of the Indie Genre and what people would most likely want to see on a magazine. These ways include questionnaires, a mood board, textual analysis's and mind maps.
  I found all types of research helpful. The primary research helped me know what additional codes and conventions to add the magazine and what people in the age target audience would want to see, e.g. price wise, colours, models. The secondary research helped me the most (in my opinion) as it helped me gain a better knowledge of Indie itself and I found out more about the people, the lifestyle, colours and models. This is why I found by doing a mood board, I could create magazine pieces that related to the genre more.

Cover page

I chose this image to use as my main image for my cover page. I chose to use this image as I liked the clothing, pose, position and the overal look of the girl.

I enhanced the colours of the image to strengthen some parts of it.

I began making my logo by using a simple but bold font. The name of my magazine is 'Indie Unique' but I thought that it'd be more eye-catching and bold if I only used the letters IU. I put a thick black outline around the letters to make it stand out.

I put a blue box behind the letters to make the letters stand out. I chose a blue by using the colour grabber tool. I made it the same colour as one of the blues in which were in some of the clothing of the models shirt. I wanted to use a dark colour to make the white writing stand out.

I put the name underneath the letters to show what the magazine is actually called. I think the letters being bigger attracts more attention which is what I wanted. I put the star in the middle also to make it more individual. 

I added cover lines to the cover page.