Note to moderator

Hello moderator I am Luke Seddon together we will be embarking on my media journey; I have clearly labelled all of my evaluation questions, Final front cover, contents page, double page spread, with all my drafts. Enjoy

Question 1- In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

These are the conventions that I have followed;

Within my magazine I have followed these specific conventions in the interest of keeping my overall media product to be easily recognisable as classical whilst still maintaining a unique twist on the genre mainly so my media product stands out from other classical media products. The first convention that I followed was on the front cover of my magazine, the fact that the masthead was an eighth of the page. I decided to stick with this convention as I felt that it made the appearance much more engaging to the audience through my understanding of research. Another convention I tended to follow was the use of my model
looking into the camera on the front cover by shooting the model in centre frame, this was also to further engage my potential market. Mainly because it made the appearance of the model more visually appealing. I personally feel this links to Mulvey's male gaze theory in terms of attracting an audience with the engagement of females. Thirdly, I chose to use pull quotes within my magazine pages, this is because they are often what attracts an audience- due to the fact that they get a brief idea of the context of the article- also,  most of the time, the pull quote is taken from the most interesting part of an article- this also aids to gain the attraction of my audience. I also used a colour scheme of White/Gold/Blue/Black which are considered rich colours, it is a reflection on my target audiences status and the magazines quality. Another convention I followed was the use of puffs on my contents page; it easily allows the reader to find the article they want quickly. The font type I used was also in the convention of classical music: (Times new roman) this further links to the quality of the magazine and my intellectual audience. I believe the conventions I have followed have been successful as it gave a good representation of what the genre without losing its identity, but not so traditional that it has no creativity.  I initially aimed to use an element?sign that is post modern but I chose not- this is the reason of my magazine losing its identity to certain degree.

My Developed conventions;

I chose to use a banner across the top of my magazine this is because it is one of first hook that draws the reader into the magazine this allowed me to give the potential audience a slight reveal of what my main articles of my magazine entails. Usually the main articles is where the magazine is most interesting, it would enable me to attract my target market which I need to do in order to create a selling, successful magazine.

I also chose to place the images from my contents page in a Polaroid format, this was because it suited the retro, unique stereotype of an classical genre. I developed this layout by creating a frame around the images as well as adding a puff with the page number. Furthermore my images appeared much more dynamic on the page and almost appeared to be placed on top of the paper rather than them being printed onto it, once again adding a more unique and visually appealing magazine. I also used modern, more youthful, energetic images which draws more people into my target audience as it is more engaging.

My Broken conventions

My images have completely countered this, linking to Steve Weak, it doesn't fully follow the convention as it isn't repetition to attract the same audience. This is the reason of my youthful, modernised, energetic images that are against the convention. This broken convention was that I didn't use a stereotypical "classical" colour for my masthead, instead I chose to use white, one of the main reasons for this was the fact that it created a bold and dynamic contrast with the black colours used within my front cover. I also felt that the use of White made the magazine at first appear gender neutral which was one of the main appearances I wanted to create within my magazine as it meant that I would attain a wider target audience. Likewise i used puffs in my magazine which allures a younger audience as they can relate to it. I also used competitions in my magazine which would result in a trip to a festival which again appeals to the younger audience (14-24).

Overall I feel my magazine connotes the genre, and I feel it definitely fits the niche market of modern classical in which case it meets my target audience.

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups

Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Question 4 & 5 - Who would be the audience for your media product? How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

When I first started using Adobe in Media studies i didn't understand the great level of detail within the software, and was mystified b the vast array of tools that could alter images. The first tool I can use confidently is the spot healing brush. I used this on all of my photos to make my models look professional, this could also interpret the wealth/quality of the magazine because the models all appear beautiful and flawless.  

Another tool I found very useful; levels on a photo, as some of my photos had hard unflattering light I made the quality lower, to soften the glare of the light.

The photo I used for my double page spread had to be cropped so I used the clone tool to create a

consistent background for my text. 

After becoming more confident with the camera, I changed the lighting and angles carefully to get the best outcome I could. Also, by adjusting the ISO and aperture I was able to take photos in a range of different lightings for different desired effects.

In my final DPS picture, I blurred the background by using a very low opacity paint brush that gave layers to the background. This makes the model appear more in focus because it look sharp and bright. This also gives my model a more powerful charismatic pose with this effect. 

                                      

 I believe the tools that allowed me to be most creative/innovative were Prezi and Adobe Photoshop, this is the reason of many different tools and adjustment options. At A2, I will develop my use of technology from this point as a matter of experience as i have had slight problems with technology generally e.g. losing my user area.

Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

• I feel as if my Photoshop skills have improved from making my preliminary task to the full product, as I simply enhanced the brightness and levels of the image and the only image I had to cut round was the stationary on the contents page, whereas the other pictures of the students I used the background as it was in school but to no look like a school therefore adhered to the codes and conventions of the magazine. However, when I created my music magazine I had to think more about colour and what colours I was enhancing or dimming depending on the social representation, for example the image of ‘LISA’ I enhanced the colours around her to give her a majestic glow and represent power, to fit the classical music representation.
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• I also had to cut round the images as the backgrounds did not always fit the magazine as they were shot in school. Most of my cut images did not then go on a background, but straight on the magazine to make it look more professional and realistic.  I also did a lot more research into my full product, meaning that I created a product that fit both existing products as well as my audience’s needs. For my preliminary task I just looked at existing products and the codes and conventions they contained, as well as the ideologies of school, however, for my full product I analysed existing magazines, looking at codes and conventions as well as the social group representations, this is where I found out that existing magazines usually use of bland traditional colours to represent the slow, eroding genre of classical. Whereas other genres for example indie rock and rock usually use dark colours as well as black and white to represent the more serious topics and nature of their music.
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• I also researched into the target audience and demographic of these magazines and how these magazine appeal to these audiences. Most of the magazines I looked at appeal to teens and young adults so this is the type of audience I aimed for with my magazine (although my market is very niche). Whereas for my preliminary task I just aimed for secondary school students regardless of what target audience was more popular within the school magazine industry. From this I also researched into the institutions which distribute these magazines for example the Bauer and looked into other magazines or media platforms they distribute and how they aim to appeal to the right audience, this helped me have an idea of what my audience I would want.
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• From this I could create a draft magazine, which I did not create for my preliminary task that I believed would begin to fit my target audience. I then showed this draft to my audience along with a questionnaire, this allowed me to get feedback straight from my audience on what they wanted and whether this is the type of magazine they were expecting/wanting. For this I did a focus group to get further feedback directly from members of my focus group, allowing them to express themselves fully. Throughout the process of making my full product I used social media (Polldaddy) to gain feedback from my audience on the improvements I used making and how they wanted me to improve further, this meant I was becoming even further towards creating a product my audience wanted.
• This whole process allowed me to develop my understanding of representations; there was limited representation on the school magazine, as this allowed the codes and conventions of this genre of magazine. 
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• I feel as if my Photoshop skills have developed as I have been more able to create a professional looking, realistic full product than what my preliminary task was. As well as this I have communicated more with my audience while creating my full product, through a questionnaire, focus groups and social media, meaning that I can be sure my product fits their needs. Finally, I have learnt to use other methods of presenting (Prezi, Slideshare) to allow my presentation to be more interactive and engaging.
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• Thoughts; Personally I enjoyed creating the magazine itself as it allowed me to let my vision (through research and planning) become reality, I loved the cluster of tool at my disposal which I could edit and spark photos to life. I have found that the evaluation is the most difficult part of the journey as you have to really break down the components of the magazine.

Final Front Cover

Final Contents Page

Final DPS

Drafts of contents

Drafts of front cover

Drafts of DPS

Draft of Contents

Development/progression of double page spread VIA celtx

Development/progression of contents page VIA celtx

Draft of front cover layout and colours