AS - Evaluation Q.7

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

Colours:
When planning for my preliminary task, I decided to go with a Fall/Autumn theme which is why I went with the colour orange. However, after I had designed it and got it printed I realized that it looked rather dull and it wouldn't really grab someone's attention if it is available on a magazine stand at some shop.
Which is why I then went with the colour scheme black, white and red for my main task. Since now I know that such a colour combination looks rather eye catching and professional.
I also didn't think about using colour psychology when deciding the colour scheme for my preliminary task however after that I realized that colours do mean a lot. Orange means distrust and that isn't a very good decision for using in any product which is on the market. Whereas, Black means power and elegance. White means purity and friendship and red means power, passion, love etc.

Mast Head/Heading:
The masthead of my preliminary task 'BSS' is not eye catching and visible, I later rectified my mistake in my final media product by using a grey font on a plain black background which I believe is pretty evident.
Same is the issue with my heading 'CONTENTS', in my preliminary task it is a few shades darker than my background whereas in my final media product it is a red heading on a black background.
I learnt that the Mast Head/Heading had to be eye catching and it had to stand out.

Font Style:
Firstly, the font I used for my heading 'CONTENTS' in my preliminary task is sheerly unprofessional. At first I thought I was adding a personalized touch to it by using an Autumn themed font in an Autumn Issue. However after it got printed, it looked more like a ladies clothing catalogue and less like a college magazine. This is why I decided to go with the same font style for my heading, as my masthead on my final media product.

Main Feature Headline:
My preliminary task has no main feature headline at that time I thought I was challenging conventional magazines by giving equal importance to all of my headlines. However, Later on I realised that there needed to be a link between the main image and the main feature headline for the magazine to give it a more professional look.

Placement of Contents:
The way I have written my contents in my preliminary task with the page numbers all over the place, it looks like a rather confused job. Which is why I decided to go with a much more sleek and organised look in my final task by drawing a line and writing the contents on one side and the numbers on the other.

Main Image:
My main preliminary image is still over exposed in the sense that the pages of the book she is reading aren't visible. Also in print, her face seems to look saturated. This is why I took extra care in post processing my main task's main image by taking prints after I had edited it to see the final outcome before moving ahead with my magazine.
Also, she is looking away which I feel gives a feeling of abandonment this is why I made my male model look into the camera when I took his images for the cover.

AS - Evaluation Q.6

Q. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I used various technologies (Hardware & Software) when constructing my media product. The list of camera equipment that I used, I have already mentioned previously before:
http://fatimamasudas.blogspot.com.es/2014/02/as-final-task-planning-4.html
Apart from the above mentioned equipment I also had a tripod at hand however I didn't need to use it for my final product.
The software's I used were Adobe PhotoShop CS6, Adobe InDesign CS6 and Microsoft Office 2010.
I also used blogger and facebook (to show my peers the pictures I took, and to take suggestions). From all the above mentioned hardwares and softwares , I learnt something from almost all of them.

PhotoShop CS6:
I have already been using photoshop since quite some time, however this time whilst making the magazine I learnt a few more tips and tricks.
I learnt how to apply a clipping mask & lighting effects. However, I didn't find the need to use the lighting effects.

InDesign CS6:

I came across weird and funny issues whilst constructing my media product. For e.g. I didn't know how to show two pages as a spread in ID, and hence my alignment was not accurate. However I researched on-line and overcame this issue.

Apart from this I had to learn evrey single thing about ID from scratch:
Making a rectangle tool and filling it with color. I believed that there would be paint bucket tool in ID too since there is one in PS.
Applying gradients.
Making text boxes and then making sure they are on a equal distance (Learnt about the benefits of snapping).
How we don't need a new layer before every step in ID since things can be selected and deleted without selecting a particular layer first.
Placing pictures and making sure they fit their frame (Fit content to frame)
Etc.

Microsoft Office:
I just used this to type out my interview and copy-paste it after correcting spelling errors.

Blogger:
Again i had to learn this from scratch since I have no blogging experience behind me. At first I had given up all hope because the pictures wouldn't and at times still don't align properly, however now I tend to ignore it and keep on fiddling around till I achieve the result I want.
I also learnt how to make labels and now mu blog posts are properly labelled. For e.g. Final task, Evaluation etc.
I also changed the template of the background to go with the mood of my magazines.
Etc.

Camera:
I used a Nikon D5000 and since I have been using it since years, I knew it before hand and hence did not learn anything from that however what I did learn was how to use a speedlite.

Speedlite:
I had no experience of using a speedlite before this magazine, and since I wanted such a result I learnt it from my teacher.
http://fatimamasudas.blogspot.com.es/2014/01/as-final-task-planning-12.html

AS - Evaluation Q.5

Q. How did you attract/address your audience?

YOUI used the word 'YOU' on my cover as well as my contents page hence directly addressing the audience, for e.g. 'WHICH INSTRUMENT IS FOR YOU'. I also indirectly addressed the audience with various other cover lines, for e.g. 'HOW TO WRITE THE PERFECT LYRICS' or 'WHICH MUSICAL DEGREE TO PURSUE'. All of these I believe give the audience a feeling of being included and important in the eyes of the magazine. Since their interests and issues are being directly addressed. 

Incentives
The factor of incentives 'IN IT TOW WIN IT' attract the audience since free things generally make the viewer want to buy the things offering the incentive, avail the offer and try his luck. Specially the target audience of my media product are generally young adults who will be more attracted by free things since their cognitions have not yet developed as much as perhaps a 40year old who might not be interested in minor free gifts.

Real Artists
I added various pictures of real artists and concerts, even though I know they are not known in the UK however in my society they are very popular. Hence attracting the audience with the use of real celebrities in action is always a good strategy!

Presence
Subjects like psychology, psychotherapy & counselling teach us that prescience is all that what really matters when you are looking at a client & presence can be shown by the body not facing away from the client, eye contact etc. I took such factors into consideration whilst making my model pose. I wanted him to give the audience a feeling of presence and being there, which I believe is a major factor in me addressing my audience through my media product.

KNOW HIM BETTER
Since I used an interview which was not directly addressing the audience I still wanted to add a direct or indirect mode of address which took the audience into consideration. Which is why I decided to add the 'KNOW HIM BETTER!' strip/s which would help the audience increasing their knowledge about his personal life. 

AS - Evaluation Q.4

Q. Who would be the audience of your media product?
My target audience are those young consumers, who are interested in music specially the genre 'ROCK'. (Ages 14-25) Which is why I used a model who is a normal 21 year old university going young man. I believe that if I had used a younger model, I would have confused my target audience since they would have nothing to relate to. His age can be determined by his D.O.B mentioned and also the fact that he talks about his upcoming exams, graduation, field of studies e.t.c.
Apart from age, my magazine is also aiming towards middle to higher class teenagers who can easily afford this magazine since it is only RS.600/ 3.57 pounds. The teenagers in my society on average spend around RS3000-10,000 every month on leisure activities/shopping/school items. Which is why a RS.600 magazine providing so much won't be considered so expensive.

AS - Evaluation Q.3

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

 Media institutions like Bauer (Distributing Q & KERRANG! etc) & IPC Media (Distributing NME) can distribute my magazine since they are already distributing magazines similar to mine. These magazines cater to the same target audience as mine and hence it would be beneficial to use the same distributes since they will know the tricks of the trade and hence can use the same marketing strategies they use for other similar magazines. These magazines are known worldwide which is why I have decided to go with their distributors.
It would also be beneficial for them since they are already the major market players for such magazines, a magazine like mine would be competition for them & if such a magazine is popular their customer base will shrink. So instead of them thinking of taking over 'ROCK STATION', they can choose to distribute it before hand.

AS - Evaluation Q.2

Q. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social groups consisting of teens, normal young people, laidback artists etc are being represented by my media product, since most professional 40 year old's will not be interested in buying a rock magazine. To answer this particular question I will comparing my model with the artists/models mainstream magazines use for example the artist from the band 'GUNS N ROSES' & 'LED ZEPPELIN'.

Both magazines are featuring a young male artist, however my artist has a more serious posture when compared to the artist of 'GUNS N ROSES'. I made my artist make this pose because I believe that it makes him look better and it suits his personality more. Whereas 'LED ZEPPELIN' is standing straight (matching my artists posture some what) and has his hand tied, my artist has his hands together giving a nice and complete feeling to the reader.
My artist has his head straight like 'LED ZEPPELIN' whereas the the artist of 'GUNS N ROSES' has his head tilted towards the side.
All 3 artists have casual hairstyles showing their playful and casual personalities.
My artist is also wearing dark clothing similar to the clothing worn by the other two.

Overall I believe that these elements represent the youth, which is what is being portrayed by my magazine throughout. 

AS - Evaluation Q.1

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


After studying magazines, I decided to stick with one real media product 'CLASSIC ROCK' and use & develop that further for my own magazine.


Title of the Magazine
The title of my magazine is 'ROCK STATION' which gives the reader an idea that this particular magazine is regarding the rock genre of music.When initially planning for my magazine, I decided I wanted to incorporate the word 'ROCK' in the title. For this purpose I studied various magazines online, which had the word 'ROCK' in their titles. For e.g

After looking at these, I came up with two names; 'ROCK NATION' & 'ROCK STATION'. I went with the name 'ROCK STATION' because the word station gives me a sense of holding and permanence, hence the feeling of being stable and there all the time.
For this particular point I believe my media product develops & uses real media products.

Title Style
For the font style of my title I had to develop and at the same time challenge real media products, because all of the ones I came across had a very professional font used. Even the mastheads of 'ROCK EXPRESS' and 'CLASSIC ROCK' were not as casual as I wanted. Hence I downloaded the font 'ROCK IT' from www.dafont.com which was surprisingly exactly similar to something I had seen when I typed the word 'ROCK FONTS' in google. At that time I had thought that something even slightly similar would make my magazine look amazing.
Hence, I challenged real media products by using this particular 'casual' looking font instead of the conventional professional style fonts.

Colour Scheme

The entire colour scheme of my magazine consists of just three colours mainly; Black, white & red/maroon. I looked at various issues of 'CLASSIC ROCK' and then I kept three in mind whilst deciding my colour scheme. 

 The dominance of the colour black is pretty obvious in all three issues, which is why I decided to use the same colour scheme of 'CLASSIC ROCK' hence using real media products. I also used a low-key photograph of my model which was again an inspiration taken from these. However I challenged this particular magazine in terms of it's forms by using three smaller (coloured) images on my cover page which is not seen on the covers of 'CLASSIC ROCK'.

Placement of Text
The placement of my text is mostly concentrated towards the bottom of the page, this can also be seen in the issues of 'CLASSIC ROCK', however issues of 'CLASSIC ROCK' tend to have fewer cover lines/sky lines with all of the emphasis being on the main feature headline. Initially I went with the same idea since I wanted to stick to the forms and conventions of 'CLASSIC ROCK'.

However, I believed that my final product did not look polished and finished at all! It rather looked like a 15 minute job instead of something which had taken weeks and days of careful planning. I then decided to challenge the forms and conventions of 'CLASSIC ROCK' by adding more cover lines/sky lines however I still stuck to the original layout of 'CLASSIC ROCK' by not adding too many variations since if I had moved the text around my artist's face would have been covered hence not giving the same dark/dingy effect it is now giving.
Also, initially I wrote my artist's name in a font style similar to the one used to write 'LED ZEPPELIN'. I then made changes to that and decided to stick to just one or two fonts which looked similar just to give a feeling of uniformity and professionalism.

IncentivesWhat I noticed about most popular magazines was that they always have some sort of incentive to buy for e.g. 'CLASSIC ROCK's incentive of free CD's. I decided to incorporate this factor into my magazine by using a graphic 'flash' and including the incentive of free CD's, posters and passes.

Costumes/Props
For this purpose I not only studied magazines but at the same time looked for suitable clothing, instruments etc online. 

I decided not to challenge the conventional dressing of the rock genre at all because challenging it would have completely changed the look of my magazine. However, no make up was used on my artist for the shoots. I did two shoots of my model, details of his dressing are as follows.
Shoot one:
Black T-shirt
Light blue jeans
Wrist watch
Black army boots
Black open front shirt
Spikes (Hair style)
(Unedited images attached)

Shoot two:Blue T-shirt
Blue jeans
Blue open front shirt
Blue sneakers
Casual hair
(Unedited image attached) 

For the props we used 2 semi acoustic guitars and 1 electric guitar. All 3 are owned by my model hence we faced no difficulties in arranging appropriate props.

Images on the Contents Page:
The images used on my content's page are conventionally what music magazine contents have; rock stars, concerts etc. However, these images were originally taken by me on various occasions (mentioned previously) which is why I decided to use them instead of looking for more models. Hence I challenged real media products by just using images of concerts and not a variety of rock stars posing for images. 

 I had various other images but decided to use just 3.

Division of Contents:My contents are divided into two parts; Regulars and Features. A sight commonly seen in magazines. I used the conventional method of displaying contents because merging all of them together would have seemed like it is a magazine which has 'everything' new each time. However, this is not how established magazines work. They have some regular's at hand which have different content every time but follow the same layout more or less.

Main Headline/Pictures (Double Spread):I will be covering two conventional aspects in this point that I challenged. Firstly most double spread pages have at least one picture introducing the artist/band/company etc the article/interview etc is about. However, I merged my pictures with my main headline via a clipping mask (In photoshop). This sight is absolutely never seen in conventional magazines and I only saw it once. However, I believe that double spread was not at all conventional.
Hence, I don't have a clear simple head line nor simple pictures introducing my artist.

Columns:

I used columns in my interview again using conventional media products as an inspiration. However. Initially I made just 2 columns per page. But after aligning everything I realised it still looked too bulky . Which is why I went with 3 per page then.

Brief Over-View (Final)

Cover Page

 Contents Page

Double Spread Page

Brief Over-View (Preliminary)

College Magazine Cover Page

College Magazine Contents Page

AS - Final task (Double spread explanation 4)

I also added a quote taken from the interview in between the text and a rapid fire round at the end to intrigue the readers and to keep their attention till the very last word.
I also added personal details of the artist in the 'Know him better' box.