5. How did you attract/address your audience?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C97VpASK-3E&feature=context&context=C3312857ADOEgsToPDskKccFWHhSmjNC73AyJMCzZh

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

http://prezi.com/bzfqxp3_mi1p/how-does-your-media-product-represent-particular-social-groups/

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

Research & Planning:

Thanks to YouTube, I was able to gain other help from video bloggers around the world. The screen shot to the left is the channel of the 'Jazz Video Guy', a person I found incredibly helpful to help determine my target audience. In accordance with this, I also used social networking sites to help with this as well, and having never made a 'group' before, this was a new process for me. (the group is visible here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Media-Coursework-Jazz-Magazine-Feedback/336257513056225)

I also learnt how to scan drawings into the computer, a process that I have always struggled with, through scanning these images in, I was able to portray my ideas in a much easier medium.

Different file types such as 'JPEG', 'PDF' and 'indd' caused issues with my production and planning, causing me to have to change some of the files so that they could be presented in Blogger as Blogger only supports JPEG.










Production:

The Nikon Digital SLR's that I had to use had many different settings. Through the process of creating this product, I learnt which setting was best for the shots that I wanted to take and also learnt how and when it was necessary to use the flash feature as if used in the wrong shot, it can cause colour drain. A main setting that I used however was the portrait setting as it was portraits I was aiming to take.

A main element that I learnt about in the past few months is the use of the lighting kit which really helped with getting my photos the high quality that I wanted. Changing the amount of light on one side and keeping the light bright on the other can cause shadow which in my case helped with my photography as the photos themselves would not have been that good if it wasn't for the correct lighting.





Post Production:

Image manipulation was used a lot in producing my product, since starting this process my photoshop skills have dramatically improved as I am now confident doing much more on photoshop than I previously was. The main tools that I used were the blur tool and the magnetic lasso tool. (Here is a situation where I used the lasso tool and other such processes:  http://bentolhurstasmedia.blogspot.com/2012/02/ike-nova-lasoo-and-shadowing.html)

Using the desk top publisher InDesign was incredibly useful and having only used the software once before, I was able to improve my skills in using it greatly, learning how the ruler tool can be helpful for close detail of spaces and that when re-sizing an image, you should always hold down shift so that the image is re-sized equally and does not become pixilated.

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

As You can see, a key element that I have learnt about over the media coursework, is how to take better photos. The preliminary task's images were taken with the background and lighting not being thought about to the same extent as the actual project. Another thing that I have learned through producing both products is that planning the product with immense detail is incredibly important, as in the preliminary project, there was little planning and we just hoped that the image we had taken would work with the theme of the magazine, however with the real project, I had always planned for the front cover to be an extreme close up and knew that this was the image that I wanted. I also learned that time management is a major element to creating a magazine as during the preliminary project, I was vague with deadlines and other such planning, so with my real project, I planned in exact detail when things would be done by. Through using calendars on Microsoft Outlook and my iPhone, I was able to stick the deadlines better.

Another thing that I have learnt to do over the process of production is the attention to detail when creating the product in InDesign. As you can see, the contents page of my preliminary project is shabby and does not keep within the margins of the columns, that of which are different sizes. This issue was exasperated by the use of so many boxes, a mistake that I learned not to do in my final project as you can visibly see with the lack of boxes. To improve this in my final project, I also learned to use the ruler tool on InDesign so that I could line everything up the way I wanted and keep everything in line.

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

http://prezi.com/twgwbv5nc9gi/what-kind-of-media-institution-might-distribute-my-media-product-and-why/

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (3)

 


My double page spread is very similar to my contents page in terms of conventions and layout, in the fact that important features are highlighted in a larger font and/or the blue and grey highlighted boxes. Also, the limited use of images and the increased amount of writing that challenges the conventions of regular main stream magazines. A key way that I challenged conventions in this magazine is the title of the headlines of the articles. Using vague, non descriptive titles such as 'Surfacing Our Pond' does not fully explain what the article is about and therefore challenges conventions. However in keeping with Jazz magazine trends, I used captions under many of the images in my magazine, either crediting the photographer or even explaining what the image is. One final difference between my magazine and mainstream magazines is that the images themselves are considered plain. This is because of the limited background that they boast, this was used for the same reason as the white background, to connote simplicity.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (2)

For my magazine, I used a three column layout which on my contents page I used a single line to distinguish between the columns. The line itself doesn't connect to anything, allowing it to look more radical, thus staying in keeping with my magazine's aims overall and also, the line is a trend that many Jazz magazines use. Another aspect of my magazine is the use of different font sizes that I have used on the contents page to highlight the more important stories to the reader, this is enhanced by the use of a serif type font. A convention that I decided to break (from mainstream magazines) is again, the limited use of images and increased amounts of writing, however as you can see, one of the images does bleed to the edge of the page which admittedly does bow to the mainstream trends. Finally, in keeping with lack of images, the use of white space is another break of conventions that I have adapted for my magazine. As you can see below, many contents pages revolve around one large image as a background, however I have only used white space for my background with transparent grey and blue boxes to highlight important features, a trend which continues throughout the whole magazine.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (1)

     

To make my magazine more radical and independent like many other jazz magazines, I tried to avoid using call outs on the front page of my magazine, this not only causes the magazine to look more professional and challenges the conventions of mainstream magazine styles, but it also causes the magazine to look more upmarket, allowing me to charge more for the magazine. Instead of using many call outs, I just used the one simple text based call out.

I have also created the mast head of my magazine so that it is vaguely transparent, allowing the reader to appreciate the colour behind it, even though the colours are basic. This also means that my magazine is more upmarket.

4. Who would be the audience for my media product?

Originally, pre-production, this is what I had specified for my target audience: http://bentolhurstasmedia.blogspot.com/2011/12/audience-reasearch.html

Now, post production, I believe that some of the criteria for my target audience have changed, some dramatically, some only slightly.

For example, I had originally planned for my target audience to be of an older generation (50+) as my research had shown that it was this age of people who made up the majority of jazz fans. Through the use of younger models however, this concept has now been changed, stating the audience as anywhere from around 20 years of age upwards. This would probably be the largest change from that of my planning.

Many other values that I stated my audience should hold however have stayed the same even after production. For example, the reader should enjoy reading as I made apparent through the excessive amounts of writing that I have used within my magazine. Also, I stated that my audience should be well educated, this carried through to my final product as I used a higher lexis of words throughout the articles.

Another objective that I kept the same was that my magazine is aimed at a 'Hedonist'/'Radical' audience, people who enjoy life and aren't bothered in the slightest about mainstream trends. This is evident because of the simplicity of my layout, lack of colour and through the use of limitation such as limiting call outs on the front page etc.

Ike Nova, Lasoo, Shadowing, Background changes

Completed Jazz Magazine 'RESTLESS'