Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the main task?

I created a video on Windows Live Movie Maker showing what I have learnt from making my prelim task to making my main task. This video includes text, images and music. The variety of media makes it visually attractive so the viewer doesn't get bored from plain text. The text also includes transitions so makes it look more interesting also. The music I used related the genre of music my magazine is related to but is a peaceful song symbolising coming to the end of a project.

Evaluation Question 6

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

During the planning, production and evaluation process of my product I have used a wide range of different software and technologies which has helped me to gain new skills.

I used PhotoShop to construct my front cover for my magazine. This software allowed me to create different layers so if changes were needed to be made then it would be easy to move a section of my page rather than the whole page. I had previously used PhotoShop before during GCSE Art so I had a brief knowledge on how the software worked, however I also learnt new skills during this task. I learnt that you could use different effects on the text like the 'drop shadow' option to make the text stand out more. I also learnt how to make different layers higher than others by moving around the layers at the side bar. I also used PhotoShop to edit my photos which I took with the use of tools like altering the 'saturation' to make the photo's colours stand out more or less.

I used InDesign to construct my contents page and double page spread for my magazine. This software allowed me to create different columns so it gave me a guideline of the spaces to include my text on my article and columns for contents. This software was fairly similar to PhotoShop so it was quite easy to grasp what to do as I used PhotoShop first. Using InDesign, I learnt that you could use the 'free transform' tool to alter the size of the images as with the 'selection tool' it crops the image. I also learnt how to split the page into columns and give the page guidelines and then also view the page without the guidelines to see what it would look like properly. I then placed my front cover from PhotoShop into my InDesign document and exported the file to a JPEG and made it maximum quality ready to be printed.

I used Final Cut Express to create a video including music, text and images for my second evaluation question. This software allowed me to import different media into a timeline and change the length the piece of media would be displayed for. I had never used this software before so everything I did was new to me so therefore I learnt lots of new skills. Firstly, I learnt how to add text by typing the content which I wish to be included and then dragging the text along to the video timeline. I also learnt how to import images and music and then dragging the media onto my video timeline and altering the size of it according to the length of time I wish the media to be displayed for. Finally I learnt how to fade the music in and out as the song I was including was 3:45 minutes long and my video was only 1:05 minutes long so I need the song to fade out and the end rather than be cut off in the middle of a song. This video I created on Final Cut Express could not be uploaded to Blogger through the file format it was in so I had to convert the file to YouTube for it to be embedded on to my blog.

I used Windows Live Movie Maker to create a video including text, music and images for my seventh evaluation question. This software allowed me to import different media into a timeline and change the length the piece of media would be displayed for. I had never used this software before so everything I did was new to me so therefore I learnt lots of new skills. Firstly, I learnt how to add text by selecting the 'credits' option and typing in the content I wanted and changing the size of the font if it was too much to fit on the page. I also learnt how to change the length that the media would be displayed for and the speed the transition would last for when text was displayed. Finally I learnt how to make the text be displayed as a transition so the text came upwards. This video I created on Windows Live Movie Maker could not be uploaded to Blogger through the file format it was in so I had to convert the file to YouTube for it to be embedded on to my blog.

I used YouTube to upload the videos I made on Final Cut Express and Windows Live Media Maker so it was able to be embedded on to my blog. This software allowed me to upload an already existing video file on to the internet to be viewed by the population and can be shared and embedded. I already had a YouTube account and had previously uploaded videos before so it was straight forward on what I was doing so I didn't learn any new skills using this software this time.

I used Prezi in my planning to do textual analysis on professional magazines and in my evaluation for question one to compare and contrast my magazine to professional magazines. This software allowed me to insert text, images and graphics to create a cloud-based presentation. This was my first time in using this software so everything I did was new to me so I learnt lots of new skills. Firstly, I learnt how to insert the media I wanted and reduce the size of it easily. I also learnt how to create a path with all my media so when displayed as a slide show the arrangement of the path would be the order the presentation would be displayed in. I found this software quite easy to use and picked up how to use it quickly. I thought it was also quite convenient as it could be used at home or at college as it was used by the internet and the work auto saved so no work was lost if I forgot to save it. However, I found that this software sometimes has problems connecting to the internet in some places so was quite unreliable. 

I used a D-SLR camera in the photography studio to take the photos to me used in my magazine. This equipment allowed me to zoom in and out on the camera to get the shot distance and type which I desired and the photography studio with the three light system set up working together with the flash on the camera allowed me to create good images with the right light balance and no shadows. I own a D-SLR camera myself so I had knowledge on how to use it although it is fairly straight forward anyway. From my exam based unit on textual analysis of a TV drama, I had previously learnt about cinematography like camera angles, camera distance and composition so they helped me when taking my photography. However I learnt how to use the three light system set up during this coursework.

I used Blogger to record all my planning and evaluation and my final products and stages of production. This software allowed me to insert text and images into a blog post and also embed media from other sites into the post. The post is then displayed on my blog which is available on the internet for the population to view. I can also edit posts later on if changes need to be made or if I want to carry on work on a post later on and the current information will be saved so I find it quite convenient to use as it can be accessed both at home and at college. This was my first time using this software, however it is fairly easy to use anyway so new skills are not really made. Although, I learnt how to embed media from other sites on to my blog by copy and pasting the embed code into the 'Edit HTML' section when editing posts and I learnt how to alter the time and date of the posts in post options to alter where the post will be displayed on my blog.

I used an Apple Mac computer whilst I was at college to use the PhotoShop, InDesign and Final Cut Express software. This type of computer is different to use than other computers so I found it more confusing but picked up some new skills. As you could freely right click on the mouse, most of the time you have to use the options bar at the top to perform different options so I learnt to always do that. It was mainly skills I learnt using the software on the Mac rather than the Mac itself so overall the Mac was quite straight forward to use when I got the hang of it.

I used Wordle to create a word cloud for my second evaluation question. This software allowed me to type out all the words I wanted to be included in my word cloud and the software would automatically create a word cloud for me using different sizes, colours and compositions for each word. I had never used this software before however it was very straight forward to use so I didn't really learn any new skills apart from how to create a word cloud. Although I did not really learn any new skills, using this software was an advantage as it was easy and simple to use.

I used Glogster to create mood boards for my planning, where I created a mood board of inspirational images, and evaluation, where I created a mood board of things relating to my target audience for evaluation question four, of my product. This software allowed me to insert images and text and move around and change the size of these to have them in the place and size I desired. This was the first time I used Glogster before but it was fairly straight forward to use. However I learnt how to alter the size of the images and how to type the text and alter the text's colours, font and background design etc. 

I used Microsoft PowerPoint to create presentations for my planning, where I created a power point on research into institutions that distribute similar products, and for my evaluation, where I created a power point on distribution of my media product for evaluation question three. This software allowed me to insert text and images on different slides and place the text and images where I wanted them to be. The presentation can also be viewed using this software by using the presentation viewer and flicking through the slides. I had previously used Microsoft PowerPoint before so I knew how to use it and didn't really gain that many new skills. However I learnt that you could move around images which you insert anywhere on the slide page and resize this rather than the image just taking up the whole given text box space. The presentations I created on Microsoft PowerPoint could not be uploaded to Blogger through the file format it was in so I had to covert the file to SlideShare for it to be embedded on to my blog.

I used SlideShare to upload my presentation I made on Microsoft PowerPoint so it was able to be embedded on to my blog. This software allowed me to upload an already existing presentation file on to the internet to be viewd by the population and can be shared and embedded. This was the first time I used SlideShare but it is similar to YouTube and I had already used that before so it was fairly straight forward to use so I didn't really learn any new skills apart from how to upload the presentation to the internet.

  

I used Facebook to get final audience feedback on my product for evaluation question five. This software allowed me to upload my final product to Facebook as an image so my Facebook friends could comment on the images giving feedback. I already had a Facebook account so I knew how to upload images so I didn't learn any new skills from using this software but it was an easy way to get feedback on my product so it was convenient. 

I used GoAnimate to create an online animated video for evaluation question five to sum up all my audience feedback I gathered from Facebook comments. This software allowed me to choose the setting, characters, characters' voices and the words that would be spoken from them. This would then be created into a video animation from all the settings I chose. This was the first time I had used GoAnimate before so I learnt new skills. It was fairly straight forward how to use it by following the stages, however at first it was confusing what to do. I learnt how to create a video animation like this quickly and easily which was a benefit. However there was a disadvantage as only ten character lines were able to be created at once so I had to split my animation into several different parts.

I used Pixton to create a comic strip for my evaluation question three. This software allowed me to create different sections of a comic strip, create a character, create the setting, add text and change the position and expressions of the character. This was the first time I'd used Pixton so everything was new to me and I learnt lots of new skills. I learnt how to change the positions of the character by rotating different joints depending on the position I want the character to be in. I also learnt how to create an online comic strip by choosing the layout of how many strips I want. I have found this is a quicker and easier way to create a comic strip rather than doing it by hand, however it could be quite difficult to get the character in the position you wanted them in.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

I used Kerrang! magazine to help me with ideas on creating my magazine as the target audience for my magazine is similar to that of Kerrang!'s. As Kerrang! is a professional magazine, its features attract the target audience. I used the two main colours of black and white as black is a dark colour so relates to the dark rock genre so the audience interested in rock will be attracted to the use of colours. The other main colour used in this Kerrang! cover is blue but I chose to use red as my other main colour instead as the models hair is red so I thought this colour would work better. The structure of the models as a pyramid is like Kerrang!'s and as this is used in a lot of images of bands in this genre of magazine I used it as it will attract the audience. Also the pose of the front model is a 'rock on' pose with her hands which represents the rock genre. The model on the left of my magazine has similar costume as the models on the Kerrang! magazine as they both wear black jackets representing the dark genre. However the other two models wear different costume to the models on this Kerrang! magazine but similar costume to other professional magazines of this genre I researched. The font of the masthead shows an edginess which also relates to the genre and is similar to the Kerrang! masthead attracting the audience as it is large so clearly visible and looks appealing as it is not just a plain standard font. From my primary audience research, I made some stylistic decisions which I would do whilst producing my magazine. Firstly, this was to include lots of images of rock bands/artists to show that the genre is rock. Therefore I included three images on my front cover to clearly show the genre and target audience. I said I would use a bold and bright colour scheme to suit the target audience and make it stand out and the three colour palette scheme would be consistent and carried out throughout the magazine. My three colour palette scheme of red, black and white is bold to suit the target audience however the colours aren't too bright as this may make the magazine genre look 'pop' rather than 'rock'. These colours are carried on throughout the magazine which shows consistency and professionalism. I said I would use slang language and 'smashing captions' so I did this by making my sell lines such things as 'kids get messy' as it makes the audience want to read on and also relates to the target audience of teenagers as it says 'kids'. I said I would make the masthead big and bold to suit my target audience so I did this and also made it even larger than planned as I was suggested to do so in my rough cut. I also chose the font of the masthead to have a grungy effect to represent the aggressive rock nature of the genre. I said I would use white text against a black background so they contrast and so the text stands out. I did this effect on my main sell line and sell lines as these need to stand out as they include 'smashing captions' to attract my target audience.

After producing my rough cuts of my magazine which is shown above for the front cover, I was given rough cut feedback with suggestions on ways to improve my magazine. Firstly, it was suggested that I should sort the white space out at the top of the page. Therefore I moved my skyline up to the top so there was no white space. It was suggested that I should make my masthead stand out more so I made the text longer. It was suggested that I should move my main sell line further down the page and display it against a banner so I did this and put the text against a black banner which made it stand out more. It was suggested that I should move my sell lines above the main sell line and down the sides so I did this but made sure the sell lines weren't covering the model's faces. Finally, it was suggested that I should include some more images on my front cover as usually with this genre of magazine there are smaller images displayed on the front cover as well as the main image. Therefore I placed images which I'd already taken before at the bottom of the page against a black background with tag lines underneath the photos.

For my contents page I have used the two main colours which the Kerrang! magazine used on their contents page of black and white. However they also used yellow as their other main colour but I didn't use this colour and used red instead as I used this colour on my font cover so I wanted the three colour palette scheme to be consistent throughout my magazine. Using the same colours again attract the audience as they can relate and remember the colours so are reminded that they are still reading the same magazine. As Kerrang! magazine is a successful professional magazine, they know how to attract and address their target audience so I was inspired to use the same layout style on the contents page of having the top half of the page with three images, one large and two smaller layered on top of each other and the bottom half of the page with text. I have also addressed my audience by including a readers column like in Kerrang! magazine to make them feel addressed to. Most the models in my magazine are wearing fairly dark costume to relate to the dark genre of music and dark target audience and they are wearing dark costume in Kerrang! magazine as well. The fonts on my page titles, and contents headings are larger and bolder so it easily visible to my audience and these pieces of text attract my audience more as they are more important pieces of information. From my primary audience research, I made some stylistic decisions which I would do whilst producing my magazine. Firstly, this was to include lots of images of rock bands/artists to show that the genre is rock. Therefore I included three images on my contents page to clearly show the genre and target audience.  I said I would use a bold and bright colour scheme to suit the target audience and make it stand out and the three colour palette scheme would be consistent and carried out throughout the magazine. My three colour palette scheme of red, black and white is bold to suit the target audience however the colours aren't too bright as this may make the magazine genre look 'pop' rather than 'rock'. These colours are carried on throughout the magazine which shows consistency and professionalism. I said I would use slang language and 'smashing captions' so I did this by including such things as 'mag' instead of 'magazine' as it makes the audience want to read on as it relates to the target audience. I said I would use white text against a black background so they contrast and so the text stands out. I did this effect on my readers' column as it needs to stand out as it is a feature personal to the reader.

After producing my rough cuts of my magazine which is shown above for my contents page, I was given rough cut feedback with suggestions on ways to improve my magazine. Firstly, it was suggested that I should include tag lines on my photos to indicate stories. Therefore I included arrow shaped graphics for the background of the text tag lines to go onto. For the text on my tag lines, I used the 'Smash Punkers' font which is also used on my masthead which shows consistency throughout the magazine. It was suggested that I should include a page number on this page so I included this information in the bottom right hand corner. It was suggested that I should include a back catalogue image under my subscription information so I included a smaller version of my front cover. It was suggested that I should play with my fonts so I changed the text colour of the editors section to white against a black background so this stood out more. I also changed the signature of 'Sarah' to the 'Zapfino' font so it looked more professional as when I previously hand drew it on InDesign it looked messy. I reduced the size of the front for the page numbers to text size 24 from 30. I also reduced the size of the font for the page descriptions to text size 10 from 14 as well as reducing the amount of page titles including description as I had five columns it looked too crowded with every page title including a description. I altered the font of the page titles to 'Gills Sans Bold' from 'Arial' as this font stood out more. I noticed in Kerrang! magazine they included vertical dividers to clearly seperate the different columns so I also did this to make it more professional and to make it look like more was going on on the page as I had deleted a lot of text and reduced the size of fonts.

For my double page spread, I have used the three main colours which the Kerrang! magazine used on their contents page of black, white and red. Using the same colours again attract the audience as they can relate and remember the colours so are reminded that they are still reading the same magazine. As Kerrang! magazine is a successful professional magazine, they know how to attract and address their target audience so I was inspired to use the same layout style on the double page spread of having the left hand side page with the image and the right hand side page with text. I have also addressed my audience by including first person language like 'you' to make the audience feel addressed to. The model in my magazine is wearing fairly dark costume to relate to the dark genre of music and dark target audience and they are wearing dark costume in Kerrang! magazine as well. The fonts on my article heading and quote inserts are larger and bolder so it easily visible to my audience and these pieces of text attract my audience more as they are more important pieces of information as they are likely to be the first thing the audience reads when turning to this page so the text they see needs to attractive and persuade them to read on. From my primary audience research, I made some stylistic decisions which I would do whilst producing my magazine. Firstly, this was to include lots of images of rock bands/artists to show that the genre is rock. Therefore I included four images on my contents page to clearly show the genre and target audience as the images on this double page spread show the rock personality of the artist. I said I would use a bold and bright colour scheme to suit the target audience and make it stand out and the three colour palette scheme would be consistent and carried out throughout the magazine. My three colour palette scheme of red, black and white is bold to suit the target audience however the colours aren't too bright as this may make the magazine genre look 'pop' rather than 'rock'. These colours are carried on throughout the magazine which shows consistency and professionalism. I said I would use slang language and 'smashing captions' so I did this by including such words like 'crazy', 'mad'. 'sweet' and 'fuck' as it makes the audience want to read on as it relates to the target audience. I said I would make the image on the double page spread large and the models showing attitude to represent the attitude of the target audience so I did this on my magazine to make it more suitable towards my target audience. I said I would use white text against a black background so they contrast and so the text stands out. I did this effect on most of the main article on my double page spread as it needs to be viewable by the reader. 

After producing my rough cuts of my magazine which is shown above for my contents page, I was given rough cut feedback with suggestions on ways to improve my magazine. Firstly, it was suggested that I should include a banner across the top of the left hand page. Therefore I included a black banner across the top which made the magazine look more professional and the black banner and white text match the colour scheme of my magazine. I then also had to change the 'Reckless!' text to white so it would be visible. It was suggested that I should make the background of the right hand side page black and change the text which was formally black to white so it would be visible on the page so I did that. It was suggested that I should break the text up with a quote insert across the article so I placed the quote insert approximately in the middle of the article in a larger bolder font. 

Final Audience Feedback

I conducted some final audience feedback with my target audience on Facebook by posting my products images including some questions as a base line to help my audience to comment and answer giving me feedback. I asked the following questions:

• What draws your attention to the product?
• What genre is it and how do you know?
• What do you consider are the strengths of the product?
• What social groups does it represent and how?
• Would you purchase the product and why?
• How would you improve the product?

This shows the front cover of my magazine uploaded onto Facebook with the comments from audience feedback for all the magazine. I have created an animation on GoAnimate to show all my audience feedback. However I have had to split it up into different parts as the website would only allow me to insert so many characters in one animation.

GoAnimate.com: The Evaluation Show Part 1 by sarahducky

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

GoAnimate.com: The Evaluation Show Part 2 by sarahducky

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

GoAnimate.com: The Evaluation Show Part 3 by sarahducky

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

GoAnimate.com: The Evaluation Show Part 4 by sarahducky

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Following secondary research in the initial stages of my project, I found the audience of Kerrang! magazine was teenagers both male and female who were interested in indie rock music. I then conducted primary research from my peers which suggested that the target audience was teenagers and middle class males who are interested in rock music. Therefore the audience for my media product would be both males and females with the majority males of middle class aged mainly between 15 and 28 so either teenagers or young adults. This is because the models I photographed in my magazine are both male and female and teenagers so readers are usually attracted to magazines by the choice of models used and if they are of a similar age to them then they feel as if they can create more of a relationship with them.

I have created a mood board on Glogster which combines images together which relate to my target audience like music artists, hobbies and brands.

Evaluation Question 3

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

I have produced a power point on Microsoft PowerPoint and uploaded it to the internet via SlideShare. This video includes text and also a comic strip I created on Pixton which I have also included below as it is only shown quite small on the power point. In this power point I discuss the process my magazine would go through and which media institution I would get to distribute my product.

Question 3 evaluation

View more presentations from sarahwalsh1995.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I created a video using the Final Cut software on the Mac and then uploading the document to YouTube. This  video includes text, images and background music which relates to the genre of music of my magazine and discusses the tribe social group my magazine is aimed at and what I have done in my product to represent this.



I have also created a word cloud using Wordle which includes words combined together which relate to the 'indie scenester' social group my magazine is aimed at. These words include stereotypical brands, media, hobbies and appearance of this social group.

Evaluation Question 1

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

I have produced a Prezi to compare and contrast my product against a professional magazine of the same genre and target audience of my product to show how my product uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of the professional magazine.