Friday 22 March 2013
Thursday 21 March 2013
QUESTION 6 - what have you learnt from the technologies of the process of constructing this product?
Note: At the beginning of this video I actually say that it is question 4, I can assure you it is not this is Question 6, I was actually looking back and reflecting on my answer to question 4, and said it by mistake, and I could not edit it out without it looking really bad.
Wednesday 20 March 2013
Tuesday 19 March 2013
Monday 18 March 2013
QUESTION 1 ESSAY STYLE - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In
what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My media product ‘Zeppelin’ develops
various different conventions of Classical Rock magazines, although I wanted
mine to feature conventional styles so it appealed to a wider audience; my
magazine focuses on the ‘Rock Scene’ and I have kept to this theme mainly
throughout my pictures; in almost every single rock magazine the pictures
featuring are usually darker tones, the model is usually wearing darker clothes
and jewellery to compliment the face that is usually brighter and bolder, and
also female cover artists usually have a bright feature around them, for
example Hayley Williams (the lead singer out of the band Paramore) has bright
orange hair, which draws the audiences attention to the magazine front cover; I
have kept to this connotation because my models hair is bright red/orange, drawing
the audiences attention to her face and hair. Also, my front cover follows the
conventions of a real magazine by focusing on one main image, and having the
main story along the stomach of the cover model also I have placed a bar code,
a price tag and the prices in various different countries
I have interpreted the rock conventions in
the context of colour, such as sticking to one colour throughout and focusing
on various ways of interpreting that colour through shades and tones. For
example, my magazine focuses on the colour purple; however I also feature
blacks and whites. This is a convention that many Rock Magazines keep to; this
also links the various other components of the magazine together. My double page spread I think reflects the
conventions of a real Rock magazine; my double page spread features form of a
typical double page with the picture of the cover model on the left hand side, and
the article/interview on the right. I think this makes the magazine look more
official and it looks realistic.
My double page spread also develops and
uses the connotations by using a main image on the left side of the page, and
using a smaller image towards the centre or the right hand side of the page. It
also presents the question and answers in different fonts, presenting the
article as easier to read for the audience.
My contents page however I believe
challenges the conventions of a conventional Rock magazine because there is not
as many feature stories visible, however I did this because of my own personal
experiences while reading magazines. I felt like in Rock magazines they tend to
put a lot of articles in there just to ‘fill the gaps’ because they need to
write more to fill it; however I felt like including the information that is
interesting, and having lots of posters and humorous information.
Planning my evaluation presentation
I am planning my evaluation before I actually set out to do the 'various different ways of presenting the evaluation' because I wanted to overlook and make sure that I was doing things right before I take the final steps of presenting it.
After initialising the question, and stating what I am actually going to do, I go into the planing stage of my evaluation...
However, I did not plan in too much detail for a perfectly rational reason; I don't want to think too much about it because I do not want to have it set and planned out to a point where it feels almost suffocated. I want it to be truthful answers, that have not been too controlled.
Due to this, I am now going to start the final drafting version of my evaluation, however I will not post this because I think that that would feel like I was repeating myself too much, and it would not flow consistently.
Friday 15 March 2013
Drafting my evaluation - before presenting in various different ways
I sent my teacher an email on our schools system explaining that this is the draft essay version of my evaluation before I begin the presentation:
Hello,
I have created an essay style draft for my evaluation, and I just wanted to send you both it to double check that I have written enough and that the content is applicable before I start the final evaluation, and before I start to present it in various different ways.
Thank you so much for your time.
Bethan Gilmore
Bethan Gilmore
This is the draft version of my evaluation:
In
what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My media product ‘Zeppelin’ develops
various different conventions of Classical Rock magazines, keeping with the
theme and conventions. My magazine focuses on the music side of the ‘Rock
Scene’ for example I have featured various different rock bands that are not
all the same genre, which magazines such as Kerrang focus on, for example: the
band Enter Shikari would not be considered Classic Rock, but it would be
considered Electric post-hardcore or metalcore, through me featuring this
particular band in contrast with a band such as Suicide Silence which would be
considered an extremist black metal band, shows that I feature all variations
of Rock music. Also interpreting the rock conventions in the context of colour,
such as sticking to one colour throughout and focusing on various ways of
interpreting that colour through shades and tones. For example, my magazine
focuses on the colour purple, however I also feature blacks and whites. This is
a convention that many Rock Magazines keep to; this also links the various
other components of the magazine together.
My double page spread I think reflects the conventions of a real Rock
magazine; my double page spread features form of a typical double page with the
picture of the cover model on the left hand side, and the article/interview on
the right. I think this makes the magazine look more official and it looks
realistic.
How
does you media product represent particular social groups?
‘Zeppelin’ is a conventional rock magazine
aimed at young adults and teenagers between the ages of 17-25; through my
personal experience of being part of the modern day rock movement I believe
that the conventions that I have chosen to use in my magazine will appeal to
others of the 21st century rock movement. My magazine represents
this social group by choosing particular bands that this social group would
listen to and perhaps consider going to see Live, such as: Enter Shikari,
Slipknot and Metallica. These bands are very big in the rock industry and they
appeal to many fan groups. I have also placed a puff/plug of which advertises
‘FREE DOWNLOAD TICKETS’ this particular festival appeals to the same social
group that I am aiming for, and it is inevitable that at least one of the bands
I have mentioned will feature there. The use of the adverb ‘free’ would appeal
to the audience of ‘Zeppelin’ and make them want to inspect the advertisement.
What
kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Considering that ‘Zeppelin’ is a
classic/newwave rock magazine I have considered three different magazines that
are similar to my own, these are: Kerrang, Rock Sound and Classic Rock. Through
carefully considered research I would want my magazine to be published and
distributed by Future Publishing, which is the same publisher as Classic Rock;
this is because of the magazine circulation that they have managed to achieve
for their magazine since 1998 which is 71,242 issues; this is an impressive
figure, and considering that Kerrang has been publishing since 1981 yet they
have only circulated 42,077 issues. I
believe that going with Future Publishing will allow ‘Zeppelin’ to distribute
more copies and it will increase sales dramatically, allowing it to become
bigger. Also, considering that ‘Zeppelin’ is a new wave rock magazine, and it
appeals to all different genres in the field of rock and alternative rock,
including electric, I believe that sales would be constantly increasing. To
compare Classic Rock to ‘Zeppelin’, Classic Rock has much more of a ‘rocky’
feel to it, where as ‘Zeppelin’ has a ‘rocky’ feel to it, yet it has more of an
alternative aroma.
Who
would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my rock magazine would be
alternative readers, and listeners all around the world, however I particularly
wish to target British readers and listeners, this is because through my
research into rock magazines many of them are published and distributed in the
UK, which makes it easier to access for British readers. Also, throughout the
rock magazines that I have researched into, they choose a particular place, for
example Britain, and they publish the tour dates and festival dates for that
entire country; this process is much easier than publishing for the entire
world. I would also like to target festivalgoers, such as Sonisphere and
Download because stereotypically they tend to read more magazines, and they
keep up-to-date with their musical knowledge and their magazine collection. I
would also like to target both young adults and teenagers, from the ages of
17-25, I have chosen these particular ages because this is when I would say
that a persons music taste is at it’s strongest, so I would say that I am also
targeting extreme fans of rock music, people that know good music and good
merchandise of which I would be advertising.
How
did you attract/address your audience?
My rock magazine ‘Zeppelin’ attracts my
audience by using non-standard English throughout the front page, contents page
and double page spread, such as: ‘A LITTLE CHEEKY ADTR’ or ‘SHIKARI SPILL THE
BEANS’ this appears to the audience that the magazine is not as controlled as
others, and that we like to relate to our audience. Also, the use of the wide
variety of bands will appeal to the target audience, and other social groups.
I have also kept with a colour theme
throughout my magazines, which are tones, particularly black and greys, and I
have also placed some purple, which coincides with the cover models clothes. I
think that the colour purple is a unisex colour, therefore appeals to both the
sexes making my magazine appealing to both men and women.
What
have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
product?
Through creating my front page, contents
page and my double page spread I have learnt how to use certain applications
properly, and I have learnt how to manipulate text correctly. At the beginning
of the process I did not know how to use the applications that I would have
needed to, such as Photoshop or Fireworks. Through creating my magazine I have
learnt how to remove a background on a picture by using Photoshop, and
selecting the Magic Eraser Tool, which I have used a lot for this project, also
I have learnt how to change the colour of objects that I do not like, such as
the blue object on my double page spread that was distracting the audiences
attention from the cover model. I have also learnt how to use the application
Pages properly, although at the start transferring pictures appeared to be a
challenge, I have now mastered this skill, which has allowed me to complete the
task at my desired time. During this
task I have also picked up a preference, which is Photoshop over Fireworks;
before the creation of my media product I did not know that much about
Fireworks even though I was attempting to use it, I learnt that Photoshop is a
much easier application to use, and through reading and watching online
tutorials I have managed to learn how to do lots of different things that will
be quite useful in the future.
By manipulating the text I have used some
fonts off the website and I have then changed the colour of the text
according to the colour theme, which is tones and the colour purple. On this
particular website, when you ‘SAVE AS…’ the image and open it the background is
still visible, therefore I used the Magic Eraser Tool on
Photoshop to remove it, this has allowed the cover model or the desired
background to be seen through the text, yet the manipulated text still appears
bold and clear to read.
Looking
back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
Throughout the process of the creation of
my full product I believe that I have truly developed my skills in many
different aspects. Firstly, the technical side of production has been made a
lot easier due to me researching how to use various applications properly, and
learning how to use the applications considering the training was not
available, which made it more difficult to ask for feedback because I did not
know how I could actually change things using the applications. After creating
some initial drafts I believe the process became a lot easier, because I was
only getting negative feedback this made me change various things that was
wrong with my magazine, however this made me focus on my magazine so much and I
was spending so much time trying to make it look better that it actually ended
up looking worse. However, I do believe that I became more resilient to this;
therefore I became better at changing aspects of my magazine to suit the
feedback.
I also believe that I have not only learnt
how to be more creative, but how to use my creativity to the best of my
ability, henceforth learning more about myself. This became much clearer to me
when I was creating my double page spread, where I realised that I was using my
creativity properly and I was relying on not only my research into other
magazines but my experience of reading so many rock magazines.
After completing my draft version of my evaluation and sending it to my teacher, I gained positive feed back, of which I will develop my evaluation and make sure that it answers all the questions relevantly and contains information that links to the question.
Hi Beth,
Q1 – not sure all the band stuff is relevant - You need to be more specific with the conventions you have used or challenged using media terminology.
Q2 – you haven’t really answered the question – consider how you explore ‘representation’ in section A of the exam – how have you represented a social group?
Q3 and 4 – seem fine
Q5 – explore your use of images, fonts as well. Audience research and questionnaires etc.
Q6 – be more specific – what applications, technical skills etc.
Q7 – Aim to demonstrate how your skills have progressed.
Hope this is helpful. Remember to consider how you are going to upload your evaluation as you must use a range of technology in an imaginative way. Use images and screen shots, audio etc.
Friday 1 March 2013
In relation to:What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Through my initial research into various rock magazines I have discovered that Future Publishing is the most impressive publishing company, and it will allow my magazine to get the most circulation in sales.
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