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After receiving audience feedback, I have made changes and improvements.
Sunday 10 April 2011
Contents Page Third (Improved and Final)
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After receiving audience feedback, I have made changes and improvements.
Front Cover Forth Draft (Improved and Final)
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After receiving audience feedback, I have made changes and improvements.
Post - Production Audience Feedback
In this video I interviewed some friends on Windows Live Messenger, asking them to give me feedback on my media products so that I can make improvements based on their opinions. Please click the full screen button to view the video properly.
Sunday 3 April 2011
My Rejected Images
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This slideshow shows the images that I rejected and why I did so. Click on the image to start the show.
Friday 1 April 2011
Video: Making a space aurora background
This video shows how I made the space aurora background that I used on the front cover. Please click the full screen button to view the video fully.
Thursday 31 March 2011
Video: Editing a photograph
This video shows skills that I used on all of the photographs that I edited. But this video shows how I edited a photograph of my main model for the front cover. Please click the full screen button to view the video fully.
Wednesday 30 March 2011
Tuesday 29 March 2011
Friday 25th March 2011 - Completion of Production
After several weeks of working on my front page, contents and double page spread article, I have finished my production work. Now that I have done so, I can move on to the evaluation questions. In the evaluation process I will answer the following questions:
- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
- How does your media product represent particular social groups?
- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
- Who would be the audience for your media product?
- How did you attract/address your audience?
- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In addition to these questions I will also be providing evidence of audience feedback, their thoughts and views on my print work...
Saturday 26 March 2011
Double Page Spread 2nd Draft
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I found flaws in my double page spread as well. The first draft had way too much text on it which made it look over crowded. The images were too small as well which made it look like the text was making the model feel smaller. The most common double page article convention was also missing: page numbers.
The second draft (above) is a rectified version of the first draft. I removed a lot of the text so that it would not look overcrowded. I made the images much more bigger as well. I inserted page numbers at the bottom in accordance to the contents page. I redesigned the title as well, to something much more interesting and appealing. I slightly repositioned the text at the top of the page as well.
Double Page Spread 1st Draft
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This is the first shot at my double page spread article.
Contents Page Second Draft
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The first draft had a very cheap and amateurish appeal to me. I was not happy with it while I was working. The text was bunched together and it looked very dull and boring. The pages did not have much information.
For the second draft (above) I gave my contents page a complete re-design and makeover. I sat down with a few pieces of paper and my laptop, and I went researching into contents page design. After 3 hours of hunting and drafting, I came up with a design similar to the one above. Once I was happy with the design, I went onto Photoshop and created the page all over again, from scratch. I moved the images to one place to make it look well organised. I made the text surround the images so that potential readers would not be distracted by text or image while looking at the opposite. I also put in a snapshot of the front cover which is a convention that I've seen in music magazine content pages. I gave the whole page a new, well structured design.
Front Cover Third Draft
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I decided to go for the model who was posed as above. But I could still find flaws in my work. For one, the main cover line had no relevance to the background. The background was a space aurora background and had no relation to someone's success story. Another flaw was that some of the text was not readable as it blended into the model's clothes as both text and clothes were of similar colours. In addition the Soundwave logo was too dark to read.
In the third draft (above) I changed the cover line from "her success story" to "a star in the making" which made much more sense. I also put black boxes around the sell lines so that it was more readable. I also changed the Soundwave logo so that you could read it properly without having to strain your eyes. I applied some text effects to make it look more appealing. Another improvement I made was changing the positioning of one of the sell lines.
Front Cover Second Draft (v2.1 and v2.2)
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These front covers are improved from the first draft. The flaws in the first draft were that the model still had 'green hair'. The size of the model was also too small which did not make her look like she was part of the magazine. The photo pose was questionable as to whether it was suitable for front cover of a music magazine.
These improved versions above show two different versions of the second draft. The only thing different between the the two above is the model image. I thought that it would be better to see the difference after I made the improvements. I also made the size of the models bigger in these versions. After playing around with the settings and surfing the web for tips, I managed to remove the 'green hair' effect. I also made a background from scratch. There is a video on this blog showing how I made the background.
Thursday 3 March 2011
The Photo Shoots
Photo Shoot 1
These are the images from the first photo shoot I held. These were the initial photos that I was going to use but I was not happy with the variety and the models' skin colour came out as yellow rather than their natural skin colour for most of the photos. This was an unexpected hurdle that I came across because I had been provided with all the professional equipment to use: an SLR camera, a green screen, camera lights, a tripod and an extra detachable camera lens. So I had to set up another photo shoot... (** Please note that there are more photos than displayed on the thumbnail panel. Use the arrow navigation buttons which are found at the top of the image display **)
Photo Shoot 2
For the second shoot, I used the same camera. After the first shoot, I thought that if I had a variety of costume and props, it would give me a wider choice of options for photos to use. The first shoot taught me that the lighting was not working. I thought that the green screen may be having some sort of effect on my models' skin colour. I tried taking photos with and without the green screen. It seems that the green screen does have a small effect on skin colour. Without the green screen, photos are generally coming out crisper and very few of the green-screen-less shots leave the models with a yellow ting. After having changed the costumes of the models, I thought that I should take a third photo shoot with another change in costume to see how different my magazine would look if I used different clothes...
Photo Shoot 3
For the third photo shoot I decided that I should switch off two of the yellow lights that I used. I hoped that this might reduced the 'yellow skin' effect. I also decided to use a different camera. For the first two photo shoots, I used a Fujifilm FinePix S7000. For the third and final photo shoot (found below) I used a Canon EOS 1000D. The results? The images were much crisper and clearer. It had more definition and detail on them and there was no 'yellow skin' effect present in any of the photos. I was very impressed of the final products that were produced by the camera. I knew instantly that most of the pictures that I would use would come from this final photo shoot.
These are the images from the first photo shoot I held. These were the initial photos that I was going to use but I was not happy with the variety and the models' skin colour came out as yellow rather than their natural skin colour for most of the photos. This was an unexpected hurdle that I came across because I had been provided with all the professional equipment to use: an SLR camera, a green screen, camera lights, a tripod and an extra detachable camera lens. So I had to set up another photo shoot... (** Please note that there are more photos than displayed on the thumbnail panel. Use the arrow navigation buttons which are found at the top of the image display **)
Photo Shoot 2
For the second shoot, I used the same camera. After the first shoot, I thought that if I had a variety of costume and props, it would give me a wider choice of options for photos to use. The first shoot taught me that the lighting was not working. I thought that the green screen may be having some sort of effect on my models' skin colour. I tried taking photos with and without the green screen. It seems that the green screen does have a small effect on skin colour. Without the green screen, photos are generally coming out crisper and very few of the green-screen-less shots leave the models with a yellow ting. After having changed the costumes of the models, I thought that I should take a third photo shoot with another change in costume to see how different my magazine would look if I used different clothes...
Photo Shoot 3
For the third photo shoot I decided that I should switch off two of the yellow lights that I used. I hoped that this might reduced the 'yellow skin' effect. I also decided to use a different camera. For the first two photo shoots, I used a Fujifilm FinePix S7000. For the third and final photo shoot (found below) I used a Canon EOS 1000D. The results? The images were much crisper and clearer. It had more definition and detail on them and there was no 'yellow skin' effect present in any of the photos. I was very impressed of the final products that were produced by the camera. I knew instantly that most of the pictures that I would use would come from this final photo shoot.
Friday 25 February 2011
Friday 25th February 2011 - Completion of Planning and Research
I have now completed my planning and research tasks. During the two months of work, I have put in my preliminary task images, my three front cover analysis, my two contents page analysis, my two double page spread analysis, my questionnaire, my peer interviews, my final audience profile, brainstorming of my magazine names/colours/costume/props, conventions that I should use throughout my final work, two front page idea sketches, a contents page sketch, a double page sketch and finally font testing to use in my magazine. Now that I have finished planning and research, I will now start the production process...
Font Testing
Conventions that I could use throughout the front page, contents page and double page spread
Here I brainstormed a list of typical conventions that magazines use. I thought that it is important that I keep a list of them so that I become aware of when I should use them.
- Skyline
- Mast head
- Issue Number
- Issue Date
- Barcode
- Price
- Website
- Cover/Sell Lines
- Pull/Floating Quotes
- Images
- Page Numbers
- Editorial
In Depth thinking about Mise-en-scene
This is a slideshow displaying my ideas and thoughts about what mise-en-scene I could use. What I mean by is: what props I could use and what costume my models should wear. I also added a description to each individual aspect about what it was, why I chose it and the effects of using it.
Mise-en-scene
Mise-en-scene
Brainstorming of possible costumes and props that I could use
Here is a list of possibilities of props and costume that I could have used. I put a lot of thought into what would look good and what wouldn't. I thought that I should use symbols that could represent Hip Hop and R'n'B.
- Microphone (singing/rapping)
- Mixing deck
- Sunglasses (setting a fashion trend)
- Headphones (music symbol)
- Guitar (music symbol. To rock-like?)
- Bling/Jewellery (fashion statement)
- Hats/Caps (fashion, caps for Hip Hop and hats for R'n'B)
- Clothes
- Jeans
- Hoodies
- Dresses
- Skirts
- T-Shirts
- Casual or Smart attire?
Brainstorming of possible colours that I can use
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I opened up photoshop and tested out different colours with the text "Soundwave". After playing around with the colours I felt that red, black and grey worked best.
Brainstorming of possible magazine names
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This is a scanned document of a mind map I made on paper. Initially I thought of 6 names but then I realized that it was not enough. I thought of 6 more and added them to my list. I asked a few of my friends and peers about their thoughts on the names. Most of them rejected the additional 6 names and went with Soundwave, Rave and Sense. I eliminated Rave from the list as it sounded more like a dance magazine name rather than a Hip Hop or R'n'B one. Sense was a good name but it didn't have a musical appeal to it. So I went with Soundwave as my final choice.
Thursday 17 February 2011
My Audience Profile
After researching into existing magazines and possible audiences based on my questionnaire and audio interview, i have pulled together an audience profile. I have put a lot of thought into my audience profile but I decided that these choices would be best:
- My magazine will be aimed at both genders, male and female
- My age range would be from 14-25 year olds
- The genres that the magazine would specialize in would be Hip Hop and R'n'B
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