Final drafts of cover, contents and DPS

These are the final versions of the 3 magazine tasks. The reason I am posting this is because there have been some minor adjustments to all of them.

Time management - Final magazine post

The last post that will be on this blog is the final drafts of my magazine cover, contents and DPS.

Evaluation question 7

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

Link to Animoto: https://animoto.com/play/4zDix6bNFBz6KoBvqLkEsQ

Time management - evaluation 7

The seventh evaluation question will be answered in a Animoto video.

Evaluation question 6

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

From doing this project, I have learned more about using different types of social media, using Photoshop and Animoto and using a digital camera.

I have discovered that social media isn't just a tool to be popular, but to get other people's opinions. The focus group where I got feedback of other people was created on Facebook. Proving that Facebook has more than one use as it helped me improve on my work. While my survey on survey monkey didn't get any responses, I can see why posting the link on a social networking site like Twitter or Facebook can gain some responses. Why It didn't work for me is a question I can't answer.

I got to use Animoto and Photoshop for the first time during the making of this project. Animoto was very helpful for making short videos as opposed to writing blog posts. It also allowed me to edit a video together and upload it online, something I have always wanted to do. With Photoshop I have learned how to edit and paste images together professionally. While I don't think that I am a perfect at using this program I now have a better understanding of it now with layers and what should be put forward and back, zooming in is a way to be perfect with smoothing out an image and among other things like free transformation the magic wand tool.

Using a digital camera was tricky at first but after learning what button does what I find it easier to use now. When it comes round to taking photos, there are a number of factors to consider like lighting, whether to use the flash or not and the angle of the photo. This all applies to the quality of the photo because if you get any one of those wrong, the photo can suffer.

During the making of this product I have been improving on using Blogger. I have improved on scheduling and organizing posts in terms of dates. Which allows the blog to look more organized. For example I did the double page spread deconstructions sometime after October, yet on my blog it says it was published on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of October.

Evaluation question 5

5: how did you attract/ address your audience?

Link below for MediaFire:
http://www.mediafire.com/listen/bubs8owbd1hgcrn/EVAL+3+WAV.wav

Evaluation question 4

4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

MediaFire link:

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/o2kvqvio4vf88fi/EVAL+2+WAV.wav

Evaluation question 3

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

The question are answered in a audio file which I uploaded to mediaFire the URL to download the file is underneath. 

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/yiui7s9b1vqw4rr/EVAL+1+WAV.wav

Time management- evaluations 3, 4 and 5

The next 3 evaluation questions are not going to be answered in a blog post. They are going to be answered as a pod-cast.

The pod-cast will be recorded and posted on to MediaFire. I will include the links in my next posts.

Evaluation question 2

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

The social group that is in my magazine are rock stars. My magazine represents the rock stars in a positive manner.

In the DPS, the star that is being interviewed is nice to the interviewer. He thanks him ("I'm fine thanks"), he answers his questions without hesitation. showing that the magazine doesn't portray  stars as being selfish, snobby or unlike able.

On the photos the stars are smiling which shows that they are happy. The only photo I included in my magazine which didn't have the person smiling was the front cover, though that was because I wanted a photo where the model pulls a weird face which is often done on rock magazines. See example below.

People look up to rock stars because they can relate to them. The front cover of my magazine has the model sticking his fingers in his ears whilst there are cover lines all over the place. This was meant to reflect what a older  teenager would be going through. Today's teenagers, including myself, go through a lot of pressure with getting the job done, where we have people telling us what to do that it gets overwhelming. The rock star puts his fingers in his ears to block out the noise. aside from reflecting the title of the magazine, its also a way to help the reader escape from that pressure.

The reason I included a competion in my magazine wasn't just because magazines sometimes include them, it was also to allow readers who don't have a way to listen to music.

Evaluation question 1

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

To answer this question I did it on powerpoint. Then I uploaded it to slideshare' link is below.

http://www.slideshare.net/brandonhudson890/evaluation-1-47189477

Time management- evaluation

Now that I have done many drafts of contents pages, front covers and DPS', I will be moving on to the evaluation.

The evaluation is separated into seven sections. They are individual questions about my media product.

The questions are:

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

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

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

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

5.    How did you attract/address your audience? 

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

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

Audience focus group

 I have joined a group on Facebook where I could get feedback on the magazine work from other people (not counting my media studies lecturers), this group was created by my media class so we could look at each others work and give some constructive criticism. So I have posted my cover, contents and double page spread to see what feedback I would get.

Family feedback

I have got my mother to look over my blog posts. She has helped out a lot in that she has pointed out any grammatical errors. So I have edited some of my older posts.

My Father has done the same. looking out for grammatical errors and putting them right.

Thanks to them my blog looks a lot better now.

DPS draft 3

This is the latest draft of my double page spread. I had received feedback from my lecturer and some things had to be changed. She said the article needed to be longer, the columns had to be wider, the fonts for the "exclusive interview" and "I'm joining IKE damage" had to be changed as they seemed unfitting to a rather formal layout for the page, Another caption to be added, the picture to be moved to the bottom and the text to be the same colour all the way through. I have been on Photoshop and fixed these problems.

The reason I made the text different colours was to help people distinguish who was speaking in the interview, now I have changed this with how bold the text is. The bold sentences are from the interviewer and the italic sentences are from the celebrity being interviewed. I have also added a bit more to the article, I included 2 more questions and made him sound more shocked and surprised. I have also included one small bit at the end of the article. The title fonts have been changed to the revolution font, i now think the DPS looks better.

DPS draft 2

This is draft 2 to my double page spread.

After draft one I got some feedback, a few things needed improving. this included the columns being too wide, the page numbers being too big, the sizes of the headlines etc.

Many things remain intact such as the red M in the background, the article remains unchanged, and the layout is mostly the same, its only a few small things that are different.

Firstly the placement of the image of "Mortdog" is now in the middle and is much bigger, this is to make the image look less like an afterthought like it wad in draft one where it's just at the end of the article. The text is a darker blue to make it blend better with the white and red background and to make it easier to see. The  big page numbers at the top have been exchanged for being small on the bottom, I did this to make it look more like an actual music magazine. The star with "exclusive interview" has been removed and changed to a red banner at the top because I think it makes the page design look more professional. Finally the columns are more compact and the opening paragraph has been included, this was to add more to the column.

DPS draft 1

This is the first completed draft of my DPS (double page spread)

Firstly, the article is set out like an interview which is why the text is in different colour for the individual person. I have also set it out for those who are colour blind that at the beginning of each paragraph there is a letter to indicate who is saying what e.g. M stands for Mortdog and Q stands for question. Overall I think this setup is helpful for the reader.

The title for the article is a pull quote, I see this being used very often in music magazines for their articles as it grabs the reader with a line from the article that can shock the reader. I also Included a rhyming slogan, why? just to include something catchy, that and a few articles Include them.
The opening paragraph has a drop capital as i's almost a requirement to have one, all of the articles in music magazines I've read have one. The opening paragraph gives context and goes into more detail about the story. I've also ordered the interview into columns, like any article in magazines.

Other things I've done are the giant M in the background, a different take on the giant L, the design is similar to one of my influences. The M is red because that is one of the primary of my magazine. I have also included captions, one is a notice to get the readers to turn to the next page and another is a rhetorical question. Overall I think this is a good first draft.

Draft of DPS article

I have drafted my article for my double page spread. The article is an interview. I made the text colour different when its a certain person talking, but if the reader is colour blind there is letter to show the different person speaking. In here I included a pull quote as the kicker, the reason it is that quote is because its the most important part of the article. There is a drop capital at the beginning as that's a common occurrence in magazine articles in general and it helps the reader keep track of where the beginning is.

When I include this in my double page spread I will organize it better into columns. There are signs of alliteration and a rule of three joke in the article as well.

The only criticism I got for the draft from my lecturer was a certain part in the article where the interviewee, Mortdog, criticized the band and to include some more DPS conventions. When I copy this onto Photoshop I will change and alter these elements.  

DPS design

On Photoshop I have finished designing my DPS. Before I show the draft for the DPS article, I want to show what I have also been working on. I feel that the design is the most important part of a magazine, while it's critical to do articles right without any mistakes, the design and how a magazine looks is more important as its the thing that most people will notice first, and if a magazine page doesn't look appealing then nobody will look further into it.

As you can see I have taken some inspiration to some elements of the DPS that I posted with DPS influences. There is the big red M in the background and the main image of the musician. other features that I included are captions next to the photos and the page numbers. When I get feedback some elements may change but time will tell....

Time management- the double page spread(draft, article)

Now that I have done the contents page, it's about time I started working on the DPS.
I am currently working on the design on Photoshop , you will see a finished design later today.
Then I'll post the draft of the article marked by my lecturer. Then once any issues with the article are fixed, The draft will be posted.

Contents page draft 5

I have made some minor adjustments to my contents page. Firstly the "Ivo Botnick" headline has been moved beneath the image of me. I have done this to take away some space from the text box so I could add more information to it and without any context, the image just looks out of place.

Some of the other changes include some alterations and editions to the puffs on the photos. I have made them alliterative so they sound more catchy.

Contents page draft 4

This draft of my contents page has seen many changes. Firstly the layout has been altered. The objects have been spaced apart to look more like one of my particular magazine influences and to feel less claustrophobic. I have added a subscribe box as magazines often  have a certain part on one of their pages where they ask their reader to subscribe to them. The text inside that black box is yellow to pay homage to one of the Kerrang issues.
I have added two puffs, one on the top and one on one of the images. This is to make the reader think that the magazine they are reading is amazing, interesting and informative.

I have added page numbers next to the images to take away any dead space, and to inform that to see the stories of these particular people are on those pages. Other changes include the box that had features used to be in black, now its red. i did this because once again, I'm paying homage to one of the issues to Q magazine.

Contents page draft 3

This is the 3rd draft of my contents page and I have made a few adjustments.

Since I did draft 2 of my DPS I needed to change up the contend page to keep consistency. for example the page number has been changed from being big and on the top of the page to being text and placed on the bottom, I have done this to keep consistency with the DPS as I have done exactly the same there and to make it look more like an actual magazine as they have the page number at the bottom. I have also added one more headline to add more content and i rearranged the page numbers to make more sense continuity wise since I changed the page numbers of the DPS. The regular features are slightly different as I have added subscriber questions.

Other than that nothing else has exactly changed, the pictures are same as are the oculars layout, etc.

Contents page draft 2

A few adjustments have been made for draft 2 as I have received feedback.
Firstly there are more things listed on the page to make it look like the magazine has lots of content to offer the reader.  I've also moved the main article next to one of the images, this is to fill the dead space that image has and it clarifies what the main article is more clearly than putting it in the list. The layout has slightly changed, I've changed the size of the contents title as my lecturer said it was too big and I have made a black banner to put both the issue number and featuring. I've also made the text coloring more consistent, it alternates from red to black because those are two of the primary colors for my magazine.      

Time management- I'm back

After a break, I'm back to working on this Blog. I will start working on the second draft to my contents page as I have received some feedback from my lecturer. the new post will be coming soon