Special Issue : Evaluation Edition 2015
Ambient Forms and Conventions of Real Media products
How i attracted the audience
Partiuclar Social Groups
process of constructing product
Distributing the Product The Audience for my product!
Evaluation Ambient's Special Edition
Progression of my product
Question 1 T o some extent, my music magazine, ‘Ambient’, adheres to and challenges the forms and conventions of real life media products. I have included the main, key aspects that are needed to make a successful magazine, whilst trying to make my product original and stand out from any others, working well with my indie rock genre. I gained inspiration by looking at other products that were original and that stood out from any others, working well with my indie rock genre. I gained inspiration by looking at other successful magazines such as Q, Rolling Stones and NME, to understand what are the conventions are and what I have to include on each page to make it look successful. As I wanted my magazine to look more minimalistic and original, I also looked at other existing magazines such as Clash and DIY, to get ideas for the layout and how to make it look different. After researching other magazines to gain inspiration and knowledge, I had a rough idea of what I wanted my front cover to look like which I tried translating onto my magazine. When it came to my colour scheme, I decided that I wanted to focus on the colours of the image by using a mixture of gels when taking photos of my feature artist, and then use colours that are more plain and simple so they stand out
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
relating to the target audience of my magazine. The against these bright colours for the masthead and other text. My front cover consists of a full bleed image of Tilly Lewis, looking straight at the camera as direct address grabs the audiences’ attention, whilst she plays with her hair to create a sense of playfulness. Pulling a straight face creates a dramatic, serious mood, slightly pouting to act in a seductive manor to represent Tilly
magazine is ‘Ambient’, relating to the background and surrounding sound, being appropriate as it gives the audience the idea that the magazine genre is music and that inside there will be current popular music that it mentioned, as it is surrounding us currently. I also like how it is a short one word masthead as this is easier to say and to remember. This masthead suits my audience considering that they are young, so would be interested in music that is up to date and current, so would like to read about this music that is mentioned in my magazine. To ensure that the main selling point was the feature artist, I made sure that Tilly Lewis’ name was larger than the other artists that I wrote about on my front cover so it stood out and as a young, playful teenager, rel made the front cover focus on her. style of photo used for the front By adding other artists in smallcover, being full bleed and creating er sell lines onto my front cover a serious mood, follows the forms will give the audience an insight and conventions of magazine as this on what is mentioned, reaching is what you typically see on other out to a wider audience due to the magazines, so it isn’t unconvention- range of artists I have written about al. Other aspects of my magazine which would also give an idea of include the masthead, written in a the genre of the magazine. I also large bold text in a Broadway font, added smaller conventions includplaced across the top of my magaing a barcode, the date of the issue, zine to grab the audience’s attention price and website address to make as other magazines do this as their this magazine front cover look like audience may recognise the name. a real, successful issue. The barcode The masthead that I chose for my will allow the audience to be able
to buy my magazine in store, having a price in pounds and dollars so they would know how much it costs to buy. I chose a reasonable price of £3.99 which is similar to other magazines that are successful, and it is an appropriate price considering that my target demographic would be 16-25 year olds, ABC1 male and females but more specifically leans towards females because of the style of my magazine. This audience would have disposable income that they could potentially spend on my magazine or other music events. By adding the date of the issue will also inform the audience of which issue they are looking at, and how When it came to making my contents page, I found a special edition of Q’s that I liked the look of which I used for inspiration. I found making a contents page hard considering that most of them were quite structured but I wanted to make it more minimalistic, which is hard to complete without it
looking unprofessional, boring or too empty. The layout of the magazine I produced is pretty similar to Q’s, so in this way it is successful. My contents page slightly challenges the codes and conventions of a typical magazine, considering that it isn't as structured and the layout is quite different, being more minimalistic. However, I have included everything that a typical magazine would have in their contents page. I titled my contents page on the top of the page on the left, making it clear to the audience of what the page is about, and I added small details such as the page numbers small at the bottom of each page, along with the website address and the date; all being small details that I would continue in other issues, being a part of codes and conventions. On a larger scale, I wanted to make this double page look appealing to the target audience, so I included a variety of images along with text to make it more bold and
busy, bringing colour to the page. This would draw in the audience considering that this was the most voted style according to the survey that I put together and that my target audience completed. The images are all relating to music and the artist that I have included in my magazine, and they link to the information that I have put on these pages. The images have been displayed at the top half of the contents page, whilst the main text is displayed below to section them from each other. In Q’s contents page, in the images used they have sectioned off part of the picture to include a summary of the story that the image is relating to, which I have also done considering that I thought it was successful and it has worked well for several other magazines too, preventing the images from looking randomly placed. I have also added the page numbers that the images refer to, so the audience can navigate themselves around my magazine, looking at the content they are inter-
ested in. These numbers range from 6-80, having a lot of pages which is typical for a music magazine. The idea of the contents page is to inform the audience of what is included in the magazine to entice them and make them want to purchase it and read about the stories mentioned. I have split the information given into headings and categories; cover story, on the cover and features, so it is easier for the audience to navigate and find what they are interested in. These are the typical headings used that also work well for my magazine. By laying out this information in columns also arranges it in an appropriate way, continuing to adhere to the codes and conventions as magazines and newspapers are known for arranging text in this way. This ensures that the text is easy to read and isn't crowded or busy, as this could put off the audience and make it a chore to read. As the main reason that people may have picked up the magazine may be because of the main artist featured on the front cover, I have included a section regarding the cover story - similar to Q’s. This focuses more on the story about this artist, Tilly Lewis, and also includes the picture that was used on the front cover as it brings attention to this section, indicating that this is the most important story. Under the other headings
written on the opposing side, I have arranged the artist’s stories by number, and have written a short synopsis about the article, hopefully enticing the audience to flick to that page. My magazine challenges the codes and conventions to some extent, as instead of having the page numbers directly next to the subheading, I have made it large and have hidden it slightly behind the subheading instead, in a light purple/blue colour, also not being a typical harsh bright colour that is usually used. This gives my contents page an interesting, unique look as I haven't seen this before but it still works well and doesn't look too random. The final aspects of my contents page include a subscription box and band index. This follows the conventions of a music magazine as the majority of them also have a subscription
box, giving information regarding the website and social media’s for the magazine, so the audience can keep up with the company, following the magazines profiles to find out extra information if they want to. This is a significant feature considering that social media is a huge part of
the younger generations lives, being used on a day to day basis as it’s well known so this will appeal to a large crowd. Being able to subscribe will allow the audience to save money and to also get the magazine delivered to their door, saving them the hassle of going out every time there’s a new issue too. This will ensure them that they stay on top of each monthly issue and don't miss out. The band index is the list of artists and bands that feature in my magazine. I have listed these with the page number so the audience can flick to whichever page they are interested in, so they don't have to read other articles that are not suited to them. This is a typical convention that’s added in some music magazines, which is suitable for my magazine as my genre is music. Additionally, my main double pages are a feature article with Tilly Lewis, consisting of two double pages, and it is an interview as this is what was voted to be the most interesting and enticing for my target audience according to the results from my survey. The first page consists of a full bleed image of Tilly that I had taken in a studio to result in a professional image with gels to get that burst of colour I had mentioned previously and that I had also used for my front cover, to ensure that my magazine flows and has the same theme/style throughout. Feature articles in a magazine will
always include a large image of the artist to grab the audience’s attention, as it also helps to break up the text to make it more interesting. In this photo, Tilly looks serious and seductive as this is the usual mood created in a magazine, giving direct address too as this helps to grab the audience’s attention. The actual interview is introduced to the audience through the use of an introduction, giving an overall idea of what the article would be about and who Tilly Lewis is, giving some background information, making the reader want to read on. This is followed after the large title of ‘Tilly Lewis’, standing out from the rest of the text because of how bold this heading is. The interview has also been set out in columns, again to make it easy to read and this is also a convention of a magazine as all text is laid out in this way. I have separated the questions from the answers so it’s clear which is which,
being easy to read because of this too. On the second double page, this text continues and there is also a pull quote inserted in the article to break up the text yet again, being large and including an important phrase that is relevant to the text which will give an insight to what it’s about for those who are flicking through. As it is large, this should attract the audience as it stands out. I have also added a smaller image of Tilly at the end of this text, and I have added tour dates to promote this artist, and to give fans the information they may be interested in. To do this, I have used the same background colour in this box, being a light blue, so the colour scheme throughout is consistent. On the last page of my main feature article, I have included another full bleed image of Tilly but I have captured a moment where she is laughing to portray the other side of Tilly, as these few pages are focusing on getting to know Tilly and the other
side of her that isn't shown, suggesting that this is an interesting and gossipy interview. This should entice the audience as the target audience is young and like to find out about secrets and interesting information that isn't well known. To make this page more appealing and to add more information, I have also included a small review by Ambient of Tilly’s music, giving a trusted and true opinion of her music, which should give a high view of her work, making the audience want to listen to her music, increasing the amount of fans that she has. I have included this text in a slightly transparent box, which I have also included on other pages as it looks minimalistic and works well with my style that I have gone for. Reviews are something that are featured in a lot of music magazines, so by including this in my magazine also will ensure that my magazine looks like one that exists. As well as having a main feature
article, I have also included two small separate double page articles featuring two more artists. The first one inserted in my magazine is about Sophie Khoo, having a full bleed image across the double page. As I have used blue and green gels for this professional looking studio image, this is how I have brought colour and originality to the page, which the white text contrasts with, making it stand out against the bright colours. The inspiration I gained for this kind of image is from DIY, another magazine that I found whilst researching other successful products. On the second page, this is where I have included the short article written
about Sophie’s life, putting this text in a transparent box that i also used for Tilly Lewis so the text isn’t completely separate from the image, but instead blends in with it well. I have also added an introduction to ensure that the information flows, giving background information and a slight idea of what the text will be about, all being inserted underneath the large heading ‘Sophie Khoo’. To ensure that this page follows the conventions of a magazine, again I have added small details including the date of the issue, website address and the page number at the bottom of each pages. As my magazine was steering
away from the music genre, I prevented this from happening by Adding a music poster style double page featuring the Saffrons, an indie rock band, and again I added another review for their album in a similar way that i did for Tilly Lewis, keeping the style consistent. I took time out of my day to go to London to one of the Saffrons gigs, as those in the band are friends of mine, and I took photos of their band, mainly focusing on Anton as this is the artist that I wanted to focus on considering that he is the main singer. Music magazines usually include music posters, which I thought would be an appropriate double page spread to add to my magazine.
Question 2 M y media product represents social groups through the use of costume, the body lan-guage/facial expression of the artists displayed, and also the tone and mood of the of the writing I have communicated to my young audience. My choices within these have been to reach out to a particular target audience, creating a specific style that will draw in my audience and that will allow them to engage with my magazine.
Those I targeted this magazine to I’d imagine are stylish individuals who have a passion for music that is current and different, but that are also interested in fashion and going to gigs, socialising with similar people. Their social class would be ABC1, as I would imagine those who purchase magazines earn enough to spend their disposable income on unnecessary items but those that are personal and they enjoy, having a well paid job to afford this, but I’d ex-pect that the target audience would be around 16-25 year olds. Firstly, I represented this particular social group through the representation of the artists I in-cluded. I decided to focus my magazine on the music genre of indie rock, so I stuck to this throughout, but mainly focused on my feature artist ‘Tilly Lewis’, representing her as an in-die, cool young adult who fits this category. This representation is mostly clear through the way she is presented, as she is dressed in very stylish clothes and looks young and playful. Throughout my magazine I have represented her in different ways; edgy, playful, innocent and cool. The idea was create a variety of profiles so the audience can connect and see the different personalities of Tilly. This is portrayed as in many photos she is displayed as a seri-ous,
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
seductive character because of her facial expressions, but being playful and young by the interesting body language and facial expressions. To show the audience other sides of her, I have also included a cheerful photo of Tilly mid laugh, to illustrate Tilly in an innocent manor, interesting and enticing the audience who can connect with this character as we see beyond her professional act. Seeing the normal side of her will enable the audience to relate to her, feeling a sense of belonging. On my front cover, as this is the first image you would see, this is the main representation of Tilly created throughout my magazine that the audience will assume. To create an interesting composition, Tilly is holding and playing with her hair in a seductive manor, continuing to emphasise this playful, childish manor I have spoken about. She is also slightly pouting to emphasise this, being a typical facial expression shown by the model in magazines, which makes this magazine slightly fashion like, connecting with the audience as they’ll probably be interested in this too. To reach out to this younger audience, I have used friendly basic language that is easy to read and that flows well. By making the text chatty, this will allow them to connect and find the information given interesting to read like they’re
chatting to a friend instead of reading an information booklet. Having a gossip style to this information would attract young females, considering that it is a stereotypical view that girls are interested in gossip and secrets told, talking about celebrities and people to their friends. This is what I was aiming for as music magazines usually write in this friendly manor too, as magazines would be brought with dis-posable income, being a hobby and not a chore to read as you’d read them in your spare time. My magazine adheres to the uses and gratifications theory because of this, as the purpose of it is to entertain, which the basic language used and the topics mentioned suggests.
Question 3 T he institution that would distribute my media product would be Bauer Media. Bauer are a multinational media corporation which was founded in 1875 in Hamburg. They are now pub-lishing own magazine titles which they offer 300 of, as well as online, TV and radio stations, in 15 countries worldwide. These magazine titles can include Kerrang!, Q, MOJO, Heat, Closer and Empire. In 2013 they employed over 6,400 people, spending 2.8 billion euros in hopes of turning the cooperation around. Their aim is to connect with audiences through their broad multi-touch point brand platforms, which I would like to get involved with by having my magazine distributed by this corporation. Because of their success and the amount of coun-tries that they have distributed magazines and other products to, this conveys the success that they have resulted in which would be beneficial for my magazine. It would reach a lot of people from all over the world, making it assessable and easy to get a hold of, making it appealing. They already have a
What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why?
large audience who would be interested in my magazine, who like current music but are interested in artists that aren't mentioned in the other magazines that they distribute, so they would want to get involved with my magazine too. I think this distrbution company would be situable for my magazine consideirng that the other magazines that they are involved with aren’t too similar to mine, having different genres of music, and the style of my magazine is also quite different too. I wouldn't chose IPC to distribute my magazine considering that as well as distributing NME, a similar magazine to mine because of the artists I have mentioned, they also distribute magazines that have the genre of fashion and style, which doesn't fit mine, so their audience wouldn't be as appropriate for my magazine, not making my magazine as successful as I would like, although, it would have a large, wide
audience which is suitable for mine. Bauer media work with different medias such as online, TV and radio stations, meaning this would be ideal in allowing my magazine to be distributed in different ways, interesting and drawing in a wider audience which I am aiming for. As I have included on my magazine the address for the website, which would work well if Bauer media distributed my magazine considering that they work on digital platforms, which I would like to get involved in with mine. I would like my audience to be able to interact with the magazine and the content I include via the Ambient website, as well as using a variety of social media because of the demand and interest in social media these days when it comes to my young target audience as they are constantly updating their profiles and using it. As Bauer’s magazines are well known and successful, this would suggest that they know what they’re doing and are knowledgeable in this area, implying that they will also do this for my magazine, making mine a success. To promote my magazine, I would be able to use social media but also TV and online services, to build up a profile to interest a wide demographic.
Question 4 T he target audience for my media product would be 16-25 year olds and would fit the ABC1 code, being males and females but more specially aimed towards females because of the style of my magazine, looking quite fashionable too. I wanted this magazine to attract more fe-males because of the lack of music magazines out there that are aimed to interest females, so I thought I would fill this gap. Considering that my magazine would be different to others be-cause of this, it would result in a large demand and would be popular. Because of the repre-sentation of the artist on the front cover however, looking seductive and enticing, this may interest males too, suiting both genders making sure that it reaches out to as many people as possible. I chose this young age because of the artists mentioned, being current and popular that a young generation would be interested in and would relate to these artists, fitting the uses and gratifications theory as my magazine entertains and gives information regarding these artists that the audience want to find out. This information given will allow the audience to build relationships as they may discuss the topics mentioned, resulting in socialising and entertain-ing because of my product. This age range are known for being interested in music and taking it seriously, suggesting that they’d want to keep on top of it. The other reason I chose this age is because they would have a reasonable amount of disposa-ble income as they don’t have to spend their money on bills, which they would be able to spend on items that they enjoy, including magazines and events that are relating to the genre of my magazine, which is music, including festivals and gigs mentioned in my magazine. At these events,
Who would be the audience for your media product?
this will allow socialising and would be great opportunities to build relationships through the love of music. Because of the wide variety of artist including The Killers and Ja-mie T, this will reach out to a larger audience that consist of mainly individualists as the bands are under the category of indie, which the audience would relate to. Because the target audience is so young, I would think they’d view themselves as individualists too, being ener-getic and excited, also wanting to be different and to stand out. Reading this information in my music magazine about indie bands and knowing exclusive facts before others do to keep on top, would help them to be this way. I would imagine that the target audience would be cool and have a passion for music, being stylish and interesting, so I wanted my magazine to suit and reflect this. They would be inter-ested in social media such as Instagram, Twitter or Facebook as this also plays a large part of their lives which would be a benefit for my magazine. Social media allows people to connect and discuss certain topics with other people, meaning they would be able to talk about my magazine which would make more people know about it. They could also talk about their other interests, or just music as they can share their experiences through the use of photos or videos, socialising and making friends through this. This age is usually when people form opinions and views on topics
and music, which would work well when it comes to word of mouth and talking about my product. As well as having an interest in music, my target audience could also be interested in reading, being understandable as this is why they would want to pick up my magazine; to read about the articles inserted in my product. However, they may be interested in other platforms such as TV or films, which they may want to watch at a cinema, meaning they’d go out and social-ise, being something they’d like to do also at a festival or music event. I would imagine that the target audience would also be interested in creative activities or perhaps fashion as the indie artists mentioned would be fashionable and stylish, which the audience of my magazine may aspire to be like.
Question 5 T hroughout my magazine I have purposely chosen to add certain features to attract my target audience to my magazine, making aspects of it bold and enticing. However, I think I should’ve done more to make this product more successful, including more freebies. I have mainly used my front cover to grab my target audience’s attention, as this front cover is what is seen the most and should entice and interest the most amount of people as possible, so it is very important that I have created a successful front cover because of this.
The image that I chose to use as my front cover photo is a full bleed portrait of my main fea-ture artist that I focus on inside my magazine, being a popular well known artist that may a fan base who would be interested in my product to read up about their inspiration. If I used an artist who isn't very popular, this will not make anyone want to pick up my magazine and read it, not just because they don’t know the artist, but because this would also not give the audience an idea of what genre it is. Tilly is looking straight at the camera, creating direct ad-dress which is a magazine convention to have this composition, which I have realised after researching other successful products, as it feels as if the artist is looking at the audience en-ticing them to pick up the product. By using bright, colourful gels which are not used in other main popular music magazines means this is an unique selling point, being bold and interest-ing so this may also attract an audience. Because of how unique these gels are, it also works well with my indie genre so helps to give an idea of what genre it is. Also, as these gels are a mixture of colours it does not appeal to just females or just males,
How did you attract/ address your audience?
making this fair and obvi-ous that its aimed for both. Having Tilly Lewis’s name in a large font at the bottom of this front cover is also a way of drawing in the audience, especially if this artists is well known. Because of the large size of this text, it is bold and stands out, suggesting that this artists is more important than the others mentioned. However, I made sure that I included other popu-lar bands and artists on the front cover to attract a wider audience, as they may not be a fan of the feature artist but other people mentioned in the magazine. Having a wider variety will suit more people, gaining a large audience.
On my contents page, I have given the option to subscribe to this magazine, as this would be a great way for the audience to save money and help them to keep on top of the issues that come out every month, and they wont have to go out to grab an issue so it’s a lot easier for them. The original price is still quite cheap so it does suit the young target audience, being a price that they can afford which wouldn't feel like a splurge or a waste. On this page I have tried to attract an audience by writing intriguing summaries of each page when it came to talking about each page and what would be on them, suggesting that they would find out in-teresting information that the audience don't already know. In these summaries I have men-tioned events like gigs and festivals, which my target audience would like to get involved in as they would enjoy socialising and see-
ing their favourite bands play live, being topics that they’re interested in. Also, by having social media available for them to interact with this magazine would appeal to this young audience because of the high demand of social media these days. I would like my audience to get involved with social media because of how good these platforms are for promoting my magazine and getting the word out there, as the audi-ence can discuss my product and the topics mentioned in them.
On other pages such as my main feature article, I have included pull quotes in the text that relate to the topic mentioned in the article to give the audience an idea of what it is about, hopefully convincing them to read it. Pull quotes are small quotes taken from this interview, being large text placed in the middle of the article so it stands out against the small text. I thought this was appropriate as other successful magazines also included this, and it worked as a good way to break up the text as it might look boring if its just a double page of full on text. Considering that in my survey results, the audience said that they would prefer a mix-ture of text and images, this would be another great way to ensure that theres a mixture.
Question 6 T he process of researching and making this magazine has been a journey, improving my skills and knowledge when it come to the technology used behind it. Because I took media for GCSE, I had a basic idea of how to use the cameras and other equipment, and I am also studding photography so I wasn’t completely clueless of what was going on. I had already used the main software, InDesign previously in GSCE Media to create a fashion magazine, but the product I made for A Level was more complex and detailed, so I still improved my skills when it came to making this, especially because I had forgotten some of the tools and what they do. InDesign was a suitable programme to use when making a magazine as it acted as a good template for the product I was making, and it is well known considering that other magazine companies also use this programme too, which is why I chose it. I wanted my prod-uct to look as professional as possible, wanting control over the features that I added to the pages so it looked the way I wanted and InDesign worked well for both text and pictures. I could add any shapes, images, fonts and text easily, placing them where ever I wanted and I could also adjust each of these so it resulted in what I was looking for. When it came to the text, I used paragraph styles to make this process easier for me as I could set the text size and font for certain parts of the paragraph, and apply this to other parts of my magazine text too, resulting in consistency throughout my product. Before I made my magazines, I was unaware of this feature but once I had watched several videos and tutorials, I had learnt handy tips and also how to use InDesign properly, to ensure that I would result in a successful product.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product??
Because the photos are an important part of a magazine as they can entice the audience and give them a sense of the genre and target audience, I wanted to make sure that they were very successful and worked well for my product. I used another programme, Photoshop which I am very familiar with as I use this a lot at home too, to edit photos that I take as that InDesign do not have the same tools that allow me to edit photos. Because I take a lot of por-trait photos in my spare time and also for my photography course, I am use to editing them to make them look more professional in this programme, so I had a slight idea of how to use this already. As I had taken the majority of my photos in a studio with a plain background, it’s important to adjust the lighting to make it look professional and flattering. I also used gels which effected the lighting a lot, and in some cases made it look darker than I wanted, so by adjusting the levels and colour balance, I made it so the colours stood out more and so you could see the models face clearly. Its important that the photos are to a professional standard, as this is what could make my magazine look unsuccessful, and not look like an actual maga-zine. I wanted to ensure that the photos look conventional, so I used the airbrush tool and colour corrector to make the models look ‘perfect’, but also making it look natural and not look like I’ve over done it. As I did this process a lot over the course, I had gotten better at it and learnt how to do this successfully, also knowing what tools to use and learning about the layers and mask tool, as well as the opacity to make
adjustments not look so harsh and unnatural. When it came to taking my actual photos, the majority of them were taken in a studio in school. I had a white, black and grey backdrop available, Cannon 550D camera, 4 studio lights, umbrellas to defuse the light and not make it look to harsh, gels, a tripod and then a soft box too, which I did not use. This set up is professional, resulting in photos that look conventional and successful. The camera had a premium lens that allowed me to zoom in and out to result in different compositions that was appropriate for contrasting images I was aim-ing for, and it also had a large aperture to ensure that the focus was on the models. When taking photos outside of the studio, the main image I used of Tilly, I used my Lumix GF1 cam-era with a 55-200mm lens, which also had a large aperture which resulted in a short depth of field to make sure that the focus was on Tilly. This made the photos look professional and also ensured that the quality was high, appropriate for a magazine. I also used this camera when taking photos of the Saffrons.
Question 7 A t the start of this course, before I had properly researched into successful magazines and had planned my magazine, the first task that we had to complete was to create a contents page and front cover for a school magazine. Here I applied my basic skills, figuring out how to use indesign to how create this product, also experimenting with the layout and photos needed to make this look successful. However, looking back at this product has made me no-tice the significant difference between the products as I compare it to my final music maga-zine, as my skills have grown, learning a lot on this journey as I have grown and researched a lot more into magazines and the codes and conventions needed to make it look successful.
What I did first when I made this product is I went around school taking photos appropriate for this product during my lessons, so I did plan out the photos as I didn't have a large time slot to take them. I have realised that I didn't put much thought into the photos taken, not making them images that would entice the audience and draw them in as I haven’t used im-ages that follow the codes and conventions of magazines, being different to how I went about making my final product. When taking photos for the final product, I used hours of my time after school and out of lesson time to take photos that look professional
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product???
and that are suitable for my magazine. I also planned out the costumes that I wanted my models to wear, and the makeup and style of the photos I wanted to recreate as I have found these whilst re-searching other magazines, taking a wide variety of images that I could chose from. Other photos I added into my magazine where from gigs that I had taken the time to go to, or are of the artists mentioned which I had taken outside of school also. The images for my preliminary tasks consist of scenery of the school and students working, not looking at the camera so no direct address as been used here, although they are all relevant for the genre of my magazine. I only took a few images which would not be an appropriate amount for a magazine, not hav-ing a huge amount of choice. However, the colours in these photos are quite dull and boring, also being out of focused and not edited at all to improve them and to make them look pro-fessional. The preparation difference, as you can see, is huge which would explain why
my final product is much more successful. Once I had taken the photos for my preliminary task, I had to transfer them into an Indesign document to make a magazine style product. My front cover is the most successful out of the two pages I completed, having some of the codes and conventions of a magazine, but not be-ing completely appropriate and successful because of the lack of detail. I have previously used Indesign in GCSE so it wasn’t that hard to create this product, but there were still flaws in my work.