Thursday 29 March 2012

To the Exam Board

Thank you for taking the time to read through my work.

FINAL Evaluation Activity 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
In terms of Photoshop I have learnt that simple tweaks of colour and lighting can make a normal photo look more professional. Throughout the work I have done for media I have improved on photo editing, I now know to use the light adjusting tools and that I should experiment with it until I have the right look. I found that the convention for a lot of magazine photos is to use high contrast and a bright light on the face of the model. I have also learnt that the placing of texts and pictures on a page can make all the difference. I have learnt to take the rule of thirds into account, which is why the image of my model was placed slightly to the left of the magazine. One really good photo, placed and manipulated well can make your magazine look more realistic as well as having a good structure (Z or F model). I have also learnt that you will need to use more than two fonts usually, but they all need to tie together in some way. The rule of three colours works well as a theme, any more than that and it can look messy but this depends on the style of magazine.  I think, when making my final product, I organised my time quite well although I wasn’t always aware of what I should be adding to get a high grade.

FINAL Evaluation Activity 6

Evaluation Activity 6

FINAL Evaluation Activity 5

FINAL Evaluation Activity 4

FINAL Evaluation Activity 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think that Bauer Media would be the kind of institution to publish my magazine because they publish a lot of magazines including 'Kerrang!'. My magazine is a similiar style to 'Kerrang!' so I think that if my magazine was made Bauer Media could be the one to publish it. My magazine would also widen the variety of magazines available from Bauer as under the ‘female magazines’ on their website there are no music magazines mentioned. It is similar enough to ‘Kerrang!’ that it would get high sales but has a different focus which offers something new. They also publish 'Mojo' and 'Q'.Bauer Media Group, who own Bauer Media, are Europe's largest privately owned publishing group. The group offer over 300 magazines in 15 countries and websites, radio stations and television stations. On the website they say that they 'connect audiences with excellent content through our broad multi-touch point brand platforms, wherever and whenever and however they want'. They also claim to have a wide portfolio of influential brands giving them an advantage over competitors. Their magazine heritage streches back to 1953 with the launch of 'Angling Times'. In 1990 their radio business was started by 'Kiss FM' (now Kiss 100).As well as publishing music magazines they also offer women's magazines such as 'Grazia' and 'Closer', men's magazine's such as 'Zoo' and 'FHM' to magazines on fishing, golf and cars.

Wednesday 28 March 2012

FINAL Evaluation Activity 2


How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Amy Lee is the lead singer of Evanescence and she is well known for her gothic style. She is classically trained and her voice has a contrast with the heavy instruments. I feel that Frankie Hall will have a slight gothic style but her style is less feminine than Amy's. They both wear mainly dark colours because it fits with the genre. The facial make up on both is light and neutral but the eye make up is more dramatic and dark. Amy tends to wear very complex and dramatic outfits on stage. Frankie's outfits are simpler, consisting of jeans and a t-shirt, with a jacket and shoes to be the main part of the outfit.
I have represented the ‘emo’ social group. This is because the music genre I have used for my magazine fits into the ‘emo’ culture (bands such as My Chemical Romance, Bullet for my Valentine etc.).  I have represented this social group mainly by the look I used for the model. The eyeliner and the simple black and white costume, as well as her facial expression stereotypically fit the ‘emo’ group.