question 1a preperation

Annabel Truman – Different Uses Of Technologies – A2 Media Theory- Mr Love

Name What you did with it? Pros / strengths Cons /weaknesses

Hardware Camera I filmed all my footage for my trailer s using the camera, when using a camera I had to consider the different ways in using the camera; for example I had to learn how to use a tripod and the different settings on the camera.

The benefits of using a camera to do the

filming for my products is that the camera

allows me to acquire high quality moving image, where as if I used a phone the

quality of the image would be considerably

worst.

The weaknesses of using the camera, was I had to constantly make sure that the camera was in focus which didn’t make the filming

Software Adobe Fireworks

I created my print products using adobe fireworks

The software enabled me to make some really professional looking print products

Fireworks wouldn’t always let me get the positioning of a piece of text or an image exactly where I want it and sometimes I found the software a bit time consuming when I just needed it to do something simple.

Online Prezi I created presentations using this technology

Prezi enabled me to show my findings in a creative and dynamic

Sometimes the technology would not get the text to the

1


setting, this makes my work more interesting to view.

exact size I would like for the textbox; this made the overall appearance sometimes a little bit messy.

Name What you did with it? Pros / strengths Cons /weaknesses

Software PowerPoint I made a PowerPoint of my layout sketches on PowerPoint

The software is straightforward to use and I was able to get my work done quick and effectively

The only weakness in using PowerPoint to do my layout sketches was that it was harder to import into blogger than other uses of technologies

Online Blogger I used blogger as a medium of displaying my coursework.

The sites is easy to use and keeps my work organized as you can order all your posts from alphabetical to date and time

The weaknesses in using blogger are that sometimes the software wouldn’t properly display images and they would sometimes become encrypted causing the image to go blank. This was a major flaw in blogger as some of my important pieces of

2


coursework were in image format this mean that I had to redo some pieces of work.

Online Emaze I used Emaze to create presentations

Emaze is great for presenting PowerPoints in a creative and dynamic way as they had a variety of styles and themes to choose from when displaying my presentation which makes it nicer to look at.

The only weakness with Emaze is that importing pictures to Emaze sometimes proved quite difficult whereas with Prezi you could search for the image you want from the web and press import

Name What you did with it? Pro/strengths Cons/ weaknessesonline Prezionline picmonkey I used pic monkey to

edit my photosPic monkey allowed me to edit my pictures with full artistic ability.The site allowed me to crop, use different filters, add back drops

The only weakness with using picmonkey was, the site required pictures of a certain size otherwise the images could become blurry

3


and overlays to make my images look more professional

and the quality of the image wouldn’t be up to standard.

1. How creative do you think you were in the decisions you made when creating your c/w?

I personally think I was creative in some of my coursework but I think my creativity only came out in my work as the course progressed this is due to the fact my confidence in using the software and technology increased and I then became more willing to express individuality and originality with my print products. I started to consider different ways I could shoot the images of my models instead of taking too much influence from other existing magazines like NME.

2. Did the technology enhance your creativity or not?

I would say that digital technology has helped increase my creative abilities; as there are more possibilities of making my work different with digital technology for instance, with editing my photos I could manipulate them using special effects like filters, glows and bokeh blurs which can create a different representation to the original image.

4


3. What ideas did you communicate and what stylistic techniques did you use? How did it relate to your interests/vision for your music magazine?

In the process of planning the creation of my music magazine I pieced together mood boards; collecting images from magazines that have a similar content to what I want publish. I also researched my target audience target audience and what they are interested in what kind of style they like and what they buy into. By doing this research I could take influence from the different styles of images and text. For example I noticed that a lot of the magazines that my target audience were reading had red mast heads and the majority of their texts were in sans serif font. I looked into the music my target audience were interested in and what images were used on these artist’s album covers to establish a few styles in which I could

4. Was your product influenced by your social environmental (e.g. your interests)?

I would say that my product was heavily influenced by my social environment as many of my images were influenced by fashion featured in the Britpop era which was an iconic time for the indie rock genre. I felt that styling my models in this attire would give off the representation I needed in order to make my models look like real indie rock stars. I also featured items like freebie that my target audience would

5. Was this original or did you add something extra to an original media text?

5


I feel that my product last year was too heavily influenced by other magazines on the market and therefore it lacked some originality in some components, for example my front cover lacked originality but as my skills progressed my contents page and double page spread featured more artistic and creative ability. If I did this project again I would try to think about style of the magazine individually without looking at other magazines as it is easy to fall into the trap in making a magazine which is very similar.

6. Would you take any creative skills into future projects or have you been influenced to engage these skills in any other projects?

Even though my some parts of my AS product lacked some originality I did learn some vital creative skills towards the end of creating my products; which I could take forward into A2 for example the way I edited pictures and how I started to compose my models in pictures and using new software to present my work in a more innovative and abstract way.

G325 – Critical Perspectives in Media

Section A , Question 1a – Skills Evaluation of Production

3. Research & Planning

– Go back to your AS coursework and list all of the separate tasks you undertook as part of the research and planning.

6


Looking at existing productsPro- It made me aware of popular conventions and how magazines are often displayed. Helped me make my work look more professionalCon – I relied too much on existing products thus leaving me with a product with a lack of originality For my A2 coursework I will still look at existing products but I will not rely solely upon them as I want my product for A2 to be more original.

Looking at magazine audience databasesPro- It made it easy to find who my target audience was by looking at who bought magazines in a similar genre magazineCon- searching through the database proved a little bit tedious I will use something for A2 as this was very useful to see the kind of people that buy into my kind of product making it easier to market my product however I will have to find this for a film instead of a magazine.

Formulating surveys for target audiencePro- I could gain opinions on what my target audience like/ dislike which helped make my product more successful.Con- people may not have fully read the questions and they could have ticked any random boxed which could be the information I collected may not be relevant.Instead of solely using software like survey monkey I will ask people in person and social media to be sure that my questions are being properly answered.

Annotating magazine front covers to establish conventionsPro- This helped me gain an understanding of the conventions used in magazines and how they were used.

7


Con- This showed me what was mainly featured on magazines and didn’t allow me to create something original. This was useful for AS however after studying print products extensively last year I feel that I am confident with the magazine conventions however I will make note of what the conventions of trailers are to help me establish what is frequently used in trailers.

4. Post-production

Front Cover

WWW: The layout of the cover is very neat and there is constancy with the house colours.

EBI: The photography is quite week and the background is plain white which makes the model look like he has just been pasted on the front cover which in my opinion doesn’t look very professional. And some of the text is just about visible and it needs a drop shadow or a slight change tone in colour to make it stand out more

8


Contents Page

WWW: the staging of my model and the costume I used fits the genre of my magazine very well.

EBI: the contents page doesn’t look very professional the text is all different sizes and fonts which shows a lack of consistency and it doesn’t look like a magazine you would buy in a shop. The text needs to be consistent

9

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iTIlm8LZjrA/VUJZF0EyuMI/AAAAAAAABCY/x3FJyMCbzAU/s1600/Front+cover+tom.png


Double Page Spread

WWW: Photography improved for my double page spread along with text wrapping

EBI: The magazine lacks originality as it was too heavily influenced by existing products for example the colour scheme heavily resembles NME

5. Using Conventions of Real Media Texts

Original Answer

I've challenged the conventions of my double page spread by including two main images instead of one main image and a whole page of text.

10

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v3fcUCo5sI0/VUJZh7UYoFI/AAAAAAAABCg/n8-QvkMstKA/s1600/tom+media+course+work.png


My double page spread mainly conforms to indie rock magazine genre, the article I wrote includes risqué subject matters like drugs and partying, this develops the conventions of and indie rock magazine as I have kept in line with what that particular target audience want, this target audience to read about their favourite artists, they want bold exposing and compelling articles as well as the artists talking about their music and what their motivation is, all of this I have included in my double page spread

My double page spreads do follow all the conventions of an indie rock magazine, I made a few changes but nothing drastic as i didn't want to challenge them or change them, because after carrying out some market research and doing some audience feed back of my own I developed products people liked and didn’t like from this feedback I made an informed decision to keep in line with a certain style. the mock ups that weren't that successful with my target market were not successful because some of my mock-ups it didn't keep in line with the same style as my front cover and contents page making it look less professional.

My Contents Page also follows the codes and conventions of indie rock magazine I have used things like features, images, headlines and titles so the page is easy recognizable to the target audience.

Although I would say that my contents page does challenge the conventions of a music magnetize, as my contents page is spread across two pages making it more like a double page spread. normally in a magazine the contents page is over one page however i wanted to have a prominent focal image taking up the centre of the page. then on either sides of the image I wanted information on articles with their page numbers. I think i have done this effectively and I think it creates an interesting and focally engaging display, all though this isn't in line with the contents page conventions I feel it still creates the effect I want. By challenging the conventions my magazine will stand out from other magazines that are available to the target market, because my magazine is different it would could entice more potential readers.

11


My front cover follows the code and conventions of an indie rock magazine I have included all the features expected from a front cover, my main image includes a screaming face which connotes to the indie rocker vibe of loud and disruptive behaviour

How would you now do things differently? Write a new paragraph briefly considering this question (e.g. Weaknesses you would fix)

Looking back on my previous work I completely disagree with my former answer I feel that work lacks a lot of originality and that work was played to safe. I relied too much upon existing products and I conformed to the conventions of indie rock magazines too much creating something that has already been made. Instead of religiously following the conventions I feel that I should have gone against some of the codes and conventions of an indie rock magazine to make the magazine more dynamic so people would have more interest for it. This is a lesson I will take forward into my A2 coursework; sometimes playing it safe isn’t always the best method as playing it safe can lead to a lack of originality, quality and creativity.

12

question 1a preperation

Documents