Rachel's Foundation Media Blog: 2016

Evaluation Question 6

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

Before I could start sketching ideas from my product I had to do a lot of genre research to understand the conventions of the genre so I could make it as realistic as possible. I did this by using the internet and making a music timeline as well as looking at key artists during the decades to see the way my genre had evolved and which approach I would take for my product. After this I did analyses of existing magazines to understand what key features to include as well as colours. Whilst doing my research I used a lot of different websites including official magazine websites to look at what they include and so I could get a better perspective of their issues they release and what they aim to achieve. As my product is targeted at a specific demographic I also did a survey to see what people expected my product to include and how I could make mine different to all the other rock magazines so I was using techniques that targeted my audience effectively as style changes with demographic and this can determine the success of a product. One of the most important aspects of my product was pictures as most magazines attract the audience this way by featuring a key artist and especially in this genre as rock artist’s appearance is quite important especially in sub-genres like punk-rock and alternative as they involve very dramatic looks often involving dark clothing and serious expressions/demeanour supporting the music the artists make.

I used a LSR and bridge camera to take the shots for my product. I looked at photography on professional magazines to see what types of lighting, angles and mise-en-scene they used and experimented with these as I did my photo-shoots using mixed models and indoor and outdoor locations to show contrast. With my photos I had to make sure the models were placed effectively and used high key lighting to accentuate the make-up and mise-en-scene as can be seen in professional magazines such as Kerrang and Metal Hammer, using a contrast of high and low saturation and brightness. Once I had taken all my photos I proceeded to look at artwork on magazines that was close to mine to see what layout worked best and how to effectively place my other aspects (barcode, banner, and masthead ect.) this gave me inspiration on the placement for all of my features working around my pictures I had taken.

Planning was my first process during my production. To make sure my product met the standards of professional music magazines owned by big organisations and publishing houses such as Bauer. I first researched the rock genre in depth placing key dates on a timeline with key artists featuring in that decade, I also looked at different sub-genres linked to rock and collated a sample of front covers, DPS’s and contents pages from different brands including Kerrang, Metal Hammer, Mojo and Classic Rock which are all popular and take different design approached because of their target audiences then went on to analyse key features and conventions that I had to include in my magazine and started to brainstorm and sketch my initial ideas based on Kerrang which is where I had taken most of my inspiration due to the similarity in artists and the audience. I then had to decide what mise-en-scene I was going to use and my model for the first product of my magazine (the front cover) and decided to go for a young White model as through my research the genre is male dominated and decided to subvert from this stereotype whilst also supporting my hopes of attracting a male audience (15-25). Once I had decided on my model I scheduled a time we could both take pictures and I could get her prepped for the photo-shoot, also considering the location and background making it suitable for my cover. I then used a bridge and SLR camera to experiment with angles, lighting and expressions/poses to try and get a range of images to filter through when I had time to after the shoot. I then saved them on my USB and carefully looked over them taking into consideration the look I wanted to express, once I had decided which image to use I started to edit the image on Photoshop playing around with the software and the various techniques. I decided the best way to edit this was using high key lighting to accentuate the dark mise-en-scene and make-up and high saturation to achieve such a stark contrast between the pale model.

Referring back to my research I started looking at suitable features including; the masthead, subtitles, banners and buttons and other informative aspects which I wanted to include as well as the colour scheme and fonts that I could use which I researched using professional magazines as templates and websites like 1001fonts to explore a range of fonts that would work better for my product. As my peers are part of my target audience I also did a small survey on the conventions and features they thought would be most effective to use and decided to implement these into my product ideas as well as experiment with conventions that subvert to typical features of music magazines. As I had limited access to Photoshop I used PowerPoint to draft out my layout and design elements I wanted to include to transfer to Photoshop when I had access to it. I used the same process for my front cover, DPS, and contents to make them as realistic and suitable for my audience in relation to professional products.

Technologies used;

I used a SLR and bridge camera which I was quite inexperienced with which is why I took lots of practice shots to get used to the handling of the camera and different functions of all the buttons as you can only learn by trying something. However I got used to it fairly quickly and learnt through the help of my peers and used a few different settings to achieve my look which included manual with flash as this created the contrast and added to brightness of the image which I needed for my design and how I wanted to showcase my genre through high key lighting whilst still getting a good angle and focus. I decided to use a selection of models and locations both indoor and outdoor to achieve so that it was not one dimensional and catered to a wider demographic of mixed gender/age/ethnic backgrounds ect. Although beforehand I had knowledge on different camera angles and compositions throughout my production I feel my knowledge has increased and I can use these techniques effectively and confidently to portray different meaning and relate them to a specific genre and idea.

Websites;

I used Google as my main search engine to get an idea of all the different rock magazines that can be accessed today and analysed these to get a better understanding of my genre as well as research the period that rock music took off as a genre and how it has evolved today. I used a range of different font websites to download edgy fonts that were suited for my genre based on my research as fonts like Arial wouldn’t have fitted in well with the genre or the audience it is targeted at which is why I chose to incorporate a range of experimental and bold fonts to increase the appeal to my target audience and to make it obvious hat genre it is as this is important in attracting the audience as it has to follow their idea of the genre and cater to them.

What post productions programmes have you used?

The main production software I used throughout my production was Photoshop as this is used by professional organisations and has a variety of functions which would help make my editing look seamless like the magazines that I had looked at in my task analyses. As I was completely new to Photoshop I did a lot of playing with the different tools before I could start my actual magazine so I knew how to use it and could prevent any big mistakes during my production which could have prevented the outcome of my product. I found this process really difficult at first because I had no experience with the software, and it was sort of overwhelming because there was so many functions however I feel after a couple of weeks my product was beginning to come together because I had grasped the important tools and started building on the design of my product. I also used PowerPoint to do drafts of my elements so that when it came to Photoshop I could just use my draft and start to incorporate it on Photoshop as this saved me time because of my limited knowledge with the software.

How have you used web applications and online forums to showcase your research, planning, final products and evaluation?

I have used a variety of web applications in the process of my production. I used blogger to document and display all of the steps that I took to get to my final products. I also used this to directly upload my images as well as screen-shots of some of the element in my production. Another application I used was YouTube this Is what I used to record my interview survey with a few of my peers to see what their expectations were for my product and give me design ideas, I did this rather than a written one as I wanted to experiment with a different application and this was also easier to reference and upload to my blog so I could refer back to it easily. I used slideshare to show my rock timeline and initial ideas for my contents and DPS as this was a fairly straight forward application to use and would add another dimension to my blog rather than keeping it all uploaded straight to my blog. Some other applications i also used were prezi, powtoon and emaze to show a diverse understanding of different presentational devices by incorporating them into my production.