Final Post

Evaluation Question 7

When reflecting the two products I created throughout the course I feel it is apparent that I have developed my skills greatly in both the knowledge and use of the software and hardware involved. The improvements include the quality of image, in the school magazine (left) the image is stretched, grainy and badly set out whereas the image from the music magazine (right) has been edited using software such as photoshop allowing me to better the layout of the cover. I have also had more practice time with the camera allowing me to get a better quality of image.

The contents page of my school magazine (left) was set out in a very plain manor with little colour but I still remain impressed with the quality of image for an action shot. The contents from the music magazine (right) has greatly improved. The layout of the contents doesn't look like it is being squashed into the available space unlike the contents from the school magazine, the masthead and contents don't look as basic and follow a more interesting and unusual style. The image is also edited into the page unlike the school magazine where the text was simply added over the image.


When comparing the Prelim product and the Final product you can clearly see that the skills I have developed throughout the course have hugely impacted the quality of the product and allowed me to manufacture a more professional product.

Evaluation Question 6

(iMac)

Throughout the course I have used the Mac to construct the products and the blog through tools such as final cut express, Photoshop and InDesign. The fact that the Macs are designed for purposes such as editing hugely benefited me due to the fact that it would have been much harder to create the products to a high standard without the software included on them.

(Scanner)

When making the final product I used a scanner to tear up a piece of paper as the background for the Free CD offer. I found this very beneficial because I struggled to create the desired effect using photoshop alone.

(PhotoBooth logo)

I used the Photo Booth software for the Mac to record audience research of my magazine. I found the software very easy to use because of its simplistic design and the quality of the recordings was also very good.

(Camera)

The camera I used was a (Canon ...). The camera uses face recognition software which I found very useful because it made sure that the subject of the image was constantly in focus allowing me to capture a better quality image.

(photoshop logo)

When creating the magazine I used Photoshop which I hadn't used before hand. I found the software easy to use and very effective when it came to producing the product itself. The software made it very easy to manufacture and edit the images to the desired specifications.

(InDesign logo)

I used the programme InDesign to set out the pages of my magazine onto A3 sheets of paper ready for print. The programme was very officiant and easy to use due to its simplistic aspects such as the page layout. The paper sizes are available through presets that mean the product can be simply dragged onto the page as a JPEG.

(Final Cut)

The software Final Cut Express for the Mac benefited me greatly as it makes it very easy to edit videos to a professional quality.

(Blogger logo)

I used the website Blogger.com to create posts detailing the process I went through in order to create my magazine.

(Prezi.com logo)

The website Prezi.com benefited me greatly because it allowed me to create a professional and easy to use presentation style slide show.

(Pixton.com logo)

I used the website Pixton.com to create a comic book style series of images that described the distribution process that my magazine would go through.

(DaFont.com logo)

I used the website DaFont.com to download some free font styles that were used in the production of my magazine. I found this a very useful resource as the font styles provided on the Macs didn't suit the magazine I produced.

Evaluation Question 5

The magazine I am comparing mine to is an issue of Q. I have tried to use similar styles to this magazine such as the logo in the top left of the magazines. Instead of using the logo as the name of the magazine like Q has i have incorperated the logo into my title so that the vinyl makes the O at the start of Off Topic. I have tried to use limited text on my front cover so as not to overload the reader. The picture on Q's cover takes up a very large amount of the page showing the dominance of the subject over this issue of the magazine. The image on my cover is possitioned centreal with the text possitioned around it, similar to the one from Q but the amount of white space on my magazine suggests that the image is less dominant in the magazine when compared to Q. The colour scheme

The contents page for my magazine took inspiration from the layout of this issue of Mojo magazines contents page. The contents from Mojo uses multipal images of the subjects of the articles references along side their page numbers. They have also kept a majority of the contents in a column on the right with seperated headings for the different types of content. The image on my contents page is on the left, like the one in Mojo, but I have used a general image rather than a veriety relating for content. The contents column for my magazine is right alligned and set out in sections of content with each of the headings in a different one of the House colours.

The Double Paged Spread from this issue of Mojo separates the image and the article onto their own pages. The point behind this is so that the image will capture the attention of the reader as they flick through the pages and captivates the reader into reading the article. The main body of the article is situated at the bottom of the page in a small font going around a box containing a quote and an image. The title of the article is in a much larger font containing quotes from Mark Almond, the subject of the article, with interesting parts in bold to secure the readers attention. The magazine I have made uses a similar layout to the on from Mojo in the sense that the main image and the article are separated to their own pages. The difference with mine is that i have incorporated a quote on the page with the image to take up some white space. The article in my magazine has the title across the top of the page in the house colours but the body of the article is right aligned and the first two paragraphs are separated by a quote. I have also positioned images related to the article down the left hand side of the page.

This is a video of people commenting on and evaluating the magazine I have made. They were asked to answer a few questions about the magazine such as: What draws your attention to the product? What genre is it and how do you know? Would you purchase the product and why? and How would you improve the product?

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

Final Products

Screenshots

Front Cover Process

I started the production of my magazine with the Masthead

I then moved on to add the image which made it easier to position the sell lines 

I added the sell lines and experimented with font types and colours

I then scanned in a torn up piece of paper and made the offer of a free CD and added a list of artists included on the CD

I created the CD and positioned on the page

Contents Page Process

I started by adding the masthead top the contents page

I then aded the heading contents and experimented with angles and text wrapping then aded the image

I then added the headings and features in a column down the right hand side of the page

Double Paged Spread Process

Article Page

I started by adding the title of the article to the page

I then wrote the article into the page and added a quote

I then added a couple of images down the left hand side to fill white space

Picture Page

I started by adding a quote at the top of the page

I then added in the main image and page number

I then added the Mod target symbol because of its relevance to the subject

Action Plan

In the week beginning with the 7th Feb I am starting the production of my magazine. I have a rough cut deadline of Wednesday 2nd March to work towards. Therefore, I must organize my time as follows;

1. Article Planning - 7th Feb
In this time I will plan and research the article for the double paged spread of my magazine. The topic of the article will be the sub culture Mods.

2. Article First Draft - 2x Lessons
I will hand in the draft of my article and make the changes recommended by the teacher.

3. Photo Shoot - 10th Feb
I will take the models for my magazine to the media studio and take a series of photography for my magazine.

4. Front Cover Layout - 15th Feb
I will make changes suggested from the audience feedback on my magazine and create the layout for the front cover of my magazine.

5. Front Cover Image - 15th Feb
I will choose and edit an image from the photo shoot for my front cover.

6. Contents Layout - 17th Feb
I will make changes suggested from the audience feedback on my magazine and create the layout for the contents page of my magazine.

7. Contents Image - 17th Feb
I will choose and edit an image from the photo shoot for my contents page.

8. DPS Article Page Layout - 18th Feb

I will make changes suggested from the audience feedback on my magazine and create the layout for the the article page of the DPS for my magazine.

9. DPS Article Page Image - 18th Feb

I will choose and edit an image from the photo shoot for my contents page.

10. DPS Image Page Layout - 21st Feb

I will make changes suggested from the audience feedback on my magazine and create the layout for the the main image page of the DPS for my magazine.

11. DPS Main Image - 21st Feb

I will choose and edit an image from the photo shoot for the main image of my DPS.

Article Draft

The MOD revival is a sub culture based on the original MODs from late1950’s early 60’s Britain. The MOD revival came back to Britain in 1978 and only lasted for a relatively shot time although its influence lasted for decades branching out across Europe and later America. The MOD revival post-dated a Teddy boy revival, which the MODS often clashed with. Sub cultures, especially the MODs and the Rockers, held many rivalries. Some of the sub cultures at the time were The Skinheads, The Casuals and Punks but it was the MODs and Rockers that held the greatest and longest rivalries hosting many iconic fights at places such as Brighton beach.

The late 1970’s MOD revival combined musical cultures and elements of the 1970’s pub rock, punk, and new wave music genres with 1960’s Rhythm and blues, African American soul, Jamaican Ska and British beat music to emphasise there unique catalogue of culture. Some of these bands were The Who, Small Faces and The Kinks. The main musical influence for the revival came from Paul Weller and The Jam who adapted a stark MOD look and mixed the energy of punk with 1960’s MOD music.

In the Late 1980’s the MOD revival started to flair yet again. The style was re-modelled again to host elements of rare R&B music and a lot more soul. This music seen dominated venues and clubs such as club MOD in Sheppard’s bush where Tony Class DJ’d soul music and mod revival bands such as The Specials, The Beat, The Selector and The Madness. The MOD style is one that I feel will never truly go out of fashion due to the evidence shown from the Yo-Yo pattern of revivals and is due a big comeback soon.

Font Research

I have been researching fonts that I can use in my magazine as the house font style. I looked through a large amount of different fonts on dafont.com and took screenshots of the best ones and cut them into a paint document where i arranged them into the image bellow. The closest match to the font I designed on my flat plan is "Basic Font" which is the 5th font type down on the left of the image but when in the magazine it looked to basic so i decided to use a combination of Jim Thorpe and Gramophone.

The reason I have chosen the Jim Thorpe and Gramophone fonts is because they both show typical stylings of the Classic rock genre. When using the capital letters on the Jim Thorpe font it is white which allowed me to change the colour.  The O at the start of the magazine title (which is Off Topic) will be replaced by a vinyl record that also has the name across the label in the centre. The font is a good match for the genre because it looks like an older style of text and also looks hand written.

Photography Test Shot

I have taken a few practice images of class mates to gain a general idea of shot types that I can use in my magazine. I will be taking more photographs of people more related to my target audience.

I took this image as a close up of the face of a friend with shallow focus demonstrating that the background has no relevance to the Photo.



This photo was taken of a friend that was passing by between lessons. The costume used in this shot is smart casual making it quite relevant to my target genre.

This shot is from a low angle giving the subjects of the shot a feel of importance. The subjects are all bunched up together showing that they are a close group of friends.

This shot provides a large amount of the surroundings to be seen which gives the viewer a greater idea of where this person lives and his social class. The subject is positioned on screen left showing his importance but the lamppost creates a sense of closed framing, insinuating that the background is of no relevance to the subject.

This shot intentionally provides limited information which allows the audience to speculate and come to their own conclusion of the meanings behind it. The eye is intentionally shot so that his eye line breaks the 4th wall making the audience feel involved in the image.

Photo shoot Plan

One of the places I will be doing a photo shoot is in the studio with a plain white backdrop. I have drawn and annotated a plan of the lighting setup that I will be using in the studio

Photography Research

Recce

Costume Design

I have chosen and drawn these costume designs because its typical of the Mod subculture which is the main focus of my magazine.

In this image I have chosen a smart checkered with straight leg jeans combination which was a popular look within mods who stereotypically were very smartly dressed.

In this image I have drawn the model wearing a Harrington jacket which was adapted in the 1980's as an essential piece of clothing for mod revivalists and also a pair of straight leg jeans.

In this image I have drawn the model wearing a parka jacket which is an essential piece of mod clothing.

People of the mod subculture often wore smart, tailor made suits which is the sort of thing I have drawn on this model