Evaluation Draft: Task 7

7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Since my preliminary task, I have enhanced my ability to use different software and technologies, as well as understanding the certain conventions and expectations of exisiting products and what makes a magazine appealing to an audience. Before completing this project, my skills on Photoshop were very limited and basic. However, since my preliminary work, I have become accustomed to how it works and the best way to use this to my advantage. I have learnt to use tools such as the 'magic wand' to erase the background from an image, as well as the 'lasso' tool, which meant that I could cut around an image almost perfectly. As you can see from my preliminary work, I did not know how to do this, and so the background is grey because that was the background of the image. I had to stretch the photo to fit the entire page, which was especially a problem when creating my contents page, and so ended up distorting the image just to fill the background.

When the time came to create my draft magazine, I still hadn't understood how to cut around an image with the lasso tool, although this didn't necessarily affect what I wanted to do much as it had with my preliminary, as I chose to keep the arty background within the image of my artist. I resized this and decided to use a plain white background to place the text over.

 

However, my final idea required a lot of cutting around several images, as I wanted my magazine to look particularly handmade in the style of a punk fanzine. In the transition from my draft to my final piece, I practiced cutting images out using the lasso tool and had also used the magic wand tool during the process of my draft cover, which enabled me to change the colour of the background behind my image, as it deleted the fill of the photograph.

In preparation for my final magazine, I spent a lot of time on Photoshop editing photos separately. This way I could decide how best to present my models and how they would fit on the page before creating the actual product. As I wanted all of my images to be separate, despite having taken my photographs of the band together, I had to look at each photograph and decide which image of each model was best and if I was able to cut it out from the images I had to work with. In the bottom left screen shot, I used only two images, and cut out the model on the right from the photo and chose another in which he had used better poses.
In the bottom right screen shot, however, I decided to change the image of the two models together because I didn't feel like they were right, and so I cut out two separate images this time and positioned them accordingly. I place the female model in the middle and slightly in front of the male band members, so as to create a natural look about the new image I had created. I played around with several different effects until I  was happy with the way the images looked, and then saved them as one image.

 

This made the process of adding them to a separate document in which I was creating my contents page a lot easier (image below).



During the early stages of the project, I had never come across a punk fanzine in my life, and so my research and planning was vital in creating my final product. To being with, I was only aware of mainstream magazines such as NME, Q, Rolling Stone, Kerrang! etc. and so I thought my ideas were going to be limited. Having scowered the internet for other types of magazines, however, I came across some less well known magazines such as Raygun and developed my ideas from there, as I liked the style of this.

Having come across Sniffin' Glue, however, I decided to change my ideas again, and as my draft magazine had not ended up as I wanted it, I decided to completely push the boundaries and abandon all conventions of traditional magazines. The language register used in my draft articles and my preliminary work was very wishy-washy, and didn't really fit a particular genre. However, from the jump to my final piece, I amended this and began writing in a very particular way, including controversial headlines such as 'NO - 'hip' groups' and not shying away from taboo and slang, so as to conform to the punk style. From Sniffin' Glue, I found fanzines such as Sunday Mirra, Ripped & Torn and British Underground. I liked that these zines were handmade and looked messy, and so I adopted this style, but made my magazine look slightly more professional, as I continued to use Photoshop to create this image. As I was unaware of how to find fonts which looked similar to a 'drawn on' style, one of my teachers recommended I use the Bamboo Pen tablet, which would enable me to use the pen tool on Photoshop and draw onto the page digitally.

 

During my preliminary work, I did not focus on the mise-en-scene when taking photographs, as I was unexperienced within this field and did not know how best to go about taking photos. I used the school studio and one of my friends and quickly took a few photos to work with. However, during the drafting process of my magazine, I began to explore certain ideas and decided to take photos in a range of places, having thought long and hard about who I was going to take photos of. I took a more considerable amount of photos for my draft magazine than I did for the preliminary task, so that I had a range to choose from with various poses and costume choices.



 When it came to my final piece, I set up the AV studio to compliment my models, chose what I wanted them to wear, and photographed them in front of the plain backdrop knowing exactly how I wanted them to look. I abandoned the idea of taking photos outside because of the weather and because it would make editing a lot easier if the models were in front of a white background.



Throughtout the production of my product, I feel that I have gradually progressed since my preliminary work and my draft magazine, and that my final magazine is much more effective and professional. The precision of my editing is of a much higher standard than my previous work, and I definitely feel like I have improved throughout the project.

Evaluation Draft: Task 6

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

Computer/laptop:
I used the computers provided by the school to work on my practical work, as they had the softwear I needed to be able to construct my magazine, ie. Adobe Photoshop. These computers were available during lesson time, break time, lunch time and even after school. I used my laptop at home when completing most of the research and planning work, as all I needed to do this was the Internet and Blogger, which are of course, free. I had to carry out the research and planning work before I was able to create my final magazine, otherwise I wouldn't have known how to make a good piece.

Adobe Photoshop:
I used this program to construct my magazine, as it offered the most professional and efficient way of doing so. As it is easy to use, I was soon able to place images, edit text and add a number of effects to my work.
Although Photoshop was used more predominantly after the research and planning was carried out, we used the program at the start of the year and continuously throughout the course, so as to get used to how it worked and to improve our skills before it came to create our final piece.

Camera:
To take photographs of my models for my feature artist, I used my own camera and also the school's. I took photos in my own time and outside of school to begin with, and so used my own camera. However, I didn't think that these photos were to the best of my ability, and so I decided to use the school's camera and AV studio instead, as this provided me with a higher quality camera, a stand which I could place it on, a white screen which I could use as a plain backdrop, shelter from the weather conditions outside, and also access to the school's lighting, all of which I could tailor to my specific use. I organised photoshoots with my models in my own time once again, but was granted permission to do this in the school's studio.

Lighting/equipment:
The lighting provided by the school was easy to work with and had a massive effect on the quality of my images. Two separate standing lights were provided, which could be altered in height, angle and position, therefore casting the best possible lighting against the plain backdrop.

Scribd:
I used this publishing website in order to embed documents which were of great length onto my blog. For example, my article, which was close to 1,000 words, took up less space on my blog having uploaded it to Scribd and then embedding the document separately.

Flickr:
I used Flickr to upload the photos I had taken of my models, in order to organise them and to share them on my blog using the 'slideshow' option. This meant that all 200 or so photographs I had taken could be viewed in one post, rather than taking up a tremendous amount of room.

Animoto:
I used Animoto when creating and delivering my pitch to the class. This was an effective way of presenting my ideas as it provided good visual elements and even allowed me to add a piece of backing music to fully explain the style of magazine I wanted to create.

Facebook/Twitter:
I used both of these social networking sites to make people aware of my draft magazine so as to receive some feedback in order to improve my exisiting work. I posed photographs from the photoshoots I had organised so as to create a hype surrounding my magazine work and make people interested in giving feedback at a later date, as well as posting links to my blog posts and writing statuses and tweets promoting my work to my followers.

Internet:
The Internet was as vital as Photoshop whilst doing this product, as it provided me with access to exisitng products and enabled me to research into the style of magazine I wanted to achieve. I found examples of magazine covers, contents pages and double page spreads, of which I analysed and developed ideas from, as well as researching into artists and publishers.

Microsoft Word:
I used this program when writing my article, as it provided me with a word count, enabling me to track my progress. I also used this program to minimise errors, look up synonyms and to check my spelling, so as to make my article seem more literate and professional.

Evaluation Draft: Task 5

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

My target audience consisted of both genders aged 16-29. I think that my magazine appeals to these ages because it suggests a sense of recklessness, which is popular with among youth, but will feature some older bands as well as current ones, hense the age ranging all the way up to 29 rather than 21 or 25 etc. The bands featuring in my magazine may have been listened to people that are now of slightly older ages, but I cannot see people over the age of 30 being as interested in magazines as younger adults.
The black and white colour scheme I have chosen to stick to makes my magazine attractive to both genders, as no colours included are stereotypically gender specific, such as pink. As well as this, the feature band have both male and female members, thus attracting a wider audience.
Both British, European and American bands are featured in my magazine, and despite the fact that some of these will not be local to the audience, my magazine is about the importance of the limited good music still out there in the world, and so this will not matter to my audience. I have chosen to include bands which are current and bands which are long gone, because good music is good music, despite its time period, and the people I have targetted my magazine at will understand this and will appreciate those that started the punk movement as well as those who are keeping it going.
With regards to the front cover, the fact that I have included the tagline 'for punks and outcasts' means that a certain audience is targetted directly, and so will appeal to those who class themselves among this group, although putting others off (though this is the same for all magazines and cannot be prevented). The repetition of the word 'punk' throughout will reinforce this point and encourage the reader to turn the pages and purchase my magazine.
The language style I have used, particularly on the double page spread, is neither illiterate nor particularly literate, in that coloquialisms such as 'wanna' and taboo is included. However, some sentences are phrased with much care and thought, so as to emphasise the importance of what is being said, but also allowing a sense of freedom at the same time; for example, 'Their record, ‘Army of Three' is a breath of fresh air, liberating yet incredibly simple, as all good punk music should be - a work of pure and utter genius!' The use of taboo language will attract a certain audience but may put others off, as my magazine is aimed at those who are fed up of the mainstream and want something new that pushes the barriers - once again, this cannot be prevented, and will not put my target audience off.
The overall scruffy look of my magazine is what will attract my target audience at first glance, however, and is what will entice the reader to turn over the page and purchase the magazine. I have tried to keep this theme running throughout, and so added small touches like the image of a paper clip and the purposefully spilt ink so as to convey the handmade, unconventional look I was going for. 

 

Evaluation Draft: Task 4

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?




Jack is 23 years old, a keen photographer, and almost exclusively wears only black. He hates when people confuse his punk style with that of 14 year old emos, and is reluctant to be associated with anything 'mainstream'. All of his favourite band members are dead, his no. 1 role-model being Johnny Ramone. He would not be caught dead listening to anything classed as 'pop', other than his guilty pleasures blink-182 and Fall Out Boy (although this is allowed as 'punk' is also carried in the classification of this genre). He attends almost every gig at Leicester's grunge venue 'The Shed', no matter who happens to be playing - the least well known the better (he is open-minded and accepting of all music, despite being wary of mainstream tribes.) He runs a website where he posts his photos from the gigs he attends, and is paid a small amount by the bands. He also occasionally writes articles about their performances. As this isn't enough to tide him over, however, until his rise to fame, he works part time at the local car garage. He plays guitar in his spare time, and most of his income is spent on hair dye, studded belts and spiked boots. His favourite shops are 'Insanity', 'The Very Bizzare' and 'Voodoo'. He is also attending Rebellion festival this year and is honoured to have been asked to photograph The Bronx's set.

I think Jack would be interested in reading my magazine as he is interested in the genre of 'punk rock' music I have chosen to base my product around and is a prime example of the type of youth culture I am targetting. He is attending a punk festival and so would love the feature in my magazine targetted at this, and all of his favourite bands appear on the cover, which would persuade him into purchasing 'Jaded'. The phrases 'NO - 'hip' groups', 'NO - 'trendy' poses' and 'NO - 'fashion' guide' which also appear on the front cover would particularly attract him to my magazine as he has expressed his disgust of the 'mainstream' and would love the lack of 'popular' content.

Evaluation Draft: Task 3

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As my magazine is not of a conventional style and does not fit in with the mainstream market, I would prefer to have my magazine printed by a smaller company such as Ex Why Zed. Despite the fact that they publish zines, they are of a higher standard than the paper copies made from scratch in the 80s, and so this would give my magazine the quality lacking in old punk fanzines, as well as slight publicity (as they distribute their best work on their website: http://www.exwhyzed.co.uk/zines.html) but without costing too much and still keeping a certain reserve and 'cult' style to it, as the mainstream market would not be interested in this type of magazine, as I have previously said.
The company express wishes of content 'the more creative the better', and promise 'the top illustration, writing and photographic talent in the country', which seems to suit my style idea perfectly and offers great prestige. They are a hardworking company and my magazine would be sure to prosper with this publisher - 'Cambridge printers Ex Why Zed have a forward thinking attitude to print and combined with a "Can Do" attitude we will find a solution to the tightest deadline or the most bespoke request.' They are 'large enough to offer huge savings but small enough to give your job individual attention', which is perfect for 'Jaded' mag.

Products:

Popshot Magazine

Ex Why Zed says: 'Popshot Magazine. A life affirmingly good celebration of poetry and illustration. Poetry, it's not just for funeral readings. We were inspired by this new zine from the first tentative email and were happy to advise on stocks, sizes and the best way to get it on the shelves of Borders (RIP) and other nationwide stockists.'

Awesome Zombie Ants

 

Ex Why Zed says: 'Record sleeves. You'll remember them? They used to have them a while back. You put big, plastic mp3s in them. Records they used to call them. We printed a set of record sleeves for the midlands rock band. After diecutting the sleeves down to size, edges were glued, sealed on two edge and assembled to form the striking covers.'

Both products have been printed exceedingly well by Ex Why Zed and are very graphic in their designs. They have a quirky and slightly dark nature to them, and so my magazine would not be out of place among this publisher. 

Evaluation Draft: Task 2

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• Young Alts
• Metalheads
• Scene Kids
• Both heavily interested in the internet, although Scene Kids & Metalheads are also heavily interested in TV and magazines, whilst Young Alts are less interested in the former as they are newspapers, radio and cinema
• Mainly targeted at people interested in rock music and 80s punk culture
• The written style of my magazine, as well as the graphology, represents these groups in that it conveys an irreverent nature and uses taboo, colloquialisms and slang, as well as controversial topic and language choices

Artist comparison

The Simple Things (my artist) / Siouxsie & The Banshees (80s punk band)

 

Similarities:

• Both taken outside
• Same number of band members
• One female & two male
• Instruments included
• Passive poses

Differences:

• Clothing is plain in the Banshees image but quite patterned in my image
• Female of The Simple Things is looking directly at the camera and has been edited into the image (stands out at the front)
 

The Simple Things (my artist) / The Clash (70s/80s punk band)

 

Similarities:

• Both black and white images
• Strong, engaging poses
• Same texture applied to image (threshold effect)
• Both plain backrounds

Differences:

• No instruments used in Clash image
• Short spikey hair as opposed to long curly hair
• All male / two male & one female
• Member of The Clash wearing a white shirt and tie - more neat and tidy 

Although my artists' clothing are significantly scruffier than that of these 80s bands, they do match up to more current punk rock bands I have also featured in my magazine, such as:

blink-182;
 

Sum 41;
 

 and Green Day

Evaluation Draft: Task 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)

The genre of music I decided on was 'punk rock', and so I made my cover, contents page and double page spread look messy by scribbling words and making the images look like they had been cut out and stuck on, so as to get the point across that punk is about doing what you want and how you want to do it, and that it doesn't have to be perfect. By doing this, I tried to convey the cheap style of an 80s punk fanzine, although the fact that I used Photoshop and made it into a full blown magazine suggests that my creation would convey a slightly higher prestige than previous works sold for 20-30p, whilst still attracting those who are familiar with punk fanzines and like what they stand for.
The title of my magazine was inspired by Green Day's song 'Jaded' from the punk rock album 'American Idiot', as this band fit the chosen genre I wanted to focus on; the meaning of the word being 'dulled or satiated/worn out or wearied', also indicating to my target audience what kind of attitude my magazine would have. This fits in with the 'worn out' and scruffy style I have created, whilst making the point that my magazine would be refreshing to an audience who felt like this. I liked this name because it was short and catchy whilst conveying a kind of message summing up the theme of my magazine. I researched into the style of punk fanzines from the 80s as I was interested in punk music but unaware of how to create a magazine which fulfilled this style, and found some amazing zines such as 'Ripped & Torn' and 'Chainsaw' which I have based my ideas on, and I think that my title certainly conforms to this style. When compared to current magazines, however, I think the title of my magazine challenges conventions, mainly, as most 'successful' and mainstream magazines fall under the genre of pop or indie music, and so have titles such as 'NME', 'Q', 'Vibe', 'Smash Hits', etc.

The graphology of my magazine is also similar to those of 80s punk fanzines, particularly Sniffin' Glue with regards to the cover, in that I have drawn squiggly boxes and written headlines almost everywhere - this challenges conventions of traditional and current magazines, once again, as I ignored the golden rule concept and abandoned the rule of three, as my magazine was supposed to convey a 'punk' theme, which connotes that things can be done however you want them to.
The costumes I asked my models to wear were not specifically planned, in effect, as I told them to dress 'punk' and then came in their ordinary, every day clothes, as the people I asked already conveyed the kind of 'unkempt' and 'ratty' style I was going for, and so came to photoshoots dressed in scruffy jeans and hoodies, of both bright and dark colours, so as to match the punk look. I issued them to bring instruments, as my magazine was strictly going to feature bands, and so the instruments were as vital to the images as the models were.
First of all, I decided to take pictures in front of a graffitied wall, as I thought this would portray the certain 'hardcore' rock image I was going for, however when it came to editing, these images were hard to cut around, and due to it being winter, the weather was not always ideal to work with, and so I decided to use the AV studio for my next few photoshoots, and placed my models in front of a plain backdrop and used proper lighting instead. The fanzines I had looked at later on were very plain anyway (see image below), and so I knew this would work and decided to use this in my own product, although two of the cover images are from my first shoot and do contain a slight glimpse of the outdoor backdrop, which makes the cover seem a little more thought out than the rest of my magazine.

I decided to use the Bamboo Pen tablet when constructing my piece, so as to convey the handmade punk style fanzines once again, as the people creating these pieces in the 80s would have written on their zines by hand or used a cut and stick method and taken words or letters from other magazines to create something new, rather than using a computer/keyboard and different fonts to type headlines etc. Fanzines such as Sniffin' Glue seemed to type articles out, however, using a typewriter, so as to conform to a newspaper style, and so I developed this idea by typing my article in a typewriter font I had found on dafont.com.
My artists are represented as bold and 'hard looking', as I edited the photos I took and made them very dark, and some of the poses used are very strong. However, some of the poses used are that of a more 'fun' vibe, linking into the meaning behind punk, 'We just wanna do what we want'.
The colour scheme I used was primarily black and white, which is conventional of punk fanzines, although maybe challenges exisiting products. I added a green tint to the images on the front cover, however, to make it look grungey, so as to attract the eye and appeal more to my target audience. Although my magazine is meant to be of a higher prestige than that of a fanzine, the idea was to make the inside pages black and white, so as to convey the idea that colour ink was too expensive for the rest of the magazine, or that colour just didn't matter once the reader was hooked, and so things were done in a more dishevelled way inside, once the audience had been attracted to the front cover.

Final Magazine

Effects added to each page using iPad app:

Double Page Spread

 

I didn't have a set design or layout in mind for my double page spread, but I knew I wanted to carry on using the typewriter font, as the creators of punk fanzines in the 80's would have used a typewriter rather than a computer and a keyboard to type out articles as these were cheaper. I split the article into two halves and placed them in separate text boxes. I positioned them spontaneously on the page to begin with, but I knew they shouldn't be positioned in a conventional collumn layout, and so left them where they were as I thought it worked well - I didn't want them on the same level as each other, either, as this would look to cleanly done. I picked out a quote for the title of the article and drew it on using the Bamboo Pen table, which is running across the top of both of the pages. In a separate document, I then cut out the images, cropping three photos so that each model was in a layer of their own. I added the 'threshold' effect to each of these, once again, but saved them as three images this time so I could move them around the pages. I positioned them in the centre to fill the gaps in between the two text boxes, and added some rectangular shapes above and below which I filled in black, intended to place text over the top. I then thought that it looked a bit too pristine, and so I used the Bamboo Pen tablet to draw something like ink splatters. Finally, I added page numbers to the bottom, and pulled out some more quotes from the article and placed them over the black shapes.

Changes to Contents

These images were taken from two separate photos which I cut around and edited together. I positioned the each accordingly and then drew around the edges using the Bamboo Pen tablet so as to hide any messy bits. I changed it to black and white, and then played around with the effects until it gradually became a kid of sepia colour.

Whilst altering my contents page, my first thought was to add some colour to the inside of my magazine and to make it brighter, as the cover had included a green tinge to it, and so I thought about placing a few coloured blocks behind the images I had cut out. However, I couldn't make this work, and the examples I had seen didn't seem to include much colour anyway. I added some text to the box, using an exisiting font this time, and drew more text at the bottom.

After looking at the images I had chosen to work with, I realised that I had better photos I could use. I used the same image of Richard (the model on the right), because I felt that his pose was great and he was directly focused on the camera. However, the image of Bill (the model on the left) wasn't of the same quality, as his hair was obscuring his face from the camera, and so I changed this to a photo which looked more professional. The image of Ella (the model in the centre) was good in terms of facial expression, but because her body was obsured by the guitar neck in the same photo and her arm was cut off slightly, I had to also change this. I cut out each image and positioned them so they looked like one image by overlapping them behind or in front of each other, and then played around with the use of effects. I changed it to black and white but thought it was too boring to leave it as just that, so I applied the 'threshold' effect which made it darker and blended certain features together, making the image look drawn on.

I saved the images as one photo and placed it on the page like so, drawing a box around it which I was going to fill in somehow. I drew over the font in the other box with the Bamboo Pen tablet, so as to keep in with the handmade feel of the magazine, but to try and write in the style of the font I had found and liked to create a variation, and filled it in with a grey colour after resizing and positioning the headline. I also found a typewriter font to use for the text underneath the image, and I added more to the bottom of the page.

This is a print screen of my final contents page.
I decided to get rid of the box around the image so it looked like the images were just cut out and stuck on. I changed the opacity of the colour fill in the paper clipped text box so it didn't look like a block colour and drew a shadow around the edge, and I also changed the fill of the box above so that it varied from those at the bottom and wasn't so dark. I changed the font of the word 'contents' to the typewriter font I found, and I also used this for the phrase 'Exclusive in Jaded' and the text below the image, bar the '2013's answer to the bible...honest' part. Finally, I drew a few more headlines at the bottom of the page to fill in each section.

Final Changes to Cover

 

As I liked the way my cover looked for the most part, I only made a few small changes to it. I felt that it was too blank and there were too many gaps around the edges, and so I added some text down the sides to fully capture the chaotic style of the hand-made punk fanzine I was going for.

Final Photoshoot: Test Shots #3

 

I organised to have one final photoshoot with my three models, so as to have a better range of photos to choose from when creating my final contents and double page spread, and to experiment with the images on the front cover. I took a considerable amount of photos this time, as I knew it would be the last chance I would get to experiment with my models. I had music from my chosen genre playing in the background as I was taking these shots, so as to create the effect I wanted my models to portray, and some of these images are extremely silly with regards to facial expressions and poses as a result of this, but that was exactly the point. I let the models express the vibe they were feeling from the music through their poses, but I organised  them when they did not convey the style or hold the positions I wanted them to. I will crop the images so that each 'band member' is a separate image, and so if one model looks better in an image than another, this will essentially not matter. I shot the photos in the school studio again, as I felt that a plain background and professional lighting would make editing a lot simpler when trying to create the style of cut and paste images, as opposed to the outdoor shots I took for my first draft.

Some of my favourites are:

Draft Contents Progress

 

Using Photoshop, I have started to create my contents page. I have set out the basic layout and began to add the text, once again using the Bamboo pen tablet.