Monday, 9 March 2015
Evaluation - Technologies
In order
to create my media products, I needed to uses a variety of techniques and a
range of technology. This was used to enhance the visuals of the magazine, as
well as making it have the cutting edge of a slick design format. Not only was
different technology and equipment used for creating the products, but also for
the research and planning, using web-based software to present my research in a
concise and professional manner.
I used
the college PC as my workstation. The PC was used to upload and download images
(Barcode), use new software, research and many more uses. This PC’s the focal
point of my media coursework and is pivotal to his unit.
First of
all, I was introduced to an online site called Blogger. Blogger was very
important for the presentation and documentation of my research. Owned by
Google, Blogger offers an interface for people to post their findings upon a
blog for others to see. For my media coursework, I had to add various items to
my blog as the coursework progressed throughout the year. I found Blogger to be
a very easy and understandable format to present information and images. I've also acquired skills to embed links to other software’s such as Prezi as a
.html format to upload them to my blog in the software’s style. Adding tags to
different blog posts can almost add a contents-esque structure. This adds ease
of access to my blog posts, going by the section of work, rather than the post
date. Blogger has become easier to understand throughout the coursework phase
and has become an easy, presentable format of displaying my media research.
FlipSnack
is a web-based presentation software used for several of my blog posts. It
offers an alternative viewing perspective of information and adds variety and
colour to the research, as opposed to plain, concrete word documents. FlipSnack
was first introduced during my research and planning phase with my Textual
Analysis on existing media products. The concept was easy to understand and
learning to embed the codes has become more natural throughout the course. The
word documents needs to be saved as a PDF file before being uploaded into
FlipSnack. FlipSnack offers a flip-book animation, scrolling through images on
one side, with accompanying information and research on the other. Personally, the
FlipSnack software is user-friendly and adds a whole new element of variety to
my blog. I went on to use this programme for two other blog posts, Moodboard
Analysis and my Original Images Photobook. Overall, it’s safe to say FlipSnack
is a trust-worthy, reliable web-based software to use. FlipSnack welcomed me to
neat presentation and a way of displaying information in a slick, stylish and
modern way.
Prezi is
another web-based presentation software used for my blog post. In particular,
it was used for B: Evaluation: Forms and Conventions. Rather than a word
document or PDF file listing the magazine etiquette I used with perhaps a few
images, the Prezi software added a suave concept to standard information. It’s
smooth flowing transition between different frames displays information in a
vibrant manner. Through my experience of Prezi, I found it the hardest software
to use and understand. The placement of frames, the transition and the web
links can be incredibly complicated to start from scratch. Luckily, Prezi offer
templates to give a helping hand for the presentation – which is exactly what I
did. I used the mobile/tablet images template, as it is appropriate reflecting
the technologies I have use in the process of creating my product. It can also
link to the younger aspect of my target audience and the potential to display
my product through digital versions as well as social media interaction. A
disadvantage of using Prezi is it’s reliability. I've found that on the College Network, Prezi has crashed several times and is very unreliable. Once embedded
into my blog, the Prezi format adds professionalism and shows my understanding
of new technologies. I've adapted to being introduced to this programme and
have found it challenging at first, yet come to grips with the transitions and
criteria as I progressed through my evaluation on forms and conventions.
The main
fundamental point and the software used to create, edit and improve my three
media products is Adobe Photoshop. I’ve had previous experience of a similar
graphic manipulation software of Serif Photoplus X2 during my Media Studies
course at GCSE level, however, its use was very limited. To say I was, comfortable
with Photoshop straight away is an understatement. I found the software
difficult to adapt to, with many tools complicating my intended purpose. I used
Photoshop for my preliminary task magazine “College Life”. Looking back on the
magazine, it looked very un-professional, incorrect use of colours and fonts
and the image seemed stretched. This was due to me only just coming-to-terms
with the Photoshop software. I began to improve rapidly with the software, by
creating four moodboard’s, the audience and the advertiser’s moodboard looking
the most impressive. Several tools I used for these Photoshop software is altering
the colour saturation. This emboldened, or dimmed images to make other looks
prominent. It adds different dimensions to the moodboard and I believe at this
point I fully understood the know-how of Adobe Photoshop. There are many advantages
of Photoshop including the wider variety of tools to use and array of items you
can alter to make more apt for the target audience. With the tools being so
vast, I physically, couldn’t use them all, perhaps the only flaw of Photoshop’s
design (and it’s not really that bad!). Photoshop was the source of my three
media products, my front cover, my contents page and my feature article. The
colour abstractor tool was incredibly useful in creating my pull quotes
(feature article). The magazines house style was of a black, white and red
colour scheme. The red used for the pull quotes was taken from the exact colour
of my Jim Deacon Electric Cherry Stratocaster Guitar, which was used as a prop
for my front cover, contents and feature article to symbolise the rock genre.
This exact colour of the colour was then put into text for contents numbering
and the pull quotes, adding consistency to the magazines style. Photoshop is a complex
software to learn and adjust to, yet is endless use of tools and capabilities
proved to be a vital part of my products creation, indeed.
Another
piece of vital equipment used was my personal camera. Rather than booking in
for a camera from the college’s media department, I opted for my own camera,
with the better graphics and image stabilisation to help shoot a better image
for my products. The camera used was a Canon Powershot SX600 HS. I've had
previous experience of this camera so was very easy to understand and use. Once image were taken, they were transferred to the college system to be placed in
Photoshop and the Original Images FlipSnack presentation.
Accompanying
my camera was my camera tripod. This gave me direct and accurate height to
shoot the image, as well as maintaining its position to obtain the highest
quality image.
My
electric guitar and my guitar amplifier was also included in my magazine. These
were used as props to convey the rock music scene and to symbolise the rock
genre and rock culture.
Overall,
I used a wide variety of software, technology and props for my media
coursework. They all contributed into the creation of my media products and was
used to display my research and hard work in a stylish manner.
Evaluation - Institutions
Every magazine has a publisher. Whether it be privately owned, or a worldwide institutions such as Bauer. Often, the institutions who choose to publish the magazine need to fully understand the magazines intentions, its market research and of course it’s target audience. Magazines such as Kerrang! And NME are owned by large institutions like IPC-Media (now named Time Inc.) and Bauer Media Group. With these institutions, the magazines they publish all have different genre’s, style and interest group with specific target audience tailored to each magazine. There is also private publishing in where there company only publishes that magazine as part of the magazine brand name, such as Clash magazine. These can be more successful than magazines owned by large institutions as they have a certain niche audience and essentially, the magazine is made for “them”, not for the general public.
As a result, my magazine or media product, Blue Ark, would be privately published. The audience is already vast regarding rock music magazines, with NME, Q, Mojo, Kerrang! And Classic Rock all meeting the criteria of specific rock audiences and sub-cultures. My magazine, appreciates the music, rock as a whole genre, welcoming all sub-genres and branches off the rock empire. As my target audience is for all age groups and rock fans, the idea of being privately owned adds more of a community and sense of unison between the audience/reader and the magazine.
In terms of how the product is going to be presented in the media and how it’s going to be marketed, it will potentially have online capabilities such as digital and tablet versions. Despite the music often being “classic”, it’s an all-purpose rock magazine. Also, it is set at an all-range audience, therefore identifying a possibility for a younger branch of the audience, the tablet version appeals to the younger age range, whereas the print version (hard copy) would appeal to a more older and traditional range. The publishers not only have an impact of marketing and sales, however where you sell it and promote the product can affect its popularity and appeal to the audience.
Shops such as HMV (His Masters Voice) and generic music shops would be appropriate to sell the hard-copy of the magazine. This selling links to the fundamental roots of music, and that this magazine is aimed at an audience who deeply loves rock music, not ones that follow cultural trends and aspired celebrity status of mainstream music magazines. This magazine is for the music itself, the sound, not the fame.
Honestly, it’s hard to pinpoint whether this media product would be a success. With technology ever evolving into bigger and better things, the awe and appeal of print media may significantly decline. Creating online digital versions and social media pages may be a temporary fix to the issue. Nowadays, it is difficult to get hype over a magazine. Institutions and publishers often decline great music ideas and what’s not to say this one may do to. Personally, I believe it’s a great idea, broadcasting the rock community a magazine for everyone. However, whether it would be successful is a different story. NME and Kerrang! Are magazines so well established in the music world that it’s extremely difficult to make space for a ‘new’ magazine. The community has become accustomed to these two giants of the magazine world. Private publishing can create a niche audience, away from the public eye. I believe the ideas and messages this product conveys is worthy of being incredibly successful, however with a large market for multiple music magazines, especially the rock genre with NME and Kerrang, it would be very difficult, to say the least, to become a successful media product.
Sunday, 8 March 2015
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