Note to moderator

Dear moderator,

This is my AS Media blog. I have tried to present my work clearly and to the best of my ability.

I have research 23 posts, 32 planning and draft posts, and the rest are evaluation posts. In total I have 64 posts.

Evaluation Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Forms:

• Social media networks- Facebook/Twitter
• Magazine website
• Printed copy
• Mobile (downloadable)

I have used this range of forms for my magazine as it opens up a wider range of ways that my target audience can read and find out more about my magazine, as the internet and social networks are a popular part of young peoples lives. By using a wider range of forms it could attract a bigger audience that are interested in the genre of my magazine which is indie. I could introduce people to the magazine that may not of heard of it before and gives people the opportunity to read the magazine without going out to buy it. 

Conventions:

• Models looking into the camera: I have done this so that the magazine looks more professional and it gives a direct address to the reader/target audience
• Models clothes/make-up: I have got my models to wear clothes that link to the indie genre as it will be whats links to my target audience 
• Masthead on the front cover: My masthead is at the in the center at the top of the page, this makes it stand out as the first thing the audience will look for is the name of the magazine. The masthead 'indigo' also links to the genre. 
• Colours: The colours that I've used all link to the genre of the magazine and will attract the target audience.
• Pugs: I have used on my front cover the use of a bar code, issue, date & price which is something you find on any magazine so would be a convention for any type of genre.

Developed conventions:

• Banner at top and bottom of front cover: I chose to do this as I thought that it would draw in my target audience more to the exclusive things in the magazine and make them stand out more. 
• Images surrounding the columns on the contents page: I decided that I wanted to put all my images for the contents page on the outside of the pages and have two main columns of text to say what is on which page. I did this as I think that it makes the page look more neat and professional; I also think that it doesn't make the page look overcrowded and messy as that wouldn't suit my genre. 
• Number on pictures: I decided that instead of putting the text next to the image I wanted to put the number of the page on the image that links with the text in the column; this again makes the page look a lot less scattered and messy.

Broken conventions

• Cover stories on the front cover: Usually on the front cover, cover stories are around the outside of the page, however I decided that I wanted to put my cover stories in a column down one side of the page and then have my main cover story on the other side with the main image. This was so that my front cover didn't look too overcrowded and have a more neat look as I think that it suits my genre better. 

Evaluation Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Q4&5. Who would be the audience for your media product and how did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

 

This is a Wordle of all the uses of technology I have used throughout putting together and planning my magazine.

This is a screenshot of an example of one of my Prezi's which I used to present some of my research. I found using Prezi a very helpful way of presenting my work, as its something that makes my work look more interesting without just using pictures and text. I had never used this before I started with my magazine or knew how to use it; however after using Prezi more than once to present my work I feel as if I have improved the way I presented my research. I found that using Prezi is similar to a PowerPoint presentation but has a better way of presenting the different text.

Another use of technology I used was Adobe Photoshop. This is also something I had never used before and without it I wouldn't have been able to create my magazine. It allowed me to edit and put together my magazine so it looked professional and I could edit my images to the way I wanted them to be. I was able to use various tools to add detail to my images and make them suit my genre more.

This is a screenshot of one of the Slidely's I created. This enabled me to present images that I found or took in my photoshoots and present them in a more interesting way. I found that it was fairly simple and easy to use and I would definitely use this form of technology to present my images for another piece of work I may do. 

As for the other forms of technology I used to present my work such as Slideshare, Flickr, Poll Daddy etc, I found that overall these forms of technology helped me in making decisions for my magazine, helping me present my research and my finished work, and has taught me how to present my work in a more interesting way.

Evaluation Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progressions from it to the full product?

Since I did my preliminary task, I have advanced and learnt a lot about the technology used in creating and putting together a magazine.
When I first started putting my college magazine together, I had very limited knowledge of what tools to use on Photoshop; since then I have learnt a lot more of what tools to use in my most recent magazine. I have managed to download fonts from the internet, use brush tools on my images and use various shapes to my magazine to make it look professional and appealing to my target audience.
Following on from this, I have learnt a lot more about conventions and how to link my magazine more to my target audience. When I did my preliminary task I had never heard of conventions or what they were, since then I have been able to include this in my recent magazine, including sticking, breaking and adapting them. Some of this could be risky as some people look for certain things in a magazine and don't like to have change; whereas in particular target audiences, it may appeal to them more. The decisions I made in developing and adapting my conventions were to purposely make my magazine more appealing and attract my target audience more, if it was something I found that they liked in my target audience research.
Linking to this, I looked a lot more into what my target audience likes and who my target audience are. With various different types of genres, there are going to be a range of target audiences, so looking more deeply into this was an important factor in creating my music magazine. Whereas for my preliminary task there is only going to be one target audience for a 'college magazine' which will be college students. So I only had to look into what college students would be interested in reading out in that particular magazine. Looking into target audience research helped me a great deal, as I used my findings as guidelines in creating my magazine, as well as making my own decisions to what I think would benefit my own magazine.