Reflective summary of year 12

In year 12 i produced a front cover, contents page and a two page article of a magazine. I gained photo shop, photography and editing knowledge. I learnt about the different photo angles along with framing. I didn't plan my project very well as i was left with lots of practical work at the end of my project, and in this year will plan it out a lot better.

I am going to develop on my photography and photo shop skills along with learn how to use digital movie cameras, filming and editing.

This year for my media project i will be producing a music video and working part of a team with Sarah Mcgill and Shauni Rogerson.

Evaluation

In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?
My media product is similar to existing products in many ways, but also challenges the conventions of a real media product. Like other magazines such as Q, Pop and Rolling Stone, my product has a bar code, a price range similar to the music magazines I have analysed. My layout is simple and standard like some of the magazines I have looked at with a bar at the bottom with text in. Also the images I have used have been chosen to make the magazine sell. I have used a pose that my target audience will be attracted to as well as the use of bright colours to appeal to my target audience. I have also used colloquial language such as slang and regional accents that relates to my target audience, just like existing products. For my article I have followed conventions by using columns, as well as having pictures in the article. I have also produced a page with just a picture of the artist and a short paragraph on her which is to be just before the article. This is what similar to some magazines. However I have challenged forms and conventions of a real media product as I have put a picture of my artist behind the article. This is not seen often in a music magazine and I like how the picture behind the article draws the reader in to read the writing not just look at the other pictures. I have also used a black and white picture which has connotations of style which will draw the readers in.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My product represents teenage females as a social group as I have included interviews and story’s that females would aspire to have. My product represents teenage females positively and young people are represented by a vibrant fashionable, likeable way, shown in my product. I don’t feel my product would appeal to a male gender as there are gossip columns for females. I don’t feel my product appeals to a certain social group such as Goths as it appeals to people who are more interest pop music. It represents young middle class girls who like vibrant pop music and can afford to buy the music and clothing associated with it.


What kind of media institution might distribute product and why?
I believe there is gap in the market for my product however I don’t think any of the publishers would distribute my product as it is significantly different to all of the products on the market today. I think the use of technology in my product challenges the products already on the market, for example the background image used behind text on my article page, and unfortunately because this is a minority I don’t think it would be accepted. However if a big publishing company like Bauer, publisher of Mojo and Q were to publish my magazine it would widen their market because of my magazines unique style and content and the target audience.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
My media product appeals to a whole range of both genders but within that there us a specific audience. As my product is pop-orientated it is generally aimed at age 14-17 year old females. My magazine is £1.49 monthly which would be affordable for young people without a job to buy.

How did you attract/address your audience?
To attract my audience I firstly gave out a questionnaire to find out what my audience would like to see on a new music magazine.
I have used ‘Hooks’ for stories on the front cover to help attract people to read inside. I have used the title Beat which has connotations of music orientation people, also represents a strong and likable person.
I decided on a model I would use to be the main feature of my magazine which would also have an article based around. My audience will identify with the lifestyle it promotes which is becoming rich and famous and I have used a similar aged model to add to this appeal. I have used a female model that is sexually attractive to sell the magazine, as women have been conditioned into aspiring to that lifestyle and appearance. My audience will look to my product for a sense of personal identity and possible aspire to be like some of the people feature in the magazine, or their lives and problems me reflect the lives of the artists featured, so I am exploiting the theory of uses and gratifications. Which is why my article is about a down to earth artist from Newcastle and the interview is full of colloquial language, which will immediately attract a wide readership because she is not ‘out of reach’ so people can relate to her. Also I have chosen to tell the story about the poor girl who loves football who makes it big as a star. Many young girls will aspire to be like the artist and it also shows they may have a chance. I have also included articles and features that appear on my front cover and contents pages, in response to the questionnaire I conducted. My product I have used colloquial language to attract the audience as they can relate to it. Throughout my magazine I have used a colour scheme that represents the audience survey to attract my audience.

I Showed copies of my magazine to my target audiene and they were veyr enthusiastic about my product, my friend Sarah said " This product lookes very realistic and i would definatly buy it if it were a real magazine!"

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout my project I have learnt several various things about technologies. In my work I have represented many of these and they are clearly shown in my final pieces. By using Photoshop I have learnt about digital image manipulation. I have also learnt how to cut a picture out using the magic wand tool, which takes the background of a photo out. I use the rubber tool to go around the edge of my model and take away and of the rough edges. This can be done in many ways with a soft of hard rubber depending on what was suitable. I also used the sponge tool which smoothed the edges and blended them into the background.
With the images I have used I have played around with the levels, brightness and contrast and colour balance; all of which enhance my final product.
By using the levels it made the picture seem more bright or darker. I also used it to fade and image out. All of the images I have placed on my final piece have had the colour balance slightly adjusted, this makes my model seem more tanned which many models on the front of a magazine are. I have adjusted all my images I have used to give them a luminosity to make them eye-catching. I have learnt how to adjust the colours after desaturating the image. As with the CD cover which is present on my article. I have played with the tools to make a certain features in the image such as her eye makeup darker. In the black and white image I have made the models lips pink, and her iris’ blue. I achieve this by painting over the selected area in the colour I wanted and then adjusted it by making it slight transparent, which helped make the image more realistic.
On my front cover I used a tool to pick out colours of the main image and use it for some text on the cover. This is what magazine editors tend to do.
On my article I have changed the levels to slightly fade an image out, to enable it to be suitable to use as a background which allowed the text to be clearly read.
Also using Photoshop I used drop shadows on the text which are present on my products and also on some of the images.

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

From the progression of the preliminary task to the full project I have learnt vastly. This is due to close analyses of current conventions, forms and genre of existing products since my preliminary work. I have studied magazines to see what kind of images, text and presentation they use to appeal to their target audience, and I then researched my audience. I have also looked at theatrical concerns in terms of audience response. I have used a questionnaire to assist me whilst making my magazine cover and also researched contents pages and articles, taking particular notice to the detail put in the structure and layout of the piece, and worked out what worked well and what didn’t, and how I could use this inspiration in my piece. This helped me design a product that would challenge current magazines in an existing realistic marketplace.
By doing this research I have learnt how to manipulate images and how to make them stand out. I also made text stand out by using drop shadows and by using whole range of Photoshop tools I made judgments and decisions as to colour choice, text styles, and choice of language, structure and layout to suit my target audience.

Final Product

Flat Plans

This is my finished article:

Born and raised in Newcastle, she is a thorough Geordie girl, your typical tomboy, she loves the ‘toon’ and the black and white stripes are never far from thought nor discussion; so dedicated to her football team is she, that the team here at BEAT, notice straight away that she is wearing the team scarf, hat and she is proudly wearing the brand new away football top, the one that isn’t even in shops to the public yet, “Well the job does have it’s perks” she reveals more than happily.

As we sit down, we learn of her other passions, besides Newcastle United! Talking about her singing we find out what it takes to become a star in 2009; learn of the two faced backstabbers that drove her to the near point of destruction and her secretive career as a top writer for some pretty big Hollywood names…

We know that your beloved team lost their first premiership match of the season yesterday…we thought best we talked about them first and get it out of the way…
I know! I’m devastated, I was really hoping for a good start to the season. ‘Start the way you mean to finish it’ and all that. To be fair we did deserve to win it the way we came back strong in the second half. Never mind there’s always next time…Sunderland derby soon…that should be eventful!

How are you enjoying your new career in the business Josie?
It’s definitely different to say the least…I mean being in Los Angeles is a total culture shock. The people look like they have come straight from a conveyor belt from some plastic surgeon’s office, there all identical! I can’t relax when I’m there; I don’t think I’m cosmopolitan enough to fit in…I’m a tomboy at heart!

You sound like your not enjoying it?!
Oh no no! I love my career, I love everything about it…the singing, dancing, writing, and producing. I love hearing my songs playing on the radio. These past few months have been more than I could ever imagine. It’s just some people and places don’t mix well with me…and L.A is one of them.

Ooh, sounds a bit bitchy, is there anything you want to share with Beat?
Don’t make me sound horrible! Haha, I am a lovely person ask all my friends, I just don’t like the sort of people that live in L.A, there all fake and chase desperately after fame! It’s degrading and from my experiences, half of them haven’t got any talent, never mind what it takes to make it. Not that I’m an expert in this field or anything, but it’s just obvious when you’ve ‘got it’!

Very blunt…we like it…
Yeah well I know what I like and I know what I don’t. I’m not afraid of saying what I think of something and more often that not in this industry some one! This personality trait comes in handy all the time I assure you, I’m actually quite thankful I know how to stand my ground, as you always get the music big cats trying to tell you what is the ‘best direction’ and what you should be doing for the fans, when half the time they talk rubbish…they only do what’s best for their wallets!

Do we sense disruptions at the company then?
Well of course we’ve had our disagreements, but they know that I’m the sort of person that isn’t going to take anything without a fight. I do get on well with the execs in the company though most of the time. They have launched my career and I am really nothing but thankful for that opportunity which they have given me. We do have our odd moments but unlike some companies, we always sort everything out in the end…normally to their advantage but every now and then I do get my way…give it a couple more years and it will all be up to me…I guarantee it!

Positive thinking… we like! How are you enjoying life at the top Maddison, it must’ve been quite a shock to the system?
It’s been so weird, people know who I am and they are singing my songs! It is definitely a shock to the system. I mean, there was this one day when I was just having a little bite to eat at this café in Newcastle, one of the rare moments when I was at home during the whole recording process. So obviously I was enjoying the alone time with a few of my close family, when three girls cam running up to me, screaming “There’s Josie! There’s Josie” It was madness! This happened during the recording process as I said…so it was before any of my material was even out in the shops. I knew right then that this was big! That this was actually happening!

It must have felt amazing?
Well at the time, I was really having trouble writing up some new material; it was like I was going through this total mind block, I felt like giving up. Like I couldn’t do it, like I wasn’t cut out to be this big star that all the record executives were making me out to be. I mean the pressure in this business is unreal. It was a really difficult time in the complicated process of making an album. Luckily I know now that I got what every artist gets…it’s normal to feel like that…so I had took a few days for rest and relaxation, to sort of get myself together. That was when the girls had came running up to me, it was this unreal boost, and I am thankful that they did what they did; it couldn’t have come at a better time, to this day I feel like those three girls helped me in ways they just don’t understand.

We didn’t realise recording an album was so hard?!
OMG neither did I! Every single day there is people throwing money at you, you feel like you have a responsibility to them all as well; I mean the amount of money some of the studios cost for just a day are astronomical. The pressure builds up as well with every day that passes, the day you get a mind block is the day that people stop believing in you; the day that people stop believing in you is the day they stop funding you and the day that that happens…well that’s when your album doesn’t get made. It’s like one big vicious circle…and it all comes down to you performing on the spot. It’s hard work!

Well how did the album go then in the end? Are you happy with it?
I’m ecstatic! I know I complain that it was hard work but it was all definitely worth it, I have an album out…a brand new, totally original album that’s full of my songs. The people I worked with as well made the whole process that much better, I feel like I should I just mention their tremendous help, particularly the people at Sony Records, they were, when it came to down the wire near the end…absolute star’s. I clouldnt possibly have done it without them.

What about the new single, happy with how that turned out?
Well I’m absolutely proud as ever about this new single, I hope it does well. I heard from my manager yesterday that it was climbing fast in the mid week chart’s, he said he thinks it’s going to be a contender for number one! Imagine that…Josie with a number one! Wow, that would be an absolute dream come true. Well I mean for all the trouble we have had with the single, that’s the least it deserves to get. We’ve had a nightmare getting it out to the public, the stress it’s caused has been enough to last me a lifetime.

Really?! Where would that stress derive from?
Well to be honest I’m not allowed to say much as the legal proceedings are still happening…probably as we speak. Basically what happened is that this song is mine! I wrote it; I thought up the melodies, I performed it for months before it was officially recorded to be used as my single. When I got the record deal, my best friend (at the time) was with me every step of the way, she was present at every meeting, and she came to all the parties…everything! When the single started getting good feedback from people high up in the business, and more to the point, when the money started to roll in, not that I got much of it, she suddenly started to claim that the single was hers! That she had written it and that I hadn’t had anything to do with its production! We both knew that this was absolute rubbish, to put it politely! So began a huge legal dispute, my people got involved and she brought in her lawyers, and she is trying to get the rights for the song…over my dead body!

Sounds harsh, we take it you’re not speaking now?
Hell no! I hate that two faced cow… she ruined a really big, really important moment on my career and tried to make it her own. What sort of friend does that; we had been inseparable for almost five years! As soon as she sniffed money she showed her true colours, it really hurt me, I couldn’t trust anyone as much as I did her and it’s been really hard not having her here. It’s the ultimate slap in the face that she did that, our friendship apparently meant nothing! That’s all I can say on the subject…

Where do you get the inspiration for your music?
Ahh, I get it from all over the place. Be it the weather outside, the mood I’m feeling when I wake up; the people I’ve talked to that day…it can be anything! I can write songs about basically anything what I want, not that there all number one’s but they all mean something to me when I look back at them. They all remind me of something whether it is important, insignificant, massive or just a little story that I found amusing.

Sounds easy! How come Electric can’t come up with hit songs every day?
Ha-ha well what can I say I have a gift! No I’m joking, I love what I do and so you normally find something a ton easier to do if you’re enjoying it.
I hope I can do this for the next fifty years, I feel so privileged that I can do something every day that I love, my Father worked in a dead end 9-5 job and that was probably the most depressing thought we both had for my future…and the fact that I’ve made my family proud, especially my Dad, seeing as I am a bit of a Daddy’s girl, means the world to me!

We’ve heard rumours about a new single with Justin Timberlake? Any truth in the gossip?
Well his people have showed an interest to my people…that’s all I know really! I would absolutely love to record something with him; he’s a brilliant artist, one of my favourite in the business in fact. It would be an honour.

Anyone else you’re interested in working with?
I’m a big fan of Timbaland, his work is groundbreaking, totally original and he makes hit after hit! I’m sure that he could mix something up for me…I wish more like!

You’ll have people queuing to work with you as soon as the album is released on the charts…
Wow I hope so, I think working with other people in the industry is a brilliant idea, sharing lyrics and melodies is what it’s all about, helps make the world go round lol!

Article

For my two page article i decided to use a picture of the model as the background. I changed the levels, brightness and contrast, and hue and saturation to make the more transparent so that the writting on the page would still stand out. I used the coulour scheme black, Bright Green and bright Pink which is the same as my front cover and contents , i decided to keep the house style the same as it looks more realistic and from the same magazine.

This is the picture i used for the background i like this image beacuse she is looking directly out at the audience in an inviting pose according to Marjorie Ferguson.

i also used lots of smaller images in my article here is three:

I like this image as she is looking directly at the camera and at the audience, also it is funky and fiesty, and sugesting she is fun person, people who buy the magazine will want to have the lifestyle she has and aspired to be like her.

here is a different side to her character; it shows a pensive thoughtful side to her.

I chose this image as it shows a very fun young side to her and her love for music, this images shows she is having a good time.

CD Cover

For the two page article which feature in my magazine i have decided to write about the artist new single. I have also made the CD cover and it will also be with this article. to make the cover i choose another photo that we took of the model this time close up. I changed the hue, saturation, brightness and contrast. I also made her eyes blue and her lips pink and added a the title of Josie in a suitable font.