Evaluation:Questions 6 & 7

Q6: What have you learnt about technologies during the process of

production?

During the whole process of creating this product I have learnt many skills that I will further use in future media products and productions. I came into the production of my magazine with some confidence using current and modern technologies. I feel that now my knowledge has been furthered and enhanced overall.

Software and Programs

From the beginning to the end of the process, I have had to use multiple programs to achieve my final results. I have had to utilise Adobe Photoshop CS6 to alter and enhance the look of my images, as well as to produce the cover and contents pages.

The usage of layers was difficult to grasp at first but in the end was very helpful in editing smaller, more specific areas of the cover and contents. The layers also allowed me to create the ‘colour shift’ effect on my front cover, where the background is in black and white and the two characters are in colour. The layers also allowed me to create a focused blur on my contents image of ‘Ivory Tears’ which placed focus on the two band members, blurring the background.

Using the ‘levels’ feature I was able to adjust the colour balances across all my images, which allowed me to edit the look of my cover, contents and double page spread images to a standard that I was completely happy with.

Photoshop allowed me to make my images look even more professional and also allowed me to create an authentic looking cover, despite the harsh learning curve the program has.

Software and Programs ( Continued)

I have also used the Microsoft office suite to create documents such as my pitch document with ease, and to present results such as my survey result slideshow. Word allowed me to create and format documents such as my Page dummies, Pitch Document and my Flat plan, whilst PowerPoint has been a huge aid in documenting my Photography Planning . Overall it’s been a very useful set of programs which are versatile for most of my needs.

Another program I used during the production of SLURR Magazine was Adobe InDesign CS6, which enabled me to produce a high quality and realistic Double Page Spread. Firstly InDesign allowed me to create accurate columns for my article to sit within, a convention of music magazines that I felt was essential in creating a high quality magazine. With this page layout, I was able to construct an article that worked well alongside my appropriately Photoshopped images. Through the shapes feature I created an ‘I’ which represented the band’s name ‘Ivory Tears’ and allowed me to inventively place a quote in the article.

Overall I feel that InDesign was a far better program than Word or Photoshop to create my double page spread, as it allowed the creation of more accurate columns and some of the editing options of Photoshop whilst still being effective for simply writing the article.

Websites & Online Services

Throughout the production of my product I have utilised online services and websites to present and assist my work. One main example is the usage of blog site Wordpress.com, where I have hosted all of my work for easy marking and allows it to be showcased in an organised manner. Using this service was a learning curve as some of the features such as embed codes were new to me, but I now find them to be extremely useful as they allowed me to display items such as presentations on SlideShare in an effective way. Using WordPress also allowed me to structure and organise my progress through my production by the use of categories and menus, which allow easy navigation of the site.

Another service I’ve used heavily is SlideShare.net, a very intuitive and creative PowerPoint and document presenter, which has allowed me to showcase my work in a neat, and simple player. This was easily embedded on to my blog posts with a simple code. To find suitable fonts, I used DaFont.com, a website with a huge catalogue of fonts to use, which allowed me to find appropriate and suitable fonts. I found this very helpful as I found the standard fonts to be far from suitably themed.

I used the site SurveyMonkey, to create a research survey as it was easily and quickly created with varying layouts that helped me find my magazine’s overall audience. I found it also allowed me to reach a large audience thanks to social media sharing buttons which I used to share the survey on my Facebook profile.

Websites & Online Services (Continued)

Finally, I used the online video sharing website YouTube in order to publish my audience interview with Beth & Katherine. Using YouTube allowed me to quickly upload my edited video with the added benefit of the ability of embedding their player within my WordPress blog. This allowed the interview to be easily accessible without leaving my blog and having to search YouTube for it. I could have chosen to use a service such as Vimeo for this purpose, but I felt that YouTube would be the superior option thanks to it’s ease of use. This also aided my knowledge of using embed codes, a subject which I had no prior knowledge of before using these for my blog.

Photography

Before beginning the project I was an avid photographer but I had only experience using my smartphone and a simple point and shoot camera. To capture the images for my magazine I used a variety of devices, including a superzoom camera as well as a high end Canon DSLR (500D).

Using the DSLR especially, I have learnt about using modes other than auto, adjusting exposure and shutter speed as well as when to use portrait and landscape orientations. Using a DSLR was very suitable as it allowed images to be quickly and easily transferred to PC’s using usb cables or card readers, giving them image in a JPEG format.

I’ve also learnt that lighting is key in many situations, and how to use low key and high key lighting to enhance photographs and give off the correct effect/style. I did try to alter the ISO of the camera for effect, but I found that taking the photos in an ‘auto’ mode and editing them within Adobe PhotoShop worked far better.

I think most importantly though, I have learnt that however much editing and adjustment you do to a photo, if the photo is of a low quality in the first place, it will always be low quality. Taking a good photo is the key.

What I learnt Overall

I’ve learnt that research does matter and is a very helpful way of deciding your audience, style and genre’s. The research is boosted by usage of technology, which not only adds to the ways you can research but also furthers current ways, e.g. Online surveys instead of paper surveys as they’re quicker, easier and more eco-friendly. I’ve also learnt that files with large amounts of images (PSD’s) are generally very large and that has meant I cannot carry all my work onto a small USB drive. But most importantly, I have learnt the true importance of saving work and backing work up, as if the computer fails and your last save was 2 weeks ago, it’s a lot of work lost.

Q7: How have you progressed from the preliminary product to your finished and

finalised product?

When I look back to the preliminary task, I can clearly see a dramatic improvement of the quality and suitability of my work.

This shows how using the research I attained and looking into currently published music magazines, has allowed me to create a professional looking magazine which with some adaptations with conventions, could be sold amongst current ones. The knowledge I gained from analysing today’s magazines and their works, such as representing social groups and attracting a genre-specific audience , has really been an aid to creating a successful magazine.

Using my comments on my preliminary task I was able to begin creating this media product, with the surveys and market research really playing a big part in many of my decisions during the process.

I’ve learnt a lot about using online services such as a blog as well as programs such Photoshop CS6 and InDesign CS6, programs I used very minimally or not at all during the preliminary process. I feel that the usage of these professional product packages was essential in allowing my product to be of a high quality.

My cover for example has hugely improved since the preliminary task, with a professional masthead on the correct left hand side (Convention), alongside a suitable font.

Pull quotes are now used instead of uninspiring Coverlines, alongside the left third being utilised as in the preliminary cover.

My final product’s cover truly looks professional and would easily be placed in a magazine rack, whereas my ‘College Monthly’ would not whatsoever.

Overall I’m very pleased with the outcome of my cover as I feel it’s a huge improvement and shows how all the research really has aided my progression throughout the process.

Similarly to my cover, my contents page has undergone drastic changes since my preliminary task. I have changed the design and layout of the page, which I feel adds originality to a slightly stale formula used in most magazines these days.

I also feel that this utilizes the software available, Photoshop CS6, compared to my preliminary work which was created using Microsoft Word. It clearly has made a difference using a professional program as well as having the time to perfect the page in full.

Overall I feel my contents page has truly exceeded my preliminary task work and I’m very happy with it’s outcome.

Finally I feel that my images are far better than the one used in my preliminary cover, as I had time to plan my photography, choosing locations, models and using a DSLR. Images are and essential part of a magazine so taking high quality, planned out images really helped my product to progress.

Overall I feel that my progression from the preliminary product to now has been huge; moving from a lacklustre and plain cover image and contents to an inventive and original cover and contents which fit my genre-specifics.