Post Evaluation Production

Front cover: This is my final production of my front cover, i have made changes to layout and different aspects of my front cover. Firstly I have made changes to to my main image. The first ever draft of my front cover had a stretched out front cover which i changed by adding a border around my front cover of my magazine going against conventions of house music magazines however after doing further research after carrying out my evaluation I have decided to follow conventions by having a main image that fills the entire page. It is a way so that my artists head could go slightly over the mastehad of my magazine. This is a huge convention to follow on the front cover of a house music magazine and many other genres too use this feature. It is a way of making my artists the main subject of the front cover. I think ti makes my front cover appear more professional and the quality has been massively improved where eveyrhting fits into place. I have improve4d the quality of the equalisers on my masthead by sharpening them even more and using the magic wand tool to erase any white sections this has massively increased the quality of my mtashead making it appear more attractive and appealing. I have moved my coverlines so that they are on the one side of the page as i want my artist to be the main subject of my front cover, with anything covering her it will only affect this. The coverline above my anchorage text i have changed by changing it to exclusive interview instead of 2 page spread as i felt this sounded more professional. I have improved the plug of my magazine by creating a plug that was more fit to my genre. Using a plug that hangs on the edge of my front cover follows conventions of magazines of different genres which i found from doing further research. I have created this plug that is almost like a flag to create a more interesting design, i have used the same information however i have added a page number to it too so that readers view it as accessible. I have moved my barcode and date to the left coroner, adding in the nocturnal website too. I have used this because it is a way of allowing my music magazine to expand into other industry's such as the Internet. By doing this i can widen my audience and appeal to my audience more. These 3 aspects also looked better placed here. The text above my masthead that was "the uks dance and clubbing magazine to read" has been improved by saying "the Uk's No.1 house music magazine" as i think this represents my magazine better, and sounds more professional.  

 

Contents page: I have made improvements to my contents page by adding and altering certain aspects which were not explained in much detail since my last blog post on my contents page. The nocturnal logo has been added to my contents page in order to make my audience more aware of my magazine. I have added the date to m,y contents page. I have changed the layout by moving the image of student Jacob to the left corner in order to add a different feature on my artist. This is so that readers are really starting to get to know Vicky G all the way through my magazine as in my previous contents page in my evaluation their was only an image of her and a page number. I have changed text colour for the main features and kept a different and darker colour font for the other features in my magazine in order to make my layout clearer and also easier to read.

Double page spread:

Since my last blog spot on my double page spread I have moved my pull quote so that it doesn't cover Vicky G in order to make her the main subject, I don't want anything to get in the way of the artists face.

Improvements to double page spread

I have improved my double page spread by altering the colour scheme so that the colour scheme of my double page spread follows the front cover and my contents page. I have used a blue/pastel colour in order to follow the colour theme and i have used the same yellow previously used for both my front cover and my contents page. I have also changed the date on my magazine as it was different to the contents page and my front cover.

Improvements to my contents page

I have made improvements to the contents page of my magazine, i have changed the layout of my magazine in order to include more content, I have also changed the font colour of all of my features so that firstly the main features are seperate to the normal features and so that the text is more clear for my readers to read.

Improvements to my front cover

I have improved my front cover by making the text larger on my coverlines, I have moved some of my coverlines over, i have also changed the plug on my magazine in order for it to suit the genre of my music magazine more. I have also moved the barcode of my magazine and added a wesbite to the front cover too. I have also improved the quality of some of the equalisers in my masthead in order for my magazine to look more professional.

Evaluation Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progession from it to your full product?

Evaluation Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 5: How did you attract your audience?

Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

My magazine 'nocturnal' will be aimed towards people of both genders aged 17-24. Firstly I will be aimed towards people of both genders because I feel that this will widen my audience. The content of my magazine does not just focus towards females the language and context I have included is spread out so that it interests both genders and so does my front cover. The front cover I have used will appeal to male readers as 'Vicky G' on the front cover looks very attractive and does have some of her body on show however the colour scheme and outfit i have chosen for her to wear does not put female readers off reading it as it is not provocative and the artist does appear like a house music artist typically does which i found in my research. House music artists do usually look very edgy and this is what I have tried to create as this is how many other house music magazine reach a wide audience. I have aimed my magazine at this age range because through lots of research i have found these are the people who enjoy to go out and party. Because this is a house music magazine this type of music is played in night clubs/raves etc. This is where people of this age range typically party because this is where cheap alcohol is provided and these type of areas are viewed by my target audience as trendy and 'cool'. These are also the people who have disposable incomes for items such as magazines. Between the ages of 17-24 not many people will have much responsibilities and especially in this day people are likely to live at home so therefore they have the money to spare for items like this where they can find out the latest dj's and best places to party which is another way in which they will dispose of their money. At this age their values in life will be friends and family possibly school and education but mainly their focus will be making the most of their youth. They will have money to spend on items such as clothes(At this age a main concern is fashion and how they can portray themselves, looking up to different people such as music artists in magazines), electronic items(such as Iphones, Ipads) and also music and movies. A main focus at this age range will be the media as it surrounds them. Especially as this generation becomes increasingly in touch with technology. Most people in this age range will have some access to a smart phone or computer which could also benefit my magazine nocturnal as many magazines offer on line subscriptions to magazines like mine and the amount of magazines that are distributed only on line are becoming more common. In my magazine I have adapted certain aspects to my target market for example featuring 'Snapchat' a very popular app for this age range, instead of using plugs such as free Cd's in my magazine. Because i know from carrying out my research that from the ages 17-24 people may not be as common with Cd's and more interested in crazes such as Snapchat. 
My audience would fit on the JICNAR scale and I think my audience would be in social classes C2 and DE which is people with skilled manual occupations, semi-skilled and unskilled occupations, unemployed and lowest grade occupations. Most of my target audience would be students so they will have less time for full time jobs. 

Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

 

Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of read media products?

Created with Padlet

Final draft of my Production work

Image of my double page spread production.

Draft of my double page spread article

Headline/title: Into The Ring, Q&A.

The music industry is massively competitive, one of the freshest new artists Vicky G formally known as Victoria Gaunt met with nocturnal and tells all about her journey towards her first step into the ring and where her music career has taken her. 

Text and images by Chelsea Belleini

Article:

At what age did you know that this was the career that you wanted to undertake?

I have always been passionate about singing and performing from a very young age, as little as I can remember really. As I was growing up my dad was a low key dj in small clubs and events so I was always around the music that he would play. Not the typical music that a family would listen to [laughs] but it gets us all going, it’s fun and energetic. Don’t get me wrong, I love a range of genres of music but house music has always been the one genre of music I felt strongly about from a younger age.  When I started to discover the potential that I had my dad supported me all the way, which helped a lot because he had had that experience that I needed to learn from. From about 13 years old I had my heart set on this career.

Who is your inspiration from older generations and now?

My oldest inspiration is my dad, he has almost created me as an artist, I’ve learnt a lot of what I know from him especially when it comes to performing for huge crowds, being able to control your nerves in these situations is very important. However my more modern inspiration is  Oliver Heldens, he is only 20, 5 years younger than myself and he has become extremely successful at such a young age. I also love his music, I’d love to one day maybe collaborate with him, it would be huge!!

Why house music?

It’s always been my favourite genre of music purely down to the energy that is created when listening to this genre.

 It creates an atmosphere that I can’t even describe, performing for a crowd is my ultimate favourite thing because of what house music can create, and there aren’t many words in many of my songs because house music is more about the bass and the drop. I can interact with my audiences through this, that’s really what gets people happy, music is very powerful. 

What was it like performing infront of a large audience for the very first time?

I’m a very confident person and especially confident when doing what i love, I was petrified, but I’m fulfilling my all-time dream what more could I want? its more scary not being able to predict a crowds reaction especially as it was my first large crowd.

What is your situation a the moment? 

My situation is very good, I released my debut album 2 weeks ago now and it is just so crazy. I am just ejoying this high point of my life, i am finally a sucessfull asd established artist. I am still looking to produce miore music of course and i am currently hugely busy performing, i have no complaints as right now i couldnt be happier with where i have got myself, and i thank everyone who has supported me from the start. Without them i wouldnt be where i am today. 

Do you have a specific plan for the future?

As cliche as it is i will go wherever the music takes me, 5 minutes of being the established artist that i am would be enough for the rest iof my life, i love performing so all i wish to do is grow as an artist,  release a second album hopefully and even possibly go on tour. Touring the world, sharing my music with the world that would be fantastic. 

Double page spread layouts.

Double page spread analysis of layout

First draft - Front cover and contents page

After loosing my memory stick soon after completing my first draft of my front cover and contents page I have had to start my production work from scratch completing a draft of both my front cover and contents page also. It had also then came to my attention that the post I had created earlier on in my blog analysing my first draft of my front cover and contents page had been deleted somehow. This post is the same post however just a little postponed. 

Front cover:

Things I am pleased with:

I am pleased with the image on my front cover I think it stands out and is of a very high quality, my front cover follows conventions of music magazines of my genre. I am pleased with the different shapes I have used and the title stands out a lot I think, the black shape that the anchorage text is on instantly brings peoples attention towards the main image. The colour scheme I am very pleased with also it looks very professional and the shapes run as a theme throughout the front cover also which i think follows conventions of house music magazines that I have researched particularly 'Mixmag'
Problems that I have encountered with fireworks and how I have overcome them: 
On fireworks i have struggled to make my masthead a high quality because I have featured images of equaliser's as part of my masthead. Because these were images i have had to print screen it was hard to achieve a high quality. I have overcome this by finding out how to sharpen things on fireworks which enabled me to achieve the quality I wanted
I also found that stretching my main image made the image loose its high quality too, and i have spent a lot of time on taking high quality images. By holding shift down the image does not get pixelated.
I also found it hard creating shapes on fireworks this was a very straight forward technique on any other software's i have used but because fireworks is quite complex it was a challenge doing this. I overcame this by searching on line how to move and create the types of shapes i have used on my front cover.
Improvements I would make to my front cover:
I will possibly look into improving the image for my front cover as having it how it is affects how the masthead appears, i would also like to improve my magazine front cover by adding more cover lines and content to the front cover. Adding a date and a price may make my front cover look more professional.



Contents page:
Things I am pleased with:
I am pleased with my main image for my contents page it represents my artist and what the main focus of the magazine is on. I also like the range of images i have used for different artists as this will attract my audience. I like the colour scheme I have used to as this links in with the pastel colour scheme of my front cover. I have also featured a lot of content in my contents page too which is good on a contents page as it is all about the content and readers having an insight into what is inside the magazine.
Problems that I have encountered with fireworks and how I have overcome them:
I had problems with maintaining my colour scheme because the colours I had previously used for my front cover were colours that i had specifically picked out. So therefore when it came to the production of my contents page i had to look for the colours again which took more time than expected especially as fireworks is very complex. I overcame this by adding the colours i used to my custom colours so therefore it almost saved the colours i was using to save time and of course this has ensured that my house colours run through my magazine production. Another problem that i did encounter was also separating the letters for my title 'contents', because the letters are in the same style as the masthead. I had to create the letters individually because of the style i have separated them into. It was quite tricky working out how to crop each letter and then use the magic wand tool to still create a title that had a good quality. I overcame this problem by simply searching on line how to crop/cut images on fireworks and i was able to do so easily.
Improvements I would make to my contents page:
Although i am happy with the production of my front cover and contents page i would firstly like to improve it by adding my masthead to the page and the date in order to fill the gap above my main image. I think with the gap their the layout looks less professional. Id also like to change the layout of the 'contents' of my contents page all the text on the right side doesn't look like it is following a layout and perhaps looks a little distorted. Id also like to add more images to my magazine that i have taken personally of 'artists'. In order to show my skills and how i have developed when knowing what makes a contents page attractive etc. 

Double page spread analysis of content

Contents page moodboard

This is a group of different contents pages that I have found have inspired me when thinking of my ideas towards my contents page. I really want to create something quite simple but interesting and eye catching. A lot of these images contain a title 'contents' that is quite large,I want to do this as it points out clearly what the page is but it also makes it look stylish and interesting. However I also need to follow conventions of a music magazine and focus my contents page again on my target audience, considering ways in which it can appeal to my audience. 

Blog feedback

Contents Page Hand Drawn Mock Up.

The above two images are two hand drawn layouts of what I would possibly like my contents page to look like. I have drawn these mock ups in order to start planning how I would like it to look like, i have taken inspiration from other contents pages of existing house music magazines such as 'Mixmag'. 

Contents page layouts

Contents Page

What things are usually featured in music magazines?

• Top 40 charts.
• Different events e.g gigs, concerts , clubs
• Reviews
• Plug-competitions
• Artist review/interview
• Upcoming Artists
• Fashionable songs
• Advertisement
• Info about upcoming gigs
• Where buy tickets?

What does the layout of a contents page include?

• Images
• Big main image
• Plug
• Title
• Page numbers
• What will be on certain pages

Analysis of contents page...

Questionaire responses

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Question 6:

Queston 7:

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Question 9:

Question 10:

The above pictures are images of my questionnaire results. Some of my questions I have allowed people to give their own responses because I thought it would allow people to give more of a genuine answer. The results of my questionnaire have allowed me to gather a better understanding of these areas, and when i am producing my magazine I will definitely focus some of my decisions on my questionnaire responses.