MY A2 NEW BLOG LINK

http://edmundopokua2.blogspot.com/

Evaluation Conclusion

Overall, I am very delighted with the outcome of my Music magazine. I beleive i have learnt and developed my skills in using photoshop and other technologies. My blogs have always been up to date and hopefully they all look very proffesional. If I had the chance to improve on my music magazine, I would improve on my contents page as I feel it was the only page that lacked information and detail. But overall, I think my media portfolio came out great.

Slide 9: What have I learnt in the progression from my preliminary task to my finished music magazine?

In this slide, I looked back at my preliminary task and compared it to my finished music magazine. This would hopefully show the differences and also the skills i have gained whiles doing this task.

1. Heading: As you can see from my preliminary task,  my heading was not large enough to stand out from the page when compared to my finished media product. When looking at my preliminary task, its hard to tell what my heading was. Even though both headings blended with the colour scheme, you can see that the heading in my preliminary task looks like a copy and pasted image. This was because, back then i hadn't fully mastered the use of the text and feathering tool however, looking at my finished media product, you can see how i even managed to add an electrifying effect to the text.

2. Center image: In the front cover of my music magazine, I had one center image that blended very well with the magazine. I managed to enhance the colours of the image using Photoshop as this made the image the center of attention. When compared to my preliminary task, you can see how bad the quality of pictures were. I used too many images which looked like they were copy and pasted therefore taking your eye off the main image. Even the image that was supposed to be the center of attention was too fade to see. As you can see, I learnt my lesson and improved in editing my images.

3. Shapes: In my music magazine, I included shapes behind texts to help make them look unique. This was my first time trying this and i hoped it would work effectively. In my Preliminary task, I had no idea about this what so ever hence the absence of any shapes. This shows the new skills that I have learnt.

Overall, my preliminary task looked very unorganised and messy compared to my music magazine. All the texts and images seemed to blend in well while on the other hand, my preliminary task just looked like it was made by a 5 yr old child.

Slide 8: What have I learnt about technology from the process of constructing this product?

In this slide, I state the things that i have learnt whiles constructing this product. First of all, I have learnt to experiment with camera angles. Before starting this project, I would have taken a picture and just used it without thinking about what angle the camera was facing, whether that particular angle was effective or even whether the angle i was using had a hidden connotation and denotation. I also realised that my Photoshop skills had improved significantly. I was now able to feather an image, crop an image from another image and even merge photos together. Before, I would have thought that changing the colour of a persons clothing in a picture would have been extremely difficult, but now i can do it with ease using photoshop. I have also learnt to take a range of pictures and compare and analyse them to other pictures. Doing this has taught me to see things from different views and angles.

Slide 7: How would I attract or address my target audience?

To attract my target audience, I used large bold texts to catch their eye. This would have helped my magazine stand out from others. I will also make sure that i keep the same fonts in all my future magazines so that any one purchasing them in the future would recognise it easily. Another way that i attract my target audience is the price of my magazine. We all like cheap items, so i made sure that my magazine was affordable. I place the price of my magazine at the bottom right hand corner and had it in a white font hoping it would catch a reader's eye. As well as the cheap price of my magazine, I also included some freebies. Some of these free items included Cd's, Posters, tickets and many more. This would have hopefully interested my targeted audience and urged them to buy my magazine. I furthermore addressed my target audience by giving them the opportunity to enter in competitions that may give them more free items. This would keep them loyal to my magazine and have them coming back for more. Another way of attracting my targeted audience included giving them the opportunity to read exclusive interviews that were very rare. This would enable them to keep up to date with the latest gossip and hopefully get their friends reading my magazine as well. I also included advertisements of some of the latest albums coming out. As we all know teenagers like to find out information before every one else does, so including some of these advertisements would gradually attract their attention.

Other pages in my magazine also helped attract and address my targeted audience. As my magazine is mostly aimed at the younger readers, I decided to attract them by using informal language. For example, i included slang such as "slipping" slang for loosing your way. I purposely chose to use words that were regularly used within the teenage population. This would have made them feel at home when reading my magazine.

Side 6: Who would be the audience for my media product?

In this slide I will show who my targeted audience are and the characteristics that they might have. I will also try and explain why i chose to go for this particular group of audience.

First of all, I i aimed my magazine at young adults aged 15 to 22. I did this purposely as the information in my magazine would only interest the teenage population. I chose to aim my media product at middle/working class teens of both genders. To do this, i ensured that the price for my magazines wasn't to high. It had to be affordable. Aiming my magazine at upper class teens would have been pointless due to the informal language used in it. I used some slang in my magazine to benefit the working/middle class teens. I also constructed my magazine in a form that it only attracted R 'n' B lovers. The obvious thing that attracted my targeted audience was the image of the teens on my front cover. I did this to clearly state who i was trying to attract and what genre my music magazine was. I didn't bother aiming my magazine at older readers as i knew that there were other magazines around that were purposely aimed at the older generation. Knowing this, I focused all my ideas on the younger generation.

Slide 5: What kind of media institution might distribute my media product and why?

In this slide, I am trying to figure iout which magazine institute would be better when publishing my music magazine. Both publishers are very well known and have published hundreds of magazine however, I need to think about which publisher helps benefit my targeted audience. Both these publishers have advantages and disadvantages for example the IPC media is based in the UK and sells about 350 million copies each year. IPC media also publishes the NME magazine meaning that if my magazine were to be published by IPC, I would have some competition with NME. However, when thinking about it, the NME magazine is a rock/indie mag whiles my magazine is an R 'n' B/ Hip Hop mag. This would mean attracting a wider range of audiences for the IPC publishings.

On the other hand, the Bauer media publishing is a German company based in Hamburg which operates in 15 countries. This publishing industry aims most of its magazines at the ABC1 class which are mostly women. This would be a disadvantage to my magazine as my magazine is aimed at young adults with enough money to buy it. If I was to put forward my magazine to this publishing company, I believe it would be turned down because of the genre of music and class its aimed at.

When comparing these two publishing industries together, I believe that the best publisher for me would be the IPC media industry. This is because I think my magazine would bring a new genre of music to their existing magazines and help attract more target audiences.

If you wish to know more about these companies, I have posted their links below.

IPC Media website : http://www.ipcmedia.com/

Bauer Media website: http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/

Slide 4: How does my media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents social groups in many ways. Some of these include the use of freebies. I included freebies in my magazine to help attract my targeted audience. I also made sure that the freebies i included were the kind of items my audience would prefer. For example, CD's, Posters and many more. The images i included also helped represent my targeted audience. I made sure that all participants in my images were around the same age as my targeted audience.This would have hopefully attracted more audiences. Clothing was also very important in the representation of my social group. I decided to have images of people in fashionable clothing to help appeal to the targeted audience. The layout of my magazine also represented the social group i was aiming it at. As my magazine was an R n B/ Indie mag, I based the colours and layout around that genre. I used dark and bright colours mixed together to help attract attention as well as keep that mysterious look to my magazine. The information situated in my magazine also represented my social group. It does this through the inteviews. I made sure that the interviews were with well known artists. I purposely used these artists to help represent my social group as well as attract them.

Slide 3: In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real life media products. Comparison continued ( Contents page and Middle page)

Contents Page:

7. Heading: A convention that i added to my contents page was the large heading at the top of the page. This clearly states the page being the contents page. Again, i decided to have this heading in a bold white font. This was to help keep a constant colour scheme as well as attract my targeted audience.  

8. Contents List: A widely used convention on a contents page is the use of a contents list. As predicted my magazine contents page had headings of the information that were in my magazine. This similar convention was also used in the magazine I was comparing my own magazine to. Under some of the headings, i included a brief summary of what it was about. This was to help get my targeted audience interested. I tried to make the page look more interesting by changing the direction of the text. I still kept the same colour scheme of the texts to help make the page look professional and attractive. 

9. Images: Both my contents page and The Truth magazine's content page include a picture. Both the images were long shot images. I personally chose to use the longshot to allow my audience to focus on the on the participants clothing. I also made sure that their clothing were the latest in fashion to attract my targeted audience. The image was also linked to the articles on the page.

                                                            Middle spread:                                                                

10. Heading: As with all headings, they have to be linked to what is on the page. That is what my heading "The Rainbows" does. I decided to write this heading in a very bold white font to attract attention. As the "Rainbows" are suppose to be a very popular band, i hoped using them in my magazine would attract the right attention. The magazine i am comparing mine to also did a similar thing. They also had a bold heading attracting their targeted audience.

11. Sub-Heading: I included a subheading to inform the reader of what my article was about. as you can see, the other magazine also had a subheading. This is an essential convention that most magazines have before their articles. I had a white background behind the text to help make it stand out. This also made it stand out from the rest of the text as it was the only text in a black font.

12. Main text: For my main text, i decided to create an interview. From my research, i found out that most magazines had too small text as you can see from the magazine am comparing mine to.  Knowing this, i decided to make my text a lot bigger so that it was easier to read. To target my audience, I also made sure that my interview was informal. I hoped this would appeal to my targeted audience.

13. Main subject: Just like all magazines, the main image is meant to attract attention and also link to whats on the page. Both my magazine and the truth magazine have a similar image to help attract attention. Both our images are a midshot image. I personally chose to use the midshot image to help draw my readers attention to the clothes the participant was wearing. I also kept the colour scheme of my magazine going by linking the background colour to the colour of the participants jumper. The image also links to the heading " The Rainbows". This is shown by the image of a rainbow behind the participant.

Slide 2 : In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real life media products?

This is my media product using forms and conventions compared to other media magazines:

As you can see, the front cover of my magazine is filled with both similarities and differences when compared to another media product. These similarities are shown in the layout of my magazine.

1. Issue date: My magazine includes an issue date and so does the other media product. I included this issue date to make sure that any buyer would be well informed of the issue of my magazine. I also had the issue date in a red font so it stood out.
2. Heading: As you can see, both my magazine and the other media product has a bold heading. I chose to use a large bold white font so that it would stand out from all the other texts on the page. It is also the only large text in white making it very visible and obvious. This idea was inspired from other media products I researched. The text font style i used, is also quite unusual making it different from the black text normally used. I also hoped using this font style will attract my targeted audience. Further more, i used an easy name such as "DIVERSE" to make it easy to remeber. The connotation of my magazine name could mean that the magazine is filled with different types of information hence the name "DIVERSE".
3.Headlines: Both my magazine and the other media product include headlines. I included these headlines purposely to attract readers as well as inform them of the stories that were printed in the magazine. Colour wise, i used a grey background behind the white headlines to ensure that they also stood out from the rest of the texts on the page, therfore making them easier to spot on a shelf in a shop.
4. Barcode: Another similarity between my magazine and the compared magazine is that they both include a barcode. This is very essential as every product must include a barcode.
5. Main subject: This final comaprison wasnt listed on my slide. The main subject is the center image that i included in my magazine front cover. This background image consists of five teens. I purposely used teens in my picture to target my audience. I also made sure they were wearing fashionable and bright colours that might attract my targeted audience. The clothes they are wearing are purposely chosen by me to co-ordinate with the colours scheme of my magazine. This is an idea i got from another magazine. As you can see, the other magazine am comparing mine to also links its colour scheme to the clothes the people are wearing.
6. Freebies/attractions: Every modern magazine has its own method of attracting its target audience, and in the magazine industry, its very essential to attract as many audiences as possible. Knowing this, i decided to include freebies such as CD,s , Posters and tickets. I also included competitions to help get my audience involved. I purposly advertised these on the front page of my magazine to attract attention and get audeinces hooked. I also hoped this would help my magazine stand out from other magazines on a shelf.

Slide 1 - Indroduction

This is my completed media producted. My media product includes a front page, contents page and a middle spread. I created this using adobe photoshop elements. In this evaluation, i will be answering a number of questions about my product. The slides were created on prezi.com by me. This is the hyperlink of my prezi presentation: http://prezi.com/qndwkvj1epyd/edit/

Feed back from class mates

In our last media lesson, we were asked to give feed back on our class mates works. We were given 10 questions to answer on each of the media products. These questions were:

1) what do we think the audience is; age,gender, students?


2)What genre of music; rock,indie,pop and dance.

3)What was the house style; did it blend with the contents page and middle page to the front cover.

4)Looking carefully at the contents page to the whole magazine; does it have what you expect the magazine to have.

5)Are the articles in the magazine what you expect in the magazine.

6)Are the images suitable for the magazine; do the images relate to your magazine.

7)What overall is in the impact of the middle page.

8)Is my music magaine in line with the gener of music.

9) Any errors in the magazine

10) Any improvments.
 
My class mates also answered these questions on my music magazine. From the range of feedback I got, I could see that people knew what my targeted audience were. From looking at my front cover, people knew that it was an R 'n' B / Hip hop magazine. They also agreed that my content page and middle spread both blended in with the house style. Others thought that the image of the city at the bottom of the pages helped keep the house style as well as attract my target audience. The feed back also showed that most people agreed with my images relating to the magazine. they also agreed that my middle page was simple but effective however, i was also told that i had too much text and this would need improving as most young reders would prefer more images than text.

Music magazine plans

Music magazine (Front cover, Contents page, Middle page spread)

Pictures for Music Magazine

These are some of the pictures i took for my music magazine.

Power Point presentation for "Hammer Magazine"

Uses and Gratification

In our last lesson, we spoke about the use of the different ways that magazines help gratify its readers needs. They do this through the use of Escapism, Personal relationships, Personal Identity and Surveillance.

Denis McQuail's theory states how these methods work.

Escapism:

• Escaping or being diverted from problems
• Relaxing
• Getting intrinsic cultursl or aesthetic enjoyment
• Emotional release.

Integration and social interactions (Personal Relationships)

• Gaining insight into circumstances of others; Social empathy
• Finding a basis for conversation or social interaction
• Having a substitute for real life companionship
• Helping to carry out social roles
• Enabling one to connect with family, friends and society.

Personal Identity

• Finding reinforcement for personal values
• Finding models of behaviour
• Identifying with valued other (in the media)
• Gaining insight into ones self.

Information (Surveillance)

• Finding out about relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings, society and the world
• Seeking advice on practical matters or oppinion and discussion choices
• Satisfying curiosity and general interests
• Learning, self education
• Gaining a sense of security through knowledge.  

I will be applying this theory to the Metal Hammer magazine.

In this blog, I will be studying how the "Metal Hammer" magazine gratifies its readers needs. I will be looking at how the the uses of Escapism, Personal relationships, Personal Identity and Surveillance helps achieve this.


Escapism

The Hammer magazine achieves this through the use of Posters. The posters in the magazine also helps attract its targeted audience. This magazine also includes a page targeted at the older readers. The inappropriate images of naked ladies and men on the back page distracts the reader from their daily routines. It also helps the reader escape into a different world of relaxation. The CD's included in this magazine also helps appeal to its readers and allows them to listen to their favourite bands.

Personal Relationships

This magazine also includes freebies such as dogtags that helps the reader feel like he or she belongs to a group wearing the same tags. This adds a sense of relationship between the reader and the magazine. The informations on the different rock bands also helps the reader feel like they are a part of the bands life and daily routines. A page in this magazine asks its readers to join them on facebook. This helps get the reader involved. The information on the different dates concerning giggs and festivals also helps the reader get involved.

Personal identity

This magazine also has a page selling clothes of the rock genre. This helps give the reader an identity due to the clothes they wear. There are also informations on different individuals in this magazine.

Surveillance

This magazine also includes:

• Upcoming Giggs
• Latest upcoming bands
• Latest fashions
• And also books coming onto the market.

Audience Profile of HAMMER magazine

The title of this magazine is "Hammer". This could connote or suggest that this magazine is loud, hardcore and violent. Knowing this, I would assume that it is mostly aimed at the older years maybe 16 years onwards. Jugding by the price £4.25, I would say that this magazine is aimed at the C1, C2, D classes. The price ensures that its easily affordable by the targeted classes. The gender interest for this magazine would be males as hardcore rock metal music are mostly associated to them.  To be interested in this magazine, you would have to be a lover for screaming hardcore music. 

The genre of this magazine is also shown through the layout of the front cover. The front cover is filled with violent images such as, explosions, guns , Bold colours and text. The front cover also had holes in them representing bullet holes.  This is a way that also targets its audience and appeals to them. This magazine is also filled with freebies such as dog tags, free cd's and others. All these help attract the readers eye and appeal to its targeted audience.

Dog Tags: The use of the frere dog tags is very effective as every one loves a free object. The dog tags also shows the toughness that is linked to this magazine and its genre.

Free CD:  The free cd also helps appeal to the targeted audience as this allows them to listen to their favourite bands for free. It also makes sure that the same audience buy the same magazine each month to get another free object.

Colours, text and images:  The use of the colours and text also helps target its audience. For example the bold bright colours are linked to the heavy hardcore rock image. The use of the red could represent blood, while the use of the yellow could represent fire. All of these colours combined could represent hell. The image of the two men also targets its audience as they look like the typical hardcore image. All of these help attract the readers eye and makes it stand out from the rest.

Textual Analysis of "NME" Magazine

In todays lesson, we were asked to make a textual analysis on either the "NME" or "Kerang" Magazine. I chose to analyse the NME magazine as i found it more interesting.
In our analysis we were suppose to look at how the targeted audience were attracted through ideas such as:
-The design
-The Promotions
-Contents
-And Language
We were also asked to examine how the details were linked to the targeted audience.

Design

Personally I think the "NME" magazine is mostly aimed at teenagers mainly male. It is also targeted at rock music lovers. The designs used in the magazine also helps attracts it targeted, for example the use of bold colourful fonts will help attract the readers eye. The red and black colour scheme is also aimed at the targeted audiences as this is linked to the stereo typical image of darkness that is associated to Emos, Goths, Punks and mainly rock lovers in general. As the same colour scheme is used through out the magazine, the audience will not get bored and drift off to other magazines.

Promotions

Promotions are also used in this magazine to help attract its audience and keep them happy. The promotions are basically advertisements promoting giggs, festival and other music events. These advertisments also include images of guitars and other musical instruments, which again is linked to the rock genre.

Contents

The information in this magazine also helps attract its audience. As this is a rock  magazine, the content is all about the different bandds and their life styles. This appeals to the targeted audience as they want to know everything about their favourite band and also want to be like them. With daily information such as these, the audience will be kept up to date n hooked.

Language

The informal and care free language used also helps attracts its audience, forexample the use of swear words in some of the interviews will attract more readers as it might make them feel at home when reading the magazine. The language used will also make the reader feel like there are no boundaries and also make it easy for them to understand.

Finished Front cover, contents page and Evaluation of School Magazine

Finished Front Cover and Contents Page:

For this task, We were asked to create a front cover and contents page for a school magazine. We were also asked to use photoshop to do this. This had to include pictures and texts, colour and logo. As you can see from the images above, I have created a front cover as well as a contents page.

Front Cover: 

For my front cover, I tried to add as many images as i could. I also added the St Marks masthead to ensure that the reader knew what the magazine was. I used a variety of images but most of all, i used images of studying pupils. This helped give a positive effect on the school and also showed how hard working the students of the school are. I tried to keep the front cover simple and with only one colour scheme. As well as the logo, I also included the issue date of the magazine. This helped inform the reader of when the maggazine was released. Some of the texts that i included were very positive for example i said "Believe and Achieve". I used the text button in photo shop to help put my text vertically on the right hand side of the page. This helped make my front cover look a bit interesting. As well as the positive piece of text, I included the school years that were available.

I also tried to aim my front cover at the students. I did this through the images of other studnets. I was hoping this would help get them interested.

Contents Page:

For the content page, I used images that showed leisure activities in the sixth form such as lifting weights in the gym and a playing snooker in the common room. I took these pictures in order to show that its not all work and no play. I was hoping this would definitely attract the readers. I kept the background white so that the coloured texts would stand out. I also kept all the texts on one side of the page to make it was easier to read. Again i added the school logo to show that this was still a school magazine.  

Analysis of NME and Kerrang music magazine

In todays lesson, we were asked to analyse to music magazines. These were the "NME" and the "Kerrang" magazine.

NME MAGAZINE

Front cover: My first impression of the front cover of this magazine was that, it looked dark and evil like. It looks like a rock magazine. I also thought it looked simple and effective and had the colour scheme of red, white, and black. The masthead of the magazine was also very large and in red and white. This automatically helps attracts the readers eye. The large image also helps attract the eye of the reader. One of the effective uses of colour on the front of the magazine is the link between the red top that the man in the image wears and the red font.

All the texts are placed on the left hand side of the page, leaving the image on the right. This makes it easier to read the information given as well as see the image at the same time without getting distracted by too much text.

Denotation: The denotation of this front cover is of a man wearing red and black with rock related jewelry.

Conotation: The conotation of this front cover could be that its a rock/indie magazine. The use of the dark colour also gives the effect of evil and the use of red makes it look like blood.

Audience Profile: I think this magazine is aimed at teenagers and above due to the use of strong language. It is also targeted at rock and indie lovers however it tries to target a large range of audiences. I think this magazine is mostly aimed at the male gender howeever some of the articles inside it also appeals to  females.

Inside the magazine: The inside of the magazine fulfilled my expectation through the use of the rock bands and other rock related items. The articles also included information about giggs and festivals. The texts also keeps the same colour scheme of red white and black. The articles also had puns that helped attract attention for example "Panic Over!". This makes the reader want to know more about what this panic was all about. The use of large images also helps attract the readers eye. The use of informal and strong language, backs the point that this magazines is aimed at teenagers and older readers.

Advertisements: The advertisments that are included in this magazine are also linked to its genre. For example, it advertises musical instruments which is also associated to rock and indie. These advertisements also help attract readers. The magazine also advertises giggs and musc festivals.

Interactivity: This magazine interacts with its audience through advertisements such as the chance for a lucky reader to become an artist and record his or her own song. Furthermore, it also allows its readers send in their oppinions which is then published in the next edition of the magazine.


Kerrang Magazine

Front Cover: My first impression of this magazines front cover is that its very bright and has a colour scheme of blue, white and black. I also noticed that the texts have been purposely placed around the image to ensure that it doesnt block the images as well as makes the text visible for all to see. The help of the bright colours also help attract its reader. The large masthead has a black background visible enough for all to see to also help catch the readers eye. The image of the lady also helps appeal to the different genders and not only one. The use of the pink mixed with the text also shows that the magazine appeals to the different genders. It also tries to get the female readers invloved as the texts are about valentines day.

The conotation of the pink text would be love. The denotation of the large image is a man pointing at the camera how ever, the conotation could be that the man is pointing at the reader in the sense persuading them to buy this magazine.

Audience Profile:  I think this magazine is aimed at older reader and older teenagers as it includes a lot of strong languge. It is also targeted at the hardcore rock/indie lovers, however, a section of the magazine includes an R 'n' B artist, meaning they also try to attract a range of audiences.

Inside the Magazine: The inside of the magazine doesnt follow the same colour scheme as the front cover. There were alot of image as well as texts. There are more texts than image on some pages and the opposite on othe pages. Some articles were of interviews with rock bands. This also helps attract its audience as they like to know what their favourite bands interests are. There is also a lot of strong language in the articles showing that they are free to speak their mind.

Advertisements: There are advetisements of  guitars and other musical instuments that are related to rock/indie.

Comparisons

Both of the magazines have their similarities and their differences, for example they both use the same technics to try and attract their audiences. These different technics include the use of colours, images, texts and advertisements. It is also obvious that both the magazines are mostly targeted at the rock and indie population. A difference between the magazine could be that the "NME" magazine follows a colour scheme all the way through the magazine, whilst the "Kerrang" magazine doesnt. Both the magazines also have their ways of interacting with their readers. Some of these methods are similar whiles some arent. A similar method that both magazines use to interact with their readers are the advertisments.  

School Prospectus Pictures (Pleminary task)

In todays Media lesson, I was asked to take some pictures that I might use for my School prospectus as i missed the media lesson before due to a school event. Whiles taking these pictures, I kept in mind the use of different camera angles and the effect that they give in an image. I also thought about the mise en scene of the images. I took a large variety of pictures that may or may not be included in my final prospectus. Some of these images included the different facilities that St Marks has to offer. It also included pictures of students in their natural learning environment. These pictures have been posted below.

Home work ( Magazine Analysis)

This is the Gaurdian weekend magazine. The masthead is posted at the top left hand side of the front page. As there isnt a lot of text on the page, your eyes get drawn straight to the only texts on the page. This is the Mast Head, the issue date and the play on words at the bottom of the page.

The issue date allows the reader to know when the magazine was published into the shops. The Mast head also  advertises the company name, and the play on words at the bottom of the page helps attracts its readers. For example the use of the phrase "HITTING BACK", in bold letters will automatically get the reader thinkng and wanting to know more.

At first glance, it seems like a plain simple looking magazine. This allows the reader to focus only on the image in the centre. In this case an image of the R n B artist Rhianna. The use of the image will help appeal to the artists fans, therefore persuading them to get the magazine.
As an improvement, i would suggest putting the price of the magazine on the front cover. I would also suggest more images and text as this would help appeal to a larger range of audiences. Personally, I find this front cover too boring. Keeping this in mind, i will make sure that i make my front cover look explosive and alive with information.

Textual Analysis of Quad and Newman

In todays media lesson, We were given two front covers of university prospectus as well as our own schools prospectus. We were asked to analyse all three of them, talking about the colour schemes, texts, images and how they targeted their audience. There were a number of differences and similarities in both the Queen Mary University and Newsman University.

St. Marks Catholic School

My first impression of the St Marks prospectus is that its a multi cultural and catholic school. This is shown through the different images on enthic groups. The large logo also has a cross in the middle to represent the catholic side.  The images attract the readers eye through the use of bright colours and large font sizes. I also find that the images blend very well with the text. The prospectus is aimed at Parents adn students.

Newman University

With this University there were a lot of informative language, good use of images and text. The front cover also included the issue date and Logo. Although the images seems confusing, they link to the text somehow. For example the image of the little boy playing a game links to the rhetorical question at the bottom of the page. The bold White Mast head, helps attract the attention of the reader as well as inform its audience of the name of the University. Some of the Advantages in this prospectus includes the good use of images, texts and also the use of the issue date as this informs the reader of when the prospectus came out. However some of the Disadvantages includes the use of dull colours. I also think that the the front cover looks too busy with images. This takes the attention away from the text information. For an improvement, it could do with brighter colours and less images. The images also needs to be linked to the texts more effectively. The logo on the top right  hand side of the page could also be enlarged.

QUAD University

With this prospectus, the first image that catches the eye is the large logo. Underneath the logo is the issue date and the name of the magazine. The first impression that you get from this front cover is that its a multicultural university. This is due to the images of the different ethnic graduates that are used. There is also some text information next to some of the images. This informs the reader of some of the courses that are available.

Another key point is the image of Queen Mary. As this links to the name of the university, " Queen Mary University of London".  There is also the use of an olden day picture and a modern day picture. This helps show the contrast between the two and shows how the University has changed over the years. A disadvantage would be lack of text. There isnt enough text on the page to inform its reader of what is in the prospectus. The images also look too untidy and easily made. It looks like its been made by a 5 year old as the images dont blend together very well but instead looks like a copy and paste. However I do like the good use of colours. As an improvement, I think the name of the university should be a lot larger.

Overall, I find the QUAD University more attractic and eye catching. I find it less confusing and appeals to its targeted audience a lot better than the Queen Mary University. The Queen Mary prospectus looks too messsy and not well laid out.

Preliminary task introduction

In todays lesson, we were told what our preliminary tast was going to be. Our task was to design the front cover and contents page of a schools prospectus.

We were asked to focus on ideas such as:

• The target audience- Aimed at parents and students.
• Images- Maybe images of perfectly dressed smiling students
• Language- The use of Formal or Informal language or the use of persuasive and informative language.
• Contents
• Logos and colour schemes- The use of bright attractive colours.
• And finally means of attracting the targeted audience- through the mention of rewards schemes such as school trips.

We also looked at things that may help improve our front cover such as the use of different camera angles, the use of persuasive phrases and many more. We also looked at  front covers of past pupils. I found this lesson very helpful as it gave me ideas on what i might include in my own front cover and also what worked and what didnt.

Editing Photo

In todays media lesson, we had to edit our nature pictures that we took earlier using photoshop. On the left is one of the original pictures that i took using a camera. In this blog i will be showing a step to step guide on how I edited my picture. 

To start with my editing, I decided that my picture needed a more brighter natural colour to it. I decided to go for a brighter green to brighten the atmosphere. To do this, First i clicked on the enhance button at the top of the page and then adjust colour. Then colour variations. This allowed me to choose from a range of colours for my picture.

I also added a fish to my image so that it didnt look empty. To do this, first i had use the magnetic lasso tool to crop the picture of a fish out of it original image.

 

After doing this, I was now able to move the croped section to my nature background.

 I also added text to my front cover. This text informed my viewers of what the name of my magazine was and also informed them of what was inside. To add add text, First I click on the text button. After I did this, I could then manipulate the direction on my text. For example, icould make it curvy or vertical.

Finished front cover