PRELIM TASK: Evaluation

EVALUATION:

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

I have slightly made my magazine different by not using real media products such as angle of gaze showing a turn of real media convention. I have done this to make my magazine more unique and look different from other magazines on the shelf so therefore it would stand out more as it would be the only one not looking into the readers’ eyes. Another convention would be that I didn’t try and cover up some blemishes on the model or things that would be considered a ‘fault’ in the medias eyes as my research shows that 14-18 year olds would like a more natural, realistic look rather than us sticking ideas into their minds of this sort of impossible perfection that they will need to achieve, it’s better to show them the reality of models that you can be stylish with whatever ‘faults’ you have.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

The programme I used the most was Photoshop, I mainly used the fonts on there as it was already efficient enough for my magazine cover as I wasn’t trying to do anything to ‘word art’ as some may call it. Throughout planning I looked to the internet such as Google Images for inspiration and ideas on what to do with my magazine front cover, and in terms of research I selected a few other students throughout the brief age range to show what they would look for in a fashion magazine front cover.

What will you look to improve on for your NEA?

I would like to use my time more efficiently so that way I can have spare time to work on other small details like the magazine cover itself or the research so I can educate myself more on what to do to meet the standards of the brief. I’d also like to make my magazine more unique this time around so It can have its own house style which will make it unique.

What have you learned about yourself from this process?

I learnt that I can be creative about some things and I’ve also learnt a lot of patience as I’ve learnt that it is needed when making the cover, especially when one of the Photoshop tools bug you, overall I’ve enjoyed the task immensely and cannot wait to do it again.

PRELIM TASK: Flat Plan

PRELIM TASK: Research into fashion photography

PRELIM TASK: Fashion magazine moodboard

Every magazine has its similarities and differences and has its own thing that makes it unique to its company brand. All these magazines are fashion magazines but clearly look different and unique to themselves. For example the differences between DAZED and Vogue, Vogue has a much more classy, mature style showing professionalism while looking sleek, neat and stylish whereas DAZED is showing a much more bad, 'cool' vibe with a less classy model and style but rather a more 'biker' vibe. Both magazines are fashion magazines and yet they have many differences which make them unique to their brand.

PRELIM TASK: Research Rationale

Research Rationale:

For my upcoming fashion magazine, I plan on producing a magazine aimed at teenagers from the ages 14-18. My magazine will be based off of some popular fashion choices that most teens use today in order to get my magazine to appeal to their age range in the best way possible. In order to achieve my goals I will have to carry out some research regarding the magazine. I would have to start out with Quantitative research in order to see where my magazine is aiming to be at. I will conduct this through things like a focus group where I can get honest opinions and ideas on what to do for my magazine and got into more detail at what I'll be aiming for unlike surveys which don't give you as much dept as you'd hope to have. As I'm currently in a school where I have access to the age range 14-18 this will be easy to conduct.

Although focus groups seem much better than surveys, surveys can also be really effective. Not only is it anonymous which helps people give much more honest and realistic opinions/ideas/judgement but its a much faster and easier way to get the information you need. Most surveys however may be worded in a specific way in order to get the person who is doing it to answer in a particular way. With these results I shall make them into things like graphs, tally charts and so on so that way I can analyse the end result and data and see things like the statistics and where I can go on from that point.

For Qualitative research, I will choose a handful of people that range from the ages of 14-18 and ask them a handful of questions on camera and have it recorded so I can later re-watch it when deciding the final ideas for my magazine and seeing what the people actually want in a fashion magazine that would make them buy it. Some problems could occur since a 14 year old could have completely different fashion sense compared to an 18 year old so we would need a balance in the middle.

The resources I will need for my research would be a camera, access to the internet and people to interview, all of which I have and therefore will be able to carry out my research in order to find out what is the best for my fashion magazine and how to make it appealing to my target audience.

PRELIM TASK: Magazine Typography

These are just a few of some of the biggest names in fashion magazines, most being household names such as VOGUE and Vanity fair and so on. Some being less popular and known but still having a place in the industry as a magazine. Many magazines use a variety of fonts and colour based off either what they believe in, who they are trying to appeal to and the target audiences eye they are trying to attract. Some may represent the fashion they are trying to represent which lets us interpret the age group they are trying to aim at.

PRELIM TASK: Introduction to Prelim

 

Introduction to Prelim:

What have I been tasked to do?

We have been assigned a task where we have to plan, organise and create a fashion magazine cover and contents page for a target audience between the ages of 14-18, we'll be posting the process of creating our magazines on our blogs.

What am I excited about towards the brief?

I am excited to work with the different media forms in order to create a piece that will attract others attention and have a learning experience as to what people want in general and what the media wants people to see and represent themselves as. 

What are my worries or concerns?

My worry is that my magazine doesn't come out how I had hoped and imagined it to be and that it doesn't represent what it is aiming for which is to attract a certain target audience based on fashion on their years. 

What am I hoping to achieve from this task?

I am hoping to achieve more knowledge and all together a learning experience from this task, if I make mistakes along the way I hope to learn from them and improve any future projects based off of this one and any regrets I may have along the way.

What are my initial ideas for the magazine?

My idea is to have something sleek, simple and unique but also eye catching and a front cover that would make you want to read and see what is inside it.

The Media Theoretical Framework and the Nine Media forms.

The Media Theoretical Framework & Media Forms:

There are nine different forms of media, these can vary from actual hard copies of media to the access of media through the internet. The nine media forms are:

• Film
• Magazine
• Newspaper
• Video games
• Radio
• Advertising and Marketing
• Music Videos
• Television Media

These are the media forms in our daily lives, whether it be an actual newspaper in your hand or the exact same paper but instead without an actual hard copy of it, you can access the newspapers website and read everything from there.

The Media Theoretical Framework is within these nine media forms, the framework is made up of 5 different areas.

Media Representation:

Media representation is different components being shown through media, these components for example are, ethnicity, age, religion and ability/disability. Media representation is the way media portrays certain things as listed above, its a way of sharing ideas with others and beliefs, learning things you may have not previously known before and using this as a way to gain knowledge and new beliefs, religion may use this as a way to spread their faith for example. Media representation can also be portrayed in a stereotypical view point, for example how all black people who wear hoodies are automatically in things like 'gangs' or if a terrorist attack takes place and it is automatically blamed on Muslims as that is what the media conveys therefore Media Representation can either be seen as good or bad.

Media Audience: 

Media audience is the type of media forming a target audience to reach out to and catch the attention of, for example magazines, the content inside it which is named through cover lines could attract a certain audience which may also depend on the age group, it will also depend on who is on the front cover, the person on the front cover may be a person who attracts a certain target audience, for example someone like Ariana Grande, her music reaches a certain target audience which is around pre-teens, so if she were to be on a magazine cover, it'd most likely be directed towards that audience.

Media Industry:

Media Industry is sharing the production, publication and distribution of media texts. There are different types of industries such as 'Traditional Media' or 'Old Media', these were given to industries that were made before the internet came along, things like print, television, computer games and radio are given these names and so on. Another industry is called 'New Media' which is mostly made up of things from the internet that we use in our daily lives, such as websites and apps and thinks like social media. New Media can be accessed through any device that has access to internet, such as smartphones or computers. The Media Industry is business, it is used to represent companies or new programmes on the internet, in order to help the company progress through things like ads or social media accounts. Also sponsoring people who have made names for themselves through the media, such as big celebrities with a massive following, normally they will be sponsored through companies for them to spread awareness about this company and what they do.

Media Context:

Media context is the 'background' of media, these can conclude of things like economics, political, social, political, cultural media etc. These are portrayed in different ways, they can be embedded in things like advertisements to show a 'hidden meaning' behind the message they are trying to display or what they are trying to sell, or it could be a hidden view point and what the company agrees with. For example, media such as newspapers could express how they feel on political news. Some may be happy with what the government are doing at the moment and could express it through their newspaper headline, on the other hand another newspaper could think the opposite and also express it through media context in things like the main image or headline.

Media Language:

Media Language is the way Media is constructed or put together to create meaning for their audience. As an example, a woman could be wearing all white on the cover of a magazine which could connote that this woman shows purity and a sort of angelic atmosphere as white is normally seen as a quite pure colour seen on things like angels. This could show the audience that the person on the front cover is quite kind hearted as angels are seen as 'good'. They use media language to get a message out to people for whichever reason they need to, whether it is to buy something or endorse something.

This is the Media Theoretical Framework and it's nine forms and how it all links together.

-Sophia E.

PRELIM TASK: Analysing a VOGUE magazine front cover.