Skill Building Project

I think we have effectively produced our project through forms of Cinematography, mise en scené, editing and sound. I also think that we effectively connoted the college as we wanted to. How ever In our main project next year I think more of my times should be spent on planning and creating idea's, maybe if I create idea's in a group and bounce Idea's off other people it may help the creativeness of the production.

Skill Building Project

This our video that we produced to help build our skills in video production and to re-formillorise ourselves with it.

Skills Building Project

I am planning to make a video that will advertise the college to possible applicants. This means my social target audience is school leaving aged kids. Through advertising the college I want to connote freedom, Enjoyment, Relationships and partying. This will be communicated through Cinematography, mise en scené, editing and sound.
I have a few preliminary idea's for filming and achieving my video's goal, to attract the attension of the audience. This idea's may develop as I progress with the project.

Evaluation of Main Media Coursework Project: Question 7

I feel I have learnt a great deal from the experience of my preliminary task. In my main project I have been much more aware of the audience, making the production of the main project more thought out as to who the target audience is. The audience has been given greater thought than that of the preliminary task as a result of the experience. The consideration of the target audience was largely helped by the planning of the project and research also helped me create a mental picture. Preparation was vital to my project because I needed to make sure that I had everything to work with (for example pictures etc) and organisation was also important to provide that I had what i needed, this is why I constructed a plan. I have also learnt how to create the appropriate mise-en-scene for the appropriate audience.

Evaluation of Main Media Coursework Project: Question 6

Though out my production of my project I have learnt about different technologies. Using new technology always requires experience, So before I begun my project I familiarised my self with the software. Although it required this investment, I found it was a safe investment. And the professional software has allowed me to do things that would have deemed near enough impossible with out it. For example I was able to wrap text around object by using a simple text box pen.

I have not only used software, I have also used a website called 'sideshare' in order to upload my slide show onto blogger, This website made the process much easier and quicker than finding an alternative way of uploading it onto blogger.

I have also experienced problems while using software. This meant I had to discover a way around this problem. One particular problem I faced was with the text to my masthead, I had downloaded a text from 'Dafont' and I used it in Photoshop but the text was protected against colour, this meant I had no way of changing the colour of the text. The best way I could get around this was by creating a new layer under the text and colouring in the bits needed.

I think that technology has provided me with the ability to make my project take on a professional look. And I think it has been a valuable resource in my Media coursework, without it I would not of had the aid that I could have had with other, non-professional software.

Evaluation of Main Media Coursework Project: Question 4 and 5

Media Cioursework

View more presentations from jamieg_235.

Evaluation of Main Media Coursework Project: Question 3

Evaluation of Main Media Coursework Project: Question 2

Every magazine represents a certain social group, and my magazine project is no different. The social group widely represented in my magazine is youth tallent and the young adult. The dominant representation of musical youth tallent is the notion of rebelion, noise and 'out there'. This has been ignored in the production of my magazine as I wanted this group to have a alternative representation. I wanted to representate young adults and musical youth tallent as mysterious but pleasent. I choose to adopt this idea to break sterotyping of this social group. I also choose this idea because if this magazine were to go on sale it could create an emerging ideology.

My magazine has represented the working class as intresting and connotes 'a second life', working during the day and becoming a completely different person in their own time. The current dominant ideology of this class is boring and they have a repetitive weekly schedual.

Evaluation of Main Media Coursework Project: Question 1

Research and Planning

I have researched various types of music making related magazines. One magazine I have found and researched is “Computer Music.” This magazine is about making and composing music using a computer.



The Front cover uses Bright colours of silhouetted musical instruments in front of a black background connoting fun, enjoyment and pleasure. This image of silhouetted instruments is clustered together in the bottom right hand side of the cover to connote the explosion of fun. The masthead is bright green to capture the reader’s attention. At the bottom of the page there are pictures and text related to the contents of the magazine. Sans Serif is the only text used on the magazine cover to connote modernism and new. Lots of space has been given to the page, there is minimal strap lines used and the only text that stands out at first glance is the mast head and cover lines, this gives the background image more room to stand out and makes the magazine cove look more simple and less cluttered, this gives the computer making ‘hobby’ connotations of simplicity and ease. The contents page uses a simple layout with pictures to back up article subjects, this page also uses other information on the magazine such as info on the freebie and info on subscriptions.












Many of the double page spreads involves step by step run-throughs giving screen shots and detailed info beneath, but a double page spread featured in the magazine is a detailed article on a band comeback, Eat Static. The first page presents a very large picture taking up two-thirds of the page, this picture is of one of the band members live at a gig using a control station. This picture connotes dedication, skill, adrenalin. The controlling of, what appears to be a huge and complicated control station connotes skill, complication and talent. Beneath the picture is the title of the band, this text has been coloured in with a static effect connoting static noises, madness and excitement. On the opposite page is a review of the band located at the bottom of the page, an interview on the left hand-side and a picture of another band member performing at a show. The interview consists of one question and is answered in great detail; this gives the read the ideology that they are getting to know the band and they are making a link with the band. The interview is presented like a “fact file” as it is providing thoughts of the band to the reader. In my double page spread I will use this concept of using one question and a detailed answer in a separate text box to the review.

Representation is used and is key through-out this and any magazine. Who the magazine represents and what connotations will be sent out will depend on the target audience it is trying to reach. And the wrong connotations will determine the altered target audience. The ‘Computer Music’ magazine represents Hobbyists as colourful people, enjoying the hobby of music making with passion and content. During the production of my magazine I will try to represent the ‘music making hobbyist’ as talented and passionate, I will emphasize these factors almost to extremes, but I will remain them to be represented at normal, down-to-earth people.

My target audience in my magazine will be the general music-making hobbyist (amateurs/beginners) and the intermediate readers. The front cover will be inducing and alluring to the beginner audience, making them interested in this potential hobby and it will help them to aspire and strive to further the hobby. But for the intermediate audience the magazine will be used as a comparison point and to read reviews of similar music makers.

During my intensive research I discovered various music making magazines; Future music, Making music, Total guitar, Drummer, Guitarist and Music Tech. Through this research I have come to a discussion that I want my music magazine to be specific to music Technology, similar to Future music, Computer music and Music tech magazines.

During my work and production of the magazine I will stick to a time scale. By the 2nd of February I will Have finished my Research and Planning, including research on various magazines, research on audiences and Rough working of the magazine. By the 13th of February I will have taken any main pictures that I need, for example the main sell for the front cover and pictures for the double page spread. On the 19th of February I will begin the main production of my front cover, contents page and double page spread. By the 27th of February I plan to have taken any additional, smaller pictures that will be used in the double page spread and with strap lines. By the 18th March my magazine production will be complete and I will commence evaluation of my production work, I plan to have this evaluation completed by 3rd of April.

choice of coursework

I have decided to do print production for my coursework. I have a few initial ideas taken from other magazines that I could elaborate into my magazine, such as the use of wraping text around an image on a double-page spread, using visual effects such as fading the edges of a image

Evaluation

In what ways does media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our media product uses conventions such as 180 degree rule during the dialog and Match on action as the talent walks through the door. Continuity editing is used with a cut away shot to comply with conventional media products. Our media product doesn't use the rule of thirds very well, because there is lots of dead space above the talents as we used a shot reverse shot.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our media product represents students as both weak and dominant towards their peers. The dominant ideology of bullying is presented in our product. It also represents students as 'truth benders' and liers.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
BBC3 would distribute our media product because our media product is targeted towards the younger generation and as I am aware, so is BBC3. Our media product is also drama/comedy based, I think BBC3 would be happy to broadcast a drama/comedy about college students.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for our media product would be the younger generation, possibly college age or maybe a bit younger.

How did you attract/address your audience?
We made our media production address our audience by making the product something they can relate to and they understand. But by putting a funny twist on it would attract the audience.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
While using Adobe Premiere Pro 2 I have learnt that editing technology has the power to take a simple recording, enhance it in some many different ways and chop up clips to produce an amazing piece of video. However this takes time and knowledge, the knowledge of what works and what attracts the viewer, and what make a true viewing experience. I have found that using the editing program is straight forward and simple, It is knowing how cover up small mistakes and making transitions match that is the truly hard part. I believe that the only way you can learn to edit effectively is from experience, and from my experience of this media product I have learnt a great deal of how to make transitions smooth, cover up mistakes and how to avoid mistakes by thinking about every aspect while recording.

Contents Page

Preliminary video

storyboard

180 degree rule and match on action

180 Degree rule
The 180 degree rule is astablished by a Master shot. From this shot you must astablish who is on which side of the shot.The line of interaction is simply the line in which they are making conversation. The camera must stay on the same side of the line of interaction as the master shot was taken, the camera can only cross the line of interaction if the shot shows the movement across the line.

Match on action
Mach on action is fluent editing from one angle/distance to another and possiably back.

Evaluation

Working with existing forms and conventions...(reworking the familiar)
How is your text similar to other magazines? How have you attempted to be original? Was this successful?

I have complied with the conventional magazine layout although I have attempted to be original by looking at other magazines and use similar idea's but to improve on them, such as rather than placing the barcode landscape on the bottom of the page, I have placed it on its side but I have not move it as it is the best place for it, as I think it is least noticed in this place. Without downloading different fonts, font types are limited because there are only so many font types preset onto the software, as I couldn't download any fonts I had to make to with the fonts already on the software. I though I successfully made my magazine cover look original.


Using technology...(creative tools)
How did the technology constrain/liberate you?
What difficulties did you face with the technology and how did you solve them?

Using a new piece of software was daunting, I found the software easy to use and I got a jist of how professionals edit pictures and magazines. I soon found that there were so many different things that I could do using the software but my skills were limited, where as the software was advanced on every level. As I did not know the In's and outs of the software I was constricted by my own abilities and knowledge of the software.

There were various difficulties we faced during our project. Our first draw back was encountered during the use of photoshop. We were attempting to use the stamp tool to remover the trees from behind the model, we had accidentally gone over the bottom of the cloud and it had made the cloud look a bit square and rough. We had to find away to make the cloud look more natural again, so we use the brush tool to make it look more fluffier, we had to lower the opacity as we dabbed the brush away from the middle of the cloud. We also encountered other difficulties such as when we were using quark EXpress we decided to place a circle in the top left hand corner but we wanted to keep a white boarder all the way round the magazine cover, to get rid of the unwanted half of the circle we used 2 text box's to layer over the top of the coloured circle.

Thinking about audience...(making meaning)Were you able to communicate to your audience effectively?

I though that I communicated to my audience effectively by connoting youth and freedom to the reader. I also used student preferences and general interests to incorporate it into my magazine cover, this is to try and communicate to the potential buyer of the magazine. The low price is to attract customers that are on a budget, as rival magazines such as music magazines are a slightly higher price. I think I have communicated to my audience effectively.

production schedule

2nd October - Take photo's of the model and start to use photoshop to edit our chosen picture.
3rd October - Finish any editing we started.
9th October - Start to input our picture and text into Quark EXpress, and finish.
10th October - Make our contents page.

We think we may find it difficult to think of some coverline that will grab the students attention, so we are going to observe other student magazines.

Our ideas for the magazine

The main picture of the magazine is going to be of a student in a MCU shot and a low angle shot of the student looking down. All that will be in the background is sky. this will connote to the reader youth and freedom as the sky is in the image.

How we will communicate theses connotations to our target audience

We are going to communicate these connotations mention in the previous post in different ways. We will use pictures as a way to communicate these connotations, for example we can use a picture of a young model in a area that will connote youth and freedom. We will also use text font as another way to communicate connotations, for example if we use 'soft' rounded letter for the masthead etc, we can connote a friendly image.

Connotations we will communitcate to the reader

As our readers will be students we will try and connote youth/teenagers and freedom. We have chosen to make our student magazine on Rock/pop music so it is crucial that it connotes Rock/pop music. We are also going to connote being friendly for males and females.

Target Audience

Our magazine is going to be targeted at Radicalists / Individualists. As it is a student magazine the age range is 16-19. Our magazine is going to be a music based magazine. From our research we have found that readers like to read about reviews and interview with bands, we have also seen that student readers like posters of bands and artists, therefore we are targeting our magazine at people who like to cover their bedroom walls in band posters. We have also seen that there has not been a specific gender target so we are going to aim our magazine at both genders, although it will not contain any girly horoscopes, etc.

Pop/rock and Indy/Alternative music will be the general theme. As this is the most popular types of music to students. We will also attract students from our low RRP as students may be finding it hard with money. We are going to include reviews of the latest films and DVD’s.

Research of student magazines

We have searched for student magazines using an search engine, we have found that the most popular student magazine is music magazines. So we are going to make our magazine in the music theme as well.