What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product.

                                                    

The first thing that i have learnt about technologies from making my magazine is the ease of using a digital SLR Canon camera. This has shown me how much easier it is to use digital cameras, keeping photos and deleting the photos you do not want instead of printing off 28 photos and having to scan in the photos that you like. Another way of printing out photos was by doing it in a dark room this was a long process and took too much time, time that we do not have when making a making a magazine.Using a digital camera added ease to the whole process allowing me to look at the photos that i have taken making sure the lighting is appropriate and if not deleting the unwanted photos.
Search engines have contributed hugely to making my magazine look professional. Those allowing me to look up already established magazines and taking inspiration from them. Things like YouTube have also helped me to make my magazine come together; YouTube helped me when I was unsure how to do things on Photoshop tutorials allowed me to do things without my teachers help. Also search engines allowed me to compare other magazines to my own, seeing what I have missed out and allowing me to make my magazine look as professional as possible.
Photoshop is the programme that i used to make my magazine this is a bit of technology that professional magazine companies use to make their magazines. This programme is something that i have learnt to use over the years of taking media. This technology makes it easy to make a magazine and make it look professional and artistic. The brushes and text tools are things that i have used in my magazine on my front cover, both double page spreads and contents page. At times using Photoshop was difficult but the outcome has been better for using the programme. In Photoshop i used the cutting out tool, played with the levels of photos changing the lighting of them. Downloading fonts allowed me to make my magazine look unique and add a certain image to it. I was allowed to do whatever i wanted on my magazine but keeping within the guide lines of a conventional music magazine.
I would not have been able to make my magazine without technology. Technology has come so far since printing out photos in a dark room and scanning them into a computer. Technology like digital cameras has allowed us to make magazines and newspapers within hours and Photoshop allowing us to edit photos and change the appearance of things. Technology plays such a huge part in the media industry, filming, photography, magazines and newspapers. Without technology like photoshop and digital cameras i would not of been able to make my magazine.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at my preliminary task it is clear that i have gained more skills in Photoshop. The qualities of the photos that i have taken are far better than the ones that were in my preliminary task. The first main thing that you notice is the background of the images, some were taken in Brighton on the beach with the sea in the background and some taken in school with a plain white backdrop with special lighting effects to make them look more professional.
The text on the preliminary task is simple and boring it is not eye catching to the reader at all. The text that i have used on my final draft is eye catching and is a font that i have downloaded from the internet. I have used a backdrop on most of the pieces of texts to make it stand out from white background. The downloaded font on my final draft is very different front my preliminary task it is different and adds a unique feel to the magazine.
The colour used in my preliminary tasks is very different to the final draft. The colours were boring and didn’t really match. Unlike, the colour scheme that i have chosen for the final draft. The colour scheme is bright and eye catching, with selected parts of the magazine with bursts of colour. A lime green is the colour that has been chosen for the magazine front cover, both double page spreads and the contents page. By choosing the colour green for my final draft and not using the colour purple like did in my preliminary task it allowed the magazine to be attractive to both men and women. Also the green is better and suites the ‘indie’ look instead of the purple being more something you would associate with a pop or girly magazine.
The Photoshop skills that i have gained whilst making my magazine have come along since making my preliminary task. I have learnt how to change an image by changing the levels of the image. Finding another way to cut out images, changing the opacity of boxes and images, changing images into black and white. Also downloading texts and inserting them into my magazine making it look sophisticated and professional.
I believe that i have become more creative in the way that i look at things. Placing things in different places and playing around with colours, texts and images to find what looks best. Gaining Photoshop by looking at tutorials on youtube and fronter has helped me to do this. This therefore meaning that i do not have to ask for helped a lot of the time and can get on with things that i need to do with my magazine.

     

Audience Feedback.

Contents Page Construction

This is a step by step video of how i made my contents page, this is the page with the most layers as it has a lot of text and images on it. All of these have to have effects on them and colour changes to make them stand out and eyecatching to the reader.

Front Cover Construction

This is a video of my front cover being constructed. I have used a programme called cam studio to show how i made my contents page, front cover and 2 double page spreads. It shows how i have made all of the documents layer by layer allowing you to see what i have used to make it and how it has been structured.

Main Double Page Spread

This is my second double page spread, this is the one with the article on it and the interview of one artist from the band. This includes a funny image from my photoshoot, i feel that the more fun the image is then my target audience will feel comfortable and relaxed. The colours that i have used have been on all of the pages that i have made, this makes it easier for my target audience to realise its all part of one magazine and makes it look more proffesional.

Introducing Double Page Spread.

This is my introducing double page spread, i have chosen to do it in black and white because i feel that the text stands out with it being a bright green. The image is very effective as it is a group of boys on a beach instead of one taken with a white backdrop.
Having two double page spreads is common to 'indie' music magazines as they want to use more images and introduce the band or artist that they are going to do an interview on.
My main article is just on one of the members of this band, this has been done before in other magazines and i think that it worked well because some people like one band member more than they actually like the whole band like Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys, this gives a chance for their fans to just listen to what they say instead of the whole band being interviewed.