In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
To capture the images I used for my contents and front page, I used a digital camera that the school provided for us. After collecting the images I required I used Photoshop to put them onto my front cover, and Quark Express for my contents page. To deviate from the normal conventions, my banner on my front page goes diagonally across the page. This is something I will change when it comes to my music magazine because it does not follow the codes and conventions and does not look good. Also, my masthead changes colour which also deviates from the codes and conventions, this will also have to be changed. My central image on my front cover is looking at the buyer of the magazine which is known as Direct Mode of Address. This is a technique used as it makes the customer feel that the person in the main image is looking at them and telling them to buy the product. This is a good technique to use when creating my music magazine front cover.
How did you use new media technologies in the constriction of your media product?
To create my front cover and contents page, I used Quark Express and Adobe Photoshop. In my opinion, Quark express is easier to use as it allows easier movement around the page rather than Photoshop. Although Photoshop does have some advantages i.e. colour schemes, styles of text and photo editing software, it is a lot more complicated to understand rather than Quark which is more simple and easy. Quark express is the software I will use for both my music magazine Contents page and Double Page Spread.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of both the product and your use of new media technologies?
One of the strengths of my product is that my main image on my front cover is direct mode of address which is a good technique to use as it captures the audience’s attention and almost speaks to them telling them to buy the product. A weakness is my banner on my contents page and the colour scheme. The colour scheme on my home page is light colours i.e. blue yellow and red, whereas on my contents it is a black background. This completely contrasts as the homepage is saying it’s a bright colourful magazine, whereas the contents page is much darker and perhaps is saying it’s not as a friendly magazine as the homepage may think. I also learnt how to use Photoshop and Quark as I have never used the software’s before. I felt I picked up how to use them quickly and easily enough and I am confident I will be able to use them for my music magazine easily enough. A strength I gained was the organisation of quark express and where to place things so they are all spaced out well and easy enough to read at a good size. A weakness I have is manoeuvring things round on Photoshop as I struggled to get some things in the right place that I wanted to.
