CCR - Compulsory question 4

 

CCR - Compulsory question 3

CCR question #3 (Youtube Link): 

https://youtu.be/oVxInnA2Wis

Transcript:

Hello everyone. I would like to welcome you all back to today’s business meeting. For those who don’t know me, my name is Devin Gacita. My candidate number is 0709 and my center number is US154. 

This meeting will be focused on answering the compulsory question #3 that the higher-ups at Cambridge have sent down to me. The question asks “How did your production skills develop throughout this project.”. For this meeting, I put together a brief timeline of the improvement in my production skills. Alright, let's begin everyone.

When I started out, I had no clue what I was doing at all. To solve this, the first thing I did was start learning how to use programs like Canva to help me start putting my ideas into the real world. I did this all the way back on September 6th, but the skills have helped me up to this day.

Then, by September 17th, I had learned about camera shots and angles. This includes their effects on an image and a little bit of practice taking these shots. These would later help me when taking pictures for my magazines

Using the rudimentary and unrefined knowledge that I had, I decided to make a preliminary magazine on October 4th. This helped me learn what I needed to work on and served as good practice for the final magazine.

Having analyzed my preliminary magazine, I took the next couple of months to research any other conventions of magazines that I was missing. This included things like house style, magazine design, demographics, etc. This information would later help me to create a more professional product

.

By January, I was starting to do market surveys, trying to find what my target market would be.

Finally, in February, I devoted all my effort and attention to creating my final magazine product. By the 5th, I had finished work on my feature article and by the 28th, I had finished the entire magazine.

In conclusion, all of the things I did throughout my time in the media studies class were all in preparation for creating my final magazine. This preparation is what developed my production quality into what it is today. Initially, I started out not knowing how to use important and relevant software, namely Canva. After figuring out how to use Canva, I then started learning about things like camera shots. This research later continued and evolved into my research blogs. In these blogs, I focused on learning about all the conventions of magazine production, improving my production quality. Additionally, you can clearly see the development in my production skills by comparing my preliminary magazine to my final one. In my preliminary, there were many conventions missing as I hadn't done much research yet. By the end, my magazine can be seen having all the necessary conventions and appears much more aesthetically pleasing for consumers.

I hope that this meeting will help you all and I thank you for your time.

CCR - Compulsory Question 2

CCR question #2 (YouTube Link): 

https://youtu.be/P6xx9gRXjb4

 Transcript:

Hi! My name is Devin Gacita. My candidate number is 0709 and my center number is US154. Today I will be answering compulsory question #2 as part of the Creative Critical Reflection for my AICE Media Studies class. 

Compulsory question 2 asks “ How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?”. This question is extremely important as a magazine’s audience and distribution are two of the cornerstones to its success.

To begin, I would like to focus on how my magazine engages with its target audience. My magazine is aimed towards fashion-savvy men between the ages of 16 to 25. I believe that these ages are often the most interested in fashion, a belief supported by my research and survey responses. To cater to this audience, my magazine has the more mature name of “Audax”, the Latin word for bold. Additionally, the fonts used throughout the magazine, like here in the table of contents and here in the double page spread, help to strengthen its refined and mature nature. Finally, the contents of the magazine all focus on things that would be important to the target audience. For example, the table of contents has articles such as “ 2024 Fashion Outlook” and “Custome Designed Shoes”. These articles, combined with eye-catching pictures, are what would ultimately engage my audience. This can also be seen in my final article, featuring an exclusive interview about the future of footwear.

As for the distribution of this magazine, let's go back to the cover. Here, you can see that there is a barcode and price on the bottom right of the magazine. This is an important feature because it means that my magazine could be sold in a variety of stores, such as supermarkets and gas stations. These are places that young adults would frequently pass by, increasing the chance that they see my magazine and buy it. Additionally, the table of contents has an advertisement for a monthly subscription to my magazine. This would help improve customer retention and allow my readers to stay up to date.

Thank you for your time.

CCR - Compulsory question 1

 

CCR #1 (Animaker link): 

https://app.animaker.com/video/AKOTZ24O8C6SGIFA

Transcript:

    Hello There! My name is Devin Gacita, candidate number 0709, and center number US154.

    Compulsory question #1: How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? Let's start with my magazine's use of conventions!

    Here's my magazine! Here you can see some of the conventions that I've followed. These include:

• a masthead with the magazine title, issue number, and the publication date.
• A main image that uses the rule of thirds
• shallow focus to create a blur in the background 
• a main article and description
• supporting articles and descriptions
• and finally, a barcode and price

You can even see just how similar it is to a real magazine! This is also true for my table of contents and double page spread.

    Now let's take a look into how my magazine represents social groups.

    My target audience is fashion conscious men between 16 and 25. In the world of fashion, men and their styles are underrepresented and often left on the sidelines. Because of this, I wanted to give young men a way to better develop their sense of style. Additionally, my feature article talks about the future of fashion. This could further help young adults develop their sense of style and find their place in the growing world of fashion.

    Thank you for your time!

    

Double Page Spread Analysis

In both double-page spreads, you can see a common style that persisted all the way to my final magazine. For example, the layout for the page numbers is very similar. Additionally, the position of the images on the side of the page is also a persistent detail. Finally, you can see the layout of the article itself as being somewhat similar in nature, having the title in the top left and using subheadings to divide the text. 

However, there are a few modifications that have made the final product significantly better. For starters, the fonts used in the article are much more sophisticated, catering more towards the audience of fashionable men that the final magazine is targeting. Additionally, I wanted the right edge that had the images to be less cluttered and have a more sophisticated and minimalist feel. Because of this, I used a single image to consolidate the audience's attention onto just one thing. This image is also taken from a low angle, allowing the audience to focus on the outfit and letting the model fade into the background sky. To achieve this, I added an image of an afternoon sky as the background of the article similar to what I did in the table of contents. 

As for the article itself, two major modifications stand out. The feature article title takes on a more minimalistic style, shifting away from the contemporary style of the preliminary magazine. This is done through the different font type, as well as how the title spreads across the entire page. The other major change is the introduction of quotes into the article. These quotes are clearly made to stand out, allowing the audience's eyes to follow the text better without losing interest in a bland and uniform article. This is a technique used frequently in many magazines and is something that I wanted to take advantage of. Finally, I added the name and picture of the person I interviewed, Bryan Penate, to the top of the article. This lets the audience build a connection to the person and understand their opinions better. 

Some things that I would like to improve on is bettering the transition between the background and the image. This would allow for a smoother shift in the audience's focus from the article to the image and back. Additionally, I would like to find a way to make the quotes in the article stand out even more. This could potentially be done through different fonts or colors. 

All in all, the improvements in my double-page spread are very notable and show just how much I've improved throughout this class.

Final Double Page Spread

 This is my final double-page spread for my magazine. It took a lot of work but I believe that this is the section that I've improved on the most!

Table of Contents Analysis

 

Similarly to my cover page comparison, there are many features that are shared between the two. The use of horizontal lines, as well as the addition of supplementary information that supports the article titles, are both features that persisted into my final product. However, there are still many changes that improved the final result.

For starters, I added more article titles and page numbers, making the magazine feel more completed. Additionally, I shifted around the positions of these article titles, making the table of contents feel less linear and holding the attention of the audience better. Additionally, the fonts have been changed substantially to cater towards the audience of more mature and fashionable men. Additionally, I made sure to add more relevant photos into the table of contents. This allows the audience to have more of a visual representation of what the articles are about, providing them more information and giving them something to look forward to when reading the magazine. I also added a line at the bottom that encourages readers to subscribe to the monthly magazine to get each issue directly shipped to them. This is more in line with what an actual magazine would have. Finally, I made the background on the table of contents into an afternoon sky. This makes the page look more interesting and attracts the attention of the audience

For all the good additions and modifications on the final table of contents, there are still many things that should be improved upon. For instance, the table of contents feels too cluttered. To negate this issue, I tried utilizing horizontal divider lines to separate all the information. However, I feel that the effect this provides isn't sufficient to fix the issue of feeling too cluttered. Also, the layout of the pictures should be modified to declutter the page and make it feel more minimalistic.

All in all, I feel that this is my weakest part of the magazine. I still need a lot more practice with making magazines and experimenting to be able to make a more satisfactory result.