FMP - Evaluation

For the final major project of Year 1 Media we had to come up with our own ideas for a project in the area of media of our choice. I wanted to incorporate moving image, publishing and design into one project so I chose to make a photography and graphic based magazine - focused on creative young people - and a video advertisement to go alongside the magazine. I chose this pathway because I always enjoyed using photoshop and shooting/editing videos in lessons over my past year of study at college. I also have a passion for youth culture and creating things (being a 'YouTuber' and musician myself) so I thought that creating something like this would be ideal for me.

I was very pleased with my final design, and I felt that it stayed true to how I wanted it to end up when I first listed it in my Statement of Intent and Project Proposal. If I were to name its strengths, I'd say that the magazine and advert together had a consistent style throughout, giving the project identity and making it seem neat and professional. The magazine also had some really brilliant content giving an intriguing insight into some of the work and creativity that goes on in young peoples brains. The advertisement I thought had a very attention catching style to it and I thought that this made it effective as a piece of work to promote the magazine. I also thought that the final magazine worked well as a product, which I was reassured by from my survey results, with 100% of the participants claiming they'd consider purchasing it. Lastly, I think that it followed a consistent colour scheme which made the magazine match the retro style and look visually appealing.

As for weaknesses in my final production, there are a fair few mistakes which could be improved on if I decided to further develop this idea and make it a real product for people to buy. Firstly, the magazine is only 24 pages long (including the cover pages) which is fairly short for a magazine. If this were to be a product available to buy I don't think consumers would see much value for money in it. If given a longer time to produce the magazine I think I could really prosper in making it have a lot more depth and content. Another weakness in the product would be small errors in the magazine such as spelling and grammar mistakes which can be seen in the printed version. The changes are made in the digital version however to improve on this I would have made sure to get a lot of feedback or even just a proof read of the magazine to ensure it was of high quality before sending it off to print. As for the weaknesses of the advertisement I thought that it could have included a bit more information about the magazine which it is trying to sell, as I focused more on the visual aspects of it as opposed to the commercial aspects. This was made clear to me by the results of my survey of the advert.

The main idea for my theme was to make a magazine about creative young people and make sure that it looked visually appealing and had a retro, 80's/90's style throughout. As for the advert I wanted to effectively promote the magazine whilst at the same time make a stylish video which was timed to music and followed the same theme as my magazine. A main influence for the design and layout of my magazine would be "iD Magazine" & "Dazed" as both of these magazines take inspiration and replicate retro themes and styles in their publications, as well as focus on topics similar to those I wanted to focus on. I looked at these magazines during my research which helped me shape my magazine. I think I stuck to this theme well throughout the project.

When doing research & experimentation for my project I explored different design & layout techniques, camera settings, cameras and video editing techniques which helped me gain a better understanding of all of these things. It also inspired to me to shoot some film photos for my magazine which supported the old school style. Exploring camera settings also meant that when shooting the advert and photos on a DSLR I had a full understanding of how it worked and could adjust it to make it look exactly how I wanted. Lastly, looking at different video editing techniques and comparing an old camera to a superimposed old camera effect helped me shape how my whole advertisement looked and led towards me getting an authentic 80's style ad.

If I were to compare my magazine to iD magazine, the main difference would be the length of the two as iD magazine is a commercial product and has many people working on it as opposed to one. This obviously makes it have more content. Also my magazine focuses a lot more on unique layouts and design features and is a lot more colourful than iD, which is fairly monochrome based a lot of the time. The similarities would be the quirky styles they both follow, the retro design schemes and the focus on fashion, photography and music. If I started up 'Carpe Noctem' as a real magazine and a brand I think that it would work effectively in the market alongside magazines like 'iD'.

I developed most in this project when experimenting in post production in the programs Photoshop and Premiere Pro. In these programs I was able to mess around with many different layouts, fonts and colours to see how things looked when certain things were added, taken away or altered. Premiere Pro allowed me to really go mad with the advertisement and add various effects to the clips I shot to achieve the exact style I wanted.

When I shared this project with my peers I was proud to show them what I had created and I wanted to hear what they had to say about it - both good and bad things. I liked the fact that they could have a physical thing to hold and look through (the magazine) and I think that most of my peers really enjoyed it as it's aimed at that age group. I also liked showing the magazine to peers and was happy to hear their feedback on it and gain their approval of it. Their feedback helped me develop the project further and add finishing touches.

If I could change something about this project I would make the magazine longer and make sure it had more content. Over a longer period of time to produce it I would be able to do this. By making the magazine longer I would really be able to develop it by adding more topics, photographs and maybe even drawings or cartoons.

Looking back on my statement of intent I'm happy to say that I mostly stuck to it and completed everything that I aimed to do. I changed some of it due to the initial survey I did about what content I should include, which meant cutting out the topic of skateboarding completely from the magazine. The advert stayed pretty much identical to how I described it in my statement of intent and pitch. One thing that developed was the length of the magazine, as I initially only planned it to be 18-20 pages long. Reflecting on my pitch I'd say that my view on the project has cleared up a lot. At first everything was very unorganised in my head but as I continued with the project I had a clearer view of what had to be done and was able to effectively create a final project. It went a lot better than I expected it to and I'm incredibly pleased with the result. Next time the only thing I'd do would be to give myself more time in production in order to make the magazine longer and include more text, topics and photographs.

FMP - Product Assessment

Focus Group

After completing production, I set out to assess my product. I did this in the form of questionarres and a focus group. Below is the focus group I recorded:

From this I found that my magazine was appealing to the audience I interviewed which were all part of my target demographic (teenagers/young adults). They all liked the style featured and thought that it fitted the retro style I aimed for. Their criticisms were the spelling & grammar, and the fact that there weren't page numbers. (Because of this I went through and changed the grammar in the digital version that can be found on my brief).
Also from this I discovered that the advertisement was effective and the style stayed consistent to match the magazine. The advertisement was effective because most said they would buy it or consider buying it which I thought was good.

Magazine Survey

To get a more in depth insight from a range of ages and genders, I created two surveys to get feedback about the magazine and the advertisement. This is the survey about the magazine:

I sent this survey to the Tempa Media facebook group and my friends & family, receiving a total of 38 responses. The majority of people who took the survey were 24 and under, with only 15% being over 30. This however meant most results I got were from my target demographic.

The first question I asked in this survey was "What was something you liked about this magazine" and most of the responses I gained mentioned either the layout, interviews or photographs.

I was happy with these results as when I started out with this project I described that I wanted to 'encorporate photography & design into one product' and 'speak to creators/find out about what they do' in my Statement of Intent. It was also pleasing to see that people found it creative and inspiring, and gave them opportunity to find out about different artists.

Next I asked "Were the topics it focused on interesting to you?" and the majority of the answers were a yes. Some individuals answered things like "Not sure", "Somewhat" and "Interesting but not very relevant to me", but after reviewing the answers individually it was made apparent that these results were from the older participants. From this I found that this magazine was appealing but only to the target audience. If I wanted to make this magazine more accessible to a wider range of people I could consider changing the content to make it more interesting for all ages.

Another question I asked was "Do you think the ratio of photos to text was appropriate?" and from this I got similar answers which led to to make amendments to the magazine. Again most of the answers were yes's, but a fair few commented on the end pages which featured photography and collages but no text for context, which I didn't realise until getting the survey results. Because of this I added some descriptions to the photographs and collages at the end, which can be seen in the digital version of the magazine of the magazine on my brief.

I also asked if there was anything that could be improved about the magazine. A lot of people commented on the length i.e. make it longer, which I would do if I had more time and went on to make this into a professional brand or product. Another common answer was the simplicity of the title pages for 'Art', 'Music', 'Fashion' etc. and how they could have been made more interesting by including colour or some more design assets. 

All 38 individuals who answered this survey said they would consider buying the magazine, which suggested that it does well as a product and contains intriguing content as well as impressive design and photography.

 3 out of the 38 individuals (~8%) said they would prefer it as a digital product. The majority said that they would prefer it as print because they like to have a physical thing that they can hold and something to show for the money they've payed, which tells me that if I were to sell this magazine as a product, I should sell print copies rather than digital for it to be successful.

By carrying out this survey I was able to get a wide range of results telling me useful information about my final product which helped my improve some things about it and gain knowledge on how it would do as a real product.

Advertisement Survey

After creating the video advertisement for my magazine, I made a short survey using Google Forms to get a wide range of feedback on it. Below is the survey:

I also sent this survey to the Tempa Media facebook group and my friends & family, this time I only received 17 responses. 3/4 of the people who answered were up to 24 and the rest were 30-50-year-olds. This meant most people answering were part of my target demographic. There was a fairly even balance of male to female too.

After getting the individuals to watch the advertisement I asked some questions about it. The first question asked "What did you like about the advert" and most said the colours and music. In my statement of intent & pitch at the beginning of this project I stated that I'd like the advert to be stylised, retro, have heavy editing and be timed to timed to music and I think it lived up to this. The answers show that the audience thought this too.

When asked what could be improved on the advert the people answering the survey said that it was a bit fast at parts therefore being hard to read, and more information should have been included. If I were to make another advert for the magazine I would make sure that the text lasted on screen a bit longer, however this advertisement isn't actually trying to sell a product as it's just a mock advertisement. It's more of a stylised video to go alongside the magazine and it's theme rather than something trying to sell it.

Another question I asked was if the retro style worked well and all answers claimed they liked it. This is good because I chose the style to be retro for its visually appealing, nostalgic nature as well as its similarity to the magazine theme. This links back to how I first described the advertisement at the beginning of this project and the style has worked very well.

The last question I asked people was "Does the advert make you want to buy the magazine?" and only 60% of people said yes. This shows that if the magazine were a standalone product more people would be inclined to buy it than if it had an advert to go alongside it. I found this interesting and it has made me consider the effectiveness of the advertisement as a sales promoter. Maybe a video promoting the magazine or giving information about the magazine would be more effective than a commercial advertisement.

From assessing my products I was able to get a lot of helpful insight from an audiences perspective as opposed to my own, which has helped me improve it further.

FMP - Production

Carpe Noctem Magazine

Open publication - Free publishing

Carpe Noctem Magazine - Advertisement


Carpe Noctem Website (Mockup)

http://carpenoctemzine.bigcartel.com/

FMP - Development

For the production of my Final Media Project I planned to make a short magazine based on youth culture (more specifically music, art & fashion) and a 30 second advertisement to promote it. I aimed to print the magazine so it could be presented as a physical publication rather than digital.

I wanted my magazine and advert to pastiche retro 80's/90's style and design, so I made a moodboard in pre-production to try and show the 'look' I was going for. I aimed to make sure I kept to this style throughout production. 

Magazine Development

Front Cover

To start off with my magazine production I referred to the flatplan I made during pre-production and began to create the magazine page by page in Photoshop. For each single page I opened a new document in Photoshop and selected the preset 'International Paper > A5'. For double page spreads I made a document like this but doubled the width.

I started with the front page, which I planned to include the title and a photograph. I came up with many different names, and whittled them down to three: 'Creators', 'Carpe Noctem' and 'Youth'. I decided on 'Carpe Noctem' meaning 'seize the night' because I liked the twist on Carpe Diem and thought that it was unique.
After coming up with this name I set out with the front page. At first I wanted it to just be a solid colour with a title:

I tried this with a few different colours and fonts, but thought this looked a bit boring and bland, because there was a lot of dead space. I therefore decided to replace the solid colour with a photograph. I used some photographs I shot on film on a sunny day which had nice colours and retro undertones thanks to the film photography. Through my experimentation with 35mm film I was able to develop my design for this front page and choose fitting images.

I liked the flame font from before as I thought it gave off a real 90's aesthetic, so I stuck with it. After trying a few different photographs I stuck with this one:

I chose this one because the white text looked good against the blue sky and effectively stood out. The photograph makes for an appealing front cover due to the yellow flowers complimenting the deep green tones from the leaves and the light blue sky. The light clouds also match the title colour. My view of the colours was helped by my research on colour theory.

Title Pages

After my primary and secondary research I drew some conclusions as to what I should include my magazine and how it should be laid out. One thing I discovered from my research was the effectiveness of splitting the magazine into sections, giving each different section a title page, similar to iD magazine. I wanted to go for a font similar to the one used on the front page, and also wanted it to be simple. In the end I decided with a black, flame style font on a white background. I liked the font because it looked hand drawn and as if it had something more than just a title. It made it look more interesting. Here are a few examples of the final title pages I made:

One problem I ran into when creating these pages was making sure that the letters all lined up seamlessly so it looked neat and hand drawn. I did this by adjusting the tracking in the character window of photoshop as shown. 

Interview Pages

Most of the content in my magazine is interview based. It has four interviews in total and they all follow a similar design pattern as I wanted to magazine to be neat and uniform. I went about doing these interviews by getting in contact with the people and asking if they were willing to be interviewed, then I came up with a list of questions and asked them. 

Two of the interviews I did were recorded and typed up (Aiden May and Ben Coleman) and the other two took place in messages online. For Aiden and Ben's interviews I printed out the questions, and recorded me asking them with the answers using a Zoom H4N microphone borrowed from college. I could then listen back to this and type it up into photoshop. For Reuben Robinson and Cale Labbe's interviews, I sent them the questions one by one over email and copied and pasted the responses into photoshop.

As far as design goes for the interviews I used rulers in photoshop to split the page into two, then from this created columns for the text to go in. This made it look neat and uniform. For the type in the interviews I decided to use the same retro looking font throughout to fit in with my theme. 

To differentiate the questions from the answers, I made the text of the questions bold. After typing up the interview, I was able to make spaces for images because of the text being bound to a box. I was able to press enter making breaks in the type to make room.

When adding the images to the interview, I made sure they all had around the same colour scheme and that they were related to the interview so that it looked uniform, visually appealing and nothing clashed. As an example I'm using the double page spread interviewing Aiden May. I shot the photographs of Aiden on film in London with him, and took photos showcasing him and his clothing pieces, because the interview focuses on fashion and Aidens involvement in it. I also made sure that when choosing the photos I used the ones with prominent greens, browns and skintones.

From the whole roll of film I chose to use the portrait of him outside the shop as I thought this image was stylish and introduced the subject well. I also chose the photograph of his shoes as these are the pair he mentions just above the image on the page. Lastly I used the photograph of him walking in the tunnel as it had the same colours as the other two photos and fitted nicely over half of the page. It also shows Aiden with shopping bags which I thought was fitting.

Magazine Layout

When compiling the rest of my magazine, I went through some changes to the layout and design to make it fit in with the overall style. One of these things was the layout for Reubens interview. 

I thought that it looked a bit bland, so I changed the colour of the title to match his t-shirt colour in the portrait, and added a border of the same colour to the image using the rectangle tool. The border idea was inspired by my research when looking at 'Dazed' magazine, as they used a similar design technique. Below are before and after images of the changes I made to improve the layout:

Another layout change I made was on a double page spread of my photography near the end of the magazine. At first I had one photograph taking up the whole page and another on a white background.

I decided to reduce the size of the full page photo and add a border to both images, which made them match more and look better side by side:

However I still thought this looked a bit bland, so I decided to add a background because I felt this gave the photos context and set a scene. The vivid colours and high saturation of the background made sure that this fitted in with the style.

Final Magazine

After typing everything up and laying out all of the photos and images I had created a full magazine.

I named each page with a number to order them, as before the files were all jumbled and unorganised. By numbering each page it prepared them to be printed into a physical magazine. I also made a .pdf with all of the pages in one file as a digital version and hard copy which I could make amendments to. 

Advert Development

When starting the production of my advert I had a fairly clear idea of what I needed to do due to me storyboarding and creating a shot list in advance. I only had 8 things to shoot on camera as the rest of the advertisement would be graphics in the form of titles or animations. 

I started off by putting together all of the digital parts of the advertisement according to the storyboard in Premiere Pro. In the storyboard I had planned out all of the colours, titles and transitions I wanted to use in the video. I decided to use the same font from the magazine title in the title of the advert to give the name its identity.

The first shot is animated and has circles which reveal the title. I did this by using keyframes, although it looked fairly artificial at this point.

To solve this, I added some directional blur to the circles to create motion blur, to make the movements look smoother. I also added a small amount of gaussian blur to soften the circles.

The beginning scene ended up looking like this:

Another big part of the advert was the timing to music. I wanted it to flow well and keep the viewers attention and therefore wanted all of the editing to be in time with the song I used. To make sure of this, I zoomed into the audio track in order to see the waveform. This way I could make the cuts and see where they relate to the song.

To shoot the actual video parts of my advert, I set up a greenscreen for the shot of the magazine spinning around. I originally set it up in my room however it was fairly dark and the lights gave off an orange tone. I therefore did it in my sisters room in the daytime as it has large windows which let in lots of natural light. To give the illusion of the magazine floating, I attached a piece of green string to the inside of it so I could hold it up. Below are the pictures of the setup.

I also shot some footage of the magazine being held and read in front of the greenscreen for the advertisement.

At the end of the advert I added a link to the shop online where the viewer would be able to buy the magazine. I thought this was okay but I decided to add a qr code that once scanned takes the viewer straight to the website. This not only adds ease of access but also makes the advert more up to date (which is comedic due to its very not up to date style).

Here are before and after screenshots of the end frame:

This is the first render of the advertisement:

At this point I thought it looked good however I wanted it to have more of a retro style. To solve this I opened it in after effects and applied lots of effects to the video to try and superimpose a vhs style to the video. This included blurring the channels, adding some frame jitter, distortion and a noise and static overlay. After adding these effects the advertisement looked really stylised and I thought it fitted the aesthetics and style well. This is the final render:

Website Development

Finally, I put together a fake website to sell the magazine. I used the company 'bigcartel' for this online shop as they set it up and make it user friendly to create a shop. I stayed with the generic template and adjusted the colour scheme to follow that of the magazine in the sidebar.

I also used photoshop to create a header image, using the magazine title font to keep continuity within the brand. I made sure it had the same colour background as the background colour of the website so that it blended in.

After this I shot some photographs of the magazine to use on the website. I did this in the studio against a large white piece of card to give them a clean, professional looking background. When shooting the photos I shot in RAW format so I could edit the photos non destructively. These are some of the photos I shot:

I used one of the images to show the magazine as a product and the rest of them on the website in a gallery on the homepage. 

I thought this looked good however the borders made the photos look dark and unprofessional. To solve this I used photoshop to cut the backgrounds out of the image which made it look a lot more professional and made the design look a lot neater.

After this I thought that the site looked complete and authentic. Here is a link to it.