Final Magazine

This is my final Comp 1 finished magazine: Front cover, Contents page, 1 ad from the internet & my double page spread.

 Doing this final magazine took a lot of time, I mostly struggled on choosing decisions I would follow, for example choosing what to put on the right side of the screen, however I decided to follow my genre convention of having puffs and text near or on them as it was the only thing I was somewhat satisfied with, I wish I had finished my front cover earlier as it would've given me more time to choose and brainstorm on what I should put there and how I should implement the idea. But I decided to split up the tasks and develop all my magazine pages simultaneously instead of doing them one by one. I think that was the only thing that I struggled on, next time if I do a similar project I will finish them one by one first instead of simultaneously finishing it. 

DEUTSCHE AUTO

Critical self reflection

This is my critical self reflection for Component 1 

AS MEDIA CRITICAL SELF REFLECTION COMP 1 - Nathan by Nathan Budijanto

Double Page spread: Research + Development

 This is my research & development on double page spreads

Reflection: Making this R&D was a little time consuming but it has helped me a lot with the creation of the 700 word article because it highlights some features that I could use in a double page spread like the 3 columns or the text being on a whitespace that goes seamlessly with the image and has helped me think about what design elements to implement but it took a while to enter all the information as it was a lot to find & my process might need to be more efficient in the future

Before Reading
Magazine:	Classic Mercedes
Issue:	Autumn 2023 /Issue 44
Publisher:	Paul Cosgrove
Genre:	Vintage car magazine
Images:	1 large image of a Mercedes 600 W100 Car that fills the double page spread
Layout	The layout has a 3 columns of black text on the sky without any drop capping so it can contrast and be readable. Other than that the page numbers are a semi circle on either side of the 2 pages directly placed in the middle of the y axis
first impression	Elegant, the text doesn't block the scenery & only takes up the first page. Other than that the colors of the page is bright & very blue white which looks clean. Not to mention the size of the image taking up the whole 2 pages is very nice.
After reading
Heading:	Frankfurt, September 1963: W100 600 L launched
subheading	No subheadings
Author:	Not given
Article:	An article giving a summary on the legacy of the Mercedes 600 Series
Mode of address:	The writing is more formal and doesn't directly talk to the reader
Pull Quote:	Not included
Audience:	A person interested in vintage Mercedes cars, this article targets an audience that wants to know more about the car: its history, legacy and notoriety
Impression:	The article was interesting in that it gave a very nostalgic summary of what the 600 was like, telling its strengths, ingenuity and all the reasons it is generally revered as the classic luxury car, along with that the formal text definitely fits with the image of the posh, clean & formal car. Besides that, the way that the text sits left page hovering on sky as to not obstruct the scenery of the car and the background makes the double page spread much cleaner. This is not to mention the typography, the clean black serif font fits with the old timey formal look of the page.
Inspiration:	I like the idea of taking a side view shot of the car on the bottom third of the page while possibly having some piece of scenery in the middle of the pages while having the text be on the top 3rd, I believe that this would be good application for the rule of thirds and could help my double page spread look cleaner. I also like the style of the writing and I might put a description of a car in a similar way for my double page spread article.
Spread	Pages of a magazine that should be viewed together (usually two)
Border	Empty space around the edges
White space	Empty space in the spread, used to break up the content (negative space)

<- Classic Mercedes

Before Reading
Magazine:	Vogue
Issue:	October 2023 issue
Publisher:	Condé Nast
Genre:	Fashion magazine
Images:	A group of ethnically different people
Layout	A single image taking up the whole spread with half of the right third is a banner containing all the text. There is also a caption on the top left along with a headline that crosses from the image to the banner
first impression	This spread is very neat and the banner works well to separate the image and the banner also might work well because the camera I intend to take photos with has a maximum resolution of 6000:4000 (3:2 aspect ratio) which means the photo would not fit a full double page without cropping detail so I might have to use a banner.
After reading
Heading:	Facing the World
subheading	Vogue's first-ever global open-casting initiative gathered 60,000 submissions, from everywhere on Earth. Here are our eight finalists. Photographed by Charlotte Wales
Author:	Not given
Article:	An article about how Vogue's most famous models were found and reasons for their hiring and popularity
Mode of address:	The writing was formal but felt like a recounting of events from the perspective of Vogue
Pull Quote:	Not included
Audience:	A reader who might be interested in being a model, the article gives hope that the person might be hired out of pure fate and luck.
Impression:	The layout of the spread instantly caught my eye as it gave me an idea on how to include the full resolution of my camera. Besides that the color grading of the image didn't contrast well with the heading. Besides that the layout seemed proper however the banner could be used to a fuller extent
Inspiration:	If using the whole double page spread doesn't work I might use a banner similar to this one, however I would use more of the space in the banner and possibly use a similar heading style however I would change out the typeface to a color that contrasts better with my image and with a thicker font.

<- Vogue Magazine

Typeface: Research & Development

 This is my research for the typefaces and font features in this magazine along with why I chose them

Front Cover Typefaces:

Masthead: 

For the masthead, I wanted a typeface that was bold, & I also wanted it to be somewhat sans serif to follow along with my car magazine's genre conventions, secondly I chose the first option which was a called HamburgerHeaven, which was a serif font  I believed that this typeface fit my magazine as it fit the convention of a large readable & clear typeface, along with that it also had a "German" feel of somewhat aggressive but sophisticated.

I believed that the second & last option were the 2nd best as they also could convey that German feel I was going for with the masthead, but in the end I believed that the first one would fit more as I could imagine this font could be used as lettering on the back of the cars featured in this magazine, meaning that the font would be good for any car in the magazine

Magazine article draft

 Here is my first draft for my 700 word double page spread magazine article

Reflection: This text required a little too many words, I needed to make lots of failed drafts didn't work out because they either didn't reach my expectation or didn't reach the word limit, the topics were similar to the final draft but they were in different orders, I think that effected my writing because I realized midway through the second last attempt that if I used the points in a good order, they can have natural flow while making sense and using up a decent amount of words. To conclude, I should think of a plan after I write my notes about the car and then make a little draft with only the main points and then I can assess whether I could use up more words to better explain the details or whether it wouldn't feel natural.

They Don't Make Them Like They Used To

 The 3 Series, it is the epitome of BMW's pure driving pleasure, it blends the BMW's iconic performance with its equally important luxury seamlessly. This line of cars have undergone many facelifts, transformations and iterations over the years, with each year leaving a mark on the industry. Despite that, in recent times the 3 series have been dulled down in order to please its more luxurious side rather than the fun, more performance based side. Ever since the introduction of the e36, the first facelift of the 3 series arrived, it was less bold and seemed more reserved, unfortunately the had the side effect of heavily inspiring later generations of the 3 series, the repetition did make the 3 series more iconic and noticeable however it also helped make the style overused and bland after many years, even with the well needed facelift with the e90 generation, that facelift then proceeded to stay a heavy inspiration for the next 2 generations of the 3 series, maybe BMW need not to reinvent themselves but they might need to revisit the earlier generation 3 series cars to take inspiration from. 

A timeless icon was born, 1982. A car that represented the pinnacle of BMW’s commitment to the iconic BMW  “Ultimate Driving Machine” philosophy. The BMW E30 a series of cars which symbolized the perfect blend that came from classic, aerodynamic & aesthetic. The car had the iconic BMW grille with its sharp boxy shape and compact size. Despite the visual awe the car cultivated, it was not purely the looks as the notorious German engineering was at play under all the glamor. Handling was one of the car’s strong suits as the chassis, which provided a well balanced weight distribution was also an exceptional foundation which balanced the rigidity and the weight in a way that makes the car a joy to drive. Enhanced with the responsive, well tuned and calibrated suspension, set up in the infamous Nürburgring race track, the car relished navigating through twists and turns. This was not to mention the plethora of engine options, from the M10, M40, M4  inline 4 engines, known for their efficiency to the 2-2.5 liter M20 inline 6 options which offered an increased balance between engine performance and fuel efficiency, down to the M3 specific S14 Inline 4, an engine directly derived from BMW’s motorsports program which boasted 200 horsepower in 1982! Even so, all that power won’t be enjoyable if they couldn’t be transferred to the wheels, luckily the E30’s manual transmission did not disappoint, further connecting the driver to the road, the transmission helped cement the E30 as the 3 series where there was the best equilibrium between man and machine where the driver still had to have control over the car and it can't just drive itself everywhere or  keep its own traction if the driver is too arrogant with the throttle.

The E30 wasn’t the cheapest of cars even then, nor were they the most expensive, true to the E30 way, it was a blend of both. The E30 could be an expensive economy car, or it could be an affordable BMW. The people then who bought E30s did so due to clenching their thirst of a sporty, luxurious driving experience at a cheaper rate, not to mention the versatility of the models, buyers could choose from a convertible, wagon, sedan or sports coupe as they saw fit for their situation. Another way to attain the Ultimate Driving Experience.

Even now, the E30 is still a testament to the golden era of the automotive industry where the best design and the most rigid & smart engineering were the core values to the industry, and a time before electronic aids made the cars do more work than the driver, the E30 is and will continue to be a timeless mark on automotive history on how to innovate and redefine the boundaries between performance & luxury, the best blend to create the magic of the “Ultimate Driving Machine”

In conclusion maybe BMW should get back on the gas and incentivize their workers to have a higher focus on the performance part of the Ultimate Driving Machine rather than the suit and tie wearing businessmen who don’t drive the 3 series to be one with the car and the road but just as a social status symbol of their wealth. As the E30 has shown, there can be versatility in who buys the 3 series and for their own reasons, it shouldn’t be fair that the current 3 series cars cater primarily to the executive luxury sedan market.

Location scout and risk assessment

This post is my location scouting and risk assessment post.

I struggled a lot on this because I was not too sure of what I should put in the risk assessment, I think its because I've never really put any thought into what goes on into the risk assessment, however I did find that there are general risks and problems that I would encounter with going to these areas, so now I know there are general risks that like heat or natural disasters that I can input before anything else, which would make filling the form slightly easier as it becomes more specific to the area and problems that would arise if there are similar variables like other people, they impose a similar problem no matter what location, for example ruining my shots.

Location 1: Sunsky Bali Tours Parking lot, Benoa Marina

Purpose of the shoot: 

Gather photos that I can use for any part of my magazine, but primarily take photos of a BMW E30 so for my double page spread

Media Language:

• Medium shots to have the car mostly in view while still having the surrounding area in frame, this gives me space to cut away later on during editing of the magazine
• Close up shots, to emphasize certain parts of the car that I want focused on, maybe something like a sticker or a modification.

Pros: 

• Lots of potential subjects because its a car meet, so I can use them for other parts of the magazine
• A helpful community that I could ask for tips from
• Good lighting so I don't have to worry about ISO grain that would come from me having to raise my ISO to a high amount due to low lighting.

Cons:

• Its a public meet so there might be a lot of people that could potentially walk in on my shot at the wrong moment unknowingly
• No roof
• The car I want to photograph (An e30 BMW) might not show up

 - Risk Assessment -

Potential Hazards and their Evaluation : 

• Weather (rain or heat)
• Rain could potentially cancel the meet
• Rain could break my equipment like phone or camera
• Heat could cause my phone or camera to overheat
• High heat could make my hands sweat, leading to unstable shots
• Other people in the area
• There is a nearby church and if they deem the car meet to be too loud, they could complain & get it shut downs
• When people walk by, it could waste my time and ruin shots
• Natural disasters or fires
• Indonesia is an earthquake prone area
• There are a lot of cars, meaning a lot of gasoline in a hot tropical area

Control Measures:

• Weather:
• Watch the forecast and bring a water tight bag in case I need to place my camera somewhere safe from the rain.
• Makes sure to be hydrated and properly healthy
• Earthquake:
• Follow proper earthquake drills and don't incite panic
• Follow fire drills and don't incite panic
• People
• Don't be too loud or encourage noise
• Make sure nobody is crossing my frame by either making sure I shoot when there's nobody or by having someone tell the person that I'm trying to take a photo

Terminology

 These are terminologies I learnt during media class

Reflection: I personally found the terminologies easy to understand because I had previous knowledge of some of them and the rest are pretty self explanatory however, I often forgot to incorporate the terminologies into my work and often still need reminders of the terminology as to not forget them. Additionally I think this post really helped the development of my magazine as I was able to analyze different magazines in my genre with this post open and I have found a pattern of what things were present and what style they took, for example the more casual Mode of  Address, usage of props and the usage of rule of thirds. I think this would be good for making my magazine front cover drafts and possibly even the style of my main article double page spread.

Masthead	The name of the magazine, in its typical font, on the cover
Selling line	The short description of the ‘identity’ of the magazine under the masthead,
Main image	The image which fills the cover – a model, celebrity, animal, artefact.
Coverlines	‘Teasers’ for the contents of the magazine on the cover.
Typography/font	The shape, style, size and colour of the letters used.
Drop cap	The enlarged initial letter of the first word of an article – an aesthetic feature which is designed to engage the reader.
Pull quotes	Enlarged quotes from an article – these may be included in coverlines, but are also used in the body of the article to break up the page and to attract the attention of the reader.
Byline	The name of the writer of the article, usually found at the beginning. Simply, it is the ‘line’ which tells you who the article is by.
Main cover line	The most important article featured, grabs the audience’s attention (featured article)
Mode of address	The way the magazine/article addresses the audience. Formal, casual, direct (for images too)
Barcode	Used for retailers
Skyline	A list of keywords featured at the top of the cover
Thirds	The upper and left third are the most important. why?
Prop	An image of an item
Puff / Boxout	A smaller image/text to stand out from the rest of the information (puff=circle. boxout=square)
Buzzwords	Exclusive, free, new, special edition
Banner	A block of colour with info inside, usually stretches the width of the cover
Caption	Information about an image.
Spread	Pages of a magazine that should be viewed together (usually two)
Border	Empty space around the edges
White space	Empty space in the spread, used to break up the content (negative space)

Technical skill

 This is a blog about all the technical skills I learnt during the process of making Comp 1

I only really learnt to use Canva better and I have also learnt quite a bit on how to use Lightroom but, the things I learnt on Lightroom is too complex to put here because they're situational to the photo for example, if its a warm bright photo, what kind of preset can I use for it. However I think that this post helped me remember the things I did learn like using google sheets, and I can use that in the future to make my google sheets projects cleaner.

Targeting Audiences (Genre Theory, Demographics & Psychographics)

This blog is about the things I have learnt about surrounding Genre theory & targeting audiences using Demographics & Psychographics 

Reflection: This week's classes have been very useful and I know understand better how to categorize and target different audiences using demographics and psychographics, at first I could only use demographics and I still mostly use it now because I found looking for psychographics to be harder than demographics, but after this lesson I think I've been beginning to grasp how to find categorize and target audiences using psychographics more.

Steve Neale' Genre theory

Steve Neale's genre theory states that genre is basically just a case of repetition with differences between 2 similar products that share the repetition. He states that a media text within a genre has to:

1. Conform enough with the genre's conventions - the norms of the genre, details or choices a genre usually includes - in order to be recognized as part of the genre.
2. It should subvert some conventions of the genre so that it has some dissimilarities with the original text as a way to be less repetitive or boring in the genre,

Advantages of using genres

1. Provides a set expectation from the audience, meaning that you already know what they want meaning that you wouldn't have to spend time to look for what they want.
2. It has a set structure or template that production can use to change into their own media text, although with warping and changing some of it in order to be different from the template.
3. Audience gets different variations of their favorite set of conventions, meaning there is potentially more to enjoy

Notes from the board in class, during class: 

Explaining the basics of Steve Neale's genre theory and giving some examples to help us grasp how they target audiences. For example, its says there that live action genre is targeted towards older people.

Notes of how to structure an answer to a question which genre theory can be applied to, this also helped me analyze media texts better for their genre, conventions, reasons for subversion and how to better identify their demographics and psychographics.

Magazine Development

 This blog will be where I put all ideas for my magazines, for example, masthead, possible layouts and ideas I could use. This will also be where I can review and reflect on decisions that I've kept or changed.

Blue text is my final reflection, aka my reflection from after I've completed the magazine & they're also updates on what I've chosen & why.

Possible Mastheads in order of how likely I am to choose them:

1. Deutsche Auto!
2. Auto Nachrichten
3. The GER
   
4. German Imports
5. Das Automobil
6. Wöchentliches Auto

I think that using the German words would make that magazine seem to be entirely in German, so that might detract the magazine for some of my potential viewers who are young English speaking Indonesians However I think that the word "Deutsche" & "Auto" are quite easy to understand so it has a good chance. But I think Auto Nachrichten can also work because it might look good to use on a cover, and it has a nice ring to it, but it might be hard to pronounce for those who don't know how to. Additionally, Deutsche Auto & Auto Nachrichten are quite straight forward names, meaning German Auto(mobiles) & Auto(mobile) News respectively, and they both connote that the content will have German cars

I've chosen Deutsche Auto for my final work as its simple to read, understandable even to an English speaking Indonesian as Deutsche is widely known to mean German & "Auto" has a similar counterpart in Indonesian and has the direct same meaning in English, other than that it has a nice ring to it.

Masthead Fonts:

1. Belleza
2. ITC Bauhaus
3. Ahsing
4. Barbra SemiCondensed 
5. Bukhari Script
6. Bodoni FLF
7. Horizon

Number 1, 2, 4 & 6 are my current favorites but I'll have to see after I make a mock up of what I might want my magazine to look like, and depending on the kind of photos I might want to use. Also what feel I'm trying to get, for example 1, 3 and 6 is quite classy, so I could target a high income demographic while no 4 seems quite stylized & probably more balanced, it also reminds me of the late 70s early 80s psychedelic rock scene which is also coincidentally around the time the E30 was developed & first produced. Maybe I could get a "cool" feel to the cover.

For the font, I've decided to go with Barbra SemiCondensed (4) because my final front cover has a unique color, meaning I should have a unique font to go with it, because I wanted to break conventions and make my magazine contrast by making the borders darker toned. I've gotten this by primary research as I walked by a place selling magazines in the airport and I noted that a very large amount of magazines had bright colored borders.

Layouts:

1. 

For this design, I want to have the Masthead on top & have the main coverline slash across the front cover, past the margins. I also want to have a banner, but I cant decide how much space I want it to take, but using rule of thirds, I think 3/4 of a third is good. The main images will be of a BMW e30 M3 or just any e30 3 series, the first will be a head on shot while the second is a shot that shows the side and some of the front as well so that there is more detail shown but only enough, using Barthes' hermeneutic code, revealing just enough but leaving things like the rear end of the car not revealed, hopefully dragging the reader to buying the magazine to see what its really like.

2. 

On this particular draft, I wanted the banner to take a whole third of the poster but this time it'd be landscape, this is advantageous because I know my Camera (sony a6000)'s maximum resolution is a ratio of 4:6, which is more square in shape, so the banner taking a third would allow me to use a larger amount of the photo. For the image itself, I will have it stretch from left to right, no margins & the subject (car) should only be on the center third of the screen because I want to leave the top blank in order for it to be a bright sky or black sky, this makes it easier for me to contrast the masthead on it, but the shot might be hard to get because there's probably always at least one cloud to ruin the photo.

3. 

This draft is focused more on the car & the things on the banner can definitely be changed if I have a spontaneous idea, but for the shot itself, I want a close up of the headlight of the car, leaving only some space on the bottom so that i can fit in the masthead, for this one I think a sans serif font would work better than a serif one, unless the masthead has to be stacked, then I think a serif one might look better. Besides that this one has high potential but I think that the banner needs some change and the German flag could be changed to be half German and half British just to show that the magazine is not in German but only contains German content from afar.

In my final magazine, I've chosen the 1st option, however with some alterations because it was the most convenient for me to choose as I had recently visited a car meet where I took shots that of the E30 BMW that I knew I could use for my magazine, but the changes were firstly, that I've changed the contents of the banner to show some of the cars featured in the magazine instead of having it be puffs & captions. Secondly I've changed the bottom photo to be the one of the head on shot of the E30, while the top was changed to a picture of a 300sl Mercedes replica because I thought of a coverline which reinforces the idea of a rivalry between Mercedes and BMW, in addition to the changing main images, I thought it'd be a nice touch to overlap the cars over the main coverline strike because in my genre there's a lot of conventions of overlapping text with an insert. Lastly, I've changed where the barcode is located to the bottom left of the main image.

Layouts Real Draft:

Layout 3: 

I have chosen to first do a draft of layout 3 because I had the opportunity to get a shot that fit the description of layout 3. I quite like the left side of the cover if you ignore the Banner. This was my first attempt so I didn't think it looked too bad at the time but after creating a draft of layout 1, I realised that the banner and its contents don't look very appealing and due to its varying margins, it also looks quite amateurish, not to mention the fonts uniform, none are the same size. However the usage of the drop shadow on the Masthead is quite nice and I did like the touch of making the drop shadow of 'EN' from the word 'Nachrichten' turn a darker shade that contrasts the banner as it hits it. Besides that I think that the fonts I've chosen for the main coverline and the masthead fit quite nicely with the color and the feel even though they are different fonts. 

Layout 1: 

Although I liked the masthead on my layout 3 attempt, I think this one has more soul to it & it radiates the same energy as the color palette of the front cover does, but as for now I still haven't found a suitable coverline or usage for the banner, because when I did put the boxout with the caption similar to the one on my layout 3 draft, my teacher suggested against it because it didn't fit my conventions or the style of magazine I was trying to go for.

My final magazine cover did use the same layout as layout 1, but I have changed the idea of using the banner to put text to a place where I put inserts and overlap them with words about how they're featured in the text.