Note to Moderator

Dear Moderator,
For my AS media coursework I had to create a front cover, contents page and a double page spread for a new music magazine. I chose to do my magazine in an indie genre as I thought I could design this well and that this type of music is becoming increasingly popular. I wanted to supply my audience who is females and males aged 16-24 with a new, unique magazine that would give them everything they want to know about the indie music industry.
I have used labels on my blog to try and make it as easy as possible to navigate so you can find what you are looking for. 
Yours sincerely,
Olivia Page, Edgbarrow School
Candidate number: 0200
 Centre Number: 51111

question 6

question 6

Question 7

Question 7

Question 2

Question 3

Question 3

Question 4 and Question 5

Question 4&5

Evaluation- Question 1

Question 1

Contents- Final Draft

Front Cover- Final Draft

Double Page- Final Draft

evalution draft/planning

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

• On the front cover, I think that the masthead (stands out and big and shows link to music), close up shot and pug were important conventions to keep as these are the main things the reader will see or focus on and it should draw them in. Also these were all also on the magazine I analysed in my research stage. Barcode very conventional and  I think the price might be a little bit cheaper than other magazines
• Double page- haven’t used a drop cap which is very common so this slightly challenges conventions. Have an intro before the article starts which I think is a widely used code. Pull quote, logo. Used the artists name as the title instead of thinking of something clever, this keeps it simple and makes the artist recognisable. Article is written in three columns which I think is an average amount looking another magazines, some have more and some have less. Stuck with conventions by simply having question and answer in order after each other.
• Contents- title includes magazine name, this is common in other magazines and I think it emphasises the magazine brand. Made the main star on the front cover the main focus on the contents. Only included selected page numbers so everything isn’t revealed isn’t revealed, lots of magazines to do this to keep the reader engaged and curious.
• For this question, I will use prezi as that will allow to me add in pictures of my magazine and show all the things I have mentioned here.
   
  How does your media product represent particular social groups?
• Aimed at younger demographic of people- aged 16-24
• Males and females
• Not aimed at any specific ethnicity
• Colours- dark red, white and grey reflect indie genre.
• The story about drug shame could reflect a stereotype of young people or famous people.
• For this question, I think I will do a video as I think that will present the question well.

               What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

• NME and Q magazine will be my biggest rivals as they are the same genre as my magazine and targeting a similar demographic of people. But I think I have created a unique image for my magazine and I think it will stand out as a brand on its own even up against these big rivals. So with this in thought, as I said in my product placement, Time Inc. UK will be the media institution that will distribute my magazine. This is because they have a lot of knowledge about indie magazines as they already distribute NME and Q so they will be good at helping my media product getting well known.
• For this question, I think I will use an audio recording in the format of an interview because I don’t think this question requires any visuals.
  Who would be the audience for your media product?
• Lives in the UK
• Both genders, possible the colours are more male based but the topics are certainly suitable for males and females.
• I think people aged 16- 24 years old will be a key age range for my magazine as they are people who possible have more free time to read magazines or go to more concerts/festivals or are interested in the music more than people of an older age.
• Possibly still living at home so have some spare money to spend on things like magazines.
• Enjoy wider reading
  How do you attract/address your audience?
• On the front cover, the gaze of the photo is staring directly at the reader so I feel like this addresses the reader and begins to create a bond with them and the magazine.
• Also on the front cover, I have included a pug in a contrasting colour, this will make the reader curious and the colour will catch their eye.
• Quote from main story on front cover.
• The word ‘exclusive’ will make the reader feel that they are getting something that nobody else is.
• ‘You’- personal to the reader.
• Contents page- insight into main stories which will make the reader want to read on.
• Colour scheme is kept consistent throughout my magazine- shows a hose style and professionalism.
• I think I am going to combine question 4 and 5 as they are both about audience. For these I think I will do an audio recording.
   
  What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
• The construction of my media product would not have been possible without the use of serif page plus so this was a huge help as it was my main foundation for constructing my magazine.
•  Also the tool within this ‘cutout studio’ allowed me to make my images look good and professional by enabling me to cut out the backgrounds.
• Blogger was also a big part of my coursework as it allowed me to display all my work in an organised fashion.
• Prezi- I used this for my planning. It allowed me to present this part of my work in a more creative way and made it more interesting.
• Microsoft Word- allowed to me to do produce some of my simpler work like my product placement required a lot of text.
• For this question I think I will do video showing all the different technologies being used on a computer and then accompany this with text or put a voiceover on the video as I think this will be quite effective for showing off the technologies.
  Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
• I think I have learnt that simplicity is very important, you don’t want to overwhelm the reader.
• Colour scheme needs to look professional and text positioning needs to be correct
• Reader engagement, gaze is not looking at the reader in prelim front cover which won’t grab the reader’s attention.
• Need to keep a consistent house style
• Recognising/using codes and conventions is important especially ones that are already on established magazines.
• That editing is very important for the appearance of the magazine eg cutting around the pictures. This needs to look like time was taken for it and professional otherwise people might think your magazine is bad quality. On my prelim task, my picture editing doesn’t look very good at all.
• For this question, I will use a presentation software as well as like question 1, maybe powertoon, it will allow me to add pictures of my magazine and show the change from my prelim task to the final product.

  

double page spread- third draft

contents- third draft

front cover- third draft

2nd draft contents

2nd draft front cover

2nd draft double page spread

progress

I have uploaded a first draft of my front cover, contents and double page and had feedback on them. so I think I am ahead of schedule, I am now working on editing my magazine based on the feedback I got to try and improve it.

first draft- double page

first draft- contents

first draft- front cover

Prezi Presentation

Prezi Planning

Product Placment

Product Placement

Magazine Analysis

Q Analysis
NME Analysis

prelim contents page

prelim front cover

prelim evaluation

 

Did you plan your magazine? If not, what have you learnt about the importance of research and planning?
I planned my magazine in the fact that I knew who I was going to use for my pictures and what I wanted them to be doing in the picture. But other than that I did not plan my magazine.  If I had planned it more, it probably would have come out better than it has and looked more professional. Planning and researching is important as it would have saved time while designing my magazine as I could have based it on others I had seen and gone straight into it. I spent a lot of time just playing around with different designs, colours and fonts.

 

What technology did you use to complete the task and how did you use it?
To complete this task as a whole and put it all together, a computer was my main source of technology. The pictures that feature on my magazine were taken with an iPhone then transferred onto the computer using the iPhone cable. To design the magazine, I used a software called Page Plus X6, which enabled me to edit the background, font size/colour etc. Within Page Plus X6, there was a tool called Cut-out Studio. This was used to cut out the background of my pictures. This was very useful as it made the pictures look better and neater and the enhanced the magazine design.

 

Did you encounter any difficulties? If so, what were they and how did you    overcome them?
The first issue I came across was taking the photos as it was difficult to decide where to take them to get good lighting. Also the photos needed to be medium – close up, but the first set I took were too much of a long shot so I had to take new ones.


I had difficulty with some of my pictures I used for my magazine. The first picture I used for my front cover had a very straight edge to it and looked like half the picture had been cut off. So I had to look back at my photos and choose a better one. I chose another one with more of a rough edge and it looks much better on the front cover. Another difficulty was using Cut- out studio to crop the pictures as it was hard to cut right along the edge. So on occasion I had to go back to cut-out studio several times and tidy up the cutting of the image.


I also found it hard to choose the right background colour for the magazine as it needed to look right with the images so they stood out and didn’t just fade into the background.  So I tried several colours before I came to the final one which looked right with the images and all the font.

 

 

How successful was your magazine? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently?
I personally think my magazine has been successful for a first attempt. I am happy with the design, I think the colours look good together. I have also kept a consistent font and colour throughout so it looks professional and not to overwhelming to look at.
To improve, I think I would edit my pictures better or practice with that tool first as even though I tried my best, the editing looks a bit untidy on some parts of my images. Also, I think the front cover could have potential to look like a poster to some people. So I would maybe change the layout slightly or change the shapes used to make sure it definitely looks like a magazine cover.

 

What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?
From completing this task, I have learnt that planning and researching is very important otherwise you waste a lot of time and don’t know whether you are including the correct conventions and codes.  When completing the rest of the coursework, this will be good as I will know to analyse other music magazines first.


I have also learnt that colour scheme and images are key to making your magazine look good otherwise it won’t draw people in and catch their eye.  So for the rest of my coursework, I will make sure I am confident with using the editing tool so the pictures look neat. I will also make sure that I use a consistent colour scheme and font throughout the front cover, contents and double page spread.


I have also learnt how to use the software Page Plus X6 which I had never used before. This is significant for the remainder of my coursework as this software will be the main basis of my magazine design so knowing how to use it properly will save me time and make my magazine look the best it can.