Question seven.

7:Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task (The School Magazine Task), What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To Full Product

I have learnt a lot since creating my college magazine. I learnt how to download different fonts from the internet which I didn't know how to do before, this helps a lot as you can get a lot of different types of font which help to make my magazine look more proffesional, whereas I didn't know how to do this whilst making my college magazine, so I just had to use the existing fonts already stored onto my laptop. I also learnt how to use adobe photoshop which help to create more profesional looking images, I previously did not know how to use photoshop, so used a more simplier photo editing programme for my college magazine called Piczo, however you could do a lot more on photoshop than you go on piczo, so it made the images look better. I also learnt how to make certain parts of the image transparent so I could place it on another images without that part obstructing the view. I have learnt more about the conventions of magazines by the time it came to creating my music one, so my music magazine looks more like you would expect a magazine to look than my college magazine did.

Question six.

6:What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing This Product

I have used various different types of technology to complete my media magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. These different technologies and software include:

1. A digital camera, I used this to take all of my photographs for my media magazine, I then took the memory card out of my camera and put it in the laptop to store my images on.

2. Memory stick, I used this to transfer any information on it between different computers, such as my own laptop and college compters.

3. Dell laptop, this was the main computer that I used throughout creating my magazine, I was able to do everything on this and store all of my information on it, however I also used the computers in college when I was not in my home.

4. Microsoft powerpoint, I used this to create mainly my mock-ups on, I also used this to help me create my final versions of my front cover and contents page.

5. Microsoft word, I used this to write out all my notes from my research on, for example, I analysed the already existing magazines on Microsoft Word before putting it on my blog.

6. Microsoft publisher, I used this to create my double page spread and parts of my front cover and contents page.

7. Adobe photoshop, this was used to edit my images that I took for my magazine, like to crop bits out of the image that I do not need, or by changing the lighting on my image to suit its need for, such as making a photograph black and white.

8. Internet, I used this mainly to conduct my research on.

9. Blogger, I used this to keep my blog on and to update it saying what I have done and in what order I have done it in.

By using these different technologies a lot it has enabled me to learn to use them better; I had never used blogger at all before, or used microsoft publisher or adobe photoshop properly, so by having to use them a lot during the making of my magazine, it has taught me how to use them and I can now use all of these without help, such as I now know how to set up and complete a blog.

Question five.

5:How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience

My audience would get attracted to my magazine by the front cover of the magazine, as it has a list of bands on the front then it will attract my target audience of teenagers and young adults as my targeted social group is of those who listen to the type of music on my magazine. However, it also shows a little bit of different types of music, like my main story solo singer, this helps to attract a more wider audience. By having a female singer on the front and male band names it helps to attract both male and female, also the bands I have in my magazine are not all young bands so it won't only attract young people.

Question four.

4: Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product

The target audience for my magazine would be both male and female music loving people, generally between the ages of 16 to 22. The image on the front of my magazine is of a female, however this is just one issue, the colours I have used on it do not favour neither males nor females and the music in it is relevant to both males and females. The language inside my magazine and the layout suggests that it is for younger people, as in teenagers and young adults. The target audience of my magazine will be interested in rock and indie music and will be interested in everything to do with music, such as the bands, concerts, reviews, when the next albums are out, etc...

Question three.

3: What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?

I think that the media institution Bauer would be the best to distribute my media magazine. I think this would be the best media institution for this as it reaches a large amount of people, roughly about 20 million and operates in 15 countries worldwide meaning it would get to a lot of people. Bauer already distributes music magazines such a Q and Kerrang, which are a similar type of magazine to the one I will be distributing, so I know that they would be able to distribute it well as both Q and Kerrang are big selling magazines. Also if I used a different institution these magazines could become rivals and have competition between which sells the best, however as they are not in different ones instead of being rivals, they can help each other to sell.

Question two.

2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents both female and males who listen to that type of music by the type of music I have shown in the magazine and also the colours that I have used throughout my magazine represent a more younger social group, like teenagers and young adults. My magazine isn't too extreme in anything that it contains in it, also the image that I have used on the front of the magazine is pretty normal looking, suggesting also that it just represents normal young people who are into their music.

Question one.

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


Whilst creating my music magazines front cover, contents page and double page spread, I conducted research on other popular music magazines in order to get a sense of the conventions of them. The two main colours in used throughout the whole of my magazine was black and red, these two colours both symbolise power and danger, which a rock magazine always has an element of. Also, these colours are bold and stand out, which most rock/indie magazines do. I used bold font as it would be easiest to see and all of the magazines that I looked at had bold, simple font, however the mast head uses a different font as it is the title of the magazine and the audience would identify my magazine by the mast head font. The mast head is on a photograph of a guitar nec that I took, one of the main conventions that you would see in a rock/indie magazine would be a guitar, so I have used this and placed it on my front cover and all throughout my magazine. My main image is of my singer holding a guitar, so again I have a guitar on my front cover, I chose to take my photograph like this as ona  lot of the music magazine I looked at the main image was of a band/singer, usually posing, not performing, but still somehow showing that they are singers, so by my model holding a guitar and standing infront of a graffitied wall it suggests that she is a singer and suggests what sort of singer she is, her instrument and where she is standing suggests she is a rock singer, however her clothes and body language suggest more of a indie singer. I created my model like this as she was previously in a rock band, however she split up from them and went solo, changing her image and music style slightly to a more toned down style, e.g. indie. In my double-page spread I created an interview with 'Katie', this follows the conventions of a music magazine as 'Katie' is my model on the front cover and all the magazines that I looked at had a main story in the magazine about the main image on the front page, so I created the double page spread about her, however this challenged the conventions of a rock magazine as I have created the main story on a single female singer/guitarist, as all of the magazines I looked at focused their main article on single guy singers or a band full of guys. This will interest the audience into buying it as it is something different, so will stand out more and most likely introduce them to a new type of music. I used words such as 'haha', and 'phew' in my interview as in magazines like this one the interviews are usually chatty and informal, but whilst getting information at the same time, so I created my interview like them ones. Also, on the front of the magazine I used words such as 'plus' and 'win' as these are what are expected on magazines. The double page spread continues with my theme colours and so does the contents page. In contents pages that I have seen, they have images them and there is always something about a concert review, so I used this and got a photograph of one of the concerts that I have been to and used this image on my contents page. My magazine does have a lot of the conventions of magazines, however I have also made it my own by challenging the conventions as well.

Final Double Page Spread

Final Contents Page

Final Front Cover

Front cover - Different Images

Here I put together my detailed mock-up with my main photographs that I had taken. I prefer the third image, as even though my model is not meant to be the typical 'rocker', she still looks like she has a 'rocker' side to her, from her body language and the way she is stood up by all the graffiti, leaning on the wall. The guitar on all three of these images help to clearly show that my model is a singer and a musician. Now I know that I like this image the best, I will put my other images on, and change the layout a bit.

Photographs

These are just a few of the photographs I took for my final front cover and double page spread. I was unable to get to the main location where I wanted to take the photographs, in the cave, due to the tide being in, however, I managed to get to all the other places.

Double Page Spread - Detailed Mock Up

Here is my more detailed mock up version of my double page spread, with photographs from the internet. I looked at a few different double page spreads and based this one on a few of them that I saw included my two research double page spreads. I kept with my colour scheme again, and kept the same fonts that I have been using throughout. On my final version I might change the layout a little bit, and will have to move a few things around as my real image will be different to this one. I have created an interview in this mock-up version which I will be using for my final one as well.

I created this mock up of my double page spread. The dotted lines represent the centre. On this mock-up I have used more space for images than for the actual text as my two research double page spread shows. I have the mast head at the top so it is nice and easy to see, and I have the text in two different places, so that it is not just one big block of writing, it is seperated out.
If you click on this image, it shows the proper one which isn't as dark and easier to see.

Double Page Spread - Research Continued

This double page spread from an issue of NME again takes up most of the space with an image, the image takes up a whole page, the title of this page also takes up a lot of room, as it covers over two thirds of the page. The font of this is in big bold letters, in black boxes, this makes it stand out a lot more and makes it more interesting to look at. It uses the colour scheme of red, black and white again, this must be a common colour scheme for this type of magazine. The girls clothes that she is wearing is mainly reds whites and blacks which all go with the scheme, she is looking directly at the camera, like she is looking out towards the buyer of the magazine, this would make the magazine seem a bit more personal to each person, as in she is talking directly to you as a buyer. The background of this double page spread is just plain white, this is effective as it makes you look at the other things such as the image and text, the white backgrounds suggests that she is innocent, however the black and red text and clothing suggests that she is not as innocent as she makes out to be. The mast head supports this with the words 'attention seeker' and 'honest'.There is very little text on this page, as again their target audience is teens and young adults, who genuinely have the sterotype of not reading much and having a short attention spam, which is why the images are so big as its much more interesting to look at. Lily Allens name does not appear on the mast head at all, because the magazine persumes that its audience would know who she was, however, her name is then highlighted in red, its highlighted again because again like the last magazine, red usually means something important.

Double Page Spread - Research

Before creating my double page spread I again researched double page spreads by looking at and analysing one from Kerrang and from NME. This double page spread from an issue of Kerrang has a whole page as just one image, with just a little text in the corner, and a small image in the bottom corner. The image is in black and white, however they have tints of red in it, which goes with their theme colour for this as their text is red and white on a black background. There is no other colour on this page apart from red, black and white, which makes the colour scheme stand out even more. There is not a whole lot of text on this double page spread, it mainly consists of images, as there more interesting to the eye. The text that there is, is surronded by images, which makes it look more appealing to read, and because there isn't too much text the reader will most probably read it, as their target audience would be teenagers to young adults, and stereotypically they don't like to read a lot. The 'world exclusive' makes you want to read it more, as you won't see this anywhere else other than this magazine. It is in a red box as red automatically draws in your attention, as danger signs or road signs are red, so it genuinely means something important. From the images we can see that this double page spread is about a concert, from the way he is holding the microphone to the way his expression is on his face with his mouth open. We can also tell this will be about MCR because of the images and the text at the top, the magazine has shortened the word My Chemical Romance down to MCR because they will persume that all their readers will automatically know that, that is what it means. On the right hand side is a column with MCR tracks in it, this is a type of advertising as it advertises there newest songs so people can go and download/buy them. The text is in a box which is white, this on the black background clashes, and stands out a lot, so therefore automatically drawing the eye to it.

Contents Page - Detailed Mock Up

I created a more detailed mock-up of what I would like my contents page to look like, again for this one I used images from the internet, however I will be taking my own photographs for my final version. I carried on the theme of red, black and white, and also carried on the theme of having the guitar neck. I've created an editors letter on the left, and used quite a big space at the top for an image, which would be one of the stories in the magazine. However, this image has posted quite dark, if you click on it you can them see the proper image.

Contents - Mock Up

I created a mock-up for my contents page. In this mock-up it shows that I have pretty much split the page in half, with a big image at the top of the page, this is because like the Kerrang magazine I looked at it mainly consisted of images, with I thought was more interesting, so I am going to do that, and I have also seen a few magazines with a similar design.

Contents Page - Research Continued

The contents page for NME has a lot more text on it, and much less images, it also does not use the word 'contents', however it is still very clear to the audience that it is a contents page from the bold text at the top 'NME THIS WEEK", which clearly shows that it is a contents page. The same font that is used fot the mast head 'NME' is used for it in the contents page as well, this happens throughout the whole of the magazine so that you never forget which magazine you are reading. The list of what is in the magazine is again on the right hand side of the page, and again it used its theme colours, which is this magazine are red, black and white.. the same theme colours I want in mine. The red, black and white in the magazine do help to suggest what sort of genre music will be in it. At the bottom it has an advertisement, but it is an advertisement for an offer on its own magazine. Its takes up a good amount of space, and as it is in a solid black box on a white background it automatically catches the eyes attention. The band index on the left hand side helps makes the magazine appeal to a wider range of the audience as even if the band/singer that one particular person like isn't one of the main stories, then it may still have a little section about it. In the centre of the page is a little paragraph of information about one story with a couple of images to go with it, this may attract the audience if they are just flicking through the contents page in the shop, and may persuade them to go and buy it so that they can read more about it in the magazine. 

Contents Page - Research

I then moved on to researching a couple of exisiting music magazines contents pages. Again, I looked at both Kerrang and NME, as they are a similar genre and style to the type of magazine that I would like to create. The contents pages for this Kerrang magazine is only about one third text, whereas the other two-thirds are taken up by images. All of the images refer to the text that is underneath them, the buyers can see from these images without looking at the text what will be on that page. The colour scheme on the front of this magazine would of been black and yellow, as these colours have clearly been carried through to the contents page. The colours yellow and black contrast each other, so therefore it makes them stand out a lot more. The text 'contents' is in the top right, this is due to the list of stories in this magazine is on the right, whereas the images are on the left. As we read from left to right the audience will come across the images before the text, this is because images are more interesting for the eye, and by seeing these images, it may make them want to read the text to see what else is in the magazine. In the top left hand corner is an editors letter, this is found in a lot of magazines, therefore has given me an idea of putting an editors letter in the contents page.  

Front Cover Mock Up - More Detailed.

I created a more detailed version of my mock up using an image from the internet, so this image will not be used in my final magazine. I used a guitar neck to banner the bottom and top of my magazine, this makes it look interesting and fits in with my rock genre. However, I would need to take my own photograph of a guitar neck in order to use though. I used the font that my target audience chose and I think that it fits my magazine. I chose the colours red, black, and white and they are all typical rock colours, which will straight away capture the eye of my target audience. From this mock-up I now know that I want to use just a solo artist in my front cover, I will also probably stick with my theme colours on my final magazine, however, I might alter whats on my magazine a bit and maybe alter the layout.

Fonts

Out of all of the fonts that I looked at these ones were my favourite, I late then rules out the second font as when I tested them all out I found out that the second font was too difficult to see on different coloured backgrounds. I then asked a few different people from my target audience and the majority of them chose the top font. I was happy with this choice as the top font was also my favourite. I believe that this one was chose as it was the most easiest to see, and as it was on a black background it stood out more than the other two fonts did.

Price

I looked at two other existing music magazines to find out what each one cost. From this I would be able to come up with a price for my magazine.

I found out that Kerrang costs £2.20p per issue and NME costs £2:40p per issue.

From this I decided that my magazine would be £2:15p per issue, I choose this price as it makes my magazine less expensive than both the other magazines, making it more appealing to buy, and by making it only 5p cheaper it makes it not look too overally cheap.

Front Cover Mock Up

I created a mock up idea for the front cover of my magazine, I created this by using the conventions of a music magazine that I already knew, such as mast head at the top, etc, and by looking at exisiting music magazines and seeing how there layouts are placed.

Images - Cont.

I also thought that this would be a nice setting for my front cover image, as again its outside and in a natural setting, which I think would suit my genre of magazine the best. The steps give my image different levels, so this means that my model(s) could be on different levels, and still be easily seen, this would look more effective then everything being on one level. I thought this would also look good with props, e.g. if I used a guitar and a model, then they could go on different levels. As the camera angle is looking up it would make my model(s) look suprior, as they will be looking down towards the camera. The grassy patch again like my previous image gives the photograph more colour and makes it more interesting to look at. The image isn't too detailed which means the audience's vision will not be distracted by what is going on in the background, as they will concerntrate more on my model(s).

Images

I went out and took photographs of places that I thought would be suitable to be the setting of my front cover image. I thought that this was a good place to take the photo's as the wall and chair with the grafitti on makes it look a bit more rough, which would suit a rock magazine. The red gives it that extra colour, so it doesn't just look all grey, and gives the image a more interesting look. I would shoot this with my model(s) sat down on the chair just to the right of the graffitti.

Final Name For My Magazine

After asking several different people I decided to name my magazine 'Unplugged'. The audience that I asked liked the idea of an unplugged guitar, and so I thought this image could feature on my magazine, which would back up the title. The audience that I asked also thought that the title 'unplugged' also sounded a lot more original than my other idea did, so therefore I shall be using this title.

Naming My Magazine (:

After coming up with the genre for my magazine, and looking at some exsisting magazines, I started to think up of some names that I could call my own magazine. My two favourite ideas were: Amped! and Unplugged. The first choice represents a guitar, which fits in with my genre of magazine, so I thought that would be a good choice. My second option could also relate to instruments, for example an electric guitar being unplugged, this again fits in ith my genre. However, I am still unsure which of the two options I think is most suitable for my magazine, so I will ask some of my target audience to see what they think.

Front Cover - Research Continued.

I also researched a copy of the magazine Kerrang!. This has much less text on than the NME magazine, however it still gives you a lot of information about what will be in the magazine via images, these are much easier to see from a glance than text would be, so the audience can quickly see whats inside it, in order to decide whether they want to buy it or not. The mast head is right at the top of the magazine, using the whole width of it, this is very easy to see, and would be easy to spot on a shelf, however, NME's would be a lot easier to see as it fits in the top left-hand corner. 'Kerrang' is in black, bold font, which contrasts with the white background that it is on, so it is clearly visable, the people in the main image are also wearing black and white which fit in with this theme, it suggests there good people, with perhaps a more darker side to them, maybe in the music that they play. Biffy Clyro is well known, so by putting him on the front of the magazine this attracts in the audience, also how the photgraph has been taken makes it look like he is looking out directly to whoever is holding the magazine, however the images at the bottom of different bands help to attract a more wider variety of audience. The main image also covers some of the mast head, however as Kerrang! is a well known magazine, this wouldn't effect it. This magazine advertises that if you buy this magazine then you get free posters as well, this is another technique of getting the audience to buy it, as if anything free is involved, they believe they are getting more for their money. The banner at the top of the magazine advertises a compertiton that may get the audience to buy it, the banner is in red, which stands out from the black and white theme that this issue of the magazine is using, all of the 'plus' parts of the magazine is also in red, so they are easy to identify, and the audience can see where to look to see whwat other things are in this magazine.

Front Cover - Research

I am going to research a copy of the magazine NME. NME always have their masthead at the top in the left-hand side corner, this is because it is a lot easier for customers to see from a glance what magazine it is when they are stacked on a shelf in a shop. The main story in this magazine is clearly visable via the image and the text; Green Day. The colour green is used quite a bit on the front of this magazine, including on the text 'Green Day', which relates to the word 'Green" in Green Day. By putting the word 'exclusive' in makes the audience want to pick up the magazine and buy it so that they can read the story. The image is off the main member in the band Green Day, playing his guitar. It looks like this image was took whilst they were playing a concert, by the expression on his face and his body language, also you can see a set of drums behind him, the image behind him however fades slightly so that it doesn't distract the reader from the main bit of the image. At the bottom of the magazine are some more smaller stories, so that if the main story didn't catch the attention of the customer, then maybe they may be interested in some of the smaller stories, therefore will bu the magazine, which is also the case with the side story in the box with the image. At the top of the magazine shows that there are some things to be won in a competition, this again is a way of attracted the reader towards the magazine and spending money on it to buy it. The colours are quite bright, and the red of the NME is the brightest which stands out more and therefore is easier to see.

Genre

I decided that the genre I am going to do for my music magazine would be rock, which would concentrate on mainly rock/indie music. I chose this because it is one of the genres that I am actually interested in. I will research magazines such as: NME and Kerrang! .

Music Magazine - The Beginning ;D

As part of my AS Level media coursework, I have to design a front cover, contents page, and double page spread for a music magazine of any genre that I want. I am using this blog to record how I create my magazine.

This is the mock up of my contents page, I left a fairly big space at the top of this page for an image of the Isle of Man college to go in, as I think that it would be suitable, and from this image it would be easy to see who the target audience would be; being students/parents of the college. The text 'Contents', then comes directly under this image so that it is clearly visable. Then the text appears on the left hand side of the page, I thought this would be the best lace to put it as we read left to right. Next to the text is several images that would relate to the text.

I changed the font in this and also had to change the colour of the font of the mast head to black so it could be seen clearly, as I had changed the top of my magazine from black to shades of blue and green. I used these colours as they are neither masculine or feminine so would suit both genders, also the girl I used in my image is wearing these colours too. I added a yellow strip to my magazine to symbolise the college, and also to add more colour to it. I think that my magazine now looks a lot more brighter so more appealing.

I thought that my magazine front cover looked a bit too dull and dark, I believe that brighter or lighter colours would suit my target audience a lot more better, being teenagers in the college. I found out that yellow was a college colour, so I added a bit of this colour to my magazine to symbolize the college, I also added various shades of colour to my magazine to try and brighten it up a bit.

This is the first copy of my college magazine, however its not the final one, as I do not think the font I have used looks right for a magazine. I also want to change the layout a little bit to try and improve it.

I decided that an image with a plain background behind it would be the best to use, as it gives it space for things such as text to go there without spoiling the main image. I chose to use a female rather than a male as generally more females end up going to college and its usually females on magazines, so therefore would suit the audience more.

I looked at a few different fonts from existing college magazines, I found that alot of them used quite long, easy to read lettering for the font. The lettering for these fonts also suggest that these are from formal magazines, as my magazine is a formal one I will be using these fonts as an idea for my own one. 

I decided with the name 'Students Today', as my magazine would be designed for the college students to read, with up to date news of what is going on within there college.

I created a rough copy of what I would like my layout to look like.