Sunday 25 April 2010

Overall

Overall i think that the development and construction of my media magaizine went extremley well. I learnt so much and so many new skills that i can now take forward with me to ongoing tasks and work in the future. I'm extremely happy with the finished product that i created and feel that i put my best efforts and work into it.

Wednesday 21 April 2010

Sunday 18 April 2010

Evaluation Activity 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the pregression from it to full product?





from when creating my school magazine to then creating my pages for my final music magaine, i feel that my skills, understanding of magazines and the indisrty have developed greatly. I now have good undersatnding and have learnt many skills into using photoshop and indesign and feel that in the future i would be able to use all the things i have learnt to create good quality work agian. I learnt all about magazine and all the codes and conventions of them. I have learnt after much research how magazine are put together, the layouts and fonts used, and also how to create a image and a layout that will target a speciif research. I also feel i have a good undderstanding into the oublishing industry itself, and the distribution of magazine. I have learnt all about different modes of adress, and studied how i can reach out and target my specif auidences. I feel i have a good understand and over the course of time and the making of my magazine that my skills have developed greatly and i have really enoyed doing the media coursework and feel that i have put my best efforts into to create a good quality, dynamic magazine pages.

Evaluation Activity 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?









Throughout the construction of my magazine i used a wide varierty of technologies. SOme of which wastechnology that i had never used before so therefore i learnt new skills and devekloped my understanding of them whilst using them. Photoshop and indesign was the software that i used to construct my magazine pages, I had brifely used photoshop before, and had used indeisgn to construct me contents page for my school magazine, howver i was not fully confident. However as i planned out my ideas and i had a good idea of how i wanted my magazine pages to look, i found it then easy to create these on photoshop. After using them, i then found it quick and easy to change things around and it became very effective. These programs have allowed me to create pages that look like a real magazine and to create them to the highest possible standard. I used a apple Mac to use these prograpms, again which i had never used before so using these was all in the learning process of using new technoligie. I used my own sony camera to take my photos as i already knew how to use it and i could quickly take the phots and upload them with no hassel.

I also ussed additional techonology like windows photo edditor to change and minipluate my image, flickr and blogger to display my work.

Evaluation activity 5



With my front cover i feel that i attracted my target audience very well. Firstly the image that i used on my front cover is very eye catching to attract people to buy the magazine. The image is of a medium close up and the model is shown wearing very fashionable clothes and she is well presented.The image is dominating 3/4 of the right hand side of the page, showing her importance to the magazine.The image portrays a sophisticated and mature feel, directly and specifically aiming at the target audience. The use of the name and logo is insintically reconsiable and will stand out in readers minds. The 'ONE' is shown big and clear, and is in a black font underlined. The use of the word one automatically gives the magazine top end status. Down the front cover names of highly reconisable and star persona names are clearly displayed, and states they are featured in the magazine, which is used as a unique selling point. The colours are all neatural breaking the conventions of a noramll music magazine as the colours are kept simple and not in your face.


How did you attract/adress your audience?
The contents page attracts the target auidence very well too, good uses of images are used and the contrast in colours is carried through from the front cover to the contesnts page. The use of the logo again at the top right hand side is placed at structuered there well as its used as a heading as agian is clealry reconisable. the use of the information box down the right hand side and in a dark grey with back writieing creates a usefull information box for readers. Also words with importance are empahtised by capitals and boldness. The genre of mature and sophitcated is carried thriugh as the contents page is structured by having a intrdouctry paragraph and other information located around the page.

Evaluation acticity 4

Who would be the auidence for your media product?



The target audiene for my magazzine if for a age group of 16-25. The percentage of male to female readers would be 45%/55% female. I have a split auidence of readers, firstly aimed at university students, and then also people who are in good jobs with a intrest in music and current news in the industry. Overall, the magazine is aimed at a sophistcated mature auidence.

They would contsatnaly be listning to a ipod, whether its after a lecture at university, or on the train home after work. The cureent playlist would be kings of leon, chiddy Bang, Kasabian, Pixxe Lott, Jack Johson and the Kooks. They would often go to local bars or a night out to listen to music, and gigs are often on the list. 1 Festival ticket a year is purchased, often V or reading. Topshop, urban Outfitters and ASOS would be the faveoirte place to shop. Leather jacksets, checkered shirts, leggings, neautral shirts and frill would be the top style for girls, with boys wearing biker boots or urban outiffters shirts, or agian just a Ralph Lauren suit for work.

Would heavily have a intrest in fashion, music is mainly thier main passion. Thier Uni room would be filled with posters of artists or their apparment after work would be filled with the most modern furntatire. Faveorite tv shows include hollyoaks, 90210,desperate housewives, come dine with me.

On a weekend you would often fiding them hitting london city centre for a bit of shopping on oxford street, also occsionaly in starbucks or down Brick Lane hitting the best vintage stores.

Friday 16 April 2010

Evaluation activity 3

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

After doing some research into the distribution of media magazines, there were to main distributors that really stood out for me. IPC media and Bauer Media group were two that showed good potential to distribute and promote my magazine greatly.

My magazine is obviously a music magazine, so a excellent distributor of this could be Bauer media group. They already are hugely successful, and already distribute Kerrang and Q which are two hugely successful music magazines, and as i based alot of my inspiration around Q magazine it would be hugely beneficial for Bauer media group to distribute my music magazine too. My magazine is similar to Q, but does however challenge some of the main conventions of a music magazine so they would be able to reach out to new audiences. Bauer media group would also be able to help me advertise and promote my magazine widely and hugely to create a hype about it, maybe involving large social networking sites such as facebook or twitter. Bauer media group is commonly known to market their products further using radio and television. They do this using 'Bauer Radio' and 'Box Television'. This is also a successful way of targeting a wide audience.


IPC is another really successful distributor that icould use, they already distribute NME magazine so having them distribute my magazine would allow them to attract new audiences as my music magazine is aimed at different audience to NME.IPC Media produces over 85 iconic media brands, with their print brands alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 44% of UK men – almost 27 million UK adults.IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone, with a focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women. I think that IPC media would have a gap in their distibuting for a music magazine such as my One music.

Evaluation Activity 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?




My target audience for my magazine was 16-25.My magazine was a more sophisticated and mature genre of music magazine, and i took alot of my inspiration from Q magazine, and from female singers in the industry. One front cover which i found hugely inspiring was the Q cover of Madonna. The Image of Madonna and then the image of my model does have some similarities. For both of the front cover, the main focal point is there face and the facial expression they portray. Both are very mysterious and are telling there own story.The way in which they are both positioned is that they are both turned to the side, taking up around 3/4 of the space on the front page. They are both well presented, in nice clothes, hair styled nice and make up done very nicely, representing this idea of sophistication and status,and a more mature audience that would be reading the magazine, rather than going for a messy hair and rough look about it. Both of the artists eyes are directly at the camera making a connection with them and the audience. The posture both of the artists hold is strong showing strength and domination. The images show that the social groups would be young but with style and care for how they look and also have status.

Evaluation Activity 1

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

My main aim was to develop the forms and conventions of a real music magazine, and develop these ideas and put them into my own magazine that i was going to create. Sticking to the basic conventions of a magazine was hugely important, however as i developed my ideas of my contents page and my double page spread i did indeed challenge some of these conventions. By doing research in good depth and by studying Q magazine and NME i really knew the conventions well, and i then had good ideas of how i wanted to create my magazine. Below i have broke down into sections how i challenged and developed the conventions of a music magazine.

Title Of the magazine
The title or masthead of my magazine is very conventional to a music magazine. One Music is what i decided to name my magazine. Its displayed at the top left hand corner of the page, covering about one third of the front cover, which develops the conventions because this is coming across most of magazine in any genre. I had the word 'ONE' in capitals and then had music inside of the 'O'. This then worked as a logo also. The Name One Music, also gives the impression that this is the ONE Music Magazine, giving it status and a label for being one of the top music magazines. The emphasis on the word one is shown by the drop shadow around the word 'ONE'making it stand out on the page with the contrast of colours from the picture of the model and the background. The word One is short and sweet, allowing the audience and potential readers to remember it, and 'One Music' is directly conventional to a music magazine.

Mise-en-scene- of image
The Mise-en-scene of all my images across my pages from my magazine was very important. This is because the image is extremely important to the overall look of the magazine, the structure of the pages and to attract and draw the target audience in. For my front cover, the image i choose and the layout of it was extremely important. I had to choose a image that was eye catching and would draw people in to buy the magazine if it was on a shelf in a shop. My image was large, and located to the right hand side of the page and took up around 3/4 of the front cover. Here i challenged the normal conventions of a music magazine, because after studying Q magazine and NME, there front cover photo is normally a long shot and located directly in the middle of the page with text either side. I deiced to place my photo to the right hand side so that i then had enough space to the left to place all my text. I choose a image that had a good contrast of colours, and also the facial expression of the model would draw people in.

For my contents page i used a image from the main feature to be the main image to the left hand side of the page which also referred back to genre constantly reminding the audience of the sophisticate music genre, aimed at a indie/ causal music genre.

My Images for my double page spread were again all very ascetically appealing, and would draw people and attract them to read the article. All the images i choose were layed out with good structure and fitted the genre and audiences for the magazine.

Costumes and Props
The clothes that i used for my pictures were very important, my main article was on a new young girl who was a upcoming artist, but then i also had to fit the genre of the magazine that was aimed at a sophisticated and mature audience with a target age of 16+. For my front cover, i wanted to choose colours then would make a good contrast on the page, so i featured my model wearing a plain black top with a grey waistcoat. This fitted the image of the artist i was going to be featuring, however also fitted in with the genre of the magazine overall. For my contents page and double page spread, i featured my artist wearing a checkered shirt, which is sometimes known as i icon or bands or laid back styles. By dressing my artist like this is already gives some ideas to what shes like before even reading the article, relating directly back to the target audience. For my front cover, but keeping the colours and style simple i could relate back to my sophisticated genre of music magazine.

Fonts and style
For my fonts and text in my magazine, i wanted to keep it simple to keep the theme of simple and sophisticated throughout the magazine. For my front cover i used the font Heautic Neuve to create my headings and bold texts. However for the writing on my contents page and double page spread i used Times New Roman font in size 9, which is similar to watch magazines in the publishing industry would already use so here i was just developing that convention. The times new roman worked extremely well on the contents page and double page spread as against the blank background it stood out clearly on the page and could clearly be read. It also kept the style of the simple yet effect genre and style of the magazine. Throughout the magazine there are words in bold or underlined to create a empathise on important words and to create a imagery.

Written content
I've used the conventions of real magazines for my pages. All of my text is easy to read and is placed and spread evenly across the pages. All of the text on my pages is all related to music, sticking closely to the basic conventions. My article is similar to what would be found in a normal interview, with question and answers about the music industry. The questions fir the conventions of a music magazine because they are about tours, music, inspirations and ideas for the future. The written content on the front cover shows the name of the magazine clearly displayed, then the heading is used as a pull to attract potential readers in. The rest of the text on the front cover is used to give information to what else is in the mag zine.

Music Genre and how your magazine suggests it
The music genre my magazine is suggesting is Indie/alternative. This is shown through the sophistication of photos, the layout of the texts and the fonts and colour schemes used.The black, grey and shadows around the colours show the sophistaction and the text that is used is simple again aimed at at more mature audience. No funky colours or writing is used showing again the sophistication and genre of the magazine. The use of basic fonts that are not to heavy or dominating on the page show that the music featured inside the magazine will be mellow and not like heavy metal music.

Layout
The layout of the front cover is good and lay ed out well. Although its not conventional of other music magazines its still very effetcive too. The use of the large medium close up photo gives empathise that this is a exclusive feature with this artist. The writing down the left hand side of the page also is structured and layed out well, with good spaces between the text. The masthead at the top of the page is shown and displayed very well showing the name and logo of the magazine extremely well, and is very eye catching.

Double page spread


Page 1 of double page spread























Page 2 of double page spread

The second page of my double page spread was alot more easy to create. It was simple and the article just carried on from the page before. I had 3 columns at the bottom to the page, only very small though to bring the article and interview to a close, and i carried on with the same text and font, Times New Roman, size 9, red for questions and black for awnser. Throughout the whole of my magazine i think that the use of downwards columns in a strong structured way has been very successful and is very conventional of a magazine. Above the 3 columns i then decided to have a collection of 6 images which were all associated with the article. I was careful how i placed these images, and used the place and copy tool on photoshop to do so. This creation was easy, as i already had planned the images i wanted to use. I layed them out on the page in a collage style, and used images of all sizes and colours to create a good contrast. I then underneath had a tiny paragraph explaining about each image,and i made this text size 8, so there was c difference between the article and then the imagery text. To finish the page i then added the ONE MUSIC MAGAZINE, and date to the bottom right hand corner of the page, keeping in mind the basic conventions.

One of the main changes to my double page spread was the photos that were placed. I moved them around alot to make sure they were correctly laid out on the page and so that the page was eye catching and appealing. The font for the photo captions underneath i also changed alot to make sure i had it right, and in the end decided the font size 8 would work best.
Here is what double page spread page 2 looked like.

Development of Double page spread.

I knew that my double page spread would be the task that took the longest, it took the longest planning and a mixture of all different ideas went into it. I knew instantly that i wanted my double page to be heavily dominated by text, so that i could keep the mature and sophisticated feel about the magazine ongoing. I knew the first thing to do was to do some research in other double page spreads from existing music magazines, these are the ones that i looked at.




Initially, i really liked the layouts of both of these double page spreads, they both were heavily dominated by text, but also by a large image. However i did some further research into Q magazine and i could see that these double page spreads did not fit the genre or style of my magazine, and i need to go for a more sophisticated and structured layout. I did lots of planning and this took a couple of lessons, so that i could get the layout of my double page spread exactly right.

When i had my layout, i felt my next job was to write my article, this meant that when my layout had been designed and created on photoshop, i could then just copy and paste my article into the text boxes i had created. Writing my article took many hours, and lots of going over and changes had to be made. Because my double page spread relied hugely on this text, my article had to be extremely good, and had to stay in focus of the original ideas i had. My article was based around a new and up coming artist called Daisy Goes. I kept my article as it was like a interview with her, a question and awnser session. All of the questions i asked where based around music and the industry, so keeping with the basic music magazine features and conventions. Although my article in the end turned out very long, it did fit the theme of the magazine well, and although existing music magazines may not have as long articles, i feel although my magazine broke this convention it fitted very well.

I then had to start creating the layout on photoshop for my double page spread. I decided to create them as 2 separate A4 documents as this would be easier to create and when printing them and posting them on my blog they would just show as 2 separate pages.

For page 1 of my double page spread, i began by just drawing text boxes to work out the size and the fittings of everything together. I drew a box at the top, a long collum to the left, 1 to the right, a space in the middle for my photo and then 2 little boxes underneath the photo.

Next i choose my photo to go in the middle of the page, i had to choose a image that was eye catching and sold the story to the reader. Here is the image that i choose.


I choose the image that was black and white because i felt that it fitted well with the other colours i had chosen for this page, and also because all of the other images i had used so far were in colour.

I then added my title to the page, 'Daisy Goes'. I used a basic Times New Roman font here, but made is all capitals,bold and in red to make it stand out on the page. I then underneath added the headline of the story,again which was in capitals, Times New Roman, bold and black, creating the contrast of colours between the two. I made this centre and symmetrical to the top of the page. I could now start adding my article to the first page. I decided to keep the font Times New Roman, as it was classic, easy to read on the screen and sophisticated keeping it simple. I also decided to use font size 9, as after research into Q magazine there font size for some of their main articles was size 9, so i was keeping the conventions of a real music magazine strong here. The first part of my article to left hand side of the page was all in black. As in interview with Daisy began, the questions i asked her were in red and the awsner she gave in black, keeping it classic and easy for the reader to read, and also keeping contrast with all the colours on the page, as the read matched the red of the heading and title at the top. The left and right columns were level with the top of the picture, keeping it symmetrical and structured without. Underneath the picture, in bold and capitals i added a quote from the interview which really stood out on the page.

Here is how my first page from my double page spread looked.

Contents page finished

THis is my contents page finsihed, Created using photo minipulation program called Photoshop.

Thursday 15 April 2010

Development of Contents page

I found the task of producing a contents page quite difficult, especially because of the genre and audience i had chosen. I intended to create a contents page that was sophisticated and was directly aimed at a more mature audience.

I researched into some other contents pages and this is what i found.




I felt that these two contents pages really fitted the traditional conventions of a music magazine contents page, however for my contents page i really wanted to give a more sophisticated feel, and have a picture from my main feature, also have a paragraph written from the editor.

I felt it was really important to keep the say theme,colours and fonts throughout the whole of the pages i created. For my contents page, i felt it was important to use the Heautic Neuve font, this was because its what i used on the front cover, and also its a sophisticated classy feel to it. The contents page was busy, packed with text, so i had to keep the layout classy yet effective.

I decided to have a image from my main feature clearly represented at the top of the page. This was then closely followed underneath by a introductory paragraph about this months issue. To the right hand side of the page i had a grey box which my text was placed in, with the issues main features and events, which this was really effective and is stood out on the page, and also carried the colour theme on from the front page to then the contents page. The box around the text stood out and looked like useful information. The main text size of all my text on the contents page was size 10.

I also had my logo of One Music at the top of my page, following this on from the front cover. This was important as it is one of the main features and conventions of any magazine. My contents page and the ideas i had was not a traditional and conventional contents page but i think that the idea worked well and came out successful, even though the process of making the contents page was longer because of idea changes, in which i changed ideas on the layout several times, i think it was successful.

My front cover

Here is the final copy of my front cover.

Development of front page

As soon as i had my image for my front page, i then needed to add all of the other text and imagery to make it conventional of a music magazine. I created my Front page on a photo minipulation program called Photoshop.
I Started by first creating the name One music for my magazine. This had to stand out on my page, and i positioned it right at the top of the page, in level with the models head, keeping it symmetrical. I decided to have the ONE, very big and also the lettering was thin, it was very bold, and i used the shadow and drop down tool to create a shadow around it. Inside the O i also then inserted the word Music, and that created a logo to, and also the name of the magazine One Music. I then underlined this to make it stand out even more.
Above this, in a smaller font i placed my slogan, 'The One and only top music magazine', the One Which was in bold, again just reminding the reader of the sophistication and status of the magazine.

Underneath this i then had the quote and headline for the main feature of my magazine, 'Daisy Goes Straight To The Top'. Here is a play on words to as the artists name is Daisy Goes. I then put all of the words in Bold, and again used the shadow and drop down tool to create a shadow and around it, making it stand out even more. I decided to keep all of the font in black as it would stand out more and match the other colours from the photo and make a good contrast with the background.

As the text carries on down the page, it carries on using Times New Roman and Heutic Neuve Font to create a sophisticated feel and keep without the genre that i had chosen and constantly fitting the targets audience needs. The rest of the text then just gave a look into what was in the issue.

At the bottom of the cover i then placed the Bar code, website of my magazine, price and date, all keeping the traditional conventions of a music magazine.

Chooseing the right photos.

The next stage of my development was to choose the correct photos for my Front page, Contents page and then my double page spread. For My front cover, i wanted to choose a photo that was a medium close up of my model, from the waste up, that was eye catching and would automatically draw potential readers and buyers of the magazine in. Here are a few of the photos that i choose to decide from.


This was a strong photo that i first looked at. I feel the use of my photography and the correct image i created for my genre of magazine was really good. However i didn't feel that the image was strong enough to make a Front cover image, it was to far away and also had no selling point about it. The model was not looking at the camera either which would normally be a convention of a front page picture.





This next image i looked at again i thort was a really well photographed photo and the angle and the positioning of the model to the camera was excellent. However i decided totally against this photo because it was in black and white, and i didn't feel this would be as Strong as a colour photo for my front page. If the picture was in colour i would have felt differently about using it.



The final image i looked at was this one, and this is the one i decided i would use for my front cover. Firstly the positioning of the model to the camera is perfect, exactly how i wanted it in a medium close up. There is enough room to the left of the model to be able to fit all my text in and to write what was needed. The contrast of colour is brilliant as it isn't to bright and the colours are mostly neutral or greys so they all fit together. The facial expression on the model is extremely eye catching, and makes the reader want to read more as in why is she smiling like that, the model is also attractive, wearing nice clothes, and eyes directly aimed at the centre of the camera attracting people and having a Strong selling point.


Here is the screen shot of how i eddited my photos using a basic edditing program on windows on my laptop at home.

First Photos

My first job that i needed to do was to go out and take my first photos for my magazine. I needed to take photos which all fitted the genre and idea of my magazine. I intended that this issue of my magazine was all be featured around a new artist called Daisy Goes, so i decided to take pictures of a girl from my year to be Daisy. Here are the selection of images that i choose.

Tuesday 13 April 2010

I also browsed on youtube and looked into the sort of music that influenced ideas and thoughts for my magazine. The few videos i have selected also refelct my reader profile, and the sort of music and artists i would like to be featured in my One Music Magazine. I also studied aritcles on these bands in other music magazines, so i got a real feel of how these bands influence and are sucsessfull in the music industry, so i could then begin to make plans and draw out my own ideas.



Use Somebody- Kings of leon





Better Together - Jack Johnson




Fire- Kasabian

Monday 12 April 2010

Reader profile for my magazine.

Reader profile for One Music Magazine.

A reader profile is a piece of text that describes what people read a magazine. It is useful for competing magazines as it can describe their target audience right down to tiny details.

The reader profile for One Music magazine would be someone who is of a older more sophisticated audience. The typical age group for the magazine would be in the twenties, however it is common for someone 16+ to be reading the magazine. The reader would be someone who is interested in music, but also in more depth, by being interested in the industry and music from all other countries, in particular interested in music coming out of the USA.

The magazine is going to feature classy photoshoots and critically acliamed phtographers and writters, so a good strong intrest and knowedge into this feild would be valuable to. The magazine would beon the shelves next to Vogue and Vanity fair giving it high to end value.
The reader are often either in College/University or in quite good paid jobs, as the magazine is aimed at a sophisticated audience, so a reasonable price no more than £5 would be acceptable.

They are often heavy Internet users, often buying and downloading of of itunes, and the readers ipod would consist of Kings of Leon, coldplay, Kasabien,pixxe Lott and radio1 is often a favourite.

There not heavy into festivals, however 1 every summer is normally chosen, in particular, V or Reading festival. There style would either be smart and sophisticated, or totally opposite and individual.


Example of reader profile- WORD MAGAZINE

He is a very high-earning ABC1 male aged between 30 and 55. While we're blowing smoke up his fundament we shouldn't neglect to mention that our research shows that 44% of Word's readers earn over £50,000 and 11% earn over £100,000. He used to be what the entertainment retailers call the £50 guy but our last reader survey shows that this is out of date. He's now likely to be spending more than £90 a month on music, films and books.

When he was 19 music was his world. Music magazines were his first real print addiction. They gave him a sense of community, a language, a style and a whole new way of looking at the world. You won't find him following the crowd but you might find him leading it. He's trusted by his peers as the person to turn to for an informed opinion on music and media.
Now that he is over 30 with a partner and possibly even a family, he is as passionate about music as ever but his interests have broadened to encompass other forms of entertainment and new technology to enjoy these on. He is still after the sense of community he used to get from music magazines, but until the arrival of Word felt there was no longer anything in the market for him. On one hand he feels too old for what he considers to be the over-heated world of the current entertainment monthlies and on the other he does not want to live in the past with a nostalgia magazine.

Initial research

After completing all of the tasks for my first initial reseacrh into magazines, and also then my school magazine i had to start developing my ideas for my music magazine. I began by going and buying a few music magazines and analysing them. I looked at Q,NME and Rolling stones. After studying these magazines, i had quick instintints and ideas that i wanted to create a music magazine that was of more of a sophisticated genre and look and targeted a more mature audience.

I feel that Q magazine had the look i was going for, so i intended to really do some research into Q, to study a number of their front covers and double page spreads in order to get a good feel of the main conventions of a music magazine.From doing my research, the front cover pictured below really caught my eye, and the layout is how i intended to base my magazine and its conventions around.

Tuesday 16 March 2010

Evaluation of school magazine

For my preliminary task I was given the task to design and make the front cover and contents page for a school magazine. Straight away I was keen to begin my work as I already have a good strong interest in magazines. I split my making of the magazine into sections, the planning, my research, photography and then putting it all together to create my final piece. I feel already I had a good understanding of the key conventions of a magazine¸ from past knowledge and making of magazines. I planned my ideas, and feel that I put them all together to create the best magazine I could. I believe that my effort throughout was consistent, and I was willing to learn new skills for etc when using Indesign. I feel my final magazine pages hugely fit the brief and the conventions of a realistic school magazine. I believe that my front cover really stands out, the use of the school colours, strong medium close up of student taking up half the page and the good use of fonts and heading, all grab the attention of potential readers. I that my contents page looks very realistic and now I have a good understanding of how industries use photo software such as Indesign and Photoshop, When looking at my work I think that the work I produced does reflect my hard effort and passion for media studies, especially in the form of magazines.



My images I used for my magazine were all images that I went out and conducted and myself, here giving it the traditional school surroundings. I captured photos of all different age groups and genders, here because I got a realistic approach to if this was a real school magazine and was being aimed at all years of 7-13. I decided that for the image on my front cover, I would use a student from year 11, as this is classed as a mature student and I feel for the colours and layout of the cover it fitted in perfectly. I Photo shopped the image, just adding a little brightness and contrast to make specific elements stand out, for example the school badge and the models eyes making the bluer so its more eye catching to potential readers. I think that the layout of my images on the contents page fit perfectly, and tremendously make it look like a professional contents page for this type of magazine. The landscape image at the top of that page automatically brighten up the page, because the image is out a group of friends of which I took of year 11 students, outside, with bright colours al being shown. Down the right hand side there is also 3 images, again 2 of which are of students again of different ages, some from year 9 and sixth form. I decided that I wanted all of the images to look as professional as possible, using a plain background and trying not to manipulate and change the images. I wanted to keep the contrast on pictures and colours the same, so simple yet classic and effective photos were taken. On the cover and the contents page I wanted to keep the same colours and fonts throughout, to keep a consistent theme and professional layout. I used the colours same as from our school, red, black, navy and white, and I tried to use the images to fit around all of these colours and layouts. I feel my photography skills were put to the test, but I do however feel I put much effort in to put the photos together and make the images the best I could, and contributing to making my magazine fit the conventions and look like a professional product.




For this task, it was the first time I had ever used the software Indesign and Photoshop. Here however I saw a opportunity to learn the skills so that again in the future I would know how to use these and apply them to my work. I found it very interesting using software that is used in media industries, as an insight for me for the future. For my front cover, I used Microsoft publisher to conduct it, as I felt comfortable using this program. For my contents page I used Indesign, which at first was a challenge as you learn how to use it and the skills as you go through putting your work together which can be very time consuming. However on the other hand I feel that in the future I will be using Indesign and Photoshop for most of my publication work, as the standard at the end was much higher than I had ever used before. It gave a professional layout, good structure and the use of applying colours and photos was easy. I was pleased with the result as it made it look like a very professional product, and alongside with my front cover which I had made on publisher I feel all of it fitted together perfectly, because I followed the same conventions throughout, the same colour scheme, the same fonts and the pictures all had a particular theme.



Overall i’m extremely happy with my preliminary task of a school magazine. I learned so much on top of my knowledge of magazines. I feel that the skills I learned I can now put together and forward when doing other publication work, especially in the areas of software such as Indesign and photo manipulation like Photoshop. I’m extremely happy with the professional look and finish of my magazine, it had all of the key conventions of a proper magazine, the photos were took to the best standard I could and the time and effort I feel I put it contributed widely to the professional finished looking product.

Here is a copy of my school magazine front cover.

Monday 8 March 2010





Here is a copy of my prelinary task of which i did. I was given the task to make a front cover and contents page, and here is the contents page which i made of In design.

Tuesday 5 January 2010




The colours are the magazines logo red, also there is black to give the magazine and eye-catching impact effect on the reader.
The contents page features again the basics of a magazine contents has such as a mast head, again showing the logo of the magazine and the title.
On the left hand side of the page there is a section for the bands.This allow the reader to see the new and upcoming band in the next few issues. The colour sceme also allow the magazine to seem vibrant.

The main image is a image of the featured artist in the magazine in this case its Oasis. The image is of a long shot of two of the men. Some of the writing is made to stand out agian appearing to the readers.

There is also headings for all of the main features agian making it stand out to all over the readers, making sure all the colours contrast and fit together.


This is the current front cover for Q magazine, and the way in which the front cover is shot and put together is of a similar layout to which i would like the front cover for my own music magazine. The image is over a very high quality, of which i aim to use a photo manipulation program such as photo shop in order to help me get the best quality photos. I also aim to use a close up or medium close up photo in order to create the best picture on the front cover and to make it eye catching and appealing to potential readers.
Here, i am now going to start the task for my AS media coursework, and to produce my own Music Magazine. I firstly need to do some intial research into the understanding of existing music magazinr that are already around from a simular genre and style to which i want to produce my music magazine like. I aim to produce a magazine with simular style and layout to ones such as Q magazine and NME. I would like my music magazine to have all the key conventions of a magazine and a music magazine, im particual the front cover, contents page, double page spread and a article with the main features.

When looking in close detial at Q magazine and analysing it, Q magazine also has other conventions and features such as an extensive review section, featuring: new releases (music), reissues (music), music compilations, film and live concert reviews, as well as radio and television reviews. It uses a star rating system from one to five stars; indeed, the rating an album receives in Q is often added to print and television advertising for the album in the UK and Ireland. It also compiles a list of approximately eight albums, which it classes as the best new releases of the last three months. Much of the magazine is devoted to interviews with popular musical artists.

These are all conventions and features which i wish to use and produce in my AS media coursework.
I would like my main feature(band) to be based around a new and upcomming girl group, however i would like my magazine to be aimed at males and femals so therefore keeping in mind the colours and designs i use, keeping the magazine apealing to both.

Saturday 21 November 2009

For my AS media studies coursework, i had a breif that i have to follow. I have been set a preliminary task of which i had to create a front cover and a contents page for a school magazine. For my main task i have been given the task to create a front page, contents page, and double page spread for a new music magazine, making it as realistic as possible. To make it the best i can, i aim to use a photo manipulation program and also a desktop publisher. I am going to use the blog as a place to present my work and the on going process of developing my work.

NME


NME – NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS



Choice 2 : NME “ First for music news”
The New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom which has been published weekly by IPC MEDIA since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, which first appeared in the 14 November 1952 edition. The magazine's commercial heyday was during the 1970s when it became the best-selling British music magazine. During the period 1972 to 1976 it was particularly associated with gonzo journalism, then became closely associated with punk rock through the writing of Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill. NME is a British weekly music magazine. Featuring agenda-setting news, the UK's most comprehensive gig guide, definitive reviews of the week's hottest gigs, tracks and albums, and fiery comment from the nation's most opinionated writers, it's the essential guide to the week in music. Krissi Murison was named the magazine's eleventh editor on July 29, 2009. The magazine's first female editor, she took over on September 1, 2009. Arctic Monkeys, The Smiths, Klaxons and Oasis were all introduced to the world via the pages of NME. NME comes out every Wednesday, is priced £2.30 and is available in all good newsagents. NME has a circulation of 48,459.
• It is now the longest standing, most famous and biggest selling weekly music publication in the world.
• NME has chronicled and helped to shape the history of music over the last 50 years.
• Today NME remains at the cutting edge of new music.
• NME supports breaking talents as they emerge into the mainstream and gains unique access to the world's superstars


The content of NME

The content of NME magazine is huge, spreading wide across the mucis insustry and the news. Its content is things such as, Music news - up to the minute news from around the world featuring the biggest and coolest names , Exclusive features on the biggest names in music from established artists to the future music stars. Singles reviews - NME reviews of the UK's essential downloads, single and music video releases, album reviews - NME offers the most authoritative and influential reviews of albums prior to their release. Live reviews of the most exciting performances from around the world and gig guides - the biggest and the best gig guide in the UK covering the smallest to the largest music venues. Access to photographs taken by NME's world - renowned music photographers and much of this content feeds from the award winning website NME.com including the latest news, features and reviews from the music scene.




The publishing institution of NME
IPC Media is a leading UK consumer magazine publisher, started in 1968. Almost two in every three UK women and over 44% of UK men read an IPC magazine. That's almost 26 million UK adults.
IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone. Our 80 magazines include What's on TV, Pick Me Up, Woman, Now, Marie Claire, In Style, Woman & Home, Ideal Home, Nuts, Wallpaper*, Country Life, The Field, Rugby World, Practical Boat Owner and Look, our latest high street fashion and celebrity weekly. Our digital properties include NME.com, the third largest commercial music website in the UK and housetohome.co.uk, the UK's first homes portal. IPC’s brands are very simply at the heart of the UK's cultural life.







The typical reader profile
Visually looking at the NME front covers, it seems that the magazine is in particular aimed at men. It would be aimed at someone who is very much involved in music, maybe is already in a band or is looking to enter the main music industry. As NME is a weekly magazine, the reader profile would be someone that can afford to buy it.

This image founded, shows what people would expect the typical reader to be like.






Layout Trademarks of NME

NME is the same as any other magazine. It has all the conventions to make it a perfect weekly magazine, showing and contributing to its status and well earned reputation.
NME shows all the latest music, photo shoots and stories on artists, the latest news and many more. Fantastic photography and good layouts are used to make sure that the magazine is to a excellent quality, and making it clear and readable for the reader.






Here is a selection of pages from a NME magazine. It’s clear that all of the main conventions are displayed, great pictures, bold heading, and articles all fitting in with the main image of the magazine.




The Images are all over a extremely high quality, and are very clear. The imagea are big, setting the scene for the article, and showing the band Cleary. The Images all a extremely high quality, and are very clear. The articles are often out in columns, with a bold, clear heading standing out clearly across the page. All of the Colours fit contrasting with each other.



Does NME reflect the values of its audience?
NME has a great track record - 50 years experience of cutting edge journalism for music fans and the most Up To Date - NME.COM is the first with music news around the world, with real time updates. Its extremely accurate - If you want the truth and confidence in what you publish then choose NME.COM
Access to the stars - Every day of the week, any where in the world NME is reviewing all the biggest names and the newest bands. It has easy Integration, the content delivered to you whenever and however you want it and it’s extremely cost effective - A fraction of the true commission cost, and access to the best writers.

Analysis of Vogue magazine




Choice 1 : VOGUE- “ Fashion as it happens”

Introduction
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine published in 16 countries by Condé Nast Publications. Each month, Vogue publishes a magazine addressing topics of fashion, life and design. Vogue is a highly prestigious high end fashion magazine. Vogue has recently been described as "the world's most influential fashion magazine". Vogue is most famous as a presenter of images of high fashion and high society, but it also publishes writings on art, culture, politics, and ideas. It has also helped to enshrine the fashion model as a celebrity. Vogue is regularly criticized, along with the fashion industry it writes about, for valuing wealth, social connections, and low body weight over more noble achievements. The British edition of Vogue, its editor in chief is Alexandra Shulman and is published monthly by condé Nast Publications monthly, with a circulation of 220,000. British Vogue is a fashion magazine that has been published since 1916. British Vogue is more commercial in approach than other editions of Vogue. It is the most profitable British magazine as well as the most profitable Vogue besides the US edition. In 2007, it ran 2,020 pages of advertising at an average of £16,000 a page.
This magazine can also be found online at www.Vogue.com



The content of Vogue
Vogue is a fashion insider. It shows content (about 90% of it shows advertising for different designers) for what is "in style" for that specific season that the issue comes out for. It has tons of glamorous ads ranging from clothing designers to jewelry designers. A vogue magazine shows all the key conventions of a fashion magazine. When flicking through a Vogue magazine, its not hard to realize that most of the Magazine is adverts, however most of these adverts are for high end fashion brands, showing sexy glamorous adverts, all which fit in with the image of the magazine, showing adverts from brands such as Jimmy Choo and Chanel.





The front cover of a vogue magazine, without doubt always has a well known celebrity or model on the front, which fits the image perfectly. The image is normally shown from a medium shot, showing from the waist upwards, in practically concentrating on the face of the model/celebrity. It’s often said that if you are on the cover of a vogue magazine, then you have earned status and reached the top and you are extremely successful. Kate moss is the famous model who has appeared on the cover of vogue more than anyone else. There is always a glossy, glamorous front cover, and within the issues there’s is hundreds of adverts. However there is also fashion spread, sections on current trends, the latest fashion shows and best dressed of the month. Huge Fashion spreads and fashion shoots with the most dream able clothes features and the most beautiful models in the world. There is often a article or interview with a celebrity, often the one featured on the front. There is a huge section on beauty and hair, which all of this comes straight of the catwalk into the magazine. There are lifestyle articles, often on travel or gardening, and art and exhibitions. Vogue offers something for everybody, its wide double page spreads, glossy, glamour and sexy photo shoots, the latest high end fashion, showing ranges of designers, catwalk hair and makeup and then a contrast with articles on lifestyle and art, all contribute to it being the top selling fashion magazine in uk.











The Publishing Institution of vogue


Condé Nast Publications, Inc. is a worldwide magazine publishing company. Its main offices are located in London, Madrid, Miami, Milan, New York, Paris and Tokyo. Condé Nast is run by S.I. Newhouse Jr. Condé Nast Publications publish Vogue every month, not only in the United Kingdom but also America. Condé Nast is award winning, for publishing the world’s most stylish magazines. It also publishes magazine such as GQ, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Good Housekeeping, Easy Living, GQ Style, and many more. Condé Nast is credited with creating the now widely used magazine marketing strategy emphasizing magazines focused on a particular class or interest, sometimes known as lifestyle magazines. Many Condé Nast magazines have their principal focus in fashion, although the company's publications also include travel, food, home, culture, and other interests. By 1998 the group included 17 such publications, many of them the largest in their markets. It had an average total circulation of over 13 million issues a month, and an estimated actual readership five times larger than that.



The Typical Reader Profile
Vogue is always classed as a very high prestigious fashion magazine, aimed at people who are highly interested in fashion or like to keep up on the current trends that there are. Its aimed at a mature audience, over the age of 18, however nether the less doesn’t mean to say that younger girls who like fashion who aspire to work in that industry cant read it.
The depth of the magazine is very detailed on fashion, reporting trends and good strong articles. The range of articles are all from high end brands, enforcing the idea that maybe people who read Vogue are people who can afford to buy things from the fashion houses. Often people subscribe to Vogue, these are people that are dedicated to the magazine and have probably been reading it for many years. Its also aimed at a journalistic audience, people who love to read and write, aspiring journalist or writers. Vogue can be broken down into subgenres as there is a huge audience who read it every month.







Vogue magazine set out there magazines making sure that all of the key conventions for a highly prestigious fashion magazine is there.

There photo shoots for there fashion shoots would be very professional to a excellent standard. The images for these fashion shoots would take up a whole pages, normally double page spreads or a few pages on a selection of clothes. There could also often be a article which sometimes goes with it, especially if the photo shoot was on a celebrity or authority figure.
There pages often have a few pages of fashion, and then there may be several pages of fashion adverts, all of which again are high end fashion adverts.


Much of the articles are written in columns, making it organised, presentable and readable for the person reading the magazine. It’s a glossy magazine, which through he images and writing gives a extra reason for its high earned status.

When first opening the magazine, there is often around 25 pages or straight adverts, and then 2 pages of contents, and a editors letter. More adverts and then straight into fashion, the main content of the magazine. Often concentrating on the main fashion trends and shows, what celebrities are wearing, the newest designer clothes, all of which the reader would lust for. There is then a huge section on beauty and hair, followed by the main article of the magazine, and then numerous fashion shoots. The back pages are often filled with adverts too, however with the very back cover a advertisement which would oh cost thousands of pounds to be featured there.















Does Vogue Reflect the values of its audience?

Vogue is one of the top selling high end fashion magazine in the world. Its earned a high end status for giving the reader exactly what they want. A glossy fashion magazine, with designers everywhere, the latest fashions and also articles debating the latest global issues, sometimes on fashion, and then in contrast the next month on the global recession. The reader gets a bit of everything when they read Vogue, A filled magazine, which with the good reputation and status it has, will continue to receive issue after issue with the content and conventions it continues to deliver.