OCR Media Studies – AS Level

Unit G321: Foundation Portfolio in Media

Preliminary Task, Log Book and Evaluation

Name: Candidate Number: Center Name: St. Paul’s Catholic CollegeCenter Number: 64770

Set Brief - Print

Music Magazine – Production

Preliminary Task Progression, Log Book and Evaluation

Preliminary Task Progression– Evidence Front Cover Step-by-step

I decided to use the maroon color because it’s the St Paul's color and it looks attractive because it is a bright color.

The black boarder at the top helps the limited edition and the date be seen more clearly. Also, the St Paul's badge shows who the magazine belongs to.

I created the headline and I think the barcode and scan signs are in a good position.

This picture shows clearly what type of band they were and it is cropped so its looks good on the page.

Preliminary Task Progression– Evidence Contents Page Step-by-step

I’ve kept the black boarder and the background to keep the magazine consistent and so the readers know it’s a St Paul's magazine.

Also, I've added in a feature list where the reader can find the page they want to go to.

The pictures show students working hard which gives the school a good reputation.

Section 1) – Log Book

Music Magazine – Genre researchR&B is a genre of popular African-American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African-American. The term rhythm and blues has undergone a number of shifts in meaning. In the early 1950s it was frequently applied to blue record. Starting in the mid-1950s, after this style of music contributed to the development of rock and roll, the term R&B became used to refer to music styles that developed from and incorporated electric blues, as well as gospel and soul music.

Established Magazine for my Research

Editor Jermaine hallGenre R&BFrequency Quarterly Publisher Quincy JonesTotal 301,408circulationReadership Final issue 2014 (print)Country USA Language EnglishWebsite www.vibe.com

The target audience for vibe is young adults between the age of 16-30 who enjoy upbeat music and R&B artists. People who read the magazine can interact with each other as they will want to talk about celebrities lives.

I feel the unique selling point of this magazine is that they use many famous artist who the target audience want to know about and will pay to read the magazine.

Publisher research

The publisher of vibe magazine was Len Burnett and Keith Clinkscales. They has been publishing for 19 years. After vibe stopped publishing they both went to bigger publishing companies such as Conde Nast.

Len Burnett In 1987 he launched “urban profile magazine” but in the early 90s he teamed with Quincy Jones on the Vibe magazine and they took the magazine to the shops in 2004. In 2013, Len Burnett made headlines for buying Uptown magazine back from Intermedia Vibe Holdings.

Conventions of a Music Magazine

Masthead

Barcode

Web address:WWW.VIBE.COM

Cover lines:they tell the reader what is going to be inside the magazines .

Target Audience: Predominantly Black males, who are Hip hop/Rap music fans aged 16-35.

This magazine is aimed at young adults who like hip hop.

I think this magazines unique selling point is that it brings and interviews many musicians who are popular and who are upcoming with great potential.

The logo of the magazine SHOULD be placed on this slide neatly somewhere

Section 2) – Evaluation

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

In terms of the forms and conventions in my own media product I have appealed to the same audience I have aimed at. For example I have used words which will be easily recognized by my target audience. Also I have tried to use modern text which which will appeal to my target audience. My headline “WETHEBEST” allows the audience to feel that if they are reading the magazine they can achieve their goals. As the headline is gold it stands out and will attract not just my target audience but different groups.I have used basic conventions such as barcode, main image, cover lines, main headline and the price.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The denotation of representation is that my magazine is aimed at a young adults who are R&B fans. The younger more modern generation would buy this magazine to see what their favourite artists are wearing so they can copy their style. Also, they will want to keep up with the modern trends, even if they don’t particularly like the artist, because they will want to fit in. As a result, my magazine will be a success as many youth will want to read it which will boost sales and create high profits. The more people reading this magazine will affect the way people speak because there will be words in the magazine which are urban words. However, there will be many groups who will not read my magazine as it will not attract them because they do not like the artist who feature in the magazine. For example ‘rock’ or ‘goth’ music fans will not read my magazine. Socio economic groups such as teenagers will be attracted to my magazine because it will distract them from their repetitive lives of school everyday (katz).

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

Spinmedia is a company that publish my type of magazines.Spinmedia bought vibe magazine in 2013 and vibe is very similar to my magazine. The target audience of vibe are 18-34 year olds who are interested in rap, hip hop and R&B. The target audience is the same as mine which means Spinmedia will be interested in publishing my magazine.

Who would be the audience for your media product and why?

According to Hartley's seven subjectivities, the target audience for my magazine would be for the age range of 18-30 males and females who are of black origin. Artist featured in my magazine will be male and female which many young adults want to be like.

According to Katz uses and gratifications theory males and females will have a close relationship with the artist because they will be going through the same problems they are in terms of relationships problems. Also, the audience will learn from the artist in the magazine as they will learn how to speak and dress like them (the artist).

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, ‘social climbers’ would make up a large amount of the readership since they would try to get information on trends that are new.

How did you attract/address your audience?

There are already many magazines which are very similar to mine which means I have to stand out. USP’s and promotions are an appealing way for people to buy my magazine.

Using language like ‘win’ and ‘exclusive’ will attract the audience to buy the magazine as they know they will get something if they buy it.

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

The software used to construct the my magazine was Adobe Photoshop CS4. This tool allowed me to edit many pictures and to make them look very professional. Before this project I didn't’t really use Photoshop that much but now I have started to use it much more as I know how to do many more things. Photoshop was really helpful because it allowed me to change the colour of the background easily. Also, I could add layers and bring layers to the front which helped me in laying out my pages.I used a font from www.dafont.com and this helped my magazine name ‘WETHEBEST’ stand out and be original.

Photography Planning – Front Cover

Photography Planning - Contents

Photography Planning - Interview

Analysing my Front Cover

Masthead- gold colour which looks modern and shows the magazine is prestigious

Cover lines- show who is going to be inside.

Website- readers will know where to find more information

Barcode and scan- scan will take people straight to the website

Cost- tell people how much the magazine costs

Conventions- shows people that the can find us on facebook and twitter

Picture- this shows the reader who is the main event of the this magazine and this could decide who buy the magazine.

This will inform the reader who is in the magazine and of they like the artist they will buy the magazine.

This will attract the audience as they will see the word “free”

Analysing my Contents Page

Masthead- so the reader will know what magazine this is.

Contents- will show the reader what page each topic is on.

Picture- this picture will help the audience know who this person is and what he has done.

Shows that the content is new and interesting. It stands out as it is at the top which will help the audience see it clearly.

Information on a new rapper which could help him progress and I think its good I have cropped so it fits in.

This is the page and will tell people what

this page is about.

Conventions

Analysing my Double Page spread Interview

Picture- this shows who the person is and how he dresses so people who idol him can know how he dresses

Conventions- this can help the reader know where to find us online.

Interview questions- these questions are based on the artists life and they are interesting question which will want to be read.

Masthead- this gives my magazine an identity which is recognizable and attractive.

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

I feel that, having completed the preliminary task and learning about the demands of this production process, I have learnt…

There is evidence of progression that I feel particularly demonstrates how I met the demands of the production process, for example…