AS Media Studied: My magazine coursework

By Chloe Wilson

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Cover slide explaining the project

Chloe Wilson year 12 Media. 19th september 2014

Preliminary exercise: Using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/ college music magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close ups plus some appropriate laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a DTP mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of the programme.

Main task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine.

I will be assessed on 3 aspects of the coursework.Research and planning – 20 marks Production -60 marks Evaluation – 20 marks

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Preliminary Tasks

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Preliminary In this magazine I have created on Photoshop, I over exposed the lighting to make the cartoon look. I also added a barcode from the internet and copied it onto Photoshop. I also used the picture of a student to match the masthead. The splash says “to cool for school” to anchor the picture. Furthermore I added a strap lines to show what is exclusive in my magazine. I added a puff to attract more students to buy this magazine because there is a free pen and pencil. I used the arrow to move the pictures and words around. I held down ctrl, alt and either the ‘+’ or the ‘-’ to zoom in and out of the picture. I had to make sure that this magazine appeals to students and that It has a affordable price for them which is £1.99.

My 6th school magazine- Preliminary front cover

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Preliminary sixth form double page spread Preliminary

In this double page spread I created it on Adobe InDesign. This was the first time I have used this Adobe which means it took me numerous times to get it right and spent a lot of time playing around on how to use it. I created a double page spread template so that I can make changes before I start my real one. I first added any image on the left hand side and it will cover one page. I will make sure my main image will be direct address to make it look more appealing. I then added the headline, pull quote and columns and filed with placeholder text for the time being.

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AUDIENCE PROFILE (PRELIMINARY SIXTH FORM MAGAZINE)

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Target Audience: for the preliminary task, my target audience will be mainly for female with in the age range from 16-19 as this is the age range of the students who attend sixth form. When I questionnaire some females from the sixth form about their interest in a magazine they mainly said fashion and about celebrities life stories, therefore I will need to include these to satisfy the audience.

What content would I include and why?: The contents I will include will be fashion tips and a bit of gossip about celebrities lifes, where as this is what my audience liked when I questioned them.

What magazines do they read(if any)?: From my research I found out that the females I questioned read either vogue or heat magazines which is about fashion and celebrities. As vogue is well known for fashion I have decided to research about them so I know what attracts their customers I will also do this for heat magazine.

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Week 1: To make sure of a clear understanding of my mast head for my magazine and a clear understanding of my audience.

Week 2: To start off my front page including all conventions and a mast head relating to my genre.

Week 3: To create a double page spread in detail.

Week 4: To take pictures for my front cover of my magazine and Photoshop them correctly.

Week 5: Then go over and correct anything that needs more detail or improving.

Production schedule.

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Music magazine

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Research and planning.

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R&B

Reggae

Classic

Rock

Hip Hop

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Inspiration from other magazine front covers

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Inspiration from other magazines contents page

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Inspiration from other magazine double page spread

Audience research page.R&B

RnB Magazines Audience is a following of trendsetting individuals passionate about RnB Music, Entertainment, Fashion and the RnB-culture. RnB readers look to gain informal and entertaining information from the icons of yesterday and the music of today with every visit to their web site and digital & print magazines.RnBmagazine.com brings the audience the exclusive music and videos that they live for every day to get through their day. It is the foundation of RnB Print & Digital Issues. RnBMagazine.com is an outlet to allow the readers to interact with the online advertisers through custom campaigns. It is the platform for everything RnB; Music, Videos, Fashion and stories that they can relate to.They work closely with their advertisers to develop customized campaigns to brand their products and services. As well as at high-profile events including music festivals, fashion shows, charitable events, movie premieres and Oscar and Grammy celebrationsRnB is more than just music it’s a lifestyle. RnB Magazine is here to inform and entertain you with the hottest new artists, fashion trends and products that the everyday RnB lover looks for. They keep the RnB voice at the forefront, and inside the pages, apps, and blogs of RnB magazine.

RnB shows readers how to have the sexy, chic and powerful lifestyle that RnB music brings. They allow artists, fashion icons and products showcased, to not only show their talent, but flaunt how it is incorporated in their everyday style.

The audience is mainly women between the age 30-34 the status percentage is 63% single and 82% are employed by which means on the audience by acronym the audience would fall into SWELL. 5

My photos for my front page cover star.

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My photos for my contents page

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Before and after

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The mode of address of this magazine is direct because Cheryl is looking straight at the customer giving them eye contact. This makes it more appealing because its like Cheryl is drawing the customer in to read the magazine.

The image connotes the theme of a girly girl. It makes her look innocent and attractive. This image would appeal more towards the female than the male because the image is more towards her wearing the clothes than about herself. The anchorage tells me this. The mis en scene of the magazine cover is bright but also attractive and pretty. This is because of the facial expressions and the baby pink on the cover. This would apply to the audience because the audience would be for SCRUMMY on the audience by Acronym. It could also be SWELL. 1

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In this magazine Emma Stone is represented as a smiley cheeky person this is because of her smirk and her body language.

The mode of address is direct because she has eye contact with the customer to draw them in.

The typography of ‘vogue’ is bold and bigger than everything else this is to show that, that is what the magazine is called.

Most viewers would look at Emma Stone and think that she is a flirtatious and sexual girl that wants to draw the men attention. This is stereotype. If you actually look deeper this is a Vogue magazine not a porn magazine. So why would Vogue have a sexual person on their front cover? They obviously think that she is pretty because Vogue is a popular fashion magazine which is aimed mainly for women and to attract them.

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The typography is Vogue because they need it to stand out so the audience knows what they are buying. This needs to be three quarters of the magazine so it over takes the other texts.

Contents page C

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Cover story (main image): This image shows what the main story is about. You will see that the image is big and the page number and the blurb about the article is bigger than the rest. This is what draws the readers attention.

Supporting image: This shows what Is featured inside

the magazine

Features: This is important to the reader because its showing what Is inside the magazine.

Page numbers

Logo of the magazine

Date and issue number

This shows what is inside the magazine every month.

Double page spread

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Drop cap: This is used to make the story line bolder and clearer.

Cross head:

Columns

Main image: This main image is direct address to catch the audience eye and draws them in.

Page Numbers: To show the reader what page they are on. This is also very useful for

the reader.

White space.

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Planning

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Rolling stones magazine logo shows that it is a rock magazine because of the typography is classic and old this shows that this rock band is an old rock band. The colour are red which shows that it could a unisex magazine. This is mainly towards the male audience, but it can be for both.

Masthead

Kerrang magazine logo shows that it is a heavy metal magazine because of the black font and the white cracks with in the writing. The audience for this because

Billboard magazine logo shows that it is for both genders because the colours are red, blue, yellow and black. The audience by acronym is DINKY. Although the audience by Socio- ecophy is simple and also shows that it is for both genders. Anomic audience would be People at lowest level of income. The reason why these audience would buy this magazine is because the People at lowest of income would have loads of times on their hands and wouldn’t be busy.

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My logos I created.

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Mock ups: front page

Date and issue

number.

Main image/ cover star

Splash

Strap line

Strap line

pricebarcode

Puff

This is where my Masthead is going to be on my magazine. I’ve chosen a conventional place to hopefully attract buyers. The masthead is going to be enlarged so the buyers know what magazine they are reading.

My magazine will have a date and issue number so the buyer will know what issue they are buying. The font will Corbel (body) size 8.

The strapline will appear on both sides of the magazine to promote what is inside the magazine. This will also make customers buy my magazine because they are having a sneak peak on what's inside before opening the magazine.

My image will appear in the middle of the magazine because I want it to be noticeable and the audience can tell what genre it is. I want my image to be big and bold.

Mast head

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Mock Up: Contents page

Contents page

Main image

Splash

Article Page number

Mock Ups: Double page spread

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Headline/ title/ sell lineCross

head

Main image

Column

Column Column Column

Pagenumber

Before and after: progress of my magazine.

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Front cover with my picture

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Contents page with my pictureC

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Double page spread with my picture

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

MastheadI have analysed several different existing magazines and it was clear that the masthead of the magazine was always placed at the top of the front cover and sometimes more to the left. I used this convention throughout my front cover, contents page and double page spread as this was an important layout to use to make my magazine realistic. StraplinesStraplines are used to advertise content on the front cover but are not necessarily used in all magazines. I have noticed they are often used on magazines aimed at a younger audience and teenagers. I decided to use straplines on the left side of my front cover to make it more appealing and visual to my front cover, which is what my target audience wants.

Front cover starThe main purpose for a front cover star is to draw in the customers. The image affects the customers decision to buy the magazine or not. To draw in the male audience I will make sure I’ll have a female front cover start to attract their eye. On the other hand, it may as well attract the females eye where as they may inspire the front inspire.I felt this was important to consider in my images to attract my audience and to create reality towards my magazine. Therefore I have used the this conventions frequently. I have used the front cover star with direct address as the image I got inspiration from was direct address smiling at the camera

Main imageI have used this picture to influence and appeal to the viewers that RnB is quite a trendy fashionable look. I used direct address which draws the readers to buy the magazine.

Pull quote A pull quote is like an induction to the celebrity that is being represented. Some viewers may not know who the celebrity is so having a pull quote shows a bit about their life.

TextWhile analysing a few magazines I realised that the writing is around the size of 11-12 pt. , and is usually aerial font, however some magazines such as vibe connotes the genre. Most genres use drop caps which shows the reader when to start reading. The text is set into columns, usually 2-3 columns. This is to make the text appear tidy and not all over the page.

Colour schemeUsually a double page spread follow the same colour scheme that is ran throughout the magazine, it is usually between 2-4 colours so it doesn’t overpower the article. The name of the celebrity is usually a dark colour for it to appeal to the viewers. The colour scheme used connotes which genre. For example; red is used a lot for RnB.

Contents The word ‘content’ is usually used to let people know it is actually the contents page where they can find the details for the magazine.

Main ImageThe main image on the contents page suggest it will be the main and most important story in the magazine. It is usually positioned in the middle or towards the side of the page. It is framed by the rest of the text.

Category headings‘in every issue’, ‘regulars’, ‘every month’ !This is usually on one of the sides, also the last of the headings near the bottom of the page.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups.

My media product will represent particular social groups through the subjects of music. The genre of my magazine was RnB and I got inspiration from Rihanna to do my front cover star. This is because Rhianna is a RnB artist which suggests that Rihanna being on the front cover shows it is a RnB magazine. However the mise en scene also suggests the genre of the magazine. For example; if my cover star was in colour and the clothing was trendy that could imply that the genre of the magazine could be pop or if you see Kim Kardashian on the front cover you would instantly think that it is a reality magazine. It also depends on the makeup as well where as if the make up of my cover star was heavy and dark it could suggest that it is a rock magazine where as if its natural and light it could suggest it is a pop magazine. On my magazine I have used a fairly natural makeup but made the eyes a little bit darker to show RnB. The front cover of my magazine is smiling which shows that she is confident and the girls/ women may inspire them. However boys/ men would see this could think that she is young pretty cover star and may intend to buy it.

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

The company that will distribute my magazine would be Spin Media the reason for this is because they own the magazine vibe. The reason I’m choosing spin media is because they are a popular, successful company which gets a lot of customers. Another reason I would use it is because vibe usually use RnB singers such as Rihanna, Beyoncé or Nelly or others to make their magazine more appealing and interesting. Vibe usually uses big and bold fonts to also appeal to their audience which I have intended to use within my magazine. It also sticks to the same colour theme throughout the magazine to keep it more appealing. Alternatively vibe has its own website which shows it is a successful magazine where as it has paid out for its own website for my viewers to look at updated news about celebrities for free.

4) Who would be the audience of for your media product

My target audience for my music magazine would be the age between the late teens and their early twenties, this is quite a range but I believe it is suitable for the kind of magazine that I am making, this is backed up further by the price of the magazine, it has to be made affordable because of the ages of the audience. Id like to think that my target audience would also contain a mixture of both males and females because I don’t to be stereotypical and promote it more for one more that the other. Another thing to consider when talking about my target audience is their taste in music. The audience is mainly women between the age 16-24 the status percentage is 63% single and 82% are employed by which means on the audience of acronym the audience would fall into SWELL. However,

63%

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience by using relevant colours to suit my genre which was red, black and white which drew in the audience. I made sure my front cover star was direct address so that the audience feels like they can read it which draws them in. However I used inspiration from one of Rihanna's black and white photo-shoot for my inspiration. The reason I used Rihanna for my inspiration was because she is a RnB artist which most teenage girls use as a role model where as some teenage boys may find her very attractive. So in results of using a celebrity as inspiration it may attract the teenage audience to read my magazine. I also had a good storyline which was catchy towards most viewers. To have a good storyline you need to have punchy words which are effective. I also used straplines to suit different audiences. Where as some viewers may want to read about RnB clothing or some might want to read about the music itself and are interesting in new albums coming out.

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

I used Photoshop to create my front cover of my magazine. I used the magic wand tool to erase the background. Photoshop is a good way to edit photos accurately.

I used Microsoft PowerPoint to present my evaluation on. PowerPoint is a good way of showing your evaluation, where as I can write and add images.

I put all of my PowerPoint for my coursework onto Weebly so I can upload them. This really helped where as It is all set onto one site and makes It easier to view my coursework.

I used a camera to take pictures of my magazine for the double page spread. The image on my front cover, double page spread and contents page

I used InDesign to create my double page spread. The reason I used this is because I could add columns and drop caps without any problems. This is good to use when writing an article.

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

When looking back I feel like I understand the conventions of magazines better than I did before. Because of researching about a R and B I had to analyse a front cover, double page spread and contents page, I know understand how music magazines have used different featur4es and techniques to draw in the audience. When starting the main task I started to understand the conventions of magazines due to the fact that I was analysing lots of music magazines and getting inspiration from others to create my own magazine. I found out that every magazine has a mast head and straplines. I have improved my skills on InDesign as on my premlinary I found the software quiet difficult as I had never used it before, but now I have understood and learnt new things such as sorting out the page layout and drop caps Although using Photoshop in the past I have found new ways of editing pictures which has helped for my magazine.I think my photo-shoot for the main task went better than the one in my preliminary task. The reason for this is because I have learnt new camera techniques which I never knew before. The reason for this is because I planned what shots and angles I wanted to use. I think that I thought about this much more in my main task and think that I learned more from my main task.