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    AS Media StudiesEvaluating your Music Magazine Coursework

    QUESTION 1

    Blog post title: In what ways does your

    media product use, develop or challengeforms and conventions of real media

    products?

    Make a Prezi analysis, containing explanation

    and illustration of at least ten conventions

    drawn from your three finished products. Write

    about what the conventions are for, and how

    you have used them to create your own house

    style and brand identity, and to attract your

    target audience. Add clipped images of similarconventions from real magazines too, if you

    can, to show how your use is similar to or

    different from professional products. Try to

    choose similar or contrasting examples from

    real media texts (but if you have based your

    designs very closely on a real product DO NOT

    USE THAT PRODUCT!!).

    Conventions to explore

    masthead and title mise-en-scene and technical code of

    your main cover photo and other images

    Cover lines Graphic and other layout devices Colour scheme and house style Kicker Drop Caps Pull Quotes Cross-heads Column structure Use of white space Use of other layout conventions like rule

    of thirds, z reading patterns

    End signs/jump lines The journalist style of the written

    content

    The division of your contents page intoregulars and features

    Techniques to connote the excitementand busy-ness of the magazine on your

    contents page (inset photos with drop

    caps etc)

    Remember, some magazines are more

    conventional than others.

    Cover page terminology

    DPS layout

    Explain what genre/hybrid genre of magazine

    you produced (rock, pop, glossy lifestyle, etc)

    and discuss some of the magazines that you

    took your influences from. Add pics of these.

    PRESENTATION SUGGESTION: Use Prezi foryour analysis of your three pages and link the

    Prezi to this post.

    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HEMq9JxxGuQ/TSoO5pytLEI/AAAAAAAAAHs/Bv9SeRS3Clo/s1600/kelis.jpghttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HEMq9JxxGuQ/TSoO5pytLEI/AAAAAAAAAHs/Bv9SeRS3Clo/s1600/kelis.jpghttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HEMq9JxxGuQ/TSRQ-MGj7TI/AAAAAAAAAHo/cR0z8Kq8Bjc/s1600/DPS+layout.jpghttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HEMq9JxxGuQ/TSROQlZMBkI/AAAAAAAAAHk/h-9Hpt9vAkk/s1600/cover_diagram20copy.jpg
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    QUESTION 2

    Blog post title: How does your media

    product represent particular social

    groups?

    Media products take the world and RE-PRESENT

    it to us. In doing so they make choices aboutHOW to represent different sorts of people.

    Think about how you have represented, say,

    male youth, or early teenage girls, or heavy

    metal fans, or indie music fans, or your target

    audience generally (say who they are

    demographically and psychographically).

    What qualities have you implied that this group

    of people possess? You have represented them

    through your photos, your choice of language,

    your use of colours, your writing, and even the

    things you have LEFT OUT and assumed they are

    NOT interested in. For example, lets say your

    magazine is aimed at early teenage girls. What

    sorts of personalities and interests does your

    magazine suggest teenage girls have? Have you

    reinforced stereotypes (eg connoted that they

    are interested in clothes, makeup, boys, etc)?

    Have you challenged stereotypes? (Eg

    aggressive poses in photographic shots, or cover

    lines about unusual topics such as politics or

    fast cars?)

    Illustrate your answer with clips from your

    products to show what you are talking about,

    and if you like compare them to clips/images

    from real media texts. Take one photograph

    and compare it to a photo of a similar person

    taken from a real media text. How are they

    similar, and how different? When discussing

    photos of the group you have represented youshould consider posture, gesture, angle, shot

    type, lighting, costume, expression, hair, etc.

    PRESENTATION SUGGESTION: Do this as an

    illustrated blog post or as a Word document,

    uploaded to ISSUU as a PDF then embedded in

    your blog.

    QUESTION 3

    Blog post title: What kind of media

    institution might distribute your media

    product and why?

    Look back at the work we started with this year,

    and decide on a company to produce anddistribute your magazine. Think about what sort

    of magazine it is and which publishing company

    would be the best to sell your magazine concept

    to. You need to refer to actual company names

    and processes. If you think you could get your

    magazine produced by a big publishing house,

    like IPC, Bauer, Dennis, Future etc youll need to

    justify it in terms of the size of your target

    audience, the advertising pull they would have,

    and the companys existing range of magazines.Consider whether it would be best placed with a

    major, medium and small/independent

    publisher because there are advantages and

    disadvantages of each route. What would be the

    advantages or disadvantages of going with a big

    company compared to self-publishing? Clash is

    the only magazine published by Clash Magazine

    Ltd but actually it is in some ways more

    successful than NME which is published by IPC.

    Similarly, if you think you could get your

    magazine distributed by one of the big UK

    distributors, like MarketForce, WH Smiths,

    Menzies or FrontLine, and into the major retail

    spaces like WH Smiths and ASDA, youll have to

    explain why.

    Also remember that digital distribution is

    possible, or selling through subscription, or even

    giving it away and relying on advertisingrevenue (The Fly).

    The key here is to consider all these issues and

    name some real companies and their products.

    And be realistic about the potential of your

    magazine - dont be nave! Can you remember

    how many titles fail within their first three

    years? (Bonus marks if you can, and put it on

    your blog!).

    Finally don't forget to reflect on the need for

    synergy e.g. there will probably be an online

    version of your magazine, there might even be

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    sister products such as a radio station. Some

    magazines get involved in sponsoring awards

    ceremonies. Maybe there are tie-ins with

    iTunes, Spotify, etc depending on the scale of

    your venture, the genre of music and your

    target audience.

    Note: Don't forget to use company

    logos and images of related

    magazines to illustrate your post.

    PRESENTATION SUGGESTION: You

    could present your response to Qu3 using a

    Word document which you .pdf and upload to

    ISSUU and share onto your blog.

    QUESTION 4

    Blog post title: Who would be the

    audience for your media product?

    Take a photo, find an image online or do a

    drawing of a typical member of your target audience

    . Post it to your blog and compile a profile of

    them in terms of demographics (age, class,

    gender etc) and psychographics (lifestyle

    choices, tastes in music, films, shopping habits),

    etc. Use the words demographics and

    psychographics.

    You could use UK Tribes links (be sure to add the

    links to your blog). You should also refer to your

    audience research here.

    Tip: look at the type of content featured in the

    media kit for magazines (sometimes called the

    audience profile) which you can find on

    magazine websites or look back through your

    notes. Be sure to include similar details about

    your planned target audience.

    Write a few lines on why they would

    buy/subscribe to your magazine.

    Make sure you think about the AUDIENCE AS A

    PRODUCT too what sort of advertising could

    you attract through your audience. Are they a

    viable audience for a magazine to target?

    PRESENTATION SUGGESTION: You could

    present your response to Qu4 as a video clip or

    flipbook using a Word document, converted to a

    .pdf, uploaded to Issuu or Flipsnack and shared

    with your blog.

    QUESTION 5

    Blog post title: How did you

    attract/address your audience?

    Use Flickr's annotation tools or create a Prezi to

    highlight the ways in which your magazine is

    designed to attract and address your audience.

    Why would they buy it and what would keep

    them interested?

    Begin by thinking about the point of sale (ie a

    shelf in Asda, WH Smiths or whatever). What

    element of the front cover are designed to

    grab the target audience and attract them topick up the magazine in the first place? Does

    the main cover photo use a direct address (eyes

    to camera)? Do the cover lines use second

    person pronouns (hey YOU!) or command or

    question sentences which demand action or an

    answer (You MUST see this!)? What other

    elements would attract the TA masthead,

    colour scheme, font styles etc? Explain why.

    And dont forget you can think about the

    CONTENT of the magazine implied by the coverlines. Are there competitions with prizes that

    the TA will want, etc?

    Now move on to thinking about how the

    CONTENT and LANGUAGE is appropriate to your

    TA. Concentrate on your use of language,

    photos, colours/graphics. What mode of

    address does your magazine adopt towards the

    reader and why would this be appropriate for

    your target audience? Is the magazine trying to

    be like a best friend? A knowledgeable older

    brother/sister? An expert in its field? Analyse

    in particular the language of your DPS article

    does it use slang? Is it relaxed or more formal?

    How is its attitude appropriate for the

    audience?

    What is the Unique Selling Point of your

    magazine, which you expect to attract your

    audience?

    Refer to the fact that you constantly asked for

    feedback from your audience throughout the

    production process.

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    QUESTION 6

    Blog post title: What have you learnt

    about technologies from the process of

    constructing this product?

    Make some images that show your use of the

    various technologies you have used. This can befrom the research stage (eg SurveyMonkey, online

    graph generators, Flickr, Prezi etc), the production

    stage (cameras, lights, tripods, Photoshop) and the

    evaluation stage (Prezi again maybe, Slideshare,

    Issuu,etc). And remember very important this one

    BLOGGER, where you have collated and stored all

    your work from the beginning.

    Post these images onto your blog and annotate

    them, adding details of what you learnt about

    them/from using them. Your written text neednot be too long, but should be specific. Eg

    describe some of the tools you have used in

    Photoshop.

    With Blogger and Photoshop in particular, be

    specific in explaining them in detail. For

    Photoshop, do some screen-grabs of techniques

    you used. For Blogger (and maybe some of the

    other Web 2.0 apps like Prezi), list the

    advantages and disadvantages of using it as yousee them, compared to more traditional ways of

    analysing stuff and collecting information, , like

    writing essays etc. Has using these in Media

    been a positive, negative or mixed experience

    for you? Explain why. Can you see any use for

    blogging, Prezi etc in other areas of your college

    work or life in general?

    Your written text need not be too long, but

    should be specific. Eg describe some of the toolsyou have used in Photoshop.

    PRESENTATION SUGGESTION: Place directly

    onto a blog post or use ISSUU.

    QUESTION 7

    Blog post title: Looking back at your

    preliminary task (the college magazine

    task), what do you feel you have learntin the progression from it to full

    product?

    Put the cover of your college magazine side by

    side with your music magazine cover and do a

    detailed comparison of the weaknesses of the

    first compared to the strengths of the second, to

    show what you have learnt about photography,

    mastheads layout, fonts, modes of address,

    audience etc. What Photoshop devices did you

    use in the second which you did not use in the

    first and how did they improve your work?

    Mention 4 Photoshop techniques that you used

    and the effect they had.

    Tools and techniques you could mention

    include: text alignment and space reduction,

    blending options such as stroke and drop

    shadow, text wrapping, image manipulations,

    text box sizing, using Photoshop rulers, colourpicking, quick selection tool, feathering edges,

    varying the opacity, layers.

    For example, one of your 4 points could be:

    I learnt that the clone stamp tool,

    which I used to remove unwanted

    pictures on my model's T shirt,

    improved the cover image

    because the readers eye was notdistracted by this unnecessary

    detail.

    You should also discuss

    Audience appeal (choosing a layoutdesign concept, fonts, mode of address

    and type of feature article)

    The need to research existingtexts/magazines

    The importance of proper TargetAudience researchfor several reasons

    Your need to seek feedback and sharecreative ideas

    Your need to be attentive to detail Focus on written skills/journalism, proof

    reading, etc.

    PRESENTATION SUGGESTION: DO this on a

    Prezi, or via ISSUU, or using some other

    interesting Web 2.0 technique