Note to moderator

Dear moderator, my brief for my AS Media was to create a front cover, contents page and double page spread for a new music magazine. I decided to do a genre of indie/rock/alternative as I thought it was current and would have a wide audience- however I aimed it mainly at females between the ages of 16-22.
Name: Madison Pascoe
Candidate number: 9081
Edgbarrow Sixth Form- 51111

Question 1 and 2 final evaluation

http://prezi.com/embed/kb3zw110blfa/?bgcolor=ffffff&lock_to_path=0&autoplay=0&autohide_ctrls=0&features=undefined&disabled_features=undefined

Question 3 final evaluation

Question 4 and 5 final evaluation

http://xmaddiepx.wix.com/mediaevaluation

Question 6 final evaluation

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

 

Throughout doing the construction for my magazine I learnt lots of different things from many different types of technology. 

The program that I learnt the most from was definitely Serif Page Plus. This was the program that I used to do all of my construction. I learnt the importance of positioning texts and images so that everything looks in line and professional. I have also learnt how to make texts look 3D and stand out from everything which I found out was really important in making the masthead look professional and so it stood out from the rest of the text. I also learnt the importance of different sized texts and how the most important texts should be the largest on the page.

I also used blogger to get people to give me feed back from my construction- which in the end was very useful in finding out what other people thought was good and what needed to be change.

Another program I learnt was adobe photo shop. I used this to edit my pictures to make them look more professional. I only used it to slightly change the exposure to make the images slightly brighter, however it did make a big difference and was very useful.

Question 7 final evaluation

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

Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I have learnt a huge amount and improved dramatically in a variety of skills.

I have learnt the importance of audience research. I have found pout that with audience research and audience feedback- there wont be an audience. Unless you know exactly what your target audience want from your magazine then there's no point. I also learnt that it's very important to establish your target audience and know who you are aiming your product at otherwise it can be a bit too general and not targeted at anyone in specific so not many people would be likely to buy it. I have also learnt how to and how important it is to attract your target audience and know what would attract them. If you didn't have anything that would attract them then you would have no audience.

I have also learnt that it's very important to have good quality images in order to make the magazine look as professional as possible as it's very easy to tell what has been taken professionally and what hasn't. It also makes the magazine look much more appealing.

Another thing I have learnt is how to use text sizes effectively in order to show what's more important and also to show what image links to what text- and the magazine mast head must be the biggest font on the page- and the splash as the second largest.

 

You can clearly see what was the preliminary task and what was the final draft. The preliminary draft has a very strange colour scheme as none of the colors match too well and are slightly dull and unappealing- however the final draft has a very bold colour scheme and would appeal to a specific audience. Also, the text size on the preliminary is all the same and there were no subheadings or even pull quotes to draw the reader in. However in the final draft there are a variety of different text sizes to show what is more important and should be read first.

Evidence of own images

Here is a picture of the ticket from the concert I went to that the pictures are from and also the professional camera I used to take the images with.

Dolby

Maddie, I have made comments on the questions you've done below each one. Try to upload the rest when you can.

question 7

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

Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I have learnt a huge amount and improved dramatically in a variety of skills.

I have learnt the importance of audience research. I have found pout that with audience research and audience feedback- there wont be an audience. Unless you know exactly what your target audience want from your magazine then there's no point. I also learnt that it's very important to establish your target audience and know who you are aiming your product at otherwise it can be a bit too general and not targeted at anyone in specific so not many people would be likely to buy it.

I have also learnt how to and how important it is to attract your target audience.

Question 3

Voice recording (youtube)

Question 6

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

 

Throughout doing the construction for my magazine I learnt lots of different things from many different types of technology. 

The program that I learnt the most from was definitely Serif Page Plus. This was the program that I used to do all of my construction. I learnt the importance of positioning texts and images so that everything looks in line and professional. I have also learnt how to make texts look 3D and stand out from everything which I found out was really important in making the masthead look professional and so it stood out from the rest of the text. I also learnt the importance of different sized texts and how the most important texts should be the largest on the page.

I also used blogger to get people to give me feed back from my construction- which in the end was very useful in finding out what other people thought was good and what needed to be change.

Another program I learnt was adobe photo shop. I used this to edit my pictures to make them look more professional. I only used it to slightly change the exposure to make the images slightly brighter, however it did make a big difference and was very useful.

I also used a variety of hardware. from computers and keyboards to cameras. I learnt how to use a professional camera in depth to take my images with and how to change the aperture to change the depth of field in order to make the background blurry or in focus.

Questions 4 and 5

http://xmaddiepx.wix.com/mediaevaluation

Evaluation Q 1+2

http://prezi.com/embed/kb3zw110blfa/?bgcolor=ffffff&lock_to_path=0&autoplay=0&autohide_ctrls=0&features=undefined&disabled_features=undefined"

Front cover feed back

Final Cut Front Cover

Final Cut Contents

Final Cut Double Page Spread

Audience feedback

I asked a typical reader (a 17 year old girl who is into bands) what she though about my magazine and here is what she said.

Front cover

It fits the genre very well- good colour scheme
easy to follow and read
put the year on the date
I really like it and would read it

Contents

I like how the theme is the same and clearly from the same magazine- same house style
not too much- nicley spread out
boring font
brand logo is a bit small

Doube page spread

nicely layed out- not too much to take in
I like the pull quotes
questions and answers are easy to differentiate
logo is a bit small

Mrs D

Your drafts are really strong Maddie. Well done. You need to think about how you are using font size and colour. Also your branding needs to be consistent regarding your title - use your logo to help you create this brand. Contents is your weakest page so far. Check layout design and range of font size- go back to RMAs to help you.

Contents draft 5

Contents draft 4

Draft front cover 3

Mrs D

Well done for hitting your deadline. Your house style and branding is good. Your masthead of your front cover doesn't really convey genre/audience and you need to work on font sizes of your cover lines. The most work needs to be done on your contents. It is looking a bit thin.

Rough Cut Front Cover

Rough Cut Contents

Rough Cut DPS

contents draft 3

Here I have added an editiors comment

Contents draft 2

double page spread draft 3

Here I have added some pull quotes to entise the readers

Double page sread draft 2

Here I have filled out the white boxes with an interview I made up

Front cover draft 2

For the second draft I added captions and a barcode, price and issue number to make it look more professional

Contents draft

Double page spread draft

Dolby

Maddie, although you have completed all elements I think you maybe need to add a little more detail in places as I stated/posted before. I think it is also important that you are sure EXACTLY who you target audience is; you mention teenage gitls but that is a very general group! You look like you are doing Indie and Alternative but what ages/genders most consume that type of mag? Understand who your audience is.

Mood board

When creating my mood board I wanted to include a lot of the colour scheme (black white and red) but lean towards more of a girly vibe, but still keeping it appropriate for males too. I included a lot of band logos and a few images from concerts to get the right kind of vibe.

Branding

I asked 10 teenage girls (as they are my main target audience) what brand image they preferred the most for my magazine and 2 said the one with the red background and 2 also said the one with the white background, however 6 said the one with the black background- therefore that is the brand image I will use for my magazine.

Images

For my main front cover image and double page spread I have decied to use images of the band "The 1975" as I recently went to a concert of theirs and managed to get some high quality pictures which I think would be appropriate for my magazine.
However I will need to include a few other pictures of other artists that will relate to my magazine. I will do the test shots of these images in the photography studio.

Audience Feedback

I asked a variety of people for feedback on my music magazine and I found that everyone I asked said that it was a good idea.
The main feedback I got was people telling me that they liked the idea of the magazine being based on bands as they said they had never seen anything like it before and think that it has a place in the market.
Another thing people really liked was the name and colour scheme. They said the name "In Tune" was well thought of and clearly relates to the kind of magazine I am creating. They said they liked the colour scheme of black red and white as although my target market is mainly girls, it still can apply to boys too as the colours are nuetral and not gender specific.

Picture feedback

Front cover draft

Feedback from pitch

-Good name as it clearly relates to music and the kind of magazine I will be creating
-Good idea- not been done before and has a place in the market
-Think about how I will distrobute and advertise the magazine 
-Try to include a USP
-Target audience needs to be girls or boys- not both as people get confused and it becomes a confused product

A3 palnning sheet

Qualities and aspirations of target audience you want to reflect:
mainly girls aged 16-20
laid back
socialable
spends lots of time on the internet
goes to lots of concerts

Magazine name and slogan:
Name: In Tune
Slogan: All you favourite band in one place

Feature ideas:
The 1975 double page spread- main splash
what to bring to a festival- the kind of music that my magazine will be based around is the kind of music that will be at festivals and lots of teenagers and young people tend to go to festivals
what not to do at concert- lots of teenagers go to concerts and may need tips

Regular ideas:
Top 10 songs of the months
New band of the month
Band merchandise

List of advertisers to approach:
bus stops/train stations/taxis- lots of teenagers and young people use public tansport as they may not be able to drive
social media- this is important as I am targeting older teenagers who most likely will spend a lot of time on the internet and specifically social media
youtube adverts

Genre idicators:
bands eg:
alternative
indie
soft rock
indie rock
indie pop
accoustic
electronic

Dolby

Maddie, I can't check your pitch unfortunately but I have had a look at the other posts. I think you needd to annotate in a bit more detail- particularly house style, colour and the images used- shot types and composition etc. Use the codes and conventions sheet to guide you as to what to analyse. The main area that you also need to add to is the industry research and audeinmce feednbck for the RMA and your ideas- the more feedback from your target audience the better; reflect on this to inform your decisions.

Pitch

NME 2- real media artefacts

NME 1- real media artefacts

MOJO contents

MOJO double page spread

MOJO front cover

Magazine industry

The magazine industry is constantly developing and more ideas are being created. For example, recently tablet editions of magazines are being made so that people can buy and read magazines directly from their tablets without having to go down to the shops and buy one. The Guardian news paper said "Every magazine company's experience may be different – but you're lost if you are not on Apple's front page"- implying that this idea was not successful and beneficial for all magazine companies- but was for those more successful magazines. The global magazine publishing industry is expected to reach 106.9 dollars billion by 2018 and there is a high degree of competition in the industry due to buyers' power and threat of substitutes.

Analysis of double page spread

Analysis of contents page

Analysis of front cover

What is the function of a magazine front cover and DPS?

What is the function of a magazine front cover and DPS?

·         The function of a front cover is to entice and encourage to customer to purchase and read your magazine. It should include snippets of what’s inside to give the reader a taster of what the magazine is about and the kind of music it’s based around.

·         The main function of a contents page is to inform. It is meant to be quick and easy to read and follow in order for the customer to find the pages or article they are specifically looking for.

·         The main function of a double page spread is to entertain and also to inform the readers about the person the double page spread is about. The pages should have a few pictures that relate to the person the double page spread is about with captions to add extra information and large quotes to persuade them to read the whole interview.

Skills I developed during the prelim task

Skills I developed during the prelim task

·         How to use serif page plus in more depth

·         How to take an image for a front cover of a magazine, e.g. portrait, clear background, enough room around the outside to add captions

·         I developed my photo shop skills too in order to edit the background of our front cover image

Skills I developed during the construction and marketing of swedes

Skills I developed during the construction and marketing of swedes

·         How to use photo shop to edit and create images

·         How to use serif to make an advertising poster and an animated story board

·         How to use a camera in more depth

·         The importance of a tripod

·         How to make a prezi to present our final piece

·         Learned how to use blogger to keep track of my work

·         How to use final cut pro to edit our swede

·         The importance of social networking in order to spread the word

Prelim Task

For the prelim task we had to design a front cover for a school magazine and do an outline of a contents page.

 
We wanted to keep it quite simple but still colourful to catch someones attention so we went for a similar colour scheme to the school uniform of the school we designed the magazine for. We had a few hints of what's inside around the image to interest readers and to persuade them to buy the magazine. It was important for the image we took to have a plain background so it didn't look messy as we wanted to magazine to look professional. We also wanted the writing around the edge to be clear and easy to read which is another reason we wanted a clear background. We wanted the price, date and issue number to all be discrete but still readable. We also wanted the bar code to not be in the way of anything so we put it in the corner where it wouldn't cover anything up.