Final Draft - Front Cover

Final Draft - Contents Page

Final Draft - Double Page Spread

Preliminary Task - Front Cover

Preliminary Task - Contents Page

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

I believe that my preliminary task was very amateurish. It lacked the look of a real magazine because the layout was very basic and the colours didn't fully represent a genre or topic. I also felt like my Photos that I had taken could have been improved if I took more time to focus and take them or if I had taken multiple shots and then chose the best one to use. The font was very big and the colours were difficult to read of off each other. Overall, I believe that at the start of the year, my work had multiple ways of improving however I lacked the skills to do such a thing.























Now however, I believe that my work has improved my so much because I have learned skills through trial and error and research. My Photo editing skills have improved by a lot and I took a lot longer to find the perfect shots of my models to use. I took at least 20 images for each photo that I wanted so that I could pick the best one to work with. I researched a lot into other magazines with similar genres such as Top of the Pops or Smash hits to give me multiple ideas about layout and content for the appropriate audience. Doing this also gave me help with my colour choice to attract the target audience. I have learnt about the layout most I believe because having a pop music magazine appeals more to a younger audience so the font was slightly bigger than other magazines and the front covers looked a lot more bold and colourful and filled with stories that are included in the magazine. I also got the idea to include free posters with my magazine to help sell to the young audience.

Overall, I believe that after getting comfortable with the softwares and programmes and after I had done a lot more research into my style models that my work became a lot more professional looking. This is due to all of the techniques and information I have learnt about my magazine genre, magazines in general and the technology.

Question 6 - What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing you rmedia product?

http://www.binary10.co.uk/Question%206%20Allan.m4a

I have learned quite a few things about technology during the process of making my magazine. To start with, I had never used an Apple computer before as I have always used Windows. A lot of the system preferences where the same except some of the buttons have moved to other corners or the shortcuts that I would use to speed the process are slightly different but this was easy to adjust to.

Next, I had to use a top quality Canon camera (Canon EOS 100D). This was because I had to take a lot of the photographs myself. Again this was simple to do because there wasn't much different to the camera that I own, except the images were a lot better quality.

To edit my images, I used Adobe Photoshop. I already knew the basics of using Photoshop however, I used many more skills than what I had originally had to make my magazine work. I had to use Photoshop to edit my images. One image for example had a glare that I didn't like in it so I decided to duplicate the colour, draw over the glare and then change the opacity of the new jumper to make you able to see the jumpers texture and patterns. I also used Photoshop to border all of my text and even make the layout of my magazine on there. This really helped when transferring edited images because they were already adjusted to Photoshop so to copy them over to the magazine wasn't a problem.

Finally, I used websites that I hadn't used before. An example of these are Slideshare, Prezi and even blogger. These websites have all been useful. Slideshare allowed me to upload a ready made presentation and Prezi allowed me to make a presentation using online layouts and better interactive features. Blogger has then made me able to upload all of my work and progress online for my teachers to see. This made it practical to do a little extra work and research at home because I could access my work through the internet rather than having to carry around binders full of all of my work.

Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience

Question 4 - Who would be the target audience for your media product?

https://prezi.com/8xmcdsemoxja/question-4-who-would-be-the-target-audience-for-your-media/

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

I decided to have Bauer media to be the institution to distribute my magazine. Other companies that I had looked at already had a similar magazine to my genre and these companies don't tend to have two magazines of the same genre because that would mean that they would compete on the market with themselves. IPC already own NME. Although NME isn't a pop specific magazine, it is a music magazine that features pop music quite often. Top of the Pop's would be another magazine to compete with and it is owned by the BBC. Top of the pops however is quite a broad genre of magazine because it discusses pop music and musicians but now it mostly does gossip about these celebrities rather than the music information. This is why I believe my magazine has potential on the market as a pop magazine because it is unique due to specifically being a pop music magazine. However because these magazines have their similarities, I decided that Bauer media should distribute it. Bauer also has music magazines but Kerrang is about rock and metal and Q is about indie, rock and alternative which are very different to pop.

Question 2 - How does your media product represent a particular social group?

https://prezi.com/no-yixnecdt_/how-does-your-media-product-represent-a-particular-social-gr/

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

http://www.slideshare.net/AmazingAllan/challenge-conventions

Question 7 notes

Preliminary

• I didn't fully know how to Photoshop
• The images were not carefully picked
• The colours didn't represent a genre
• The layout was basic
• It lacked the look of an actual magazine - it looked very amateurish

Main Task

• I learned many Photoshop tricks
• I took time and prepared for the Photos taken
• I chose the colours to represent genres
• I looked at real magazines to duplicate layout ideas
• The font was a lot more appropriate in size
• The colours were readable off of each other

Question 6 notes

• Using apple computers compared to using windows
• The use of adobe photo shop:
• Different tools, colours, effects etc
• The use of blogger
• The use of expensive canon cameras
• The use of prezzi and slideshare

Question 5 Notes

• Front cover doesn't have any mode of address
• To attract the audience I used buzz words
• The colour scheme appeals more to females
• The main image is of a young popular pop artist
• The price is £1.99
• Well known pop musician names are on the front as well
• Contents uses the word our to include the reader
• Direct address is used to make it feel personal to the reader
• Social media
• less text on the contents compared to usual magazines
• More famous pop musicians
• Young famous pop musician is the main article
• Appealing colours
• Easy to read
• Informal
• Pull line uses young teen slang.

Question 4 notes

• Teenage girls
• Aged 12-14
• Middle class - magazine is cheap but for a teenage girl (who probably has little money) to buy it, it is affordable for middle class.
• Interests - pop music, boy bands, fashion, cute celebrities, gossip, role models etc
• Favourite musicians - One Direction, Justin Bieber, The Vamps, 5SOS, Meghan Trainor, Taylor Swift, Jessie J, G.R.L
• Reference - smash hits target audience is for those who like teen pop like mine. Teen pop is defined by a sub genre of pop made for 10-19 year olds. The lyrics usually involve romance, love, relationships or emotional factors.

Question 3 notes

• IPC have NME
• BBC own Top of the Pops
• No company would own two of the same genre and sub-genre magazine
• Bauer media don't own a pop magazine

Question 1 notes - Challenging Conventions

Front Cover

• The use of centralised text. This looks more appealing to a younger audience.
• The main image doesn't include an instrument because he is famous and everyone will know him and associate him with pop music without the inclusion of a guitar
• I have only used a banner for a header and not a footer. The header had enough room for the stories I wanted featured on the front.
• I have put my barcode on the front cover in the lower left corner. On the magazines I have looked at, they either don't have a barcode on the front or have it on the left on the cover. Mine is on the lower right corner because it is not an attraction to the magazine like the rest of the cover features. I wanted it on the front so the price can be seen without the trouble of looking for it because I have the price and issue date next to the barcode.
• I used inverted colours on one of the cover line bubbles to make it stand out.

Contents Page

• I have used text on an angle to make it stand out and look more appealing to a younger audience. (The angles text look more immature)
• I have used the logo on the top of the contents page as well.
• I have used uppercase letters to make certain buzz words to stand out and look more appealing to a younger audience.
• My image interacts with the text e.g. Leon is 'leaning' of the contents box.
• I have my small print for the magazine on the contents page rather than using a separate page for all of the small print. I used it to fill the space and give a little information about the magazine without having to go find a page to get the information.
• This is the same reason the social media names are on the contents page.

Double Page Spread

• I have three columns for the text on the page. A lot of magazines only have two.
• Each question in the Q&A has a separate colour for a different category per question. I separated it into colour coded categories to make it looks more colour and appealing and so younger viewers can just skip to a question they find more readable and interesting.
• The image I used took up a whole page or there about to make the article look more a appealing. Also younger audiences look at the images more than reading so the image takes a whole page and there is slightly less writing to read.
• I made a logo for the Q&A page which most magazines don't have but I thought it would look more appealing to younger audiences if each page had a logo to represent the kind of article that was on it.
• There is a quote in the corner that I found in only one magazine but I liked it and it made the page look more personalised from the artists point of view.

Question 2 Notes

• colour scheme - bright and bold - younger audience
• price - £1.99 affordable by younger audience
• images - attractive models - appeal to females
• coverlines - other pop musicians, both real and fake - pop fans
• posters - real pop musicians - pop fans
• article - logo, key, q&a, quote, simply worded - younger audience and feminine
• font size and style - san serif and slightly bigger than usual - younger audience
• layout - less formal,  text on an angle, no blank spaces - younger audience
• social media - younger audience

aged 11-15 

85% girls

Finishing The Double Page Spread

I have made my final changes to my double page spread by adding a logo in the top right side of the left page and by changing the background in the mirror to a dressing room. I found the dressing room background in a copy of top of the pops so I decided to use the idea rather than just using a grey background for a mirror. This looks a little more realistic and believable than just a grey gradient. The logo i decided to add myself with no references because I thought my magazine can have a logo for each article type like interviews, reviews etc.

Slight Adjustments to the Front Cover

I made Sophie a little bigger on the front cover to fill the space and look more appealing. Although the main image is what mostly attracts the eye, she is still a selling point so I made the image bigger to stand out a little more. It also filled an unwanted gap that I had on the Cover. 

Contents Page Adjustments

I made Leon bigger to fill a small space that I didn't like that was originally above his head. Doing so however made the guitar neck go behind the 'on the cover' contents. I added a white border around all of the text to then make it readable. This also made the 'on the cover' contents stand out more which I wanted to have happen because these are the more important and popular stories for the magazine to have. The text is also centralised for the same reason; To make it stand out.

Finished Text in Article

I have finished writing the article on my double page spread. Each question is colour coded and had the little logo from the key to give each question a category. It is nicely separated into three columns at a readable font size.

Contents page update

I have now mostly finished my contents page. Since last time, I have changed the font sizes to make it more appropriate and realistic, finished the text and readjusted the layout a little. I have also added the small print about Bauer media in the lower left corner but I still think the space on the left is a little too plain for a pop magazine so I may add more later.

Contents Stories

I have used real pop bands and artists in my contents to fill up space with other stories in the magazine. I had the text under the sub headings rather than next to them for a more easily understandable layout. I had the numbers before the articles titles and had the titles a different colour with a bold font. This is to show the clear difference between the information about the title and the title itself.

Small print

I decided to have small print about Bauer Media and problems with the website information on my contents page. On some magazines  have looked at, there is a page dedicated to the writers and the audiences help for contacts. Because I had space on my contents page, I decided to have the small print there. 

Front Cover (up to date)

I have mostly finished my front cover now after tweaking it a lot since I last thought I had finished it. The main things I have done are adding more images, tweaking the layout, adding a banner and readjusting the text and images. I am happy with this cover now because it looks a lot more cluttered like an actual pop magazine, it had bright colours to draw the attention in and the photos were trendy and appealing to the audience.

Images on the front covers

On the top of the pops magazine I was referencing to, there were plenty of images on the front cover so I decided to add one more image to my front cover. Now there is a main image, 2 smaller images of the other pop musicians and the 3 posters. The 2 smaller images have the 3D effect by having the images stick out of the boxes that they are referred to.

Posters

I have used real posters on the front cover of my magazine to promote the free posters that are inside the magazine and to emphasise that it is a pop music magazine by using pop musicians on the posters. On a Kerrang magazine I used as a reference, it had a preview of the posters inside which is why I decided to do so. 

Final Image for the Front Cover

I have taken the final photos that I wanted to use on the front cover to fill the space. I had him lean over a chair so I could crop him out and have him now leaning on one of the cover line bubbles. I had him wear my Pokemon hat so that he could appeal to the currently trending game. It also shows that although he is a pop star, he is still a 'normal' person  by liking the same things. Pokemon is currently trending so it sows the magazine is up to date with modern trends and also appeals to ages 14-17 like I want because that is the main audience for the game and my magazine.

Top of the Pops

Because top of the pops in no longer a running magazine due to more popular music media like MTV taking over the industry, that means there is a gap in the market for a pop magazine to be published. That is the reason I decided to do a pop magazine.

NME reference

NME is owned by IPC, soon to be taken over by Time so I will have my magazine owned by Bauer media. This is because, it can then compete with NME because there is no point of having two similar magazines sold by the same company. Although NME is not a specific pop music magazine, it does reference pop music a lot so it will be the main competition.

Survey

I added my front cover (unfinished and still needs to be tweaked) on a social media account and asked what genre of music it would be. Multiple people said it was pop which is good because that is what it is. One person however said it was rap which can be seen because of the hat making it look a bit like hip hop so i will add some smaller images to fill in the gaps of people wearing colourful clothes with bright and happy smiles to emphasise pop to make sure the genre will be properly portrayed. One person said exactly what I needed to see by saying it looked like Q or NME but with pop colours making it look for Tweens. That was what I was trying to do.

 

double page key

There was a feature on a magazine that I liked on the double page spread. The interview question

each had a little symbol next to the questions that is related to the subject of the question. I decided to use this idea but use my own symbols and categories.

Page Numbers

Although Q is a general music magazine, I have used the same layout for page numbers. I have put my page numbers in the lower corners and put the magazine logo next to the number. I have used the same font for the page numbers that is on the contents page to keep the theme. My numbers are also a little bigger as it is for a younger and less mature audience.

 

Speech bubble

In multiple double page spreads that I have looked at, they had a bubble with a small quote from the artist. The speech marks were bigger than the font to start and finish the quote and make it really obvious that it was a quote. I decided to do the same for my double page spread. This also filled a blank space in the upper left corner of my article. I also used a font that looks like handwriting which makes the quote look a little more personal because it looks hand written even though it has the same strove around it to make it stand out on the page,

Double page spread image

I have finished editing the image I want to use on my double page spread. I wanted it to look like it is a mirror with a different reflection than the actual image. I darkened his hair to get rid of the light on it and also darkened the jumper in the reflection to remove all of the lightened parts. (The lighting was bright in the location i decided to shoot in). Behind the reflection is a gradient to look like a shimmer in the top right corner like a mirror would have. I will use this to fill a lot of the double page spread and have the text to the right of it, above and below the guitar neck. 

Double page spread reference

I want to make my double page spread like this. I will only be writing about one person compared to the two in this article. I will have an image of my person facing forward taking up quite a lot of the room on the page. The writing will fit around the image with the title of the article in the top left corner. I want a bubble of speech from my person on him also like in this article but i will have my page numbers in the bottom corners of the page rather than the middle.

Real Pop Musicians

I changed one of the names in the banner to make it a real band name rather than my made up band name (which was based on them). Now That G.R.L and Trxye are on my cover, it shows that it is a pop magazine by having real pop musicians on it rather than them all being made up and unknown.

Extra coverline

Once again like the top of the pops magazine, I copied how one of the coverline layouts. I put the important words on the top and inverted the colours used to make them stand out and gave a little more detail than just naming what the title of the article is.