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

After working on the preliminary task, i have learned a variety of new things. Some of these include:

• Experience with a DSLR camera. Prior to the preliminary task I had not used a DSLR camera, so after becoming aware of the uses and functions on the preliminary project, i was able to further and develop skills so i could take a more professional shot.
• As opposed to the preliminary project, i was a lot more familiar with my target audience, making it a lot easier to create a stylised magazine. This is because i was aware of what sort of language typical "indie-rock" music listeners would use, clothing they would ware, interests they would have, etc. This differs to the preliminary project as it was only a student magazine, making the target audience a lot more diverse.
• Experience with Quark Xpress and Adobe Photoshop. I have learned more about the functions and tools used on these programs, some of which have been illustrated bellow:

Research and Planning

Differing from the preliminary project, research and planning was a key part of the main coursework task. I have learnt that this is a very important part of creating the magazine, as it allows you to draft and redraft parts of the product. I did this with my logo for example, which was useful as it allowed me to see what worked and what didn't.

- An original draft for my magazine logo. This didn't work because it very bold and eye catching, which is not what i wanted for my magazine.

- The final design for my magazine logo. This worked because it stands out on the page, whilst being quirky and original, which is what i wanted my magazine to represent.

Also, research allowed me to gain inspiration from other magazines, so i could adapt and develop ideas from them. I didn't do this in as much detail for my preliminary project because i couldn't find as many examples of good student magazines. This was something that i learned from after the preliminary because as I lacked inspiration, it was difficult to make a final product. The research into other magazines also allowed me to produce a detailed plan during the research and planning for my main coursework project. This proved helpful later on when taking photos for example, as i knew what i needed to take photo's of, whether they needed to be mid-shot, long-shot, etcetera. This wasn't done for the preliminary but played a very useful part in the production of my magazine.

Comparisons

Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop has been one of the main pieces of technology that I have used throughout my coursework. Prior to this project, I was familiar with the programme due to the preliminary project and photography work, however I have become far more aware of the tools and uses after creating my magazine. I have used Adobe Photoshop in conjunction with Adobe Lightroom in order to edit and perfect photographs, as well as using it to create both my front cover and contents page. Photoshop makes it easy to manipulate images and text by featuring different "layers" and resizing tools, whilst featuring a wide variety of colours, making it easy to keep the colour scheme corresponding throughout the magazine. Making use of different "layers" whilst manipulating shapes and text on the front cover made it a lot easier to create a more professional feel to my magazine. It was also easy to apply shadow effects to text, helping it stand out on the page.

QuarkXPress

I used QuarkXPress to create my double page spread. It was a useful program to use because it made it easy to add images and text to the page, however occasionally I found it awkward when arranging them. After getting familiar with the program I found it slightly easier, but on the whole I found Adobe Photoshop more effective for making text and images look professional on a page. The program does allow you to easily create a double page however, and the grid guidelines made it simple to distribute text and images equally on the page.

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking website, and has been incredibly useful throughout the coursework project when collecting audience research. This website allows you to upload photo's so other people can view and make make comments about them. This was useful when finding out which fonts, pictures and colours were appealing to my target audience, as they could leave their comments and opinions about them. This then allowed me to adapt and improve my work so it appealed to my target audience more.

Blogger

Blogger has been the main log of all my coursework, which has been very simple and easy to use. Prior to the preliminary task i was unaware of how to use this website, however it was easy to learn how to arrange text and pictures on a blog, as well as other useful tools like embedding videos from Youtube. Using these tools i have been about to post information about my research and planning, construction and evaluation.

Youtube

Youtube has been a useful tool when gaining both audience research and evaluation for my magazine. On this website, you can upload videos and retrieve html which allows you embed videos into other websites, such as Blogger - my main coursework log. Throughout the coursework project, I have uploaded various videos in which my target audience are being asked about their opinions on my magazine.

Digital SLR Camera

Before the coursework and preliminary project, I hadn't used a DSLR camera, so it took a bit of practice to learn how to use one. The main camera i used for my coursework was a Canon EOS 400D, which was fairly easy to use after learning about the different settings and features. The zoom on the lens made it very easy to take different shots, such as long shot and medium close up. The flash helped make the shots look more 'flawless', and because the camera had 10 mega pixels, the pictures were more refined making it easier to edit them accurately in Photoshop.

Question 5 - How did you attract and address your audience?

Front Cover

It was important that my front cover appealed to my target audience as the cover is the part of the magazine that will catch the audiences eye. Because of this, i tried to address them in several ways. These were:

• Font. The majority of the fonts featured on my front cover are sans serif font, which make the magazine look edgy and up to date. There are a few bits of text in a sans serif font as i thought it looked less bold, therefore making it effective for the less important bits of text. The font for my masthead is slightly ragged looking, to connote rebellion and nonconformity. It's also in red, which connotes danger and "alert", which would make it eye catching and appealing to my target audience.
• Photographs. The main model on the front cover is inspirational to readers because they will be aspire to be a "successful" musician like she is. Also, she represents the genre as she looks quirky and different. The denim shirt she is wearing represents "grunge" culture, and the glasses she's wearing are unique and individual. She connotes an image of rebellion as she is swearing on the front cover, continuing to make her look edgy. A similar connotation is shown by the male on the front cover, as he is smoking a cigarette. Also, he shows his love for music as he is wearing headphones, which will appeal to my target audience as they will be keen music listeners too.
• Language. I tried to use fairly simplistic yet witty language, so it was easy to read but interesting at the same time. Phrases such as "who the hell do they think they are?" also connote rebellion, as it's blasphemy and would perhaps be slightly offensive to older readers. This would be appealing to my target audience as they would aspire to have that sort of image.

Contents Page

After viewing my front cover, the contents page is the next thing the audience will view, therefore it is important that it is just as appealing. I kept a corresponding colour scheme, so the magazine didn't look mismatched, and i continued to use the same fonts for the majority of the contents page. However i used a different font for the text in small print, as there wasn't any featured like that on the front cover. I used a sans serif font for this, as a serif font would make it look similar to a newspaper and therefore would look slightly old fashioned. Similar simplistic, witty language was also incorporated, so the reader can get a good idea of what is featured in the magazine without having to read into too much detail. The model featured on the left is typically attractive to male readers, so this would make them more likely to read the article that the picture advertises. They would aspire to look like the "editor" as he looks fairly edgy, at the same time as looking quite important. The photograph of a gig would be appealing to the audience also, as typical readers would probably visit gigs regularly.

Double Page Spread

Here, similar aspects are incorporated. The colour scheme is kept the same, so it corresponds to the rest of the magazine, and the people in the pictures are conveying a quirky and interesting image to appeal to readers. Differing slightly from the rest of the magazine; the language used is still intended to be fairly witty, however it is less simplistic as the text is featured in articles. It's was important here that the language used was witty, to engage interest, but also slightly persuasive so the audience would buy the music being described.

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

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

My magazine was aimed at an audience of radical's, aspirer's and underachiever's who have a keen interest in indie-rock music. It was designed so typically readers would aspire to challenge dominant ideology, similar to the model featured on the front cover. Here she connotes a rebellious image, which was designed to appeal to my target audience as they would aim to look edgy and different like she does. My target audience would ideally be college and university students, with the majority of readers being around the age of 15 - 25. However, it could vary marginally with readers being slightly older or slightly younger.

A stereotypical image of an "indie music listener"

I published copies of the front cover, contents and double page spread on the social networking site 'Facebook' and asked my target audience the following questions:

1. Does the front cover interest you? Is it obvious what genre of music the magazine is about?

2. Does the colour scheme correspond with the genre?

3. What catches your eye?

4. Would you buy it?

5. Are the pictures appropriate?

6. What would make the magazine more appealing?

These questions gained responses such as:

"The contents page looks incredably professional! the colour scheme is great, it links well with the front cover and its easy to read the text. I think the editor section catches my eye because of the signature and you would definitely have that in a real magazine. If i was into that music, I would definitely buy this magazine, with the pictures being appropriate. Dont know about the swearing though... it could offend some people.

Overall, AMAZING :)"

"cool stuff. looks very professional"

"1. Font cover does interest me as it looks professional and generally quite cool and there's like intriguing headlines like The Drums one, is kinda obvious what type of music its about because it's kinda grunge looking with Katt swearing and all.

2. Yes

3. The larger fonts catch my eye, pictures, and the little like circles/rectangles over pictures.

4. Yes

5. Sure thang.

6. Not a lot, i don't know. more varying with colour?"

"1) yeah it intrests me and i would say alternative/punk magazine. or maybe rockabilly who knows

2) yeah , nothing more punk/alternative than the colour of blood .

3) the sexy broad with the guitar XD

4) Yeah looks pretty curtis worthy

5) sure is, but i would of prefered more inappropriate ones

6) Free Hat"

"1.Yes because you have kept to the same colour range of red :) and red kinda connotes as like, youthness and indie :) i know what i mean XD Also, can tell its of indie genre because the images including guitars and stuff represents that :)

2. Yess!

3. KATT AND THE NIGHT RIDERS :) and the JUICE CONTENTS sign is rather snazzy

4. Oui :)

5. Yes :) because they attract our age range and stuff. eg, katt with the guitar, and the picture from kings of leon

6. The free hat ;D"

I also filmed some audience research, as it was useful to see their responses to the questions.

Interview with Katt

Name: Katt Wade

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Interests: Playing music, gaming, gigging, smoking, etc.

Interview with Jack

Name: Jack Dugmore

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Interests: Driving, clubbing, drinking, smoking, socialising, etc.

Interview with Becca

Name: Becca Curtis

Age: 16

Gender: Female

Interests: Reading, gigging, drinking, eating subway sandwiches, "gnomes", etc.

Interview with Jess

Name: Jess O'Sullivan

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Interests: Shopping, gigging, playing guitar, smoking, hair dye, etc.

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

Question 3

View more presentations from Emma Harrison.

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

Question 2

View more presentations from Emma Harrison.

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

NME Magazine.




















Q Magazine




















My magazine - "Juice"


In many ways, my music magazine is similar to other music magazines on the market.

• The front cover features an attractive female, similar to Q magazine. This is often featured on on magazines, especially if it is targeted at a male audience as they would be more inclined to pick up the magazine and explore it's content. However, my model isn't quite as exposed as the model featured on Q, and she comes across as more genuine. This would make my magazine more appealing to a female audience too as they would feel they could relate to her.
• A similar colour scheme to the professional covers was incorporated into my magazine. Through my research and planning, i discovered that a red, white and yellow colour scheme is often popular in "indie" music magazines, because it looks bold and quirky.
• There are sans serif fonts incorporated onto the two professional covers above, which make them look up-to-date. I chose a similar font for my front cover as my magazine is aimed at a similar audience, so would also require an up-to-date feel.

However, it also challenges some typical media conventions. This was necessary to make it stand out from other magazines on the market. Example's of this were:

• Q magazine is aimed at a fairly higher class audience, therefore the front cover is kept fairly simplistic to connote formality. Mine differs from this, looking a lot more casual and down to earth. The differences in these magazines is due to differing target markets. Although there is similar music featured in both, the intended readers are slightly different so the magazines have to conform to the readers likes and dislikes to make sure the magazine is sold.
  
• The target market for both Q and NME is mostly males, whereas mine is aimed at a combination of male and female. I did this because there are not any "indie-rock" magazines on the market, therefore I think it would be popular with a female audience.
• My magazine is not as mainstream as NME, therefore would not feature quite as popular bands. It was designed to promote less popular bands that are perhaps produced by independent labels, to make it quirky and original.
  

Finished Magazine.

Work in Progress 2.

Work in progress.

Production Log 2.

Over the past week i have begun work on my contents page and double page spread. I have Incorporated my logo onto my front cover, and a drop shadow has been added to this logo so it stands out on the cover. I have also decided that fonts "Blue Highway", "Bebas" and "Lucida Bright" are going to Incorporated throughout the magazine.

Production Log 1.

I have begun production on the magazine throughout the previous week and as a result of this have decided upon which logo was going to used to represent the magazine. After experimenting with several different fonts, i decided that the logo's featured in previous blog posts weren't eye catching enough and would not represent the magazine as being edgy. I decided the font featured bellow was eye catching and edgy, and generally represents the genre by being bold and out-there.

I have also begun production on the contents page, and decided upon fonts that are going to be featured throughout the magazine.

I have also taken and edited several photos for the cover, contents page and double page spread.

Time plan.

22nd January

• Large contents page photograph to be taken, involving several male students in a casual flat scene.
• Small contents page photograph to be taken, featuring a close up of a male students face.
• Fourth double page spread photo to be taken, involving a casual looking male student holding a musical instrument.

25th January

• Cover shot to be taken, involving a quirky female student looking directly at the camera.
• First double page spread photo to be taken, displaying an image of several male students walking casually in a street scene.

29th January

• Film shot to be taken, involving a variety of mixed gender students in a wooded scene.
• Fifth double page spread to be taken, of a male student. There will be no colour in this shot to give the spread a bit more variety.
• Studio shot to be taken, involving a group of students playing instruments.

All photo editing to be done by 31st January.

Further Audience Research.

I posted my double page spread and logo ideas on the social networking site "Facebook" to carry out further audience research.

Logo's.

To gain a better idea about which logo would be best featured in the magazine, i asked my ideal audience to chose their favourite out of four ideas.

There was a mixed response to the fonts. The first logo in "Star Avenue" font and the third logo in "Fh Ugly" font were the most popular, and gained responses as follows:

"The third one, it's all quirky and cool and i like the colour combo of green and yellow."

"Third one down is my favourite. It's kinda fun and more informal."

"I think the best would be either the top or the 3rd one down - because the top one looks alot glossier but the 3rd is quirky and edgy."

"The top one, because it's yellow and when i think of juice I think yellow and it looks jolly."

Double Page Spread

To find out if my double page spread plan was sucessful, i asked my target audience the following questions:

Would the contents of this double page spread interest you and why?

What sort of band information would you like?

What kind of film would you like to be featured?

Ideally, the audience wanted quirky bands to be featured on it, with a mix of tour dates and album information. They would also like interesting films to be featured, examples given were films such as the "Breakfast Club" because it is unique and different.

Planning: Shot list.

Cover shot Mid shot, with a fairly plain background so all the focus is on the model. The model will be fairly unique looking female student, either holding an acoustic musical instrument or blowing bubbles at the camera. An SLR camera will be used to take this shot.

The cover image will be inspired by images such as these:

• Large contents shot Wide shot, featuring the same female as the one on the cover. There will be an electric guitar featured in this shot, and it will be held in an quirky way to connote rebellion. An SLR camera will be used to take this shot.
• Small contents shot Medium close up of an males face. This photo will be in black and white to give the page variety and the person featured will be smoking, in order to relate to typical readers. An SLR camera will be used to take this shot.
• Double page spread, photo one This photo will display an image involving the same people featured on the contents page shot, however it will be in a street scene, as if they are walking towards the camera. It will be wide shot. An SLR camera will be used to take this shot.
• Double page spread, photo two This photo has been previously taken, and displays a band and a crowd enjoying the live scene. It is wide shot, and a digital camera was used to take this shot.
• Double page spread, photo three This photo will feature the cover star, in a similar scene to the one presented on the front cover. It will feature a quirky looking girl, close up looking directly at the camera. An SLR camera will be used for this shot.
• Double page spread, photo four This photo will be medium close up, this time with a female musician. It will be black and white to give the page a bit of variety, and will be in ordinary flat scene. An SLR camera will be used for this shot.
• Double page spread, photo five This photo is going to be a video still from the website 'Youtube'. It will be of an indie-rock music video, so it will appeal to the target audience. A camera will not be used to take this shot, instead a snapshot of the internet page will be taken and cropped.
• Double page spread, photo six This will show a group of males in a studio scene, playing instruments to show the image of a band. It will also be wide shot, and an SLR camera will be used for the shot.

Further editing will be done to all shots on adobe photoshop.

Initial Planning.

This is the initial draft of the front cover. It shows a basic idea about what is going to be featured on the front cover, the colour schemes that are going to be incorporated and other details, such as the title of the magazine and what the main sell is going to be.
























This is a rough sketch of the layout for the contents page. It will feature the logo incorporated on the front cover, and the other text on the page will correspond to the colour scheme featured on the front cover too. It will basically summarise what is going to be printed in the magazine, as well as providing additional information like how to subscribe.
























This is a rough idea about what the double page spread is going to contain. There will be various photos featured on this spread, as well as lots of information about upcoming events, music and film. This was produced as a response to the audience research, as this is what my ideal audience would want to read about.

Logo Ideas.

Audience Research: Results.

In order to get my results, i used the social networking site "facebook", allowing my target audience to view my moodboard and make comments about it. I also picked out various people who i thought would ideally read my magazine, and recorded video's of them giving their opinions about the moodboard and the music that would generally be featured in the magazine.

From my research I've gathered that my moodboard definitely appeals to my target audience, and in the magazine on the whole, they would expect to read about film and fashion as well as just music. My target audience typically share the same kind of interests which are generally featured on the moodboard, making it fairly sucessful. The majority preferred the font displayed saying "festival" on the moodboard. As a result of this, i am definitely going to feature it in my magazine and perhaps use it for the masthead on the front cover. The colour scheme featured (red, white, black and yellow) appealed to the audience on the whole and therefore that will be incorporated into the overall design of the magazine.