Final Evaluation

Foundation Portfolio Unit G321
Evaluation

For our AS media studies coursework, we were given a task to complete; we were given a brief which explained the tasks we had to do. Our preliminary task was using DTP and an image manipulation programme; produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid out text and a masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate the grasp of DTP.
Our main task was to complete a front page, a contents page and a double page spread of a new music magazine, the genre was left for us to decide but we had to include a minimum of four images all in which are original along with the text.
To present our research, planning and completed tasks we had to use blogger, which is similar to an online diary were we could post our work on.

Before creating our final products, we had to spend some time researching other magazines to give us a good understanding and a clear explanation to what our magazines were to look like according to the genre of the magazine, the content, the audience. We had to think very closely when it came to thinking of our own ideas for our own magazine such as the location of were our images were going to be taken, the choice of model we used, also the costume of what our models were wearing and lastly if they were going to have props such as guitars. For example guitars would not be a convention of pop music therefore we had to think carefully on which genre our magazine was going to be and our chosen model for our magazine. Not thinking stereotypically but you wouldn’t see a male who liked heavy metal music that dressed all in black on the front cover of a pop magazine therefore I had to think carefully who my model was going to be for my images which would represent a pop artist.
We also had to use digital technology or ICT in the presentation of research and planning; I used ICT for my research and planning but digital technology and ICT in the process of making my final copies of my front page, double page spread, and contents page. All my images I used are original and all taken personally by me. Also, for my research we were to analyse three front covers, three double page spread’s and three contents pages all from existing music magazine which therefore helped us have an understanding of how the layout is and how the media conventions are used. We also had to research many existing magazine’s to help us with the conventions of our own magazine.
The conventions of a music magazine front cover are, a masthead which is the magazine’s magazine name and is usually displayed in the left corner, a price which is normally underneath the masthead along with the issue number which is the tally of magazines and the date which shows weather the magazine’s are weekly or monthly. Also other conventions are having a barcode on the magazine, a teaser which is a one word/phrase that acts as an attention grabber, a main feature or a headline which is a phrase that may summaries the main point of the main feature. Other conventions are large print, different styles, bold colours which are in order to catch the attention of the reader. The connotations of the bright colours I have decided to use are girly and also attract the correct audience. They also use subtitles which are smaller headlines that may summarize the feature, smaller features which features included in the magazine. Also images are conventional of music magazines they tend to range in size which can be close up to medium close up. They tend to Range from one main image to x amount featuring one main image and smaller images. Images make helps the front cover look more interesting. It can add understanding of a story and/or entice someone to read the magazine. The font style and size of type face is also important when designing a magazine; along with the colour, weather they are bold colours, bright or light, and weather they suit the genre of the magazine And also, offers/adverts.
My planning process consisted of me getting use to the programmes so I therefore had a few play around sessions trying to understand the programme Photoshop before I made my final decisions. My planning also consisted of doing hand drafts so I had an idea of what my final products were going to look like. I also did IT drafts so they could give me more ideas and time to think about how my final products were going to look. During my planning stage I still looked at existing magazines so I could get the hang of making my own due to having seeing real products myself. I believe this gave me huge help when making my own products; this is because I had taken the conventions into account which made it easier when designing my own products. Also, during my planning stage I completed a spider diagram to help me with the terms; language, institutions, ideology, audience and representation. This helped me a lot going into detail with what these media terms actually mean therefore I could link my product to the key terms. I also produced a mood board of several magazines which I could look at to help me. I also completed work sheets to help me understand the terms institutions and ideology which I wasn’t very clear on prior to developing the task.
For my task I used many programmes and technology; I used Microsoft Publisher and Adobe Photoshop to help me create my products. Creating my double page spread and front cover on Adobe Photoshop has given me a better understanding of using the programme therefore I will be able to create better products if I were to use this programme again. I used Adobe Photoshop to edit my photo for my contents page therefore I used both Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Publisher to create my contents page. Using Microsoft Publisher was easy and simple to use which was better for me to create my text as it is much simpler than using Adobe Photoshop. I also used a digital camera to take my photos as my images had to my original and taken by me.

In conclusion, I believe I have met the criteria of my task and produced my products with careful thought to appeal to my target audience. I believe my media product has developed forms and conventions of real media products as I have included many forms and conventions for my front cover, double page spread and my contents page. I thought about these very carefully after analysing existing products which helped me greatly produce my final products; which I believe I have used carefully and with a lot of thought.
I believe my products represent many social groups such as young people who are why I decided to include a young pretty girl for my model which I believe would appeal to young people and people who enjoy pop music. I believe an existing institution would be most likely to sell my product are IPC media as they produce over 85 iconic media brands, as they appeal to a wide audience; almost two thirds of UK women and 44% of UK men – almost 27 million UK adults – while our online brands collectively reach 20 million users every month.
My target audience for my products would be 14-19 predominantly female and secondary males, they would tend to be working class as the price of my magazine is £1.85 therefore people from the working class will be able to afford this magazine.

I believe I have learnt quite a lot about the technology I have used mainly Adobe Photoshop as I had never used this programme before until I became an AS Media student therefore I have not used it for too long but after being set this task I believe I have managed to product my three products using this programme and believe I have been successful on completing the task therefore I believe Adobe Photoshop has helped me a lot. I would use this programme again in the future I believe it is a very skilled programme in which you can edit images and create the products I produced. I believe I have learnt how to use this programme on completing this task and I believe I have learnt much more about music magazines I didn’t know before. I have learnt about the conventions of magazines and have been able to produce my own music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. From creating the preliminary task to producing my final task I believe I have improved a lot by having a more developed understanding of the programme’s I have used. I also believe I had a batter understand of LIIAR when creating my final task.

some of my unused images

My final front cover

This is my magazine front cover in which i thought about making carefully due to looking at existing pop music magazines. I took into account the conventions of the magazines when coming to make mine. My music magazine genre is pop therefore i have called my music magazine 'pop' which is simple and gives the audience the knowledge that it is a pop music magazine hense the name. I decided to put my masthead at the in the top left corner which is conventional to magazines but instead of stereotypically horizonatally across the top of the magazine, i thought i would challenge the conventions and have my masthead in the top left corner but going vertical, i thoguht this would be a good idea as if my magazine was a real magazine to be sold in shops, the magzine would be on a shelf and therefore you would only see the left third; therefore i thoguht this would be a good idea to have my masthead vertically so when buying the magazine you well see the whole name of the magazine rather than just the 'P' of the masthead. I have also uncluded the issue number, date and price which is conventional to all magazines. I also decied to use a barcode which is also another convention of magazines. And lastly i decided to use a sell line which would grab the audience's attention. My decision on choosing a young girl as my model is she represnts pop stars as she is young, pretty and confident. You can tell she is confident by looking at the images as she is looking straight into the camera rather than looking away. I decided on the colours as pink and white are conventional to music magazines.

My final double page spread

For my double page spread, i researched quite a few other magazines to give me some ideas on what my double page spread should look like. I took into account the conventions of many double page spreads and used them to come up with my own ideas to create my own. I have used sevaral images; most of these images are taking up one of the pages of my double page spreads which is also convetnional for double page spreads as there is normally images on one side of the double page spread and an interview or an article on the other side. I have choosen to do an interview on my model; i asked questions similar to what would be asked to a celebrity/pop star in a pop music magazine as my magazine is a pop magazine aimed at young children. I also decided to used alternating font colours using pink as one of my colours. I decided to use pink as it is conventional colour for a pop music magazine. I also decided to use a pull quote, which is a quote that has been pulled out of the interview to make the readers notice this first; it is written in bigger font to the actual interview therefore the audience is more likely to read the pull quote before the actual interview. It is more likely to attract the audience to read the interview rather than just flick through the pages. I have also put my interview in collums which is also conventional for double page spreads.

My final contents page

This is my final version of my contents page. During researching very similar products i took the conventions into account when planning my own creation. I therefore then decided to use many of the conventions for my own magazine contents page. I have used the magazine logo for my contents page as when doing research, many of the contents pages featured the magazine logo and therefore i thought it would be conventional to include my magazine logo on my contents page. I also decided to include one main image is it is conventional for a contents page, as it not ment to be too overcrowded. Many magazines usually contain one main image or very few small images. I also included the page number, i thought carefully what my page number would be as the contents page always comes right at the beginning of the magazine therefore i decided my contents page would be on page2. I also included the issue number and the date which is also convetional for the contents page. Lastly, I obviously included the contents of the whole magazine and obviously the page numbers they are on.

This is my IT draft for my double page spread.

This is my contents page IT draft.

This is my front cover IT draft.

This double page spread is also a great double page spread for me to analyse as there are some media conventions that i can analysie. There is a main image of My Chemical Romance who are a famous rock band, this image uses half of the double page spread which is conventional to music magazine, this is because many music magazine double page spreads use a big image which takes up almost one page of the double page spread. The main image is also there so the audience know what the article is about. They have also used some small images on the page where the article is. It is also conventional to have an article or an interview on a double page spread. This article is on the right hand side which is also conventional of music magazines. The colours they have used are also conventional for a rock magazines. These colours also appeal to their target audience.

double page spread analysis

This double page spread is also a great double page spread for me to analyse as there are some media conventions that i can analysie. There is a main image of Pink who is a famous pop/rock artist, this image uses half of the double page spread which is conventional to music magazine, this is because many music magazine double page spreads use a big image which takes up almost one page of the double page spread. The main image is also there so the audience know what the article is about. It is also conventional to have an article on a double page spread which this one has. This article is on the left hand side which is also conventional of music magazines. A pull quote is also used which attracts the audience's attention; this is because the pull quote is a quote pulled from the main article which then persuades the audience to read the whole article. A pull quote is also conventional for this reason.

Top of the pops double page spread analysis

This double page spread includes a lot of music magazine conventions. It includes a main image and small images, this shows the audience there is an article on the people represented in the ain image. The article on the Jonas Brothers; this is conventional as a lot of music magazine double page spreads feature an article on a band/group or artist. The main image is of the band posing with their instruments. This tells the audience that aren't familiar with the Jonas Brothers that they are a band that consists of two brothers hense the name of their band. The main image is uses up a whole side of the double page spread and there is an article on the other. This is also conventional for a double page spread as the double page spread normally contains a big image the story is about. The story is normally a short interview with one of the artists in the image or a small article about the group or some information they give.There are then smaller images used along the bottom of other the page. These smaller images of other models are used for their say on the double page spread. Also, the font used is a sans serif font keeping it simple and slightly less formal; this is also conventional of a pop magazine. The font is norally kept girls or simple this is so the writing is easy to read as pop music magazines tend to appeal to a younger female dominated audience. The colours used are bright and eye catching which is also another convention of pop music magazines, the colours normally used are yellow, orange pink and white. A lot of those colours are used in this double page spread and therefore the audiece will know this magazine is a pop music magazine. These colours are also quite girly which indicates the target audience. Another convention is that the article has been written in two colums. These columns have then been separated by a pull quote from the article. The pull quote is purposley in bigger font for the reader to see before they read the article, this is so the reader reads the pull quote first and then is persuaded to want to read the article as the pull quote is taken from the main article and therefore are more likely to want to read the article.

This contents page was taken from a 'Q' magazine. Q is a very popular well known Indie/rock magazine. The contents page is a quite conventional as it shows alot of key media features such as the image, issue number and date, the magazine logo and mainly the actual contents with page numbers. I have looked at quite a few magazines and normally the page numbers and contents are on the right hand side of the page, sectioned off from the other objects on the page such as the image and the masthead. The 'Q' logo is used on the contents page to emphasise the magazine is 'Q' magainze, it's a short name for a magazine and therefore doesn't take up too much room on the contents page. This is good because the editor wants to make the audience notice the contents on the splash so therefore the logo doesn't attract to much of the audience's eye. It's there so they say it but don't focus too much on it as the main aim of this page is to show the audience the navigations for the magazine.

'Mojo' contents page analysis

The contents page for mojo magazine is slightly different as the features are on the left hand side of the page, this is not a convention for music magazines as their contents with page numbers are usually on the right hand side. This contents page features one main image, this is situated on the right hand sand where normally the contents are. This contents page also includes a pull quote which is taken from the magazine. This makes the audience want to read the magazine to find out where the pull quote is from and to read the story. This contents page also has the issue number of the magazine and also the date. This is a conventation of conents pages. This layout of the contents page is not very conventional of what a typical music magazine contents page looks like. Normally, each object are sectioned off from each other.

'Uncut' contents analysis

This contents page is from a magazine called 'uncut'. Many of the magazines i have looked at shows the information for the content is situated on the right hand side of the contents page, this includes the name of the page and the page number. The contents page normally includes images related to the magazine, and if there is a story related to the image, the page number which is relevant to the image is shown, therefore it makes it easier to navigate around the magazine and which part of the magazine you want to look at weather your just flicking through the magazine and therefore want to navigate to a ceratin page in the magazine. The contents are normally lined off to the rest of the images on the contents page. Not always, but sometimes the date or issue number is situated on the top right of the contents page. This contents page is shows the contents and the page numbers on the right on side of the page, it also includes images which are relevant to the magazine and some short information of what is in the magazine such as reviews. Each part of the contents page is section of which shows a small amount of information which makes the contents page not too overcrowded. This shows the contents page is short and gets to the point of the main target of the contents page is to inform the reader of what is in the magazine. The images on the contents page tell the audience what type of genre the magazine is. This magazine genre is rap.