NOTE TO MODERATOR

Dear moderator

This is my AS Media Studies blog. On here, I have uploaded all of my research and planning to help me to finally produce the front cover, contents page and double page spread for a chart magazine.

My blog begins back in September with my initial research and planning and finishes today with my final pieces and this comment.

I hope you enjoy looking around my blog at everything I have done over the last 6 months to create, what I think, is a good magazine which has met the brief.

Jack Cooper

FINAL PRODUCT OF MAGAZINE PAGES

Evaluation: QUESTION 7 WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM THE PRELIMINARY TASK TO THE FINAL PRODUCT?

Evaluation: QUESTION 6 WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? from jack_cooper10

I have not been able to directly upload my video to accompany this question because it is too big to upload to a blogpost. However, I have uploaded it to my Onedrive account and this link will open this video as a shared video. 

Evaluation: QUESTION 5 HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

To add to this, I conducted some more audience feedback research. I asked my target audience what they thought of the magazine and this is some feedback which I received.

The audience feedback I have received here is one from a female who my magazine would be aimed at. It shows me that to some extent, my magazine is successful however, I should have maintained more of a house style with my colours throughout the three pages.

Evaluation: QUESTION 4 WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT? WHY?

Evaluation: QUESTION 3 WHAT KIND OF INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR PRODUCT?

Evaluation: QUESTION 2 HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

Evaluation Question 2 from jack_cooper10

Evaluation: QUESTION 1 IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MAGAZINE USE, DEVELOP AND CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Research and Planning: CHANGE TO DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD IMAGE

I have made a change to my double page spread image by removing the background to make it more curved. I also changed the position so that it looked like her arm had been cut off the page. This is what it looks like overall on the double page spread.

Research and Planning: CHANGE TO FRONT COVER

I have made a change to my front cover. I have changed my main coverlid to make it stand out more. I have also changed my image to reduce the amount of orange in the image and darken it up a bit. I changed the position and the size of the sticker and I also changed the position of my model so that she was over the masthead.

Research and Planning: AMENDMENT TO CONTENTS PAGE

I have also changed the contents page. I have added a background colour to make the text which is already on there stand out more. I have also added an advertisement into the bottom left hand corner here. I decided to make the colour yellow because it matched with the house style of my magazine throughout it. 

To create this advertisement, I screen shotted my front cover and inserted this because it was an original image which I needed to include in the magazine. 

Research and Planning: FRONT COVER AMENDMENTS

I have changed my front cover. I have changed the image on the front cover to make it seem more suitable for the genre. I have also moved the position of the plug which is now located in the bottom left hand corner which has filled the space which I did originally have there.

Research and Planning: SOCIAL NETWORKING FOR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

Now that I am near the end of the production of my magazine, I decided to place the nearly finished front cover onto a group chat to receive some feedback from my friends. One of them has suggested moving the win 50 free iTunes downloads plug into the bottom left hand corner where I currently have the space. I will make this change tomorrow and see how it looks. This should then be my front cover complete and I will then be making some minor amendments to my contents page and double page spread tomorrow ready for submission.

Research and Planning: CHANGE TO FRONT COVER IMAGE

I have changed the front cover image because the one I had was a bit blurry when it was zoomed in up close. I will now make amendments to the rest of the front cover and it is now near completion.

Here are the two photos I took in the new photoshoot today.

Research and Planning: PROGRESS TODAY

I have changed elements of my content page by making the text bigger and making it shape more around my model. I am still unsure what I will do in the space at the bottom left.

I have added an exclusive bar across the top of the double page spread and added a black background banner to this. I have also changed the font of the pull quote in the middle to make it blockier and stand out more.

 

I got the inspiration to change the font of my pull quote due to this double page spread which I saw on Billboard magazine. The pull quote on this page is in a bolder and blockier font which allows the reader to draw their attention to it. The colours are also similar to those which I have decided to adopt as part of the house style of my magazine.

As soon as I can, I am going to change the front cover image because it looks a bit blurry. However, today I have changed the size and positioning of my cover lines and main cover line as well as the positioning of some of the other elements.

Research and Planning: CHANGE TO DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

As mentioned in previous posts, I have amended my double page spread to take into account some previous feedback. I have added the photo from my contents page and put it onto the double page spread as well as adding a banner and changing the colours to match with my colour scheme throughout.

Research and Planning: UPDATE TO CONTENTS PAGE

I have made a change to my contents page by moving the image which was originally on there onto my double page spread where it fits better. I have also changed the colour scheme of my contents page to match the other pages in the magazine with the colour of the blue text with the blue circle in the contents.

Research and Planning: CHANGE TO MASTHEAD

After some feedback from my tutor, I have decided to make some changes to my magazine. I have changed the font of my masthead and changed the colour of it to make it more bold and thicker. I also added the names of some of the artists who would be involved in this type of magazine.

To design my new masthead and make the house style of my magazine similar, I have decided to take inspiration from the Billboard logo. I have chose a bolder and fuller font and decided to adopt the idea of having some of the text coloured in using the house style colours which are present throughout the magazine.

 

Research and Planning: FONT PLANNING FOR CHANGE TO MASTHEAD

I have used DaFont to look at different fonts whilst I was planning on what to do with my masthead. I will use one of the fonts in the image above to make my magazine look more like the genre it is.

Research and Planning: HOW HAVE I MADE MY MAGAZINE ATTRACT TO MY AUDIENCE.

Before beginning to produce my magazine, I conducted a survey. I have used some of the information I gained in that survey to help me with producing the magazine.

One of the questions in my survey was:
What colours do you associate with a Charts Magazine?

Most people said Yes and I have implemented that in my magazine. It is mainly grey, black and white but I have added some splashes of red, as you can see on the pages below.


Another question which I asked on that survey was
What would you expect to see on the front cover of a music magazine?

I have added everything which the survey told me including image of star/band, price and barcode and titles, as you can see below.


The final question in my survey was
How much would you be willing to pay for a music magazine?

I chose £2.50 as the price for my magazine. The results showed that the majority of those asked said that would be a reasonable price.

Research and Planning: UPDATES AND PROGRESS

I have now started evaluating my music magazine as it is nearly complete and over the next couple of weeks, I will be starting to upload evaluation posts.

I am making good progress with my music magazine and feel that it is looking good.

Research and Planning: AMENDMENT TO PHOTO ON DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

I have changed the picture on my double page spread. I have assed a drop shadow which makes it seem more advanced and also fills some of the white space around the picture on the page.

Research and Planning: AMENDMENTS TO CONTENTS PAGE

I have made my amendments to my Contents page and I am now liking it more than I liked the previous contents page.

Research and Planning: DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD WITH SIGNATURE

I have added the signature to my double page spread. This makes it more personal for the article and lets the audience be able to relate to the article.

Research and Planning: PLAN FOR MARCH

With the deadline to this production coursework quickly approaching, I have come up with a production plan of what I am going to do each coursework lesson between now and the deadline.

Research and Planning: SIGNATURE FOR MY DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

I asked my model for my double page spread if she could do me her signature. I have scanned this in and tomorrow, I will insert it into the bottom right hand corner of my double page spread where there is a bit of space.

Research and Planning: MAJOR CHANGE TO MY CONTENTS PAGE

After some research, I have made a minor change to my contents page. I felt that there was too much text and content on the contents page and for my genre, there is usually not as much on the contents page. I am going to add less information onto my page but add the font bigger. I am going to make these changes this week and blog it later in the week.

Research and Planning: AMENDMENTS TO MY DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

I have made some slight amendments to my double page spread. I have moved Emma's Social Media box onto the left page which has left me a bit of space on the right page. I am going to get a hand done signature and then that will fill up the space in the bottom right hand corner. Then, that will be my double page spread done.

Research and Planning: SOCIAL MEDIA FOR THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

I have added a social media banner to the bottom of my double page spread which includes the social media details for my artist on the double page spread. I stuck with the theme of black, white and grey which has been a prominent theme throughout my magazine which helps to attract my target audience.

Research and Planning: FRONT COVER PROGRESS

I have made changes to my front cover which now make it look near completion. I have added my text and changed the fonts which make the space seem more filled.

Research and Planning: FRONT COVER WITH IMAGE

This is the front cover of my magazine with the image added. I will edit the image and make changes to the text so it is visible on the page.

Research and Planning: FRONT COVER IMAGES

I have taken the photos for my front cover. Here are all of the photos I have taken.

I will be using one of the bottom three images because these are brighter. It took a while to get these right because the camera was not very good and the lighting in the studio was also not very good. 

Research and Planning: PLAN FOR FEBRUARY HALF TERM

This is my last coursework lesson before half term. Therefore, this is what I will be doing over the half term.

I will not have access to Photoshop over half term so I will not be able to continue with production. However, I will still be continuing with researching things which will be able to shape my production when I come back after half term.

Happy Holiday! See you after half term!

Research and Planning: FRONT COVER CHANGES

I have received some feedback from my tutor and the image was unsuitable for my front cover. The image needs to be direct mode of address. Therefore, I have placed everything in the place and the first week back after February half term, I will take another image.

Research and Planning: HOW I'VE CONSTRUCTED MY CONTENTS PAGE

I have also done some screenshots to show my progress of my contents page.

To start, I chose and A4 sheet of paper and added borders all around the edge to help me plan where things were going to go.

I added in the title of Contents and also did some grey boxes where the text was going to go. I left some spaces blank to allow for pictures.

Then I started filling in the boxes. I started to add in some text and the headings and then decided to start filling in other bits before inserting the images.

I continued adding in the text in the boxes and added a page number and the magazine logo to the bottom right hand corner.

I added social area with logos and websites for the various websites. I also continued to fill in some of the boxes.

Then I started to add in my images.

I filled in the final box and added in the text at the top border.

I then finished the contents page by adding in an advertisement and some more text in the header.