Final products

The Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Evaluation question 7

Question 7: Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task (The School Magazine Task), What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To Full Product?

The preliminary task was to make a front cover of a school prospectus/magazine. This I did with a bit of difficulty as it was the first time I was using PhotoShop and had not got used to how to use it.

With the coursework task, I learnt a lot about PhotoSop and gradually became more familiar with it. PhotoShop was generally easy to use and anything that was difficult I could pick up from others. InDesign was not easy to use because I feel it is not as user friendly as PhotoShop is. It is for this reason I had to learn a lot from my teacher about editing things on InDesign which meant the process of learning was a lot slower. The only thing I learnt about InDesign which was easier than the other things on there was how to apply text wrap to the interview text. This meant the text would flow better.

For the front cover of my music magazine I was able to look further into the conventions of musci magazines and look, more specifically, how the page should be set out which is more difficult to do with a school magazine as the only example I had was my own school magazine.

I learnt a lot more about cameras and about different shots. For the school magazine I only had to take a medium close up of a student and when I got round to taking the pictures for my music magazine I wanted to create a wider and more varied range of shots. This is why I chose to take a high angled shot and to also use manual focus to blur ADZ's finger and fist.

Overall I think that it is clear since I have developed my preliminary task that my skills have developed in many areas, more specifically, in using PhotoShop and InDesign.

Evaluation question 6

Question 6: What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing This Product ?1. Google - Google is a search engine which was founded in 1998. You are able to search anything you wish and get the results in less than a second. I used Google to research practically everything; images, front covers, contents pages, double page spreads and different genre of music magazines (e.g. Rock – Kerrang, Indie – NME). If I needed to search anything I used Google because it is the best and most user friendly search engine around and other ones, like Bing, are confusing to use.

2. Blogger - This allowed me to document all my research, planning, evidence of making, challenges I faced during the production and any amendments I had to make. Blogger is useful as you are able to access it anywhere as long as you have internet. It is a secure network that is password protected and you will never lose your work because it will be saved on a server.

3. Pentax K-m – This is the camera I used to take all the pictures for all three pages of my music magazine. The use of a digital SLR made the process of taking pictures very simple, it would have been much more difficult if I had to used a film camera and get the pictures developed –this would have take a lot longer to do and the effect would have been different.

4. Tripod - Although using the DSLR as a handheld camera without a tripod would have also worked but it would have increased the likelihood of there being camera shake in the pictures. Camera shake happens when the camera isn’t held still and the picture will then become blurry. Camera shake can happen when you are nudged or even when you breathe in and out. The tripod was used to steady the camera and stop there being any camera shake. This was the most effective way of stopping camera shake and I think it helped a lot.

5. HP Pavilion dm3 - This is my laptop I use for all my work. I have Adobe PhotoShop on my laptop, which is fairly new technology and not a vast amount of people have the full edition as it is still very expensive. My laptop is small and has over 300GB of memory, I am able to use it virtually anywhere and I am able to store all my work onto it.

6. PhotoShop CS4 – I used PhotoShop to produce the front cover of the music magazine and the contents page. Using PhotoShop was fairly new to me but after trying it out I was getting used to it and it was quite easy to work with.

7. InDesign CS – I used InDesign to produce the double page spread. This was a completely new piece of software to me and I had no idea how to use it. I asked my teacher to explain the basics and after that I was able to do the basics. It took me a while to get used to this program as, in my eyes, it isn’t very user friendly.

Evaluation question 5

Question 5: How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience?

For this is relies on the content and most importantly the front cover, as it will be the front cover that will be seen first. The content has to reflect what the target audience would expect from this genre of music, which is why it was so important to pick my genre early on and research it. The masthead "High Voltage" is at the top of the front page because it is easy to see on a magazine shelf and therefore will stand out to the target audience whilst not interfering with the page as a whole. I chose the title High Voltage because, like Kerrang, it is related to electric instruments and therefore relates back to "rock" and "punk". To make the masthead stand out more I decided to use lightening bolts for the "I" and the "L" because it is a visual representation of the masthead. The colour of the lightening bolts is white and this is for one main reason. I was originally going to use yellow, as this is the normal colour we see lightening to be, however with the black background this combination of black and yellow is the natural colour combination which symbolises danger. This is not an image I wanted to portray, so therefore I used white. To contrast the white I used red for the majority of the rest of the page and subsequently became the colour theme for my magazine.
The same, basic colour scheme throughout the magazine is continual and is representative of that style of music. By following the conventions I am sticking to what is already very popular.

Evaluation question 4

Question 4: Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?


My target audience is similar to that of Kerrang's but not completely the same. I have aimed my product beween the ages of 16 and 23. I have set the age at 16 because this is around the sort of time that teenagers start to widen their variety of music. Like Kerrang, the majority of people that will read my magazine will probably be male but it is still aimed at both sexes. Below are the statistics for Kerrang magazine.

Statistics for Kerrang

MALE 69%

FEMALE 31%

AVERAGE AGE 24

WORKING FULL TIME 52%

WORKING PART TIME 7%

STILL STUDYING 29%

ABC1 65%

CIRCULATION: 56,284

READERSHIP: 369,000

ABCe UNIQUE USERS: 3,501,326 IPC MEDIA . COM

Evaluation question 3

Question 3: What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?


I believe the media institution that would be appropriate to distribute my music magazine is Bauer Media Group. This is the same media distribution group as Kerrang and Q. I have followed the same sort of conventions as Kerrang so I find it highly appropriate that I have the same distribution group. I have chose Bauer Media Group because although Kerrang is a rock magazine there is a gap in the market for a "punk" magazine.

Bauer Media Group is already a highly recognised distribution group and already has loyal costumers who are interested in Rock and Punk music. This is why I believe that Bauer Media Group is the right distribution group.

I did research other distribution groups, like IPC Media but the type of music magazines it distributes are of the Indie/Alternative genre. This is not the same genre as mine and therefore would not be appropriate.

Evaluation question 2

Question 2: How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?



























It is conventional to have group shots of the band lined up and this inevitably creates a representation of their particular social group. The representation from my image shows their age group as stylish and unique according to their clothes, they all have their hands in their pockets which shows they have attitude and their clothes also represent how individual each memeber is.
The image from Q magazine shows the band lined up with, what seems to be, the most important band member at the front wearing a white t-shirt (so he will stand out more). I don't know the name of the band or what type of music they play but just by looking at them I can make an educated guess that they are an Indie/Alternative band. This is because the style of their t-shirts and their hair styles.
So it was very important when planning my photographs to plan the outfits of the band as well so it would represent their social group well.

Evaluation question 1

Question 1: In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?

I have taken 9 screen grabs of my products and I have also taken 9 screen grabs of similar things in Kerrang and Q (which are the two magazines that have been my inpiration for my coursework). Below the two images I will state the number of the image I am talking about, I will talk about my image first and then talk about the corresponding image from Kerrang and Q.

1. The facial expressions is what stands out the most, which highlights their individuality. This is not necessarily a convention but it is used well in magazines.This is what Kerrang do on a regular basis and I have adopted this idea from them but I have made it my own by using a high angled shot so the band members are looking up at the camera. In Kerrang it is not commonly seen to have a high angled shot as the front over, Kerrang generally uses low angled shots or medium close ups.




2. The title for my music magazine is "High Voltage". I chose the title High Voltage because, like Kerrang, it is related to electric instruments and therefore relates back to "rock" and "punk". On Kerrang's front cover the title is usually obstructed up by the main image. This is not a problem as Kerrang is well known by the look and style of the magazine so it does not deminish the image of the magazine.




3. The selling on my magazine is above the masthead. This is a convention of Kerrang's as they too have the selling line (or what else is in the issue) above the masthead. Kerrang's is separated by stars and mine are separated by lightening bolts to continue the theme of the magazine and to also relate back to the title.




4. Text is often used on the front to give the audience an insight into what is in the issue. This can be done in a numbewr of ways; saying who else will be featured in the issue or a quote from something within the issue. I have used a direct quote from the interview and, like Q have done, I have colour coded it so it stands out more.




5. In Q it is more conventional to have a bigger image on the contents page whereas in Kerrang it is more conventional to have several little images. I have chosen to follow the conventions of Q for this.




6. It varies from double page to double page but it is fairly conventional to have one large image on one page and the text on the other side of the page with the title at the top connecting the two pages. Q and Kerrang both use this technique and so have I.




7. The text I have done is all on the other side of the page to the picture and it is colour coded; the questions in red and the answers in black. This is a convention from Kerrang as the text is on one page and it is also colour coded.




8. This is an image taken from the contents page and I have adpoted the style of Q for this. Kerrang uses many small images for its contents page but Q uses a larger image and then a few smaller one. This, I feel, is more effective and draws the attention to the most important things in the issue.




9. This is the title of the double page spread. It is very large which helps it stand out and it joins the two pages together. Kerrang do this well and have done so for many years e.g. panic at the disco double page spread, fall out boy double page spread etc.

Overall these few examples demonstrates that overall my magazine is very conventional. However this is not a bad thing as the conventions have been proven to be successful and I believe that by following and adapting them I've created my best possible result.

Double page spread

This to the left is my original double page spread. Although I did not use this design I will make a brief summary of it so it is clear what changes I made and why.

As you can see it is a very simplistic design with four images separating the four columns of text. The questions are in red and the answers are in black. I chose the colour theme because it reflects the title of this page, Fake Fiction.

Fake Fiction is in black and red here as the band wanted to communicate a different image and this different image change coinsides with the suggestness of the font.

The pictures showed the band as a whole in full colour whilst the three other images show them as individuals in black and white with only their instruments coloured. I chose to do this because in the individual shots the coloured instruments highlights their skills as individuals while the black and white still connects the images together. The image of the whole three-piece band is in full colour and connects the band as one.

However there are a number of reasons why I did not feel this double page spread was entirely what I wanted.

1. There is too much white space all over the page and not enough content


2. The title doesn't stand out well enough and is too small


3. There is no page numbers


4. No clear way of relating this article to "High Voltage"


5. The placement of the pictures are not conventional


6. The title being on one page does not link the pages well and makes it feel like two separate pages.

As a result of these draw backs I decided to re-design the double page spread, which can be seen to the right.

In my new design the most obvious changes are to the text and the image. In my previous design, as already mentioned, I had many smaller images and these smaller images helped to divide the page into four sections. With this new design I decided to use one image and enlarge it so it filled one entire page of the spread. This is a successful convention that many magazines have utilized. I did this because the picture overlaps and links the pages together well.

Another change to this page is the title - Fake Fiction. This title is much bigger than on the previous design and I positioned it to go across both the pages to enhance the connection between the two pages. As you may notice the colour change of both the "F"'s to red with a yellow outline instead of black with a red outline. This is to make the entire title stand out more and because of the image it was difficult to see the black with red but the red with yellow makes the entire title look more visible.

The interview is the same as I thought it worked well and I did not change much. The main thing I have changed with the text is that there is a quote in blue near the centre on the right hand page. This is to break up the text a little bit so it is easier to read. It is a convention of music magazine, especially Kerrang who use quotes in their interviews quite often.

In the top right hand corner there is a new addition to the page. The website is clearer and it gives an easy way to find out more about the band. This benefits both the band and the magazine as the simplicity will attract people to buy the magazine again.

The final change on this double page spread is the page numbers. They use the same font as the title, therefore linking the whole double page nicely and it also follows the same colour scheme as the red of this page does - black with red.

On a more subtle note, to complete the overall look of the double page spread I used the rule tool on InDesign to line up all the text and the title so it is easier on the eyes and looks more aesthetically pleasing.

Contents page

When it came to designing my contents page I debated whether to use Fake Fiction as the main feature again but ultimately decided to use "ADZ" (Adam). I came to this conclusion because I felt that if Fake Fiction were on all three pages as the main feature it would focus too much on them and this is not a convention of some of the magazine I have been researching.

I took the photo of Adam using a Pentax K-m DSLR. I used manual focus to make his finger and hand out of focus and put all the focus on him. The style of the photo mimics the World War 1 British propoganda poster "You're country needs you" of Lord Kitchener. I chose to mimic this because it was a very successful and well known image and it is also because it communicates with the audience directly. This is because Adam is pointing at the reader and he is also looking straight at them. The logo positioned on top of the image, "ADZ", is one that I created. I achieved this by taking his actual signiture and editing it with a white background to allow the blue font to stand out. I also gave the signiture rough edges as it symbolises his style of music and his general character.

Although I chose ADZ as the main feature of the page I thought it was important to include Fake Fiction and they can be seen in the bottom left hand corner, which is in line with the rest of the text on the left hand side. I chose this image because it shows the entire band and is another way to attract the audience to read the artical. To highlight the artical with Fake Fiction further, I put "Fake Fiction interview on page 16 & 17" at the top of the page. I did not feel it was appropriate due to the small scale as it would be difficult to read however I did use the same colours, red and blue, so it still stands out. The lightening bolts near the text at the top of the page are pointing inwardsm which frames the text and further highlights the interview and the importance of it. I reversed the lightening bolts to red and the text to white as I thought it was more effective for this page. This could also be seen with the title of the page, Contents. The contents title contrasts well with the black background. The black background is not too dominating as it fades into white which is easier and more appealing to the eye and the fading of the background colour compliments ADZ's shirt well. I decided to continue with the lightening bolt in the main title of the contents page but the word "contents" has no free standing letters, like "L" or "I". Taking this into account I decided to put the lightening bolt in the "O" and, to contrast the title, I made the lightening bolt red.

The contents information, found to the left of the page, is conventional of any magazine both in layout and style. I chose to put the page numbers in red and the actual information in white because it follows the colour scheme and helps the information stand out more.

At the bottom of the page I have place the website in the left hand corner and information about a free podcast in the right hand corner. I decided to put the website there to further advertise the website and the magazine, again having the name of the magazine in white to help it stand out and also the follow the colour scheme. I decided to add the podcast because it will further appeal to the audience and encurage them to look at the podcast. The main words are in white, to contrast the red words and the word "podcast" is in blue to help that stand out over the other words in that section.

Front page

My main idea with the magazine front cover was to have a main image almost centred, the masthead near the top (not at the top because it is not conventional for the masthead to be in that place), have a selling line and a date line. These are general conventions for a front cover for any magazine.

The band I have photographed are called Fake Fiction and I know them through their drummer, Tom. I took a variety of different pictures with my Pentax K-m (some are inserted left). The best of the amount that I took was the middle picture. I chose to use this picture as the main image because all the band members are pulling a face and on most Kerrang! covers this is what the band are doing. This shows my front cover will follow the conventions of Kerrang! and it also shows the band in a different light. I took the image while standing on a climbing frame in a children's play area. This shot works well because the three members are equally shown and they are all stood in the same position - which highlights their equality in the band, yet their clothes depict their individuality. I have used the select tool on PhotoShop to select the band members and place them on a black to white gradient background. This is so that the text is clear and that the location of the photoshoot, the playground, is not visible. As I have mentioned in a previous post, I will be producing a punk/rock magazine and Fake Fiction are a punk band. Picking a punk band for a punk/rock magazine is straight forward - you wouldn't have Mumford & Sons on the cover of Kerrang because Mumford & Sons aren't "rock".

In terms of conventions it follows the conventions almost precisely. I chose to follow the conventions because they have been proved to be successful by the target audience purchasing the magazines and through the success of the industry. Though I have followed the conventions I have adapted them to suit the overall needs of my target audience.

The masthead "High Voltage" is near the top of the page, in the conventional position. I put it in the position because it is easy to see on a magazine shelf and therefore will stand out to the target audience whilst not interfering with the page as a whole. I chose the title High Voltage because, like Kerrang, it is related to electric instruments and therefore relates back to "rock" and "punk". To make the masthead stand out more I decided to use lightening bolts for the "I" and the "L" because it is a visual representation of the masthead. The colour of the lightening bolts is white and this is for one main reason. I was originally going to use yellow, as this is the normal colour we see lightening to be, however with the black background this combination of black and yellow is the natural colour combination which symbolises danger. This is not an image I wanted to portray, so therefore I used white. To contrast the white I used red for the majority of the rest of the page and subsequently became the colour theme for my magazine. This is demonstrated well in the selling line which is above masthead and it reverses the colour scheme while maintaining the same aesthetically pleasing design. I used the lightening to separate the text so that the top of the page didn't become cramped. I thought this selling line was important to have at the top of the page because the target audience will be able to see it on the magazine shelf and it highlights the most important parts of the issue. The second selling line located below the masthead. I put the website and the slogan below the masthead is it further advertises the magazine. The colour scheme highlights this further as in the website the white highlights the magazine title and in the slogan the red highlights "best" and "you" which are the most important things in that sentence.

The coverline and the main coverline link together well as the coverline gives a sneek preview of what you will find inside in the main double page interview. The main coverline "Fake Fiction" draws the most attention because of it's size and colours. The process of designing this coverline involved both myself and the band. They initially provided me with their logo, which can be seen to the right, however I thought I could improve it and with their permission and guidance I did. You are able to see my improved design to the left. I wanted to change it because the logo they had sent me looked a bit out of place on the page and it looked cartoon-like, which didn't suit the band or my magazine. I changed the logo so the "fake" was red and the "fiction" was blue, these are the two main colours that are representative of boys.

The barcode and the price and date line are found in the bottom right hand corner so that they do not interfere with the page but they are still a necessity to have on the magazine.

Preliminary Task

Our preliminary task was to produce a front cover of a school magazine which had to consist of a medium close up of a student. This would be the first time I was using the software we'd be using for the entire year, PhotoShop and InDesign. PhotoShop was very user friendly and I got the hang of it after a while.

I took plenty of pictures of my school with my DSLR and also of the student. Unfortunately when I took the pictures of the school it was a very overcast day but this was all taken care of in Photoshop by using “hue”, “saturation”, “lightness” and “colour balance” to make the sky look bluer and to give the school an improved appearance. I used the select tool and selected the sky and then I used the hue, saturation and lightness options to make the sky seem bluer and more attractive.The sky ended up looking a much nicer blue and the building looked a little more modern.

Adding the student into the picture wasn’t a problem. I had to delete the background of the student picture and then ‘inverse’ the selected area. Then I had to try and find the right angle for the gradient, so the student would not be transparent, nor a solid object just placed on a page.

The colour of the title, “St Edmund’s News”, is as close to the school’s Crest colour of blue. This is so that the magazine cover looks similar. Looking at our school’s magazine cover now, we saw that the colours were either the same as each other, the same as on the school crest or complimenting each other. This makes it look more professional, so that is why I have copied this idea. The other writing to the top right of the page is the school motto, what term the school is in and the issue of the magazine. I have done this to keep the motto looking important in the school’s life, to state the term we are in and to inform people how many other magazines there have been before this one.
The crest was straightforward to put in the picture. I did it the same way I did the picture of the student but this time I did not change the gradient because the school crest, in my opinion, should stand out. Therefore I made the crest medium sized and put it in the bottom left corner.
I am very pleased at how my preliminary task has turned out

Research and planning

For my research I will be looking at a variety of different music magazines e.g. NME, Kerrang, Mojo and Q. I have chosen these to examine because I would like to use that genre of magazine and the conventions are demonstrated in these examples.

NME: The New Musical Express published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the 14 November 1952 edition. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music magazine. It then became closely associated with punk rock through the writing of Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill. Many famous artists have appeared on the front cover since the magazine started in 1952, such as: The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Throughout the decades NME hasn’t always stuck to the same genre. When it first started off it was mainly Rock and Progressive Rock but over the years it changed slightly to fit the growing trends in the consumer demand. Different genres it has accommodated for: Rock & Progressive Rock (The Beatles), Punk (Sex Pistols), Grunge (Nirvana) and when Kurt Cobain died it affected his fans and also the music industry because ‘Grunge’ was slowly replaced by Britpop (Oasis), Hip-Hop (Jay-Z), Indie (Bloc Party) and now the magazine has stayed with the Indie and Alternative genres.

Total circulation (ABC January - June 2010): 33,875

Kerrang: The magazine's name is onomatopoeic and refers to the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar. Kerrang! commenced publication on 7 June 1981, initially as a one-time supplement in the Sounds newspaper, which focuses on the genre New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of other hard rock acts. AC/DC appeared on Kerrang!’s first cover. Kerrang!'s first successful period in 2000 when the ‘nu metal’ genre, featuring bands like Papa Roach, Slipknot and Linkin Park, became more popular. Later on, they started covering other bands, like Foo Fighters and Metallica. Kerrang has stayed with virtually the same genre all through the years but maybe swaying more towards Rock in the present day. Kerrang has also broadened its audience by creating a radio station, a TV channel, their own awards (The K! Awards) and their own tour (Kerrang Tour).

Total circulation: 42,967

Q: Q is a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology. Q was first published in October 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing. In the early years, the magazine was sub-titled "The modern guide to music and more". Originally it was to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine.

Total circulation: 88,240

MOJO: MOJO is a monthly magazine. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music. MOJO was first published on 15 October 1993; in keeping with its classic rock aesthetic, the first issue had Bob Dylan and John Lennon as its first cover stars.

Circulation: 94,617

AS coursework

I am retaking my AS coursework. Our task was to produce a music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. Looking at my previous work I have decided to stay with the same genre of Punk/Rock and I will be looking at different magazines that depict this genre e.g. NME, Kerrang, Q and Mojo. I have decided to use this genre of Punk/Rock because its conventions were the ones I were most comfortable to follow and develop because I have been a close follower of NME and Kerrang and their conventions are familiar to me. I have started the designing process and have the initial designs for the front cover, contents page and double page. To the left is my initial design for my font cover. As you can see it is made up of a big main image to show the audience that it is the main focus of the magazine. The Masthead is the biggest text on the page as it needs to stand out, especially on a magazine shelf where only the top will be visible. The main cover line would be slightly smaller than the Masthead because it is still important and needs to stand out but it cannot distract you from the Masthead. This is a conventional front cover, mostly from Kerrang, because the conventions have shown to be successful.

To the right is my initial design for my contents page. The main image is the biggest thing on this page. This is to show its importance over everything else. It may not be the image of the band I will be writing about on my double page spread but I have noticed that in real magazines that the main image on the contents page isn't necessarily the band that are on the double page. The contents Masthead is the biggest text on this page. This is because it shows that this is the contents page and the most important information about what is in the magazine is on this page. There is a smaller picture in the bottom left corner and that is another convention of music magazines and this is probably where I will put an image of the band I will be 'interviewing' on the double page spread.

To the left is my initial design of my double page spread. The main image is the main focus on this page to show the audience that they are a new and upcoming band and to highlight that. The title on this page is probably the second most important thing because it highlights what the page is about so if you are looking through the magazine you are able to find it easily. The text on this page will probably be made up of questions and answers because it will be in the style of an interview. After looking at my initial designs I started to think about the name of the magazine. I initially used High Voltage and quite liked this name. I came up with this because I was thinking about electrical instruments and I was looking at my electric guitar and my amp at the time and saw it said "caution High Voltage" and thought it was a brilliant idea for the title. I chose it because it relates back to music via the instruments and it focuses on the 'music' side of things. Ihave decided to keep this name because I think it works well for my magazine.