Candidate Details

CENTRE NAME: WILMINGTON GRAMMER SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

CANDIDATE NAME: ALICE GRACE HALL

CANDIDATE NUMBER:

CENTRE NUMBER: 61119

Final Double Page Spread

Final Contents Page

Final Front Page

Evaluation Question Number 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?

I approached both products with very different attitudes. My preliminary task I was extremely unsure and indecisive of my decision because I wasn't entirely motivated on my subject which was a school magazine. I wasn't very confident with the programmes used and my imagination of ideas and my creativity wasn't very practiced and lacking experience that is why I found the preliminary task very challenging. I didn't use the correct equipment (i.e camera) and didn't edit the images to its full advantage. I underestimated my timing and everything became very rushed towards the end simply because I was unsure of ideas, layouts, colours; simple aspects that are considered in a magazine. Therefore, I feel my preliminary task isn't as good as it can be due to me rushing my time.

However, I learnt from my mistakes and went into my Music Magazine production more positively, I was extremely interested in the subject we were creating (music) and I believed that I could potentially produce a success full magazine . Due to creativity already beginning to be explored I had so many ideas of how I wanted my product to look like. I was determined for it to not look like a school project but in fact a professional magazine. I used my time effectively by ordering props and using existing ones that I felt would be suitable and beneficial to my photo shoots, I chose my settings  with great care allowing time for my models to be able to get there as this is a factor that needs to be kept in mind due to people pulling out last minute and so forth; I used fields as my main setting and a little woodland area near my house, whereas in my preliminary task I didn't consider my background at all, I used what was most convenient which was at my dining room table.

I personally feel that I have come along way from my preliminary task to my final product in terms of development, construction and the overall understanding of certain qualities/features/factors of general media. Through looking at my previous work and research I feel I have made a definite progression; as I learnt all my mistakes through my preliminary task which prevented me from making the same mistakes in my final piece. I experimented with certain programmes like InDesign, Photoshop and Blogger on my preliminary task therefore, gave me a foundation and a basic understanding when I went to begin producing my final product.

 

This is the transition from my preliminary front cover school magazine task to my final Front Cover of my Indie magazine. as you can visually see there is a remarkable difference, and I feel this is purely because of what I learnt from my first task of the school magazine, evidently it was extremely beneficial.

As you can see the overall image is very different however, I did use the idea from my preliminary task as inspiration in terms of where to position my model, as they are very similar. However, of course I made the overall 'look' of the model more appealing to my audience through the effects used, the clothing, all to make my front cover more appropriate and better quality than my preliminary task. I resulted in using a different camera to take my photos with - this Olympus SLR which already featured the grainy black and white effect. This was a definite step in the progression of my magazine as previous to this I used a digital small pocket camera to take my preliminary task picture, which as you can see is not as good in the overall quality of the image.

I took a different approach and decided to use this black and white effect opposed to colour as I felt that in my final product it turned out alot more striking than lots of different colours mixed in together as shown above in my preliminary task, it makes the model appear washed out.

I particularly considered the layout of both magazines In my preliminary task I centrally aligned the text which made it appear unprofessional and it also had a lot of writing underneath which is also unlike a real magazine it should only really consist of headings and minor detail, I learnt from this and made sure I corrected it in my final product.

The title is something I wanted to make look professional as in my preliminary task as featured to the left the title looks unbelievably unprofessional and the choice of colour doesn't work with the overall front cover. It blends into the background which SHOULD NOT BE THE CASE as the title is one of the aspects of a magazine that draws the readers attention. The font of this magazine adds to the unprofessional look. Therefore, using this mistake I made sure that my title was big and bold and stood out from the background aswell as using a simplistic font with no serifs however, very striking and unique. Nevertheless, I came across some development issues when creating my final front cover as I wanted a black title however, the 'dual' of the title blended in with the models hair therefore, had to edit and adjust this problem by outlining this part of the title in white so that this issue didn't occur, and it successfully worked.

Again this is the transition from my preliminary school magazineIndie Magazine Contents Page, again the progression is clearly evident and portrays a greater understanding on how a professional magazine should appear like if following the generic forms and conventions, something I didn't clearly concentrate much on preliminary task.

With my contents page for my preliminary task I only used one image that wasn't edited in any sort of way, but simply cropped. This is something I did not want to have on my final music magazine product. I made sure that I had more than one picture and that they were edited to a professional extent. Aswell as this my preliminary appears extremely empty with not much going on or interesting to look at. Although I didn't want my final product to seem over complicated and overcrowded I used my mistake and therefore, taking into consideration that a contents page needs to look complete and not empty, however, I believe this was down to my rushed timing towards the end of the preliminary task.

In my preliminary task I made the huge mistake of using an image that was not of my own, perhaps to just fill my contents page up due to the lack of time I had or perhaps the lack of knowledge. Nevertheless, if this was the final piece it would have bought my marks down. However, using this major mistake I used this to my advantage and made sure that every image inserted on my contents page was of my own. I decided to make my contents page look completed with an equal amount of text and images I decided to insert a smaller image of my front cover promoting and advertising the subscription section at the bottom of the page. All simply done by scaling down my original product and placing it onto InDesign. Highlighting that a created image can be just as good as an existing image and does not drop marks.

 Lastly, is my use and presentation of the subheadings on my contents pages. My preliminary headings were completely wrong in all aspects. The colours chosen did not contrast well off each other therefore, do  not stand out, the chosen font isn't bold enough, the blue drop shadow takes the attention away from the headings and the increased weight of the stroke line around the text looks overbearing and unreadable. Elements I certainly did not want to experience again, therefore, I took the view of trying to not complicate font and headings as they need to be bold and stand out attracting and informing the audience. Therefore, I took a very simplistic view and simply including extremely contrasting colours, used all capitals and a very simple, readable font.

And lastly, presented here is my final version of my Double Page Spread; something that was not required to produce in the preliminary task, however, was in the Music Magazine.

Overall I believe there has been a positive progression from my preliminary task to my final product; entirely through gaining a wider understanding and knowledge on how to successfully construct a professional looking product whilst managing my time throughout.

Evaluation Question Number 6

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

Presentation of Technologies

View more presentations from aliceghall94.

This is the camera I used to take all my photographs in my photoshoots

Evaluation Question Number 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

These Unique Selling Points are;

• Reading Festival
• Use of male and female models to create that unisex outlook on the magazine
• Numerous of Famous Indie Artists
• The overall look being very sleak in one colour special edition colour scheme
• The glaring direct eye contact of the main model on the front cover

I made sure that 'Reading Festival' was featured fairly BIG and BOLD on my front cover as I believe this an extremely unique selling point amongst my target audience, due to it being a huge event that occurs in the summer. Numerous of famous indie artists mentioned to the right (line up) something that is also mentioned on my front cover the extensive use of famous artists to attract the audience as they are evidently artists they listen to and therefore, will want to know any relevent information about them

The use of unisex models is something I believe contributes a great deal to this unique selling point as it makes the magazine more versitile in terms of audiences, these social groups not feeling as if they can't read this particular magazine because they feel it is more aimed at males or females - this approach of having more than one model makes the audience comfortable in what they are reading which is a very important aspect of a magazine.

Aswell as the use of this BLACK AND WHITE SPECIAL EDITION as shown in both of my main images creates a unique never seen before 'look' to the magazine. The audience want to feel stylish when reading their chosen magazine, therefore, this stylish approach of this special edition most defintely creates a unique selling point that could be very successful, due to 'image being everything'

Lastly, the eye contact within the model on the front page is what entices the audience in, if they feel the model is glaring at them they have then consequently made eye contact with the entire magazine and therefore, are more prone to pick it up. Despite it being a still photograph the direct eye contact has this effect and as shown in the left and right photograph taken from the front cover of 'SPIN' and 'Q' it shows that this is a technique used throughout all types of magazines, evidently, making these a unique selling point.

Evaluation Question Number 4

Who would be the audience for you media product?

When selecting an audience to be the main target for a media product, it evidently results in taking a very stereotypical view on social groups and people. Although stereotypes are most likely far from reality, once averaged out among all people from that specific group it creates an 'easy association' someone with qualities of that certain stereotype can then be categorised into that group. Although this can be deemed as a very harsh view it makes determining an audience for your media product a lot easier. My particular audience that I believe my media product is aimed at is;

THE ALTERNATIVE GROUP

Featured below is a Youtube clip I created showing different 'tastes' and interests this indie/alternative group would supposedly have i.e;

• Fashion
• Music Taste
• Shops
• Television Programmes
• etc

UK Tribes state numerous of facts and phrases that describe this particular group in depth;

Particular Brands that are associated with this Alternative Group and specific Media they consume are;

And lastly, the media consumption intake;

This particular image portrays that this specific genre/group is most defintetely interested in the media industry not just music genres but many other different types of media from cinema to magazines and so forth. Evidently illustrating how this social group is a vital target audience to the media industry.

'This segment ‘definitely agreed’ that they “like to share music with my mates” more often than all other segments (Index = 117 vs. all 16 to 24s)

They loved going to gigs more than most (47% definitely agreed compared with 29% of all 16 to 24s)

Only 9% saw having ‘a high powered job’ as ‘very important’ to their future. This contrasted negatively with the total of 16% for all 16 to 24s' View website here

Evaluation Question Number 3

What kind of media institution  might distribute your media product?

The two main publishers that were the most successful last year were IPC Media and Bauer Media, these are extremely well known publishers and publish many magazines that I have mentioned throughout my research such as 'NME', 'Q', 'KERRANG' etc. however, despite how successful these two publishers are there has been a slow decrease in magazine sales, all due to the internet. The public are now able to access these magazines online for the latest everything, and because websites are constantly being updated with the latest news as soon as things happen, it makes them more current than weekly or monthly magazines. Technology will continue to advance and these publishers in particular will most probably have to move more towards the technological side of the publishing industry as they need to do what's best for their company.


'IPC Media produces over 60 iconic media brands, with print alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men – almost 26 million UK adults – while our websites collectively reach over 20 million users every month.'  Website Found Here

'Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group, Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators.' Website Found Here

Nevertheless, it will be an extremely long time before print publishing becomes extinct due to generations who have grown up around reading physical real life magazines and even the public in general like the 'realness' a print based magazine brings, a sort of thrill opposed to staring at a screen but being able to flick and turn pages just like you should be able to.

Mentioned below in a short Youtube video and sound recording is the recent circulation figures;
Circulation figures from here



I personally think the best publishing company to distribute my magazine would be BAUER MEDIA - looking at a variety of magazines and being a consumer myself I feel that it would be more suitable for my Indie/Alternative magazine and would embrace it due to Kerrang, Mojo, Q being very 'rock genre based with not a very unisex vibe whereas my music magazine is unlike these genres, as there aren't many indie/alternative magazines so I feel that this magazine could definitely be successful due to it being very unique as there are hardly any other indie music magazines that have been published and it is an extremely unisex product as I have have purposely made sure there is male/female models.

Evaluation Question Number 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

By researching into my chosen genre; indie/alternative I determined a particular social group I was going to target; that amongst students on and upwards to about 26. As I feel that my media product will successfully represent this this age category and social group due to how I put together particular images and photographs for my magazine that evidently represent the reader.

Below I have a Youtube Video that I create on Windows Movie Maker in order to present my ideas and thoughts in an alternative media style. I have simply chosen a photo from my contents page that I have taken with my own camera and compared it with a professional photo I found from a professional music magazine. I have concentrated on different aspects between these photos alike and dislike by overall because I think these images bear some similarity.

I have specifically cropped certain areas of the photo so I can assess and analysis in great depth of the similarities and differences in the way I have constructed the image due to many aspects such as;

• Posture
• Gesture
• Angle
• Shot type
• Lighting
• Costume
• Expression
• Hair

*Refer back to my research in all aspects of my music magazine(Front Cover, Contents, and Double Page Spread) Especially under DETAILED RESEARCH AND EXTRA PHOTO RESEARCH. I have specifically outlined the above areas of what I was looking for in terms of a professional photograph.

Both of these photos appear fairly similar however, there are aspects I have taken as inspiration and interpreted it into my own unique design.

Lighting/Effects

The overall distinct similarity is the fact that these are BOTH BLACK AND WHITE an important aspect of my magazine I have mentioned throughout. However, I have used this design feature and enhanced it as the professional photograph has a very murky effect whereas, I really wanted my image to stand out and appear very striking therefore, experimented with the brightness and contrast in order to get this effect. The lighting however, adds to this effect, the photo on the left appears very dull and not creating definition in the models face but creating the wanted rocky dark photo , nevertheless I wanted to enhance certain aspects of my models face therefore, used the LIGHT TO MY ADVANTAGE.

Angle/Shot Type

The shot used on both these images show the utmost similarity as they are identical; it is a very simplistic centralised mid shot however, it is very effective as there are no distractions in the background allowing the reader to be fully concentrated onto the model on the page.

Hair/Make Up

Something I saw as being extremely important; In my contents page extra photo research I analyse the make up I intended to use in greater detail, nevertheless, my photo shows similarity in terms of hair and makeup however, the overall make up on my model isn't as harsh, as I wanted my social group to be able to reflect and relate to the make up they would personally wear and I believe this innocent yet striking look of dark lipstick lips really represents my targeted social group. The hair is extremely similar just a little neater, but still has that edge that the indie style has.

Costume/Props

The costume used in particular on the professional photograph is more rockier than an Indie person would wear therefore, I had to acknowledge this factor and take into consideration that this social group will be the first to notice if the costume/clothing looked out of place or did not fit its correct genre. Consequently I put my model in a shirt fairly buttoned up opposed to being left undone and changed the jacket from leather to a cotton blazer to create that softer yet Indie look.

Nevertheless, I still wanted to incorporate the jacket as much as possible as a prop as in some way the jacket is being used in a very characteristic manner, it created depth in the photo and as if it's not just being a model photographed but in fact an action that has been captured and been turned into a still image. I want my social group to be able to relate as much as possible to my images as if they could imagine it being themselves, therefore, I want to represent them an extreme amount, as it'll draw even more interest

Posture/Gesture/Expression

The general stance and positioning of both these images can be deemed to be fairly similar however, there are minor aspects that do portray their differences. The professional photo is fairly sensual, and mysterious, looking down off to the side with her lips slightly parted and her arms up to the jacket with a slight arched back. However, I didn't want to illustrate that sort of message, so simply made my model to keep her lips closed, her head held high with a straight back. These simple changes can send out a completely different sign, and the sign I want to show is one that represents the reader and the social group it is being target at. 

Overall I feel as if my media product represents in particular my chosen social group due to these aspects being taken into account a great detail and in great depth in order to realistically portray and represent a successful social group. 

Evaluation Question Number 1

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

My music magazine has been particularly created through the guidance of the forms and conventions of real media products, a foundation to gain a realistic, professional magazine. I purposely carried out a large amount of research, to gather an accurate idea of what I was aiming for when creating my magazine in terms of the target audience, design, layout, colour schemes, fonts, and so forth.

Firstly the most important aspect of the magazine is the title. One of the vital componenets that draw the attention of the reader.

As you can visibly see I tried to relate my title to some professional magazines and use the forms and conventions of real media; this particular one being 'SPIN' magazine. Most titles; as seen in my previous research are extremely bold, simplistic fonts in order to stand out to the reader therefore, I applied this technique to my magazine title to gain the same effect on the reader in the hopes in it being successful on the market. I also used the placing of the title similarly to many magazines, by either laying the title behind the models head or in front. In this case I placed it overlapping, laying over the models head. However, I had to adjust  the style and colour of the font in order to make it to continue to be bold. However, my title does challenge the generic forms and conventions of real media products due to many titles being all capital letters. Instead I used lower case all because I wanted to emphasis the 'V' giving it that unique never seen before image I wanted; unlike any other image for it to be truly 'indieVidual'

Next, an aspect of a magazine that maks it presentable and appealing is the clothing and props used on the models that feature on the magazine. As clothing is an important part of portraying a certain genre/social target group, therefore, needs to be considered a great deal. using

I decided to use a numerous amount of props and very particular items of clothing. The main two props I used was that of a guitar for my double page spread aswell as music headphones to give it that musical element to the image. I used this particular forms and conventions from many front pages for example this NME magazine with an Indie band 'The Vaccines' however, I developed this idea and incorporated the use of the guitar into my double page spread. I also used this real media product for inspiration in terms of clothing as this group are wearing shirts, braces and ties/bow ties and so forth, I knew this was appropriate for my magazine as this is an indie band therefore, would be suitable for my magazine due to it being an indie magazine. I used similar clothing for my female model on my contents page, with a blazer and shirt, keeping the Indie style throughout.  

Another element that adds to the overall successful presentation of a real media product is that of the models, they in particular need to specifically reflect that of the genre the magazine is targeting, therefore, needs to be a careful selection in terms of their image. I chose to have two models one being male and the other female so that my magazine is unisex.

As you can see I gathered realistic and real media products and took the forms and conventions used on them and applied them to my magazine; as presented to the left is my photographed image of my male model which I then later photographed my female model to be featured on the contents page to show that unisex view of the magazine. I made entirely sure that they both had an 'Indie' image about them which is something I was conscious to address due to the genre of this magazine being so specific therefore, having to reflect it through every aspect of my magazine especially the models I used.

However, when it came to using a female indie model for my contents page I did again challenge the generic forms and conventions of real media products as it proved to be extremely difficult trying to find an image on a contents page that was centralised by a female model, most of them were male based, which could appear as sexist. This real media product to the right was the only one I could find that featured a woman, despite her face being quite covered you can still recognise it is the 'Indie Sensation' Lana Del Rey, nevertheless, I entirely focused it on my female model therefore, having that equal balance of being totally focused on the male model on the front cover and double page spread and having the female model featured in a few photographs on my contents page.

The mise-en-scene throughout all my images are fairly similar as I wanted to show continuity. However, I want to concentrate on one particular aspect of my magazine as I yet again challenged forms and conventions of using a BLACK AND WHITE SPECIAL EDITION I wanted to create a very unique piece, and something that wasn’t traditional and 'expected' of a typical music magazine, however, this proved to be very difficult as I had to find some sort of secondary resources and materials that would support my idea, and that it can in fact be achieved in the magazine institution. Nevertheless, I discovered various pieces of black and white style research, and although it is a very risky look to take, hopefully because of its uniqueness it would evidently work to its advantage in the music magazine industry.

My written content for my double page spread was kept to the basic forms and conventions of double page spreads, I used the research I found especially the one featured to the right which was an article on Lady GaGa; I interpreted those ideas into my own however, still kept it very similar of a real media product, as I particularly felt that a double page spread needs to be easily read with minimum distraction, therefore, I kept the exploration of ideas and new designs to a minimum nevertheless, made it my own and presentable as a real media product. However, in terms of my front cover and front page I also made a conscious effort to not overcomplicate the overall design, but still made it so it was informative and interesting to read. I used the generic forms and conventions in my double page spread in terms of;

• 
  Pull Quotes
• Quotes
• Differentiation between interview questions and answers
• An enlarged letter at the beginning of the paragraph
• A detailed article consisting of the artist's latest album, single and release date
• Variation of fonts and sizes

Some of these were also applied to the front cover especially the feature of quotes, aswell as the variation in fonts and font sizes to extend the creativity of the entire magazine making it interesting so the readers want to read it.

As mentioned throughout, I have clearly identified the genre I will be basing my magazine on; this being the INDIE/ALTERNATIVE. Forms and Conventions which would reveal that a music magazine would suggest this typical genre is simply by listing and mentioning numerous of artists related to that genre and that have been categorised into that name. Through my general knowledge of Indie artists and research I could name many artists that are of this genre and was sure that there were none from others. The image on the bottom right is one taken from my front cover I made sure that I inserted recent indie artists as subheadings with a minute information about them mentioned beneath, like featured in the NME image to the top right; aswell as this on my contents page to the left I inserted a whole list on the 'Band Index' of current Indie artists and what pages to refer to if they want to read about them. I used both of these ideas from the real media products however, interpreted the design of them into my own creation, nevertheless, they use real forms and conventions of areal music magazine which helps the overall appearance to look of a professional style.

The layout of all my products follow forms  and conventions of real media products, simply because I wanted my magazine to look as professional as possible therefore, by using real music magazines this would hopefully enable me to achieve this. My front cover layout is like the black and white NME image mentioned just above and same to my double page spread which is very similar to the Lady GaGa spread mentioned in my research. However, the major layout of all these pages would be that of the contents page. This particular page needs to be very uniformed and easy to follow and read due to it being a page the reader turns to when wanting to find a specific page to look up. A form and convention that many magazines use is the rule of thirds; when scaled back the page evidently has three separate columns that different information is inserted into. I applied this to my contents page as I wanted it to appear well organised and easily to view. I mainly based my contents page on this real media product in order to create the complete yet not crowded product.