Note to the Moderator

Dear Sir/Madam,

My brief for my AS media coursework was to research, plan, construct and evaluate three pages of a music magazine. On this blog you will find the final product of my magazine 'Alt-Sound' and all the other tasks undertaken in completing this work.

Thank You,
Jessie Forbes

Evaluation Final Drafts

Q1. Evaluation

Q1. Evaluation Prezi

Q2. Evaluation

Q2. Evaluation Emaze

Q3. Evaluation

Q4-5. Evaluation

Q4-5. Evaluation Powtoon

(Please turn on your sound)

Q6. Evaluation

Evaluation Q6

Q7. Evaluation

Q7. Evaluation Visme

Second Draft Q7. Evaluation

Q7. Evaluation

I answered question 7 on a visme presentation. Click the following link to view.

Q7. Evaluation Visme

Second Draft Q6. Evaluation

Q6. Evaluation

For this question I used Google Slides. Click the following link to be taken to the presentation of this evaluation question.

Evaluation

Second Draft Q4-5 Evaluation

Q4-5 Evaluation

I have linked questions 4 and 5 on the 'PowToon' presentation as  they are both about audience and can be easily linked. The following link will take you to the evaluation.

Q4-5 Evaluation Powtoon

(Please turn on your sound)

Second Draft Q3. Evaluation

Q3. Evaluation

Q3. Evaluation

Second Draft Q2. Evaluation

Q2. Evaluation

I have answered question 2 using the presentation software named 'emaze', the following link will take you to the presentation.

Q2. Evauation emaze

Second Draft Q1. Evaluation

Q1. Evaluation

This is the second draft of the first evaluation question.
Q1. Evaluation

Evaluation- First Draft

Rough Points of Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?- Prezi
Uses:

• Pugs
• Slogan/Tagline
• Large Masthead
• Barcode/important info. Etc.
• Range of shot types
• House Style and Synergy
• Self-Promotion

Development:

• Same artist throughout all 3 pages
• Recognisable artist logo on all 3 pages
• Specific colour scheme for artist- slightly different to magazine colour scheme o create synergy links

Challenging:

• Not exact same colour scheme throughout the pages- changes slightly on double page spread due to artist’s colour scheme
• Faded colour scheme- not bright and in-your-face like other magazines- understated rather than jumping out at you
• Needed to keep it original and different to reflect my audience and the overall genre

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?- Emaze presentation software

• Represents a younger social class- teens
• Trendy clothing- up to date topics
• Both male and female- mostly female
• Includes a female artist, male band and a mixed gender band
• All young
• Easy to follow, still sophisticated language use
• Both young and older people would be able to understand it

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?- Serif (mind map?)

• Most likely be sold in music stores such as HMV
• Lots of competition e.g. NME
• Very specific music genre- needs to be sold in a place where music fans can find it- not just a news agents or a supermarket
• HMV or an internet shop- perhaps even distributed digitally- keep up to date with current developments- audience specific

4. Who would be the audience of your media product?- Filming

• Aged 11-20
• Indie/alternative

5. How did you attract/address your audience?- incorporate in  Q4 filming

• Use of alternative artists- not ‘mainstream’
• Different colour scheme- use of a soft red and a pale yellow breaks traditional codes and conventions- rather than bright an in-your-face colours
• Banjo- unusual instrument, not traditional or popular

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

• Learnt how to use Serif and photo editing software
• Prezi, movie maker etc.
• Extremely helpful throughout the whole project

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

• Huge improvements
• Looks more like a magazine than a poster
• Better use of technology and overall layout has improved
• Simply better than before

Audience Feedback

Audience Feedback

I have made a YouTube video compiling my audience feedback concerning my final drafts of my music magazine 'Alt-Sound'.
Audience Feedback Video

Final Drafts- Double Page Spread

Final Double Page Spread Draft

Final Drafts- Contents Page

Final Contents Draft

Final Drafts- Front Cover

Final Front Cover Draft

Double Page Spread

Third Draft

Third Draft of Double Page Spread

This is the third draft of my double page spread and I have made many improvements according to my audience feedback. I have completed the article and intergrated more pugs such as the flowers and the large 'FK' down the centre of the right hand page. To finish this page I still need to take pictures of some audience members for the 'Audience Opinion' section but apart from this, this page is complete.

Double Page Spread

Second Draft

Second Draft of Double PageSpread

In this draft I have started to write the actual article about 'Freya Kitty'. However I have realised that if I put text everywhere that I have planned, there will be too much and it may overpower the page. To improve this I may have a page of images or seperate the text more, so that rather than it being all in one block, there will be different, easy to follow sections of text. This will be the improvements I make in my next draft. I also need to add pictures of audience members to incorporate into the 'Audience Opinions' section and complete the quotes in this section. Finally, the images need to be edited in more similar ways as, currently, they look like the 3 of them are taken in completely different lightings.

Double Page Spread First Draft

First Draft

Double Page Spread

I have completely stuck to my layout design for this first draft as I think that it is effected. this is due to the fact that I use a lot of images and the colour scheme makes it visually stimulating to the reader by using calm and subtle colours. To improve I will actually write the article and take more pictures to place in the audience opinions column.

Contents Fourth Draft

Contents Page

Contents

In order to fill up the blank space in the top right hand corner I have shortened my Editors note and replaced the images there with this. I have also added a large picture to the bottom corner to ensure this is not empty.

Contents Third Draft

Contents

Third Draft

I have made a large amount of improvements to my contents page. I have incorporated the editor's note, added more pictures and completed the page listings. There are still a few more improvements to make such as filling up the blank space in the top right hand corner but for now, I am happy with this as my draft.

Contents Page Third Draft

Contents

Third Draft

In this draft I have improved the 'Subscription' box so that it stands out more to the audience and makes more sense where it says how to subscribe. Today (03.03.2015) I aslo took some more pictures for my magazine which I will edit and incorporate into my magazine's contents page and double page spread.

Currently I am struggling to come up with headlines to put on my contents page but it will be finished by the end of this week.

Contents Page Second Draft

Contents Page

Second Draft

This is the second draft of my vontents page. I have added a few more headings and fixed some spelling errors in this draft. To improve I still need to add more pictures and more information overall. This will be complete by Wednesday the 4th March.

Contents Page First Draft

Rough Layout

First Draft

Here we can see the first rough draft of my music magazine's contents page. This gives me an idea of the layout and house style I will be using but also the font types that I will mix on this page that coordinate with each other. The page is unfinished and there are still many improvements that can be made such as the use of more pictures, an editors note, more page listings and perhaps a brighter pug for the advertisement of magazine subscriptions that is clearer to the reader. I am yet to make these improvements but I am pleased with the contents so far.

Front Cover

Front Cover- Third Draft (with headlines)

Third Draft

I still have a few improvements to add to this draft such as adding more pictures or changing the headlines, but the layout and style of this draft is my favourite so far. The red on this stands out from other magazines as it is more of a subtle red, but it also matches the main subjects lipstick and therefore keeps the house style throughout. This will most likely be the style and layout of my final draft.

First Drafts of Front Cover

First Drafts

First Draft

Here is the first draft of the front cover of my music magazine. This was more of a test to see if my image would work, however I have learnt from this that this image will not allow me to add many headlines or pugs as these would obstruct the image. Due to this I am going to try a different image that has a larger space around the edge for pugs and text and see if that will work any better.

Second Draft

I believe this image will work muh better as there is much more space around the outside of the subject for other image, pugs and text. This is most likely to be the image I use for my final magazine.

Construction Schedule

Construction Schedule

This Prezi shows the schedule in which my magazine construction will take place, it includes dates and deadlines.

Construction Schedule Prezi

Test Shots

Test Shots

This prezi shows all of my test shots for my magazine.
Test Shots Prezi

Letter of Acceptance

Letter of Acceptance

Jarrod McTeggart's Letter

Jack Grimes' Letter

Freya Forbes' Letter

Layout Designs

Layout Designs- Front Cover, Contents page and Double Page Spread

Front Cover Layout

This is a simple layout that will attract the audinec through a larger background image of an artist. The front page represents my house style and so I will have to ensure that my whole house style comes across on this page.

Contents Layout

This would be a clear, chronological contents layout so that the reader will understand what pages different articles are on. The top right corner however will need a bit of work as there is a lot of blank space to fill, but this problem will be resolved when it comes to designing my magazine fully.

The use of circles for image will be used throughout my magazine as part of my slightly retro themed house style.

Double Page Layout

I have taken inspiration for this from both NME and Q as they both possess an 'Audience Opinion' pug on their double page spread. This would entice the reader and give other peoples opinions so they can create their own. The article will be clear and concise so that it is easy to read and the order cannot be confused.

Mise-en-scene choices and ideas

Mise-en-scene choices and ideas

On this page you can see my ideas for colour scheme and the image used. I have also incorporated font ideas in this page.

Page of ideas

Genre and Artist

Genre and Artist

On this Prezi are my ideas for genre and artist relating back to my target audience and research.
Genre and Artist Prezi

How my research will inform my planning

How Research will inform Planning

Analysis

I have analysed 2 media artifacts as part of my research. Due to this I now know the average layout of the front cover, contents page and double page spread of a music magazine and so I can relate this back to my own work and the planning stages. The analysis has also helped me to see what sells music magazines and the running theme of a particular colour scheme; black, white and red; in most issues.
I have seen from my analysis that the most popular indie magazines have either a popular male band or an indie female singer on the front cover. I will most likely use one of these on my front cover as most indie bands are in actual fact male and therefore my magazine will fit in with others of a similar genre.

Survey

I created a survey to establish what my target audience find most effective in music magazines. This was extremely helpful and will inform my planning as it shows me exactly what sorts of features I should include if my target audience is to actually like my product. For example I gave a range of colour options that included; red, white and black; pale yellow, white and black; green; and finally a range of light pinks and browns. The most popular option was red, shite and black and therefore I will most likely use this scheme on my front cover and throughout my music magazine.
Another example of an important question from my survey is that I gave a number of possible names for my magazine and asked the audience to pick their favourite. The possible names I gave were 'Alt-Sound', 'Re-Vinyl', 'Casette' and 'Note'. The most popular 2 options were 'Alt-Sound' and 'Re-Vinyl' whereas the name 'Note' got no votes and 'Casette' only got a few. Due to this audience feedback I will use either 'Alt-Sound' or 'Re-Vinyl' as my magazine name as they both got the same amount of votes, however I prefer 'Alt-Sound' and so this will be my most likely name.

Product Placement

Researching product placement has helped me to see where most music magazines are sold and advertised. Due to this I can plan how my magazine will stand out from the rest that are currently on the market.
The research of product placement has also informed me on how current music magazines advertise themselves and where most, specifically indie, magazines are sold. My magazine will be sold in a music shop and so there will be a lot of competition from other music magazines of the same genre such as NME and Q that are very popular. To ensure my magazine stands out I will have to appeal hugely to my target audience through the artist I use, my colour scheme, the overall name of the magazine and in many other ways.

Product Placement

Product Placement

Product Placement is an advertising technique used by companies to subtly promote their products through a non-traditional advertising technique, usually through appearance in film, television or other media. Product Placements are often initiated through an agreement between a product manufacturer and the media company in which the media company receives economic benefit. A company will often pay a fee to have their product used displayed, or significantly featured in a movie or show.
Music magazines are often advertised on billboards and so they can reach a range of audiences who may not usually pick them up. TV advertisements are also very effective, especially when they are on music channels and are therefore being shown to their target audience, encouraging the audience to buy these magazines.
Music magazines are sold in a variety of places such as supermarkets, news agents, the internet, specialist shops and small magazines in modern day society can be sent via e-mail. This could be due to the fact that they can reach a range of audiences if they are sold in multiple places full of different types of people. Music magazines of specific genres targeted at specific audiences, such as Kerrang targeted at rock fans, are more likely to be sold in specialist music stores such as HMV as this is where the target audience would most likely go looking for a magazine. You can also subscribe to music magazines which means that they will be posted to your address. This could appeal to 'hardcore' music fans who will always want to receive every issue of their favourite magazine. Due to this, music fans do not have to leave their house or go to a store to find out about the latest music but it also means that magazines have to be largely advertised in order to get the message out about them.
The Product Placement of magazines in TV programmes is very limited, especially music magazines. Popular magazines in America are often used in American TV shows such as 'Time' magazine in one episode of 'How I Met Your Mother', but as music magazines are not very popular, they are not often used.

Survey Results

Survey Results

As part of my research I carried out a survey asking my target audience some questions about what music magazines they currently read and many other things. I collected the results and placed them on this Prezi. Click the link to take a look.
Survey Results Prezi

Analysis of Q Magazine

Analysis of March 2015 Q Magazine

Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Analysis of NME Magazine

 Analysis of 17th January 2015 NME Magazine

Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Prelim task- Evaluation

Evaluation

Did you plan your magazine? If not, what have you learnt about the importance of research and planning?

I did not plan my magazine, however i did look at a few examples of other people's work to help with the layout of my pages. I learnt that research and planning is extremely important as it helps to know exactly what you are going to do and put reason behind your decisions, whereas i feel that my layout is only the way it is due to it being aesthetically pleasing.

What technology did you use to complete the task and how did you use it?

I used Serif publication and some photo editing software. I used Serif to initially design the layout and design of my cover and contents page. The photo editing software cut out my pictures and got rid of parts of images that I didn't need such as backgrounds.

Did you encounter any difficulties? If so, what were they and how did you overcome them?

I found it very difficult to choose the font and colour scheme as I was unsure about the overall appearance I wanted my magazine to take. I ended up using red, navy, black and white a these match the colours on the Edgbarrow logo and therefore link the overall appearance to the name and logo of my magazine.

How successful was your magazine? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently?

I think that my magazine was successful, however there are many improvements that could be made. for example, the image I used could have had better lighting, making the overall picture seem a lot more professional. I think that my colour scheme worked well as it is quite sophisticated and links to the Edgbarrow theme.

What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?

I have learnt that I should not always use the first idea that pops into my head but the task has also taught me how to use lots of new types of technology such as serif and photo editing software. These new skills will help me a lot with constructing my overall piece for my coursework.

Prelim task

Front Cover

Contents Page