Comparing Music Magazines

Magazine	Price and no. of pages in magazine	Sections of magazine and no. of pages per section	Sample of advertising	Typical articles (give example headings etc)
Top of the Pops	£2.30 Issue 192 42 pages	Celebrity gossip 12 pgs Party special 1 pg Shameful celeb slip ups 2 pgs How to get a boy like me? 1 pg Celeb interview 3 pgs New Moon 11 pgs Posters 5 pgs Tour secrets 2 pgs Real life 4 pgs Horoscopes 1 pg Quizzes 1 pg	Sky HD Easy piano – Nintendo DS Workshop St Trinnian’s 2 Build-a-bear	Feel the fear and do it anyway JLS do battle Oops! How to get a boy  Like me? The howling heart throb
XXL	£3.95 Issue Oct 10 146 pages	Advertising 27 pgs Music 49 pgs Posters 10 pgs Fashion 4 pgs Real life 8 pgs Information 21 pgs	Nissan Nike Mazda Rockawear	First of the month Pop shots Cooss light
The Source	£3.95 Issue Aug/Sep 10 96 pages	Reviews 5 pgs Coast to coast 3 pgs Cloths 13 pgs Stories 33 pages Advertising 8 pgs Music 13 pgs	Fila Conjure Max fresh Takers Jones	Reviews Gone hunting
Q	£3.99 Issue March 10 146 pages	Sugababes 4 pgs Gorillaz 9 pgs Mika 5 pgs John Cousablance 6 pgs Wayne Rooney Vs Kelly Jones 6 pgs Access all areas 12 pgs Soap box 4 pgs New to Q 5 pgs Cash for questions 3 pgs My record collection 2 pgs Q Hero 4 pgs A round with … 7 pgs Q50 2 pgs Q quiz 1 pg Last requests 1 pg Q review 24 pages	Falcon Audi HMV Ebay Samsung	Contents Access all areas Soap box Gorillaz

Action Plan

week 1 - 3rd Jan 2011
 Action plan
Music magazine comparrison
Textual analysis

Week 2 -10th Jan2011 
Poll to decide on magazine name
Audience questionnaire and analysis
finish textual analysis

Week 3 - 17th Jan 2011
Internet research into institution and readership figures

Week 4 - 24th Jan 2011
Photoshoot
Constution
Drafting of pages

Week 5 - 31st Jan 2011
Audience feedback
Construction - layout analysis

Week 6 - 7th Feb 2011
Construction
Font analysis

Week 7 - 14th Feb 2011
Colour analysis
Treatment sheet

Week 8 - 21st Feb 2011
Evaluation
(finishing off)

Week 9 - 7th March 2011
Evaluation

Deadline - Friday 11th March 2011

Final Post

I have now finished my Student magazine coursework, i am now goint to start my music magazine coursework.

Evaluation

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

The front cover has to include a mast head to show the title of the magazine. It also needs to include the price of the magazine, what is included in the magazine e.g. celebrity gossip, a sub heading. A typical contents page has the page numbers on the left hand side with what is included in each page and pictures on the right hand side. I included this in my content page by designing it in publisher and adding pictures that I took on the right hand side. Most magazines use a picture as their background for their front cover but I didn’t use my main picture as my background, I added a coloured background. I added a picture of my competition prize in my front cover to make it more noticeable. I used a colour scheme for my magazine and made sure the colours I used go together but I didn’t use too many different colours. I think I stayed with the convention and didn't make my magazine look very different to other magazines. My front cover is very simple like other magazines so that it is easy to understand and straight to the point, I didn't put too much information on my front cover because it would make it look less attractive and won't interest the target audience.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is mainly for students, I have represented them as people who are studying and learning. In a couple of peoples the person in the pictures is smiling showing they are happy and in the other pictures they are doing different things, like reading and writing. This shows that they have to study. I think that I didn't stereotype teenagers in my magazine by taking pictures of them studying to show that they enjoy studying and not always being stereotypical. On my front cover picture I used a group picture to that they are friendly.

What kind of media institution might disturb your media product and why?

My magazine is different to others because as well as career advice it also includes things like celebrity gossip and movie reviews. It also includes interviews with the pupils at the college and students that have left the college. So it includes local information and other information which teenagers are interested in. I think that the college would print my magazine and be paid by the student council.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My magazine would be aimed at people aged 16-19 and mainly for females. It’s for students at college who might be looking for information about what to do after college or want to know more about the college.

How did you address/attract your audience?

I used bright bold colours to attract the audience to my magazine because I think my magazine is a good price I put it at the top of my front cover in bold righting so it is easy to see. I put the price of the magazine in bold righting to show that it is a good deal. I also did a questionnaire to get audience feedback and included what they wanted most in the magazine, I uploaded pictures of different designs that I was going to choose from to see which one my target audience wanted most.

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

I have used publisher to design my front cover and content page, I have also used a digital camera to take my photos for my magazine and the front cover. I have learnt that using a digital camera has more effect than using the camera on my mobile. I have also used a blog which i haven't used before to get audience feedback.

Final Contents Page

Final Front Cover

Draft of contents page