Finished

I have now completed all my coursework for my music magazine. Now all my media coursework is completed.

Evaluation

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

What are the conventions (key ingredients) of music magazines? 

The key ingredients in a music magazine are information about your favourite music artists, dates for tours gigs that are coming up. Music magazines should also include latest songs out at that time and reviews on films, singles, albums and video games. A music magazine should only focus on one or two genres of music e.g. rock and metal. Exclusive interviews with your favourite artists or exclusive information is a key ingredient because it shows if you buy this magazine the information you read will be up to date.

What does the front cover have to include? 

The front cover has to include a bar code with the price and issue of the magazine. It also needs to include a master head for the title of the magazine. It has to show what is included in the magazine e.g. exclusive interview with Justin Bieber. A picture or pictures should also be included for the front cover to show what is in the issue of that magazine. There might be a link to a website to contact the people who work for the magazine and another way to read information about the magazine.

What is a typical contents page and DPS like? 

A typical contents page would have a title saying content with the date and issue number and maybe the title of the magazine. A content page would also have columns which contain the contents with subheadings like ‘features’ and ‘most popular’. There are also pictures which include the page number to show what’s on that page. There is also an editor’s message on a typical content page, maybe with a picture of themselves with an artist they have interviewed or something else work related.

On a typical DPS the two pages are link together maybe with an interview or an article. On one of the pages there is normally a full size picture covering the page with a quote or a heading to full in the reader before they have started reading the actual interview. There is also normally page numbers on a DPS with maybe the title of the magazine at the sides. The font used for the DPS interview or article is mainly really small font about font size 11; this means a lot of information can be fitted in a smaller amount of space. Interviews and articles should be written in columns to make the pages look more organised and professional.

How have you included these conventions in your own mag?

For my front cover I have included a bar code, the price of the magazine, issue number, cover lines which say what is included in the magazine. I have included the master head which is very bright and bold with a top heading. I made sure I used my picture as my background instead of using more than one and making the page look too busy.  

I have added an editor’s message onto my contents page with a picture of myself as the editor looking welcoming. I have also used a column for my contents with subheadings like features and music. I have also added pictures with page numbers in my contents page to show what is included in those pages. I have also included the date and issue number with the title of the magazine. I made sure I included a link to the website with a way of contacting the magazine company.

For my DPS I did an interview. I have used a picture to full in one side of the page with a quote from the interview. I cut out the background of the picture to make it look more professional. I have also included page numbers at the side corners with the title of the magazine in each corner. For my subheading I used another quote with a top heading to make the page look professional.

Have you done anything differently?

For my front cover I have included a star shape for the competition price section to make it stand out.

For my content page I have used a more colourful title because I didn’t have a coloured background. I did this on gimp which I don’t use a lot. I have only used one column for my contents.

For my DPS I have cut out the background from my picture. I have added a top heading to say what is included in the DPS. I have added a different background for the questions.

How have you pushed the boundaries of this form?

For my contents page I have used a bigger range of photos. I used gimp to edit the contents title. I have added more information and writing by adding a paragraph for the editor’s message and more contents.

For my DPS I have cut out the background of the picture in gimp so it goes against the blue background. I have also stuck to a colour range and tired not to use too many colours.

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Which social groups have you represented e.g. teenagers? 

My magazine is represented for teenagers around 13 – 16. This magazine is also for females. The music genre that I have chosen for my magazine is pop. This magazine is very girly, young and for pop fans.

 How have you represented them?

My magazine is for teenage girls around 13 - 16 I have represented them as girly, fun and into pop music. I did this by using bright, girly colours in my pages. I haven’t represented them as typical teenagers. I have represented this magazine for any social type of teenage girl, but it’s mainly for teenage girls who like celeb gossip. The image that I used for my front cover is of a teenage girl, I have edited it so it makes her look more tanned. I have also used a picture for my DPS of another teenage girl with a guitar to show it is music related but still girly. I have used a range of different pictures for my contents page to show a variety. I have also included a picture of myself which I’ve used a welcoming picture of me smiling. The language that I have used is very informal and welcoming for the editors message, I have also made the interview very chatty and friendly. I have defiantly included more writing than pictures but the pictures that have been used are mainly big so they stand out on their own. 

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

• Who would be the audience for your media product?

Candy Floss is aimed for young teenage girls around the age of 13 – 16 which means they will still be at school.  My magazine is going to be affordable so their parents are going to be mainly working class. My magazine is going to be aimed at any type of social classed group but mainly for girly teenagers who want to know the latest celeb information and gossip. Candy Floss is for girls who like to know the latest information about fashion, celebs, music artists, horoscopes, advice about boys and problems that may occur at school.

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

Which technologies have you used (publisher, coral, paint, gimp, digital camera, MP3 recorder, blog, polls?)  and what have you learnt?

I have used paint, digital camera, gimp, polls, dafont.com, blog and publisher. I have learnt how to use gimp and I am now more comfortable using these programmes. I have learnt how to use a website called dafont.com to get different fonts instead of fonts from publisher. I have also learnt how to make pages look more realistic by editing pictures and using better fonts with a different range of fonts. I have also learnt that the more you work on editing and tweaking your front cover or other pages the more realistic and professional they look.  

 

Overall Audience feedback

This is what they think about my pages overall after the final draft.

Audience Summary

From the audience feedback I have learnt that they liked the colours on my front cover and think they go well together, they also like the picture that is used as the background of the cover. I wasn't sure if the logo for the title was too bright but they didn't mention it and liked it. They said you can tell who the magazine is aimed at but the front cover and colours used. I have taken their advice by adding more writing and changing the font styles.

From the audience feedback I have learnt that they liked how I used a lot of pictures on my contents page to show what is included in my music magazine. They also liked that I included an editor’s message in my magazine with a chatty, informal language. They weren’t sure about the plain background, but liked the colours used and fonts. I added more pictures because it looked too bland.

From the audience feedback I have learnt that they like my blue background which I used for my DPS. They also like how I cut the background out the picture I used for the left hand side of my DPS. Plus you can tell it’s a music magazine because there is a guitar used as a prop in my photograph. They weren’t sure if the title stands out from the rest of the page, but I like the colour that I used so I didn’t change it.

Audience feedback

I have finished my final drafts for all my pages; I have taken in the audience feedback and made improvements to all my pages. Please answer these questions and tell me what you think...

What do you like about my pages?

What do you dislike about my pages?

Do you think the colours go well together?

Do you think there is still room for improvement?

What do you think about the improvements I have made?

What are your initial thoughts about my front cover?

What makes my pages look pofessional?

Weekly review

This week I have took more photos for my content page to make it look more filler. I have also made some slight changes to my pages and made a start on my evaluation.

Content page - Final draft

This is my final content page draft i have added two more pictures to fill in the space more, I have also added a picture of me for the editor's message. I have also decided to go for a white background because there are a lot of different colours used. If you think there are any changes needed please comment.

More photos

 

These are some more photos i have took for my content page.

Contents page draft

This is my contents page draft i think i need to i'll up the space more by adding more pictures but i'm not sure what else to add. I have added a link and the date and issue. I'm not sure if I like the colour of the background or just leave it plain white. I have added the title of the magazine in the contents page as well. I think i need to add slightly more contents.

Final Front Cover design

This is my final front cover design, I have changed the colour of the picture slightly to make Eve look less pale and brings out the colours of the font better. I have also used some space on the left hand side by adding a quote from the person in the front cover. I have also added a pink star shape to draw attention to the compitition. i've tried not to use too many different colours and stayed in a range of 4-5 colours. Leave a comment if you think that there are anymore inprovments you think need making.

DPS - Final Draft

I have changed the colour of the font for my sub-heading because i think it goes better with the colours that are used. I have also added more to the start of the article.

Weekly review

This week I have added my pictures to my final drafts and made sure the columns are the same size. I also posted the designs on my blog to get some audience feedback. I have also made a few changes to by final drafts to make them look more professional.

Final draft - DPS

For my DPS I have used one main picture for my first page with quotes that have been said in the interview, I have also used a top heading to say what is included in the interview, with another quote for a sub-heading in larger font. On the 2nd page I have put the interview in columns with a different background from the whole page so it is clearer to see with a different font colour for the questions. I have also included the page numbers, the Candy Floss title at the bottom of the pages. I tried not you use too many colours for my DPS but used colours that suit the pages.

Front cover

This is my final design for my front cover, I still need to make slight changes to my front cover but overall this is what my front cover will look like. Give me some feedback on how you think I can improve my front cover.

DPS - Design

This is my design for my DPS but i need to get a picture to fill in the space on the left hand side. I think that the colours that are used go really well together and I like the background colour. I'm not sure if the font for the title is bold and noticeable.

Pictures

These are some of the pictures I have used for my magazine. I have taken a range of pictures for my front cover picture and more. I need to take more pictures for my content page to show a range of people. I have used a guitar prop for one of my photo shoots to show that it is a music magazine and that the person in the picture is a music artist.

Weekly review

This week I have been designing more layout drafts for my front cover, contents page and double page spread. I have put all these pages in different layouts to see which one people like best. I also planned my photoshoot on Monday for Friday. I have done part of my photoshoot today for the front cover. I need to take more pictures for my double page spread.

DPS drafts

These are my drafts for my double page spread, I like the first one better because the columns look professional and are equal sized. The pictures look more organised in the first draft. These are similar but I think the first one looks more professional and attractive.

Content page drafts

These are my designs for my content page I like the first one better because there are two columns which fills the space more and looks more organised. I also like the colours more.

Photoshoot plan

My photoshoot plan is to take some pictures outside, taking pictures of one person for the front cover. For the dps I will take pictures of someone with props these pictures will mostly be inside. I will use a digital camera for these photos.

Font Analysis

These are the fonts and colours which i think go well together. Pick your favourite one.

Front cover designs

These are my drafts for my front cover, I have tried to fill the space in different ways and I like the 2nd one better because I think it looks more interesting than the first one. I think there should only be one main picture for the front cover. 

Font and colour analysis

This type of font is very bold this will be good to draw attention to the reader. This will be a good font to use for the front cover.

 With this type of font you can add different colours in the writing, to make the title look young. This font is very groovy and will be appealing for my target audience.

    This type of font is very fun and very bold around the edges to make the title stand out from the rest of the cover. This type of font is very young, joining the letters together.  

This font has a nice effect that makes the letters look 3D. This would make the title look more appealing rather than a normal kind of font.

This font style is very girly, using hearts for the dots on the I's. You can tell this type of text is for young teenage girls by having flicks on the G's.

This colour would would go well as a background colour for the front cover, it will go well with a bright title.

This colour would stand out well with a picture in the background, it's very bright to draw attention to the reader. This colour would also look good with the last font choice.

This colour choice is very bright and would go well with a darker background. This colour would go well with the fourth font choice, its very bright and will attract my target audience.

This colour would look very attractive with a light background, and it will go well with the second font style choice. Its a good peach colour which will go with my name of my magazine which is Candy Floss.

The Treatment

The Magazine:  Candy Floss

Target Readership:  Candy Floss is aimed for young teenage girls around the age of 13 – 16 which means they are still at school. This is a fun magazine mainly aimed for teenage girls and gives them something fun to read after school. People who read this magazine will want to know the latest gossip from music artists and other celebs, it also information on how to download the latest chart music. So the readers of Candy Floss will like the latest chart music which is mainly pop music. There will also be pages on fashion and where you can buy the latest fashion items. The parents of readers will be in the C1/C2 socioeconomic grouping this means that readers will rely on their parents to buy the magazine. But some of the readers may have part time jobs so they can buy the magazine. Candy Floss wants to cover everything that is important in a teenage girl’s life but also pages which contain humour e.g. embarrassing moments and advice pages. Candy Floss is for girls who like to know the latest information about fashion, celebs, music artists, horoscopes, advice about boys and problems that may occur at school.

Form and Style: Candy Floss is A4 magazine will contain horoscopes, latest music releases, celeb interviews, advise about school and boys, problem pages, reviews on films and music and embarrassing moments. The colours used for Candy Floss will be bright and bold, using colours like pink, blue, yellow and purple. These will be very girly colours to show it’s for young female teenagers. The front cover will also contain famous well-known music artists e.g. Justin Beiber and Rihanna. The cover lines will tell you what is included in the magazine with little pictures to draw attention to this. Competitions will also be included on the cover lines, this piece of information will have a bright background to make it stand out. Images and graphics used will be very bright with special affect on the front cover to add boldness and brighten the images to make the magazine more alerting. The magazine will sell at £2.10, this will make the magazine affordable for teenage girls.

Themes and Typical features: Candy Floss will have many typical features of a teenage magazine. Every magazine will have a problem page, latest music releases, reviews on films and music, horoscopes, interviews with celebs, gossip and fashion. There will be a strong focus on music and advice on typical teenage girl’s problems. There will be 4 main themes in this magazine: music, film, fashion and advice. The writer will use language that the audience are more likely to understand, this will help the audience understand it more and an easy, fun read. The target audience can writer into the magazine and get what they have sent published onto the magazine; they can do this for the embarrassing moment pages or the problem pages. This will make the reader understand the problem and they will get advice from an expert and that advice may help other people reading the magazine.

Potential advertisers: There will be several pages used for adverts, a range of brands will advertise and these adverts will pay an interest on the magazine e.g. No.7, Top shop, Primark, Tampax, Bench clothing, Dove, Sure and HMV.

Editorial Team: The editorial team for my magazine will be made up of hard working professional writers and designers. The team will mostly be young women around 25 because they have more understanding on teenage girls. Readers writing for embarrassing moments and problem pages will be published onto the magazine. The aim of the team is to add new ideas and keep it fresh and updated compared to other teenage magazines plus include the readers with the magazine.

Weekly review

 This week I have finished my textual analysis, I have done a double page spread, 2 contents pages and 3 front covers. I also scanned the magazines to go with the information to show what I am writing about. Analysing the magazines went well and i think I’ve got enough information. I have also chosen my choices of names for my music magazine and put them in a poll to see which name people like best. I have also done a questionnaire on my blog to get more information about what my target audience like the most.

Reading figures

National Magazine Company's flagship glossy, Cosmopolitan, recorded a nine per cent fall in circulation year on year in the first half of 2010 as the women's lifestyle sector benefited from double-digit growth thanks to new free magazines and resilient performances elsewhere.

Cosmopolitan's average monthly circuation fell to 401,750 over the six months to the end of June. The drop of around 40,000 copies per issue led the magazine to drop from second to sixth in the sector.

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=45841&c=1

Although some titles enjoyed year-on-year circulation hikes of more than 80 per cent in the second half of 2009, the women's weekly sector could only manage a 2.9 per cent lift overall, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations figures released today.

Northern and Shell's Star magazine soared to an average circulation of 492,067 copies per issue in the six months to the end of last year - an 83.4 per cent rise on the same period last year - while its sister title New reached 600,000, a 35.6 per cent year on year lift - overtaking its more established stablemate OK, along with Heat and Closer magazines to take the number two position.

Women's interest weeklies (all percentages are year on year):

Take a Break -H Bauer Publishing - 900,016 (-4.6%)

New! - Northern & Shell Magazines Ltd -600,741 (35.6%)

OK! Magazine - Northern & Shell PLC - 588,546 (15.7%)

Closer - Bauer Consumer Media - 539,135 (-0.2%)

Star - Northern & Shell PLC - 492,067 (83.4%)

Heat - Bauer Consumer Media - 458,858 (-2.5%)

Chat - IPC Media Ltd - 440,093 (-6.2%)

Hello! - Hello! Ltd - 409,043 (-3.4%)

Now - IPC Media Ltd - 394,130 (-9.1%)

That's Life - H Bauer Publishing - 378,551 (-10.7%)

National Enquirer (UK Edition) - American Media Inc - 76,504 (-4.9%)

The Lady - The Lady - 28,782 (9.3%)

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=45035&c=1

IPC Media's weekly rock magazine NME suffered a year-on-year circulation slump of 17.3 per cent in the first half of 2010 as sales of music and film titles slumped.
NME had an average weekly circulation of 33,875 in the six months to the end of June, according to figures released today by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Rivals to NME also suffered in a bad set of results for entertainment titles. Circulation of Bauer's Q Magazine dropped 10.7 per cent compared to the first half of 2009, taking it to an average of 89,450 per issue.

Music magazines (percentages represent year-on-year change)
The Fly - 108,207 (0.4%)
Mojo - 91,678 (-6.2%)

Q - 89,450 (-10.7%)

RWD -78,867 (1.7%)

Uncut - 74,067 (-3.2%)

Classic Rock - 70,323 (0.0%)

Metal Hammer - 44,034 (-4.3%)

Kerrang! - 44,013 (1.8%)

New Musical Express - 33,875 (-17.3%)

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=45844&c=1

Questionnaire

How much would you pay for a music magazine?

£1.00       £1.50        £2.00        £2.50         £3.00

How many pages would be ideal for a music magazine?

15 – 20         20 – 25       25 – 30        35 – 40

What genre of music do you like best?

Pop      rock        hip hop         dance          rap      

When would you like it to come out?

Weekly         Monthly          every fortnight      

What would you like the magazine to contain?

Interviews with music artists        Latest single releases       Celeb gossip        Horoscopes        How to download music            Top 40        

What size do you want the magazine to be?

Normal        or       Handbag

Textual analysis - DPS

Magazine - Kerrang

On the left handed page there is an interview on one half of the page with the questions in a bolder font and highlighted in dark blue and answers in a smaller font size. The title of this page is Random question generator and then the name of the artist and what band they are from. One of the answers is written in bigger text in the middle of the page to show the reader what is being said more clearly and its easier to read. On the other half of the page is a picture of the artist who is being interviewed with a guitar. The background colour of this page is black with white font to make it easy to read. There are 3 main colours in this magazine and the colour of the guitar goes with the colours which are red, white and black.  The title isn't much bigger than the rest of the text. The layout on this page is very simple and easy to read.

On the right handed there are a lot of small images used these are pictures of people from bands. On each picture is a piece of text of what that person it that band is 'most likely to say'. The background colour of this page is light brown which is quite different to the other page. The pictures are laid out in a clear pattern. The title is outlined in black which makes it more appealing and noticeable. There is also some text just bellow the title to give more information. On the top of the right handed side of the page is another little title. The layout of this page is still simple but with more things added which makes the page look more attractive.

Textual analysis - Content page

Magazine - Mixmag

The contents page is on 2 pages, the first page includes a big picture of a well known artist and what is on that page in the magazine. There is also a smaller picture of another music artist and what is on that page. The background of the 2 content pages is black with white writing, so that the writing stands out. On the master head it says the title, date and the name of the magazine. At the bottom of the page there is a link to the website for the magazine. The content of what is on each page is put into subtitles e.g. features, tunes and fashion.

On the second page this is a small photo of the magazine front cover of that magazine. There are also a big photo of a band and what is included in that page. There is also 2 smaller pictures one of a big group of people in a club, this picture is very bright and will attract the audience and may encourage them to go. The other picture is of a new music artist. The layout is very organised and easy to read.

Textual analysis - Content page

Magazine - Kerrang
The content page shows a few pictures of what is included in some of the pages. There is also one bigger picture which is black and white, this picture draws in the reader’s attention. On the master head it tells you what issue it is and the date which it came out on. When it tells you what’s on each page, it has been put into different sub-titles e.g. News, Feedback and Features. It also shows you front covers from over issues of the magazine, telling you that you can get the magazine delivered to you. There is also a mini column by the editor which gives you information and tells you the link for the Kerrang website. The layout is very organised which makes it easier to read and understand.

Textual analysis - Front cover

Magazine - Mixmag

On the front cover of the Mixmag magazine they use a photo as a background for the front cover the picture has an artist on, mid close up. This shows what genre of music this magazine is for by adding a famous well known artist on the front cover. It also includes a list of features which are included in the magazine. The title is bright with an appealing type of font. The price which is 34.20 is in very small text this shows it is too expensive. The cover lines are mainly at the sides which makes the layout different because they are normally at the bottom. There are two main colours which are used which are yellow and white. There is also a small image at the top right corner of the page which isn't too relevant. There is also a link to the Mixmag website to get more information about the magazine. On the master head it says that this magazine is the world's biggest dance music and clubbing magazine this shows that this magazine is popular and what genre of music the magazine is.