Note to the Exam Board

Dear Examiner,

Over the past few months we have been working on our project such as the research panning and making of our music magazine. I believe that personally I have learnt new skills such as being able to take photos at a better standard learning the different shots and angles which can be used. In addition, I've also been able to learn a bit about the media industry as now being able to blog. This has helped me as I have been able to produce a product that was made at the best of my ability using much of my time inside and outside of school. Whilst making the product, I have enjoyed all areas of this area and hope that you will enjoy my

Thank you,
Alex Hunt

Final work - Front cover

Final work - Contents page

Final work - Double page spread

Preliminary music magazine

Evaluation Question 1 - Finished

Finished Evaluation - Question 1 by Alex Hunt on Scribd

Evaluation Question 2 - Finished

Evaluation Question 3 - Finished

Evaluation Question 3 was made on Adobe Photoshop

Evaluation Question 4 - Finished

Evaluation 4 from Alex Hunt

Evaluation Question 5 - Finished

5) How did you attract/address your audience? I believe I attracted my audience through my front cover which had included information about the names of artists which are featured in my magazine but also, the new band which was upcoming, Collided. The by Alex Hunt

Evaluation Question 6 - Finished

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

My abilities across all technologies have improved over the period of this course. Firstly, before completing our music magazine, I had never used Photoshop before which now I can confidently use it. As you can see from my preliminary work, Photoshop was a weakness for me as I was new to the software and had to learn the techniques through the help of my teachers but also through trial and error. It was a lengthy process but now I can say that I can comfortably use Photoshop for future projects. Because I didn’t know how to use Photoshop, it had give me a disadvantage over other students as they had previous experience from GCSE Media. Another example of a skill which I have built over the course for my project would be my ability to take photos. My camerawork has improve drastically as from my preliminary, there was problems with it such as lighting the angle the shots were taken from but also the positioning of the camera. Over the course, I have also learnt new techniques such as camera angles, the focal length of the shots but also the lighting for the shots. For my preliminary task and my first draft, I used the camera on my iPhone but for my final version I used a professional camera in order to take the best possible photos. In a real life magazine, advanced cameras are used in order to get the best quality photo for the magazine as you wouldn’t want a poor picture yet the audience is still paying the price as the magazine wouldn’t be worth the money as it hasn’t been made to the best of their ability. Another skill which I personally believe that I have learnt is the lighting on camera. The lighting of shots is important as it could be the difference between seeing someone clearly or not being able to because the room is too dark making it hard to see the band members. Another skill which I have improved would be using blogger. This is because before the media coursework, I was new to blogger and didn’t understand it until we were taught how to use it and we could improve our self our ability to use it. What I mostly struggled with was the ability to embed a blog post in to my blog. This was confusing but after spending a decent amount of time on it, I was able to practice and now I can embed a blog post with ease. Before the coursework, I had never used sound cloud but for the coursework, we had to make a music playlist based on the genre of music we were working on. I didn't find it hard making the playlist but embedding it in to my blogger account was the difficult bit. Finally, my last skill which I have gained from the coursework was the ability to research more effectively. Before the coursework, I was able to research but at a low standard compared to now. After spending time researching the information I need, I have found it easier to find specific information through trial and error with my searches. It wouldn’t always work but there was always a way in which I could find the information I need to know in order to complete my research and planning. Overall, the media coursework has helped gained my skills hugely over the past few months due to being exposed to new formats of media.

Evaluation Question 7 - Finished

Evaluation Question 1 - Draft

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

Whilst I was planning the design of my music magazine, I researched different existing music magazines which I could use for inspiration to help me with my project. I looked at conventional magazines in the indie genre mostly but did look at other music magazines from different genres such as FADER from the Hip-Hop genre. Although I didn’t use them as inspiration, I looked at other music magazines such as NME, XXL, Billboard, Clash and DIY. After analysing other conventional music magazines, I had a rough idea for what I wanted to do for my music magazine. I liked the idea of the layers being so that the writing is behind the picture to create an effect to show that the artists on the front cover of the music magazine is more important than the title of the magazine and is the centre of attention for the customers who wish to look through the magazine. With the image being over the title of the magazine, it shows that the band or artists are the centre of attention on the music magazine. Examples of music magazines which use this effect are some of Billboards magazines, some of NME’s magazines, VIBE magazines, some of Q’s magazines and also some of DIY’s magazines.

When making my second music magazine front cover, I tried to use a music magazine’s layout to help my music magazine to look more professional compared to my first finished draft attempt which didn’t look professional as I didn’t use an existing music magazine to help me to use as inspiration. However, for my second finished draft attempt, I used FADER’s music magazine layout as inspiration for the front cover. My front cover consists of similarities to FADER’s as I used massive their ideas such as the layering of the title, the positioning of the barcode, the writing which consists of what is featured in the magazine in the same position and colour, a border around the front cover is the same and also the issue and price of the magazine in the same position. Although I used these aspects of FADER music magazines, I developed it using different fonts and also, I underlined the title to make it stand out more. In addition, I used different shots compared to FADER on the front cover image as I did a medium shot with my band where their legs are cut off on the image. My mast head is in a simplistic font to make it easy to read for any customers which are interested in buying my music magazine. I used the font style of the music magazine, DIY, with the simplicity as I personally believe that the simplistic font works better than a complex font. After receiving my feedback on my music magazine first draft, I realised that the font for the mast head didn’t work very well which encouraged me to change it to a basic font which is easy to read.

When deciding on what image to use for my music magazine, I was looking at other music magazines for inspiration and was persuaded to do the shot distance that I did because of some of the music magazines from VIBE but as I had 2 band members I my band, I had to include both members on the front cover of my music magazine.

Whilst I was making my double page spread, I used inspiration from other music magazines to have an idea on how to present my  magazine. For the image on my double page spread, I took inspiration from DIY’s music magazine for the colour palette colours which are seen as eye catching and stand out significantly more over than other colours within a colour palette. In addition, the image of my double page spread was seen as “fun” whilst they were in a photoshoot in other existing music magazines which made me decide to use a photo of my band members having “fun” to make the double page spread of my music magazine interesting and different which would keep the readers encouraged to continue to read. My magazine had an image of the 2 band members with a stall pretending to ride it like a skateboard. The writing on the other side of the page consists of the interview which was taken place before the photoshoot. In order to improve my magazine to make it look more professional, I made the margins of my double page spread the same width along with the width of the text boxes as all conventional magazines do so. I used a simplistic font to make it easy to read but underlined the title making the font bigger to separate it from the text from the interview to make it easier to read for the reader. I developed my double page spread from my first draft attempt as I took on board the advice which I was given to make it look more professional. DIY’s magazine was used as inspiration. The version of DIY’s music magazine which I used as inspiration was when Rat Boy, an indie artist, was featured in the magazine. On the double page spread which I used as inspiration, Rat Boy was not taking the photoshoot seriously from the reader’s perspective. Looking at my first draft attempt, I didn’t use any music magazines for inspiration which is why it doesn’t look professional. If I was to have used an existing music magazine for inspiration, my first draft attempt may have looked more appealing but also more professional to the customers who may purchase my magazine. Although the double page spread looks as if the band members are having “fun” and aren’t taking the interview as seriously as the interviewers may want them to be. Also, with the margins of my magazine not being equal on both sides and in the middle but also the text boxes with writing aren’t the same widths, it makes the magazine an unconventional music magazine which isn’t what I would want as my research was for it to be a conventional magazine.

For my contents page, I used inspiration from other music magazines such as DIY, FADER and NME. My contents page consists of a large mast head across the top of the page to allow the readers to know that it is the contents page but also includes the page numbers and what is consisted on those pages. In addition, within my music magazine, all the artists featured in it are within the same genre so that customers know when it comes to purchasing the magazine what is in it and will recognise the names of the artists. In the bottom right corner of my contents page is several pictures of the band, Collided, to encourage the readers to turn to this page to read about the band. I got this idea from DIY’s music magazine but they used different coloured borders on the pictures which I tried but believe it didn’t look as good as they do now with them all in black. Other music magazines which I looked at for inspiration and ideas was the FADER music magazines as the layout for them I thought was good and looked neat but also professional as they categorized the titles to in to different categories depending on what consists with in the magazine. An example would be the cover which covers what is featured on the front cover of the magazine, the music section which featured the artists names but also the regulars which consisted of things which are featured on most music magazines from FADER.

Evaluation Question 2 - Draft

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I think my media product represents the particular social groups of my target audience which I had revolved my music magazine around. The age, 16-25, is who I aimed my magazine around through the use of the images as my band members, Brad and Alfie are both 17 year olds which shows the teenage life of these two characters but also would show the life other band members who are around the same age. As I had completed extensive research in order to find out more information about the indie genre but also the band members which I included on my magazine and what my audience’s interests were. With my audience profiles showing what my audience’s interests were for male and female, I could see what they would like to be featured on my magazine by seeing what they were in to individually. As I carried out the things which may interest them to buy my magazine, my magazine would be more popular as I focused on a specific group instead of focusing on a range of people as the audience may not want to buy it as it covers information from different genres of music. After completing research, I had found out that fashion was an important factor within the music industry as people look at the way you are dressed and in a music magazine, it will feature images of the band members which I had to ensure that they were dressed in a suitable manor which would suit the genre of music as I couldn’t have 2 band members who make music in the Indie genre but then have them dressed as members of the hip hop genre as they wouldn’t suit the music which they were singing. I based my band members on the Indie genre along with artists such as Rat Boy, The Slaves and other artists. The way which my artists were dressed compared to other artists can instantly be seen as the genre they are representing through the music which they make.

Overall, my music magazine signifies the indie music genre as cool, fun people. This is shown through the photoshoot which took place in order to show the audience the band members having fun whilst being photographed. My target audience mainly attracts men due to the type of band members which the magazine focuses around as they are seen as amusing and entertaining but suits both genders when focusing on information or events which are upcoming.

Evaluation Question 3 - Draft

3) What kind of media institution might describe your media product and why?

For my music magazine which I have made over the past few months, I have decided that the institution which I wish to distribute my music magazine will have to have experience within the media industry in order for my magazine to have the publicity it needs in order to become popular and be seen as one of the other popular music magazine companies such as NME, DIY, Billboard and FADER. An institution such as Time Inc would benefit my magazine greatly as Time Inc are an institution which have published magazines for numerous popular music magazines such as NME and TIME. Although this music magazine already publishing magazines within the same genre as my magazine, my music magazine will still have something to offer as it focuses on the one genre which is Indie which would attract all customers who enjoy listening and reading about the indie genre. With this institution renaming itself from IPC to Time Inc, they have experience with publishing magazines

And are reliable in doing so which would benefit me as I can have a reliable institution publishing my magazines which also publishes big named magazines. As Time Inc already publish popular music magazines, my music magazine would create a unique selling point as there isn’t any music magazines tomy understanding which specifically focus on the indie genre like my magazine does. This would benefit me as well as Time Inc as they would want to publish my magazine because it is different to what theyre already publishing which would increase profits but would benefit me because a well known institution will publish my magazine.