Friday, 29 April 2016

Note to moderator

Dear Moderator,

My brief for my AS Media was to create a Font Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread for a new music magazine. I chose to do my music magazine in a rock based genre due to my fondness for this type of music and also because it is not as popular of a magazine genre to read as it used to be. Therefore, I though my magazine would be a good addition to this genre of music magazines. I wanted to give the preferred audience of males between late teens to early twenties an up to date magazine in which they can effectively be a pro-sumer and voice their views on what the magazine will contain.

I have used labels on my blog to make it easily navigable in order to find what you are looking for.

Yours Sincerely,

Alex Rolls, Edgbarrow School.

Candidate Number: 0215

Centre Number: 51111

Tuesday, 26 April 2016

Evaluation 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

Here is the my evaluation 6 which I created on emaze.

Powered by emaze

Evaluation 4: Who would be the audience for your media product? & Evaluation 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

To address my audience to my magazine, I made my front cover stand out and be eye catching to them in hope that it stands out against other similar types of magazines to mine. I used different types of media that most music magazines use to attract their audiences.

These things include:

Subscription services - these can draw people into the magazine if they are interested in it as they will be encouraged to buy the deal on the number of issues of the magazine they will get. If they see that the offer is reasonably priced then they might take up the deal. Also, if the magazine includes a "free t shirt" it will also encourage the readers to buy the deal as they are getting free clothes of bands that they may listen to.

Competitions/prizes - many magazines of different types use competitions and prizes to draw in their audience to the deal. Depending on what the prize will be, it can entice the reader to pick up the magazine and enter for the competition. Prizes like "Win tickets to.." are very effective as the reader knows they will be seeing someone they like for free, saving them money. My magazine uses this and I believe that it will be very effective in drawing in my target audience.

Images/stories - My front cover will attract my audience as the main image is very eye-catching as it takes up most of the page and the person on the front cover looks alternative. My target audience audience will relate to the way he is dressed through the use of dark clothing and his long hair and want to pick up the magazine and give it a read from this. The stories on my front cover will also draw my audience to the magazine as they will see familiar band names in bold fonts which will be eye catching leading to them reading on.


Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

To find out the audience for my music magazine I used various media methods such as survey monkey in which I asked various different questions to people about music magazines. Questions such as "How often do you buy music magazines?" and "What genre of music do you enjoy listening to the most?". These types of questions help me pinpoint what kind of person would pick up and read my music magazine. From my research I found out that people aged between 17-21 years of age are attracted to my magazine the most, these are the late teens and early adults that are into listening and finding out about rock/metal bands.

Ideal Profile
Gender - Male and females (predominantly males)
Age - 17-21 years
Lives in - The UK
Interests - Likes listening to rock and metal music. Mainly listens to their music through digital mediums such as the internet and music streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music. Enjoys going to music events such as concerts to see their favourite bands. Also, they like watching movies and playing video games. They like to keep up with the latest news and stories on their favourite artists and bands. Dressing alternatively






Sunday, 24 April 2016

Evaluation 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Getting the right institution to distribute my music magazine is very essential to it's success in the market, production and distribution. Also, media institutions can have an impact on the way my magazine could be distributed digitally and also social media sites, apps and games so it is crucial that the magazine is distributed by the right organisation. My magazine's target audience are people in their late teens and early adulthood who are interested in rock/metal music. My magazine is fairly well priced for this The two different media institutions I have studied previously are IPC Media and Bauer Media.

IPC Media - was founded in 1958 in the UK and owns more than 60 iconic media brands and publishes them over various platforms such as print, online, mobile and tablets. They are the leading media distributor in the UK. IPC Media publish over 350 million copies of magazines every year. The music magazines that IPC Media publish are NME and Guitar and Bass magazine. They mainly publish magazines that cover five different divisions: Women's weeklies e.g. Now magazine and Look, Inspire e.g. Leisure and specialist, Ignite e.g. men's lifestyle and entertainment, SouthBank e.g. women's lifestyle and home interest and TX e.g. portfolio of television titles. I don't think that IPC Media would be the best choice of institution for my magazine because they do not publish many music magazines and are only popular in the UK which wouldn't expand my magazine to other countries.

Bauer Media - reaches over 22 million adults in 15 different countries within Europe. They are the largest media institution in Europe. Bauer Media aim to connect audiences with excellent media content. Bauer Media also own Kerrang magazine which is a widely popular rock/metal music magazine which appeals to teenagers and alternative people of any age range which is also the same genre of music that my magazine is related to. I think that Bauer Media would be a good publisher for my magazine as they do not publish may different rock music magazines other than Kerrang. It would also draw customer’s attention to my magazine as people might be searching for a rock magazine other than Kerrang. They know how to reach out to their audiences well and make magazines that appeal to them

I have chosen WHSmith to distribute my music magazine based on its genre of music, being a hard rock music magazine you usually don't see them in typical stores such as Tesco. This will also encourage people to seek out the magazine as it will be only sold in this store. It may also bring more customers to the store, benefiting WHSmith financially.

                          

Evaluation 2: How does your music magazine represent a particular social group?

Here is the link to my Evaluation 2 which is on Google Slides. 

Evaluation 1: In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music magazines?

Here is the link for my evaluation question 1.

Thursday, 21 April 2016

Finished Front Cover

Here is my finished front cover of my magazine. I have made some improvements to the text to make it more visible and easy to read against the image. I have also widened everything to the fill up the space on the page.







Finished Contents Page


Here is my finished final contents page. I have made some small changes to the images under the "Jordan Harris" text box as they were too similar to the other image. 




Finished Double Page Spread


Here is my finished double page spread for my magazine. I made some minor improvements such as adjusting the quote in the middle of the page to be centered going down. Also, i slightly enlarged the text of the interview article so that it would be easier for viewers to read. 



Friday, 15 April 2016

Evaluation Planning

1. In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music magazines?
Masthead - how it was important to my magazine genre. How I made it look original and creative to fit with the rock genre of music. Also, how I made it appeal to my target audience

Photos - how my photos portrayed the rock genre. How I made them eye catching and how they appeal to my target audience. Why I chose certain locations to take the photos. Why the clothing choices were important to appeal to the genre of music my magazine is about.


People - Why I chose to use specific people for some photos in my music magazine. What age range of people did I use.


Title font and style - How is it eye catching to my target audience? How does it appeal to them? Why I chose to use a certain font and style.


Written content - What made me choose to use an interview on the double page spread. What content I included in the contents page and on the front cover to appeal to my target audience.


Music genre - How does my magazine portray the genre I chose?


For this question I will use a prezi to display my answer.


2. How does your music magazine represent particular social groups?
In this question, I will say how I have used clothing, props, age, gender, ethnicity e.t.c. to represent the social group my music magazine is targeted towards.
Also, I will consider the body language of the models in the photos, shot types/angles and pose.
I will say how these photos appeal to my target audience and how the images will attract/ catch their to read the magazine.

For this question I will use Google Slides to show my answer in text.


3. What kind of music institution might distribute your music magazine and why?
For this question I will say how I researched different institutions which distribute different music magazines. I will say why I chose a certain institution for my music magazine and what other magazines they distribute. I will include why I didn't chose the other institutions. I will say what magazines mine may rival and I will say why I chose certain stores to distribute my music magazine.
I will also cover other types of media they use to advertise e.g. TV/radio adverts.

For this question I will be displaying it by using Blogger


4. Who would be the audience for your music magazine?/5. How did you attract/address your audience?

In these questions I will be discussing how I addressed my audience to the magazine. I will show how I used different methods such as surveys to find out what kind of person would appeal to my music magazine by asking them specific questions about the magazine. I will also say and show how I researched people who are interested in rock music and their interests, age and gender using my survey.
How I attracted people to my magazine. Using things like subscription services and prizes on my magazine to attract my audience to the magazine, also the use of images and stories on the front cover.

For question 4 and 5 I will display my answer using presentation software such as Blogger


6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
In this question I will be commenting on what I have learnt from using different technologies and editing software to create my music magazine. I will say what tools I have learnt to use effectively. Also, how I have learned about using other technologies such as using cameras for taking the photos for my magazine. I will say how using cameras is much better for photos on magazines than using a smartphone camera as the quality will be better.

I will comment on the software and hardware I used such as:
-Serif PagePlus
-Serif PhotoPlus
-Blogger

For this question I will be using emzae to show my answer.

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

In this question I will say what I have learned from the preliminary task:
The importance of planning the magazine.
Researching the target audience - finding out what audiences want, making sure they are satisfied with the genre of music that the magazine is focused towards. Also, finding out what type of person would read the magazine e.g. their age, gender, interests.
Researching other magazines of the same genre of music I chose to get a better understanding of how they make an effective and eye catching cover which draws in attention and appeals to their audience.

Also, I will sum up how I have learnt to use different software such as Serif to create magazines and how to use the tools in the software effectively to make a good music magazine.
I will also say how I have improved my photography skills by using cameras and different shot types to take the photos for my magazine.
I will show a comparison between my preliminary task and my music magazine task to show the differences between the two and how I have improved my skills in creating magazines.

To answer this question I will be using SlideShare to display my answer.


How to present the evaluation:
Prezi
Powtoon
emaze
Slide dog
Interactive videos
Directors video commentary
Interviews (video/audio)