Danielle KingMedia coursework

Production Brief

Preliminary task: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a DTP mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of their program.

Main task: The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine.

You will be assessed on 3 aspects of the coursework:

Research ands planning – 20 marks

Production – 60 marks

Evaluation – 20 marks

Preliminary task

Main image:The image on the front cover, the one that stands out the most.

Puff:The part of the magazine that looks like it was stuck on after it was printed.

Masthead:The name of the magazine, usually printed at the top.

Barcode:The part of the magazine that has the price around it and gets scanned through the till.

Price:Tells you how much it costs.

Quote:A cluster of words taken from the main story.Splash:

The headline of the main story.

Date:The date the magazine was issued.

Strapline:Little bits of text that are around the main focus.

Anchorage:The splash links with the main image.

Kicker:Written in a different type face to make sure it stands out.

Conventions of a magazine:

Mise en scene:This is everything that you can see on the page, the mise en scene for Billboard magazine is:her body language is seductive the way her body is bent and her hands are covering her chest.

Mode of address:There's an image that is direct address and so Katy Perry is looking directly at us

Contrasts:The contrast of the black font on the pink background makes the title stand out and also with the mixture of the pastel green and baby blue, this helps the name ‘Billboard’ stand out on the shelves.

Audience:This magazine is devoted to the music industry, including all its genres that it covers meaning its aimed at everyone with an interest in music due to the covering of different genres. Its aimed at both men and women at the around the ages of 16-26.

Audience research results Total number of people: 14

Male= 8, Female=6

Interests:

Most popular- Music=8

fashion=5

sport=4

gaming and programming.

How many read:

Yes=5 - Female=5 - Male=0

No=9 - Female=1 - Male=8

Genres:

Most popular- Fiction= 2

music=1, horror=1, take a break=1, fashion=1.

From doing this questioner I have realized that out of the 14 people I surveyed, 8males do not read magazines, with this in mind I am going to have to make my magazine more masculine and appealing to the male audience but I still need to keep the balance in order to attract the female audiences. Many of these people are interested in music so I will put in some articles about music celebs and also what is happening at the Harris Greenwich music department. Fashion is also very popular and so in turn I will add in articles about fashion and this may also improve the appearance of the sixth form students. Most students don’t read magazines but some read every month so with this in mind I think that issuing a magazine bi-weekly will please a number of the students. As they are sixth form students, many of them fit into the socio-economic group of E meaning that the majority of them are unemployed, with this in mind a suitable price for this magazine will be around £1.00-£1.50. Most of the students characterises will be that of the same to a certain extent, for example they all aspire (aspirers) to become successful and gain good qualifications and go onto university or good employment.

• How often do you read: Never= 5 Once a week=2 Once a moth=3

• Why do you like specific magazines: the colour everything the subject of the texts the stories

Masthead

Puff

Quote

strapline

Price

Barcode

I placed the masthead at the top in the middle to make it stand out to the readers and to make it easier to read and see. I used that font because it is quite a sophisticated font.The quote is positioned beneath the masthead because you're drawn to the next piece of text and no only this but it ties in with splash which is underneath the quote in order to make a link to the next text and help you to understand what the magazine is about.The splash is in capital letters to make it visible to the reader and this intrigues readers to find out more about the main story. It is also in a different font to the rest of the magazines and I did this in order to ensure that readers knew it was the main topic of the magazine.The image is in the middle and I chose to get the model to pose with a guitar because when I did my evaluation of my quiz I realised that many people where interested in music and with this in mind I designed the image like this in order to appeal to that main target audience. Her mode of address is directed at you this is done by her eye focus point.I used red to design my puff because the there is virtually no colour on the page and so by doing the puff in a colour makes it bold and it works as the purpose of a puff should and that’s to look like its been stuck on. I also added a shadow to the puff to make it bolder and to stand out. I placed it there because it does not cover the models face or any other important information on the page eg straplines.

Splash

Image Compariso

n

In order to get my image the way it is on the front cover of my music magazine, I opened up a new canvas on Photoshop and I then cropped out the background to create a plain white one. I also brightened up the image to make the model more visual and clearer to the eye. I also cropped away the top of the original image in order for her to look more central and to fit the page on my magazine cover.When using the magic wand tool, I accidently cropped out some of the guitar on the magazine cover and so in turn I now know when using that tool I have to be observant when clicking what to crop away.

Main image:This is the biggest picture as it is the main focus of the magazine.

Features:This is the list of features in which the magazine covers. Placed it here as it has enough room to have a clear description of what the articles are about.

There is advertisement at the bottom of each page and I placed this here because it is next to the main image and so it will grab readers attention.

Music Magazine:Research.

Genre

Alternative rock indie rock otherpop electronic acousticpop punk

BAND

FATM Bastille

FOB Nina Nesbitt

Genders

Male Female

Gossip

Stamp collecting

photography

fashion

gaming

gadgets

films 1

sports

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Other interestsArticle type

Interviews Other Charts

Editorial Reviews

AGE

14-16 17-19 20-24

This shows that my main audience will be 14-16 year olds.

I will aim my magazine at both genders.

I will put pop, indie rock and alternative rock in my magazine to meet the audience preferences.

This chart shows a list of the audiences favourite bands and so from these I will choose the most popular to put into my magazine.

I will place an interview in my magazine as this is what my chosen audience are more preferable of.

Although the magazine is a music magazine this chart shows other interests that may influence my decision for extras throughout the magazine.

Results from questionnaire: This shows what my target audience are and aren’t interested in within what thy want to read in their magazine

My magazine audience profileMy magazine will be aimed at people who have an interest in

independent (indie) and alternative music.

The ABC1 target for my magazine is lower to middle class.

The age range will be between 16-14.

The magazine will be mainly targeted at females.

The magazine that I have analysed that’s most like mine is NME. My audience is similar to theirs in terms of age that the people are and also the genre of music that will be talked about.

Like NME, my magazine will be published weekly as the reading habits of magazines I have analysed states that they issue theirs weekly.

The interests of my audience is that of old fashioned clothing, Photography and music and new clothing.

My questionnaire revealed that my target audience have a keen interest in fashion.

My questionnaire was helpful in terms of determining what genre of music to choose but for other interests it wasn’t so useful.

Interests of target audience:From the research carried out I have created a mood board to what I believe my target audience will look like and have an interest in.

Images from photo shoot: This shows the range of photos taken in order for me to choose which photo best fitted each part of my magazine

Magazine research

The puff is a blood splatter, the colour of it is red. The connotation of red suggests danger and violence. The puff ties in with the strapline ‘‘IT WAS VIOLENT. WE WERE LIKE PITBALLS…’’ This links to the audience because rock and metal music is known for its conduction of violence. The masthead is black in colour and bold capital typeface, it has an exclamation mark. It has lines going through it and this could suggest that it’s broken or smashed up. This ties in with the theme of rock as rock bands are well known for smashing up their guitars and instruments after a gig. There is a contrast of colours (black font on a metal grey background) and this in turns helps the masthead to stand out, not only this but the grey backgrounds helps to emphasise the contents of the front cover of metal music. The strapline ‘you me at six, inside the film premiere of rocks hottest band’ uses the superlative ‘hottest’ and this is used in order to ensure that the readers focus on this as they have done an interview with this band. The word ‘hottest’ suggests that they're quite significant to this issue of the magazine Kerrang.The use of the yellow texts helps words in particular stand out and in turn draw your attention to them. The words ‘BY CLOWN’ link with the image on the page and help to emphasise the main story.The use of the image being in a jumpsuit connotes prison and rebelling against things. This appeals to the target audience of the magazine because they tend to agree with rebelling.

The connotation of the green pigment of the background shows a rustic and independent look/feel, this links to the target audience of NME because the type of music is ‘Indie’ and their interests are that of old and independent things. Additionally, it links with their audience because the colour pigment of the green background links with photography and old fashion photos which appeals to ‘indie teens’ as it’s retro and this appeals to them.

The costume in which Florence is wearing, ties in with the ‘indie’ theme of the magazine this is because the hat is quite old fashioned and also due to the waist coat and necklace. This links to the target audience because they have thought about the clothing in which Florence is wearing and also what sort of clothes their audience wear.

The use of the strapline ‘Free iconic joy division posters’ engages their target audience because people who listen to this type of music usually tend to like posters.

Florence's pose is that of uncertainty and fear and this is also evident with the facial expression. The text too anchors this as it reads ‘her fear of messing up’

The colour of the bands are in black and this helps them to stand out and this is vital as the magazine is a music based magazine.

Billboard magazine is aimed at not only music fans from around the world but it also targets Lawyers, tour promoters and so on. This maybe due to the fact that it covers a wide range of music genres, not only this but the magazine also serves as an industry magazine as well as just a magazine for fans. There is a broad age range that this magazine type appeals to due to the different socio-economic audiences, for example a lawyer is Upper Middle Class in comparison to music fans that are in Lower Middle Class.

The NME (New Musical Express) is aimed at people with an interest into alternative and indie music and the socio-economic audience of NME is aimed at lower middle class and working class this maybe down to the language that is used throughout the magazine. NME target their magazine at this age range 16-24 year olds

Q magazines target audience is music buyers of over the age 25 years old and of both genders. The socioeconomic group for Q magazines group D and E.

Comparison:The Mise en scene in NME ties in with genre of the magazine, this is because the use of props on the image for example the hat and waistcoat that Florence is wearing is. This is done to help emphasise the ‘alternative’ look/feel of the magazine. Similarly, Billboard use mise en scene in order to make Ke$ha look quite glamorous. This is done by the use of make-up and this is done to target their upper middle class audience but also though the use of the image of Ke$ha (who predominantly aims her music at 14-22 year olds), this appeals to the lower middle class. The masthead of NME is in capital block typeface and this then allows the magazines name to stand out when placed on shelves due to it being eye-catching to the readers eye. Whereas Billboard uses a contrast of colours, white on black background and the use of colours helps to allow the masthead to stand out and be eye-catching. A criticism of doing this is that using white and yellow together counterbalances the colours and merges them together and this in turn can make things particularly hard to read. Q magazines target audience is aimed at a higher age group in comparison to NME this is because they aim to please an older generation of music lovers who aren’t being targeted by other music magazines. The masthead of the magazine is a lot more sophisticated than the others , this is due to the font type and also the image and use of mise on scene (make-up and hair) and this is turn makes the image of Florence look classy and glamorous which appeals to its target socioeconomic group.

Magazine:planning and analysis

Main image*To entice the audience in and to also help support the what the main article is about

MASTHEAD*This is being placed here due to it being more noticeable when on a shop shelf.

BARCODE AND PRICE

straplinestrapline

straplinestrapline

MAIN STRAPLINE &quote

Date issued

Front cover plan

Masthead

BIZZAR Bizzar

I have decided to base my masthead on the type seen in NME magazine and they use capital letters and this for me is what makes the magazine stand out on the shelf. I chose to use the word ‘bizzar’ as my magazine is based around independent music and from questioning people a frequent word to

describe this music was ‘odd’ or ‘bizzar’ or 'weird’

Contents page analysis:NME’s contents page has an index running along the left hand side reading what bands are featured in the magazine. This appeals to the audience as they're interested in many different bands.

The articles are numbered in accordance to the page numbers in which they appear on, this is a good clear way to lay out the information and its clear for the reader to see what page their particular interests are on making it more convenient for the readers.

The information is broken down into sections which also makes the information easier to follow for the reader.

The date in which it’s issued is very specific this is due the magazine being issued weekly.

They advertise their magazine which in turn will mean they keep their audience as it’s advertising their magazine on offer.

There is a main image with a strapline to emphasise the main article and entice their readers.

Contents page analysisThere is a web link at the top which shows that there is two media platforms coming together. This can appeal to he audience as they live quite bust lifestyles and so by having an internet version of the magazine then it helps widen their target audience as it branches out to them. There is a review section which is good for the target audience of the magazine as it shows other peoples opinions.

There is a main image that helps the page to look more attractive and appealing to readers and it also helps emphasise the main article.

Like NME, the contents are under one main heading but unlike NME they're not then broken down into more.

heading

Main image

Supporting images

Features and reviews

Editors note Advertisement

Contents page plan:

The image is the main thing on the page and it links to the article as Florence is sat posing on the American flag which links to the name USA got the love. This is also linked to the artists song ‘you’ve got the love’ and the U in USA anchors this.

The introduction links to the image as well because it reads ‘with America at her feet’ and Florence I treading all over the American flag.The text is all to one side and in equally spaced columns. Which allows big chunks of text appear easier to read.

The text ‘Florence Welch’ is in blue and this helps it stand out so people can remember her name and also what she's done

The mode of address is looking directly at the reader and this to engage the reader and also to emphasise the word ‘love’ and looking into someone's eyes can connote love.

The article links with image because the image is unsightly and so are the words for example ‘vomiting’. The text is columns which allows the text to be read easier.The colour of the text is consistent throughout which therefore links it back to the title of the article.There is direct mode of address from the person in the image. This in turn entices you into reading what the article is about and it also catches your eye in order to make you start reading the article.

Double page spread plan

MAIN IMAGE

MAGAZINE TITLE

STRAPLINE

ARTICLE OF THE MAGAZINE

SUPPORT IMAGE

Final products

Final piece: front cover

Final piece: contents page

Final piece: Double page spread

http://prezi.com/vgab3xxd6dni/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy