Candidate details

Kate Longley
Candidate number: 5067
Center name: Wilmington Grammar School for Girls
Centre number: 61119

Final product

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

When comparing the two magazine there are many clear differences to be seen between them :

• Both my front cover and contents page have been designed and thought about a lot more instead of me just designing as I go along. This is mainly because of the research I did for each section, as it is much more detailed then that of my preliminary task.
• The photos taken have been thought about a lot more and edited much better. This is because when doing the preliminary task I had never used Photoshop before so I did not know how to use it properly, but when I went to do my music magazine it is clear that I had become more confident with using it and find new ways to make my photos look professional. Also I used different materials for my music magazine photos. For it I used professional lighting and a backdrop instead of going outside.
• I picked my models a lot more carefully this time as I discovered with my school magazine that not all people look natural when taking photos. For the preliminary task it is easy to see I just used my friends as my models but for my music magazine I thought about who would fit my category and would not mind posing for the camera.
  
  
• The text for my music magazine has also been thought about more and chosen so it works well. As you can see in my music magazine, there are two different fonts on the front cover as I wanted one to stand out more then the other as it was more important, on my preliminary magazine this has not happened. All the text is the same size and font and not a clear title which is obviously the main of the magazine. Also I used the same font across my music magazine so it links together, as well with colours. This does not appear to have happened for my school contents as I had to rush to finish that on time as I had spent too long on my front cover and trying to think what to do.
• I learnt how to manage my time more effectively on the second task as before I was rushing to get everything done at the end, where as for the music magazine I understood what I had to do and how to do it more. I also set myself deadlines through out it so i had a target to go to, this helped me as I then new what was left to do and what I had completed.
• The whole structure of my music magazine is a lot better then that of my preliminary one. I tried to keep to the three section rule a lot more, this making it look and work a lot better. The best example of this is in the music contents page as it can clearly be seen that there are three sections, this cannot be seen with the others causing it to look untidy and a mess.
  
  Overall I believe that my music magazine is a lot better quality and designed a lot better then my preliminary one. However I do not think if my school magazine was how it was that I would have learnt how to use tools and produced ideas to create my music magazine.

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

 

5) How does it attract/address your audience?

My magazine attracts the relevant audience of young teenage girls (discovered from the question below). I used many ways for this to happen. I mainly focused on the front cover, this is because if my front cover did not attract or address my audience then they would not buy it in the first place.

As you can see I made the front cover a baby pink colour which will attract girls to look at it as it is a very stereotypical colour for girls. Also the three circular photos will attract an audience as they stand out against the pale background so people will want to see what it is. The main photo is very confident and of an age that young teenage girls would be interested in reading about. This is because the clothes that they are wearing is very stylish and the poses they are in show confidence and joy. If the picture was of shy, timid girls then people would be put off wanting to read it because it does not look interesting. The main thing that I personally think attracts my audience is the title, this is because as I have stated before it stands out well against the background and the bold colour and 3D form will stand out against other magazines and will be easy to see in shops. Although the text is only a small part on my front cover that also attracts my audience as they get a small peak at what is to come in the magazine and draws them in. For example the strip at the bottom will make them pick it up and buy it because it is an interesting article for the people that will be going to that festival.

For both my contents page and double page spread (interview) I have carried on the colours to keep the appearance on my magazine to a high standard. This keeps the reader attracted to the pages and wanting to read on. The language and fonts inside the magazine also helps this. For the interview I asked questions that the public would want to possible ask so that they feel that the writer is connected to them and addresses there age and gender instead of the interviewer asking questions the readers have no interest in.

4) Who would be the audience of your media product?

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

There are many media institutions around but there would only be a selected few that would distribute my magazine.


This institution is one of them. This company produces many magazines from Amateur Gardening to Nuts. Including Music magazines such as NME and UNCUT which in my research is what I have looked at. However, I do not think this is best suited for my magazine as those music magazines are for older readers of both genders.



Bauer media, like IPC media, is very famous and produces over 230 magazines in 15 countries. These include Q, Kerrang!, POP and Mojo. Although these are not like my magazines they also produce shows, radio stations and websites such as Smash Hits, The Hits and 4Music which my magazine would go well with.

The BBC is famous more for their TV/Radio channels but also the produced Top Of The Pops magazine. I feel that if I were to choose a producer to distribute my magazine I would think BBC a good choice. This is because my magazine is like Top Of The Tops but for a few years older, like a progression from that magazine to mine when girls turn a certain age. Also BBC would have the funding to advertise my magazine and make it work.

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

I believe that my magazine is for young teenage girls that have an interest for popular music. I believe this as I did a short questionnaire to find out who would buy and read my magazine.
Before I gave them my questionnaire I asked which age group they were in;

0-15     16-20     21-25     26-30     31+

I asked 5 males and 5 females from each age group to see what they thought of my magazine. I did not ask about which music they preferred/listened to as I wanted to see if the results would be the same even if their music taste differed from that of my magazine. I calculated all the information and put them in pie charts so they could easily be seen and read.

 

From this questionnaire it is clear to see that boys would not be interested in buying my magazine. The question asking if they would buy it or not is low as all the boys said no then some adults and teenagers also said no as it is not made for that particular social group.

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

Front cover

Title 

For the title of my magazine I chose the name Anthem. This is mainly because it has a link to music. There were other titles but instead of choosing it myself I researched into what the public would prefer. I got the idea/style for my title from NME and UNCUT. The bold red colour attracts the eye of the public so I decided to use that colour colour on mine. Also with looking at UNCUT it has a bold element to it which I felt looked good so decided to make mine bold also. 

      

Pictures
The picture on my front cover is quite a lively one and not a serious photo. I got my idea for doing this by looking at magazine front covers and seeing that the magazines for the younger teenager has pictures like this rather then serious posed ones. The NME magazine is an example of this. It is clear to see that the photo on the front cover is meant to be lively, so my front cover I decided to use the same tactic. Also on my front cover I have three smaller pictures in a circular shape, I got the idea for this from the same NME cover, as you can see they have put a circle in the bottom left with information in, I decided to use this but put just photos in them. 

 

 Contents page

 

The whole of my contents page was based on the contents page from Sugar. I liked the style of one picture taking up most of the page with text in the spaces. Although on Sugars contents page it is a close up of one person, for mine I had to compromise as I had to fit three people in however, I think it works well. I also put a small picture of my front cover on the page with a section saying where everything is on the front cover in the magazine. Also with the text I put the main section in bold and a small sentence underneath in smaller text.

Double page spread 

The main inspiration for my double page spread was from two magazines, Bliss and OK! I took elements from both magazines which created mine. From Bliss I used the style of pictures to put on my double page spread. Below on the left you can see that there is a big group photo of the band then on the other side there are smaller, singular pictures. On my spread I have used this by having a big photo of the three members then three singular pictures. Also I liked the big quotation that is in the middle of the page, so for mine I also have put that in. From the magazine OK! the interview I thought looked and worked well. It was easy to see the questions to the answers as the questions are put in bold. Also I liked the small text about what the interview will be about so for mine I did the same but placed it in the middle top straight after the title so people will read that straight away.

My final products links in well with the research that I did for each specific section. Although I did not use every detail in my research for my front page, contents page and double page spread, it can easily be seen where my ideas come from. I changed it so it will meet my target audiences, this being young teenage girls interested in music.
 

Storyboards

To give my an idea of what I want my final pieces to look like I also did story boards for each page. Although in my final products and the progress that I took to get to it changes slightly and pictures/text are not in the same place, the final products are very similar to that of my storyboards. I feel these helped a lot as I had something to use so I did not have to design it from scratch when I was making it. However, because I made the stroyboard I felt like I had to keep to that design and not change it. But overall it helped me greatly with my designing and planning what I was going to put where.

 

Contents page progress

For my contents page the first thing I did was to select a photo from my first photo shoot that was a possibility for the front cover. I then edited it in Photoshop by deleting the background and smudging the outline so it would stand out as much then I put it on my contents page. I also burnt the hair of the group so it was brighter.

I then placed the picture into Indesign and added the contents page, in font Tw Cen MT again, into the top left corner like my front cover and double page spread. Also I placed a small copy of my front cover onto the page as I will then put where everything is on the front cover in the magazine.

 

From that I moved my picture of the front cover to the top right corner as it fitted there well next to the title. Also if I were to keep it where it was the two photos would be too close together. I then added the main text of the articles that were on the front page. I used the same colour for the numbers as the background of my front cover so it was linked. I kept the text as TW Cen MT also because all pages would be linked also. I made the group/artist bold then under is a small bit about what it is about.

One of the last things I needed to do for my contents page was to add what else will be in my magazine. Down the side I wrote in the same style as the text above a heading and section of writing to say what is in it. I think my contents page is simplistic but works well because it is very easy to read and understand which is what the readers of magazines want.

The very last things that I needed to add was the big number in the bottom right, on top of the picture. Although I already have where the interview is I put this on because it is the main story so it is even easier for people to see where it is. Also I changed the titlecolours so it fits more with my research, it causes it to stand out more and not as boring as just black text. The very last thing I did was the change the numbers of my magazine, this is after I realised I had only made my magazine around 30 pages long when my research says that they are normally around 50/60 pages.

Contents research

For my contents page I researched different types of magazines from Kerrang! to Mizz. This was so I would get a wide range of ideas for my own contents page.

I do not like this contents page at all, this is because I find the words hard to read and it is not in an order I can easily understand. I think it is hard to find the persific information needed, such as finding an interview of a band. Also I do not like the fact there is no main picture on the page, this means to me there is no big story line in the magazine. I also think there are too many white gaps on the page which could have been filled up with either more text or bigger pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I prefere this magazine to the one above as it does have a larger picture showing the main part of the magzine. Also it is easy to find the information you are looking for as the headings are easy to understand. However, I feel as though there is more text then needed on the page. When you see this conents page it strikes you as a normal page at first because of all the text. When I think of contents pages I expect them to only have what is on what page in the magazine.

This contents page I feel works well, this is because there is a varied amount of pictures and text, but not too much of each. It is easy to see the main articles of the magazine then all other information is clearly seen on the the right hand side. I still do not like the extra text that is in the top left corner as it is not needed on this page. However I do not think this type of contents page would fit into my magazine as it has lots of things going on in the page, whereas my magazine is more simple.

This is easy to see the the contents page is for younger readers because of the colours that are used. However, I may use some of the things they do on my own contents page. In the bottom right corner it has a picture of their website and the name of it, I like this as it shows the information easily and very clearly. Also I like the way the contents section has been set up, this is because it is very clear to see each section and what/where it is in the magazine. I do not like the overall set up of the contents page though as it does not flow properly. I find that there is too much to look at at once causing me to not understand as easily as I could.

Sugars contents is much like Mizz's one in the sence it is for younger readers. However, I like the style of the page. I think the one picture that takes up most of the page is very effective. It shows that she is the main part of the magazine and which page it is on. Also I like that the front cover is on the contents page, as it shows where each story is. The set up of the page has been thought out well as everything is easy to see and understand and flows well. I think this type of contents page would fit well into my magazine as long as I changed the colour sceem to fit mine. I think it would fit well because unlike the other magaines I have reasearched this is more like a girls contents page rather then a hard music one.

From my research I have decided to use the style from Sugars contents page. Although it is designed for younger readers then what my magazine is for, I think if i change the layout slightly to fit with my magazine it will fit in well.

Double page spread

Interview questions and answers

For my double page spread I have descided to use the questionaire type design. This is because it will be interesting to think up questions and answer to put in the magazine. Also I think it is what a reader would prefer to see. Here are my questions and answer I have made up for it;

Anthem: Sweet heat its lovely to finally have you hear! How have you been?
Shannon: It’s great to finally be here!
Zoe: Yeah we’ve just been so busy lately it’s hard to fit everything in, but we’re all good thanks!

A: I’ve heard! It must be great for everyone to want you after years of being turned down.
Amy: It’s the best feeling in the world! Like you said through the years we have been turned down so many times so various reasons and now we can look back and laugh at them because now we’re famous and they were all wrong! (Group laughs)
S: I don’t think I could have put it better myself.

A: Some bitterness from the past I see (laughs).
Am: You could say that!
Z: Amy was the one that was affected the most by it all so she loves to show off.
Am: Yeah I love it when record companies see us and realise what we are now achieving after they turned us down. I was near to quitting the band because of them.

A: Well thank god you didn’t, or we wouldn’t have the band we all know and love! Talking of love, Shannon is it true that you’re dating Taylor Lautner?
Z: We told her this would come up!
S: (Laughs) Yes it is true, we met a few months ago by accident in a hotel lift and we got talking, he seemed really nice so we went out for some drinks and food and ended up dating secretly 2 weeks after.

Am: We didn’t even know until we saw pictures in the media!

A: How romantic! Going to dedicate any songs to him?
S: No! (Group laughs)
Am: She can if she wants but one thing is for sure I will not sing along!
Z: Amy and I are against love songs, if you want to show someone you love them, tell them personally, and not sing it to the world. So love songs are out! (Group laughs again)

A: But some of you’re songs are about love?
Z: True, but they are not specifically about one person it is more general.
S: Our songs are for other people not about us personally, we use our experience like any other band but when we sing them, they are to please our audiences not for our personal needs.

A: So when you sing it’s for the public not because you want to?
Am: In a sense yes. The music business is so hard to get into to so we have to sing what is working and not what we want to.
Z: If we were to write songs which we found inspirational and actually for us our label would not allow them on the albums.
S: That’s the main thing we hate about the music business, that you cannot be individual as people but have to sing what everyone else wants you to.

A: What type of music would you like to do then?

S: I wouldn’t say we had a type actually.
Z: That’s the problem we have, the music we like to make isn’t a “type” it’s original and different which is why our label would not allow us to do it.
Am: The music business is just a scam for labels to get money, not for the music.

I have looked on the internet for ideas for my questions as I did not really know what to ask at first. I typed in google 'band interviews' and found lots of different interviews which I then looked at how they started interviews and how they structured them. From that I changed the first 3 questions slightly to fit into my interview then made up the rest.

Second photo shoot

Here I have taken more photos, this time I decided to change their outfits into more casual wear. They were all wearing jeans and a baggy t-shirt and in neutral colours. I made them pose in poses that made them seem fun and not serious, like the front cover. This time I also made them to single photos as well as group ones. Under this is a GIF to show the four best group photos out of 76 I took. The first two are funny, un-serious ones that i could possibly use but I feel they do not work as well as the next two. The third and fourth picture on the slideshow are the same pose but more zoomed on one then the other. I like these pictures as they show the band enjoying themselves and are willing to pose for the camera. I will ask people which they think is the best of the two then work on that one.

These pictures are singluar shots of each model. I made them do 2 poses each, one was the pose which they did on the front cover then the other was one that fitted their personality best. Zoe is a very confident person and willing to do most things so for her second shot I decided to make her do pose that reflecst this of her, by making her look tough and fierce. With Amy (the second model) I made her do an animal pose of as she enjoys to experiment with poses so I told her to think of an animal and pose like it. It shows of her wild personality very well. For my last model, Shannon, she is differnt from the other too in the sense she is quieter, so for her I told her, to instead doing a strong pose to do a small pose and to look up like she is day dreaming about something. Although I was not sure it would work at first it turned out it was one of the better photos.

Double page spread research

For my double page spread in the magazine I have decided I will do an exclusive interview with the front cover band 'Sweat Heat'. This is because I will be able to produce an interview by asking them questions then editing them into what I want, also I can take another photo shoot of them and add them to the double page spread. To get inspiration and to decided how I will design the spread I have researched into other magazines.

Here we can see that there is a mixture of pictures and text to fill the page. The pictures are of all three band members together but also they have separate, individual photos.The questions asked are clearly seen as they have a different font colour and has a background colour, where as the answers are planer with no background colour and plan black font. I like this as the readers can clearly state the two apart and perhaps only read the questions they are interested in. Also it has one quotation in a different font and in pink, this makes it stand out all together meaning the reader will read this first and it will then draw the reader in to look at it all. Most of the page is about the presentation on the pages and to make it look interesting to read. The pictures, fonts and colours all do this very well. However, personally I would prefer the pictures to be more interesting and shaped differently as the pages look very square.

This two page spread is slightly different as it does not have individual pictures of the band members but a big one on one page with text on the other side. Also on this page spread it is not an interview but text describing the band. However it does include a quotation that stands out like the one above to draw the reader in. The photo itself stands out as it is very colourful and unusual as the ice cream is something different. The colours all link to each other as the blue can be seen in several places, mostly on the important bits. I like this 2 page spread as it is simple in design yet has a big impact on the reader because of the colours. However I do not like the text as it is seen as very long and not broken up. This will put people off reading it as it is more like an essay then a piece of easy reading.

This is my favourite of the three as the text is an interview with the questions easy to see as they are bold and the answers are in normal text. The pictures here are also very good and set out well. They are a mixture of posed pictures by herself to ones with other stars to corrispond with the text. Also the way that the pictures have been set out are very good, this is because instead of being sepurate with gaps inbetween they cover the whole 2 pages making it look liek there is more happening then there actually is. Like the others is has a quoation standing out from the others but it has it as the title of the page which I think works better. I think this because it gives an insite of what is going to be in the interview better then if a title was to be made up.

For my magazine I will design it around the third 2 page spread but use some of the ideas from the first one. This is because I think the third one works the best with both text and pictures together but because I have three people in the band I will use the ideas from the first one with using both single pictures and a group photo.