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

Throughout my experience in reading music magazines, I have never really carefully thought about the particulars of the music magazines, regarding convention layouts and fonts. However, when it came to producing an actual products, the gradual progress of production gave me strict discipline as I made my final product (the music magazine).

Looking back the my preliminary product and the final front cover of my music magazine, I can notice that I have learnt a lot between how I approached the production of the magazine and how not to. 

One big mistake that I realised through the progress of the two products is that I did not add any article titles to the front cover of the preliminary magazine. Looking back, I knew that I certainly had to do this in my main task as this made it much more detailed and desirable to read. 

I have learnt that I should have used the image on the front cover to cover the entire page, as I hadn't done in the preliminary task - but the final music magazine product. I feel that this would look more professionally done if I was to cover the whole page like I have done in my final product, instead of leaving it white (as the default background colour) as I have done in my preliminary task.

I have realised the importance of house style/theme in my final magazine production too. I felt that the text had to have the same font and colour all the way through (more or less), so I strictly set this convention in my final product. 

Looking at my preliminary front cover as compared to my final product's, I feel that it is less attractive without any real content such as promotions, or appealing titles that drive the reader to open the magazine. In my final magazine, I have achieved this better as compared to the preliminary task due to including such promotion techniques as a 3D sticker, layered boxes, text with shadows that add emphasis, strands with opposing text colours, etc. 

Despite what I feel I have done better/learnt from the progression from the preliminary task to the final product, I have adopted and developed some of the features of my preliminary task in my final product. One example of the developed convention is the dot (.) used in the logo of my preliminary task. I really liked the idea of having a theme of this kind in the preliminary task also in the final product. Referencing how I felt it was best to have a formal house style set and how vital it is as a whole product overview, I can comment on the use of a dot at the end of the logo and say I felt the house style was carried over in the final product. 

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

I have used many different technologies as I have created my music magazine, these are as follows: Blogger, Photoshop, Lucid Press, Facebook, Google Web,  Google Drive, Windows Live Photo Gallery and a DSLR Fujifilm Camera.

Due to re-taking this Unit of coursework for my A Level and doing the Film Opening brief last year instead, I have learnt and had to grasp the concept of producing a print media text in my spare time and not with any teaching assistance/guidance as such.
Learning about the print techniques and conventions involved me researching online (and through my own collection of music magazines) through such websites as nme.com and qthemusic.com. These websites, as technology online, allowed me to browse their media texts online through photo viewing software on their websites. Google Web allowed me to perform these searches, and also research further into conventions of music magazines and the typical layouts/forms that they can possess.
Blogger.com gave me opportunity to write about any updates, research, developments and final photos. I was able to reflect on my previous updates and describe the subsequent changes. Reflecting on my research was vital, and I was able to do this by opening my blogger and viewing the content that I published - and this was vital due to consulting the conventions and layouts that I am comparing against my production developments.
The DSLR camera allowed me to capture the images form the planned photoshoots for my magazines. I have developed a huge interest for photography and have progressed this photography progressing skill in the A2 Level brief (simultaneous development of both coursework briefs). The DSLR camera, being a high-quality digital single-lens reflex camera provides pixilation detail in the photography I produce - and in the specific location we took the photoshoot for 'Noah Brown', the sun beams that are leaking through the well building, known as crepuscular rays, were captured in the high-quality camera's lens.
In conjunction with the production of the final product, I used publishing editing software called Lucid Press which allowed me to create multiple documents in online storage (through its own cloud storage) and Google Drive. Lucid Press was new technology to me and I felt that I learnt about its capabilities and functions very quickly and easily. It was very easy to also export and save the document, including storage that was new to me also at the time - Google Drive. Google Drive is basically 'cloud storage' that can be synced to software updates. I feel that I have made great progress in learning about the technologies and their capabilities. In this year's A2 brief, I used Paint.NET, which did not work for me as well as Lucid Press did. The great thing about Lucid Press is that it is online, and easily accessible from most devices - meaning I was able to access my coursework from school easily, also making it more secure.
I had also used Windows Live Photo Gallery and Photoshop to change the style of the photos. With the two pieces of photo-editing software, I collectively changed the exposure, shadow, hue, density, brightness and sharpness of most of the photos used in my magazine. I felt quite comfortable using these pieces of software as I have had previous experience with them.
Concerning social networking sites, I used the likes of Facebook to share my updates of the product so I could gain audience feedback. This proved very beneficial when collecting such feedback to hep me produce a more conventional music magazine that would appeal to my target audience.

Evaluation Questions: 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

My target audience would typically be late teens/young adults, whom of which would be interested in the folk genre. This audience would be attracted to my magazine, but also other audience groups may be interested by the magazine for the following reasons.

Firstly, (probably) the most eye-catching attraction on my product's front cover is the extensively large logo that I have used at the top of the cover 'Woodhouse.'. This is due to being the largest text on the page and covers the entire width of the page. The text is bold and the font colour is white; I feel this stands out very well to audiences' who may capture a glimpse of the magazine on a shop shelf.

Furthermore, the banner at the bottom of the page would grab the reader's attention from the opposing colours used to make the text stand out - the red 'plus!', for example. The red sticker circle with the white text also may attract the reader to find out about the exclusive story of Vance Joy, as seen in the white text box surrounding the sticker.

All of these layers, colours and boxes create attraction for the audience that could well be passing by the magazine and grab their attention. I would typically attract my audience from the articles that I have chosen to use in the folk magazine. The main feature article would of course attract my target audience to read my media text by the main body image that covers the entire front page. I have tried to change the colours and fonts to prevent similarity within the appearance of the front cover.

On my contents page, I have tried to extend the theme throughout the magazine and not too much differentiation. Regarding how I addressed my audience in the contents page, I tried to use my original photography as the dominating theme within the contents page to inspire my audience to read on in the magazine. Visually, the audience are more attracted to images than text, thus influencing me to predominantly use these images to cover my contents. Saying this, I had to of course use text, so I addressed my audience to use the contents page easily from a simple layout; placing the text with the referencing page numbers on the right hand page, and predominantly the images on the left. 

My double page also followed the theme of line weighting and text fonts/colours. I have tried to attract my audience to quotes from the feature artist by filling the text box in black and the text in white. What I have also chosen to do to address my audience is move the artist's title 'Noah Brown' around the image, placing it on the landscape as if it is actually within mise-en-scéne. 

Evaluation Questions: 4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Regarding the audience who would typically view my media product, the range would be very wide and stretch a very wide age range, from pre-adolescent/early teens to even the elderly audience. The audience who would typically read my media product would be the audience who enjoys the 'indie/folk' genre, who would typically enjoy reading music magazines of any kind or even who would see one of their favourite artist/an exclusive of the artist on the front cover. This may even stretch to smaller articles where fans may like to read the articles that are not just the exclusive artists - for example, in my magazine, Noah Brown being the exclusive artist.

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

Publishing companies like IPC Media who owns NME and many other publications that are owned under a number of divisions; Inspire. Inspire also publish such magazines that deal with many other different magazine other than music. This means that IPC Media have the best experience when dealing with another genre of music. The 'Inspire' division publish 'Country Life', for example, which can relate much to the locations/setting of which folk music can be set in - typically, in my magazine especially, folk music is set in the woods or natural backgrounds; so IPC Media, I feel, would certainly have a large interest in publishing and distributing my media product.

Bauer Media Group who owns Q, Mojo and Kerrang may want to also distribute my media product due to being involved heavily with the music magazine, and have three of the best-selling and most popular music magazines (Q, Mojo and Kerrang). I have used and developed many forms, layouts and conventions from these three magazines as you can see from my product, especially from the front cover (as you can see below). I have similar conventions, such as the main artist title, other feature title, promotions (sticker) and barcode.

Evaluation Questions: 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My product represents particular social groups through stereotypes and conventions that the social group representation may offer - specifically, my product features an 18 year old male who is on an indie record label and has recorded recorded two albums, plus two other males who are performing and recording artists, who are also fairly young males, whom of which I will discuss later in my answer.

Concerning the feature artist of my product, the 18 year old male has been represented positively regarding representation of late-teens/young adults. This is because Noah has got himself a recording contract with a small indie label and has recorded two albums at his age - whereas the opposite (negative) representation of this would be teenagers who drink alcohol, do drugs, get into trouble with the police, cause havoc, etc. whereas, my product promotes the positive representation of a singer-songwriter male who is making something of their life.

Furthermore, the other two artists in my magazine also have positive representations too, similarly to Noah's representation. Art Haire - the acoustic soloist also holds a positive representation due to not causing trouble instead of making music, which is often at least one of the representations that late teens/young adults possess as a general characteristic. The same is attached with Pete Moss' social group representation - being in a successful band, as compared to being in the media for the opposite story, a negative storyline, more likely in a newspaper, for example.

Not also is this a positive representation, but the fact that a young adult can have such a positive reflection on the more-or-less, if not, same age group as the artists, then this can also be a further positive representation of the artists.

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

My music magazine, being a front cover, contents page and double-page spread, uses, develops and also challenges many forms and conventions from various media products that I have researched and also discovered from my own personal viewings of music magazines – such as NME and Q.

My front cover featured many conventions that I had used and developed from research in existing magazines. Here is the conventions that I had used/developed in my front cover: 

My Front Cover 

Q Front Cover

As you can see from these two pictures, my front cover has used the convention of big and bold text for the artist title, which can be seen in Q's front cover featured artist too - furthermore, it is also white, however I have gone for a full opacity white, whereas it looks as if Q have reduced the opacity (the majority on the right side of the title) to create a faded style. 

My Front Cover

Q Front Cover

I have also developed the convention of adding a quote to the front cover of my magazine. Similarly, I have also used the font colour of white for the quote. I feel that by adding a quote to the front cover, it grabs the reader's attention - being factual and everything.

My Front Cover

Q Front Cover

As you can see, I have used the convention of placing a circle (with text) to make it look like a sticker that has been placed on the magazine. When I researched into real media texts, I thought this was an effective convention to adapt in my magazine - as you can see you from my magazine, it ties the colour scheme of the red 'PLUS!' in the bottom strand and the red sticker effectively.

My Front Cover

Q Front Cover

As for the magazine motto, I have developed the idea of a motto that is placed under my logo - unlike Q, where it is above the logo in this case, however saying that, it is also presented sometimes under the logo; refuting my own argument I guess. I digress - the motto I have used is slightly more modest than Q's "The world's greatest music magazine", however they do of course have a much bigger status, and are one of the leading music magazines. Regarding the contrast in logos, both NME and Q as research differ greatly as compared to mine; with mine being a full name, and the likes of NME and Q being an abbreviation or a one letter logo. 

My Front Cover

One convention that has probably challenged conventions, certainly in my research (as you can see previously in my blog) and in my personal viewing of real media texts, is that logos for festivals or events aren't often used on music magazines as they often don't really fit in with the colour scheme or style/layout of the magazine.


My contents page featured many conventions that I had used and developed from research in existing magazines. Here is the conventions that I had used/developed in my contents page:


My double page spread featured many conventions that I had used and developed from research in existing magazines. Here is the conventions that I had used/developed in my double page spread:

My Left Page of Double Page Spread

NME Left Page of Double Page Spread

The use of a whole image to fill an entire A4 side on the left page of the double page has been used conventionally in my product from the research shown above in NME's issue featuring Paul McCartney. There are some differences in the left page with the specific content; NME has chosen a mid-close up of Paul and his guitar, and I have chosen to go for a long shot with Noah and his guitar. NME have an artificial background and I have natural woodland and brickery in front of Noah (as I have described to you in previous posts). Also, I have added a page number at the bottom (left) of my product's page, whereas there is no page number that I can see from the screenshot of the research.

My Right Page of Double Page Spread

NME Right Page of Double Page Spread

Just like the NME column text, I have used (three) columns to layout the main content of the double page spread. Similarly, I have used a big letter to go with the column text, however I have used two instead and placed it under the layer of the first column to outline the first two words - 'N' for Noah and 'B' for Brown.

Planning: Double Page Spread Update

Below is a recent update of how the Double Page Spread is progressing...

I feel that this is almost close to being finished. I am happy with the right-hand page as a whole, but feel that something different could be done with the left-hand page concerning the text over the picture - especially the black text as it doesn't stand out as much as it should do. Furthermore, I want to reduce the line space in the second column of the right-hand page as it looks a little to distant as compared to the other two columns - this is probably because of the paragraph spacing to separate the interview transcript.