lucy morrissey music magazine evaluation

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Lucy Morrissey AS Media studies Music Magazine Evaluation

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Page 1: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

Lucy Morrissey

AS Media studies Music Magazine Evaluation

Page 2: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

Front Cover

Page 3: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

Contents Page

Page 4: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

Double Page Spread

Page 5: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

Whilst creating my magazine, I understood that there were certain conventions and aspects of a magazine that I had to implement when creating my magazine. To ensure that the aspects in my magazine reached my target audience, I did some research on other magazine covers and contents pages from magazines that my target audience would be interested in reading, such as 'top of the pops'. This research allowed me to get ideas about what I had to include in my magazine for it to reach my target audience. When designing my magazine, I had to ensure that I understood that I had to include certain conventions in my magazine to help me reach my target audience. In order to do this, I had to look at other music magazines, with the same genre as mine and use these magazines as a guideline to help me create my magazine. These magazines helped me to create my title, help me choose an image, Mise-en-scene and what people to include in my image. My magazine focuses on new bands rather than well-known artists.

Masthead

As with all magazines, the masthead is one of the most important features /conventions of the magazine cover, which means that it needs to be unique and it must be easy for a reader to easily recognise it and distinguish it from other magazines of this genre. The masthead of my magazine is ‘Miss Pop’ and is the boldest and biggest font on the cover of my magazine. I chose my masthead to be in the colour pink because pink is intuitive and insightful, as well as being a feminine colour, attracting my target audience. The importance with my masthead being insightful is that it already gives the reader an idea of what content will be in the magazine, before reading anything else on the cover. Using Photoshop, I then manipulated the magazine title by stretching it across the page, to make it stand out compared to the rest of the page and because it was a title, it needed to go over the whole of the top of the page and stand out. By using a lighter font as my masthead, it meant that that I could add darker colours to the rest of my page to ensure that the rest of the page looked sophisticated against the pink masthead. My reason for differentiating my masthead from other Pop magazines such as billboard and top of the POPs is that my magazine needs to be unique and stand out. The only way to do this was to make my masthead different to theirs.

My magazine does challenge the colour of the mastheads on other POP magazines, because most of them have a darker colour masthead if they have a white background to make it stand out. I think the problem with having a darker colour masthead, such as Navy Blue, Dark purple, is that they can be very harsh on the image, especially if you have an image with a white background. Whereas Pink is a non-threatening colour seeking appreciation, respect and is a more inviting colour, I felt that this colour is more likely to attract my target audience as well as having a small effect on my image with a white background which still allowed the image to stand out as well as the masthead.

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

Page 6: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

Mise-en scene of imagesIn terms of Mise-en-scene, I believe that my magazine follows the mise-en-scene conventions of most music magazines. I tried to keep the mise-en-scene in all of my images as simple as possible. My reason for this is that I tried to conform the codes and conventions of other POP magazines, such as billboard and top of the pops that have no background on their images. However, although this may not come across as a catchy convention, it is very effective in terms of getting the model in the main image of the magazine to stand out (breaking the fourth wall. )The lighting I used was high key lighting positioned directly on the models face, making the model look brighter in comparison to the rest of the page. I used a convention which most POP magazines use, which is the pose of the model. The model is smiling, whilst looking directly into the camera, which doesn’t make the model look obscure and just makes her look like a normal teenage girl. The posture also shows that she is confident. Furthermore, in terms of the image on my double page spread, I have linked it in with the headline on that page. I also used some black and white images on the right side of my double page spread, which you wouldn’t normally see in a magazine, if it is colour, it would normally be all colour, but I wanted to add something to my magazine that would make it different from others as well as giving it an effective house style. My double page spread is an image of the model laughing, showing her enthusiasm and desire towards music and is obviously something that she enjoys doing. The majority of the images that I have used follow the forms and conventions as other music magazine by linking in with headline and the whole focus being on the model.

My magazine uses the

codes and conventions by having a

white background

as the image to

ensure the model

stands out

Page 7: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

Costumes and Prop

The costumes and props that the model is wearing in my magazine (‘Miss POP’) are conventional and correlate all other magazines of this music Genre. The model in my

images is wearing a collared tartan dress, this is because this is the latest fashion which is in this season, which shows that she keeps up to date and this will attract the audience. I don’t believe that there is a certain dress code for models on POP magazines, the clothes

that artists where are normally to represent who they are as a person and are not too outgoing.

The model is wearing makeup and bright lipstick; this gave the image a more professional look when the image was taken as well as to use the conventions of a typical pop magazine. The props used throughout my magazine are sunglasses and a flower crown, which is worn on the models head in every image. The reason for my model wearing sunglasses is mostly to her look cool and they are a fashion statement. Flower crowns are worn by many artists,

such as Taylor swift, little mix, Miley Cyrus and in order to conform the codes and conventions of other POP magazines, I decided to get my model to wear a flower crown,

especially because she is a new artist, it could make her look more appealing as the audience will infer that she is just like any other POP artist as she is wearing similar clothing.

Beth Hayes is wearing

similar clothes to

models used on

other magazines.

Page 8: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

People

The people features in my magazine are very conventional. Although, I only have one artist, I

think that it is more appropriate to have one artist and to make the magazine look

professional and consistent, rather than having lots of artists and having to balance the

magazine out equally between each artist. My magazine is not the only magazine that

features just one artist, there are magazines such as billboard and blender which are both

very successful POP magazines that only feature one artist. The artist featured in my

magazine is 16, and in every image is smiling, and her costume shows that she takes great pride in her appearance. Although, some POP

magazines tend to focus on lots of artists in one magazine, I think that I would be more

successful in just focusing on one artist as this would be more appropriate for an older teenage

audience. The people in my magazine have a big impact on my target audience, because I have aimed my magazine at teenage girls

between the age of 15 and 19, the people in my magazine is more likely to appeal to them as

they will realise that they are the same age as them.

The model featured in my magazine is around the same age as teenagers used in other POP magazines, up to the age of 20.

Page 9: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

House Style House Style= a company's preferred manner of presentation and layout of written material.

When coming up with a house style for my magazines, I researched other magazines to see what they do to stick to a certain style throughout the whole media product. The house style of my magazine, is very bold, capital letter, which and the colours used were:

Pink Black white.

As you can see from the images below, every magazine sticks to certain house style. For example, billboard use a very bold and big masthead in a black font.

As you can see, these magazines all have a similar house style. The same masthead has been used in every magazine, this makes the magazine recognisable to the reader as soon as they see the magazine.

Page 10: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

LayoutIn addition to the house style of my magazine, the layout of my magazine has a big

impact on how my target audience see the magazine. Before deciding how to layout my magazine (front cover, double page spread and contents page) I had to

do some research to give me some ideas. I used a conventional layout for all 3 elements of my magazine. For the front cover, I used codes and conventions and

set them out like any other magazine, such as top of the pops and billboard would. My masthead “Miss POP” was situated at the top of the page. I then have my main

image of the centre of the page, which allows it to catch the readers attention.

Furthermore, the barcode is situated in the bottom right corner of my front cover, the reason I used a barcode can be seen by clicking here.

The headline links to the main artist on the cover of my magazines by saying her name and using a quote from the interview inside the magazine “I used to laugh when people told me I could sing”, this is catchy because it means if they want to

read more about the interview, they have to look inside the magazine.

The cover lines are situated below the headline “The 2014 Miss POP awards” these are used to give the reader more of an insight to what other content is included in the magazine before they read the magazine and there are lots of magazines that

do this.

The date line is placed underneath the masthead as it can be easily recognised by the reader so that they know if they are up to date on the issues or not.

Page 11: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

In terms of the layout for my contents page, I tried to differentiate it and give it a unique layout, as well as allowing it to be profitable for the distributor of the magazine (See slides 17&18). I did some research and I liked the way that Billboard didn’t set out their magazine just like any ordinary contents page. I liked how they had one main image the middle and then the text going down the left side of the Image.For my contents page, I set out my magazine in similar way that billboard set out theirs. The Main image of my contents page is in the centre of the page with the text going around the right side of it. However, I did not want to just call my contents page ‘Contents’ as this doesn’t make the masthead stand out. Therefore I decided to use ‘inside this magazine’. The text going along the side of the page, also produces a good eye flow and makes it clearer for them to read and to find what they are looking for. I put the page numbers in a bolder font and the text that I wanted to stand out in much bolder, larger fonts so that the reader doesn’t have to read every word on the page if they don’t need to. In terms of the layout for my double page spread, I gave the double page spread a unique layout, as well as allowing it to be successful and profitable for the distributor of the magazine. I decided to just have one main image and the headline on the left side of the page, as if there is too much text on the page, it won’t make the reader want to read it.However, on the right side of the double page spread, I wanted to do something different. I added three black and white images to the top of the page, this allowed the colour image on the left side of the page to still be the main focus on the page. I also conformed the codes and conventions by using a column for my interview.

My magazine in comparison to the layout of a ‘Blender’ magazine.

Page 12: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

Font/StyleI tried to use very simple, well recognisable fonts the whole way throughout my magazine. The 3 main fonts that I tended to stick to throughout the creation of my magazine were:

Trajan Pro Arno Pro

Front Cover: When researching I noticed that the pieced of text that stand out the most on a magazine are the masthead and the pug words as this is what grabs the readers attention. The font that I used for my masthead was Myriad Pro and I made it italics. This ensured that it would stand out to the fonts on the rest of my page. I also made the style of the word “Exclusive!” on the banner bold to catch the readers eye. The masthead has to be used throughout every magazine to make it more recognisable to the reader, which is why it is a very important element and lots of research has to go into it. For the headline, I decided to use two colours, Pink and black, to make it unique.Content Page: For the headline on my double page spread, I used the same font that I used for the headline on my front cover which was “Trajan Pro” this made sure that my magazine was kept looking consistent throughout. However, I used a different font for the page numbers and the content which is included on each page, this was so that the page numbers were clear and easy to see. Double Page Spread: For the headline on my double page spread, I used the same font that I used for the headline on my front cover which was “Trajan Pro” this made sure that my magazine was kept looking consistent throughout.Throughout my magazine, the colours used for the text are consistent and unique to “Miss Pop”.

Font style

used on my

double page

spread.

Font style

used on my

Contents Page.

Font style

used on my front

cover.

Page 13: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

Written ContextAll of the topics in the magazine relate to the target audience of the magazine, which are teenagers, therefore, if what they are reading is aimed at them; it will be more appealing for them. Before, I could start to add the content to my magazine had to see what people normally look for in a magazine to make it easier for me to attract my target audience, I did this research through the use of my mood board, to see what other magazines do and through the use of my survey. The content included on the cover of my magazine is up to date information that you would see in other POP magazines, such as “UK top 40” . The written contest is mainly about “Beth Hayes” because she is the featured artist throughout my media product “Miss POP”.

In terms of my double page spread, I have decided to use a column interview, to conform the conventions of other POP magazines from this genre. I did an interview featuring “Beth Hayes” and it is all about her moving up in the music industry and being successful. Although I have used conventions of a real media product, by using a column interview, other magazines normally feature popular artists, whereas mine features a new artist.

My contents page, also features information about other artists, not just “Beth Hayes” which is the artist featured in the main image of the magazine. It features information about people such as “One Direction, Little Mix and 5 seconds of summer” as it allows me to open up to context included in the magazine to a wider range of people as I have also included popular, well known artists in my magazine.

Overall, by using a column interview on my double page spread, it is easier for the reader to read the magazine and also made it easier for me to direct the context at them, by using direct address, so it sounds like “Beth Hayes” is talking to her fans in the interview rather than the person interviewing her.

This text style that I used for the interview on my double page spread was Arno Pro in the font size ‘13’.

{My double page spread interview and the image below shows an interview from ‘Top of the pops’}

Page 14: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

PriceThis analysis will help me when coming to decide on a suitable price for my magazine that will also suit my target audience. When deciding a price I needed to take into consideration my target audience to ensure that the price is affordable for them. If my target audience is age 13-12, it wouldn't be reasonable to set a very high price as they don't have much of an income so rely on adults. Whereas, if I choose my target audience to be between the ages of 16-20, I could price my magazine a little bit higher as they have more of an income. The price of my

magazine is £2.99. I chose this price

because my magazine shows that over 80% of people who took my survey would

pay up to £2.99 for a music magazine,

which is also an affordable and

reasonable price for a magazine. It is also a lot lower than competitors with top of the

pops pricing their magazine at £3.99, which is high for a

lower teenage audience. The

price of my magazine is

displayed on the barcode.

Page 15: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

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

I believe that my magazine represents similar social groups to magazines such as top of the pops and billboard music magazines. My magazine represents a teenage social group between the ages of 15-19. This is due to the content in both magazines being similar. I believe that my magazine represents similar social groups to magazines such as top of the pops and billboard music magazines. This is due to the content in both magazines being similar. My media magazine goes against the conventional views in the way that people see teenagers. The social groups that are represented in my media product are teenage girls between the ages of “15-19”. I have biased my magazine against males and decided to go with a predominant female target audience, which was not intentional. When researching my target audience, I believe that this was the best target audience to aim my magazine at. The type of people that would buy my magazine would be people in the D section of the demographics chart (this could be students with part time jobs would be in section E (semi-unskilled manual workers or the unemployed-younger children/teenagers) this means that they may need people to buy the magazine for them, this is normally for a younger target audience. Although my target audience is a bit different to other POP magazines, the content and images included in the magazine are fairly similar and focus on the same subjects. I have represented my artists as being successful and professional, while still being elegant and feminine throughout my music magazine. The price of my magazine is £2.99, as I wanted to make it affordable and a relative price for my target audience. 

Page 16: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

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

Font/Colour: I tried to use as little colours and font styles and colours throughout the creation of my front cover, this ensured that I kept it as professional looking as possible. However, I did have to ensure that the key conventions of my magazine stood out in much bigger/bolder fonts.

My model is clearly between the age of 15-19, which can be implied just by looking at the image before reading the article inside the magazine. Also, because the model is a girl, it will attract more girls to read the magazine which is very beneficial for me as this is who I have aimed my magazine at. The model in the image is 16, and this means that more people are likely to buy the magazine due to the fact that the model in the magazine is the same age as them and the can relate to the model as a person. The model looks directly into the camera.

From my survey, which I used survey monkey to complete (Survey Analysis) I found out that the majority of people between the ages of 15-19 favourite music genre to listen to is POP and that they like to see new upcoming artists in my magazine, this meant that I had to try and incorporate some of this research into my magazine.

I think my magazine is easily recognisable and potentially appealing to someone who have a strong interest and desire in listening to pop music. I feel that my music magazine would be very recognisable, especially in this social group as this genre is very recognisable and is always kept up to date, which is publicised in the media through celebrities such as One Direction, Little Mix and 5 seconds of summer.

I have opted to use a plain white background for the background of my magazine, not only does this allow my magazine to look more professional and conform the codes and conventions of a typical POP magazine, but it also allows the text on my front cover to stand out against the background on the page and allowing the whole focus to be on the model of the image.

Clothing/Props: When researching other POP magazines, there is no particular magazine that use certain clothing on their models. The clothing that the models wear in POP magazines are used to present who they are as a person, and are usually clothes that are quite popular. My model is wearing a collared dress, which shows that she keeps up to date with the latest fashion that the audience can relate to.

The lighting is featured more on the celebrities face, which is like any other celebrity music magazine, the focus will always be on the models face.The model is wearing a flower crown, and Make up, which any other celebrity would use when being photographed.

Page 17: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

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

I think that the best institution to distribute my media product is ‘Immediate Media Company.’ Immediate Media Company is

a combined publishing house, it is combined with Origin Publishing and BBC Magazines. The publishing company

started distributing in 2011. It publishes over 50 magazine titles including 23 BBC Worldwide titles which have a long term licence as well as publishing over 30 websites. The

company is located in Hammersmith, London and Bristol. This is a very beneficial synergy for ‘Immediate Media Company’

company because it means that they can distribute the magazines across a range of media platforms and sectors.

Immediate Media Company are one of the most popular distribution company's and they are one of the biggest

consumer media businesses in the UK and the third largest magazine publisher. Immediate media company sell

compelling content on platforms which enhances the way people engage with what they love. “Immediate Media

Company is an award-winning special interest content and platform company”. Their aim is to make everything good quality. People read their content across 36 websites, 58

magazines and they reach over 70 brands (including Top of the Pops magazine, match of the day magazine, cbeebies

magazine) as you can see, all of these magazines are aimed at a much younger audience.

Immediate Media Company sells over 70 million magazines every year and 22 million people look at their magazines

online each month. They aim to build a strong position in the future and turn “special interests into lifelong passions”.

Page 18: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

The only music magazine that ‘Immediate Media Company’ currently distributes is ‘Top Of the Pops’ which is aimed at a much younger teenage audience, whereas mine is aimed at an older teenage audience. The target audience of Top of the Pops is young girls, between the age of 11 and 25,

with a keen interest in pop music. 87% of people who read the magazine are girls and the other 13% are boys. This age range is reflected through the price of the magazine,

which is £2.40, as well as the content that is included in the magazine. My reason for choosing Immediate Media

Company to distribute my magazine is that although they already distribute one POP genre music magazine

(meaning that there is a lot of competition already in the market), this is aimed at a younger audience so have

nothing like my magazine.

It is also beneficial for the company in many different ways as it allows the company to open up their media products to a wider range of people, which means more people will buy their products, allowing them to make more profit. It is not only beneficial for immediate media company, but one

benefit of me distributing my media product with Immediate media company is that they already have a lot of experience distributing in this sector, so I can be sure

that my media product will be successful when it had been distributed. (“Immediate Media Company sell over 70

million magazines every year and 22 million people look at their magazines online each month”).

 My media product would complement the other magazines in Immediate Media Company’s portfolio in many different ways. This is because my magazine is unique as this media institution don’t currently distribute magazines that feature new and upcoming artists that people want to keep up to date with, they only feature the most popular artists that

everybody is aware of.

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

Page 19: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

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

I have chosen to aim my magazine at a predominant audience of females between the age of 15 and 19. This is because from research, I can see that this age range are people who are most likely to go to concerts and keep up to date with the latest music and who would be most likely to listen to this music, whereas an older person may be more interested in listening to other genres of music, so young people would be more interested in listening to pop music. This is also reflected in my survey because from my survey analysis, I can see that the majority of people who are interested in POP music range from age 16-19, this allows me to see who my magazine would most appeal to.

In addition to this, my survey showed that most girls are interested in pop rather than boys. Although, there is already a lot of competition in the market for POP magazines, from doing research, I believe that a lot of these magazines are aimed at a younger target audience and there isn't as many POP magazines open to older teenagers.

I also believe that this is an appropriate age range because if you look at other POP music magazines such as ‘top of the pops’ which is aimed at a younger audience, the content inside these magazines aren’t just based on music, they include things such as fashion, which doesn’t really conform the codes and conventions of a ‘music magazine’, my magazine will be entirely based on music.

Also, my survey showed that most girls are interested in pop rather than boys. If the majority of people who took my survey were between the age of 17 and 19, It made it easier for me to decide my target audience as I know what age range are interested in this genre of music. If 30% of people who took my survey were boys between the ages of 12-15, it wouldn’t be very beneficial for me as I wouldn’t know what they look for in a magazine or what encouraged them to buy a magazine. It would also be hard for me to choose a genre for my magazine.

Although, there is already a lot of competition in the market for POP magazines, from doing research, I believe that a lot of these magazines are aimed at a younger target audience and there isn't as many POP magazines open to older teenagers. I also believe that this is an appropriate age range because if you look at other POP music magazines such as ‘top of the pops’ which is aimed at a younger audience, the content inside these magazines aren’t just based on music, they include things such as fashion, which doesn’t really conform the codes and conventions of a ‘music magazine’, my magazine will be entirely based on music.

I think that my magazine will appeal to those who have an interest in POP music and people who like to keep up to date with the latest music and latest artist and band news. There is already a wide variety of POP magazines that exist, this meant that I had to be very careful when deciding my target audience so that it didn’t clash with the target audience of other POP magazines; this allowed me to differentiate my product from those of competitors. My audience is backed up by the price of my magazine being £2.99.

Target Audience:

Girls

Target Audience:

Age 15-19

Page 20: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

5) How did you attract/address your audience?  

There were many different techniques and magazine conventions that I had to use in my magazine to attract my target audience. As well as using these techniques throughout the design process of my magazine, I also addressed my target audience by constantly asking what their opinions were regarding my magazine throughout its production;

this meant that I could get feedback on ways to improve my magazine to make them want to read it anymore.When constructing my magazine, I had to keep in mind that the layout of the magazine is one of the most important factors for influencing people to buy the magazine. Looking at my contents page, you can immediately see that I did something different to it to make it unique and catch the reader’s attention. I felt that having the ordinary “Table” layout would not catch the reader’s eye as it is nothing different to what they have seen before. I needed to enhance my readers and create a different simplistic design to my magazine. In order to do this, I researched similar magazines to see what they do in order to catch the reader’s attention (See LIIAR Analysis).

I believe that another code/convention that I used to attract my target audience is my use of BUZZ words on my front cover, such as “Exclusive” and “Win a one direction CD”. This would appeal to them because my target audience is girls age 15-19 and if they know they are getting something from the magazine that no other magazine is going to offer, they are more likely to buy the magazine.The model features in the main image on the front cover of my magazine, has a major impact on whether somebody buys the magazine or not. I chose the model to be the same age as my target audience so that the audience can relate to the magazine in a better way and inspire to be like the artist on the front of the magazine and it gives the audience somebody to look up to. The model is looking directly into the camera, which instantly catches the audience’s eye and makes them look at the magazine. There is nothing extreme or obscure about the appearance of the model.

I used very formal language, as well as a direct mode of address. throughout my magazine, to make it more understandable for the reader, otherwise it could be quite boring for them to read the magazine. I also based the content on articles that would interest them and that they would be able to relate to.

The final way I addressed/attracted my target audience was by the colour scheme and because my magazine is only aimed at teenage girls, it made it a lot easier for me to choose colours for my magazine. My colour scheme was Pink, white and black. This allowed me to put the most important things that I wanted to stand out and to attract the target audience in darker colours, these colours would also appeal to them as an audience.

I also linked my headline to the image, as well as using other cover lines on the cover of my magazine, which is very beneficial as it means that if the reader isn’t attracted to the main image on the magazine, there is other stories on the cover of the magazine that could attract them to the magazine. For example “This weeks UK top 40”. This attracts them if they like to keep up to date with the latest music; this allows my magazine to be opened up to a wider range of people.

Page 21: Lucy Morrissey Music Magazine Evaluation

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? I feel that from creating my front cover, contents page and double page spread, I have learnt a lot

about technologies and I have developed my skills using different computer programmes. Whilst taking my photos, I used very little equipment; the only piece of equipment that I used to take my

photos was my camera (Nikon L810) which can be seen in the image below. I used a laptop/computer to construct the media product.

 In order to construct my front cover, double page spread and table of contents, I used Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop was the most important

and an extremely useful computer programme that I used when undertaking this project. I used Photoshop to create most of my

magazine. To use the programme, I had to learn how to use the tools on the programme. I used a tool on Photoshop to change the lighting of an image; I did this by enhancing photographic exposure. To do this I had to

add a curves adjustment layer and lighten the darker side of the image. The first element of my magazine that I created using Photoshop

was my Front Cover, which consisted of a main image, title, banner, cover lines, headline and a barcode.

Firstly, because the main image was the focus of the front cover of my magazine, I opened it by going to >file>open>locating the image. I then

decided to add a colour overlay to my image. To add this I inserted a shape and drew it over the whole image and chose the colour that I

wanted. I then made the image black and white the erase tool on the toolbar on the side of the screen and rubbed out the black and white layer of the model making sure that I kept the background black and

white. I changed some of the colours that are part of this image. I added a new layer and then went to>colour gradient, this allowed me to add 3 colours into my image (red, blue and green) which added an effect to the image. I added mostly blue and red to my image and a little bit of green

to ensure the image wasn't too bright. To do this I chose the colour>Channel>Red>Input (Made it bigger)>Output (Made it smaller). I had to do this for all three colours. This was all of the effects added to the image. Now that I had added all of the effects that I wanted to the image, I had to add the rest of the conventions to the document to conform the

codes and conventions of a magazine cover. This was a fundamental part of the construction of my front cover. To add the banner I had to insert a

shape>choose the shape at the toolbar on the top of the screen and draw it across the top of my page. To add any pieces of text the page, I used the ‘T’ tool on the toolbar on the side of my screen. To see more about how I created my front cover using Photoshop, see ‘Creating my

front cover’ (http://lucymorrisseymedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/front-cover-music-magazine-final.html

)

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The second element of my magazine that I created using Photoshop was my contents page. In order to do this I had to open a new ‘A4 document’. Again, I had to insert my main image that I wanted to use for my contents page, I did this by going to file>open. I then used the ‘move tool’ to move the image onto the A4 document. I then added the same effects to this image as I did for my front cover, this ensured that I kept a continuity house style throughout my magazine. The next step that I took on my contents page, I believe taught me the most about technologies and Photoshop and what it can do. This was because, I realised that I needed to add something into the background of it to make it stand out a little bit more and add more of an effect to the page. I decided to add a 'Bokeh effect' to my image. This was very beneficial for me as it helped me develop my skills on Photoshop as this effect is something that I have never done before using Photoshop. To add the bokeh effect I clicked on the brush tool and went to layers>create new layer. I then chose a foreground colour (which was pink to keep a consistent house style throughout my magazine). I then added different size circles all over the page. Once I had added all of the circles that I wanted, I went to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, this blurred the circles so that they didn't stand out too much, although they did still stand out, they still allowed the main image to be the main focus of the contents page. The next step I took was to add a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer at the top of all of my layers. The final step that I took was to add brightness and contrast effect. I know there was a piece of software that allowed you to do this before I used Photoshop, so this really helped me in developing my Photoshop skills and taught me something new that I never knew about.  

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

(Continued)

The final element of the construction of my magazine that I used Photoshop for was my double page spread, again the construction of this, taught me a lot about technologies and I took the same steps above to edit the image in the same way in which I edited the image for my contents page (for more on editing my image for my double page spread, see ‘Creating my double page spread’). However, although I edited the image in a similar way to the other components of my magazine, the conventions needed for the double page spread were very different. I added a quote to the main image using the ‘T’ tool, I did this text in the same font as my Masthead on my front cover to create continuity and a house style that I can incorporate across my magazine well. I then added a page number and the interview to my double page spread. Without Photoshop, I wouldn’t have been able to add the effects to my images that I wanted to; this was a very important software program throughout the development of my music magazine.

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

 Microsoft word: Before I started to create my magazine front cover and contents page and double page there was lots of research that I had to do in order for me to find out more about other magazines that had the same genre that I chose for my magazine. It helped me find out more about font styles, colour schemes and poses of the models. I had to research different colours that I wanted to use on my magazine, different text styles (e.g.,- bold, big text that stands out for the title of my magazine). I also did research on different magazine conventions. Using a word document for all of my research made it easier for me to access it whenever I needed it, if I forgot what colour I wanted to use for the title, I could just look back at my research and see what it was. This way, I was able to keep my magazine looking consistent.

Blogger: During the process of creating my media product, I regularly updated my blog about what stages of the media product I was at. This blog allowed me to publish all my drafts and research of the product online. I had to update my blog about the research I had done to help me come to my final decisions, I had to analyse other music magazines and also update my blog about the actual media product (development, drafts and the final product). This was important as it helped me throughout different stages of creating my product and helped me keep up to date with all of my work.

PowerPoint/Slide share: I used PowerPoint to create presentations throughout the creation of my media product, such as my research of front covers LIIAAR analysis. Slide Share allowed me to upload any presentations that I had made whilst creating my media product, when these presentations were uploaded, it provided me with a link and I was then able to embed the links on to my blog, which allowed the presentations to be viewed from my blog.

Paint: I used paint to save any jpeg images by copy and pasting the image onto paint and going to file>save ad>file type (JPEG). This helped me when I had to upload images onto my blog. I also used a scanner whilst creating my magazine front cover and contents page and double page as it allowed me to scan in any first drafts that I had made and upload them onto my blog. Once I had scanned in these drafts I was able to upload them onto my blog to get feedback on them and improve my magazine.

Scanner:

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Looking back at my preliminary task, there is a lot that I have learnt from progression to the main foundation portfolio task.

Firstly, the first thing I have learnt the most about is Photoshop. Looking back at my preliminary task, I didn’t edit any images; the only tool that I used was the ‘quick selection tool’ to crop

around some of the images used on the front cover. Now, looking at my preliminary task, there are so many skills that I have learnt that helped me to construct my music magazine. I now

know how to use tools such as curves, levels, and brightness/ contrast which all allow me to add certain effects to my image to ensure that my image stands out. In my preliminary task, I didn’t

add any effects to the image which did not really make the model of the image stand out.In addition to this, I also believe that I know a lot more about the codes and conventions that

need to be included in a magazine and the importance of text styles and fonts. From looking at the image on the previous slide from my preliminary task, it is evident that I knew very little

about text styles and how you had to make more fonts stand out from others to catch the reader’s eye. I also learnt a lot more about the layout of the front cover/contents page and

double page spread. The masthead on the front cover of my preliminary task, did not stand out and differentiate itself from other magazine, however, I realised that on my music magazine, this is the one of the most important elements of the magazine, as this is how a reader recognises a

magazine, therefore, I made sure that I made this in a different font to the rest of the page.Not only, did I learn more about constructing the product, but I also learnt a lot more about the importance of taking a variety of photos using different camera angles when you are doing your

photo-shoot, this makes it easier to find a suitable photo for the magazine cover.The final thing that I learnt from the development of my preliminary task to constructing my

music magazine is how much research needs to be done into other magazine conventions and other magazines in general to get your magazine right. For example, I used survey monkey to

find out what people want to see in a magazine, and when completing my preliminary task, I did not create a survey, which meant that I didn’t have an idea of the target audience and what

content to use inside my magazine. Overall, I now have a stronger knowledge and understanding on programs such as adobe

Photoshop, I also know how to update and develop my blog (adding new pictures, embedded links from slide share) as well as the important conventions that need to be included in a

magazine.

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