Evaluation

Product

• I think my final project was quite successful
• I'm glad I decided to create another centre spread because I feel this was a lot better and improved the quailty of the final product
• I like how there was a clear link between the cover, content and centre spread so it was clear it was all from the same magazine.
• I think if i was to do it again I would want to have a clear idea of what I was doing before I began, and maybe create my stereotypical audience in more detail, so I will have a better idea of what I'm aiming for.

Institution

• I think my magazine should be should in large institution such as IPC media, as other magazine from the same institution can work with my magazine for advertising purposes etc.
• I have looked on the IPC media website to check an institutiom similar this would have other magazine are in these institutuon such as:- NME, Marie Claire, and Guitar and Bass, i think these magazines would compliment my magazine
• I think my magazine would fit this institution because it is a big well known magazine but my magazine also has some unique selling points, which had to this and will work well both for the magazine itself and the institution.
• My magazine it aimd at more indie music, so it will be different from mosst other magazine offering a new audience for the institution.

Technology

• When I first began using the Apple Mac I found it difficult to get used to the technology as I was unfamilar with it but I felt it didn't take too long to get used to this technology as I feel it was fairly simple once I knew the basics.
• Before I began my coursework, I went to a newly opened Apple store in Bristol for some training on the Macs. I found this helped a lot as I had people who are used to working with Macs to help me. I therefore had some experience with Macs in prepartion for beginning my coursework

Prelimary Task

• I had some problem with my prelimary task. Once I had began my prelimary task I saved it on my memory stick and unfortuatly my memory stick got stolen so i lost some of this work putting me behind on my task and meaning i had to start again. Luckly this didnt take too didnt too long. I felt my second attempt was better anyway because I had already got used to the technology slightly.
• I felt the prelimary task was useful as I was used to the technology. Learnt from my mistakes before working on my main task, which i think help the quality of my main task as i was more experienced with creating magazine pages.

Representation

• Throughout my main task I tried to think of the representation of my stereotypical audience so I could try to make sure this fits my audiece as best it can.
• I tried to give a possitive representation of indie/punk/rock type music on in my magazine as my magazine was suposed to be aimed at audience interested in this type of music and lifestyle.
• I tried to used photo's and colour schemes to add to the represations. I used a red colour scheme as red has connotaions of both danger and passion. Also I tired to make the photo's I used give off the impression of the people having confidence and being happy.

Audience

• I tried to create a stereotypical audience so I had more idea of what i needed to include in my magazine.
• When analysising other magazine I tried to look for magazine with similar target audiences so i could see how they worked with the audience and what they included
• I found my main task audience harder to work with than my prelimary task as the audience would be a lot larger with more of a range.
• Over i think i met the needs of my audeince.

What i need to do next - Complete evaluation

I have now finished my second version of my centre spread. I am much happier with this, so I will keep this as my final centre spread, to go along with the front cover and contents page I completed earlier. Now I need to evaluate my coursework. I will do this in order to explain my view on how this coursework went, and how it could be improved. I will do this in my blog because I think it's still part of my coursework so I think it's a good idea to keep my blog going on as i feel my blog has been successful and worked well.

Centre Spread

I have decided to use a black and white photo of Amy I've taken to use as the background of half the page, and i have added the interview text on top of this photo. I will change the colour of the text to red in order to make it clear and to fit the colur correcct colour scheme. I decided to use a photo as the background for the interview as i think it makes the page more interesting.

As the girlband interview ("Scarlett") are a new band I have decided to have the other half of the centre spread to be introducing the band. The readers have some backgroung information on the band and just to explain more about who in the interview is with etc, i think this is a good way to get the readers attention and to let them know what the article is about. Also on the page i have decided to use one of my favourate photo's from the photoshoot i did of all 3 of the girls and to have arrow with names pointing to the girls in the band. I think this i a good idea because it visually introducing the girlband.

Changing my centre spread

For my other centre spread i will keep the interview the same as i think the actual text was successful it was just the layout of the whole page which i needed to improve.

So i will change the layout, colours, size and photos used in order to try to improve this. :)

Advice and what I've decided to do next...

I just met with people to give me advice with my main task. I was fairly please with what they said and I felt it helped alot. I got told that they liked my cover and contents page, they thought it worked well and they didn't feel I needed to changed anything here. They they didn't think the centre spread was as successful as it could have been (I agreed). So i have decided it would be a good idea to try something else for my centre spread to try to do as good as possible on my main task.

Evaluation of creating my centre spread

I found creating my centre spread the most challenging out of everything, although I tried hard on this I don't think its as effective as it could be.

However I have arranged to have some people who with magazines and publishing so I am going to wait to see there opinion and then try to improve.

Creating my orignal centre spread

Steps i took when creating my centre spread:-

1. I opened pages and changed the layout to A3
2. I tried to estimate half the size of the page and set a dark grey rectangle, coving half the page. I choose dark grey because I think its simple and fits the style of my magazine.
3. I then dragged a picture I took of Amy, Hannah and Jess in one of my photoshoots. I put this on the other side of of the page. I choose a pictue with Amy in the front because she's the lead singer of the girl band and I also wanted the others in this photo so this photo seems most practical to use.
4. I used the shape tool to create an arrow pointing to Amy and inside the arrow i added text saying Amy, I decided to do this because I think this is more interesting than just having the title alone.
5. I added "Scarlett lead singer interveiw" as the title and tried different fonts, sizes and colours. I decided to use red to fit the style of the cover and contents page.
6. I added the interview into the grey space. I had already decided what I was writting so this saved some time as I only had to type it up and decide on the font, size and colour. I typed each question of the interview in separate texts box's so i could change the layout as its a magazine article i thought it should be layed out in collums.
7. I added some last little details, ie, smaller photo's and shadows.

Deciding what to write in my interview

I have been looking through some interviews in magazine so I get the right idea what style to write in and what kind of things it should say. Once I done this I constusted a mini interview to use in my magazine. I decided to ask questions about the girlband coming together etc. as they are new. So I think the audience would be interested to hear where this new girlband came from, and to see they started off as just normal people so readers will also be able to relate to them.

What I need to do next - Create my centre spread

My next step of course is to create my centre spread. I think this will be the most challenging out of everything because its on a larger scale. I have to think about a story of this page. I will need to use english, photography and creativity skill to make this page successful.

Luckily creating the rest of my main task helped me decide what I wanted to do for my centre spread. I decided to have my centre spread as a interview with the lead sing of the 'new girl band: 'Scarlett'. I think this is a good idea because it links the front cover and contents pages I've already completed. Also I can use the photoshoot I've already done. :)

Creating my contents page.

I did a flat plan of my contents page in order to decide what kind of things it needs to say for it to be successful.

I decided for my title to be "What's Hot", because I think its more interesting than simply saying contents, and it makes the contents of the magazine seem more interesting.

I used the shape tool to create a coloured background, and added my text. When adding the writting i tried to write to make the writting make the article in the magazine seem interesting and changed the fonts, sizes and colours to try and get the best possible effect, and I lastly I added a few photos to it, and of course added the last few details such as shadows etc..

Once again I found my contents page didn't take to long to create and was fairly simple as I had already planned what I was going to put on it. I saved a lot of time when working with the Macs.

What I need to do next - Create my contents page

Now I've finished my music magazine cover I need to complete my centre spread and contents page.

I am going to do my contents page first.

I will not take many more photos for my contents page as I don't feel I need a larger photo on this page, as I only used smaller photo's on my contents page on my prelimary task. I think this was clear and successful, but I will use smaller photo's and I have some which i have already taken eariler in this project.

Finished my magazine cover (:

I finished my music magazine cover and I'm fairly pleased with the result. I think I achieved what I wanted and learnt a lot whilst doing so.

Finishing off my magazine cover

To finish off my music magazine front cover I added my favourate photo from my photoshoot of Amy and added a caption in order to make a link between my centre spread and front cover.

Completed my photoshoot of Amy

I've now completed my photoshoot of Amy alone. I think this went pretty well and I have got some good images I may use. I found Amy easy to work with which was useful. I think the photo's have the kind of style I was aiming for :)

I've decided to do another photoshoot, this one of Amy alone. I have decided to do this because I am using Amy as the main singer in the girl band 'Scarlett' which my magazine is feature so I thought it would make sense to have some photos of the lead singer alone.

I'm going to put one of these photos on to my front cover to advertise the article I'll do as my centre spread.

Step I've taken working with the Apple Macs to create my music magazine cover:-

1. Before i opened 'pages' uploaded the photo's i took in my photoshoot onto the Mac, and i then used the red eye tool to erase the red eyes from the main photo i want to use to insure this picture is good quailitly.
2. Opened pages
3. Dragged the photo i want to use as the cover background onto the page
4. Changed the size to fit the whole page
5. Created a text box and typed 'Nerdy' the title of the magazine into it, move it to the top, where the gap on the wallpaper is and tried different fonts, colours and sizes until i found something which i think suited my magazine best and was the most visually effective.
6. Added the other titles and storylines to the magazine cover trying different front, colours, sizes and positions. i decided to make some of the stories on my magazine about the 'girl band', (which i decided to call 'Scarlett' from thinking about the red colour theme i've been using). I decide to make some of the writting purple and yellow as they're both bright colours which will stand out and they're colour oppisite so they work well together

I have decide to use this photo on my cover as i think the layout would be easiest to work with and its one of my favourate photos ↓↓

Now I've have a title for my magazine and some photo's i'm thinking of using I need to start working on the apple macs to start my magazine cover and decide which photo use as my main photo on my cover...

Thinking of a title for my magazine

Now i've taken my photos i need to look at decide a catchy name for my music magazine.
After thinking about this for a while i've decided to go with 'Nerdy' because i think it works as it gives the impression of being a 'Nerd' for music and it concerates on a stereotypical social group which are left alone alot and my magazine being aimed at very 'indie' people i think this fits well.

Photoshoot outcomes

Another of my favourate photos:-

• I like the variations between the pose, heights and positions of the people, i think it makes the photo more interesting
• I noticed Amy in the front of the picture again, so i think it would be a good idea to take some indiviaul photos of Amy, and use her as the lead singer of the 'girlband'
• I like that the old fashioned bathroom in the 'mise en scene' is clear here
  

Photoshoot outcomes

Another of my favourate photos from my photoshoot:-

• I like have one person in the foregrond as it give the impression of the main person, possbily lead singer?
• I may have trouble finding a clear space to put the name of my magazine
• I think this composition and lighting work really well together
• I like that the photo isn't too complicated, but there is still plenty of detail.
• I'm glad i decided to use three people as the rule of thirds has worked really well in most of my photos.

Photoshoot outcomes

I've just done my photoshoot, and i'm fairly pleased with the outcome, heres some of my favourate photos:-

• I like the poses in this photo, i think the attitude shown suits the style of the 'girl band'
  
• I think have the people at different heights makes the photo al round more interesting


• The strip of old fashioned wall paper at the top could work well if i were to use this photo for the front cover as it's a clear space where i can put the name of the magazine, which i think would work well as it would be clear and i wouldn't loose any of the photo


• I like th.e legs shown at each side of the photo. i think it give off connations of confidence and 'sexyness'


• I think using the rule of thirds has worked well here
  
  

After thinking about what i want to achieve when taking my photo's i have decided on some things i want in these photos:-

• I want my colour schemes to be black and red, i think these colours will work well with what i am trying to achieve, as red has connations of danger and confidence it will give a kind of edge to my photos, and i think the high contrast with the black with make these more simple for me put writting over the top. also i think black and red will compliment eachother
• I think it would be a good idea to set these photos in a old fashioned room, as it will make them more unique
• I want to use three people as i can then work with the rule of thirds and i think this is going to be showing a new girl band, so i can then link my centre spread to the cover, as i could possibly have the centre spread introducing this new band

I have arranged to do a photoshoot with some of my friends in order to take some photo to use in my main task.

Before i take these photos i need to think about:-

• The purpose if these photos.
• Do the style and colours schemes fit the style i'd like for my magazine
• Light and 'mise en scene' - i want these photos to be as professional looking as i can possible get, so i need to make sure i concerntrate on the small pictures.
• How many people i want in these photos. I think 3 would be a good amount as i can work with the rule of thirds, possible photos of a 'girl band'?
• I need to be careful with colours and shapes, the main picture can't be too busy as the writting etc which will be on top of this needs to be clear.

Thinking about what i need to do for my main task

I have decide to make my music magazine cover aimed at stereotypical 'punk'/'indie music'/'rocker', i decided on these stereotypes because i think it would be easy to show good representation of these stereotypes, it gives me some good ideas of what colour schemes, photos and style to use in my main task. I also think the music magazine cover i analysised fits this stereotype so i can use this to help me too.

Music magazine analysis

I have looked at this music magazine cover to help inspire me :

Things i noticed when looking at this magazine cover :-

• The main headline is a interview with a famous artist, i should try to make the stories in my magazine talk about famous people
• I like the red colour scheme, i think it makes the magazine have connatations of having a 'Punk' theme and i think this suit the magazine very well
• There are only 2 pictures used on this cover, one main picture and one smaller picture advertising something inside the magazine, i think this works well because the magazine isn't to busy.
• Most of the writting is in a clear bold font, so it's quick and easy to read
• It mainly talks about what's inside the magazine.
  

What I'm going to do next

As i did in my prelimary task i am going to begin my main task by analysis a music magazine cover to get a feel of what i'm trying to create.

Prelimary task evalution and starting main task

Now i've finished my prelimary task i have to complete my main task. For the main task I will need to complete a music magazine cover, contents page and centre spread.

My prelimary task has helped my prepare a lot for this as i have now got used to the apple macs softwear, so i have learnt new skill and am working a lot quicker than when i started off, i can also look at the mistakes i made in my prelimary task and try to improve.

I need to bare in mind that the mayjor difference between my prelimary task and main task is the scale of the magazines, the school/college magazine cover and contents page i completed for my prelimary task would of course have a much smaller audience whereas the music magazine cover, contents and centre spread will have a very wide ranging audience as this hypothetically would be sold all around the country.

When making my music magazine cover, contents and centre spread i am going to try to aim it specifically at one stereotypical group of people in order to make this easier for my to create to fit the audience better as i will know more about what kind of style i am aiming to create.

Creating my school contents page evalution

I found creating my contents page a lot simpler than creating my front cover, i think this was partly because there was a much simplier layout in comparison with the front cover i also think i have now got used to the softwear on the apple Macs so i am beginning to work faster and i've learnt a lot more.


I took at few simple steps to do this, just making sure i kept to the style i wanted, this fitted my design brief and front cover, everything was clear, it would suit both the audience oof the school pupils and parents, the titles worked with the content of the magazine and of course thats it worked well visually.

What i need to think about when creating my school contents page

Now i finished my school magazine cover i neeed to create a contents page for this magazine. To do this i need to think about:-

• I will have to make sure the contents page and front cover are inkeeping with eachother as they are from the same magazine they should have a similar style and aims
• What sort of storylines and titles the pages will have, they need to be interesting and fit the school pupils and parent audience.
• What picture, fonts, and colour schemes would be suitable for this page
• This page needs to be inviting yet have a classy style to it.

Step i took to create my school magazine cover

When i beganning using the Macs to create my front cover i found i was working very slowly as i hadn't had much experience with the Macs before, but soon i got use to the different softwear and i found i began to work faster and learnt new things...

Steps in took to create my School/College magazine cover:-

1. I firstly opened 'Pages' and dragged my picture onto the page
2. I then changed the photo to the correct size making sure it fitted the page correctly and was placed where i wanted
3. When it got to putting my text onto the page i realised i hadnt thought carefully enough when taking my photo's as i had used, as in my photo there were a lot of colours, which made it more difficult to choose what colours i could use for my text as i needed it to be clear and stand out alot, (this is something i need to think about when i do my main task). After thinking about how to solve this problem i realised i had to chooses, either to change my photo or to try to use the same photo and work around the problem. As i think this photo was really effective i decided to try to work around this problem
4. In order to make the name of the magazine stand out i decided to put a shape behind this, so there were no distractions from the word.
5. I decided on using a rectangle behind to the name of magazine in order to keep it simple, and i decided to have this rectangle dark green as a way for bringing the school colours into the cover.
6. I lastly added all the text to the cover. Before doing this i looked at my research and thought carefully about what type of storylines would suit this magazine cover, and i also tried different colours and fonts for the letting in order to make this look best i possibly could.

Flatplan evauluation

I found doing my flatplan helped me alot, as it made it a lot quicker when i started working on the Apple Mac as i had already decided what i needed to put on my School/College magaazine cover so i was more prepared to start using the Macs.

What i need to think about when doing my flat plan

Now i'd choose my main photo i planned on using i am going to a flat plan of the text i think i could used on my cover, when doing this i need to think about :-

• The writting needs possitive connations
• It needs to seems as though the magazine has in readers best interest in heart (could possibly have revision tips)
• Does the school come across as a interesting but serious place of learning
• Does this help attracked the readers (pupils and parents)

Deciding on the main photo i want to use on my school magazine cover

I decided to take the photo's i want to used for my prelimary task in the LRC as i think its a good way to show a learning environment, when doing my photoshoot i used my friends whilst they were doing work.

After i complited my photoshoot i looked though my photo's to try to choose the photo i thought would work best, i analysised all my photo's keeping in mind what my intentions were before this photoshoot.

This is the photo i decided to use in the end↓↓

Reason i decided to used this picture:-

• I think the bright colours create a possitive effect
• The people in the photo all look happy and interested
• The mise en scene, eg the books on the table make it clear this is a place of learning
• Also the card at the table makes it seem that everyone cares for each other.

What i need to think about when taking photos for my school magazine cover

To begin my prelimary task i took a range of photo's, which i could possibly use for this. Before taking these photos i need to keep somethings in mind to make sure the photo's help promote the magazine and acheive the best possible effect

• Representation of the photo(s) eg, the photo will need to portray the school as a possitive place, the people in the photo need to seem keen to learn, and it must show that school is in a place to learn (could possibly use say the libary/books in the mise en scene of the photo)
• Colour schemes, i need to think of the connotations behind the colours i use as this will effect the whole magazine, so i need to make sure these colour give off a possitive connotations. From looking at my "Grapevine" analysis, i think the idea of using school colours worked especially well because it shows school spirit, so i think its a good idea to try to work these colours into my magazine cover and contents.
• I don't want the photo to look over professional, i think it will say more about the school if the its look natural.
• I think it's a good idea to use more than one person in the photo, i think this makes a lots of sense alongside the school motto "working together for excelence" - because the word together mades it clear that everyone is helping eachother out to achieve there best, so the photo should show this.

School magazine cover analysis

I am going to analysis some exsiting school/college magazine covers, to give me a more more clear idea of what i need to include and to help inspire me.

Firstly i looked at a recent issue of my own school magazine : Marlwood's "Grapevine" it made sense for me to look at this magazine because am will probaliy make this magazine for own school, as i know what the schools expections, traditions and colours are..

• i immedately noticed the irony used in the title : picture of the grapes in the word "Grapevine" Connatations of the word/sayings behind grapevine ("heard it through the grapevine") gives the impression of spreading the news, which is the overall purpose of the magazine.
• The colours green and red/burgundy are used a lot, as these are the traditional school colour so it mean the read immedately associates the magazine with the school so help inform the reader the purpose of the magazine.
• The picture used on the magazine are showing events going on around the school and are mostly picture of pupils, this show that the school is a interesting place as so makes the school seem a more fun learning environment with a lot going on.
• This cover also seems very simple, there doesnt seem like much writting, i think this can possibly be because it keeps on main focus on the magazine, and the younger students would be unlikely to want to read a lot of writting on the cover, although i dont think this works as well as it should as the contents of the magazine isn't totally clear, and i think the reader needs to know more about the contents of the magazine, to help them decide if they think the magazine would be useful to them etc..
• The school name and saying are written in a shape at the bottom of the page, i think this works well because its clear, and reminds everyone of the school saying ("working together for excelence")
  

How I'm going to begin my prelimary task

Before i start my prelimary task I am going to research School Magazines so i get some idea what makes a school magazine succcessful and what type of things a school magazine should include...

Introducing the coursework and prelimary task

On November 14th 2008 everybody in my media class were given some sheets about what our AS Media Studies coursework involves. We each had a choice of Print, Film and Audio.

After thinking about this for a while i decided to do Print, as the contents of this interested me the most as it involved creating magazine covers and pages and I'm interesting in the magazine industry, so it made a lot of sense for me to choose to do print.


For this coursework i will have to do two task,
The plimary task I will have to complete the front cover and contents page of a School/College magazine, this task is to help me prepare for my main task which will constist of creating a cover, contents page and centre spread of a music magazine.


To complete this coursework to the best of my ablity i will have to think about target audiences, representation, institution these magazine would be sold in, possible colour schemes, and photo i could use.