The Final Product

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

Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

Note: I'm not sure why the picture in the above Google Document came out like this, but it does not look like this in the final product. The above document was created using Microsoft OneNote.

Evaluation Question 4 - Who would be the target audience for your media product?

Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Please also see my blog post 'Institutional Context'.

Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 1 - How does your product use, develop or challenge conventions?

Photoshop Skills 2

 

I have developed my Photoshop skills further since "Photoshop Skills". For my front cover, I 'refined the mask' on photoshop to create a clearer edge to make Jess stand out and to fit conventions to magazines.

 

I also chopped out stray peices of hair as it destracts attention from Jess, and again fits conventions. I included a few at the top of her head to make her look edgy and rocky to fit with my magazine.

 

I used the 'burn tool' on photoshop to make Jess' eyes more 'smoky' and rock-like to fit with conventions and stereotypes. It's also more eye-catching (excuse the pun) and directs attention to her.

 

InDesign Skills

I have developed my InDesign skills in various ways. One of them includes that I know how to do text wrap (as shown in the above screenshot). I also added a background to the pull quote to make it stand out more. Also, it supports conventions, especially in Kerrang! magazine who use a similar technique to attract attention to their pull quotes as shown below...

I have also learnt how to put guidelines on my magazine to use conventions and column the article in the DPS to look even. I included a vector image of a film strip in the DPS which I edited to fit just right using InDesign, used different fonts to suit my magazine, sent various images to the 'front' and the 'back' to make certain ones stand out, made a background for the DPS that looks like a spotlight showing they are important and stand out (and also links to the film strip), used various spacing to make sure of no 'orphans', drops caps (convention of most magazines) and I included a red background on the front cover to make the text of the bands stand out and still look rock-y.

Journalism Skills Development

AS English Language - Article and Commentary


AS English Language - Monologue and Commentary











I study English Language as well as Media at AS Level, helping me write my article. Above are some examples of pieces I have completed which show my writing skills are improving and the fact I have knowledge of conventions of an article already as I have completed a commentary describing what I have done.


Magazine Article Drafts


I changed some of the formal lexis from my original draft such as the word 'eponymous' (to 'self-titled', making it slightly less formal) as my target audience might not know what it means. Apart from that, my article has mostly stayed the same. I included puns (from Harry Potter, so the target audience would understand them) and humour to keep a light hearted feel to it and compound sentences (and some minor exclamative sentences to make the magazine article snappy, e.g. 'We are rock!") to keep the reader interested and wanting to read on.

English Skills and Paragraph Plans

The newest all girl rock band

Mischief Managed created chaos in our whammy studios this week. After their newest album rocketed to number one, whammy decided to investigate the secret behind their ‘overnight’ success...

We managed some mischief at the Whammy studio this week, care of the newest rocketing girl band on the planet. We just had to get Sarah, Melody and Jess in for a photo shoot to see what makes them tick, after their first album shot right to number one in the rock charts. That must be a really awesome feeling. "We are stunned", lead singer Jess, tries to put her feelings into words. "Phenomenally happy, but stunned." Whammy hopes it never stops too!

Drummer Sarah shows us a little drumstick magic while we ask what’s next for the band. "Ooh, it’s just all so exciting. We’ve got gigs coming up and we’re writing new stuff. We never want it to stop."

On the topic of new songs, Mischief Managed are to release their new single ‘Amateur’. "Yeah looks like we aren’t amateurs anymore", Jess declares, who wrote the song. "We are rock now."

The name of the band comes from Harry Potter, so are the girls all fans of the movies? "Yeah, I think we’re part of the franchise now," says guitarist Melody. "Sirius-ly though, it is all a bit magical."

Indeed the band’s ‘overnight’ fame does seem like something out of the movies, but they seem determined to enjoy every minute of their well-earned success. "We all worked really hard, making the album he best it could be", explains Jess. "It just all came together, like wizardry or something".

So "Mischief" have cast their spell over their legions of fans.

Mischief Managed’s self titled new album is out now. ‘Amateur’ will be released on the 15th Jan.
 



I looked at various Kerrang! DPS articles (including the ones I put on my blog) so see how they wrote their articles. I followed a similar structure to follow conventions so the audience would be used to it. I found they used 'Kerrang! studios' a lot in the article to avoid a biased opinion. I decided to use a similar structure to create a brand and a sense of normalcy to the article, which readers can relate to.

Taking English Language also helped me write my article so I already have knowledge on the subject and how to make it enjoyable to read and involve the reader, with no bias. I have used various inquits such as "...lead singer Jess, tries to put her feelings into words" and different sentence moods such as interrogatives ("so are the girls all fans of the movies?") and exclamatives ("Whammy hopes it never stops too!"). I created a humorous and light-hearted article with shot sentences so audiences can be able to read it and want to read it. I included various Harry Potter puns ("Sirius-ly though, it is all a bit magical.") to relate to the name of the band and to make fans of the franchise laugh and want to read on.

Paragraph Plans

I have broken down the article down into paragraphs to make it easier to read, it looks nice and make it flow. I had to change the size of the font and the wording as I had a few 'orphans' which didn't look very nice, so I tried not to include 'orphans' to help with the layout and the design of the magazine and to create a nice finish.

Photoshop Skills

  

I asked members of the public about the front cover and what they would change. They said they would make the background white and change her arm as it looks like her hand is cut off! I also decided to change the background to fit magazine conventions- we tend to have a solid colour background on front cover magazines and pictures. I have developed my photoshop skills by doing so by following various Photoshop tutorials online...

I made the background transparent by adding another layer, and I used the crop tool to crop her arm off. I also blended around the edges to make a smooth feel and make sure as much of it is as white as possible, so it clearly stands out.

This is the final result:

I also did the same with my other pictures to add a sense of continuity and these are the final results:

The white background in this picture makes the band colours stand out and also the red drumstick and stands out, so you can clearly see it.

Magazine - Draft 1

Article Planning Sheet

I decided to do a slightly informal and light hearted article to keep the reader interested, with uses of puns and humour. I wanted to just introduce the band as they are new and doing a whole life story would drag and the reader would lose interest.

I used adjectives, superlatives, compound sentences and inquits to show some subtle bias but still keep it informal to fit with the target audience.

I used 'Whammy Studios', like 'Kerrang! Studios' to create a brand to my magazine and show again, subtle bias.

I didn't want to use the word eponymous as younger readers wouldn't know what it meant so I changed the formal lexis to suit the target audience.

Flatplans

This is the basic layout of my magazine. I have inluded adverts as it's conventional in magazines and helps create money to sustain my magazine. The design for the articles will be similar to my DPS to create a sense of normalcy and using conventions. The magazine is sorted into the different sections in the contents page, with mention of the secion in the top right hand corner so the reader knows what section that page is in. I included columns in each article to give the basic layout of the magazine.

Please note that this is only the first few pages of the magazine.

 

Mood Boards

I have created a mood board using 'tint' and linked my Pinterest account with it to create a mood board of

• New Rock Bands
• Various music magazine front covers, contents pages and DPS'

... To show how my magazine should look and what typical new rock bands (what my magazine will be about) look like and their names so I can feature them in the contents.

instagram wall for events

Photoshoot Plans, Photoshoot Analysis, Photography Skills Development

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Initial Treatment

My magazine will be a new band (mostly rock) magazine to suit what the public want (see Primary Audience Research). Mischief Managed will be the main article/feature in my magazine to support my magazine content. I will also include mentions of Twister (another new rock band) and steampunk on the front cover.

To grab readers to my magazine and cover all my bases, I will include a review of McFly. Technically they aren't a rock band but it will get readers interested as they might be a bit hesetant at first if they see a magazine only on new bands. I will also include some pictures I have took of my friends (one is in a field of lavender so I might do a pun with that ("blooming career"?) The other is holding a puppet so I will think of ways to link that with music- maybe Muppets related).

The other features in the magazine will be mentioned on the front cover to show they are the regular features: reviews, competitions, festival guide, posters. I will have an article inside called "My Gig" which allows people to send in their pictures of gigs to be used in the magazine to get more readers interested and feel part of my magazine.

Institutional Context

Production and Distribution

 

I think IPC Media would be the best company to produce and distribute my magazine because they don't have a magazine like mine and are a successful and experienced company I can rely on. If they are successful, people will buy their magazines. They distribute NME which is a very successful magazine.

 

Stages of Production

 

• Deadlines for when each story must be submitted to the editor.
• Design schedule (graphic designer).
• Editorial board (if there is one) to look over the magazine and add comments.
• Printing deadline.
• Distribution date (sales, marketing, accounts).
• Content plan.
• Detailed plan for each story: Content, Types, modular content (visually pleasing), design mock up, instructions of stories, interviews (journalist, freelance), pictures (photographer).
• Proofread and edit stories.
• Check.

(http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2011/08/6-steps-for-producing-a-custom-magazine/)

 

How this will effect me

 

I will have to take on all of the roles in italics above, so I will have to expand my skills and will have to be an editor as well as a journalist and a photographer. I'll have to use equipment and software I haven't before and come out of my comfort zone and do jobs I haven't before.

Research

I know someone who used to work in a magazine company so I interviewed her on the different jobs involved and what she did;

After Surveyor magazine, I had also worked on Farmers Weekly doing the same job before I went to Melody Maker. I got upgraded and so took three promotions in a year.

 

I worked on Melody Maker, it was a long time ago, I was about 19 when I started there, I had previously worked on a magazine when I worked there I worked in the department called Print Production. The print production department were at that time divided into areas- classified advertising, and editorial.I worked on the classified advertising side of the mag, during the week the advertsing department would take all the advertising, both from our regular advertisers like the music equipment suppliers, shops etc and the clubs, and venues advertising gigs etc ( one of my jobs was to call the folk clubs and small venues to take the listings for this weeks artists playing at them but the rest of the advertsing was done with the advertising dept and tele sales.

Once a week we would have to go up to Colchester, very early in the morning, I got up at about 5.30am and get the train from Sutton to Liverpool St station and then catch the 7am train to Colchester where the printers were, called QB printers. There we had to check all the galley proofs, it was still hot metal then, so all the men on the compositors benches would make up the pages using slugs, and be able to read the pages upside down and backwards, a pull would be made of each page and we would have to proof read and check that all was correct before the ok was given to print the magazine, sometimes if all this was not finished during the day, we had to stay on until the night shift at the printers came on duty, this was rare but if it happened we slept at the printers and came back the next day.

Towards the end of my time there, there was a 'revolution' in the typesetting and it became computerised, this was a huge deal and not welcomed by all, particularly the many men typestters who had served a seven year apprenticeship to be fully qualified and also well paid, I was the only female there at one time on the floor ( there were secretaries) now with computerisation it meant women like typists with keyboard knowledge could use the new systems coming through.

I suppose some of it has changed but in essence most mags including music ones have a similar structure. You have the editorial dept, that consists of writers/journalists mainly with a few admin staff like secretaries, there is also an advertsing dept where there are tele sales staff taking advertising copy over the phone and by post and by computer. There is a production department where the copy is checked and the print production is overseen both in the office and at the printers. On some mags there will also be a picture library where photos of anything relevent to the magazine will be filed, such as artists, various gigs etc, however this is not always teh case and if photo's are needed they can be bought from photo agencies, also some mags have in house photographers to send out to cover events, but this too is not the usual, and freelance photographers are usually commissioned when needed and the whole magazine is overseen by the Editor. There's also the graphic design department.

There are usually weekly (Monday morning or Friday usually) Editorial meetings to discuss forthcoming magazines and how they are coming along. At the meetings various features will be asigned to particular writers, often record PR companies will send press releases about artists new albums tours etc to promote them and also promotional discs of new albums, singles etc ahead of release in the hope that the magazine will promote their artist and do a feature on them or attend a concert and write up a review on it, free tickets are also sometimes sent for these.

So a feature or cover will be made up of copy written by the writers, with photo's supplied by a picture desk ( if they have one, not all do, I worked on the picture desk on TV Times later on) or by a freelance photographer, or a photo agency, or by the record company, and the layout is put together by the graphic design department (again if they have one, not all do). 

Most magazines have what is called a 'House design' this means that the mag has a defined look. One that uses ceratin sections of the mag for the same sort of content each week (or month) and also the same set of typefaces for body copy, headings etc and of course the Banner heading and strap lines for the cover.

The graphic design department (if they have one) will do the layouts in the house style using both the copy written and photo's, then the editor will look at the layouts either on screen on as a printed layout and approve it or ask for a re design if not happy with it.

On most magazines certain sections have to go to the printers (now done online) almost every day, and then on the press day the final print is made.

Also most magazines have an obituary section in a library of sorts where very famous bods have their career all written up and are updated from time to time, for instance I worked on Melody Maker when John Lennon died and also Bob Marley, both the night before press day, so obits were pulled out and used. Although now there are so many on line sources to use this is less essential now as anyone can google anybody now and get all the info and images they need (much easier than in my day).

Music mags are all aimed at slightly different markets and with differing amounts to spend, and this affects the magazine overall, if it is a large company like IPC, or EMAP they are after market domination and have a lot of in house resources, smaller mags have less and often smaller number of staff who may well have to do more than one defined role on the mag to keep costs down.

*Sidenote* Most mags and newspaper have what is called a 'House Style' (which is a house design) 'House' means the mag really rather than the publishing house (although this is true of DK who do have an overall style for all their books) but House style is different for each mag even within one publishers to give an individual style to each title. #




I learnt from this interview that technology has advanced a lot in the past years, arguably for the better as it has made magazine making much easier and obtaining news stories easily (but making magazines less important as you can look online for the latest news now) but made people redundant. People had many jobs in the magazine industry and took a long time to just publish one magazine. I have also learnt about the different layouts of a magazine ('house design') and the conventions of a magazine.