Welcome to my blog

Dear Moderator,

Welcome to my blog, I hope you enjoy looking at my coursework final pieces which are under this post. Also, under the label of coursework is all my work that I have done for my coursework including research and planning, final pieces and evaluation.

Thanks,

Catherine Robinson

Final Double Page Spread

Final Contents Page

Final Front Cover

Magazine Cover Preliminary

Front Page





Contents Page

Evaluation Task 1

The title of my magazine is “Amplified.” This fits in with the genre of my magazine which is Indie Rock/Pop music and the artists in this genre use amps and guitars. The models who feature in my magazine are wearing clothing that would normally be associated with the Indie Rock/Pop genre of music and how artists would dress in magazine such as Q and NME. My front cover picture included a guitar which often is featured in music magazines – this fits in with the genre of the magazine where the artists play guitar. In my Contents page my model is biting tape from a cassette – once again this fits in with the magazine being a music magazine and makes it individual.The colour scheme of my magazine is black, white and burgundy. This challenges the forms and conventions of music magazine because often a lot of colour is used and burgundy isn’t a colour that is normally used. I wanted to make my magazine individual and different so therefore I thought the colour burgundy would suit my magazine. The music artists are represented as being confident, professional and relaxed. This conforms to the forms and conventions of real media products. The genre of my magazine is Indie Rock and Pop. This is shown because of the title of the magazine and the models are wearing Indie style clothes and the front cover picture includes a guitar. The bands included are from the Indie Rock/Pop genre. This uses the conventions of music magazines because lots of magazine are from this genre and use the previous techniques to show this. The font and style of my magazine is very consistent. The same font is used throughout but different sizes and font colours are used. This challenges the conventions because normally a variety of fonts are used but at the same times conforms because it looks consistent and there is a variety of different styles.
The layout of the front page uses the conventions of a real music magazine. The picture is in the centre with the title of the magazine in big above it. A strip line is used and a variety of article headings. The Contents Page includes a variety of pictures, headings and numbers which are convention of a magazine. To make my magazine different the title of the page is along a strip line of pictures on the left hand side. The double page spread uses conventions of a music magazine such as a large picture.

Evaluation Task 2

On the left is an image of Katie White from the Indie band the "Ting Tings" and on the right is the model Hannah on the front page of my magazine "Amplified."Katie and Hannah are both similar weight and height and wear little make-up. Despite some physical differences they are both looking away from the camera to show an element of secrecy and mysteriousness. They are both young musicians who play Indie Rock/Pop music which is the genre of music that my magazine features. Although Katie is wearing more extravagant, individual clothing than Hannah, they are both holding their guitars which not only fits in with the genre of the magazine but shows their rebellious "rock chick" appearance. Despite a female being featured on the front page of my magazine I still think my magazine appeals to both men and women because of the colour scheme and because the model isn't made to look overly girly.

Evaluation Task 3

The previous voice clip is about the key features of my magazine and why the magazine is publishable.

A publishing company makes information available for public view. The process of publishing includes acceptance and negotiation, editorial, design sales and marketing stages, editorial stage, design stage, sales and marketing stage and printing.

Magazine can be distributed through the mail; through sales by newsstands, bookstores or other vendors, or through free distribution at selected pick up locations. The worldwide magazine distribution company are well known and have distributed many magazines such as NME,Q and Rolling Stone magazine. I would use a distributor such as the WWMD because the magazines they distribute are from the same genre of music as my magazine and they deal with a variety of different magazines including specialist magazines.

The money for my magazine would have come from advertising in my magazine such as adverts for new albums and gigs. Business loans can be obtained from the local bank to fund the magazine as you need enough financing to fund the company though its first year of business. i would also use sponsors to get my magazine started.

Instutionally my magazine is similar to Q and NME because they are from the same genre of music and would appeal to a similar target audience of males and females and 16-24 year olds.

Evaluation Task 4

My target audience is 16-24 year old males and females who have an interest in Indie Rock/Pop music. In the picture above I have included a variety of things that my target audience would be interested in. These include Indie band such as "The Smiths," social networking sites such as "facebook" and go to fast food restaurants such as "Mcdonalds." They would mostly be students from both working class and middle class backgrounds. They would buy the magazine because it features the latest artists and music which attracts the younger audience. Also, because the colours are gender neutral so that the magazine attracts both males and females.

Evaluation Task 5

Using Slideshare, I have produced a powerpoint on how I attracted/addresed my audience in my final coursework pieces.

Question 5 media

View more presentations from catrobinson.

Evaluation Task 6

This is a picture of my magazine on Photoshop. Before starting this AS Media course I had never used Photoshop before. Since I first started I have learnt loads about the programme. Using a magnetic lasoo I cut round my images. This was difficult at first but after using tools such as the rubber tool I was able to neaten the edges of my image. Using a website called http://www.dafont.com/ I was able to find a font I wanted to use as the title of my magazine. I copied and pasted it into photoshop and adapted the sizing. For my subheadings and font on my contents page and double page spread I used a Bevel effect to make the font stand out in an effective way. This made it stand out and look unique. I made a black strip line at the bottom of my front page using the rectangle tool and used a burgundy font to make it stand out amongst the black background. On my contents page I also used a strip line on the left hand side of the page and used an opaque effect on the pictures. It took me a long time to get the pictures exactly the same size but it was worth it in the end. On my double page spread I used the ruler tool to mease the columns and make sure they were all the same size.




This is me on photoshop making changes to my magazine. I spent a lot of time using these school computers as I had no access to photoshop from home and I was determined to spend as much time on it as possible. I also used programmes such as slideshare to share my pitch to everyone and blogger to blog all my ideas and progress along the way.




This is the camera I used to take all the pictures for my magazine. I was able to change the settings to adapt the photos. Using lamps I was able to adapt the lighting to make the pictures look better. I used a website called http://www.picnik.com/ to adapt my photos and change the contrast.

Evaluation Task 7

In the image above I have used a split screen to compare my Final Front Page and Contents page to my first preliminary pieces. Since doing my first preliminary pieces I have learnt loads more including about Photoshop and the generic conventions of a magazine. I have learnt how important photography, fonts and colour schemes amongst other conventions are vitally important to magazines. I have realised that to produce a quality magazine you must plan and research extensively. In my final piece I was able to use a variety of different techniques on Photoshop to make my magazine look professional. As I have a subscription to Q magazine I was able to get inspiration from a magazine that has a similar target audience to my magazine. By having a clear target audience I was able to produce my magazine to meet the needs of the said audience.

Final Pieces

For the last few week I have been working on improving my draft front cover, contents page and double page spread. By using the peer assessments and teacher feedback I have tried to improve my coursework as much as I possibly could. I added bar code, issue no, price to my front cover and changed the image so the head wasn't chopped up. I made the picture bigger and added more headings to fill the white space. I used more pictures in my contents page and even had a strip line on the left hand side full of small pictures of the artist included. I used pictures from my front cover and double page spread in my contents page. I changed the colour so that it was consistent and fitted in with the rest of my magazine. For my double page spread I improved my cutting, I made the fact box stand out more and enlarged the heading. I also did another montage of small pictures along the top to fit in with my contents page and to fill in the space.

Ident Image

This is the image I've taken that I'm using as my ident because it fits wth the title of the magazine "Amplified" because it's a picture of an amplifier and has the title of the magazine in white font so that it stands out.

Consistency

After finishing my mock ups and seeing my feedback, I decided that my magazine was not consistent enough. I wanted to keep the black and white theme but decided to use the background colour of my double page spread for the font colour on my black and white front cover. For my contents page I used black and white pictures but also used the background colour from my double page spread. This meant that my final pieces will have a consistent theme between them.

Teacher Feedback

Front Cover - Add bar code, date/issues no, price. sort out image - head looks to chopped. Spacing need adjusting - too much white space. New images are much better - consider replacing

Contents - needs more pictures. Go back to your research - it doesn't look conventional. Tie in pics from front cover and double page spread

Double page spread - looks good - best piece. Improve/tidy up cutting. Heading needs enlarging and fill spaces (adjust text)

* Create a house style through colour/font which runs through 3 pieces.

Research/Planning level: 3
Practical Draft: 2/3

Terminology

Conglomerate - A group of smaller companies owned by a larger company

Vertical Integration - Process in which distribution and exhibition are done by the same company

DSN - digital screen network - The film is put on a disc instead of reels of film, transferred by internet, 240 screens in 210 cinemas in the UK

Logistics - How a film is transferred and transported

Escapism - Escape from the real world and it's problems and divulge yourself into what you're watching e.g go to cinema to forget about reality

Social realism - Representation of real life - deals with social life

35mm print - The standard reel that the film is processed on

Tim Bevan - the founder of working title

Pre-fabricated set - set already built

Four Quadrant audience - film appeals to young/old and male/female

Viral marketing - word of mouth, passing on of marketing message - use of internet e.g. facebook status, text messages

Synergy marketing - where two companies join together to benefit both e.g. having a soundtrack on a film, orange Wednesdays

Above the line marketing - adverts, posters, billboards - company pay, you don't choose to see it

Below the line marketing - interviews, reviews - company paid, you choose to see it

Stock writers/Directors - Associate with the same film company e.g. Shane Meadows (Warp Film) and Paul Greengrass (Working Title)

Product Placement - A product used in a film to advertise it e.g. Jude Law drinking coca-cola

Ident

For my ident I used the programme paint. I used a black background so that it would stand out,used comic sans font and shortened the title to just "Amp" The letters are outlines so that they stand out against the background.

Market Research Questionnaire

1)What do you think to the name Amplified?
Bradley - I like it

2) Are my colour scheme appropriate to the genre of the magazine?
Bradley - I like the black and white scheme but think some colour should be added to the front cover

3) Is the music featured on the magazine suitable for the genre?
Bradley - Yes, it fits in with the Indie genre of the magazine

4) How much would you be willing to pay for the magazine?
Bradley - £2

5) Is the magazine suitable for both males and females?
Bradley - Yes

6) Do you think the pictures fit in with the genre of the magazine?
Bradley - Yeah it fits in with the Indie pop music genre

7) Do you think my fonts are suitable for my magazine?
Bradley - Yeah but more fonts should be added

8) What magazine does it remind you of?
Bradley - Q and NME

9) What do you think to the graphology (layout) of my magazine?
Bradley - I like it but more pictures should be used on the Contents page

10) What do you like/dislike about my magazine?
Bradley
Like - the colour scheme
Dislike - the contents page layout

The Soloist - Notes on Featurette

The Soloist is based on a real life story from a newspaper article. Steve Lopez is a LA Times Columnist who wrote the article on Nathaniel in real life. Steve humanises the problems that are happening in America. Joe Wright the director was wary of telling a story about a country he knew nothing about. A lot of time was spent with people such as Steve and Nathaniel from the real life story. Extras who had never done it before and real homeless people from the area were used. The Soloist was filmed on the real Skid Row. This helped them and provided jobs. Jamie was taught to learn the Cello for the role of Nathaniel. They only had 4 weeks to get the set ready and 50 members of the crew.

The problem with the film was that it was a sombre film and there was no happy ending because the film was based on a true story. The problem was trying to find an honest ending. The ending is left open and Joe Wright said that he "doesn't like to prescribe how an audience should feel at the end of the film."