coursework brief

Tasks:

Research: 10/11^th December to end of term

1.    Collect some evidence of current music magazines: NME, Kerrang, Q

2.    Analyse how they construct meaning for their audience – Front page, contents, double page spreads

3.    Establish a set of rules (codes and conventions they use) / guide to creating a effective music magazine – for each page

4.    Keep a record of your research

Planning: Xmas holidays, for presentation to class 9^th January 2012

5.    Decide what type of music magazine you are going to design – what is the purpose of your magazine?

6.    Decide who is the audience (who is it aimed at?) – this will affect your design

7.    Draft sketch what you want on your front cover: colour, images, title, text, etc. – explain why (follow your rules)

8.    Draft ideal contents

9.    Photograph appropriate images for each page: stage a band / artist – consider locations, costume, props, makeup

10. Draft interview for double page spread – consider language used appropriate to genre and audience

11. Keep a record of your planning

must finish 1 to 4 by the time I get back to school, can go ahead If you wish

Improvements to magazine

Last week in media I presented my Sixth form magazine to my teacher and other media students in my class, I showed them all the different ways I tried to make the magazine more presentable, such as the main sell line "pupil of the year Mikey Daly".
They then gave me feedback on what went well and what could be improved for future magazines
What they said went well

• The sell point pupil of the year
• The topic's on the magazine were all relevant to the target audience
• HABE colour scheme is effective
• advertisement at the bottom of magazine
• range of images are attractive and intriguing
• ear piece and text tend to follow conventions
• mid shot used well to give space for a good layout

What could be improved

• too many different types of font used
• colours are not clear on content page
• small text can be hard to read
• make colours more clear on the cover
• the blue background on content page would be better if it was the same as the Harris sign on the cover
• add a bar code etc
• reduce dead space on cover of magazine as it is a little to bland

I have learnt that I will need to use more clear font that suits the background next time and make sure that it is big enough to attract the audiences eye and entice them to read the magazine, I must also add bar codes and more ear pieces to give the magazine a more professional look.
 I also know that I should plan ahead to assure that I am prepared for making my music magazine, I can do this by buying music magazines over the Christmas Holiday and see how they use codes and conventions in their magazine, I must also make sure that I have pictures which appeal to the target audience so I can use them when I get back to school for my music magazine.
If i do all of this successfully I can ensure that my magazine is up to the best standard and hopefully get the best possible grade.

7th December media lesson

For this media lesson we had to make sure that we had done are preliminary task and it was ready to be presented tomorrow, we will be presenting to the class what we have done, how we done it, what problems we faced and what we learnt.
Because I had already finished my magazine cover and content page I spent this lesson updating my blog on the questions we are going to be presented tomorrow so I will be ready to show and present it effectively to the class, I can then get feedback that will help me for my finial magazine piece and get me the grade I need.

preliminary task part 2

 As I still need some practise at making magazines in the program indesign I had a go at making a school magazine.
I decided to go with the theme of a sixth form magazine as it would be easier to get the pictures I needed.
I used a lot of red and blue to match the Harris Beckenham colour scheme and added a lot of subheadings with topics related to the school.
I had problems with making the text stand out from the background at first but fixed this by making the outline of the text another colour which made it clearer to read.
I learnt that the text may not always be noticeable on backgrounds but have found a way to fix it.

As well as making a front cover for the magazine I also made the context page with pictures and information of all the topics which is easy to navigate and stuck to the colour scheme I had.
As I had never made a content page before i used a lot of techniques and examples from existing magazines such as the pictures with the page number on them.
the problems I faced making my content page was finding out how to write all the content information in one box which was easily fixed with fellow students help.
I have learnt many different styles used by magazines for content pages and which magazines use which style, this can help me in the future as I have a wider idea of what i can do.