Final version - Magazine

Evaluation question 7 - AS Media

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

When I first started my preliminary task I had never used Photoshop before so I did most of it with little knowledge of how to use Photoshop. This meant that the school magazine was very poor and didn’t really look like a magazine of any kind.

I did not edit my pictures in my preliminary task because I thought they were fine as they were. When I look back I know I could have used software such as picmonkey or pixlr to edit my pictures easily.

While researching for my music magazine I found lots of new websites I can use such as new font websites like fontspace, this meant I had a wider range of fonts to use for my music magazine. I also found presentation websites such as prezi and slideshare, this made me able to use a range of different presentation sites for my research and planning.

When I was creating my school magazine I didn’t really read magazines so I wasn’t aware of the conventions of a magazine. Since the preliminary take I have learnt the typical codes and conventions of a music magazine and the types of stories and images they would include in them.

When making my school magazine it only took me about 2 lessons to finish both the front cover and the contents page of my school magazine, however when I was making my music magazine it took me about 3 weeks to finish my first drafts of my music magazine. This shows I took far more care when making my music magazine than I did when making my school magazine.

When I made my school magazine I used two pictures that were the first two I took. However when making my music magazine I only used three pictures out of fourteen pictures I took. This shows that I cared more about the pictures I was going to use with the music magazine.

Evaluation question 6 - AS media

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

Evaluation question 5 - AS Media

How did you attract/address your audience?

As my audience is younger people I decided to make the fonts used more hand written, this appeals more to younger people as it is quirky and original.
The title 'Recording' is also very modern, so this would also appeal to the younger audience more than other ages.
The people that read this genre of magazine wold most likely be interested in learning to play an instrument, so a competition to win an acoustic guitar would appeal to the reader, so this competition would make non-readers possibly buy my magazine.
The feature stories also relate to things that young people would be interested in like 'Ed Sheeran's new album review' and talking about the Grammy's, these are stories mainly things that younger people would want to read about more then any other age group.
Many young people don't have lots of money, so keeping the price at £1.50 is cheap, but not too cheap that the magazine would not be profitable. So the price is good for the younger age groups.

The title of the interview 'we get to know Daniel Brooks' makes the reader feel like they are getting a very personal interview with the artist, this would make them want to read it more as they feel they are getting an exclusive look into the artists life.
The interview isn't longer than two pages, this makes it easy for people to read. Younger people generally are quite busy so do not have time to be reading long articles, so having a shorter interview will get people to read the whole article.

The artists on the contents page are very young and modern artists such as Ed Sheeran, Jake Bugg, and Gabrielle Aplin. These are all artists that young people would listen to, so they would mainly want to read those articles.
Most young audiences want to go to festivals, so having a main story on what festivals are best to go to would be interesting to most young people, there are also always plenty of festivals to go to, so there would be plenty of choice for the reader if they couldn't find what they wanted before.
The list of stories is very easy to read and understand, so this would make it easy to find that story that they were looking for if they were only interested in one story, which would most likely be the case for a reader that does not regularly read the magazine.

Evaluation question 4 - AS Media

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation question 3 - AS Media

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

Beauer media group would most likely distribute my media product as Beauer have a very wide range of magazines that they publish, so my magazine would fit in well to this institution. Also Beauer do not publish any singer-songwriter music magazines at the moment, so there is a gap in the market where my magazine could be published.

Beauer could also create a web magazine site for my magazine, this would attract a younger audience as the magazine is mainly targeted at young people. However the magazine could attract an older audience as the genre is very relaxed, which an older audience would like.

Evaluation question 2 - AS Media

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation question 1 - AS Media

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

My magazine uses lots of the forms and conventions of real music magazines such as titles, feature stories, and the bar code.

 I tried to add as many conventions to my magazine as I could so that it looked as much like a real magazine as possible. I especially did this on the front cover as that is the first thing people will see when they look at my magazine. I tried to make the feature stories relevant and what the audience want to read, this is mainly things like exclusive interviews with big artists and album reviews of big name artists which I have done to catch the readers eye.

I kept the colour scheme as earth and wood colours as this relates back to the acoustic instruments that are used in the singer-songwriter genre, this is a colour scheme that is used in many singer-songwriter and acoustic genre magazines.

The title/masthead looks hand written which makes the magazine look more like it is in the singer-songwriter genre as it looks like the writing that the artist would be doing while writing a song. The style of the font also appeals more to the younger audience which my magazine is targeted at.

The double page spread also follows the conventions of a real music magazine as it has columns that go around the artist photo, This shows that the artist is the center of this story and that all the attention should be on him as the interview is all about his rise to fame.

The first paragraph that introduces the artist is much more bold than the rest, this grabs the readers attention and introduces them to the artist and hypes the artist up so they reader will want to read it more. The first letter of the paragraph also stands out, this also catches the reader attention and stops the pages from looking boring.

On the contents page I have put page numbers next to the stories on the list of stories, but also on the pictures of the main stories, this would make it easier for readers to find the story they want if they see it on the picture first.

The pictures on the contents page are bold and bright which would grab the readers attention, they are also pictures that the reader would recognize, so they would want to read the story more if they know the artists in the pictures.

First draft of music magazine - AS Media

Photoshoot planning document - AS media

Analysing other students blogs - AS media

Timeline for progress when making my contents page - AS media

Timeline for progress when making my double page spread - AS media

Timeline of progress when making my front cover - AS media

Comparison of costume and props to mood board - AS media

 Plain white T-shirts and jeans are typical in the singer-songwriter genre, this could be because the music is usually very laid back and relaxed, so this is reflected in the costumes that the musicians wear. I decided to recreate this picture of John Mayor with a white T-shirt and plain jeans.





Most of the time acoustic guitars are used, this could be because acoustic guitars have a very gentle sound which reflects the singer-songwriter genre. I used an acoustic guitar that I own that is a typical acoustic guitar full size.

New shots - AS media

When taking all my pictures I originally only planned to take pictures in the woodland, however I thought something was missing so I decided to take pictures of the cover artist in the field, I still decided not to use the pictures of the artist in the field because the pictures in the woodland were best for my magazine genre.

So although I took other pictures I did not use them for my magazine.

Edited pictures - AS media

For my first shot i wanted to make the picture sharper and brighter. to do this I used photo monkey and sharpened the picture by 13%, and clarified the picture by 34%. I then went on brighten and darkened the picture by -4%, and changed the highlights but 19%. I then changed the temperature by 16%.

For my second shot I wanted to make the picture sharper and brighter. to do this I used photo monkey and sharpened the picture by 10%, and clarified the picture by 35%. I then went on brighten and darkened the picture by -6%, and changed the highlights but 16%. I then changed the temperature by 20%

 For my third shot I wanted to make the picture sharper and brighter. to do this I used photo monkey and sharpened the picture by 14%, and clarified the picture by 34%. I then went on brighten and darkened the picture by -4%, and changed the highlights but 19%. I then changed the temperature by 13%

All photos from photo shoot for music magazine - AS media

Photo shoot for music magazine on PhotoPeach

Shot lists - AS media

Cover artist | Wide shot – Low | Holding guitar | Woods behind artist

Cover artist | Wide shot – Canted | Leaning against tree| Hands in pockets | Woods behind artist

Cover artist | Wide shot – Canted | Leaning against tree | Holding guitar | Woods behind artist

Cover artist | Wide shot – Canted | Holding guitar | Woods behind artist

Cover artist | Wide shot – | Holding guitar | Woods behind artist

Cover artist | Wide shot – Low | Leaning against tree | Hands in pockets | Woods behind artist

Cover artist | Wide shot – Canted | Guitar over shoulder | Other hand in pocket | Woods behind artist

Cover artist | Wide shot – Canted | Leaning against tree | Holding guitar | Woods behind artist

Cover artist | Wide shot – Eye level | Guitar over shoulder | Other hand in pocket | Woods behind artist

Cover artist | Wide shot – far away | Guitar over shoulder | Standing in a film

Cover artist | Wide shot – far away | playing Guitar | Standing in a field

Cover artist | Wide shot – far away | Holding guitar | Standing in a field

Cover artist | Wide shot – far away | Holding guitar | Standing in a film | Walking away from camera | Back to camera

Cover artist | Wide shot – Eye level | playing guitar | looking away from the camera | woods behind the artist

Cover artist | Wide shot – Canted | Leaning against tree | Holding guitar | Woods behind artist | looking at guitar

Cover artist | Wide shot – Low | walking across a fallen tree | Woods behind artist

Full magazine flat plan - AS media

Second draft of story for double page spread - AS media

Artist name Daniel Brooks

Interview with rising artist

Questions for the interview:

What has the sudden rise to fame been like for you? Have you been coping well?

Your new song ‘Runaway’ went straight into the top 10 in the first week of release, this is the first time this has happened to you. Why do you think this happened?

Was ‘Runaway’ written for anyone in particular? Was there any meaning behind this song?

You have been compared to Ed Sheeran, what has this been like for you?

So do you think its right for you to be compared to Ed Sheeran? How similar do you think your music is to his?

You grew up in a small countryside village, and now you are living in an apartment in central London. How has this change been for you?

You just finished your UK stadium tour, how did it feel performing in front of hundreds of people every night?

Your first tour sold out in 2 days. How did you react to this?

You’ve been spotted with many musicians such as Harry Styles. Do you have a lot of celebrity friends?

Finally, you have hinted at an album release in the summer, however you haven’t confirmed anything. Is the album happening? If so when?

First paragraph: 

From singing on the street corners of the high streets of surrey to selling out stadium tours around the country, Daniel Brooks hasn’t quite had much time to adjust to his instant fame. He’s the artist with the voice that the ‘world has been waiting for’ says his manager Simon Cowell. Here at Recording we sat him down and got an exclusive interview with the UK’s newest heartthrob.