Name - Rosie Redman. John F Kennedy School.

Candidate Number - 6226 Centre Number - 17131

I asked a few of my piers to give me feedback on my product as after all they will be the one buying my magazine.

Front Cover.

Jade Bowstead- "this reminds me of the magazine NME? if i looked at this magazine when in a shop i would automatically know it was for the indie genre of music. The reading 2010 strip in the corner made this clear because the reading festival is full of bands for the indie/rock genre"

Amy Mairs- "i really like your background image for your front cover because it is quite unique and wont be found on other magazines around if it was being sold in a shop meaning it will be eye catching to the genre fans"

Rachael Tiller - "this looks pretty professional Rosie, I'll buy it when it comes out ;) i simple but effective"

Contents Page

Jade Bowstead - "i like how you've named all the bands i can read about so i don't have to look around for them"

Amy Mairs - "the special offer you have used at the bottom makes the contents look much more real and like a real magazine however the colour scheme you have used (black) doesn't go with the rest of your magazine so it looks like it belongs to something else" <--- because of this i changed my contents page to the colour grey

Rachael Tiller - "the snapshot you have used on the right hand side i liked as it gives you an in site on celebrity gossip and everybody loves a bit of gossip!"

Double Page Spread

Jade Bowstead - "i like the pictures you have added to the double page spread, it makes the page over all look incredibly appealing"

Amy Mairs - "the logo and BB in the background i especially like because its quite unique and isnt normally found in other magazines however, it works"

Rachael Tiller - "the actuall story is readable and i feel people would want to know about this sort of things about the band becuase it includes tour details etc"

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How is it attracting your target audience?

It attracted my target audience because I stuck to the music gene from my designs, I used colours associating with the music genre and when taking photographs of my models I made sure they looked interested in my genre indie/rock. When creating my front cover for my magazine, I had to consider what would really attract and address my target audience. When it came to me background image I edited it via Picasa on my laptop and I made all the stories stand out by broadcasting them in a bold font. The font i chose for my mast head is simple but I feel quite affective. I chose a bold font yet again for my title Y.I.M, I put the font into capitals so that yet again my magazine is more appealing to others. On my front cover I showed what would be seen in my magazine. It has all the relevant information needed and it emphasized the main parts on the magazine to entice the person to purchase it. From my contents page and double page spread you can see that I added greater detail about the pages like real magazine would have done. The photograph on my contents page is of a different person from the front cover which shows that the magazine has a various amount of different stories. Again for my double page spread and contents I stuck to the colour scheme to the front cover so it was eye catching throughout. The colours I used I felt were good as it relates to the genre indie and rock. The Contents page clearly states everything you are going to expect to read in the magazine and it is all about the genre of music the reader would be interested in. For my double page spread I made a interview with the band I created called BlackBats, the page layout was set out like a magazine (in sections) and it was easily readable. I put the BB in the background of my paragraphs to emphasize that the double page spread was about my band, I also added more pictures form my bands photo shoot so the reader felt like they are getting to know the new indie band. Because of these points and again keeping to a unique font in my title it was attractive to the reader.

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

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

Who would be the audience of your media product?

More information about my target audience (not on the picture) is that they would be the kind of people interested to attend gigs. The genre like to dress individually, and have a unique style. The cloth's shops they would like to shop in would therefore be unique in selling clothes that fit in with the genre of music they are interested in. There hair style would also express the fact they enjoy this type of music. They would have long, messy hair showing that they dont really care what people think. My collage is an example of the type of person who would be interested in this genre/my magazine.

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

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

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Im having serious problems uploading my drawn designs to the blog. i will try and resolve this as soon as possible.

Final front page

I am incredibly happy with my front page result as even though there isn't much on it at all it looks as if it is a professional publication. I based the whole front cover once again on my original magazine NME as it is based on exactly the same genre my magazine was about. I based the whole magazine on my group so that the front page didn't look to busy however it still looked effective. I emphasized this by adding "exclusive issue" below the main headline" i then placed smaller stories at the bottom so that the reader will also know what will be found.

Final double page spread

This is my final double page spread, i based it on an interview with the band i created named BlackBats, this made it easier for me to plan out my question and answers to place on the page. When it came to the layout of my double page spread i looked at magazines including Q and again NME, i noticed that the texts were in columns therefore i used this to make my double page look it was in a professional magazine such as Q and NME. i decided to use pictures to emphasize who the band was and placed the logo in the corner so that the readers were able to look out for the band.

Final Contents page

This is my final contents page, i based this on the NME contents page as i like the way that was laid out. The colours i used go on throughout the whole of the magazine therefore it doesn't look as odd, my first draft of this contents page had a black background instead of a grey, this didn't go with the whole magazine overall as the front cover was quite bright therefore i felt that i needed to change it and i am finally happy with the final result.

My photoshoot and images i considered.

My photo shoot was a success and i had many images to choose from to use on my contents, front page and also my double page spread. overall i didn't use any single images because my whole magazine i decided to base on the band i named BlackBats. When looking at the single images i took above i felt that this would have worked if i was to focusing on a solo artist in particular because they fit into my type of genre, however because i was writing about a band i thought i should put pictures of the band in it not some of a few members.

After this decision had been made i then had to choose between the group images. My girls had three outfit changes so there was a lot of images to choose from. The first image i have posted consisted of all the girls wearing glasses, i didn't not choose this image because i think that no eye contact is appealing to the audience. The second and third image i didn't choose to use because the lighting unfortunately was too dark and when i tried to edit it the effect of the picture wasn't as good as i hoped for. My final group image i posted i also liked however i felt like the four girls were separated into two and i wanted them to look like they were close friends, meaning them being closer together.

logo ideas

i have decided to call my magazine Y.I.M meaning you indie magazine i got this idea from the magazine NME as it is catchy and easy to remember however when it comes to the logo it self i do not want it to be a copy write of the NME logo so i am trying to make it much more different. I looked at three different colours and three different fonts to use on my logo and even though i like the black and red one the most i am not going to use it because it looks too much like the NME logo, however i am planning on using the font because it stand out in front of other magazines.

my photoshoot ideas

This is my basic plan for my photoshoot when it comes to my magazine. I am taking different kind of pictures as i will be using them on both the contents and the front cover page. (click on the image to make it larger)

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This is an image that represents what audience my magazine is going to focus on, my theme is the genre indie so i will be putting information about indie bands and festivals such as underage and reading. I have chosen to do this becuase it is music that i listen to meaning that i will know a alot about it.

When i researched my front covers i found out what i defintately did NOT want to do when it came to my own front cover. I looked at smash hits first and noticed there was alot of pink clearly showing that the magazine was for girls, i do not want this to happen when it comes to my magazine becuase it is not based for a certain gender it is based on the music genre indie. Looking at the magazine cover of NME inspired what i want to do with my own magazine becuase it is based on the type of genre im working with. The group image with the main perfromer i thought was a good idea becuase even if i didnt know the band i would know that she did an important part. The bold and different coloured writing on the main story headline was also good as it appealed more and i knew automically who it was going to be about. The logo stood out on both magazines, this is quite important as if they didnt stand out the audience would find it hard to recognise them. To make the logo stand out i have decided to put a bold and unique font type and colour.

Final redraft

These are my final drafts of my practise task for the contents page i made the page numbers and titles of the pages more clearer by making the don't bolder and underlining it, this has made the contents page less complicated to read. The next thing i changed was my front cover. I used one of the picture i considered and edited it on a website to make the background colour more blue and to make my model look less pale and more natural. I then placed the masthead on the top of the front cover so it looked more like a magazine (rather then putting it at the bottom) i found that this makes the overall cover more professional now. I then put some of the main story's at the side of the picture so that the audience will know a bit about what is going to be inside, i put these in different colours to make the page look over all quite appealing. After the advise my teacher gave me i feel this draft is a much better then the one before.

Planning my Redrafts

Our teacher came round and told us what she thought of our task overall. She mentioned that the contents page looked a bit confusing meaning that i should make the page numbers stand out, maybe by making the writing bigger or bolder. She then came onto my picture and front page, she mentioned that the editing was good however she said that overall my front page didn't look like a magazine mainly because the masthead was at the bottom and not the top she also said that my front page needs to get more busy like the contents. What i am planning to do is use one of the pictures i considered so i am able to place more writing on the front page, i will then place my masthead on the top of the page rather then the bottom. On the front page i am keeping the images i took from the ski trip because it represents what has gone on around the school however the page names and numbers i will make a different font so it stands out from the definition.

Front page FINAL

This is my final design for my front cover, i wanted it to be simple because i wanted it to be appealing to all students, teachers and parents. I feel the colours i have used are appealing to students because they are bright and are not normally found on boring business magazine covers what teachers may normally buy. The cheeky smile i found was appealing because it shows that school is a nice place to go to, also the school uniform is worn to again show that the magazine if from John F Kennedy.

Two images i considered

These are a few images i took in the process of finding my final photo, with the photo on the left i found that the messy uniform did not make the school be represented well and on when it came to the photo on the right i found there was no emotion which made me think that the magazine wouldn't be that appealing.

Photography lesson

When i first walked into the room i thought taking photos will be a breeze! But after watching Mr Curran explaining all the settings i then found that this wasn't going to be as easy as i thought. He told us that we need to make the picture and that you cant just say to somebody "stand and smile". We was then shown a variety of good and bad shots to show us how we could go wrong, for example blurry shots. I found out that the environment lighting is very important when wanting to take a portrait picture, this makes you make sure that the reader is focusing on the person. I also have learnt that eye contact with the camera is important so the image shouldn't be too close or too far away.

Front page design TWO

Front page design idea ONE

Final Design CONTENTS

This is my final design for my contents page, i chose this idea because it has ALL the information needed which is what is in the magazine, page numbers and a bit about what your going to read. I think this will be very effective when it comes to the reader reading this. The logo shows that the magazine was made by jfk school and just underneath in small writing there is a clarification on what week it is next week. (this helps out students and teachers)

Contents design idea TWO

Contents design idea ONE