MODERATOR NOTE

Welcome to my AS media blog, I am currently studying AS media as part of my A levels at college.
I started my research and planning in Septmember and since then i have created my magazine cover as well as a contents page and a double page spread.
Underneath this post are the evaluation questions.
I hope you enjoy looking through my blog.
Emma

FINAL FRONT PAGE

FINAL CONTENTS PAGE

FINAL DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

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?

EVALUATION: QUESTION 4

Who's would be the audience for your media product? why?

gender: Female

age: 14

occupation: High school student

Hobbies: Shopping, hanging out with friends, listening to music

Where would they shop: hughstreet shops like topshop and new look

Favourite music artists: Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, One Direction

My target audience would be around the age of 12-16 and they would still be at high school. 

They would listen to music artists which I would feature in my magazine. These artists would be under the pop category and my target audience would get fashion inspiration from them and will look up to them so I need to make sure that I don't include celebrities in my magazine which have a bad reputation as my target audiences parents would not be okay with their child buying this. Artists with good reputations would be liked by my target audience such as Taylor swift or Ellie Goulding which are music artists which teenagers are able to look up to for inspiration.

In my target audiences spare time they will like to do shopping, hang out with friends and listening to music. This means it's important for me to include content relevant to their hobbies so they will be more interested in reading it. I will have to include content about pop artists, include competitions for concert tickets and fashion information.

My target audience would wear clothes such as jeans and leggings and casual tops for the daytime and maybe shirts or dressy tops for when going out. My audience isn't too old so they won't be wearing privative clothing and will be still int he phase of wearing plain and comfy clothes but the older end of my target audience may be starting to experimenting with their style and and wear clothes from high street shops.

My target audience will typically shop t high street shops such as new look and topshop as they are affordable and accessible for audience as they aren't old enough to have a job and if they do it will be very low pay so they don't have enough money to afford to shop elsewhere. This means I included clothes in my magazine from these shops.

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EVALUATION: QUESTION 3

the linked pictures below include my answer to question 3

EVALUATION: QUESTION 2

                                   How does your media product represent particular social groups?

On the left is the original image which I used for my cover page but without the background took out, on the right is a picture from top of ht epos magazine of Ariana Grande. The images are fairly similar in a few ways. One of the ways which was very prominent to me was the fact that they have similar facial expressions! Both Rebecca and Ariana Grande have a cheesy grin and are looking directly into the camera which will engage the reader.

Another thing I noticed was the posture of both the models. They are both stood upright and have a straight posture but are both leaning slightly to the side which could show that they are casual and normal people just like the readers. It also shows they are not 'perfect' which most magazines pot ray celebrities as.

Also, I used the same shot type as the top of the pops shoot as I did my research and realised the majority of shot types are mid-shots to show off the models face. This may result in the audience not being able to relate to the models as they have no spots and have very clear skin as they have been photoshopped. On the other hand, as it is a mid-shot it means the image is at the same level as the reader and could also represent that the models are down to earth and regular just like the audience reading it.

I decided to dress my model in 'up to date clothes' which you can buy from normal shops such as top shop and new look which is generally where my target audience would be able to afford to shop. Also I didn't want to dress my model in provocative clothing as it would not appeal to my younger audience and their parents may not buy it them which may be the case for some of my target audience.

EVALUATION: QUESTION 1

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

Contens page feedback

Front cover process 23

I also added an issue number to the top right under the title in the same font as the price is in. I did this as I thought it would make it look more professional.

Front cover process 22

After doing a bit of research and asking opinions of my peers, I came to the conclusion that my title did not look appropriate. As it was in lower case it did not look suitable for a title. I decided to change the font to 'BEBAS NEUEU' as it looked more professional and suitable for my magazine and its genre.

Contents page feedback questionnairre

Contents page process 9

Next I added the titles of the boxes which I did in white as it stood out against the pink background. I then added the page numbers wight he titles and also added a bit of a description as it tells you more about that feature.

Contents page process 8

I decided to change my contents page as I felt as if it was very childish and unprofessional. I kept the image, purple circle with the writing inside, the masthead and all I changed for the images was to change them to my own an to change the colour of them to match my title.

I then added 3 rectangular boxes with a pink to white gradient (the same pink as the masthead to make it look professional). I also added a drop shadow to make them stand out where it turns to white otherwise it would blend in with the background and you wouldn't be able to tell when the box ends.

Contents page small images

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Weekly plan

• re-design contents page
• get feedback on contents page
• upload pictures i took myself for the contents page

Front cover process 21

From getting my interview responses I went and took images for the poster images on the banner a the bottom of my cover page and replaced them with the images i previously had of celebrities.

Front cover process 20

My next process for my cover (responding from my feedback) was to upload my own images. I did this starting wight he sam smith image and changed it to my own image and then changed the writing to adapt to the image. I also got rid of the apostrophes as I thought it took up too much space and didn't look neat enough.

front cover poster images

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Image to replace sam smith image on cover

On my front cover I decided to change the image of sam smith to an image I took myself. The image of sam smith had him with a straight face so I decided to rein act this image and use a similar background which a block colour of grey/white. I put my model in a similar top swell which is just a plain black one as black is seen as a trendy image in this time of age.

Front cover interview responses

I decided to interview a few of my peers to see what they thought of my up to date cover which you can see below. This then decides if I should change my cover anymore.

Front cover interview responses

Front cover interview questions

Model release form

Model release form

Location recce

Contents page small images

For my smaller images for my contents page I took images of Josh. I chose to use the brick wall as a background as it looked professional and shows a bit of difference rather than using just a white wall for the background. I am going to use the 2nd image as he is looking more at the camera and he looks like he is smiling more genuinely.

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Double page spread process 9

To add a little improvement to my magazine I added a page number and a website for my magazine. I used the font 'Bebes Neue' which is what I used for the title. For the page number I used the same colour as the apostrophe marks and the questions and for the website I used a slightly lighter pink so it didn't look like too much of the same colour.

Front cover process 19

Next I added a pink circle and moved the layer so it was behind the text and pictures i would be adding. I then decided it would be a good idea to add 'pop clothes'. By this I mean clothes suitable for teenage girls from hughstreet shops which celebrities may wear. I also added shoes and nail polish as it will appeal to more people. I then added text in the same colour as there title to keep the colour scheme consistent. I used the font 'Bebes neue' to match other font on the page.

Front cover process 18

Next I added an image of sam smith to the left of my page. I added a yellow rectangle which is the same colour as the other one on my cover and added pink text to keep the theme consistent. The font was 'bebas neue' and the black font underneath is the same font.

Front cover process 17

The next thing I did was collect images of celebrities that can be used on the strip at the bottom for posters which will feature in the magazine as this will attract people to buy it if their favourite singer is in it.

Front cover process 16

Next i moved the date and the price from the top right as I thought it was taking up space. I deleted the date as I don't think it was necessary and made the barcode smaller so I could put the price underneath it.

Front cover process 15

The next thing I did was to add a rectangle box along the bottom of the page as the strip. I changed it to the colour of the masthead and cover line to make the cover consistent. I then placed the barcode in the strip. I added a title of '10 posters' in the font 'betas neue' and changed it to the same colour as the yellow box on the page. I then added the text 'your favourite celebrities' in the font 'lucida handwriting' and put it in white so it will stand out.

Front cover process 14

I decided I did not like some elements of my front cover so I decided to change a few things. i started by deleting the rectangle boxes from down the side of the page and the writing from it. I then changed the font of the cover line to 'Bebas neue' and put them in different text boxes to get rid of the gap between them. I then added a yellow rectangle box and put it on a slant swell as the cover line and placed it above the text. I then added the words 'EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW' in the same font and the same colour as the cover line.

Double page spread process 8

The next thing I did was add my interview. I split my text into 3 columns to make it look more organised. The font I used for the questions was called 'Bebas neue' which was from dafont.com and I changed the colour to match the colour of the apostraphies. For the rest of the text I used 'Bookman old style' which was from photoshop.

Double page spread process 7

I started off by using the font 'georgia' which I used for the large letter 'S'. I then used the font 'book man old style' and did the rest of the font in this writing but did it in column's to make it look more organised and professional.

Double page spread process 6

The next thing i did was to add the intro to my interview. I did this in the font 'lucida handwriting'.

Double page spread process 5

The next thing i did was to add the quote to the page. I used the speech marks in the font 'gills sans ultra bold' and changed the colour to pink to make it stand out. After that i added the text in the font 'Bebas neue' which i downloaded from dafont.com.

Double page spread process 4

I then added the image to an A3 double page spread and put it on the left side of the double page spread so i can put the writing on the right hand side.

Double page spread process 3

The next step i did was to whiten the teeth. I did this like i did it on the front cover! I used the paint brush tool to go round the teeth using white then changed the opacity to reduce the 'fakeness' and make them look more natural.

Double page spread process 2

The next thing i did was use the spot healing tool to reduce imperfections on her face.

Double page spread process 1

My first step was to remove the background of the picture i am using for my double page spread as i want the background to be white as it makes it look more professional.

Contents page process 7

The final step of my contents page is to add 2 pictures of celebrities and add the page numbers to them.

Contents page process 6

The next step was to add a drop shadow onto the writing in the purple circle to make it stand out.

Contents page process 5

The next step i did was to add a circle and make it purple as it is a bright colour which fits in with my genre. I then changed the opacity so you could half see through it and added writing in white on it so it would stand out. I situated it on top of the image so it is overlapping.

Contents page process 4

Next i did the same as before but for the second half for the features.

Contents page process 3

Next i added a blue box which matches the colour of the circle from the front cover to keep the magazine consistent. I then decided to split my contents page into 2 sections (cover articles and feature articles) and put 'on the cover' in white over the blue box to make it stand out. I then added the page numbers of the articles mentioned on the cover and put these in pink to highlight them. I then put the title of the article next to the page numbers in bold and a short sentence to summarise the article.

Contents page process 2

I then added a 'contents' title and used the font 'Trebuchet ms' which is the same font from the front cover as i want to keep my magazine consistent on the front cover and contents page. I also used the same colour for the title as i used on the front cover.

Contents page process 1

I started off by removing the background of my picture in photoshop and then placing it onto a white A4 document. I placed it down the side of my page.

Front cover process 13

The next and final step of my front cover (before improvements) was to add oblongs down the side of the page which re different colours then add various fonts into each shape with artists names. Also i added a drop shadow to my writing on my circle to make it stand out.

Front cover process 12

Next i added an oblong shape which is the same colour as the font fro the title. I then added writing into it using the font ' CY' and changed the colour to white so it would stand out against the pink background. I then added more writing in the same font but int he colour black and placed it right below the pink shape.

Front cover process 11

Next i added a blue circle shape and put the layer behind the picture and increased the opacity. I then added writing into it using the font 'copperplate gothic bold' and changed the colour of the writing to white. After this i changed the writing so it was slightly slanted.

Front cover process 10

After i decided to change my target audience and i re-started on my magazine, I added a cover line of my models name. I used the font called 'bubblegum' from dafont.com and changed it to yellow as it is the cover line and needs to stand out from everything else.

Front cover process 9

After asking people's opinions on my last updated cover page I came to the conclusion that i need to make it more appropriate to the genre. This is currently difficult as my target audience is both genders. For me to make it more appropriate to the genre i am going to change my target audience to just females so i can use more vibrant colours such as pink.