My Personal Details

Name = Danielle Louise Gare
Age = 16
Candidate Number = 5045
School = Wilmington Grammar School for Girls
Centre Number = 61119

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD OF MY MUSIC MAGAZINE

Above is the final design for my double page spread, and again it is clear from my research which elements from published magazines I have used in my own work. When I was designing my double page spread, again I was constantly changing the colour of the background and words, originally I decided to have a peach coloured background with bright pink headings because I still wanted the writing to be pink, but I thought if the background was pink as well this would be too conventional for a magazine targeted for girls. But then I realised that if I make it obvious in my design who my target audience is through my use of colour, the more likely it is to appeal to them. Which is why in the end I opted for a pink background, and headings.  

CONTENTS PAGE OF MY MUSIC MAGAZINE

I have been constantly changing and improving this design for my contents page, until I got to this stage and was happy with my final design. I think the contents page has been the hardest for me to design because every time I thought I'd finished I always found something else to improve, and it looks completely different from my original design which had a much bigger title and a black background, personally I think there is a huge difference and the time and effort I have put in to improve this has really paid off. 

AN AUDIO OF MY 7TH EVALUATION QUESTION

                                                                              

MY POWERPOINT EVALUATION OF AS MEDIA

MY FINAL MEDIA EVALUATION

View more presentations from dgare7.

I choose to format my evaluation in the above way so I would prove that I am able to upload a PowerPoint presentation, but also to show that I could present this presentation to an audience by showing the summarising pages on a screen, whilst reading the  detailed second slide to each question. 

IF YOU WISH TO VIEW THIS POWERPOINT PRESENTATION IN A LARGER FONT PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK VIEW ON SLIDESHARE!

HOW I MADE MY MUSIC MAGAZINE FRONT COVER

Below is a step by step account of how I made my music magazine front cover, and I have separated them into six stages.

FRONT COVER OF MY MUSIC MAGAZINE

Above is the Front Cover of my Music Magazine, and after looking at my research it will be obvious which ideas I have taken from magazines that are already on sale, (such as the colours I have used, the way I have outlined the words etc). Overall I am extremely pleased with this design and feel as if I could not have done better.

BETHS PHOTOS

I made this animated GIF on Picasion.com and chose my 10

favourite photos that I took of Beth after 2 photo shoots, in which I took about 500 photos in total. Overall I am very happy with the photos I have taken and I think there is a big improvement in comparison to the photos I took for my school magazine. For example in this photo shoot I had a specific idea of how I wanted my model to be dressed, and I and Beth organised what she was going to wear, whereas in the preliminary task I did not tell them anything about how I wanted them to be dressed so I let them make their own decisions. Also because this time I had professional equipment such as the better camera, white sheet, tripod and other lighting equipment etc, I think it made the photos I have taken for the music magazine look more professional. 

CONTENTS PAGE MUSIC MAGAZINE RESEARCH

I got this contents page from the 'Shout' magazine, and like most of the other contents pages I have seen this one has a bold heading in different colours, that helps it stand out. Again the pictures are the focal point of the page, and I love the way they are slanted at different angles and how there is a pink rectangle behind them to add more colour to the page, so I intend to use rectangles behind or near some of the pictures and writing that will be on my contents page. Whilst being short and concise under each name of the page we are given a breve summary of what will be on the page which may encourage to buy the magazine when we go to a shop.

I also got this contents page from the 'Shout' magazine, and although it is more or less the same as the one above in the way it is set out, there are some differences. For example instead of three pictures of the magazine pages like the one above, this one has one long photo and then two examples of the magazine pages underneath it. Also the title of the contents page is much smaller and less colourful on this example than on the one above, and the pink rectangle only goes half way up the page on this example because of the longer photo above it. But again this page is still colourful, eye-catching and would appeal to a younger audience.

Although I like the colours used in this contents page, and how the title is written in a box and spreads across the top of the page, I don't like the idea of using a double page for the contents page. However I do like how the pictures have been numbered to specific pages in the magazine, but I think this will only work of I use a double page for the contents, so I might not use this idea.

I am basing most of my design for the contents page on the above two designs as I feel that these are the most appropriate if I am aiming towards a younger audience. Again they are both from 'Top of the Pops' magazines, and I think the main thing I like about  these contents pages is how they both have bold titles in a box, and how they have a picture of their front cover and then arrows that go to different headings with the page number they are on. Also it is obvious that this magazine is targeted to a young girl audience because of the headings such as 'we love boys', but because I am aiming for a slightly older generation as well as this age group I will need to make a maturer version of this contents page to cater for both age groups.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD FOR MUSIC MAGAZINE RESEARCH

I took this double page spread from a Top of the Pops magazine, and although it still retains a girly topic and a picture that will appeal to girls it looks more formal than some of the other double pages I have seen due to the layout of the writing and the lack of girly colours. Therefore I don't think this is a magazine double spread that will appeal to all girls aged 11 - 17. The only thing that I like about this double page spread is the pose that Thomas is doing, and how the title is big and the words are of different thicknesses and colours.  

I am considering doing a double page spread of competitions for my music magazine, and I got this example from a recent Top of the Pops magazine. I love the use of colours and as we know Top of the Pops is aimed at a younger generation and this is reflected in it's girly choice of colours and prizes.We can also tell that the language used is appropriate for this younger age group around 11 - 17, as it is short concise and avoids complicated vocabulary in a way that would not be seen as patronising (just easily understood). Also I love the way the title of this page and it's smaller headlines are big, bold and colourful so I will try to incorporate

this into my own double page spread. 

I like the idea of doing a double page spread of the latest fashion icons and items as I think this is something that will appeal to the age group I am trying to target. Again I took this example from a recent Top of the Pops magazine as I feel that Top of the Pops is a perfect example of what I should do to appeal to a young and teenage audience. I also like the way that the title 'The Latest' is pink and red and how by every fashion accessory on the page 'The Latest' is written and stays true to the same colours (red and pink). The only part of this page that I defiantly intend to use though is the way each picture has an outline around this, as it draws attention to the photos, despite all the other pictures on the page.

 

The photo of Mollie in the centre third of this double page spread is the focal point, and because she takes up so much space on the page it means that there is less writing. This means that this double page spread will appeal to the age group I am trying to target as they are more interested in pictures rather than writing. Obviously Mollie is considered to be a fashion icon for the younger generation, and I like the idea of doing a double page spread of Beth with her favourite fashion items and make up products. The language used is also appropriate for a younger generation as it is short, easily understood and concise. Again I like the bold titles and how more than one colour is used, and also the outline around the less focal photos on this page draws more attention to them. Overall the use of colours, pictures and bite-size writing makes it an eye-catching double page spread.

Because I love this music magazine double page spread and how it has been set out, I have decided to do an interview with Beth for my own double page spread. The only thing I would say though is that although all the colours used on this page work well together (because red, black and white are the main colours used on this page), Cheryl seems to blend too much into the background because she is also wearing red and I want Beth to stand out on my double page spread. Also although I like how the problems have been presented as bold and with big speech marks I don't really like how they are all just white, and how they have each got a border around them. So in my own double page spread although I intend to separate each question I will not do it with a box around the text and if it fits in with my choice of background and the other colours I use I will try to make the problem headings more colourful.

I got this example of a double page spread from the Cosmopolitan magazine. Although I don't like the amount of writing on the page because it is too much, and not appropriate for the age group I am trying to target. I love the pose Kelly is assuming, and how it fills the bottom third of the page. Also I love the light pink background  because it is subtle but still shows the reader that it is a double page targeted for a girl. Also because I think pink is an obvious colour for a teenage girl magazine, I intend to use a light pink background  on my double page spread. The other idea that I want to take from this double page spread is the way that the questions are a different colour to the text, which separates the questions better and adds more colour to the pages.



I took most of the above examples of double page spreads from the Top of the Pops magazines, as I think it  is a perfect example of what I should be aiming for to appeal to the younger generation. However, I also want my magazine to appeal to a slightly older generation as well, so if I take elements from the Top of the Pops magazine and make them more interesting for both a young and teenage audience, I think I will be achieving my aim of successfully targeting an audience of girls aged between 11-17.

MY MUSIC MAGAZINE FONT RESEARCH

The above is my research into fonts and different colours for the titles of my music magazine, and because through my research into the front cover, contents and double page spread I decided to have my three main colours as black, red and white when I was experimenting with these titles. I chose the bottom tittle for my front cover because I thought it should have less colour as the rest of my front cover would be mostly be red and black, also the font I have chosen is dramatic but simple which is the look I am trying to go for.

HAND DRAWN PLAN OF MY MUSIC MAGAZINE

Below are hand drawn plans of my music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread, that I intend to follow when making my music magazine:-

FRONT COVER

CONTENTS PAGE

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

My Evaluation of My Preliminary Task

1. Who is My Target Audience?
Because I am making a school magazine it is obvious that I am trying to target students that go to this school, and in this case secondary school students so I would be targeting students aged between 11 and 18. To an extent it would play the part of a school newsletter as it would give the students and parents the information they needed in an interesting way.

2. How does My School Magazine Attract/Address My Audience?
Because my school is a Sports and Performing Arts Post 18 school obviously the magazine's content will attract my audience as there will be information about different opportunities regarding their studies. Also my magazine will address them because it's content will be directly about them as well as Sports and Performing Arts.

3. How does My School Magazine Represent Particular Social Groups?
Due to my school magazine being targeted at a Post 18 audience, it would represent students of this age who are studying Sport or Performing Arts. I have also put pictures of students of this age on my front cover and contents page, and presented my magazine in a way that is easy to understand so it will be easy to fit into the students an parents busy life-style.

4. Does My School Magazine Challenge/Develop Real Media Products?
Due to it being a school magazine I don't feel like I can say that it challenges or develops real media products because it is a free magazine that is only targeted at the students from the school. A school magazine is published and sold on a very small scale and will not be as widely publicised as other media products, due to it's having a limited target audience which would make the expenditure more than the income if money was used to publicise it.

5. What Kind of Institution Would Distribute My School Magazine and Why?
Because my magazine is a school magazine it would not be distributed by anyone else but the school itself, and they could either be downloaded on the school website or picked up at the school office.

6. In the Process of Making My School Magazine what have I learnt about Technologies?
I have learnt how to use Blogger, Adobe Indesign, Adobe Photoshop, different types of camera's and camera settings. Although I still need to improve the way I use all of these, but I hope to do this in the near future.