AS Foundation Portfolio

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

I have used a masthead, barcode, price, date-line, issue number, skyline and subtitle within my front cover. They are all aspects of a conventional magazine and this is the main reason why I chose to use these features. The reason behind using a main feature image, headline and its subtitle is to catch a potential reader’s attention and they also act as anchorage in an attempt to persuade them into purchasing the publication. Whereas the price, barcode and issue number are used to inform.

On my contents page I have used a main feature and teaser, large headline, news section, features section, smaller masthead, date-line, small cover of the front cover alongside a subscription feature and a smaller feature photo.After looking at current music magazines like Kerrang! for example I chose not to use the small Editor’s note that they use, because it is mainly weekly magazine that use a small one on the contents page, whereas monthlies generally have the letter from the Editor on a separate page, which is what I have chosen to do with my magazine. I also chose to have page numbers alongside the features with an original image to represent them; I chose to add the numbers so that it is easier for the reader to find those features as they are the more heavily featured ones.

My double page spread uses a large main image, page number, date-line, smaller masthead, drop-caps, by-line / photo credit, graphic feature, large headline, body text, crease line and pull-out quote. I chose to not use an introductory paragraph or a lead into my main article as I envision it being situated on the page before the double page spread with other photos and another larger headline.

I have maintained my chosen house-style throughout my Double-Page Spread, Contents Page and front cover. The house-style that I have adapted is purple, white and black colour scheme for the fonts and graphic features. The fonts are Broadway for the Masthead, TW Cen MT Condensed for the left third, smaller features, text on the contents page, dateline and the main body text on the double page spread. Also I used Vivaldi on the Double Page Spread for the main feature headline and the drop-cap, Pristina was used for the quotes on the contents page and the pull-out on the double page spread, another font that I used was Andalus for the main feature headline used on the front cover. I chose each font to fit its purpose due to the difference in sans serif and serif fonts and the ways in which they are used. I chose to use a serif font for my masthead and main feature headline, because they are the elements that are the biggest on the page and will therefore be easily readable even in a serif font. The left third, skyline, date-line and price, on the other hand, have a smaller typeface as they are not the most important elements but still need to be readable so I put them in a sans serif font. I also chose to use a different sized font for the different elements in a similar way, because the most important element like the brand and the heavily featured artist (masthead, main feature headline and image) are the elements that will attract potential readers, therefore they need to be dominating the front cover and contents page. I have also chosen to price my magazine at £3.40, despite the fact that 70% of my audience said they were willing to pay £2 - £3 for my magazine and only 30% said they would pay £3 - £4. I chose to do this because I am appealing to a predominantly ABC1 audience profile and they are more likely to spend more when purchasing a magazine, because they have a higher disposable income.

A graph to show how much my feedback audience
would be prepared to pay for my magazine?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I think that my magazine front cover goes against the conventional views in the way people see young women. The media represents the stereotype of the young professional women as acting like men in order to be successful. I do not believe that this is the way a majority of women need to behave; therefore I have represented my artists as being successful and professional, while still being elegant and feminine. I aimed my music magazine at women and I have also represented them on the front cover, therefore the audience can feel as though they are able to relate with the artist featured on the front cover. I have also chosen to price my magazine at £3.40, despite the fact that 70% of my audience said they were willing to pay £2 - £3 for my magazine and only 30% said they would pay £3 - £4 (see the above graph) because I am appealing to a predominantly ABC1 audience profile. I think that this is the type of audience profile that would be prepared to pay more money for magazines as they are likely to have a higher disposable income. Other potential competing magazines that cover a similar genre are BBC Music Magazine which is sold at £4.80, therefore making my magazine more appealing there are not many other jazz magazines on the market just mainly e-zines (online magazines), but there are other magazines that are targeted at a niche market audience, such as folk music publication: The Living Tradition priced at £3.25. The benefits of publishing a niche marketed magazine is that there are not many, if any, competitors in the same market. The price that you choose to put on your magazine the targeted are likely to pay it because there is no other publication like it, but it can't be unrealistically high because there will be less people buying it and a profit won't be made.

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

I think my magazine will appeal to the major publishing house, Condé Nast, because they don't currently have a music magazine publication. They are also an American based company which is where jazz music became incredibly popular during the 1920's and 30's. They don't currently have a magazine which is centred on music, but they do publish GQ which a men's lifestyle magazine which focuses on culture for men through factors such as music. GQ has a recent circulation figure of 980,254, with a median age of 33 and 83% aged 18 - 49 (2011.) Condé Nast produces high-end, stylish magazines in the shape of Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, W and Glamour. They were established in 1909 and in 1919 they were the first publishing house to produce international editions - with Vogue being published in the UK. They have since grown and publish international editions of their magazines across the globe, like Vogue for example in Russia, America, UK, France and Italy etc. They have been an established publishing house for over 100 years and continue to grow and thrive in the industry; they launched their newest publication, style.com, last year. They are located on Madison Avenue, New York and their sell line is publishing “the world’s most stylish magazines” this is another reason why I believe that my magazine could potentially appeal to them. Especially as they don’t currently publish anything similar, there is a gap in the market for them to publish a jazz/current trends magazine.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

For my music magazine I have chosen to represent the genre of jazz. For this genre of music I believe that my audience will be dominated by a niche audience of fans of jazz music. I have aimed my magazine at a predominant audience of women aged 24 - 40. I think it will appeal to those who like fashion, shopping, socialising and getting dressed-up. I think it will appeal to those who have interests outside of the mainstream; they generally enjoy music and spend a fair amount on the artists that they like and enjoy listening to live jazz music. Their tastes generally stay the same and the music is another way of them expressing their personality. As this magazine appeals to a mainly niche audience i.e. only a small number of people are likely to name jazz as their favourite genre of music. Although it is a high-fashion magazine, I have researched the audience profile of Vogue UK magazine, as I aimed to promote my music publication within a similar audience bracket. Their readers consist of 89% women and 11% male and 70% of their recent circulation figures (circa. 2011 210,806) are ABC1, with 34% AB. They really do appeal and promote to a high-earning readership. In a similar way InStyle has a 90% women readership 35% are aged 35 - 54 and 72% earn $50,000+ every year. Mojo magazine aims to appeal to a more older audience, as they promote classic rock and their 211,000 readership has a median age of 37 and 66% are ABC1 (circa Dec 2010.)

How did you attract/address your potential audience?

I have chosen to price my magazine at £3.40, despite the fact that 70% of my audience said they were willing to pay £2 - £3 for my magazine and only 30% said they would pay £3 - £4 (see the above graph) because I am appealing to a predominantly ABC1 audience profile. I think that this is the type of audience profile that would be prepared to pay more money for magazines as they are likely to have a higher disposable income. Other potential competing magazines that cover a similar genre are BBC Music Magazine which is sold at £4.80, therefore making my magazine more appealing there are not many other jazz magazines on the market just mainly e-zines (online magazines), but there are other magazines that are targeted at a niche market audience, such as folk music publication: The Living Tradition priced at £3.25. The benefits of publishing a niche marketed magazine is that there are not many, if any, competitors in the same market. The price that you choose to put on your magazine the targeted are likely to pay it because there is no other publication like it, but it can't be unrealistically high because there will be less people buying it and a profit won't be made. After my sample audience filled out a questionnaire and looked at all 3 final elements (Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread) I collected the results together. All of the people who filled out my survey knew that White Rabbit's Lead Vocalist was the main feature of the front cover. 80% saying that the images were effective and eye-catching, 20% saying they were partially eye-catching and effective.

Also 100% of my sample audience thought that my magazine represented the music genre of jazz. And is aimed mainly at Women, but the age group that they thought it was targeted at got mixed results. 60% chose 18 - 23 year olds, 30% 24 - 29 year olds and 10% thought 30 - 35 year olds.

40% of my audience thought that Front Cover was the element that needed the most improvement, whereas 50% thought the Contents page needed the most improvement and 10% thought that none of it needed improving.

Other audience feedback I received included comments such as:

"The image could be clearer."

"I think a lot of features have been included and I would definitely consider buying this magazine."

"I think you could add more to your contents."

"It's good and I like the layout."

"I love your Double Page Spread! The cover needs something more, but I'm not sure what."

"I like the colour scheme and it has a very detailed contents page."

The feedback from my surveyed audience varied, which is good because it highlights how different people look for different things when purchasing a magazine, thus giving me more points to consider. I have also chosen to do a small video profile of a potential reader of my magazine, consider what they find most important in a magazine and the sort of genre they listen to.

From this video I realised that my magazine was unlikely to appeal to this candidate as she prefers mainstream music and doesn't favour jazz music or have a keen interest in fashion. I think my average reader will spend an majority of their disposable income on fashion and the arts (i.e. clothing, DVDs, CDs, magazines and books) and they are also interested in the culture of today whether it be popular culture or something less mainstream.

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

From creating a front cover, double page spread and contents page my skills I have learnt further skills within Photoshop like the blur tool and Gaussian blur, also how to transform, skew and rotate certain objects, the spot healing brush tool and the use of several layers. I also used the character tool to insert text onto my magazine.

In order to construct my music magazine front cover, I used Adobe Photoshop CS5, this technology allows me to edit photos and then insert text and other features on top e.g. Masthead and a bar code. The layers allow me to move features around so that they are either underneath or on top of other features. I opened a new Photoshop document in size A4 to meet the requirements of my brief. I then inserted some text for my Masthead because it is a conventional feature of Print Magazines. I made the text a big enough size so that it filled the width of the A4 page. I then chose to make my typeface longer rather than wider so that it took up a sufficient amount of room as a typical Masthead would i.e. approximately a fifth of the page.

I then added the other part of my magazine title within my other text, because I saw it done on the cover of Entertainment Weekly (see left) and took inspiration from that, as I don't think it is commonly done but I thought it looked better than "The Jazz Singer" all on one line. Then I opened up my chosen image that I wanted to put on the front cover so that I could edit it appropriately. I have opened my own original image in Photoshop and started by duplicating the image so that it had a background layer and then started editing the photo by using the spot healing brush tool to clear any blemishes on my model's face. I then chose to use the blur tool selecting Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur to enable me to edit my photo and enhance my model's skin. I adjusted the Gaussian Blur to a suitable level so that I could still see the outline of her silhouette, but the skin appeared softer and completely unblemished due to the blurring of the skin tone, it appears less grainy and more porcelain. I then added a layer to the duplicate to allow me to edit the eyes, mouth and other features. Then I used the Brush tool to erase away the blurriness around the model's eye, mouth and other key features i.e. nails, nose, eyebrows and pearls on her dress. This is the finished image after the editing that I did. I then opened up my image of glitter to use as a background for my Masthead, an idea which I got from looking at a past issue of InStyle magazine. (see right)

Then I added the glitter background to my masthead and changed the colour of my font to white, which is still a conventional colour to be used within magazines. I created a bar code using http://www.barcodesinc.com/generator/index.php this website allowed me to type in some text and generate a bar code from it and inserts it onto the bar code. I put the issue no. 054 and the price £3.40, allowing me to incorporate three typical magazine features together into one. I then selected all, copied and pasted it onto my background. I then selected Edit>Transform>Shift and held down the shift key while adjusting the size of my bar code so that the length and width stayed within the same proportion. I made it a suitable size to fit into a bottom corner of my magazine. Then I selected Edit>Transform>Rotate to turn it 90 degrees so it was portrait rather than landscape. After saving my Masthead as a JPEG file using the Snipping Tool I opened it up in Photoshop to allow me to select only the Masthead. I then used the Masthead to insert it onto my original background and then selected Edit>Transform>Scale to make it smaller and then rotate it to have a smaller copy of it on my bar code. I did this because I had seen it other magazine for example on the cover of InStyle. (as previously mentioned above) I moved my Masthead text down slightly to incorporate room for a Skyline, enabling me to add another smaller feature to my magazine in another way other than a left third. Then I added my edited main feature photo to then be able to add text around my model's face. I then added my own original image of glitter to put behind my masthead text, then I changed the colour of my Masthead to purple to allow me to create a house style throughout the remainder of my contents page and double page spread. I also change the small Masthead on the bar code and the colour of the Skyline feature. I then started to add all of my text like the left third and the main feature headline, because these are the conventional features of a magazine. I moved my bar code to the other side of my magazine so that I could move the main feature headline further towards the right and make it bigger to make it completely obvious to the reader that it is the main feature of the magazine. I also edited the size of the text in the left third so that it was suitable considering they are the smaller features of the magazine. I also changed the colour of part of my main feature headline and a line in my left third to fit in with the house-style. I then changed the font of main feature headline and added a quote to act as anchorage to draw in readers. I selected Edit>Transform>Skew to edit the quote text and make it look italic, which I think is a suitable way to represent that text because it has been taken from the body text of my double page spread. I then selected all of the text items in my left third and selected Edit>Transform>Scale to adjust the size of them equally. I made it longer and narrower so that the text didn't cut across the main feature photo. I aligned the main feature headline centrally to draw the reader's eyes into the middle where the text and photo of the main feature are. Then to finish off my Front Cover I moved the left third text more towards the right so that there is a suitable amount of room around the edges of my magazine. I also moved the bar code back to the right of the cover so that there isn't too much on the left side. I finished off by adding a dateline above the left third, a conventional feature of magazines, I used an even smaller font because it isn't a very important detail of the magazine, but I felt it still needs to be featured.

To construct my contents page, First I opened up a new document in Photoshop in size A4 to meet the requirements of my Brief. This document is for me to complete my Contents page. I then added text to my contents in the form of a large headline. I did this text in the same font as my Masthead to create continuity and a house style that I can incorporate across my magazine. I then selected Edit>Transform>Scale to make the text longer rather than wider so that it took up an appropriate amount of room just like the Masthead on my Front Cover. I then decided to edit my text so that it matched the style of my Masthead. I did this by omitting the "Inside" and then selecting Edit>Transform>Scale to make it smaller and then Edit>Transform>Rotate to enable me to put the text within the T of "This." I then added my Features, News, Inside Every Month and On The Cover sections, because I believe they are conventional features of a monthly magazine. A monthly magazine generally has a lot more content than a weekly and my contents page reflects this. I used TW Cen MT Condensed font for this text, this was also used in my left third - this helps to create a house style. I then added a short note from the Editor I used TW Cen MT Condensed for the font and changed the colour to purple so that it is the same colour as my Masthead text. The Editor's letter is also a conventional feature of a magazine. I then added a background behind the Editor's letter to create continuity from my Masthead on my Front Cover to my Contents page. I also added a smaller version of the Masthead to create some more continuity. I also added an original image of my main feature star. I then added a subscription feature, because this is a conventional feature of a magazine. It also helps to promote the magazine to the readers, that they save money if they sign up for a subscription. The subscription feature is made-up of a smaller version of the Front Cover and some text with a title as well. The colour and the font is the same as what is used in the Editor's letter - purple and TW Cen MT Condensed. This is a draft of my contents page, to finish it off I added a picture alongside the Editor's letter. After constructing my draft contents page I have decided to amend some of the features such as the Editor's letter, because I think that it is a more common feature of a weekly rather than a monthly on a contents page, whereas the monthly magazines generally have it on a separate page. I have also added a quote to go alongside my main feature photo acting as anchorage and a page number (in Broadway font to match my Masthead) I used TW Cen MT Condensed for the quote. I also decided to add a background shape to my features section and adjusted the text accordingly so that it would fit within the shape. I linked the two layers of the text and the background shape so I could navigate them around the contents page together. I experimented by moving the main feature photo around between the other features on the contents page. I then decided to add a background shape to my On the Cover, News and Inside Every Issue sections, to create continuity within the contents page. I then added another original image to my contents page, before this I opened the image in Photoshop and edited the model using the spot healing brush tool, to make the image look more professional. I also decided to move my main feature image back to its original place as there is more room in the top left corner so that I can make the image bigger telling the reader even by just looking at the Contents page that this is my main feature, because the image used to represent it is bigger than the other one. I selected Edit>Transform>Scale to make the other image bigger to fill the space that was left between the features section and the subscription feature. I also changed the font of the quote for the main feature to Pristina, because I think the serif font represents the main feature star, because she is elegant and glamorous, I also selected Edit>Transform>Skew to make the text look like italics. I then added a smaller feature headline to my smaller feature's image, so that the readers know what it is about and it also acts as anchorage, I did it in the font Pristina to match the quote from my main feature. To finish off I added a dateline next to my smaller version of the Masthead in the corner of my page in the font TW Cen MT Condensed, just like on the front cover to create some continuity. I also changed the colour of the large headline to purple to match with the Masthead on the front cover. I aligned the text of my subscription feature to the centre, because it makes the feature look neater.

To construct my double page spread, I started off by opening up a new document in Photoshop, this time it was a A3 landscape document to make my double page spread. I opened up an original image in Photoshop and edited the blemishes on her skin by using the spot healing brush tool. I also added a large headline and a smaller version of my masthead to the corner to create continuity across all the three elements of my magazine. I then edited my large headline by selecting Layer>Layer Style>Outer Glow and gave the text a purple outer glow creating continuity through the house style of the colours black, white and purple. I also added three other images to create an image column down the right-side of my double page spread, these reflect the large headline of "Many Faces..." I then added my main body text to my double page spread using Microsoft Publisher, alongside the text I added a drop cap and pull out quote, these are conventional features of a double page spread and make it look increasingly professional. I then added columns to my main body text as that is generally what they use in magazine double page spreads. I added the pull out quote within one of the columns and a drop-cap to the beginning of my main body text - this needs to be changed to purple to stay within my chosen house-style. Since completing a first draft for my double page spread I have taken some more photos and re-thought the layout. After looking at other magazines and their main feature star in the double page spread, a majority of the time they are wearing different clothes than they were in the front cover, to show off how the artist can be versatile and what happened during the photo shoot. Therefore I have decided to take some more photos, to add to the number of original images that I need to complete the brief. Before, in my first draft, my model was wearing the same clothes as the front cover and I believe it would be a more realistic magazine if her clothes were different. I have the image below for my double page spread image. I dressed my model in a white, feminine blouse and pearls to represent her elegant persona. After completing my first draft I changed my choice of original image, I then opened it up in Photoshop and edited it appropriately to create a professional looking image i.e. using the spot healing brush tool to omit any blemishes and unwanted marks on her face. I then added my main image to the background that I have opened in Photoshop. I added a smaller version of my Masthead to the corner to create continuity. I then added a background shape to put behind my large headline text, I selected Edit>Transform>Rotate to turn the shape on a side like a banner across one corner of my double page spread. I then changed the colour of the background shape behind my large headline text, to keep within my chosen house-style colours of purple, white and black. I then zoomed into my image to see my model's face more clearly and edited the image again using the spot healing brush tool. I added my "Mirror mirror..." onto one line of text rather than two. I changed the font of my large headline from TW Cen MT Condensed to Vivaldi - changing it from a sans serif to a serif font, which I think is more suitable to reflect the artist and her band's persona. I then added my main body text by opened my saved Photoshop JPEG image in Microsoft Publisher, I inserted three text boxes into Publisher and linked them all so that if any text didn't fit it would automatically go into the next text box. I then added a crease line so that I would know where the fold would be if it were printed into a publication, also that would help me to know if me text ran into the half-way mark. I also added a graphical feature to the top-right of the spread, this was done in purple and TW Cen MT Condensed against a white background keeping within my house style. I then added a drop cap to the beginning of the main body text, this is a conventional feature of a double page spread. I made my drop cap purple and Vivaldi to keep within my chosen house style. I then made my main body text TW Cen MT Condensed to keep within my chosen house style, I also made the main body text size 12 because I think that this is an appropriate size for this text as it needs to be readable but not draw away the reader's eye from the main feature. I also justified all of my main body text to make the double page spread look professional. I then added a pull-out quote to the right side of my double page spread, in white and font Pristina keeping an element of continuity from the quotes on my contents page. To finish off I added a byline and a photo credit underneath my large headline. I chose to use the font TW Cen MT Condensed in white and purple. To finish off my double page spread I moved the byline above my large headline and a dateline (in TW Cen MT Condensed) next to my small version of my Masthead and a page number in the corner (in Broadway.)

AS Media Studies on Prezi

I used Prezi to collate my ideas and the magazine's progress into one area. This website allows me to put pictures, videos and other items together onto one big online work space. I can also create flowcharts and other things by using this technology. I chose to use it to show different images that I took inspiration from.

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

Since completing my College magazine preliminary task I have learnt more about the aspects of a magazine that need to be considered pre-production for example the language, institution, ideology, audience and representation. For my music magazine I have fully considered the audience profile of my publication such as the socio-economic groups (ABC1C2DE) and also the demographic and psychographic profiles of an audience. Since then I have considered how to appeal to a certain audience group by how I represent my model on the front cover, as it more likely that people will buy your magazine if they can relate to the main featured artist. I have thought more about the different elements of my magazine like the size of different text elements e.g. main feature headline, left third and subtitle to make it obvious to the audience which one is more important and is the main feature. Looking back at my college magazine (on the left) I think that the main feature headline needs to be bigger and more bold to draw in the attention. Also looking at the front cover I think there is quite a big gap above the models head and in order to fill the space the headline could be aligned to the centre and the left third moved down along with the masthead to put in a skyline at the top, thus incorporating more typical conventions of a magazine and using the space more effectively. Also over time I have learnt to use Photoshop to a higher standard, for example I can manipulate the image to make it look more professional by getting rid of any blemishes using the spot healing brush tool. I have learnt to import other original images and then rotated and scaled them for other uses such as the smaller masthead on my barcode.