Preliminary Task Feedback

We collected some feedback on our magazine by the rest of our media class, this really helped me to know what worked with this cover and what could be improved. Everyone really liked our main image, they said the mode of address was direct which works really well so draws the reader in. The masthead also got a lot of really positive results as people said it was really bold and stood out well. Most people really liked the puff too, they liked the position and the colours used. 

Although we did forget to put a price on it and this would be essential to have one. Some areas of the blue text is also really hard to read so we could of used a darker colour or positioned it better. A lot of people said we should include a secondary image too but we did think about doing this but decided not too as the main image looked much better alone, if a secondary image was added; it would have drew attention away from the main image, which we didn't want. We had mixed feedback on the font style, some people liked it and some people said it looked a bit unprofessional. Next time I will try and use a different font style as it didn't appeal to everyone.

This feedback has gave me a lot of ideas and ways in improving my music magazine so it will look better and more professional.

Preliminary Task Front Cover

This is my preliminary task I have done. I had to create a college magazine and I did this with Bethany and Abby.

Preliminary Task Photo Ideas

For the preliminary task my group decided to use the top image of me as we thought the lighting was really good and the mode of address was direct so it relates really well to the reader. The picture was also in the middle of the page so would be good to write articles around it and there was plenty of room at the top for the masthead without it being over the top of the image. It was quite a basic photo too so wouldn't be too distracting either so it was a really good choice to use for the front cover.

The other image we considered using is the next one down. We were going to use it because it showed the college facilities really well and there was also a lot of room for articles and the masthead too. We decided not to use to use it as the lighting from the window at the back was too bright and could be distracting and we preferred the direct mode of address on the image above.

The other two images were also considered as they both showed some of the building from outside so this was a good location and background to use. One of the images was me looking straight at the camera so had a direct mode of address but it was quite far out from the camera so didn't look as good as the top image. The other image wasn't that good as it was windy so our hair was in the way and looked really messy and not very professional. The other reason is because we weren't looking straight ahead so it wasn't relating to the reader in any way at all.

All the other images except the top one that we didn't use were all quite far away and the best front cover images are the ones that are close up shots as they aren't as distracting and they tend to engage with the reader more than the others.I think we made a good decision choosing the top image as it works really well.

September Time Management Update

I have made a good start on my research and planning since starting college. I need to make an actual time management schedule though so I can keep on track with my work a lot better and make sure I have certain bits of work done before deadlines so I am prepared to take images well or write an article similar to a style of an inspirational text. I don't want to be doing work rushed at last minute so it's important to plan things ahead really well. This month I have achieved:
- Decided my magazine genre - rock.
- My initial research on inspirational rock magazines.
- Created proposal forms.
- Started some experimentation work using Photoshop.
- Completed my front cover deconstructions.
- Carry out my preliminary task.

In October I want to read more into my inspirational texts, plan my photo shoot and aim to get all my deconstructions completed.

The Simpsons Movie Photoshop Task

For this poster I made it on photoshop. I started this poster by adding a background from The Simpsons which is a cartoon sky. On my checklist I had to include an image of Homer, the movie title and the release date so I added these next by using layers so I could easily edit and move these objects. I also then added some cartoon donuts to fit with the theme of the poster. To get rid of the white background around Homer I used the magnetic lasso tool and the magic wand and chose the option of 'new layer via copy' to create the image without the white outlines and this made it look much better. It was really difficult to get rid of the white background on the release date though so I couldn't do this very well.

Next time to improve my work I could try and remove the white background better by spending more time trying to remove them or seeing if there are any more options to do so on photoshop. I have learnt a lot doing this task and it will help me to do my music magazine cover and preliminary task.

Magazine Institutions

Magazine Institutions

I have researched popular magazine institutions and this is the information I have found:

• IPC Media-This is one of the UK's leading magazines institutions and was founded in 1958. It sells over 350 million copies a year of its magazines and supplies magazine titles including NME, Marie Claire, TV Times and Pick Me Up. This shows that within magazine institutions they cover a lot of different themed magazines from music, womens, tv and fashion magazines so this magazine institution helps provide magazines for a lot of different target audiences.

• Bauer Media Group-This is a German company and is based in Hamburg. It operates in 15 countries worldwide and was founded in 1875.This magazine institution is mainly music and provides for Kerrang!, MOJO and Q. They annually turn over €2.129 Billion and produce 38 million copies of magazines a week.

• Emap-This was the second largest magazine institution in the UK and provided for names such as Kiss,Magic and Smash Hits but the company sold these magazines to Bauer and the company split up in December 2007.

• BBC-They offer a large range of different magazines and they vary from music to gardening to children's. They have provided for magazines such as Top Of The Pops and other pop magazines so this doesn't really fit my target audience as it's for children mainly age 11-15.

The magazine institution I would most like to produce my magazine would be Bauer as it is a very well-known institution and provides for rock music magazines such as Kerrang! which is my biggest inspiration for my music magazine. My magazine has a USP because it includes both bands that both Kerrang! and NME or Q would include so it would attract a large range of people depending on the content of that specific issue.

My magazine could be distributed in a lot of different ways too. It could be available at supermarkets and corner shops, available as an online download or to view on a website, the internet would be a good choice as I know my target audience are frequent internet users as I have carried out a reader profile, survey and looked at other magazines reader profiles. It could also be distributed as an app to use on a smartphone, this is also really popular with my target audience. The last idea I had is that it could be gave away for free at gigs that fit with the rock theme as the people there will be interested in that music and might really enjoy reading my magazine.

http://prezi.com/tosk5ymfou_e/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy</a>

My Reader Profile

My Reader Profile

To find out more about my target audience I need to create a reader profile. I created two surveys using survey monkey and to collect information from teenagers I put a link on twitter as the people who follow me are the same age as me and also like rock music like me so I thought this would be a good idea. I also got my friends to fill in a printed of version of my survey and went and asked around college too. I thought the most helpful way of collecting target audience information was by using social media so I will use this method again if I need to. 

 My first survey I created was about the magazine itself and this included questions such as 'What music magazines do you read?" and "How much money do you spend on a music magazine on average?" these questions helped me to understand what features my magazine needs to have to attract the readers. My second survey was about the actual reader and included questions such as "What do you do in your spare time?" and "Do you enjoy going to gigs or festivals in your spare time?"

 After I had collected all this information, I could now make my reader profile.

Here is a link to my survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XTXHH7Z

I asked a range of questions on my survey that I felt were most appropriate, I asked both qualitative questions such as "how often do you go to gigs" and "what features of a magazine do you find most appealing?" and quantitive questions like "how old are you?" and "how much money would you pay for a music magazine?" too. This gave me a larger range of results and feedback and all contribute to me gathering a better understanding of my target audience and will allow me to construct my magazine even better. I planned what questions to ask really carefully as I needed each question to be necessary and appropriate to give me valid responses to help construct my magazine well.

My reader profile has helped me a lot in now realising what themes and articles I could include. I know what movies, gigs, food and shows are most popular so this could be an idea to write an article about in my magazine or to create a puff for free tickets to a certain festival I now know my target audience would be interested in. My target audience really like logos with reds, blacks and blues I've noticed so I know I need to include these colours a lot in the scheme. The gender is mainly female but it also appeals to males too so I need my magazine to be gender neutral but can focus on mainly females though. My readers would also mainly be students so I could offer something such as student discount off my magazine price to help them out and make it stand out and be different compared to a popular magazine such as Kerrang! who don't offer this, I could use this as an USP.