Original Photos

This is the image that I used for my cover of my magazine. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I would use for my main magazine, and I thought that by using a female artist, it may attract more people to be enticed to the magazine. It kind of gives my magazine a unique feeling to it, as most rock magazines often use male artists on the front cover, but I have instead opted to use a female. As well as this, I chose to have my artist holding a guitar because I feel that it captures the look that I wanted to go for in my magazine.


These are some of the other photos that I am going to use in my magazine. I have not yet decided which of the photos however are going on which page, but I will be deciding this - along with the help of my teacher - very soon.

Main Task - Production Schedule

Production Schedule

This is my production schedule. It shows all of the deadlines that I need to complete, along with a date, and a short description of what I need to do to complete the task. I have given myself a guide of 4 hours of my lesson time a week - 2 lessons on Tuesday's, and 2 of Wednesday - along with plenty of time outside of lessons to complete my front cover, contents page, and double page spread. After I have created all of my pages - which I have estimated will take around 1 week per page - I am going to go over my pages, and show my teacher so I can get feedback on them.

Dates

3rd December 2013 - In today's lessons, I am going to create the shot plans of each my magazine photos.
4th December 2013 - In today's lessons, I am going to go to the Performing Arts Building and start taking my photos.
10th - 18th December 2013 - During this time period, I am going to take photos for my magazine pages outside of school as well, to ensure that I have enough pictures.
6th-13th January 2014 - This time period is my Year 12 mock exams, which includes Media Studies.
21st-22nd January 2014 - In these lesson's, I am going to finalise my photos I have taken, and show them to my teacher, who will anaylse them, and give me feedback on them.
28th-4th February 2014 - During this week, I am going to work on my front cover page, and hopefully complete it.
5th-12th February 2014 - During this week, I am going to work on my contents page, and hopefully complete it.
18th-25th February 2014 - During this week, I am going to work on my double page spread, and hopefully complete it.

Original copy of double page spread article

Title of article: A-Jones: A legend lies, but for how much longer?

The big quote in the middle of the page: “I've been living a lie, and I don't want to anymore!"

A-Jones has revealed yesterday that she has never liked performing as a musician. Even though many are in shock, many are just disappointed, and have posted on Twitter that “It’s like there are no real celebrities anymore” However; the main question everyone is asking is how much of it was A-Jones making up? Rock Gods is going to find out…

A-Jones, only 30 years old, has lived a life that many would have called a dream. From winning many Grammy awards to Oscars, she has created a legacy for herself that will be remembered for decades by all, especially some of her greatest moments with his friends including some of the biggest names in history, such as The Streetz, Axwell, and many more!

A-Jones had lived a very trouble childhood, living on the streets as a thief to get by, until she was finally taken in by an orphanage. Jones had said she always had a passion for Rock music however, and she was very keen to get her voice heard, to at least know if she could make it; she said “If I didn’t try back then, I would never have been who I am today, and it is always better to try, then to not, and wonder the rest of your life if you could have made it.”

Jones’ biggest success was in 2000, where she successfully created her own charity to get kids – like she was – off the streets and into foster homes or orphanages. A few years later, she did a concert for his foundation, in which he raised over £3 million! She received an award from the Queen for being such an inspirational character, and was also invited by the Queen to perform at the Royal Command Performance; which is today known as the Royal Variety Show. Things were finally starting to work out for A-Jones.

A-Jones was living the perfect life, then, things slightly changed. While away doing another benefit for a different charity, she finally realised that she just had to tell the truth, and while on stage, she released the news. She finished the concert early, and flew straight to her house in Birmingham to hide away from the storm of media she was about to receive.

While in hiding in her £4 million house, A-Jones experienced a vicious attack by the media, especially by her fans. Many even contemplated on Twitter whether they were even going to go to her house to protest outside her house, however, others said that 'A woman did what she had to do'.

It was only after her release of her most recent album ‘A Place in My Heart’ when Jones realised that she did not have a passion for rock music. She stated that “Mike (her husband) would not have wanted me to continue this lie. He was the only person that knew about it, and he persistently tried to persuade me to just admit the truth. I think it’s finally that time.”

Recently, A-Jones has released that she has been going to various different clubs that she has loved her whole life, such as cricket. She has also funded many charities that help widows and widowers with their life. Jones stated that “I don’t want people to feel how I did… it is the most unpleasant feeling someone can get; doing something that you do not enjoy, the truth is better coming out."

Analysing Music Magazine Title Blocks

The title of this magazine is slightly different to a normal magazine; it is a single letter. It is a white colour, in a bold font, with a red background. It is a very dull title block as it does not give anything away about what the magazine could be about. However, as it is a single letter as the title block, it makes you begin to wonder what it could be about as it is the only image on the magazine. I think that due to the font of the letter, the audience of this magazine may be aimed at the older generation as it looks quite fancy, especially with the flick on the line that has gone through the Q.

The genre of ‘NME’ is rock, and the font size of the acronym is very big, which makes it stand out to other magazines. From looking at the actual name of the magazine – New Musical Express – I can tell that the magazine is going to be about new music that is out at the current time. The acronym itself is very eye catchy as it uses bright colours on the inside (red and white), and then it outlines it with black to make it stand out even more. The use of bright and eye catching colours could connote to me that the audience the magazine is trying to attract may be a younger audience.

This title block is written in all black, with a few streaks of red in it. It has a line at the top and bottom of it, which distinguishes it from other magazines, giving it an edge to stand out. Also, as it has an exclamation mark at the end of it, it makes the magazine seem important, and as almost if it is shouting the name of the magazine to you. However, the title block itself does not give anything away about what the magazine might be about, and so is hard to interpret. Although, you can see by the font of the title block that the target audience for this magazine might be teenagers as it is slightly harder to read, and so it is less likely that they would aim this magazine towards an older generation.

This is an example that I made for my website to use as my Title Block. I made it by going on to www.dafont.com and finding a font that I liked, and then by typing in the name of my magazine in which it then made this example for me.

Reader Profile - Main Task

Reader Profile – Main Task

Reader Profile 1

Ben, aged 19, comes from York. Rock music is his oxygen; he can’t live without it, without the thrill. Rock music makes his bones connect, as well as being the heart of his head. His engagement with music is what makes him who he is; it makes all his choices about life. Ben loves Rock music so much that he is debating on making a pledge to attend every single concert of his favourite artists, and is currently attempting to encourage all of his friends to enjoy the same music. To him, Rock music isn’t just regular music, it’s a part of his life, and always will be the main factor that has shaped him into the special individual he is today. Ben is also very loyal to the bands he listens to; he even has specialised clothes with their logos on them to show off his passion for them.

Reader Profile 2

Nigel, 67, is a passionate and loyal music-lover, who has collected all of his favourite records and songs over the last 50 years of his life. With his recent retirement, he now has a lot of free time to pop off to the local record store to see if there is any new Rock music. This has been his daily routine his whole life and he plans to continue this until he is unable to. A heavy ‘gig goer’, Nigel has spent a lot of his life dedicating his love and heart and soul into Rock music, which has allowed him to be who he is. Nigel often invests in organising a reunion of his friends from school that also listened and loved the same music as him. When you are as committed as Nigel to do all of these things, you truly are a dedicated fan, and that we acknowledge at Rock Gods.

Costume/Props Planning

What I did in todays lesson - 12//11/2013

Tuesday 12th November 2013

In todays lesson, I began on working with my next tasks on my to do list. I started working on my reader profile, and then I started on my analysis of music magazine title blocks.

Reader Profile:

Firstly with my reader profile, I had a look at the example of reader profiles provided to me so I knew what I was doing, and I wouldn't get it wrong. The general feel I got of the examples of the reader profiles was ok; I knew I had to write about someone who enjoys the genre that I was doing, and to talk about why they like it.

Analysing Music Magazine Title Blocks:

The next task that I started to work on in todays lessons was my analysis of music magazine title blocks. Again for this task, I chose to look at a few examples first just to make sure I knew what I was doing, and to reduce my likeliness of making a mistake. I then began to write up my analysis of the rock music magazine title blocks, starting with an 'NME' title.

Audience Research Survey

Mood Board - Rock Genre

Textual analysis of music magazine front covers, contents pages and double page spreads

Analysis of music magazine – front cover from DariuszMurray

Mind Map - Rock Music

Researching Genres

Preliminary Task - Evaluation

Preliminary Task - Evaluation

Question 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge conventions of real media products?

My media product uses conventions of real media products as I have put the masthead at the top of both my home and contents page. Also, I have included images/pictures on both my home and contents page, which is another convention that real media products use. Also, another convection that I have included on my media product that has also been used on real media products is real life photos. I have not just gotten pictures of items that are related to my magazine, but I have taken real life photos with a camera of people posing for pictures to make my magazine look more friendly and safe.

Question 2. How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted/addressed my audience by having a friendly colour scheme; I only used bright colours so that it would draw in customers, as they would look at bright colours and think it is a nice, friendly magazine. Also, another way that I have attracted/address my audience is with my photos. I told the 'posers' in each of my photos to have a friendly face on, e.g. a big smile, so that my audience would not be put off, and they would feel more safe reading my magazine.

Question 3. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt about many technologies from the process of constructing this product, one of them being how to use Photoshop. I did not know how to use Photoshop before I started this project, and now with the help of my teacher and peers, I now know the basics to get around using Photoshop. Another technology I have learn about is Prezi. Again I did not know what Prezi was, or how to use it before this project, but now I know exactly how to use it!

Question 4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your final product?

The strengths of my final product are that use of text/images are used effectively. I have tried to used these two things together to try and portray my website, and to try and make it look attractive and friendly to my audience. Another strength is that my colour scheme is very friendly, therefore again attracting my audience to my magazine, to think of it as a nice, friendly magazine. Finally, another strength of my final product is that I think I have used the photos I have taken effectively to be used to their full potential. However, my final product also has many weaknesses. I have not used up all of the space as effective as I could on my final product, and so there are some blank spaces. Also, the layout of my final product could have been done better by me, and so it doesn't look the best it could be.

Preliminary Task - Home and Contents Page

Textual Analysis - Prezi

Photos - Analysed

 This photo I will use as the main image on my front page. The reason I have chosen this to be the main image is because it portrays the school in a good light, showing the school's main building in the background. In front of the building is a Sixth Form student with his hands in his pockets and smiling towards us (he knows a camera shot is being taken of him), which could also connote that he is happy at his school, and enjoys his time there.
 

 This photo I will use on the contents page. It shows again a Sixth Form student holding a school text book on a plane of grass. I am going to use this photo in a section that talks about studying for school; 'Studying is worth it!'. This photo will be effective as it shows  that the school provides extra learning supplies for it's students - in this case text books.
 

This photo I will use on the home page. It shows a Sixth Form student alongside a lower year student. I am going to use this photo to talk about the new 'Buddy System' within the school. This photo is effective as it shows how much each student in the school cares for one another, e.g. a Sixth Form Student that cares and helps a lower year student.

 



I will use this photo on my contents page. This photo shows a Sixth Form Student with their folder out, studying. I will use this photo to show that if you do study your hardest, then you will be rewarded with good rewards in your exams. This is an effective photo as it shows how studious the school wants and encourages its students to be, and that is exactly what is being shown in this photo; a studious student who cares about school.

 



This photo will be used too in my contents page. It shows three good friends alongside each other, and I will use it to talk about the good relationships in Finchley Catholic High School. It is an effective photo as it shows that mutual friendship can still exist, and that friends need to stick together in school to what each other's back, and this photo too shows how friends need to care for each other. It also shows that FCHS encourages friendships and teaches that you must care for all of your peers.



Drafts

Home page draft

 

 

Contents page draft