AS Level Media StudiesMusic Magazine

Foundation Portfolio By

IBRAR TARIQ

Contents Preliminary Exercise Time Organization (Main Task) Research and Questionnaires Resource List Photography (Photo Shoots) Drafts Front Cover Page Double Page Spread Evaluation and Analysis

Preliminary Task School Magazine

Cover Page

Content Page

Time OrganizationMain Task (Music Magazine)WEEK 1

Work Started on the Main Task (Music Magazine Front Cover Page, Contents Page & Double Spread Sheet)

Research done with the help of internet.

WEEK 2 Organized all my research and

information. Music magazines cover pages

searched on the internet. Important notes were taken

down. Photography (photo shooting)

done. Started to make first cover page

model for the music magazine using Adobe Photoshop CS5.

WEEK 3 Photographs were selected which

were used in the music magazine. Photographs brightness and contrast

adjust by using Adobe Photoshop CS5. Photographs cropped and resized by

using Adobe Photoshop CS5. Different fonts downloaded from

www.dafont.com for the text to be used in the music magazine.

Barcode image downloaded from the internet and placed on the cover page image using Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Colour (temperature, tint & saturation) of the images adjust by using Windows Photo Gallery.

Work started on the music magazine cover page and the contents page with the use of Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Text placed on both the cover page and the contents page.

Cover Page and Contents Page completed in 2 days.

Work started on the music magazine double page spread with the use of Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Each image placed in a separate layer.

Brightness and contrast of images adjust again.

Text placed on the double page spread.

Double page spread completed in 2 days.

Final adjustments made to the Cover Page, Content Page & Double Page Spread.

Initial Research (Cover Pages)

Initial Research (Double Page Spread)

Magazine cover pages and double page spreads shown in the previous slides were some of those I found on the internet.

The magazine covers I found mainly had an image of a famous artist or a band with eye catching taglines and cover lines. These magazine were all very attractive and were mainly aiming the younger audience around the age of 16-22.

All magazine covers used a range of different colours and fonts in their magazine. All images were eye catching and were clear.

My research included magazines such as The Rolling Stones, NME, Q magazine, KERRANG!, Vibe, Metal Hammer and Rock Sound. Among these magazine I found KERRANG! And NME most attractive and enjoyable to read.

Initial Research

Resource List

Mentioned below are the list of resources available to me while making the music magazine.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Canon DSLR camera Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Internet (downloaded fonts from www.dafont.com and used for

research and information on different music magazines) Music Magazines such as NME, KERRANG! Etc Newspaper articles on artists and music bands. Laptop Models

Photography

These are some of the photographs taken on the photo shoot.

Drafts

Some of my early work and designs of how the magazine should look like.

Drafts

My First Try On The Magazine Cover

Drafts

Above shown is some of my work on the double page spread. I chose white background first but then I decided to Add a photograph of a Wall . The colour

toning was done on the images which attract the audience and text (the Story) was later placed on the double page spread.

Drafts

Working On Double Page Spread

Final Magazine Cover and Contents Page

From Left to Right: Magazine Cover Page and Contents Page.

Final Double Spread Sheet

Above shown is my final double page spread after placing the text (story) and adjusting all images used in the pages.

Evaluation1. In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge

forms and convention of existing music magazines?

My music magazine cover conforms to the conventions of existing music magazines, as the layout is similar to most of the music magazines. Different coloured text is used so that the cover does not look over bearing. The masthead (title) is on the top while the image of the model is in middle area of the cover, all of these conform to the typical media conventions.

2. How does your music magazine present a particular social group?

My media product represents a social group of teenagers and young adults. I think I have achieved this through usage of different images, layout and informal language that I have used. Also my music magazine divides social groups through gender and age. With the use of young artist image on the front cover and an article of the same artist featuring inside the magazine. I think overall my magazine has targeted the young audience.

3. What kind of music institution might distribute your music magazine and why?

I don’t think so that any music institution would be willing to take music magazine but I believe my school would help me in it’s distribution. The school library can be my first distributor where students can read the magazine and spread the word. This start could lead to potential demand by outsiders and therefore then many musical institutions like book stores .

4. Who is the audience for your music magazine?

It is appealing to younger audience (16-24 years) as my model is of the same age group as the audience to whom the magazine is aimed at. Through research I also came to the knowledge that more males preferred buying a music magazines. And audience of the age ranging from 16-24 years were more likely to buy a music magazine than others.

5. How did you attract/address your target audience?

I have used many different fonts and colours for the masthead (title) and cover lines to attract the audience. A clear image of a model is used to attract the audience as well. I have added many effects using Adobe Photoshop CS5 which gave the magazine a unique distinctive eye catching look. The price of the magazine is pretty cheap and affordable to the audience because most of the audience preferred a price in the region of PKR. 20. Also my magazine includes free stuff inside such as a sample music CD, poster of the featuring artist, consists a lot of images from concerts and music concert guides through which audiences are attracted.

6. What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

This project has been very useful to me as I learned a lot from it. I have learnt a lot of new Adobe Photoshop CS5 techniques for example the using the pen tool, creating different layers, how to put effects, and placing the text. I have learnt how to adjust the colour (temperature, tint and saturation) and exposure (brightness and contrast) of an image while using it.

I also learnt the way on how a magazine is structured, why things are where they are and why it helps to attract audience and also the importance of appealing of the target audience. I learnt how to improve my photography by different angles of shots and discovered the importance of internet for research.

7. What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from the preliminary task to the full product?

I think my preliminary task has helped me a lot in creating my final product. One of the major factor that my preliminary task helped was time management, for example, when to organise images and time needed to edit them. I used plain backgrounds for my images which were easy to edit.

Although my preliminary task helped with the time management I have also had to learn many new things which were not covered in the preliminary task. I learnt how to use Adobe Photoshop CS5 which helped me great time for my final product. I also learnt how to put effects and graphics on images. I learnt how to do better photography and get good quality images.

With my research I learnt many new things on how to make a magazine, what sort of fonts to be used, how images to be used and a lot more. Overall I think I have gained a lot of knowledge and experience and have improved significantly since my preliminary task. And I think I have created a much more professional and creative product similar to the popular famous magazines.

THANK YOU!