Coursework Brief

coursework brief

Tasks:

Research: 10/11^th December to end of term

1.    Collect some evidence of current music magazines: NME, Kerrang, Q

2.    Analyse how they construct meaning for their audience – Front page, contents, double page spreads

3.    Establish a set of rules (codes and conventions they use) / guide to creating a effective music magazine – for each page

4.    Keep a record of your research

Planning: Xmas holidays, for presentation to class 9^th January 2012

5.    Decide what type of music magazine you are going to design – what is the purpose of your magazine?

6.    Decide who is the audience (who is it aimed at?) – this will affect your design

7.    Draft sketch what you want on your front cover: colour, images, title, text, etc. – explain why (follow your rules)

8.    Draft ideal contents

9.    Photograph appropriate images for each page: stage a band / artist – consider locations, costume, props, makeup

10. Draft interview for double page spread – consider language used appropriate to genre and audience

11. Keep a record of your planning

Improvements in Magazine

Last week I presented my School Magazine to my Sixth form colleagues and my teacher. I showed them my Magazine and what I initially tried to do, who my audience was and what research I did in order to do my magazine. I told them that i wanted to appeal to not just sixth formers but to lower end students as well, by having a picture of both a sixth former and a student in a lower year. I used a different type of color scheme i decided to go with blue and red text . They have a lot to say about my Magazine, some good and, some to improve on. The feedbacks i got from my peers were:

What was Good about It:
- They liked the the title, they thought the title was eye catching
- They liked the advertisement I had at the bottom, such as the Prince's trust etc,
- They thought the color scheme made it quite clear on what Harris this issue was about.
- They liked the mid shot picture of the two students.

Improvements

- They thought the text was a bit muddled up and that I should have put the text, where it doesn't cover the models face.
- They thought that I should have added a Barcode it will would have looked more like a magazine.
- They thought that I should have had something that indicates that this is from Harris Beckenham because it might confuse some readers especially Parents.
- They thought Text was a bit too big



From the comments I gathered from my colleagues, I now see that I will hopefully in the future use a barcode to make it clear to people that this is initially a magazine, as it would give a more professional look on my magazine. I will definitely reduce the text so tat it is not too big and it is not too small.

In order to make this happen I will need to read more magazine such as KERRANG!, NME and The Source etc. This will help me plan ahead since I have to make a music magazine for my coursework, I can research and brainstorm more ideas to put on my magazine. I will definitely take these comments and put them to my Magazine and this will hopefully make my skills improve in making a magazine.

Prelimenary Task

This week for Media I had a go with producing a School Magazine I decided to go with a traditional audience range from Sixth forms to students. As you can see I used red and blue, Harris Beckemham color Scheme. I used a lot of adverts etc linking with the school. As you can see I am still a long way from making a good magazine.

On the other hand I also have a content page linking with this Magazine. It has various articles and the pages directing it to them.

Media Studies Homework

                                       
1. This Magazine(KERRANG!) is a music magazine which focuses on Alternative and Rock music. This Magazine was first published in 1981, initially as a supplement for the newspaper Sounds which focused mainly on the New Wave of British heavy metal. Angus Young from the band AC/DC appeared on the first issue. It was originally owned by United Newspapers who then sold it to EMAP in 1991, and in 2009 it was bought by German Publishers Bauer Media Group.
2. The purpose of this magazine is to bring the latest on Rock bands as well interviews of members of Bands as you can see from the top, there is an interview with a member of the Heavy Metal band Slipknot. It informs Rock enthusiasts of what is going on with bands and give them hints about future projects.
3. This magazine is not specifically aimed at a specific genre but its clear on what target audience this magazine is for, it is aimed at people who take a liking in rock music. The way in which we know that this magazine is not aimed at a specific genre is because it does not display any type of colours it is white, this magazine is targeted at a rock oriented crowd is because the name KERRANG! its the noise an electric guitar makes when playing a power chord.
4. The symbols used in this magazine can affect the target audience in this case this issue of KERRANG! features a member of the highly famous Heavy Metal band Slipknot, by having this member of this band featured as front page it helps to bring in fans of that band to purchase the magazine. It is very effective to have a band on the front cover of your magazine because that is what will draw the attention of people and in this case it can help to bring in more people buying this magazine.

5. The content page gives a lot of information to the reader, it tells the reader other articles they might be interested in such as what sorts of bands are going to be appearing in this edition of KERRANG! and what Rock gigs are going to happen. The contents page makes it very clear on what the genre of this magazine is because the articles mentioned in the contents page refer to the music, the bands shown in the contents page this will obviously reduce the amount of people who will buy this because they will not enjoy this magazine because they do not like the genre.
6. The values being suggested to the reader is that being a rockstar is the way to being famous and world known, this magazine is basically promoting that type of lifestyle and encourages people who would like to be involved in that lifestyle to try make it happen.
7.This magazine is very effective in targeting their audiences because the magazine has exclusive interviews with either the band or a member of a famous rock band, this is a very effective way of getting regular readers because if they happen to be fans of that band or idolise that member of a band then they will pick it up and read it and they will keep coming back if they enjoyed it.
8. I have learnt that in the production of magazine you have to consider a lot of things in order to make your magazine successful because you have to concentrate a lot on the target audience because that is who you want to promote your product to, in order to make your magazine successful you would have to cover the genre you're magazine is going to be about. That means getting exclusive interviews with well known bands or individuals. You will to consider the gender whether it will be towards men or women that means considering what colours will be used in your magazine because it can determine who your magazine will appeal to, also you would have to consider what fonts will be used to go with the theme.
9. The way in which this could help me in producing my own magazine is that i can now know how to promote my magazine to my specific Target audience, and i could use this as a template and this will give me a lot of points in when i produce my own magazine.