AS Level Media StudiesMusic Magazine

Foundation PortfolioBy

IBRAR TARIQ

Contents

Preliminary Exercise

Time Organization (Main Task)

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!