Harry Laflin Pre production and research

As Coursework Production

I am going to use a school magazine to start of my AS media coursework, I am doing this because I need to learn my way around PowerPoint and also Publisher so that I am aware of all the necessary techniques and the software that I can use in my coursework. This in turn will help me to gain knowledge and confidence of the software so I become better with it, this will then help me to have a better project. This means that the techniques that I use in the first project may not be as skilled as my second music front cover because I would have learnt all the basic and also advanced techniques. I hope that the techniques that I use in this first project do help me to achieve the best I can in my music front cover.

School Magazine

I collected some research to help me with my project, I did this by looking at magazines and asking a targeted audience about what sort of stuff that they are into and I came out with these results.

• Sports Magazines• Concerts • Quizzes • Questionnaires• Contents pages• Educational facts• Interviews• Term dates• Shops available• School reports• Match results

Magazine Research

To know what I was going to do or have an idea about what I was going to have to I would need to of sketched out a plan about the front cover of my design and this is what I have done. This was only a sketch so it didn’t need to be spot on similar to what my final piece was going to look like.

Drafting

Front Cover Contents Page

Original Image Manipulated

In this image I have decided to crop out the background pictures so that I am left with the main picture itself. It has now turned into a medium shot of two people which is effective. I have made the picture on the right hand side in black and white because I think that it is a lot more effective.

This picture is in colour and hasn’t been edited.

This picture is in black and white and has been edited.

What I have Learnt

What I have learnt during making this project, it has helped me work my way around this project. It has helped me learn the specific techniques that will be needed for my preliminary task. You will find that my music task will have a lot better features than my school magazine, this is because once I have finished this school magazine I will have a lot better understanding of what I need to do and the best ways in doing it. I had gained a lot of experience of using the software and creating a user friendly and cool magazine for my intended audience.

Target Audience

My target audience is going to be aimed at 16 to 20 year olds and the taste in music is going to be in the section of pop and also RnB (which stands for rhythm and blues)

I am going to be including interviews from the up and coming recent famous artists this will hopefully bring in more readers from that specific audience.

This magazine is also going to be aimed at not one gender, but both male and female. This means that I will get a lot more readers and subscribers because it will be open to be read by both genders.

Front cover research (Intro)

Before I start with the front cover, I am going to make sure that I do some research for what I need to do before hand. To do this am going to browse the internet looking at different front covers and analysing them to see what there pros and cons would be.

I have picked certain front covers that may relate to my actual music magazine, this is good because I can relate to it in my music magazine so this means that my music magazine can be done to the detail that is required of a top notch magazine.

This magazine portrays one of the biggest music artist in today's industry this will give the impression to the readers that there is something interesting inside the magazine. The buzz words on this magazine is “Vibe” and also “unstoppable”. These words will relate to the music magazine and also who it may involve. It also tells me that there are interesting interviews inside the magazine this could entice me to buy the magazine so that I can read these interesting interviews.

Front cover research


This particular magazine has many buzz words on it that are used to attract the reader, and entice them into reading more.

This would be aimed at the rock and indie genre, I can tell this because of the way that the artist is performing with the guitar. The important bits have

been highlighted in red, the words are ‘Enemy’ and also NME the name of the magazine. The artist is wearing a

leather jacket this could be associated with there genre, this was taken whilst he was performing.


This magazine also has a strong bold heading that lets the readers know what they are reading straight away.

The picture is of a lyrical genius that is Eminem, he would be sure to attract many readers because of his popularity.

The photo has been taken of a still image, at a photo shoot, and not whilst he was performing.

The front cover is telling us that they have interviews with top stars like Kanye west, Jay Z and T.I.

Questionnaire (Audience Research)

• I made up a questionnaire for people to fill in so that I can get the best results for my music magazine and contents page, and so I know what they want inside of there ideal magazine. •I asked them questions that were along the lines of what sort of genre do you want to see in the magazine and they replied with RnB artists, so people like Kanye West, and Eminem. Both huge icons in the music world•I also asked them if there was a free gift what would you like that free gift to be? The best response was that they would like a mix tape of the up and coming music artists in the RnB genre. This would mean that they would by the magazine for the CD to because that is what they want, but this could also have an effect on the pricing of the magazine. Because of the cost of CD for every single magazine being so high this means that, the price of the CD will also increase to.•Another question that I asked was that if you were to buy an ideal magazine what do you reckon would be and ideal price for that, taking the costs of paper and the added bonus feature of a CD too. The answer that I received was, around 3-4 pound, which I think is a reasonable price too .

Contents Research

Before I start with my contents page for my music magazine, I am going to make sure that I do sufficient amounts of research that will enable me to get the best for my contents.

I need to know how to lay out a contents page, just like the people who make magazines do. This means that it will be easy for the viewers to understand and also good to look at.

If it doesn’t have good qualities then it may not be wanted to be read by the consumers and therefore the magazine will not sell.

Contents Research

In the particular contents page it shows us what the main article is about with a bold vivid picture which stands out straight away. This is of the Courteeners there main focus on that weeks magazine. It has a very smart and stylish way of presenting the other articles that are available to the reader, which come under the heading of ‘Features’ or ‘Every month’

There is also the date of the magazine and the issue number in the top right hand corner of the contents page.

Contents Research

In this contents page it is showing us the main feature yet again, this seems to be the main way of doing the contents page in the professional industry.

Yet again it has bold buzz words that will attract the readers attention. The word ‘Contents’ has been separated this gives it the effect of boldness and also makes it stand out a lot more to the readers eye.

It has a main icon on the left hand side who is recognized globally around the world and this means that they have a main article on him that people will want to read when they get the chance.

The magazine also has a features page, which may include other interviews on other stars and celebrities.

Contents Research

This contents page is taken from the same magazine as the previous slide, because the way the contents has been lay out is the same. I like the way in which the people that make this magazine have lay it out with the main article or something that will be related to the main article on the right hand side and the features on the right hand side.

The magazine has many features which are listed on the right hand side of the page, which are clearly visible and can be easily read to.

The main feature is of a recent competition winner, so this means that many people may want to read about her experiences about how she won and what she is planning to do with her life now.

Contents ResearchThis contents page has 3 main pictures that show the audience straight away what the article that they will be reading will be on. This is good because they will know that there topic will be on from just glancing at a picture.

There are few topics on the contents page, and mainly basketball related and this will be the main features of the magazine, I took this from a sport magazine, I did this to see the comparison that it would have from a music magazine to a sports magazine and to see the defences that both magazines may pose to each other.

Double Page Spread Research

In this double page spread there is a clear picture about who the double page spread is about with a clear picture which is easily visible in the middle of the screen. There is also a large title which shows us who they are so we know who we are reading about. There are also little extracts that, or blocks of writing that tell the reader little bits of information that they could read up on about. As well as an information column which has the main batch of text which is about this article. I like this lay out because it has still got a good amount of information as well as a few good pictures for the reader to look at, in-between reading the information.


This double page spread has a lot of information on it which is good as it tells the reader large amounts of information about the person, who is featured in the article. There is also a picture of the lady that is quite luring to any male reader who wants the read the article and could act as an incentive to read the article .

I like the layout of this article as it is very similar to mine with text being on the left and right hand side of the picture which is situated in the middle of the page. I think having the picture in the middle of the page.

There is also advertisement on the right hand side of this page. Or this could be links to other articles that will be further on in the magazine.


This article only has a small amount of text with a large picture situated on the left of the page. There are also pictures that run across the bottom of the page, this is a good effect because it shows all the band members on separate individual images.

The text is small, but there is a lot of information compressed into that small space, which is telling the reader that it really isn’t really interested in the article, just the pictures that are there. There is also a column on the right which is there latest tracks that have come out which is good.

This is a rock an indie genre style of music magazine.