Evaluation As Per OCR Specifications

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I decided to opt for the print option for my media portfolio. To begin with, I researched on a number of existing music magazines through the internet and found out that there is a large variety of magazines which differ in terms of genre, layout style and targeted audiences.

However, there were some forms and conventions that were similar across the magazines such as a unique brand name of the magazine, an appropriate masthead, bar code, layout integrating text and photographs. I used these forms and conventions in my magazine as well. I have developed forms and conventions with the sense of uniqueness and individuality through different fonts, colors and original pictures’. I used a range of shots, specially a mid close-up for the front cover model. This is because a mid close-up immediately draws attention of a potential buyer.

Talking about the genre, I decided to make a magazine related to an underground band and not on a general music theme. This was done in order to attract the audience towards the magazine so as to inform them about a band that is not yet known to the world. Furthermore the cover spread includes information about the band together with the interview with the band member’s.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is targeted towards both the genders. It makes fair representation of the social groups of music loving teenager, who are interested in knowing about upcoming bands.

Secondly, I have used rich and bold colors in order to represent quality and sophistication which allows my magazine to have a more professional touch.

In addition to the use of colors I have attracted the audience through the use of fonts as well. A variety of fonts have been used at different occasions for appropriate measure. The front page has been given an attractive and eye catching look by using this technique.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As this is my first publish I doubt any large media institution would like to distribute it. Though a local not so famous media institution might agree to do so.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience of my music magazine is males and females of 12-25 age groups. I wanted my magazine to cater to as large an audience as possible, which is why I made by magazine based on an upcoming underground band which would attract, not only music lovers but even those who have a little or may be even no interest in music as such. The colour scheme of my magazine is unisex. I used this target audience because I carried out a survey and the majority of the people who showed interest in reading such a music magazine belonged to this age group.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience by using bright colours and different fonts. The way I wrote my magazines name on the cover page was eye-catching and unique. The structure of my magazine was clear and easy to follow, and I used light as well as dark backgrounds with text written in such a way that it was easily readable by everyone. I used the same fonts throughout to create a sense of consistency for the reader, except for the cover page which was to be made unique. I made sure the pictures used in my magazine, particularly on the front cover were interesting and eye-catching which would immediately persuade the reader to pick up the magazine.

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

Technology was a crucial aspect in the construction of my magazine. I used Adobe Photoshop which was the most convenient software for editing pictures, making use of different backgrounds, giving the magazine a different effect with the help of brushes, gradient tool etc. It was also used to construct the layout and structure of the magazine, allowing me to integrate text with images. Besides this, another important technology that I used was the internet. I basically used the internet to find tutorials for further guidance on Adobe Photoshop.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Upon completing my final magazine, when I compared it with my preliminary task I realized how much I had improved and learned throughout the making of the music magazine. For the preliminary task I did not do much research. On the other hand I spent ample amount of time researching for my final product and seeing my final product I learnt that, it is the audience that decides every production decision. I feel that everything in a magazine should depend upon what the audience likes or prefers. Although my magazine is a success as far as the target audience is concerned, however there is always room for more improvement.

SECTION 4- Evaluation of Finished Product

The magazine’s cover page included a mid close up of the two merged picture which made it prominent and made the magazine stand out on a rack full of magazines. All the images brightness and contrast are consistent.

The magazine is quite colorful in a sense that it may attract people at the first glance. A variety of colors are used, yet the main body text is uniform and has the same font. A few features like name of the magazine and guitar as a background is put on every page except for the editor’s note and table of contents page which does not include the name of the magazine. This makes the magazine very consistent.

None of the pages in the magazines are cluttered and blank spaces are left where necessary so as not to make the page look too disorderly, making it easy to read and focus. The advertisement of the magazine is also attractive and is keeping with the general theme of the magazine. The language used in the magazine is very appropriate for the target audience. Hence the magazine does follow the pattern of most magazines of this genre.

How would I fund for my publication, distribution and marketing of my magazine?

I would fund for the publication, distribution and marketing of my magazine by contacting different music channels and publications which print music magazines and convincing them to sponsor my magazines.

SECTION 3-Constructing the Product

Finally the magazine I planned to make was a magazine solely based on an underground band. As this was a music magazine I decided to put the band member’s picture only on the cover page. Out of the five, two pictures were photo shopped and merged together to create the cover page of the magazine. A variety of fonts and font colours were used on the cover page to make it more eye catching. I used colors like blue, green, red and yellow to attract people.

The next page is the editor’s note which was designed in such a way that it gave it an attractive look, with the base color yellow and a guitar for the background with reduced opacity to blend it with the colour.

The Next page is the table of contents with again an attractive color, orange with a bit of yellow mixed and once again a guitar for the background with reduced opacity to blend it with the colour. The guitar was used as a background on every page to give the magazine uniformity.

The fourth page includes information about the band as well as an original picture of all the band members. I used yellow color and once again a guitar for the background with reduced opacity to blend it with the colour.

The fifth and sixth pages are designed in the same way but with different colours. Both the pages included a shape in which the band member’s personal information is written and on each page there are two original pictures of the band members.

The seventh page included a song written by the band itself. It was designed using the gradient tool and a shape in which the song was written. This also had a guitar for the background with reduced opacity to blend it with the colour.

The final page includes an advertisement, related to different products of the Apple Company. It includes seven pictures out of which six are original ones and one is taken from the net and edited.

Over all most of the decisions made were to make the magazine look consistent. However different colour schemes, images were used to make sure that the magazine does not look boring and is appealing to the target audience. The designing was done using the software named “Adobe Photoshop” and even the text was written there and there. The designing was done using Photoshop as this gives a lot of options to design the pages of the magazine in a different way.

I usually paint to express my feelings, and music fulfills that for me.

SECTION 2-Planning the Product

In the beginning I had decided to make a music magazine in general but then taking views of other’s I planned on making a music related magazine mainly based on an underground band, to be specific ,and also because I noticed that people are quite curious about finding and knowing about underground bands. I studied some music magazines and made notes on the kind of language, text, photographs and other design features of these magazines, as I knew it would help me in the designing phase of the magazine. I planned to include information about the band itself, like how and when it came into being, information about the band members, song sung and written by the band itself and much more.

SECTION 1-Introduction and Research

I have chosen the, brief 3 print, for my OCR Media Studies final project. The media text that I have decided to make, is a music magazine called “Beat”, aimed at the young music lovers of the urban cities of Pakistan. I have researched similar media texts and, also found the target audience’s opinions about such products by using questionnaires and taking feedbacks. These are included in the Pre-production folder.

I also researched the internet and different books to get an idea of a music related magazine to know which things make a good design and which ones do not. I got both qualitative and quantitative data from my research.