Prelim Task

What I had to do?
For my prelim task I had to produce a front cover of a school magazine along with the contents page, the magazine had to be based on Acland Burghley school as that is where I study media. Firstly I was to plan both pieces on paper so I could have an idea of I wanted it to look like. The front cover had to have a mid-shot of a pupil/pupils. I had to think about my target audience and what message it was going to send across. After planning it out i then moved on to using Adobe Photoshop and actually started making the magazine. When that was completed I made a powerpoint evaluation of my Final Prelim Piece:

Evaluation of prelim task

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Planning for my Prelim Task

Before starting to make my school magazine on photoshop I had to plan it out on paper and then evaluate it.
I made note around the paper, identifying which parts where what colour and why I had decided to do that. It also explains what type of image I wanted to use and the specifics such as what type of shot and angle I would use.
Below is the work that I done on this:

Font Cover Plan on Paper

Here I stuck my plan onto a piece of A3 paper and analysed the front cover around the edges as you can see. I chose to name my school magazine 'Burghley News' as 'Burghley' comes from the name of the school which is 'Acland burghley' and seeing as my magazine had to be based on that school I thought it was a suitable name for it, it also shows the reader that is genuine.
For my image I took into consideration the name of the magazine and it was then that I decided to take a photograph within a classroom, that shows students working in a lesson of any subject. 

Contents Page Plan on Paper

More Research into music press

Even though I have chosen to base my music magazine on R&B/Hip pop. I still had to research other music genres and indentify the different lifestyle people who listen to that certain music have, compared to R&B listeners.
Therefore i decided to look at 'Kerrang' music magazine.

Image Analysis on 'Kerrang' Magazine Cover

Kerrang Music Magazine
Genre: Rock/Punk
Appearance of artists and fans:
(Male) Black clothing, really skinny jeans,dull coloured tops, vans (shoes), long hair usually black or red and spiked up. Black make up such as eyeliner, tattoos, earpiercings (but stretched out) and sometimes black nail varnish. Overall dark colours and messy style
(Female) Black clothing, skinny jeans, vans (shoes), vest tops, ripped tops, tattoos black nail varnish, usually black make up, studded belts, or bracelets/necklaces.
Fans: Would normally follow the trend of the artist and wear and act the same as them.
lifestyle and entertainment choices: Do their own thing, give attitude towards things, they don't really care about things. Have an aggressive attitude too. Like to go to gigs, drink, 'go mad', do whatever they want to do.
Music style, typical song contents and themes: Songs are usually about love, sex, drugs and life. Not usually radio friendly as may include quite a lot of swear words.

Artists/Bands: Green day, Panic at the disco, bullet for my valentine, Lost prophets

Example of 'Kerrang' music magazine cover

Research into Music Press

In one of my lessons, my task was to do some research into an existing music magazine. I chose to look at 'top of the pops' and below is information I found out:

Music Genre: Pop
Appearance of artists and fans:
(Males) Straight/skinny jeans, designer trainers (e.g nike, addias, converses etc), hats, ears pierced, longish hair mostly straight with side fringe.
(Females) Skinny jeans, nice tops, flat shoes/high heels, leggings, accesories (earings, bracelets, handbags etc), make up, fake tan, hair extentions.

Fans: Would also dress very similar to the artists

Lifestyle and entertainment choices: Be and follow along with the trend. Girls would go shopping, spend time looking after themselves (spa's, hairdressers etc), spend time with friends, going out to cinema, spend some time with family. Go to restaurants, holidays, sleepovers etc.
Boys would go out with friends to the park, playing sport (basketball, football etc) also spend some time with family may also spend time looking after themselves.

Music style, typical song content and themes: Pop music is very often radio friendly, content is usually about innocent love, relationships (only sometimes ending up to do with sex) and maybe school life.

Image Analysis

For homework, I had to go and search for a music magazine cover and analyse the front cover image.
For this excersie I had to identify the Masthead, Coverline, strapline and lures. I also had to look at and explain the Connoation and Denotation of the main image, the background and the Masthead.
Below are both peices of work I done by hand and on the computer.

Work done by hand

Work done on the computer (it's not so clear)

Research (class work)

Throughout my Media course so far, we have done a lot of research on different types of music magazines, from Pop to Rock/Indie to DJ/Dance music.
In class I have analysed the front cover of magazines such as "NME" , "Kerrrang", '"Top of the pops"
below is an example of my work on "Top of the pops".
I had to identify what parts of the magazine were the Masthead, Coverline, Lure, Strapline, and explain how they affected the reader/audience. I had to look at the magazine cover and look through the inside so I could say who the target audience was and why I thought so.

This helped me to start planning for my own music magazine as it showed me what features to include when producing my own.

Introduction

For my Media coursework I have been given the task to design a new music magazine, which will include the production of the front page, contents page and a double page spread.
I have decided that my magazine will target an older teen audience between the ages of 15-19
The magazine will be based on Hip pop / RnB music, issued on a weekly basis at a reasonable cost therefore making my target audience suitable.
I will have to be very creative and do lots of research and decide on things like:
- Title
- What it is going to look like (house style and form)
- Magazine conventions
- Create of brand indentity/logo
- The language of the magazine article
- Use of original images
And many more...

I must create an image of a new band/artist of whom I am promoting in my music magazine. I will be expected to take new and original images and use them in the magazine.