Audiences

A**** Examples from OCR

Checklist

Research into your chosen genre

·         Which genre(s) have you chosen and why?

·         What seem to be the conventions of this genre? Who is the target audience?

·         Who are the main publishers for magazines of this genre? Are there particular conventions that are specific to these types of magazines?

·         Choose up to three artists associated with this genre and analyse how each one’s ‘star image’ has been created. How are they represented and how does the target audience relate to them?

Audiences

·         Who is your target audience? (Particular age group/gender percentages/geographical/brands they buy/where they shop/interests/values/etc.)

·         Audience questionnaire/interview/focus group/Social Media etc. – What they want from a music magazine

·         Results and evaluation of research

·         Collate your findings and present appropriately

·         What have you learnt from your research and how will this influence the decisions you make about your music magazine?

Planning and drafting

·         Title, Theme & House Style Ideas and Explanation for final choice

·         Based on your research, develop a clear idea of your brand, values and your target audience: How will you communicate? How will they be positioned? How will both be represented?

·         Identify which conventions you will follow and why

·         Which locations and actors have you considered? Which ones will you use and why?

·         Hand Drawn Designs

·         Draw up a shooting schedule (include shot list, location, props etc.), ensuring you have permission to take photographs in these location

·         Plan your two page spread article/interview

Homework J

·         Take your photos Remember lots of costume changes!!!!!

·         Ensure you keep track of photos taken (and selected), problems encountered, decisions made (and altered) etc. and upload evidence ensuring you record evidence (again - an ongoing ‘Behind the Scenes’ commentary - see point above!)

·         What technology/equipment have you used? What have you learnt?

·         Write your two page spread article/interview

Next Steps

By now you should have completed:

Explanations of conventions and what makes good Front Covers, Contents and DPS

Analysis of three Mags - Just photos of the Front cover, DPS and Contents and whats good/bad - what ideas it has given you for your magazine

Colour

Typography

Next you need to write about your initial ideas

Write a short post including some of the following.

Name - 2/3 ideas
Genre?Sub Genre?
House style?
Mode of Address? (How mag speaks to reader)
Star Image?
Any ideas for layout of Front cover/DPS/Contents?
Price?
Paper?
Typography?Colours?
Demographs/Audience?
Publishing house?
Weekly/monthly/annually?
What makes your magazine special? Why should it exist?

Also add your mood board/spider diagram


Now we need to look into the following

Music Magazines

Write a short commentary on what music mags are? Which Institutions publish, them? Why? What are the main genres? Are there any conventions for these genres/Star images?

My Genre

Write about your chosen genre? Or if you are still unsure you can write about more than 1 genre or sub/hybrid genres What are the common conventions?

Star Image

Select 2/3 stars from your genre? What are their conventions? What do they wear? Why?

To Be completed over Half-Term

Create a new blog for your  music magazine, with a sensible name. Add labels

Write a first post giving an overview of what we are doing and who you are.

Add a link to your school magazine - Make sure this is labeled

Do LOTS of research - Read the article below and then Google magazine conventions, magazine genres, music magazines etc. - More research will lead to better understanding which will lead to you producing a more professional magazine

What are the design options/codes & conventions of a magazine front cover, contents and double page spread? I would recommend three separate posts! You can write in a mixture of prose and bullets. I would probably also show labelled examples - Could edit some from earlier work?

Try and buy the following, to bring to class next week.

1. Music Mag related to genre you are going to choose

2. Any other music magazine that interests you

3. Any other magazine that interests you

Good Mag Front cover Analysis

Double Page Spreads

Music Mag - Getting started

Initial Research Checklist

Create a new blog for your  music magazine, with a sensible name.

Write a first post giving an overview of what we are doing and who you are.

Do LOTS of research - Read the article below and then Google magazine conventions, magazine genres, music magazines etc. - More research will lead to better understanding which will lead to you producing a more professional magazine

What is a music magazine? What are their different purposes, genres and audiences?

What are the conventions of a magazine front cover, contents and double page spread? I would recommend three separate posts!

Could add posts about Colours? Layout? Typography? Mode of Address? 

Three posts discussing different magazines and how they appeal to their target audience - mise-en-scene discussion is crucial here. Preferably two music (Different genres – 1 related to yoru final choice) and one other magazine. Briefly annotate them/highlight key areas where followed or subverted conventions

Magazine Conventions & Design Tips

Cover Pages

Magazine cover page serves several purposes. It sells the brand, it has to be visually appealing and different from the other cover pages on the newsstand to attract the new readers. On the other hand each new cover must be different from the previous issue but still familiar and recognizable to regular readers. It has to present the publications character and its content. All of this make the cover page the most important page in any magazine.

Process of magazine cover design is a tough one. Designers spend lots of time and effort to create a cover page. Some magazines, even have one person dedicated only to cover design. Yes, cover designer is a designer that designs only cover pages. Of course only the biggest magazines in the world have cover designers, but you get the point. The process of cover design can last up to 5 days in weekly magazines, to few weeks in monthly magazines.

Several ideas should be tried and several different proposals of one idea tested. Of course, majority of magazines cannot spend that much time and effort on cover design, not because they don’t want to, they simply lack the manpower and time, but still, creation of each cover page takes time and it should be taken seriously

The first design is rarely the best one. Try few options and when you are done, let it rest for a day. Something that looked good today may not seem good tomorrow. Cover page has to have lasting power, at least for the time while it is in the circulation.

It is important to highlight that the free magazines or the ones that are supplements to newspapers do not rely on newsstand sales and thus they have bigger freedom in their design approach.

The cover forces readers to take action and make decisions. The cover is your periodically test to see how well you know your audience. If you don’t have a good idea who your target audience is, what makes them tick,  that lack of idea will be visible on your cover.

Image based magazine covers

This is the most common approach to magazine cover design and it usually consists of one or few persons on the cover, looking at the camera, preferably smiling. You can see this approach in almost all celebrity magazines, almost all fashion magazines and men’s magazines. In many cases the person featured on the cover sells that issue. This is why some celebrity sells more covers than the other.

Magazine cover lines

Usually the most important part of any cover is interaction between the words and picture. If done right, it will send the message and it will instantly be spotted in the sea of covers on a newsstand. Some magazines go for few cover lines, some fill almost each empty space with cover lines. Again, it all depends on the character of the publication.

Writing cover lines is a role of copy editor or editor in chief. You may think this is an easy task, but to create appealing and attractive cover lines, it takes time and lots of effort.

A cover needs one line set in big type and it has to be the best cover line. It can be call for action, solution to problems, powerful statement or some word play, but be careful with word play. The reader has to understand what it means immediately. Some languages are good for word play like English, others are not. If your language is not suitable, don’t do it.

Some marketing research states that the average person spends 3-4 seconds on average glancing at the cover pages displayed on newsstands. This is why everything should be clear instantly, from the design related concept of the cover to the words in cover lines.

Design related tips

•           Cover model should look straight into the camera. Eye contact is important.

•           When designing a cover you can play around, you can exaggerate, but you should remain within your concept and style and you should know what to exaggerate.

•           Each cover needs one headline that will pop out. In size, in color, in attitude.

•           The cover page should have a focus point. It can be a model in the image it can be a headline or a number, but something has to draw the eye.

•           Divide your cover in three sections. Big one with main cover line, smaller one with few cover lines and the smallest one with few more cover lines.

•           If you plan to use orange color for the cover lines print them with additional spot color. Orange never looks good if printed in traditional CMYK process. It will look brownish.

•           Green is the least used color on cover pages and red is the most used one. Whichever you use, make sure you have a contrast between colors.

•           They say black covers do not sell. They are wrong.

•           For smaller cover lines, preferably go with black text or white if the background is dark. For bigger ones use colors.

•           Masthead’s position is not a sacred one. If you think you can achieve something, for example boost sales with a cover line above the masthead than go for it. Move the masthead little bit below and add some cover line above it even if you have never done it. This can be great if your magazine is tucked away on the shelves. This extra space can be useful.

•           In USA magazines are racked in waterfall presentation so the top third of the magazine is the most visible part and there you will see the biggest cover lines. In Europe it is the different story. Over here magazines are stacked so that the left third of the magazine is the most visible one. This is why there are so many magazines in Europe with masthead in top left position.

•           Photography looks better and sells more than illustrations on the cover page.

•           It does not matter if you shoot the cover model in your studio or if you buy stock photo of a model background has to be in solid color. Any patterns or mixing colors in the background will make your life hell when designing a cover page.

Masthead/Logo Tips

Magazines and newspapers are basically consumer goods, and, like any consumer goods they are brands and, like any other brand they got to have a logo. A magazine masthead. Masthead’s role is to be recognizable. In the sea of magazines on the newsstands you want your logo to pop up.

To be instantly recognizable. This is not an easy thing to do. That’s why logo is the most important element on the cover page.

When designing a logo several things should be your concern. The logo should capture the publications character, attitude, it should fit the intended readership, it should be versatile too, so that it can be used in other occasions, like marketing materials.

When working on a logo you should try tenths or even a hundred variations. When you find several that you like, you should work on its variations. First, and obvious thing is to choose the proper typography. Is your publication modern one, is it more traditional, is it urban or more conservative?

Is the name of the publication long one or a short one? If it’s a short one maybe you can make the logo stand in the top left corner. If it’s longer one and if it has two words maybe they can be positioned one on top of each other and placed in the top left corner.

If you ask yourself, why top left corner, it is because when magazines are stacked on the shelves on the newsstand top left position is always visible, no matter how densely stacked the magazines are on the shelves. If the name of the magazine is longer maybe you can make it in bolder type for more impact.

It is always better to use different fonts for the logo than the ones you use for the cover headlines. Although the logo is not read it should be recognizable, and that’s why it should be different in type from the rest of the cover.

As you can see, the options are endless.

When you finally decide on several versions try it out on the page to see how it interacts with the images and general design of the cover. Sometimes you will see that a top left position does not work well, maybe the top centered position would be better. 

Evaluation

After you have completed your contents + front cover....

Evaluate your Construction using 6 Key Questions

• Project in the classroom your School/College Magazine Front Cover and Contents Page for feedback with key questions as prompts – film the class feedback and upload to your Blog.
• Link your Blog to Facebook and Twitter and send links of your School/College Magazine Front Cover, requesting feedback from the same 10 people who responded to your Questionnaire including the 6 key questions below.
• Record the feedback on your Blog and use Prezi/relevant applications to document this and include your own feedback using again the 6 key questions below but feel comfortable making observations outside the parameters of the questions.
• Support your analysis of each key question with your own individual short comments summarising responses.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
3. What kind of media institution (publisher) might distribute your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Contents Conventions

Contents

One main image relating to the feature article

Other small images, usually up to 4

Colours – contents page use the same, simple colour scheme as the front cover

Images should take up 50% of the page

Images should contain Page Number and Anchorage Text (Description, occasionally a Pull Quote)

Structured layout should include 1-3 columns

Usually divided into categories and headings e.g Main categories – features and regulars
Features in different font/border as its special

Contents items - Bold/Italic titles in size 12/13pt - Description in size 11/12pt

Top of the page

name of magazine, issue date and word contents

Various places

Subscription and contact information

Issue date/ month

Social Media Info

Photographer Credits

Sometimes there is a letter from the editor

Sometimes there is an image of the front cover

A* Example

http://beccamcallenas.blogspot.co.uk/

Student Progress

We will be doing our first progress checks on Monday 22nd September .

Please ensure that any outstanding work for Mrs Davies has been submitted and that you email Chislehurstmedia@gmail.com or jambrose@chsfg.co.uk your School Magazine blog address.

We will be checking to see that expected work has been completed and that you are putting in the effort required to be a successful A level student.

Failure to complete work, poor attendance/punctuality and low effort or a poor attitude to learning could result in a Red Warning and you being given a low target grade.

Basic Checklist

By Friday 12th September

* Intro
* 2 Front Covers
* 2 Contents
* Explanation of Basic Conventions of Mags - i.e what do front covers/contents have in common - Could also add any further posts about color, typography etc
* Explanation of Idea, Possible Titles (x3)

Will spend these two weeks working on Photoshop and indesign in class, so these tasks must be done at home

By Friday 19th September

* Sketch of Idea (Contents and Front Cover) Can do using computer software or on paper (photograph or scan to blog)
* Intro post about Research - What is it - Why are you doing it?
* Questionnaire 
* Comments about Results - Could use graphical analysis in Excel

By Friday 26th September

* Another sketch of idea, taking into account research
* Plan - Schedule
* Photographs of locations, models, etc.
* Final photographs

By Friday 10th October

Front Cover Finished

By Friday 17th October

* Contents & Front Cover of Mag Finished
* Begin Evaluation

By Friday 24th October

* Submission of School Mag

Preliminary Exercise - School Magazine!

Your blog needs to include at least the following information. You can structure it however you like in as many blog posts as you like as long as it is easy to navigate and well ordered.

Presentation of Research and Planning: 20 marks

Construction: 60 marks

Evaluation: 20 marks

Introduction to your blog

Introduction to Magazine Conventions including analysis of Typography, Colours, Mode of address - There is information on the resource blog or you can easily find articles on google.

Min 2 school mag front cover annotations & 2 Contents pages - ensure you use appropriate media language. It is also good practice to locate school/college magazines from a range of different sources e.g. different editions of own school/college magazine and other local schools should not be too difficult to find before online secondary research.

Audiences & Audience Theory Intro, Research & Planning

Title/Theme/Sketch for your magazine - Write an intro to why you chose this and include at least 3 alternative titles/ideas. Then include a rough hand drawn version that you can scan and upload to your blog.

Questionnaire and analysis of results - Identify and record (with justification in your Blog) the target audience of School/College Magazines (pupils/students, parents and guardians, local employers and businesses).

Ensure the questionnaire has a visually interesting design and does not use a pre existing template (try and avoid using Word).

Include open and closed questions e.g. closed = “how many times a year do you think a school/college magazine should be published?” Open = “comment on my front cover images, what does it tell you about the college?”

Submit electronically via social network links your early sketches and ideas (link your Blog to Facebook etc.), plus your Questionnaire - send to a sample 10 of your target audience as evidence of primary research.

Collate the responses on your Blog.

Analyse the results graphically using a graph on Excel for quantitative responses and as a summary paragraph for qualitative results 

Include one blank Questionnaire in your Blog.

Intro, Research and Planning for location & student Photoshoot - 

Organise a photo shoot and undertake original photography of students in different locations in and around your school/college – good Smartphone cameras will be enough for this early task but digital stills cameras are preferable and must be used for the main task.

10-15 photographs will be sufficient and again the images need to be uploaded and included in your Blog research and planning portfolio.

Make time for a ‘show and tell’ session with recorded feedback from your peers and students on the photo shoot: choose the images you will be using from this feedback.

The final picture for the cover must be a student, framed centrally in medium close up while you may use other smaller images for the cover and contents page.

Again, upload ALL the images and feedback in your Blog.

Second Sketch/Design for front cover - Develop further your front Cover flat plan and flat plan of your Contents Page.

Design an appropriate masthead – experiment with using different fonts and those from websites like www.dafont.com.

Add cover lines, additional images and background appropriate to the images and layout.

Include the school/college’s mantra (their ethos in a sentence – e.g. “Where students come first”). 

Think about mode of address – how do you want to ‘speak’ to your target audience?

Ensure you also include the month/season of publication e.g. November or ‘Autumn’) and also convergent links to Twitter and Facebook, a website and the price (if sold).

Research & Design Contents - With the Contents Page remember there must be house style evident from the front cover – this can be achieved by using a similar colour palette, font, language code or choice of image.

Remember the conventions of a Contents Page differ from a Front Cover e.g. more text on a Contents Page with an approximately 50:50 ratio with the images.

Contents Pages have more inset images (between 3 and 5), sub-headings with listed contents (not too listy, think about design) with page numbers, variation in typography and graphics.

Your Front Cover may often be the selling point of a magazine but spend as much time on the design of the Contents Page.

Create Magazine

Evaluation

Evaluate your Construction using 6 Key Questions

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

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

Who would be the audience for your media product?

How did you attract/address your audience?

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

Links to student bridging units

All of the links to students' work will appear here. Well done to those of you who have emailed already.

If you can't see your blog address - please make sure you have followed the instructions to email it to 

chislehurstmedia@gmail.com.

Remember - if you don't tell us the address, we don't know your blog exists... which means you will get no credit for it!

Student	Bridging Unit
Karen Swift	http://karenswiftasbridging.blogspot.co.uk/
Sacha Relf	http://sachaasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/
Victoria Cowburn	http://victoriacowburnasbridging.blogspot.co.uk/
Kelsey Killick	http://kelseykillickmedia.blogspot.co.uk/
Millicen Sharratt	http://millicentasbridging.blogspot.co.uk/
Toyin Giwa	http://toyingiwamedia.blogspot.co.uk/
Claire Pike	http://claireasbridging.blogspot.co.uk/
Robyn Johnson	http://johnsonrobyn.blogspot.co.uk/
Sophie Day	http://sophieasbridging.blogspot.co.uk/
Tate Landy	http://tlbridgingunit.blogspot.co.uk/
Yasmin Osman	http://yasosmanasbridging.blogspot.co.uk/
Haylle Daynton	http://introusvauc.blogspot.co.uk/
Sarah Ford	http://sarahfordasbridging.blogspot.co.uk/
Katie Bishop	http://katieasbridging.blogspot.co.uk/
Yasmin Tumburi	http://yastumburiasbridging.blogspot.co.uk/
Mia Matthews	http://mialouisesaysasbridging.blogspot.co.uk/
Angel Rackham-Beadle	http://angeldollyasbridging.blogspot.co.uk/
Chloe Stephenson	Manual Submission

Key Magazine Terms

Follow the link for key magazine terms....

Link :)

Language & Register - Mode of Address

How will your magazine 'speak' to its readers?

Language Registers

There are five language registers or styles. Each level has an appropriate use that is determined by differing situations. It would certainly be inappropriate to use language and vocabulary reserve for a boyfriend or girlfriend when speaking in the classroom. Thus the appropriate language register depends upon the audience (who), the topic (what), purpose (why) and location (where).

You must control the use of language registers in order to enjoy success in every aspect and situation you encounter.

1.      Static Register

This style of communications RARELY or NEVER changes. It is “frozen” in time and content. e.g. the Pledge of Allegiance, the Lord’s Prayer, the Preamble to the US Constitution, the Alma Mater, a bibliographic reference, laws .

2.      Formal Register

This language is used in formal settings and is one-way in nature. This use of language usually follows a commonly accepted format. It is usually impersonal and formal. A common format for this register are speeches. e.g. sermons, rhetorical statements and questions, speeches, pronouncements made by judges,  announcements.

3.      Consultative Register

This is a standard form of communications. Users engage in a mutually accepted structure of communications. It is formal and societal expectations accompany the users of this speech. It is professional discourse. e.g. when strangers meet, communications between a superior and a subordinate, doctor & patient, lawyer & client, lawyer & judge, teacher & student, counselor & client,

4.      Casual Register

This is informal language used by peers and friends. Slang, vulgarities and colloquialisms are normal. This is “group” language. One must be member to engage in this register. e.g. buddies, teammates, chats and emails, and blogs, and letters to friends.

5.      Intimate Register

This communications is private. It is reserved for close family members or intimate people. e.g. husband & wife, boyfriend & girlfriend, siblings, parent & children.

Rule of Language Use:

One can usually transition from one language register to an adjacent one without encountering repercussions. However, skipping one or more levels is usually considered inappropriate and even offensive. 

Colour

Remember, as part of a house style, producers need to come up with a colour palette that best reflects the brand, appeals to the target audience and represents both in the way that they intend.

Here are some links you might like to check out when thinking about colour palettes:

http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html - a useful guide to colours and their connotations

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/28/color-theory-for-designers-part-1-the-meaning-of-color/ - a very detailed article, aimed at designers

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=397565&section=1.3.3 - Guidance for creating websites, but with relevant references to using colour to target different audiences

http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes/new/all-time/meta?pag

Typography

Some useful links

What fonts work well together

http://www.will-harris.com/typepairs.htm

Typography

http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/typography-articles/a-beginners-guide-to-pairing-fonts/

Font Finder

http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

Intro to Research

Research 

What is a school magazine? What are their different purposes and audiences?

Write a short blog post summarising what a school magazine is. Think about how they are disseminated to their readers? Has this changed? Why are they made? Who is the audience? Does it matter if the school is a Grammar school? Link to different types of audience.

What are the conventions of a magazine front cover?

Look at the conventions of a magazine cover . Examine the layout, colours, typography and mode of address       

It is essential that you consider how this research will inform your decision making. 

Min 2 school mag front cover annotations & 2 Contents pages - ensure you use appropriate media language. It is also good practice to locate school/college magazines from a range of different sources e.g. different editions of own school/college magazine and other local schools should not be too difficult to find before online secondary research.

Here is an example of a additional way in which you could present your ideas. A table like this one shows that you have made the vital link between your own research and your own practical work.The observations that you make will, of course, depend on the texts which you have studied so don’t expect them to be exactly the same as those recorded by other students.

Observation	Impact on My Work
Most covers use a single image – often a medium shot, featuring one or two students. They are engaged in either a classroom/extra-curricular activity but a direct mode of address is employed as they look into the camera.	I will follow this convention as I intend to photograph two students and position them centrally. A medium shot will enable me to include the students whilst capturing something of the background. However, I want the students to seem unaware of the camera and engaged in the activity of film making.
The mise en scene creates a sense of a well-equipped school which promotes dynamic learning. E.g. inclusion of computers/sports equipment.	My inclusion of video cameras has been influenced by this observation. I hope that these connote a sense of creativity as well as suggesting that the school environment promotes active learning with up to date equipment. I will ensure that text referring to the activity anchors the image and makes it clear that the students are engaged in a film making project.

Some useful terms:

Representation ,denote, connote, iconography ,mise en scene, composition, framing, focus, foreground,colour,lighting, background, text, anchors, audience, traditional, contemporary, contrast, extend, complement, convention, follow, subvert, experiment

Introduction

The OCR AS Media studies coursework is made up of two tasks and is worth 50% of the AS Qualification.

1.      Preliminary exercise: Produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of DTP.

2.      Main task: The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine.

All images and text used must be original and produced by the candidate

All candidates will utilise DTP (Desktop Publishing Software) such as InDesign and an image manipulation program such as Photoshop. Such software should be as close to industry standard as possible (This means No publisher!).   

A digital record of the project is required; therefore each task needs to be on its own unique blog.

Within your blog you are required to evidence a wide range of modern interactive digital applications

Before you Begin

In your area create a folder to store your work. You should call this folder something sensible such as Year 12, Media.

You will be uploading everything onto blogs at each stage of the project but ensure you double save everything regularly onto your own 16gb memory stick and also onto your school user area. Do not rely on one source to save work.

Saving regularly means every 10-15 minutes

Set up a Blog

A blog is a web based publication, or a web - log. A blog is established by the creation of journal like pages. These pages can contain typed copy, images, audio and video which are posted onto the site.

Each ‘post’ can be commented upon. This can be done as peer reviews, when a teacher or student posts a piece of work and others can add to it. For Media Studies, blogs are used to create your working portfolio. You will be required to frequently update to upload all your planning, research, production work and evaluation.

A moderator can then access this all to mark, instead of hard copies.

This is important for you, not just in terms of assessment but being able to document in real time your creative journey and incorporating a wider variety of media into the presentation of their work.

For Blogger you will need to set up a Google account.

Please make sure your Google account has a sensible name.

Your first Blog will be called something like

mynameschoolmagazineAS.blogspot.co.uk

Your second Blog will be called something like

mynamemusicmagazineAS.blogspot.co.uk

Please email your new blog address to chislehurstmedia@gmail.com

- Your first post should be an introduction, stating who you are and why you have set up the blog.