Final Logbook and Evaluation

1. OCR Media Studies – AS Level
Unit G321: Foundation Portfolio in Media
Preliminary Task, Log Book and Evaluation
Name: Arianne Plumley
Candidate Number: 6732
Center Name: St. Paul’s Catholic College
Center Number: 64770
Set Brief - Print
Music Magazine – Production
Preliminary Task Progression, Log Book and
Evaluation

2. Preliminary Task Progression–
Evidence
Front Cover
https://ternajogo96.wordpress.com/as-media-studies/

3. Preliminary task progression-Evidence
Front cover- step-by-step
When making my front over I decided not to
follow a layout, I started with a blank page and
then added my borders to fit in with my theme
for the year 11 magazine. I then built upon this
blank canvas and made a masthead and
headline. Slowly adding in all the conventions
that the magazine needed.

4. Preliminary Task Progression–
Evidence
Contents Page

5. Preliminary task progression-Evidence
Contents Page- step-by-step
For my contents page I used the template I
made for the font cover, adding the border and
the colors in, I added the stories and the images
I had come up with. I had to re position the
layout a couple of times so that it looked how I
wanted it. After the layout for the contents page
was how I wanted it I went on to write my
editorial and take my editorial picture. I edited
the picture and positioned it where I wanted it.

6. Section 1) – Log Book

7. Music Magazine – Genre research
Pop music magazines RnB music magazines Rock music magazines
Country music magazines Hip hop music magazines Classical music magazine

8. Music Magazine – Genre research
Music magazine
genre research
Billboard
magazine was
founded in
1894
Founders: William H.
Donaldson & James Hennegan
Billboard Publications
became a major trade
magazine publisher,
acquiring The Hollywood
Reporter, Kirkus Reviews,
Adweek and Mediaweek.
Billboard is
intended for music
professionals, such
as Record label
executives, artists,
music retailers and
radio DJ’s.
The Billboard Music Award is an honor given by
Billboard. The Billboard Music Awards show had
been held annually in December until it went
dormant in 2007, it returned in May 2011.

9. Why Billboard?
I have decided to research Billboard as my starting point for
this project, firstly as Billboard is an established magazine
they have a wide audience, this is my aspiration for my
magazine so it could offer me some guidance and direction
hen making my magazine.
However Billboard is also well known for covering Rap/Pop
artists and writing articles on their career and how they got
thee and the genre I would like to focus on is just pop, I
want to talk about more gossip and drama in the music
industry.
Therefore by researching Billboard magazine I will be able
to highlight areas of this magazine that I want to
incorporate into mine and areas that I would rather leave
out.

10. Billboards codes and conventions-Front cover
Masthead
Picture
Barcode
Main headline
Cover line
Web address, Price & Date

11. Established Magazine for my Research
These statistics show me what kind
of people read Billboard and gives
me an insight into the audience. If I
want a similar audience to Billboard
then I know what things I need to to.
Billboards readers are generally quite
young and as I want a younger
audience I should ask the young
Billboard readers what attracts them
to the magazine.

12. Target Audience – Katz, Maslow, Hartley and/or socio-economic needs
The target audience for Billboard magazine varies from young teens, from the
age of 16, to young adults at the age of 26. his is because the magazine
provides its readers with the latest updates from the to charts, but of different
types of music genders. Billboard magazine covers many genres including: rock,
metal, pop, RnB and plenty more. As well as the mature layout of the magazine
there are young artist’s which will draw in a young audience. This front cover
links to the theory of “male gaze” as Drake is a pop icon and people want to be
able to preform like him and some people also want to look like him.
What is the USP of this magazine?
USP stands for Unique selling proposition. “The factor or consideration
presented by a seller as the reason that one product or service is different
from and better than that of the competition”. The USP of Billboard magazine
is the simple format. The front page has a single image which is similar to
Vogue magazine which is one of the best selling magazines in the world. As the
magazine only has one image on the front it attracts an audience that likes the
celebrity that’s on the front.

13. Publisher research
• Billboard is an American music magazine, headquartered in New York City, New York
and owned by Prometheus Global Media.
• It was first published on November 1, 1894, and is distinguished as being among the
oldest trade magazines in the world.
• Prometheus Global Media is New York City based business-to-business media company.
• The company was formed in December 2009 by the entertainment and media division
of Nielsen Company to a private equity-backed group led by Pluribus Capital
Management and Guggenheim Partners, Guggenheim would acquire Pluribus’s stake in
the company in January 2013, giving it full ownership.

14. TOP OF THE POPS
When I started looking at the type of
magazine I wanted to created I decided
that it was to be an old school
anthems/club classics magazine, so I
thought that it would be wise to look into
top of the pops magazine for some
inspiration as it is similar to the type of
magazine I am looking to create. Published by Immediate
Media Company.
The magazine was
launched in February 1995
and is famous for giving
girl group The Spice Girls
their nicknames.

15. Immediate Media Company
• Immediate Media Company Limited (styled as Immediate Media Co) is a combined
publishing house containing the former assets of Origin Publishing, Magicalia and
BBC Magazines.
• It was formed on 1 November 2011 and is owned by Exponent Private Equity. It
publishes over 50 magazine titles and over 30 websites, and it employs 750 staff in
its offices in Hammersmith, London and Bristol.
• Its CEO is Tom Bureau who has a background in digital media as well as traditional
publishing.
• 60% of Immediate's profit is generated by the Radio Times, which is now
spearheading the company’s moves into online retailing.
• In May 2014 Immediate announced its acquisition of Future plc's Sport and Craft
titles in a £24 million deal, acquiring 130 staff.

16. Immediate Media Company
BBC Top Of The Pops Magazine is the biggest-selling teen lifestyle title in the market,
focusing on self discovery, self expression and the world of celebrities. Featuring the
latest fashion and beauty, star gossip, real life stories and celebrity advice, the
magazine brings readers exclusive and exciting content every four weeks.
“We bring our readers closest to their idols, because we’re the magazine that knows
celebs the best. Every issue is packed with exclusive interviews and photos, as well as
brilliant star advice and affordable fashion and beauty. We’re the friend our readers
can rely on to give them confidence, make them laugh, and share all the juiciest gossip.
And that’s why BBC Top Of The Pops Magazine is the UK’s biggest-selling teen title.”
Peter Hart, Editor - BBC Top Of The Pops Magazine

17. Target Audience – Katz, Maslow, Hartley and/or socio-economic needs
The target audience for THROWIN’ BACK magazine can be denoted as young
music lovers. The magazine could also appeal to middle aged women that
were fans of old school music when they were younger. I want my audience to
feel as if the magazine takes them somewhere else, it should allow them to
forget their stresses and worries whilst reading.
What is the USP of this magazine? YOU MUST refer to specific
conventions/stories from you research
From the research completed into this media product, I think the USP is the
fact that there is no magazine out there on the market like mine. It appeals to
an audience that there are not many magazines for. As there are not many
magazines like mine there is then a wider audience that can target. My
magazine has any unique selling points but the main one s the fact that it
itself is unique

18. Section 2) – Evaluation

19. In what ways does your Media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
The magazine, across the 4-pages, ‘repeats’
(Steve Neale) codes and conventions from
magazine such as “Top Of The Pops” and
“Billboard” as inspiration and a rough style idea
which I replicated. “Top f The Pops” magazine has
the same kind of colour scheme that was
constant through-out all of my 4 pages. Pink,
White, Black and Purple were the colours I used
that were similar to the “Top Of The Pops” colour
scheme. For my Front cover I had to include
certain codes and conventions which included a
Bar code, the date/price, the issue number, a
unique selling point, a main image and matching
headline, cover lines, a masthead and a strapline.
Then when creating my contents page I also had
some codes and conventions that had to be
included such as sections, page numbers,
promotions, sublines, web address/social
networking sites. Also it was important that I
included another image of the model I used for
my front cover. By using all these codes and
conventions I was able to ensure that my
magazine looked similar to a real life magazine.
My double page spread repeated some of the codes,
conventions and techniques that “Top Of The Pops”
has, for instance on the double page spread from
“Top Of The Pops” the writing is positioned to fit
around Selena Gomez’ body, I reinterpreted this on
my magazine and created a visually interesting page
for my audience. The double page spread also
contains images similar to the image on the front
cover so when the reader is flicking through the
magazine they recognise the celebrities and therefor
making the reader want to stop and look at the
double page spread ion more detail.
There are examples of some ‘difference’, however, in
terms of the forms and conventions in my own media
product for example, a mainstream music magazine
would use the initials of the editor when asking the
question e.g. ‘AP:’ but I decided that I would
represent this with ‘TB’ as these are the initials of
the magazines name “Throwin’ Back”.

20. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
The denotation of representation is to act or speak on behalf of someone. Although in this
context it means whether or not I have created a magazine that is appealing to a particular type
of social group e.g. ‘Chavs’, ‘Goths’, ‘Housewives’, ‘Nerds’, ‘Hipster’ etc. If I was able to create a
magazine that appeals to more that one or two social groups, it would be an classed as an
economical success since the larger the target audience the greater the amount of consumers
who would purchase my magazine. However for the magazine I have created I do not believe that
it would not appeal to such a wide audience because of the genre. As my magazine is about ‘old
school anthems’ and ‘club classics’ it would not appeal to an audience of anyone who was born
after the year 2000 as there is no music featured in my magazine written after about 1999-2000.
My questionnaire asked people of my target age what their favourite genre of music was, there
was a mix of results that came back, some said ‘rap/rnb’ but some also said ‘old school anthems’
so I decided to create a magazine that merged the two, it was to only feature ‘old school
anthems’ but they would be more upbeat ‘pop’ kind of songs. The magazine, across the 4-pages,
helps to represent the genre I was aiming to portray which is ‘old school anthems’, it does this as
the colours I have chosen to use (pink, purple, black and white) are firstly seen stereotypically as
‘girls’ colours which is suitable for my target audience. Also when looking at ‘old school anthems’
CD’s I noticed that the reoccurring colours were purple, white, pink and blue therefor I designed
my magazine using some of these specific colours.

21. What kind of media institution (Publisher)
might distribute your media product and why?
From the research that was completed in the pre-production section, I would envisage that
Immediate Media Company may publish ‘Throwin’ Back’ because they published ‘Top Of The
Pops’(TOTP) magazine, my magazine and ‘TOTP magazine are slightly similar in the layout and as
they both focus on pop music I think it would be wise for me to use Immediate Media Company
as my publisher.
Also Immediate Media Company is a London based company which is important as I want my
audience to be Londoners. My target audience was pub-going woman in London. I specified that I
wanted the women to be class C. this means that they are everyday working women. I believe
that Immediate Media Company would be able to target my audience and attract them to the
magazine.
The similarities of my magazine to ‘Top Of The Pops’ (such as the way in which the front cover is
displayed) also ‘signifies’ (De Saussure) that Immediate Media Company may think about
publishing/distributing my magazine because it has similar codes and conventions as ‘Top Of The
Pops’ which Immediate Media Company.

22. Who would be the audience for your
media product and why?
Hartley’s seven subjectivities
According to Hartley’s seven subjectivities, the target audience for my magazine would be for the age
range of 18 to 35 especially for females (Hartley) since most of the artists featured in my magazine
are females, so having a female based audience would sell my magazine more.
Katz’ Uses & Gratifications theory
According to Katz’ Uses & Gratifications theory, a female audience would find it much easier to create
‘personal relationships’ with those who are mentioned in my magazine, however it may still appeal
to the male gender (Hartley) as the images in my magazine are mostly of female, this could act as
an attractant because females are often objectified for the pleasure of the male audience (Male
Gaze- Laura Mulvey).
Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, ‘social climbers’ would make up a large amount of my
audience since they would try and find out as much information as possible on the celebrities
mentioned so they were ‘informed’ and ‘educated’(Katz) on everything that was new in the music
industry. Also the working class (Karl Marx) would really be targeted since they would be able to
afford the magazine as well as appreciate the ‘diversion’ (Katz) it offers from day to day life, this is
one of the reasons I have aimed my magazine at working, everyday women.

23. How did you attract/address your
audience?
In order to attract the intended target audience of females aged between 18-35, I decided to
firstly use colors that would attract a female audience, also by using a clean and structured
design I was able to attract the sort of women I intended to. My magazine probably would
not attract a male audience as they may think the magazine looks “too girly”.
Also by having a Unique Selling Point (USP) I would be able to make people want to buy my
magazine. My USP was that you get a free iTunes download with every issue. People who are
a fan of music would want t but the magazine because of this.
By including codes & conventions like having an editorial on the contents page helped to appeal
to the target audience because I used direct address. By using second person pronouns such
as “you” and “we” I was able to make the readers feel a part of something and they then
may feel like they have developed a personal relationship with the editor.

24. What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?
The denotation of the software used to construct the media product entitled
“THROWIN’ BACK” was Adobe Photoshop CS4. I used this because it had all they
tools which I needed in order to alter color, saturation and contrast of my images
used. Also it gave me the ability to choose what fonts I wanted to use, by using
Photoshop I could position my fonts in suitable places to make my magazine look
as real as possible.

25. Looking back at your Preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
I feel that, having completed the preliminary task and learning about the demands of
this production process, I have learnt how to use Photoshop to a relatively strong
standard, therefore my final product looked professional, clean and well made, I
have also used some of the tools which at the beginning of the year I had no idea ho
to use. As I used to study ICT I had limited knowledge in other applications like
Photoshop for example I used fireworks to do a previous ICT project which used
some similar tools.