The document describes the development of the student's production skills throughout creating a magazine for their media studies coursework. They began by setting up an online blog to document their progress. Research included examining existing magazines in the chosen genre of Sufi Rock and magazine layouts. Core production involved designing the magazine using InDesign and Photoshop, including taking photographs, editing photos, and piecing together writing and images. The student gained experience with advanced software and technologies and felt proud of their new skills by the project's completion.

1. Creative critical reflection
A Level Media Studies 9607

2. Introduction
I have chosen to create a new music magazine for my Media
Coursework. The genre which I have chosen to focus on is Sufi
Rock. In doing my research I discovered that there are no Sufi
Rock magazines on the shelves of Pakistans stores. This leaves a
great gap in the magazine market which my product could fill. I
also think my magazine will be popular because Sufi Rock is a
popular genre of music and ever growing. Below is a list of
some artists based around this genre.
1. Abida Parveen
2. Ali Azmat
3. Sketches
4. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

3. HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE OR
CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS AND HOW
DOES IT REPRESENT SOCIAL GROUPS
OR ISSUES?

4. The social groups that are represented in my magazine are the readers which you would expect
to see buying a special genre related magazine. Which is most likely the younger generation of
people.
My magazine would be for these types of people:
YOUNG GENERATION (AGES 14 – 35 odd)
8. TEENAGERS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN MUSIC
9. MAINLY FEMALE GENDER
10. PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN SUFI/ROCK MUSIC
11. ETHNICITY DOESN’T MATTER, THIS MAGAZINE IS FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN THIS TYPE OF
MUSIC
12 ANY PERSON FROM ANY CLASS CAN BUY THIS MAGAZINE, THEY WOULDN’T GET JUDGED

5. The genre which I chosen to base my magazine upon is Sufi Rock I chose to focus on this
genre because I like this kind of music and I knew I would enjoy creating the unique
images and editing to fit with the genre.
I also chose to focus on Sufi Rock because when I did my re-search at the beginning of the
project and found that there is no Sufi Rock magazines being sold and so there is a gap in
the market. And as I found my target audience was 16 to 35 year olds I could start to
develop my product for that age range.

6. I have used many typical magazine conventions in my final product.
Below is a list of my front cover, contents page and double page spread and the conventions I have
used;
Front cover
oMain heading ‘dhun’ as in Rhythm relates to the genre i have chosen. The font is bold and big which makes it stand
out and draws in the eyes’ attention . From the results of my questionnaires I have realised that I could have made my
title stand out more. Below are the comments made about my front cover title:
“The title colour could be brighter for more attention”
“The title would stand out even more if it was brighter”
oOne main picture of my model. The age and appearance of the boy reflects the age and stlye of my target audience.
The picture stand as it shows the Sufi Look and makes it more clear about the specific genre it has .
Below are some of the positive comments I got back from my questionnaire:
“The mise-en-scene against the dull background looks professional”
“It interests me because the picture is different and interesting, it also looks Interesting and Attractive
“The picture looks professional how it is fitted onto the page and how the writing overlaps”
oFeature articles are all items that I think are interesting and appealing to the market which I have chosen. These will
entice the reader into buying the magazine.
oWebsite address to show people there is more than just the magazine www.sufirock.com’

7. Contents
oPictures to reveal who is featured in the magazine. And
making the background to give it more spiritual and as well
as more musical look. Below are some of the comments I got
back from my questionnaire when I asked about my contents
page;
“The pictures make it interesting”
“The pictures are different and interesting”
oPage numbers and interesting titles which I thought the
reader would want to flick to.

8. Titles
Background
image
Images

9. Double page spread
oPictures of the featured artist Sufi Model’ to show the reader who is been interviewed and
to make them want to read on. Below a comment I received from my questionnaire on the
pictures I used:
“The pictures make you want to read the article and see who it’s about”
oBold and big fonts to make the writing stand out more.
oPhrases which the interviewee have said which are funny/strange/stand out-Here are some
of the comments I received from the questionnaire about the phrase I made stand out from
the rest of the interview:
”The quotes make you want to read on”
“The quotes are interesting and catchy”
oInterview written in a journalistic way to make it seem genuine, below are two comments I
got back, one positive and one negative:
“Really well written article, good journalism”
“The article seems more of a story rather than an article, explaining every little detail”

11. HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE
WITH AUDIENCES AND HOW WOULD IT
BE DISTRIBUTED AS A REAL MEDIA
TEXT?

12. Why is it good to have a target audience?
The reason why it’s good to have a target audience is so that their interests are
fulfilled in the magazine. So what they like listening to and who they like going to see
are featured in the magazines. So a 70 year old wouldn’t be likely read a magazine on
‘Drum and base’.
When looking for my target audience I had to consider many factors. One of them
being age. My age category is from 16 to 35 years old. That doesn’t mean to say that
people out of this age group aren't suppose to read it but I produced a questionnaire
at the beginning of my project and saw that all the young people would like to see an
Sufi Rock magazine on the shelves of stores. I think my magazine is largely targeted at
a loyal niche audience AT THE MOMENT. But with new artists such as Atif Aslam and
The Sketches Sufi rock is becoming more and more popular and may help the sales of
my magazine.
I believe that my magazine will have a secondary audience because it’s a mix of
Sufism and Rock. So people who are into Classical music are likely to read my music
and people who listen to Classical Rock are likely to read it so I will have a mix of two
audiences reading it.

13. Main heading Which I got from the
word ‘Rhythm’ and as it’s based on
Music thought it would be a good
idea to use it. I got very good
feedback about the title of my
magazine and helped people work
out what genre the magazine was
based on.
Feature articles to entice the
audience in. Features such as
“The Music Of Life” will
persuade people who are
interested inTrue Musicand not
necessarily Sufi Roc to read
the magazine.
My main picture
who is the singer
and Model for my
magazine” is quite
different from what
you would usually
see on a magazine
cover as its shows
the traditional
culture of Sufism.
This has been
done to attract the
audiences
attention..

14. For my contents page I have chosen
interesting feature articles so to interest
my reader. My first featured article is
‘Salmans journey to Sufi kingdom’ Which
creates suspense for the ready as I
haven’t said what the interview is about.
The reader therefore will probably be
intrigued to see who they are even if they
didn't want to read that article anyway. I
have also included “Lets start the festival”
in my contents page as this is one of my
main features of the magazine, so many
people will most likely be buying the
magazine for that one article and want to
get to it quick and easy. I have also used
a big picture of one of mosque to reflect
the Poetic side of this music’ and
changed it into a cutout effect on
Photoshop which will attract my target
audience as it is very artistic like.

15. For my double page spread I have used
the title; the spiritual journey this is
because it gives the readers an
attractive heading for the poetic and
musical article and it is then clear to
audience who the article is about and
what they’re called. I have used a typical
paragraph structure for my article which
makes it easy to read. I have also written
on a image from my shoot to establish
link between he reader and the article
.Instead I wrote mine more like a story
than an interview.. I think this will
attract my audience as it isn’t a typical
interview and they wont get bored. have
used quite a large picture on my double
page spread. I think this attracts the
audiences attention as it’s the first time
we have seen them up close.

16. HOW DID YOUR PRODUCTION SKILLS
DEVELOP THROUGHOUT THIS PROJECT?

17. Blogs: Before beginning my practical project I had to create and account on
https://wordpress.com is an online blog which can be easily accessed in and out of college. I
found this resource very helpful, as it allowed me to upload recent developments in my
magazine, including pictures, blog entrees and PowerPoint's.
Research: To get to my final product I had to carry out research on many different aspects of
the media. Once I had decided on the genre of magazine I was going to create, I researched
theWeb for similar magazines to that genre. I also looked for layouts of magazines on Google
images. I found this a really easy way of finding information about magazines, and I think it is
so much easier than going out and buying a magazine from the shelves as you don’t always
have a big selection to choose from.
Creating my product:To create my prelim task and front cover I used an advanced
programme on the windows called ‘Adobe InDesign ’and Photoshop.This is where I pieced my
product together, adding writing and pictures. I found it quite easy to get the hang of this
programme as ive worked on it before..
Taking my photographs: For both my prelim task and magazine I had to use a. DSLR I have
my own DSLR and known how to use it for years now so this task wasn’t a problem for me.

18. Editing photographs: After uploading my photographs onto the computer,
i had to open the ones I wanted into a programme called ‘Photoshop’.This
programme allowed me to do pretty much whatever i wanted with my photos.
I changed the colours of my photos, cut them out from the background,
created film strips. I was very impressed by what I could achieve on this
programme.
To sum up I believe all of the technology which I used to create my product was
highly advanced and I am very proud to now know how to use some of this.