- The document evaluates the author's journalism skills from their preliminary task to their final magazine production. - Conventions like mastheads, images, pull quotes, and column layouts are analyzed and compared between the preliminary and final works. - The author's skills improved from using basic terminology and images in their preliminary work to researching industry conventions and portraying the subject matter effectively in the final magazine pieces.

1. Evaluation Katy Bixley 4020

2. Evaluating My Journalism When writing my article I reviewed a number of interviews in other magazines such as Q and NME. As these are established and successful publications I wished to follow similar forms. I’ve tried to use some of the conventions I saw, including an informal friendly mode of address and create a positive representation of the artist.

3. Evaluating My Journalism

5. I followed the conventions of a magazine front cover such as having a masthead, cover lines, bar code and price at the bottom right hand corner. There is also a picture of the band taking most of the room of the front cover. The preferred meaning of my front cover is a fresh I hit my target audience by using both gendered colours and having both boy and girl bands to attract the audience. Having a target audience of both sexes was hard to figure out what would attract both. The use of both white and blue colours represents both genders which will attract my specific audience. By using copy such as “new” and “exclusive” attracts the audience to want to read the magazine. This is conventionally seen throughout the magazine industry. My front cover represents the band as quite friendly and confident looking. The way they are dressed looks very down to earth and casual. This signifies the band as easy going and laid back. The use of the blue and white colour scheme connotes freshness. This links to the fact that the band is new and current. Talking about new subjects such as new bands of the summer and stories of how artists became famous represents the audience as listeners and being interested. Using cover lines at the bottom of the page is conventional. It also attracts and informs the audience. Graphics are conventional and create interest to the audience. My front cover uses a lot of familiar forms from the magazine industry. These include masthead, puffs and headlines. Analysing My Front Cover

6. Forms and conventions I included many conventions when making my front cover. These include Masthead – bold with the use of graphics which are also conventional. The mast head is the main subject of the page. Cover lines – the use of cover lines informs the reader what is inside this particular issue. Puffs – using copy such as ‘exclusive’ and ‘new’ makes the audience feel privileged that they are the first to be reading the information. Cover price – this is a very typical convention for a magazine. My cover price is also small and included with a bar code, the date and the issue number

7. Analysing My Contents Page The blue and white colour scheme is fresh and looks professional. The blue headings with white background brings attention to it. It lets the reader know where to look. By tilting the images it gives it a edgy effect. The images included link to the articles inside the magazines. I followed typical conventions such as grouping articles, e.g. news, reviews and features. I also included images of featured stories. I tried to represent this months issue positively by I hit my target audience by including articles that would attract them. These include information on festivals and gigs, real life stories and prizes. This will My contents page offers the reader information and entertainment such as gigs. It could also offer to escape their daily life. For example, the real life stories. The ‘Editors note’ on the contents page is a summary of what is this months issue. It is conventional as many other magazines have an editors column. It is very friendly and makes the reader feel as if it was personally for them. Graphics used in the masthead. This is conventional and attracts the audience attention.

8. Forms and Conventions Typical conventions were used on my contents page. These include Puffs – the white numbers in the coloured boxes contrast the background making them more visible to the eye. Grouping Articles – this is a very conventional technique for magazines as it groups the articles together which helps the reader find things. Images of featured stories – this helps the reader see what the stories are about.

9. Analysing My Double Page I’ve represented my band as very casual and fun. This picture of the band portrays them as being close as they are all laughing and joking. They are all dressed quite casual which represents them to be down to earth. I used pull quotes to appeal to my audience. An example of this is “I was sick on the drums”. People read this and want to read on to answer their questions. This is a very typical convention of music magazines. I offered the reader information on the band. It also offered entertainment to the audience. This pleases the audience as they are being informed and entertained at the same time. I followed typical conventions of interviews by researching other interviews from magazines such as Q, NME and Kerrang. These conventions included images of the band, columned text and pull quotes. The positioning of the main images is at the top of the page, taking just over half the double page. Its where the readers look first when turning the page, which will catch their eye. These two small images of the band are there to support the preferred meaning. In all the pictures the band look friendly and fun. The picture stands out from the background as the pure white background borders the picture.

10. Forms and Conventions I also used typical conventions for my double page. These include: Pull Quote – this is to attract the audience. It also breaks up the copy so it doesn’t put people off reading. Copy – My interview is very conventional as it’s a question and answer interview. I separated the questions and answers by using two different colours. Column layout – I have 5 columns of interview question and answers. This is very conventional and used in most articles. Ears – the image of the band is in the top left hand corner. It grabs the audience attention as it’s the first thing they see when they turn the page. Headline – my font is serif as its upper case and clear.

11. From Preliminary to Final Production

12. Masthead for Preliminary Task Masthead for Front Cover The masthead for my preliminary task is a Sans Serif font and gives it a sense of urgency which makes it more likely for somebody to read. However, the colour scheme is quite basic and gives the cover page less credibility because it looks slightly unprofessional. Where as, the mast head for my front cover has use of graphics which are conventional and creates interest to the audience. The colour scheme is basic yet effective. Mastheads

13. The images I used are very different and show that my skills have improved from the preliminary to the final production. The picture for my preliminary task hasn’t been thought through. I didn’t think about the background or how the person is represented. Whereas for my front cover of my music magazine I thought of the background and how the band are portrayed. Preliminary Image Front Cover Image Images

14. Improving My Journalism My journalism skills in my preliminary task were very basic and not very good. The terminology was poor but informal. Whereas, in my double spread the journalism was more improved as I researched how other magazines journalism was like. This helped me gain a better understanding of what to include in my journalism. I used musical lexis such as ‘collaborate’ and ‘album’. My mode of address was informal and friendly which made the reader feel as if they are friends with the artist.

15. My Use of Technology Tool Bar I used this tool to remove the background of my image. This was to change the colour of the backgrounds. For example, on my contents page it filled the colour of the blue boxes. I used this tool to move and place the objects around the page. This is the textbox symbol. This was to write text on the pages. This symbol is to add shapes. This graphic was for the puff.

16. My Use of Technology This website called ‘Dafont’ is where I got the style of font for my masthead. http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=eight