This document provides documentation for a student's media studies coursework. It includes step-by-step progressions showing the development of elements for a music magazine, including the front cover, contents page, and double page spread. It also includes research on established magazines, target audiences, genres, and results from a questionnaire given to the target demographic. The student created the magazine as part of their AS Level course in media studies.

1. OCR Media Studies – AS Level
Unit G321: Foundation Portfolio in Media
Preliminary Task, Music Magazine and Log
Book
Name: Jade Cook
Candidate Number: 6622
Center Name: St. Paul’s Catholic College
Center Number: 64770

2. Preliminary Task Progression-
Evidence Front Cover
Step-by-step
This shows my preliminary task progression of my front cover for my school magazine. To begin
with, I started with the basic template of the magazine and included the basic conventions such
as the masthead, strapline and institution logos. I then started to included some coverlines at
the side of the front cover and a puff to attract my audience. After this, I added more coverlines
on the other side of the front cover and also added a main headline. Lastly, I added a main
image to my front cover which I cropped before adding it onto the page, using the magic wand
tool and eraser tool on Photoshop.

3. Preliminary Task Progression-
Evidence Contents Page
Step-by-step
This shows the production of my contents page for the preliminary task. Firstly, I did the basic
layout of the contents and included the headings to give me an idea of where I wanted to place
certain conventions such as the coverlines and editorial. I also ‘repeated’ the boarder from the
front cover for continuity and also kept the colour scheme consistent. I then started to put in the
coverlines with the page numbers next to each story. After this, I then wrote my editorial and
added the ‘story of the week’. Lastly, I added an image to go with the ‘story of the week’ and also
added a signature to my editorial.

4. Music Magazine Task Progression– Evidence
Front Cover
Step-by-step
This shows the task progression for my magazine front cover. To start with,
I including the main conventions to the front cover including the masthead,
strapline, barcode and puff. I then started to add coverlines, the price as
well as institution logos to add convergence so that the audience can
interact with the magazine. After this, I started to finish adding in all of the
coverlines and put a box around the names of the artists featured in my
magazine to make them stand out to my target audience. I then added the
main image by cropping it using the magic wand tool on Photoshop and
added the main headline. Lastly, based on feedback I received, I changed
the background colour to a lighter purple because some of the text was
hard to read.

5. Music Magazine Task Progression– Evidence
Contents Page
Step-by-step
This shows the stages of how I created my the contents page for my music magazine. Firstly, I
added the masthead, added an editorial to create a personal relationship with my readers and also
added an image which related to the main headline. I then added the coverlines and also a
screengrab of the front cover to make my magazine look more professional and similar to my
magazines of inspiration. I then changed the colour of the background to a darker purple and
changed where I placed the puff as well as the screengrab of the front cover to make it look
neater. After this, I changed the colour again to a lighter purple and also added a signature to my
editorial after receiving feedback. I then get even more feedback and changed the font of the
coverlines as some said it was quite hard to read from a distance. I also made the artists featured in
the coverlines a different colour so that they stand out more, and attract a pass along audience.

6. Music Magazine Task Progression– Evidence
Double Page Spread
Step-by-step
This shows the stages of the production of my double
page spread. I started by cropping an my main image
and adding it in along with the main headline, masthead
and web address with institution logos. I then changed
the font because I didn’t think it looked aesthetically
pleasing and also removed the image because it was
quite poor quality and was very small so wouldn’t fill up
the page. I also added the interview which I had
previously typed up on Microsoft Word. I then added in
a new image which filled up most of the space on the
page and was of good quality. I also rearranged the
main headline as I didn’t want it to be placed over the
main image. Based on feedback, I then made the
background colour a lighter purple and also added
magazine responsibilities. I also changed the colour of
the drop capital and rearranged the main headline
again. Lastly, I changed the colour of the main headline
and also added a stroke effect around the last sentence
at the bottom which provided details relating to the
interview. I also added a faint effect in the background
by using the shape tool to fill up the blank space around
the main image.

7. Section 1) – Log Book

8. Music Magazine – Genre Research
Billboard magazine is an American music magazine which is based in New York and
owned by Prometheus Global Media. It was first published on November 1, 1894
and is known as one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. Billboard magazine
publish weekly and their circulation is around 48,000. Their target audience are
mostly teenagers and young adults aged around 16-25 because from the statistics
below, you can see that college graduates are the highest percentage of people
who read Billboard Magazine, however there are older readers as well. It’s USP is
that Billboard contains a number of genres which helps to appeal to a wider
audience.
Statistics from:
http://advertising.billboard
.com/magazine

9. Established Magazine for my Research
Masthead
Main Image
Main Headline
Coverlines
Billboard is one of my magazines of
inspiration because it is a modern music
magazine which appeals to teenagers and
young adults like myself. I chose Billboard
as one of my magazine’s of inspiration
because I like their choice of cover stars,
for example, Katy Perry. By using ‘star
appeal’ they are able to attract a wide
audience as fans of these stars are likely to
purchase this magazine.
One of the conventions which is missing
from this front cover is a strapline. A
strapline is something above or below the
masthead which tells the audience a bit
about the magazine for example, “the
UK’s number 1 music magazine”.
Puff/Promotion is another convention
which is missing from this front cover. This
is used to attract readers to buy the
magazine by including a competition of
some kind that will make people want to
buy the magazine and enter the
competition.

10. Established Magazine for my Research
Masthead
Main
image
Main
headlineBarcode
Strapline
Coverlines
Price
My other magazine of inspiration is
Clash. I chose this as one of my
magazines of inspiration because of
the simple layout as I thought that it
was appealing as they haven’t
overcrowded the page. As well as
this, the main headline stands out as
they have used an effect to make it
look 3D. They have also used ‘star
appeal’ for the main image which will
attract a pass along audience, as fans
of Rita Ora are likely to purchase this
magazine. Clash is a multi-genre
magazine which I will ‘repeat’ when
producing my magazine as it targets a
broader audience.
Conventions not included on this
front cover which I would like to
include on my magazine is institution
logos and a puff. This is because
institution logos give readers an
alternative way to read and interact
with the magazine. Including a puff
would also attract a wider audience as
they are likely to purchase the
magazine if they are interested in the
puff.

11. Established Magazine for my Research-
Contents Page
I used the contents page of Billboard as the
inspiration for my contents page as I like the
layout, especially the large image in the middle
of the page because it gives the audience
something to look at visually rather than just
reading a lot. A convention which I hope to
‘repeat’ in my music magazine is the layout of
this contents page because I think it looks
clear and professional which makes the
magazine easier to read.
However, a convention which I would add to
my contents page which has not been added
in this one is an editorial and an editorial
image. I would choose to add this certain
convention because it creates a ‘personal
relationship’ with the audience. As well as this,
I would also add convergence such as social
networking logos as technology has become a
large part in todays’ society so this allows the
audience to connect with the magazine at any
place and any time.
Masthead
Main
image
Coverlines
Page
number
Date

12. Established Magazine for my Research-
Double Page Spread
The double page spread which I used as
inspiration when creating my magazine
was from Clash. I chose this page
because I liked how the main image
stood out. This is something I hope to
‘repeat’ as it will attract my target
audience through the use of star appeal.
I also like how the main headline stands
out and how the same colour and font
have been used for the drop capital, as
this creates continuity.
A convention which I would add to my
double page spread would be to
differentiate the colour of the text so the
audience know who is the interviewer
and who is being interviewed. As well as
this, I would also add convergence to
allow the audience to interact with the
magazine online. I also hope to add
magazine responsibilities such as
photography at the side of the page as it
will make my double page spread look
more professional.
Main image
Headline
Drop
capital
Interview
Page
number
Introduction
to interview

13. Music Magazine – Audience
The target audience for Billboard can be denoted as a magazine for teenagers and
young adults aged between 16-25. This connotes that Billboard are trying to attract
a younger audience, which they do by generally putting more modern musicians on
the front cover of each issue. According to Katz, readers will use Billboard magazine
for their own personal gratifications depending on who is on the front cover or
who is being interviewed. For example, Bruno Mars on the front cover of Billboard
will attract mostly young girls because he is seen as an attractive man and
therefore young girls will buy the magazine for the fact that he is on the front
cover.
From the research completed into this media product, I think the USP is that
Billboard include a variety of music genres in their magazine so that they appeal to
a wider audience, however they still aim the magazine at young people. For
example, they use star appeal to attract their target audience-in this case, Taylor
Swift and Eminem. These are two completely different musicians as one of them is
a country singer, and the other a rapper. This is a USP for Billboard because by using
different musicians on the front cover, this broadens the target audience because
they include something which appeals to all young people.

14. Publisher research
The publisher of Billboard magazine is Prometheus Global Media. On December
10, 2009 the Nielsen Company announced that it would sell its Business Media
division, which included brands such as Billboard to a new company called Global
Media – a joint company between Guggenheim Partners and Pluribus Capital
Management led by James Finkelstein, Matthew Doul, and George Green. In
January 2013, Guggenheim took over Pluribus's stake in the company, giving it full
ownership.
Statistics from:
http://www.prometheus
gm.com/billboard

15. Music Magazine Research
Before producing my music magazine, I decided to create a questionnaire which I gave to 8 people
who represented my target audience (16-25 year olds). I did this so that when it came to producing
my magazine, I could use these results to help me make my magazine as successful as possible.

16. Questionnaire Results
This shows the results from my
questionnaire. I found these results
helpful because they helped me when
producing my magazine, as I used them
as a guideline of what to include and
what not to include. The results helped
me to make decisions about my
magazine, for example, the majority of
people who took my questionnaire said
that the most they would pay for a
magazine was between £1-£2. Based on
this, I made the price of my magazine
£1.99 because not many people where
willing to pay more for a music
magazine, so if it was this price people
would be more likely to buy my
magazine.