1. OCR Media Studies – AS Level
Unit G321: Foundation Portfolio in Media
Preliminary Task, Log Book and Evaluation
Name: Chloe Bonner
Candidate Number: 6377
Center Name: St. Paul’s Catholic College
Center Number: 64770
Set Brief - Print
Music Magazine – Production
Preliminary Task Progression, Log Book and
Evaluation
2. Introduction
This is my log book power point. It contains all of the planning and
research that I completed before making my music magazine. Also, it
contains the preliminary task I completed which was a school magazine.
The type of planning and research pages that it contains are; Q magazine
research, publisher research, established magazine for my research,
conventions of a music magazine and my questionnaire. Additionally, the
preliminary task pages that are included in this power point are my front
cover and contents page. I analysed step by step what I did to complete my
preliminary task.
3. Preliminary Task Progression–
Evidence
Front Cover
Step-by-step
Step One:
I started my front cover by
inserting my background picture
and creating my masthead.
Step Two:
I then inserted some lines to
make my masthead stand out.
Step Three:
Then, I added the school badge
to show which school it was and
then added the schools website
and the magazines website.
4. Step Four:
After that, I added all of my
headlines to the page.
Step Five:
I added all of the social media to my
page, this included: a picture of the
facebook and twitter logos and the
links to each page.
Preliminary Task Progression–
Evidence
Front Cover
Step-by-step
Step Six:
I added my barcode to the
bottom of the page
5. Preliminary Task Progression–
Evidence
Contents Page
Step-by-step
Step One:
I started creating my contents page by
adding my masthead, the title of the
page and a ‘features’ section.
Step Two:
I added pictures to my contents page;
the main picture goes with my main
story and the st pauls logo to show
which school it’s from.
Step Three:
I added the month and year and which
issue of the magazine it is.
6. Preliminary Task Progression–
Evidence
Contents Page
Step-by-step
Step Four:
I added my page numbers and next to
them I wrote each story and also a
subheading underneath the story to
summarise what it’s about.
Step Five:
I wrote an editorial which welcomes
everyone to the magazine and is a
short summary of what the magazine
is about with a signature, contact
details and an editors picture
Step Six:
To complete my contents page I had to
add all of the social media links such
as facebook and twitter, and also a link
to the magazines website.
10. ONE
The name ‘zone’ connotes that people can be in the
zone when reading this magazine. Additionally, it
relates to how people are in the ‘zone’ when they are
listening to indie music, which is the music that this
magazine focuses on.
The main colour which I have used is red because
this was the main colour for my magazine of
inspiration. The colour red connotes the passion
for the music which this magazine focuses on and
that we are passionate about making sure that
zone is successful. Additionally, I have kept this
colour consistent throughout all of my pages in
my magazine as it can help to catch the readers
eye and create ‘brand awareness’ for the reader.
The tilted Z connotes the edgy music
which this magazine is going to be
dealing with and creates an edgy look
for the magazine, which can help to
attract the young indie audience which
I am aiming for.
The font style which I have used for my
masthead is very big and bold which
can help to catch the readers eye.
11. Target Audience:
The target audience for Q magazine can be denoted as males, between the ages of 15-44 years old
(Hartley’s) as statistics have shown that 68.3% of their readers are males. This is because they write
about the kind of music that males of these age ranges will be interested in, therefore they can personally
identify themselves with the articles (Katz). As they have such a wide age range, this connotes that Q
magazine has the ability to appeal to a lot of people. Social Climbers (Maslow’s) are most likely to read
this magazine as it is about music artists and celebrities, therefore these people will want to be just like
the people in the magazine because of the lives that they have. Also, social climbers will want to read this
magazine because they feel as if they are being forced to improve their status within society. Overall, I
think that the audience of Q magazine fit into the ‘B’ and ‘C1’ category of the socio-economic needs, which
means that Q magazine are able to make their magazine more expensive as people in these groups will be
able to afford the magazine.
USP:
I think the USP of the magazine is the pictures as they stand out and relate to the stories. They are the
USP because they tell the story to the reader and can make the reader interested in wanting to read
more into the story. Also, I think another USP of the magazine is the masthead as it is very bright as
they have used the colour red to make it stand out more. By the masthead standing out, it means that it
will be the first thing that the consumer will see and they will then pick up that magazine and the
masthead is used for every issue that is created. Additionally, another USP of the magazine is the main
articles that they create because they can have exclusive interviews that no other magazine has, which
can interest the reader because they will want to find out what is in those exclusive interview.
12. Established Magazine for my Research
Main Image
The main image for this front cover
is of Adele. As Adele is a top selling
artist, this means that they might
sell more copies of this magazine
because fans of Adele will be
interested to see what the story of
her is about. This main image is
very big so it stands out most out of
everything else on the page.
Main Headline
The main headline gives people a short
piece of information on what the main
story is going to be about. If it is
something that the audience are
interested in then they will buy the
magazine because they want to read the
story. The text that has been used for
the main headline is very big and bold
so that it stands out when the audience
first see the magazine.
Barcode
Headlines
Slogan
Masthead
The masthead is the boldest thing
on the page and is used on every
issue of Q magazine. The audience
can identify what magazine they’re
reading by looking at the masthead, as
it is the main thing that stands out on
the page.
This magazines front cover could’ve included a puff for the audience to get
involved in and they also could’ve included social media and website links to
allow the audience to get more information about the magazine. This
magazine has inspired me for my magazine as I have used the same kind of
masthead as ‘Q’ magazine and repeated (Steve Neale) it for my magazine,
‘Zone’ by having the red background and the white font.
13. Publisher research
http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/Q
This data denotes that 68.3% of Q’s audience are
males and only 31.7% are females. This means that
the magazine interests more males as there is
137,000 more men who read the magazine compared
to the amount of women that read the magazine. As
the majority of their readers are males, this connotes
that they must be putting more masculine things
within the magazine that can interest these readers,
like male singers/bands and more competitions that
men would be interested in. Also, as the main age
range of readers is 15-24, this means that Q are also adding a ‘younger’ aspect to
their magazines and are using more singers that are recent and could possibly be in
the charts so that their stories are more up to date and can interest people of these
age groups, rather than having old singers that the older generation would be
interested in.
Sources:
14. Conventions of a
Music Magazine
Small images
which relate to
the articles
Main Image –
denotes ‘star appeal’
(Richard Dyer)
Main Headline
Coverline
Barcode
Puff
Masthead
15. Target Audience:
The target audience for NME magazine can be denoted as males between the ages of 17-30 (Hartley) as
statistics show that 73% of NME’s readers are males and only 27% of their readers are females. As NME
try to appeal to men, they try to add a masculine effect to the magazine by putting male artists in their
articles, like ‘Jake Bugg’ on the front cover on the NME issue that I’ve chosen. The target audience for NME
can personally identify (Katz) themselves with the articles in the magazine and the other consumers who
read the magazine because they all listen to and are interested in the same kind of music, therefore they
can relate to eachother/personally identify themselves with eachother. Also, the audience of this
magazine are social climbers (Maslow) because the magazine has articles on celebrities and what these
celebrities are into. Therefore, consumers can see things that their favorite artist/celebrity has said and
will want to be like them and do the things that they do. Many people want to raise their status in society
so that they can end up like their favorite celebrity, therefore they’re social climbers. Additionally, I think
the target audience of this magazine can be denoted as the C1-C2 category of the social economic needs as
the magazine isn’t very sophisticated and expensive, therefore these kind of people would be interested in
the magazine.
USP:
From the research completed into this media product, I think the USP is the masthead as it is
very big and bright and stands out most on the page and people can identify what magazine
that it is as soon as they see the masthead. Also, I think the main headline and the stories
that they use are the USP of the magazine because they are very big and stand out to
everyone. Also, they are the USP because they are about celebrities that people might be
interested in and will want to read about, therefore if the consumer is interested in the artist
they’ve used then they will pick up the magazine so that they can read about that person.
16. This question; ‘How much would you usually
spend on a music magazine?’ is asking people
whether they spend a little amount of money
on a music magazine or if they buy expensive
music magazines. This helps me to know how
expensive I needed to make my magazine. The
majority of people answered the £1.01-£2.00
section, therefore I need to make my magazine
within that price range.
The second question; ‘What do you think should
stand out most on a Music Magazine front cover?’ is
asking people what they notice most about a music
magazines front cover. The majority of people said
that they were attracted by the main image on the
front cover that included ‘Star Appeal’ (Richard
Dyer) as they would see their favorite celebrity on
the front cover and it will make them buy the
magazine so that they can read the story that has
been written about their favorite celebrity.
Therefore, I would have to create a front cover that
has a celebrity in the main image.
17. The third question asks people what type of
music magazine they most enjoy reading. The
majority of people said that they most enjoy
reading R&B magazines. However, I haven’t
created an R&B magazine, I created an Indie
magazine which is the ‘different’ (Steve
Neale) to what my target audience want to
read and what they expect to read for a music
magazine.
The fourth question is asking people how
old they are so that I know how old my
target audience are which will help me to
aim my magazine at people of these age
ranges. The only age range that was
selected was ’16-24’, therefore my target
audience should be 16-24 year olds and I
have to make sure that my magazine fits
around people of these ages.
18. The fifth question is ‘are you male or female?’
this is to help me know which gender I should
aim my magazine towards. Therefore, as the only
gender that was selected was ‘female’ this means
that I will have to make my magazine attract
women. This could be done by adding the colour
pink to my magazine or making stories that
relate to women. However, I wanted my
magazine to fit around both genders, so I have
made it a unisex magazine.
The sixth question was ‘do you listen to
indie music?’ This is to help me see
whether my target audience actually
listen to the type of music that I want to
base my magazine around. However, as
everyone selected the ‘no’ option this
implies that it might be a bad idea to
make an Indie magazine because my
target audience probably wouldn’t be
interested in it.
19. The seventh question in my questionnaire is
‘what do you expect to be in a front cover of a
magazine?’. This will tell me what conventions I
definitely need to put on my front cover as I will
know what the audience expects to see mostly in
a magazine. As most people said that I will need
to add a main headline and a main image, that
means that I need to add both of these into my
front cover. The main headline and the main
image also need to relate. For example, my main
story has to include the person who is in the
main image on my front cover.
Lastly, the eighth question in my
questionnaire is ‘Do you expect ‘repetition’
(Steve Neale) from other music
magazines?’. This will tell me whether I
should repeat other conventions that
different music magazines have and put
those conventions into my music
magazine. Everyone said yes, therefore I
need to repeat the conventions from other
music magazines.
20. Conclusion
Each of my pages contain the planning and research that I have carried out
throughout my coursework. I have analysed each step that I have made for
my coursework and given a detailed description on each page. With all of
this planning and research, I can create my magazine as I know exactly
what my target audience want and expect from a music magazine and how
I can add these expectations into my own magazine to interest my target
audience. It will also allow me to ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale) other conventions
that I have found in other music magazines.
