Feedback:

Well done Ashley-  your Q1 is very good.  I really like your diagrammes.

Q1 Evaluation: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Q1 Evaluation: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

While making my front cover, contents page and double page spread, I had to keep in mind that my magazine follows if not all, most of the codes and conventions of a music magazine. I used my magazine textual analyses to help me identify these conventions and also the results I gathered from my audience research I carried out when i handed questionnaires out to the audience my magazine is targeting. 

This Diagram shows conventions I used for my music magazine front cover:

The most common convention of many music magazines is a main image which is usually a medium close up shot. My magazine consists of this convention as it is a typical music magazine convention. My front cover also has a large masthead which is behind the model I used for my main image. I chose to do this as to illustrate that my magazine is serious about it's music and to show the artists that produce music from the genre the magazine mainly targets are important to the magazine.

 Another convention of a music magazine that I used for my magazine is the main coverline. It's large and stands out compared to the rest of the coverlines. I chose to include it because it promotes my artist as current and allows the audience to see which artist and story is the main feature in that issue published. I also made sure my magazine has coverlines pasted over the main image because it makes the audience aware of the top stories that are featured in the issue. 

My magazine also uses the convention of a barcode, website link and dateline. I used the dateline as to make sure my audience are aware of the date (month) the issue their about to purchase is from. The website link is so that even if my audience do not buy my magazine they can still see the website and hopefully remember it and later on go on it, however for those who buy the magazine so they hopefully remember or have a rough idea of what the website is. This is all because they can go on the website link and either subscribe to the following issue/s and also get the latest news about certain artists that get featured in my magazine. 

A convention that I felt was not really that necessary to include in my music magazine was a selling line on the front cover. This is because I think it makes my magazine unique and not too typical. 

                            

This Diagram shows conventions I used for my music magazine contents page:

One convention i made sure my Magazine contents page has is a title, this is because many music contents pages include titles. This is helpful because the title of the magazine will always be there for the reader to remind them of the magazine they are reading. Having the issue date is also  there to make the audience aware of which monthly subscription they are reading. Including titles such as the contact info and web address are also good as the readers will always know what page to go to if they want to visit the music magazine's web page or even contact the team. A subscription is also another thing that comes under the 'title' convention, i decided to include this so that the readers will always have a chance to subscribe to any monthly issues when ever they may be busy or feel like they do not want to physically go to the shop and purchase the upcoming issues.

Another convention i included in my music magazine is an editor's letter, this is because i felt as if the readers will always feel a part of the team as the editor of the magazine will be keeping them up to date with anything regarding the published issues, readers of the magazine or even just simple messages to the readers.  

 My contents page also has text boxes and sub-lines, this is also a typical music magazine convention. I used these because I wanted to make sure the audience are intrigued by the boldness of the titles and the sub-lines that accompany them. The sub-lines are also a good thing to include as it gives the readers a taster about what that certain article is about. As to catch my reader's attention, I made sure my magazine consists of different fonts and sizes. Even though there was a consistency in the type of font I used (sans serif), the texts and sizes as well as the use of different images also help to make the pages look more interesting to look at and read.

I also used a variety of text boxes with a few words that i felt would help me intrigue the reader. I felt the convention of a colour scheme was important as to make my music magazine one of a kind in terms of the colour scee i decided to give it. I also made sure that the colour scheme i used matched the front covers' colour scheme as to keep the colour consistency through my music magazine. A few number of Coloumns, usually 3/4 is also another convention i included in my music magazine, this is becuase it makes the page look much neat and organised. Within my coloumns i also made sure that i included regular categories as this is also a typical music magazine convention,

My music magazine contents page goes against a few music magaine conventions, these include a white background, competition and photography credit. I chose not to include these conventions mainly because i did not feel that it was necessary for my music magazine contents page to consist of them.

This Diagram shows conventions I used for my music magazine Double Page Spread:

My double page spread has a few things that challenge music magazine conventions. For instance it does not have a drop capital, this is mainly because the article is structured as a interview therefore I did not see the need of including it. 

It does however include columns (three), of which is one of the conventions of a music magazine. I decided to include this in my magazine as it creates a neat layout, making it easier to read for the audience. The headline is also another convention of a music magazine, I made sure that my headlines were large and eye catching as to draw the reader in.

I alsoecided to include a large image on the left hand side of my double poage spread because having one large image is one of the most important conventions of a double page spread. This is good as to allows the audience to have an idea of who the main artist the article is on just by looking at that main large image.

I also followed the convention of a by-line in my double page spread, this is because it allows the readers to see who the writter of that particular article is. This is good as some readers may have favourite journalists, therefore this way they can keep a track of their favourite journalist's articles.

Another music magazine double page spread typical convention i followed is a quote. I decided to include this mainly because many magazines i have come across have a quote and it sometimes helps to attract readers as it stands out in the article. The stand-first is also another music magazine convention i decided to include in my magazine, this is because it is an introduction paragraph to accompany an article.  

Another convention i included in my music magazine is a headline, this is because a magazine page with no headline would look and give an incomplete feel. This could mainly be because it usually helps to draw the reader in as it is often placed across the top of either one or both pages.

Lastly one convention of music magazines that I made sure my magazine followed was having a colour scheme. This is because I did not want my magazine to have no sense of direction; instead I made sure it follows a simple colour scheme as to help create a modern and contemporary look due to the minimum use of colours i used.  

Final Products: Front cover, Contents Page & Double Page Spread

After improving my previous final products for my resit, these are the new final products i have now produced.

                                                            Front Cover

Contents Page

                                                          Double Page Spread

Products Produced before Resit: Magazine Front Cover, Contents Page & Double Page Spread

These are the products i produced before i decided to resit my AS coursework. In order to improve my grades i am going to be working on these and developing them further.
Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Case study of a publishing house

                                                     Publishing House Case Study

Condé Nast:

·         Founder: Condé Montrose Nast

·         CEO: Charles Townsend

·         President: Robert Sauerberg

·         Chief Marketing officer: Louis Cona

·         Editorial director: Thomas J Wallace

Condé Nast is known for creating a widely used magazine strategy that emphasises magazines are focused on a particular interest or class, which is sometimes known as lifestyle magazines. Many of the magazines published by Condé Nast are fashion magazines, however it still publishes others such as food, home, travel as well as other interests. By 1998, 17 publications of such were included, with an average total of over 13million issues being published every month. S.I Newhouse Jr brought out Fairchild publications, which has now joined the Condé Nast family of publications. 

In September 2009, this publishing house was forced to cut 25% of their budget as they became a failing print media industry that was said to be struggling with a change to a digital business model. As a result on the 5^th of October 2009 Condé Nast revealed 3 of its publications: cookie magazine, modern bride and elegant bride were finishing.

Condé Nast has a subsidiary company called the Condé Nast Digital UK Ltd (Condé Nast Interactive) that operates internet services in the UK. When this interaction division started in 1995 it was one of the 1^st British publishers on the internet with daily updated websites for magazines such as vogue and GC. Their websites now attract over 2.6 million unique users with 46million pages being viewed each month. 250,000 people have subscribed to emails from this publishing house and over 200,000 users are currently able to access the contents on their mobile phones which have now generated more than 3.7 million page views per month.
 It earned lots of press attention, a great relationship with many advertisers due to more sites that followed and made the division become recognised for its well targeted websites that were beautifully designed and of high quality. Their contract division works with a number of clients such as Houser of Fraser, Selfridges, Vertu and Melbourne hotel group to create magazines.  

Whether all adverts are hosted by Condé Nast Interactive or supplied by a third party, they are expected to follow certain requirements such as:  The name of the client must be revealed by the agency at the time of the booking and Condé Nast having an entitlement to refuse or cancel the orders of any mistakes that may leak or fail to be revealed at the time. Condé Nast Interactive is also permitted to carefully reject or exclude an advertisement that was once accepted to run on their website.

Further than the standard advertising formats, Condé Nast Digital UK also helps its clients to communicate their message through custom built advertising solutions. For instance Date capture is used to strengthen follow up communications the message the campaign is trying to get across and also to increase the client’s customer base. Promotions that focus on visual communication of the product are featured through visual communication as to support the brand and/or positioning campaigns. As to engage customers directly with the brand and product, Microsites may also be used to feature customized design and content that include user generated content, blogs, games etc.

These are a few examples of the projects Condé Nast Interactive have created for their advertising partners.

Condé Nast publishes magazines under the headings, Fashion and Lifestyle, Food, Bridal, Golf, Travel, Technology and Culture. Some of the magazine titles include Glamour, Brides, Vanity Fair, GQ, Wired and House &Garden. As these magazines fall under different headings they have many different target audiences. Vogue magazine is a fashion and lifestyle magazine which mainly targets women between the ages of 18-30 that like to embrace fashion and culture as a lifestyle. Some would say it targets those from a middle class and upper class social class as it promotes wealthy lifestyles and costly top designer products; however women from all around are the ones that are primarily targeted. The Brides magazine falls under Bridal magazines is mainly targeted for brides to be.

Wired falls under Technology magazines and is mainly aimed at either men or due to the unisex advertisements found within some of the publications you would think both sexes; however there are no adverts that are just aimed at women. Also as some of the adverts are mostly of high end luxurious goods such as expensive watches and men’s fragrances, this suggests the magazine is mainly aimed at men that are wealthy. As the magazine advertises products that can easily be brought by young professional and elder males, this could have an inspirational effect on those that are not of a high social class therefore increasing Wired’s target audience.

Condé Nast publishes many different types of magazines so that it can attract different types of audiences. Not only will it build a good reputation for Condé Nast but it will also help the magazines attract more target audiences as different magazines will be aimed at different age groups, social classes and gender. This is good because as a publishing house company it gains money from the advertisers that advertise their magazine as well as from the magazines themselves.

Feedback:

Ashley-  see me urgently.  you appear to be behind.

Main Task:Photographs

When taking my photographs I used the followong equiptment:

4084 canon 400d 3 Quart cam

Using this camera was quite hard at first, especially for my preliminary task. For my main task i thought i had got the hang of it, however i noticed that my phototaking skills were poor so i had to racap on how to use the camera properly in order to take good pictures. I noticed that the main difficulties with using the camera was when trying to get the red light to be in the eye of the model. This was bad as it meant some of my images were out of focus.

bowens gemini 250r flash head 592647

To trigger the flashyou need a pair of Pulsars, one set as a transmitter connected to the cameras hot shoe and the other set as a receiver wired into a flash head. When i first took my pictures for my main task, i did not use this, therefore my pictures were not that much of a good quality.

 bowens pulsar radio trigger single unit 

SoftBox

The softbox was used to use a soft light as to create soft diffused light by directing light through some diffusing material, or by "bouncing" light off a second surface to diffuse the light.

in 60cm studio foto circular reflector light 82027

I  used this when taking my pictures as to try and stop the light from the softbox from reflecting of the model whilst taking the picturs.

This is a picture of me taking pictures for my music magazine

 

These are some of the photographs that I took for my magazine

This is the picture that I used for my music magazine front 

cover.

This is the main image that i used for my double page spread.

This is the image i also decided to inlucide on my contents page

These are other images that i took during the photo shoot