Note to Moderator

Dear moderator,
                           This is my As media blog. Throughout my blog you can see how I have progressed and how I came to my ideas. I have met everything on the Brief and I am sure you will be happy with what I have done. I have 25 research posts, 54 planning and drafting posts and the remaining ones are final pages and my answers to the evaluation questions.
In total I have 89 posts.
Enjoy looking through my posts and I hope you like everything that you see.

Evaluation for Question 1

Question 1:

Conventions adhered to:
I am really happy with the way my front cover has turned out as it is better than I expected. I think this is because I adhered to many codes and conventions and listened to what my target audience wanted.

The first way in which my magazine follows but also challenges convention is that on my cover three out of four band members are all looking into the camera - the fourth is not looking into the lens as I felt that it would look more enticing and eye-catching in this way.

On the contents page I have used a picture of a 'celebrity' with their hand up towards the camera making it hard to see them - I wanted my model to look as if he did not want the photograph to be       taken. I felt that this would make a very realistic pose and I believe this to be something that a real celebrity would do in a similar situation where they did not want to be captured - maybe they were not dressed appropriately? OR they were doing something of which they know they should not be doing?

I have taken the colour from Liam's t-shirt and used it for the banners across the top, bottom and under the word smash. I also used the purple to draw the lines under the writing above Luke's head. This creates synergy. And therefore links the band directly to the magazine.

If I could do this again there is nothing I would change other than I would take more photographs in a variety of places, this would give me more of a selection to choose from, and would also give me more interesting shots that would appeal to my audience. I would also use less people so that it is easier to arrange photo shoots and interviews - this is because I experienced these problems myself and it took me a while to overcome them.
 I have used pugs and puffs to draw in my audience. And to make the magazine look more appealing, I believe that this is a good way to sell a magazine and to get it noticed.

I think that the way I have positioned the band will appeal to my audience as it shows their humorous side. Their facial expressions show that they are not completely serious and enjoy what they do. Also, the way that Liam has his hand on his friends shoulders, the band literally holding another member and how close they are to each other shows their relationship and how close they are with each other. This is definitely something that fans would look for, as it portrays a good feeling and creates a role model.





I have included a free cd in my cover, this is also another way to make my audience buy the magazine. I believe that almost anyone of any age will love free things no matter what, so I think that by adding 'freebies' is a great way to sell products and to gain a wider audience.


I priced my magazine at £4.95 as I believed that this was an average price, especially since there is a free cd inside as well, which on its own would cost a lot more.

 I am extremely happy with my DPS and the way that this has turned out and I think that it looks nice a neat. I have kept the red banners and changed some of the text to red so that they link together and create synergy and a brand, I also did this as it links to another band member (Connor) if i was to create more pages for this magazine I would make each page somehow link to one of the band members, this would link the band directly to the magazine - my front cover is linked to Liam, due to the purple colours. Whilst creating the second page I came across a problem, I could not fit on all of the interviews as they were too long and I did not not have enough room to write everything down. I do understand that if this was a real magazine the interview would have run onto another page, in this case, I cannot do that as I do not have enough time therefore I am going to write up the rest of the interviews into my blog.

Developed conventions

It is becoming more popular to include advertisements and links to social media, I think this is because there a so many people these days that use social media and of a variety of ages. 
I have used advertisements such as Facebook and itunes, showing that there are many different ways that the audience could access, get in contact with or listen to Peaceful Panic's music. I think that Facebook is a great way to advertise as there are hundreds of people that are likely to see it, and of a variety of ages 16-60 year olds.  

Manipulated and challenged conventions

One way I have challenged convention is the fact that I have used no pictures of females within my magazine. Although I would like my magazine to appeal to a female audience I have not use any pictures of any females, this will show what kind of magazines they would maybe prefer to read and whether the fact that there are none in the magazine, changes their opinion of whether or not to buy it.
If I was to create this again I would definitely use images of females and female bands, this is so that my magazine will have a direct link to females as well as males. 

Another way in which I have use convention is that I have used puffs and pugs on the front cover which is, from what I have researched, unusual for an Indie magazine. Adding pugs and puffs will help advertise other artists and to give an idea of what is on the inside. It also makes the cover more intriguing, drawing in the audience therefore making them want to buy it. 

A problem that occurred during the making of my magazine was that I originally had advertised of the front cover, 'Arcade fire' 'arctic monkeys' and 'The killers' I realised when checking through what I had done that I had not mentioned these on my other pages. Without realising, I created my own celebrities and instead mentioned them, this meant that my magazine lacked synergy and did not flow since my front cover and contents page did not match. I dealt with this by changing my cover and adding my own celebrities. 

        I changed my banner from this...

                                             ...to this.

Question 2 - Evaluation question.

Question 3 - Evaluation

Question 4 and 5 - Evaluation

Who would be the audience for your Media product?

The audience for my magazine would be teenagers aged 16 - 19. I aimed for my magazine to be for boys and girls - a way in which I wanted to do this was by having a mixture of boys and girls in my magazine, although I did not actually do this I know that if I was to ever do this again it would be something I know I would definitely do as it would help to gain a wider audience.

The people I believe that would read my magazine would be Indie teens. These type of teens, in my opinion, would possibly dress to satisfy themselves and not other people. They would each have their own individual style very a down-to-earth personality. I think that my indie audience will be more artistic and creative people that enjoy their own space as-well-as being around their friends.

The photographs I have shown are four of which I believe show each band members own style.

How did you attract or address your audience?

To attract my audience I took group photos as well as individual ones. I used a group photo on the cover of the magazine - I think this was a good way to attract the audience as it shows something never seen before, something new and eye-catching. I know from my own experiences that if I saw something being published that I have not seen before I would want to pick it up and have a look.

I also used colours to attract my audience - I believe colours are a very important part of a magazine as they are partly what draw you in the most. If you was to buy a magazine I think that you would be more likely to ignore something that looked boring e.g. no colour or colours that don't match and more likely to pick up something that catches your attention for example, something with bright colours, high quality picture and interesting advertisements. 

In relation to the quote by Richard Dyer - 'a star is an image, not a real person'  when talking to each member I discussed with them what I would like them to wear and how I wanted them to act - this shows the 'image' I tried to create with the member and the 'image' that Richard Dyer was referring to. 

I chose my models based on what I believed would most appeal most to my target audience. 

Also, another way in which I attracted my audience was by using interesting locations, I took some photographs from up high and some from eye-level. 

A way in which I addressed my audience is by using certain aged band members. Now-a-days I do not think that we have many indie bands that as well as produce music for our age group, they are literally the same age as well. Therefore I think that by having a real band the same age as the audience, the audience can relate better to them, understand their thoughts and feelings, also produce music that really relates directly to 16-19 year olds. 

Question 6 - Evaluation

Question 6 - Evaluation from Lisa_heseltine

Question 7 - Evaluation

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it too the pull product?

From doing this course I have learn many new skills – for example, how to use Prezi and how to use Photoshop. When comparing the preliminary task with the Music magazine you can see the huge difference in the outcome and how I progressed. You can also see the different things I have learnt whilst creating.

This is my final outcome for my college magazine and my music magazines. As you can see there is a huge difference between the two.

When we did the preliminary task I was aware that Photoshop could do a lot of different things but at the time I did not really understand the true extent to what it could do – especially as much as I do now.

I learnt lots of different skills when learning to use Photoshop such as how to; cut out an image then put it onto another background, how to change someone's eye colour, how to edit a photograph to make it look brighter/more colourful etc, and also how to add lighter and darker tones.

On the college magazine you can see that I did not use anything to catch the readers attention – like I did on the music magazine. I also did not think about using the correct fonts and font sizes – I now realize that every little detail, including where something is positioned, is very important and must be considered.

On the music magazine you can clearly see how I progressed and how I learnt new skills. When making the magazine I considered the age for my audience whenever I thought of something, I made sure that what I was doing was age appropriate e.g. not too old and not too young, this is to keep the audience interested – from my research I learnt that no reader is going to buy a magazine that they think will not suit them or is for their age group.

From now on I think that I will see things differently – now when I see a magazine on a shelf I understand why they have written certain things, also why they have used certain pictures. It is all to catch their readers attention, to keep them interested and to keep them reading – it is also to draw in new people as well as keep their original readers.

Final - finished Front Cover.

Contents page - Finished piece.

DPS - Final finished page.

Contents page - Progression 6

contents page - Progression 5

contents page - Progression 4

Contents page - Progression 3

contents page - Progression 2

This is my progression so far on my contents page. I am really happy again with the way it is turning out as I feel like everything is going to plan. I am going to put page numbers onto the three middle photographs.

I am going to put a title for the Peaceful Panic page as I feel it needs to be bigger than everything else since it is the main cover story.
 On the next page I am planning to have pictures on the left side and pages on the right side, I think that this will keep it looking neat.

Contents page - Progression.

This is what my contents pages looks like so far. At the moment I am happy with the way it is turning out, I have a clear idea of what I would like it to look like and I am hoping that everything will go to plan.

I like this photo I have used as the band did not expect me to take it, I love action shots as I love the way they capture a moment - one that is natural and unexpected.

DPS - Progression3

This is my progression so far on my double page spread, as you can see I decided to definitely not use the fire as it was too 'indie rock' and I have used red banners instead for this page - the colour taken from Luke and Connor's shirts.
I have used text wrap, next to each member so that their names are clearly stated and it shows who-is-who.
I kept the text for the title 'Peaceful Panic' this is because I really like the font and I have used it on other pages.
I have used a picture of the album (which is also on the front) on the top left corner, I think this looks good and also helps to sell the product.

On the second page I am going to add interviews with each member. I will also add a quote from one of the interview and put this at the top of the page in larger writing so it stands out - this would be to show an interesting part, making the audience want to read the whole interview.

DPS - progression2

This picture shows how I began to change my double page spread. Here I was experimenting to see if the fire would fit with a white background - I have now decided that it does not suit, and I am definitely going to not use the fire within these two pages. 

The four photographs on the right of my page are the ones i am going to use for my interviews - I chose these as they are all similar picture, I did not want to choose four that were all completely different as I think that it would of made the page look messy.

I am going to keep the purple banner on my pages as I think they look nice.

Behind the writing I put a grey background, i have decided that I do not want to have this as I do not think it looks nice against the rest of the page.   

DPS Progression.

This is my double page spread so far. At the moment I am not too sure if I am happy with having a black background, and I do not think that using fire goes with the 'indie' genre and I think it would fit more towards 'indie rock' therefore I am going to think of an alternative and change this design. If i was creating an Indie rock magazine this would be the design I would use.

I think that I will keep the photograph I have taken, keep the text and also the title, but the rest I think I will replace.

I am planning for the other side of my page to have an 'exclusive interview' with each member of the band, there will also be a medium close-up shot of each member to go with it.