Readership Profile

Check out the NME readership profile to give you an idea of how to describe your magazine's readerhip. Be as specific as possible. The you can discuss the ways in which this information impacts on content and design.

http://www.nme.com/mediapack/pdf/nme_media_information_full.pdf

Laying the Foundations

But not like that. Time to get serious about your foundation portfolio. Your research and planning should be complete by Christmas holidays. You can choose any of the following tasks in your research and planning, or you may choose to create tasks of your own. I would advise that you complete both the items in yellow before branching out into any other research and planning tasks.

ü  Questionnaires for target audience (qualitative and quantitative research) about magazine content, buying habits, hobbies, interests etc.)

ü  Mood boards and annotations explaining design choices

ü  Target audience profile, including demographic and psychographic information from other research

ü  Analysis of similar products (front covers, contents pages and double page spreads) with annotations about housestyle

ü  Pie graphs/bar charts from questionnaires

ü  Research into articles that are similar to the one you plan to write for double page spread

ü  Analysis and annotation of mastheads (both of similar products and other magazines)

ü  Shortlisting design choices and showing them to a sample of your target audience. Get feedback from focus groups and adapt your approach as necessary.

ü  Mocked up/hand-drawn versions of your cover, contents and double page spread. Flat plans of all three sections.

ü  Colour swatches/planning colour schemes

ü  Survey of language that is appropriate to your target audience, through analysis of similar magazines. E.g. frequency of buzz words

ü  Analysis of mise-en-scene, camera angles and shot types in a range of photography in similar products

ü  Plans and sketches of photo shoots

ü  Plans for costume and set design for photo shoots

ü  Experimentation with fonts

ü  Take photos and annotate them. Comment on what worked well and what needs to be improved. Take more photos and make those improvements. Evaluate again. Compare your shots with those featured in similar real media products.

Evaluating Your Preliminary Task

These questions are the evaluation questions required by the exam board.

You must answer all questions as separate posts on your blog.

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

·         Break down the different elements of your magazine (images, fonts, colours, layout, language).

·         What industry conventions have you used? Create links to actual magazines to show you understand the conventions and how they help a magazine reach out to its audience.

·         Have you thwarted any of the conventions? If so, explain why you did this. Why would this help you to attract your audience?

·         If you haven’t been able to use a convention, but know that you should have done, acknowledge that here – explain what the problem was (technical expertise; resources; time.) At least you show you know it should be there!

·         Always use REAL magazines as a reference point for the analysis of your own magazine.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

·         What social groups are represented in your magazine?

·         In what ways are they represented – through what kind of images/connotations?

·         Is this a positive or negative representation?

·         How does it compare to the way these groups are represented in other media – provide links.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

·         Most magazines belong to one of the big publishing houses, and get distributed via their extensive network. What publishing house would you use? (You need to fill a gap in the market.)

·         Do you envisage your magazine being independent or part of one of the big publishing houses? Explain your choice?

·         If it is an independent title, how are you going to get it to your fans? You’ll need a third party distributor.

·         Where will your magazine appear? Music shops (be specific on which ones!); general newsagents – how will you make sure you reach your target audience there? Music venues? Anywhere else?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Outline in detail the demographic of your target audience. This should include:

·         Age

·         Gender

·         Class

·         Race/ethnicity

·         Profession

·         Lifestyle (hobbies and interests)

·         Youth Tribe

·         Attitude and beliefs

How did you attract/address your audience?

·         You need to justify every decision you made in relation to attracting an audience.

·         This should include:

o   Colours

o   Fonts

o   Images – mise en scene; framing; camera shots and angels

o   Language

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

·         Photoshop

·         Fireworks

What do you feel you have learned about the following?

·         Creativity

·         Originality

·         Technology

·         Photography:  layout and shots. Planning a shoot.

·         Layout

·         Colours – what works; reflecting audience; keeping the colour palette limited

·         Fonts

·         Writing articles

Homework Due Week Beginning November 7th

By now you should all be cracking on with your preliminary task. Your homework for the next two weeks is to complete the front cover, contents page and double page spread for your preliminary task.

For both 12C and 12A the due date is Friday 11th November.

If you are having trouble meeting this deadline, please come and see me well before the due date to make alternative arrangements.

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

Tips For Writing Your Feature Articles

Today we looked at how to write a successful article for your double-page spread. Remember, your story should be different from a news article. It should do more than just report a news story; it should give detail, colour and backstory. It can still be informative, but it can also entertain, persuade or evoke emotion. Make sure you know why you are writing the article before you begin drafting, and always keep your target audience in mind.

Headlines should be punchy and attention-grabbing. Consider using puns/plays on words, alliteration, exclamations or quotes from your interview.

Your lead paragraph is the most important. It should reel your reader in and get them interested. You can use vivid description, rhetorical questions, bold statements and quotations. Make it interesting.

The body of the article needs to continue in the same vein and keep with the tone you set up in your lead. Keep any promises you made and answer any questions you posed in the beginning of your article.

Your conclusion should be the kicker at the end. You should not only tie up the article, but drive home your point so your readers walk away remembering the article. Use a punch line or a circular device to round it off.

Other points to remember:

• Focus on human interest.
• Write in active voice.
• Interview your subject and integrate quotes into your article.
• Complete wider research so that you can confidently write about your subject.
• Don't rely on the spell-checker and make sure it is set to UK English.
• Leave it a few days after writing to go back and check your work. That way you will have fresh eyes and you can spot your own mistakes.
• Keep your paragraphs short and sweet. Remember features are in columns and paragraphs are often only 2 or 3 sentences long.
• Maintain tense. If you start writing in past tense, keep doing it for the whole article.

Have a look at the following examples of features to help get you going:

http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/surrogate-mothers-india

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30616713@N02/3062675063/

http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/media/articles/q0.php

Have fun. Be creative.

Homework Due Week Beginning 17th October

Now you have all experimented with using a range of camera angles and shot types, lighting, poses and locations, you are ready to do it for real. Your homework for this week is to take a series of photos that you can use for your cover and double-page spread for your preliminary task. This should be done and uploaded onto your blog by next Friday, 21st October.

You will also need to write and upload a finished draft of your feature article onto your blog in time for next Friday's lesson.

Finally, the analysis and discussion of your "dummy run" photos from today's lesson is to be complete and uploaded on your blog in time for next Friday's lesson.

Homework Due Week Beginning 10th October

Hi guys,

This week's homework is to complete research for your preliminary task by arranging a focus group to get some feedback on your planning and design ideas.

Mock up some mastheads with your shortlist of fonts and your ideas for the magazine titles. Do up some colour schemes and print them out in colour. Finally, write headlines, lead paragraphs and a brief outline of the articles you are thinking of using for your double page spread. Show these all to your focus group and ask them which they prefer and get some general feedback on your ideas.

Take notes and upload a summary of how your focus group went onto your blog. Don't forget to upload the images of the colour schemes and fonts, along with the article summaries.

This will be due in your first lesson next week (12C that's your Tuesday lesson, 12A that's your Thursday lesson).

Good luck.

Homework Due Thursday 6th October

By next Thursday, you must:

—  Create a questionnaire and conduct the research.

—  Come up with a final list of ideas for your magazine – do this on word so that it becomes a formal part of the planning process -  see example!

—  Write 1-2 paragraphs justifying the decisions you have made in terms of appealing to a specific target audience.

—  Write 1-2 paragraphs on how your audience research informed your final decisions.

An optional extra is:

—  Conduct a focus group as well to really explore the opinions of your target audience!

Homework for Thursday 29th September

Decide on and make a bullet-point list of the following:

-     The audience of your school magazine. Make sure you break it down into a detailed demographic: age, gender, class, race, interests and beliefs. This relates to your school and you will need to research the population and not just make assumptions.

-     What conventions you are going to use to attract that audience and what conventions you are going to subvert (play with/turn on their head).

-     How the use of these conventions will help you create a particular representation of your target audience. What kind of “reality” are you trying to create with this representation.

Welcome

Click "follow" on this blog to keep up to date on homework for the course. You might want to follow your classmates as well, to keep up to date on their coursework/spy on them.


Enjoy!