Comments

I think you have done a good job here of using the features that you found in the original texts that you have studied. You clearly have a good eye for design and made some strong choices of images. Your contents pages are a little too sparse and for future work I'd like you to look even more closely, especially considering font sizes, attention to lines created by space and a simple use of slender lines on the page to draw the eye around. Well done on layout and design task.

Coursework Brief

Statement of intent

How do you intend to use the four areas of the media theoretical framework to communicate meaning and meet the requirements of your chosen brief? (approx. 400 words)

Product 1 (Entertainment Magazine)

My research into entertainment magazines shows a wide range of cover conventions from the use of close ups to long shots of groups, but most of the magazine covers I saw used medium longshots. Mise en scene is focused specifically on clothing, lighting, poses and background features. For my magazine, my main focus is going to be on diversity and the clothing of my models as the brief suggests that there should be “at least two models representing at least two different social groups”. Another main focus of mine will be on drawing in and attracting a youthful audience who are interested in entertainment. My focus group have said that they consider things such as music artists, tv shows and films as entertainment. Several other people suggested having a small section for community sports teams such as football and tennis clubs. Most entertainment magazines feature the biggest current stars and the most talked about movies. For my magazine I want to focus on smaller, upcoming stars that haven’t been as talked about. 

Product 2 (Accompanying Website)

My website will be very similar to the layout of my magazine, but with some extended features. For example, a short text interview with some of the models I have used in the magazine. One of my missions is to engage with the target audience to give them representations they feel that they can identify with and so I am going to use the short text interview to ask the models personal questions but also things about their career.

For the audio-visual element, I intend to produce a behind the scenes of the studio photoshoot. The idea is to help the reader to identify with the process of making the magazine so they feel involved in its production. I also intend to have a forum for the audience to make suggestions about the sorts of things they would like to see in future issues. The means that the reader involvement should be very high. They will want to buy the magazine to see their suggestions but also want to engage with the website regularly.

How do you intend to link your media products to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the digitally convergent nature of your media production? (approx 100 words)
I aim to have a clear understanding and connection between the website and the two front covers by having the two models do a collaboration piece and exclusively feature it on the website. On my contents pages I will have the link to the website, and I will also give a reason to the readers to visit the website. I will do this by letting them know there is more exclusive features from the story, only available on the website. The HEARST company logo along with a barcode, a date and a price, will be on both front-covers and the title of BLAZE will be down the left hand side on both of the front-covers too.

C&C Production

Link to my powerpoint for codes and conventions production https://ccgrammarschool-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/13illingb_ccgrammarschool_co_uk/ETdzCHFrhFBFi_bng6puwb0B1QW5x_D-ZnKLjPMtv2FxQA?e=dUG3H1

Audience Production

The target audience are fun loving 16-25 year olds, so I found a focus group and asked them what they'd want to see in an entertainment magazine aimed at them. They said that they'd like to see:
- medium long shots of models
- colourful lighting to draw them in
- a little bit of information on whats in the magazine

When I met them June 13th with first drafts they suggested:
- take some more pictures with different positions
- make the images lighter
- make text bigger
- more text

They liked:
- the colours used in the pictures
- man-made lights
- the design of the text

Met on June 30th with contents pages, they suggested:
- more contents
- less pictures
- bigger text
- line text up more

They liked:
- One of the pictures I'd used
- Colour scheme
- Basic layout of the contents

Audience Website

I asked the focus group about the website for the magazine, and they'd said that they liked:
- Bold titles
- Relevant articles on music, tv and film
- Simple and easy layout

Planning Production

https://ccgrammarschool-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/13illingb_ccgrammarschool_co_uk/ETdzCHFrhFBFi_bng6puwb0B1QW5x_D-ZnKLjPMtv2FxQA?e=dUG3H1

When planning my magazine front cover I looked at a lot of billboard front covers, and for the Tobi front cover I used the Drake Billboard cover (picture below), and for the Paige front cover I used a Billie Eilish cover also from Billboard (also below). For my contents pages I used the Rolling Stone magazine contents as a reference for the layout I used (example below).