Puck Rock. The Mack 1.

1. Pre-Production

a. Questionnaire

b. Essay on the Questionnaires

2. Production

a. Cover Page - Finalised

b. Cover Page - Production

c. List of Contents - Production & Finalised

d. Double Page Spread

e. Advert 1 - Finalised

f. Advert 1 – Production

g. Advert 2 – Finalised

h. Advert 2 - Production

3. Post-Production Work

a. Introduction and Research

b. Planning the Product

c. Constructing the Product

d. Preliminary Evaluation of The Final Product

e. Final Evaluation

4. Others

a. My Collage: While started working over my magazine to compare old music styles and instruments with new I created a collage. This collage made my mind clear about what to produce for my magazine in addition to what I researched and found out of my surveys.

b. Appendix of The Original Pictures: Here is the collection of ORIGINAL photographs I used during the production of my magazine.

c. Preliminary Task: Here is the magazine I made as preliminary task and this magazine at mid term really helped me to boost for my confidence in magazine making. Due to this preliminary work today I am able to produce this great work of mine.

Final Evaluation

For my Media Coursework of creating a music magazine, I used, developed and challenged many forms and conventions; of existing music magazines, such as VIBE and XXL! The conventions of a magazine are: the title, central image, magazine slogan, anchorage (supporting) text, 3/ 4 colours scheme, buzz words, puffs, teasers and graphic features, Barcode, Date and the common Magazine Price of £3.50, positioned at the bottom right-hand corner.

My target audience is young adults aged 17 – 21, as young adults have more common knowledge of music due to it being an aspect of teenage life. Gender is not a necessary factor as I planned my magazine to be a unisex magazine and neither is race or social class. However, I would suggest that my magazine audience is middle class as they see music as more of an outlet, a release from life and its stresses. From my results I concluded that most young adults listen to a variety of Hip-Hop/ RnB music and that they take a higher interest in a music magazine if it covers an array of sections such as, signed artists, artists photo shoots, interviews and the latest information on albums, relationships, successes and even failures.

1. To attract my target audience, I based my magazine on what my target audience likes. I produced a questionnaire to get an insight of what young adults/ teenagers are interested in.
*I based my magazine on RnB but I also include Hip Hop music genre in it to extend
*The main image both attracts and addresses my target audience; it is of a young attractive (natural; I airbrushed her at some points) female so that the audience no matter what gender the reader is they can buy it. The image follows the convention as the front cover image is a medium close up, which most hip –hop magazines use in order to show face expression, the body language of the image portrays a ‘bad’ attitude which is something that most females on cover pages portray.
*The person on the front cover is a female who goes to the college and is female, this will attract the male audience more particularly those who attend college as they lie in the same age group. The wardrobe management and direction was done by the photographer (me) I asked her to put on a white and black top because I believed it will make my cover very simple but effective.
*The audience is represented by the male on the front cover as he is a young lad ( who falls into the age criteria of the target audience)

2. * My target audience would get instantly get attracted by the front page of the magazine as females attracted are by hot males hence why there is a male on the front cover of my magazine. The target audience should be listening to RnB/hip-hop and into the RnB/hip-hop culture so they will recognise the names on the front covers and will be lured into reading the content of the article.

I have learnt how to use Photoshop and Illustrator effectively and efficiently; I can now easily use the tools on both of these programmes.
*I know how to edit pictures on Photoshop and create documents on Illustrator to an acceptable even a good standard.
*I have also learnt how to use a digital camera for my own personal gain and to correctly take reasonably good pictures for my magazine.
*I have also learnt how to create a blog (on blogspot.com), how to upload images and my work onto it, add friends.
*Also I have learnt that in the media industry, technology is used to change images to the way the person or company deem acceptable which can change people’s perceptions and opinions of what is right; they also use airbrushing in Photoshop to alter people's appearances.
*I know how to use the spot healing tool to make the models face appear smoother.
*I have learnt how to make the image blend with or stand out from the background with the use of 'blur' effect around the edges or an outer glow.
*Learnt how to use of the magic wand.

I understand the importance of research and using questionnaires to find out what my audience wants to see in the magazine and what must be included.
*I have learnt different technical media language that are better suited to describe my work; words and phrases such as connotation, denotation, direct mode of address, sell lines and puff.
*I have learnt the importance of using mid-shot, clear images with suitable lighting.
*I understand the importance and effect of subheadings and synopsis. I have learnt how to organise the additional images more sufficiently.
*I know the importance of using a large, colourful masthead in order to attract attention.
*I have learnt how to lighten the image if it is too dark.
*I have learnt different technical media language that are better suited to describe my work; words and phrases such as connotation, denotation, direct mode of address, sell lines and puff.
*Also I have learnt that in the media industry, technology is used to change images to the way the person or company deem acceptable which can change people’s perceptions and opinions of what is right; they also use airbrushing in Photoshop to alter people's appearances so they get a perfect image.

1. My music magazine verifies and develops the conventions of real music magazines. I researched magazines of the same and different genres to become familiar with their presentational deceives so I could transfer the devices onto my magazine.
*My magazine a uses similar language devices such as superlatives to engage the reader and make the magazine unique and interesting.
*I used bright bold colours that are eye-catching for my audience.

o I have used similar ideas to used in XXL or Vibe.

o The models i have used throughout my magazine are dressed casually rather than formal ware as I wanted them to feel com and also attract the younger audience as they would relate to them and be inspired to copy the artists style. I would also like to add, I dressed them quite casually to make them look more ordinary so the audience can be inspired.

1. Seeing as I got no response or feedback to my magazine and it’s contents on my blog,
I decided to print off my magazine and to hand it out to a selected few who fit my target
audience profile and asked them to give me a personal response and feedback so I know
where to improve for future references.
Positive responses:
My audience liked my style and layout of the front cover and found it enticing with
its unique effects. I received a positive response to my contents page layout and
complimented on it’s uniqueness as I haven’t kept to the usual convention of
keeping to the left-hand side. The interview (my double page spread) was favoured
the most and I was complimented on the use of pictures and the film strip of pictures.
They said it was really unique and effective. The layout was easy to follow and the
Questions were easy to follow and the use of vocabulary was used very well.
Negative responses:
Luckily for me there were petty criticisms so not taken into consideration as much.
Respondents commented about the colours and asking why I hadn't used conventional
Colours such as black , red and blur but when I explained to them why I broke the
conventions they liked it because it was different.
Overall, 9/10 said they would purchase my magazine.

Preliminary Evaluation of The Final Product

In this magazine I have experimented with a lot of colours, writing fonts and effects. They have been vital in showing my creativity in this magazine. I have also experimented with different kinds of filters and they have been helpful in enhancing my original pictures especially in the advertisements. I have tried to make this magazine as colourful and youthful as possible and ofcourse as non-girlish as possible. My experiments with fonts have paid off especially for the titles of the pages and the text itself. Playing with effects such as glows and shadows as also paid off wonderfully. The things in the magazine which may possibly go against me or the flaws in the magazines are that the background colours are highly contrasting. My experiment with background colours may go against me as it may give a sign of inconsistency in the magazine. The fact that I have taken them from the internet can also go against me. The strong points in this magazine is the work that I have done on the pictures, the collage, advertisements, and the fonts, titles etc in the content pages.

Constructing the Product

I wanted to name the magazine rock and roll or music mania but that did not sound like a magazine catering to the youth. so I decided to name it ‘Punk Rock’ which sounded much more youthful and clearly highlighted the genre of music being concentrated on in the magazine.
For the cover page I got one of my friends to pose for me with his guitar. I took a number of pictures and in the end took the one I liked the most. This makes the pictures original. I took the background from google.com.I liked the background very much and I looked good with my picture. I made the picture brighter and it made it more attractive. The picture was cut by using the magnetic lasso tool and the spots that remained were removed by the magic wand tool. . For the title I used the ‘Chiller’ font since it went well with the theme of the magazine and has a very punk feel to it. The effects used on the title are bevel and emboss, outer glow, drop shadow and stroke the outer glow was spread only to the extent that the title was prominent. The style of bevel is inner bevel which gave it a soft feel and a glossy touch. I experimented with different fonts and colours for the mastheads on the front page but this one was the best. I used the writing Ariel for writing the TALENT IN LAHORE and used the stroke effect on it.
I have made a total of two advertisements for the magazine and tried to relate them to the theme as much as I could. The first one is of the famous deodorant/body spray called NIKE. The picture used for the advertisement is original. I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut the picture and I used the feather option to make it look good. I placed them on the background I took from google.com.i placed an original picture on the background and reduced the opacity so that the writing on it can become visible and the background can be seen. I took the picture of NIKE logo from google.com and cut it using the magnetic lasso tool. I used the writing Franklin Gothic Medium for writing. In the end the advertisement looked very attractive.

For the second advertisement, the picture used is original. I used the neon glow effect on the picture and the picture of the mobile phone is also original. I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut it and then feathered it. I tool the picture of the NOKIA logo from google.com and cut it using the magnetic lasso tool. I used the brush to make the border. The address I wrote at the bottom of the page is not original. In the end the advert looked very attractive but I could have made it look better with a little bit of more work. The font I used to write was ITC Garamond and to write the address was Comic Sans MS.

For the interview page I have taken the background and the pictures from the internet and the source was google.com.The writing I used to write the mast head was Monotype Corsiva. I used the effect called outer glow and drop shadow on the masthead. I placed another picture at the bottom of the page and reduced its opacity. I placed a guitar at the bottom of the page and used the magnetic lasso tool to cut it. The writing I used to write the interview was Century Gothic. I wrote the interview of Chad Kroger. I took the interview from a website. In the end the house style of the page was almost the same with my partner.

For the Pakistani Charts I took the background from google.com.It was of white colour and I turned it into black.I placed my original picture on top of it and reduced the opacity to make the writing visible also used the charcoal filter and it gave it a good look. I used the writing called ITC Garamond for writing the masthead and used the fisheye effect on it. I also added the stroke effect on the masthead. For writing the top ten rock bands I used the writing Monotype Corsiva and I used the stroke effect on it. For writing the top ten songs I used the writing Monotype Corsiva and I used the effects stroke and drop shadow on it. I took the picture of a guitar from google.com and used the magnetic lasso tool to cut it and then I feathered the picture and placed it at the bottom of the page. In the end the page looked very balanced and good.

I made a page on the Call Band which is a rock band of Lahore and goes with the theme of the magazine. Took all the pictures from google.com.I placed the name of the band at the top and then arranged the pictures in one line and then placed a picture and wrote the content on it. I reduced the opacity of the picture so that the text on it can be easily readable. I took all the information from wikipedia.com.The writing I used was Franklin Gothic medium and the colour was white. I took a picture of a guitar from google.com and cut it using the maganatic lasso tool and placed it at the bottom of the page. The page looked very good and attractive.

For the Collage I have taken the background and most pictures from the net however I have merged these together with 3 original pictures. I have reduced the opacities of some pictures to merge them together and to bring out the background light. It also made it more attractive. I have added callouts to the more important pictures to show these comparisons.

I made the page of content. I took the picture of background and guitars from google.com and I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut the pictures of guitars. I used the gradient option to change the colour of the background to black. I used the writing called Australian Sunrise for the masthead and the other text with Batik Regular.The picture at the bottom of the page is my original picture.

Planning the Product

I had originally planned the magazine for a different kind of audience. The magazine was originally going to be a magazine aimed at rock lovers in general, boys and girls. However in response to a question asking the favorite genre of music female interviewees did not fancy rock or heavy metal but the male ones did. Therefore I had to change my idea of a rock magazine catering to boys and girls and came up with the idea of a rock magazine catering only to the guys.

A market research showed that very few rock music magazines and magazines in general are targeted at both male and female audiences. I did find a magazine but it included artistes and bands which only male audiences like. The kinds of music magazines enjoyed by girls are those that include rappers and pop stars. Being a fan of rock music just like most of the male enthusiasts that were inquired from I decided to make a magazine which focuses primarily on rock music. According to the results of my survey rock music was the most popular especially among the guys. I studied some music magazines mentioned earlier and made notes on the kind of language, text, photographs and other design features of these magazines. The articles and topics chosen by me for the magazine were chosen because they were found to be most popular among the young male rock enthusiasts. For example I chose to include the latest rock music charts from Pakistan, I also chose to include rock star interviews because these would definitely attract and persuade young rock enthusiasts to buy.

Introduction and Research

I have chosen the Brief 3: Print for my OCR Media Studies final project. The media text I have decided to make is a music magazine called ‘Punk Rock’ aimed at young rock lovers of big cities of Pakistan, mainly boys. I have researched similar media texts and also found out the target audience’s opinions about such products by using questionnaires and taking feedback. These are included in the appendix.

I analyzed two magazines ‘Rolling stone’ and ‘Smash’ a popular magazine in Pakistan. I had also researched the internet and different books about the genre of music magazines and things that make good design choices and the ones that do not. I got both qualitative and quantitative data from my research.

Advert - Production