Dear Moderator, 

My name is Lola Gore and welcome to my A Level Media Studies blog. This is a record of the work I have undertaken for the Making Media Non-examination Assessment (NEA) within the OCR H409 GCE A Level course in Media Studies. 

I worked independently on Brief 3: Magazine and Online to produce the front covers and contents pages for the first two editions of a music magazine called The Notebook, together with the magazine's accompanying website. My music magazine is published by the independent publishing company KIKO Publishing and covers a range of pop, D&B and R&B music genres.

Further down in my blog you will find evidence of my research and planning for this task.

I have inserted jpegs of my magazine's first edition cover and contents page below.

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I have inserted jpegs of my magazine's second edition and contents page below.

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The link to my website, which was created using Wix, can be found at the link below. 

The magazine consists of a homepage and a single linked page. The linked page can be accessed by clicking on the explore button:

Home | The Notebook

Production Task Two : Production Log

 Production Log.

Cover 1

I immediately knew which direction I wanted my summer edition cover image to go in, vibrant pinks and blues were a definite. I wanted to have a gradient masthead and then brighten my main image to fit the lively aesthetic. By including coverlines that were obviously about the female in the image, I included anchorage and interest o=to my cover with catchy phrases and placements that stood out on the page.

Cover 2

       Originally, this was my cover image and after I had added the main image and produced some coverlines, I wanted to fill up the space with images and colours that contrasted with the main image's vibrancy and add in new shapes for dimension. Since this is the autumn edition, I decided to use the orange photography I got and that fitted well with the difference in colours I planned on using in my other cover.  I added gradients and more text to make the cover more lively and

exciting to look at, I played around with colours and mixing fonts as well as adding a Puff and coverlines.

Still not my final result but the contrast of vibrant colours and gradients fits well with the theme and ideas of the magazine and the young audience that its directed towards. I had decided to change the background colours of each to black instead of white because I thought it made the colours stand out more and look professional and I also changed the image to a more conventional magazine image of my friend Yash.

After inverting the colours on cover 2, I also decided to change the font of the slogans of each magazine as i was unimpressed with how the fonts all over the same looked identical with no depth.

CONTENTS PAGES PRODUCTION LOG:

                 more practice and playing around:

WEBSITE PRODUCTION:

I wanted to include interactive elements, although they don't actually lead off onto anything, as my only linked page is from the Explore tab, and I wanted them to seem as though they branch off onto interesting music-related contents and information.

By linking my magazine covers, I am using digital media convergence and creating that sense of brand identity, alongside the matching fonts and colour scheme.

Here, I composed and edited a series of clips of my friend Luke to create a short youtube-style reel that captures the young vibe of the magazine and adds a fun aspect to the website. By linking the fictional "Sam Finn" and "Midnight Echo" to my contents pages 1 an 2, this added anchorage and a general sense of brand identity with the logo and name included on the video. 

MY LINKED PAGE- my linked page can be accessed through the banner that reads EXPLORE and leads to a series of music video links [videos cant be accessed but the covers are the main focus] that I edited on Wix.

Here I just included a fake 'team' although I did include myself, pretending that I had a team of help when it was just myself.

More contents page ideas (as I had too many to choose from):

 This was originally my contents page design but the title position didn't match my favourite one that I had created so I had to redesign and move it around.

ALMOST final cover and contents products - with edits completed:

After close consideration, i realised that this didnt match the colour scheme of cover 1's first edition so I recreated it and used more female-catered information to appeal to the covers demographic audience.

As well as making the background black like the covers.

FINAL EDITS

Production Task One : Photography

My Photography.

LOLA IN LONDON

Image of me on the underground in London, using this as some kind of album cover on my website.

LUKE WITH GUITAR

I plan on using the images of Luke that I photographed in the school music class rooms, 

I made him hold the instruments near buy for a more authentic musician vibe. We took many 

photographs but this one stood out after editing the exposure and cropping to focus on the 

acoustic guitar.

LIGHTBOARD CONTROL DECK 

I managed to get access to the theatre's control room and play around with the 

lighting an sound decks that were on display, the multi-colours and LEDS really stood out to me and reflected the colourful young feel that I want my magazine to portray.

DARCIE MODELLING

My aspiring model best friend, Darcie, agreed to let me join one of her photoshoots and capture some incredible images. I wanted her to be positioned in an empty carpark in dark clothing, aiming to make the atmosphere feel very R&B music video like. With low exposure and light editing using the camera app settings, I was able to make the image feel mysterious and intimidating, making Darcie have a direct gaze that would encapsulate the intended audience.

DJ BOOTH

At a close friend of mine's D&B raves, I captured some images that were blurry and really reflected the essence of a party and the atmosphere of a music event. The vibrancy of the orange made the image feel warm and I plan on using this for the "fall"/"autumn" edition of The Notebook.

 

LUKE

 

Again, I had Luke pose beneath the seating and stairs of the school theatre and we used a pink light from my phone to make the image seem as though he was backstage and looking out onto the crowds before his debut concert. I made him make a confident yet anxious facial expression that would draw the audience in and give me room to give him an origin story as an upcoming popstar/artist. 

MUSIC CONTROL DECK

I want to somehow use this as a pattern or background using editing and light effects.

 

                                               

                                                             GRACE MODELLING

                               Grace modelling for me as a popstar, featuring on the website. 

Planning Task 8 : Photography Planning

 

image number 1- piano keys photographed at school (in the music room) close up shot (might include hands of piano player)

image number 2- back of head of dj, showing the deck and crowd. Original image contains pink lighting but I plan on editing this.

image number 3- headphones+ eyes shot , of myself. I will pose with headphones and my hands on the headphones, whilst listening to my favourite song.

image number 4- boy playing guitar, dark lighting, head tilted down focussed expression (colours will be edited). 

image number 5- another image of DJ and his DJ deck. This will be the same DJ as the one I will interview. 

Planning Task 5 : Mock Up Of Covers 1 and 2

 

plan 1

plan 2

Planning Task 6 : Contents Pages

                                                           Contents page mock up 1

      

                  I plan on incorporating the same photo style and vibrant red from the covers, as well as using big numbers that fill up the majority of the page and are placed randomly around the page rather than being in consecutive lines and order. My photographs for mock up 1 will be of  myself listening to music with big headphones (just eyes and ears in the shot) and the bottom corner will have 

a photo of my DJ/model (Oliver) who I will be interviewing for the magazine. 

Planning Task Three : Masthead Design

 

I eventually came up with 5 masthead designs, that all reflected the image that I had imagined for my magazine masthead. Although the first O of each doesn't have a treble clef sign replacing it yet, i still liked how the other letters looked. I mainly liked the capital letters and expanded, long designs for all of them. The first and fourth ones are my favourite but very similar. 

1. clear, easy to read, looks neat yet still cool.

2. Wasn't a big fan of this one because it looks like the ODEON sign.

3. Very chic but I want a bolder, thicker title.

4. I love this one - clear and easy to understand and see. 

5. I didn't like this one as its too vampire-like and looks like a film title.