Contents Pages

Similar to my analysis of the front covers, in this powerpoint I analysed the main features of a music magazines contents page for three different magazines. I included detailed analysis of features such as masthead, text, image, quote and any extras. 

Front Covers

This is a powerpoint I created that analyses the main parts of three different music magazine front covers. I tried to chose a variation of different magazines and talk about them in as much detail as I could. I included information on things like masthead, colour scheme, sell-lines, main image and any extras.

Analysis Music Magazines Contents Pages - Production Log 5

In my media lesson, we were given a new task to carry on from the previous task which was to analyse three front covers of music magazines. the task was to analyse three contents pages of music magazines. however before this I sorted and tidied my blog as my labels were messy and incorrect and my blog was not in order. 

I started to analyse the contents pages in the lesson, although as the lesson was only 50 minutes and I had to sort out my blog/be given my task I did not have much time to do the contents pages. So they became homework, however I have never analysed a contents page before so I did struggle. To over come this I spoke to my teacher and he suggested to look at previous media students blog and take ideas and inspiration from what they had done. I looked at their blogs and found it rather helpful and will use this technique more throughout the course when I get stuck.

Analysis Music Magazine Front Covers - Production Log 4

In my Media lesson I finished uploading my videos of my front cover and contents page for my magazine, as I had trouble uploading them and had to sort out the videos. once they were sorted I re-recorded my contents page video and uploaded it to my evaluation. I then checked through my blog posts on my preliminary tasks to make sure they were all okay. 

Next, I started to analyse the front cover of a music magazine. As I had never done this before my teacher gathered the students who were unsure of what to do around the table and went through as example with us. I then went back to my computer and started to analyse 3 front covers of music magazines. I did not get a large amount done in the lesson so I had to finish off the analysis of the front covers for homework. 

This is what I got done in the lesson 

Finished Magazine Front Cover and Contents Page

 

This is the final front cover and contents page of my magazine. I am fairly pleased with how it turned out, especially considering I have never done anything like that before. I also think it is successful because it has stuck to the conventional norms of a front cover and contents page.  

Evaluation

Front cover:
This was the first page that I designed of my magazine, I am pleased with how it turned out despite that fact I would change some things. I did start to change my original sketch a little, as I realised that what I wanted to do wouldn’t fully work, however I did stay very close to the original design, I just added some more detail. I chose the title of my magazine ‘the Haydon voice’ because I wanted it to seem like it was a magazine for the whole school and that it spoke on behalf of Haydon and its community. The picture of a male student in sixth form was always planned to sit in the left hand corner of the cover so I had space around the edge for writing. When I took this picture I took it against a wall that was slightly off-white so I removed the background on photoshop so it would blend in with the rest of my cover and not clash with white and off-white. Originally the writing around the edge was in black and white boxes and it looked very boring, so I used the colours of the five Haydon values and made each of the boxes a different values colour. This was also because I included the Haydon values on the front. In addition I was not happy with how little colour the front cover had on it as it did not look inviting or colourful so I added these to give it more colour. However, I would still add more of a background colour as it is quite simple and boring I was just very stuck on what to add in the background so I kept it white. Moreover, in the top right hand corner I included a slightly transparent image of the school logo to represent the school. When looking through past students magazines one of them made a school twitter account, so I took inspiration and did the same as it is a very good way for the students to connect with the school/magazine as social media is so widely used.

If I could improve the front cover I would defiantly add a background image of some sort to make it more interesting. I would also take the photo of my students portrait instead of landscape as when I took the photo I took his picture landscape and it was not until I was adding the image that I realised I was meant to take a portrait picture, this resulted in my messing around with the picture slightly to change the shape of it.

Contents page:

I worked on this after the front cover and ended up changing it slightly as I came across the same problem that it was not colourful enough. The actual contents of the magazine is numbered depending on what page the information is on to make it easier for the students to find the information. I based my magazine off the new year/new students at Haydon so I included information for new students on what it is like and a general introduction to Haydon and its history. Moreover, I included information about the new sports hall and comments that the students have made about school facilities etc. The reason I included comments from the students was to make the people of Haydon feel more involved in the magazine and also to intrigue them so they are more likely to get the magazine to see what people had to say. The pictures on the bottom of the page were ones I took of the school. The photos I took were of the outside of the sixthform block, one of the building in the courtyard and the construction work of the new sports hall as I mention it on both contents page and front cover. Realising that my contents page was not colourful enough, I included a faded picture of the Haydon values in the background of the image to brighten it up.

If I were to improve my contents page I would have taken more pictures to include, especially a portrait picture that I would have in the background. When using the software I struggled to really make use of the interesting tools both indesign and photoshop offer, so I would play around with the tools and add more technique and make it more interesting rather than some text and images. However, at the time I was new to the software so I did not take full advantage of the tools because I didn’t know how to use it.

Past Students Blog

I looked through and noted down some features from another students blog that I thought were successful. This will help me when creating my blog as I will recognise what I should do on my blog to make it as good as it can be. 

Production Log 3

In my third media lesson once I had my pictures sorted and taken for my front cover and contents page I was ready to start designing my magazine. I looked through previous students magazines to get an idea of hoe mine should look (even though I had already designed mine) and I started to create my front cover.

I had never used Photoshop and Indesign before so I did struggle with figuring out how to use some of the software. I did not finish designing my front cover or contents page in the lesson so I still have to do that next lesson. 

On Photoshop I cut out the mid-close up of the student that I took and deleted the background as the colour of the wall I took the picture against was off-white and did not look right. In addition, I sorted out the main structure of my front cover so that I had the basics done and could sort out the details next lesson. 

Production Log 2

In my second media lesson I used one of the school cameras to take pictures of a student for the front cover of my magazine. I took a mid-close up of a sixth form student and also I took some photos of the school buildings. As the school is very big there were many pictures I could take of the buildings that would go on my contents page of my magazine.

I am happy with the pictures I have taken as they are the pictures I had envisioned when I sketched out my drawing. Here are just two of the photos that I took of around the school that I am planning to put on my contents page.

Beginning Preliminary Task - Production Log 1

                                       

In my first media lesson we were briefed on the course we were taking and what will happen over the next year. Then we started our preliminary task which was to create a front cover for a school magazine of which I titled ‘The Haydon Voice’, along with a contents page. The front cover had to have a mid-close up of a student at Haydon which I will take on the camera next lesson. In addition, the sketch of my front cover had a very small amount of writing organised on the page. Next we sketched the contents page along with pictures that I will take of the school. After we had finished our designs we went to the computers and started setting up my blog site of which I finished setting up at home.