My genre for my music magazine is pop and through my front cover, contents page and double page spread I think that I have conveyed my genre in the way that I wanted to. I think that I have portrayed my genre in the correct light through the MES of my model and the imaged that I have taken.

So far, I am happy with the way that both my front cover and contents page have turned out, however I found it a lot harder to do than I originally thought because although I took 100s of images, I found it difficult to chose the right ones for both pages of my magazine.

The skills that I have learnt have helped me with my magazine because they have given me the opportunity to make my magazine look as professional as possible. They have allowed me to personalise every inch of my magazine to exactly how I wanted it.

The skills that I have learnt along the way while in the process of creating my magazine, I can take on to my future and where ever I go, even if it is not to do with media studies as the skills that I have learnt are transferable to more or less everything. E.g. time management, creativity, giving and receiving feedback.

During the time from creating my contents page to creating my double page spread I have learnt more skills than the last time. The tools in that I have learnt help make my magazine conventional because I have made sure that I have used tools that a lot of magazines use to make sure that I attract a high audience. Below there is a slideshow with images and explanations as to what skills I have learnt in this time. During the process of creating my double page spread I have made sure that my star image represents my chosen genre of pop by making sure that the MES was being shown through their costume and make up.

During the time that I have been creating my magazine, I have acquired a lot of new skills through InDesign and Photoshop. Below are a few examples of my work in progress and some screenshots of what changes when skills are applied and how I get my final image. Below is a slideshow of the skills that I have learnt along the way and images that show exactly what the types of skills can achieve. The skills that I have learnt has helped me make my magazine more conventional because I am now able to do to my magazine the things that professional people do. For example, without these skills I would never have known how to cut out an image and separate it from its background or how to smooth out someone’s face.

In order for my music magazine to adhere to the criteria and attract the highest audience I will need to make sure that my MES and camera skills are the best they can be.

In relation to MES, I will need to think about the colour scheme of my magazine and what I would like my model to wear. From looking at other magazines, I have learnt that there is more to it than a cover star and a masthead, granted they are two of the most important things but they are not the only things that make up a magazine. I will also need to think about the body language of my model and how she will stand and what pose she will make, I will decide this in advance so that on the day it will go as smoothly as possible. I will also need to make a decision on what I would like my model’s hair and make up to look like, this is a feature that people may not instantly notice when you pick up a magazine however if it wasn’t there or thought of then people would most definitely notice.

I have learnt that there is more to a photo shoot than a camera and a model. For example, I will need to set up the lights, the flash and the camera itself. I will need to capture more than one image because I will need them for the insets as well as the cover star. I will also need to get different camera angles so that my magazine isn’t boring and attracts the audience.

Following on from my tour poster I will need to make sure that I do the following when making my real music magazine in order to gain the most effect and audience from it.

I will need to…

• Plan the layout, so that everything looks good.
• Use fonts and colours that best convey the genre e.g. not use pink if I am doing rock as it would not fit the genre.
• Use an image that best shows the genre and that will not be too difficult to use photo shop with.
• Consider the MES, for which the costume will play a big part in telling the story.
• Consider the camera angle that will portray the genre best.

An image can communicate meaning through MES because they convey a story to the audience as the prosumer would encode a hidden meaning for the consumer to decode. This is important when producing media because by using MES and you will allow yourself every possibility of your media being the best that it can be.

• Costume
• Lighting
• Acting
• Make-up/hair
• Props
• Setting

Framing is important when creating images because it doesn’t only tell a story but it allows the audience to connect with the cover star though the body language and facial expressions. For example, the image may look more intense if you have used framing than if you just took a regular image.

MES is important when creating images because it is one of the first things a consumer looks at, even if they don’t know that they are. For example, in a fashion magazine the consumer will buy the magazine to look at the outfits and costumes of the cover stars and influencers.

This will influence my decisions when making my music magazine because I will make sure that my setting and costumes go with the genre. I will also ensure that I have the right camera angles and framing. When planning my magazine, I will ensure that I have the right setting in order to portray a prefect story on the front cover of my magazine. This will enable me to capture the perfect moment that the consumers of my magazine will be able to connect with.

What am I hoping to learn from Media Studies?

Before my first media lesson, the only things that i knew about in this area was social media. As a result of this I would love to know more about media in general.

I’m hoping to improve my knowledge in areas such as why media is produced and what work goes into producing media.  I am also hopeful that this will develop my organisational skills and teamwork skills. This will help me when producing my music magazine because I will be able to plan my time effectively and include all areas of media so that it can appeal to different types of consumers. It will also help me transfer some of the skills into my work that I have learnt along the way  E.G. Organisational and researching skills.

My skills for media, I would say, are quite limited as I have never edited a video/photo before so I hope that when I do acquire these new skills they will help me in the future.

I have created a collage illustrating the types of media that I watch, listen and read. 

Having studied Blumner and Katz, I now know that when I am creating my music magazine I need to entertain, I need to get people talking, I need to inform people and that I need to have an impact on someone’s identity.

I want to include Blumner and Katz four elements to my media to ensure that I will be able to reach every type of person.

Creating my media consumption collage will eventually help me in making my music magazine because it will allow me to engage with why I and other people watch/listen/read types of media.