School Magazine Contents page Mock Up

This is an initial mock up for my school magazine contents page, for my prelim task, also using Microsoft Publisher. I will use a large image used for my main cover page as the main feature for my contents page, displayed as annotated above, as this is a typical feature of various magazines. To accompany this image and to give a visual photo for my captions, I will use photographs of a close up of someone writing into a workbook, the student taking part in a science experimented (also featured on the cover), and finally a shot of some students on the library computers. I may also display the school logo above the title - contents to add a more professional look to the page with drop shadows on the images to aid this aswell.

School Magazine Cover Mock Up

This is an initial mock up of my newsletter, for my prelim task, that I produced using Microsoft Publisher. As this is my first draft of the mockup, I am not certain of what will be featured in my school magazine and so I have not yet decided on what my coverlines will be, but I want my colour scheme to reflect that of the school's (red, white and blue), as I have learned from researching/analysing other school magazines that it is much more appealing and professional to do this. The main ideology I want to portray on my school magazine front cover is the traditional look and values of the school and so for my main image I am going to use the front of the school that is covered in ivy to portray this. This main cover image will also follow the guidelines of a typical magazine by covering the whole page. I also need to decide what headline I want to include.

On the cover I also want to feature a small snapshot image of a year 9 student taking part in a science experiment to further back up the ideology that the school has traditional values and that the students are happy and enthusiastic towards learning. To take these photographs I will use my own DSLR camera to try and get the most professional looking images I can. I have also used the masthead 'Deyes High School News'  because I think that it is a simplistic title which is more professional than perhaps a 'cringey' one (such as a play on words). I will also use the school logo on the cover, which will help with my colour scheme. When choosing the colours for my school magazine I will take into consideration that other school magazines that I have analysed have contained vibrant primary colours which connote a childish, younger audience and so because my school magazine will be aimed at the parents, I will try to tone these colours down to more appropriate shades.

Concert Photographs for my music magazine (Ben Howard)

In November of 2012 I was lucky enough to see one of my favourite artists Ben Howard on his tour. I took quite a few photographs however, my hand was very shaky and so they are not the most professional looking photographs. Most music magazines have images of bands/ artists playing their music, and so this is the type of photo that I will most probably use on my contents page.

                                                      This is my ticket from the night.

These photographs were taken before the course started and so if this concert had of taken place during production I would have taken the photos with a higher quality camera and get closer to the front for the best shots. Despite this, what ever image I decide to use, I will edit them sufficiently.

Concert Photographs for my music magazine

Last night I went to the NME awards tour concert and I took a lot of photos with the intention to use a couple within my music magazine. This opportunity came at the perfect time and so it has allowed me to get photographs that I can use. The bands that played where "Peace", "Miles Kane", "Palma Violets" and "Django Django. Again before I include any of these photos I my magazine I will have to edit them on Photoshop to make them more clear as my hand was shaky when trying to capture good photographs to use.

This again is my ticket from the night.

Second Evaluation of another school's Newsletter: St James' Catholic High School

For further research I looked at a second newsletter from a different high school, this time analysing that of St James' catholic high school in Cheshire. From first looking at the newsletter it is clear what the target audience of the publication is and who it is aimed at, parents/carers of the pupils, which most other newsletters tend to struggle with or fail to portray in a professional way. We can see this right from the outset as the newsletter begins with a letter from the headteacher reading "Dear parents/carers", which is instantly addressing the target audience. Also throughout the newsletter, although the font chosen is professional, formal text, there is a lot of it, which may put the parents off reading far down to other articles. The text is also in a fairly small size and so could be hard for people to read, in an attempt to try to fit all of the information on the pages. Although I am not familiar with the school itself, it seems from the website that the school logo and colour scheme is white, gold and mostly navy blue which is not in conjunction with that of the newsletter.

The letter from the headteacher at the beginning makes the newsletter quite formal which is then followed by a prayer (which is a predominant part of their Catholic school life). This is suited to the parents as the text is layed out formally and is very informative. From looking at the screen shot above it looks as if the publication has been produced on Microsoft Publisher with the variation of colour and fonts in cartoonish style boxes. This goes against the professional denotation of the newsletter which can be seen in the screen shots below. You can also see this colour variation and use of childlike format/ image on the second screenshot where red and green text boxes are used and even pink and purple text.

The newsletter includes clip art style images which is very common across many school publications but makes the view unprofessional. To counter this though, it also contains many photo's that look of a high more professional quality although they are a little over exposed on some, which can be seen in the image beneath.

Overall, I would say that this newsletter meets its target audience well with the formality and layout, however there are some features which could be improved to portray a more mature, professional feel. I shall take these points into consideration when designing my own newsletter.

Mock Ups and Conventions for music magazine

For further basic research into music magazines over a lot of different genres, in lesson we collated together a lot of magazines, even from the film industry such as Empire magazine, and created mock ups to help us notice some similarities that were common over the spread in terms of the layout of their front covers. I looked at many genres of magazines but decided to analyse fully two music magazines, as this is our brief and decided on two that were in the indie music genre as this is the genre I will most probably produce as my own. By choosing to analyse an issue of  "Q" and "MOJO" magazine allowed me to see the common layout styles that I will need to take into consideration when making my own to effectively appeal to my target audience.

"MOJO" magazine mock up

This is a mock up from "MOJO" magazine - it featured a main image of the international success rock band, Pink Floyd, which clearly linked to the main article within this issue of the magazine. All text was in capitals including the text in the plug was in capitals, especially the lure promoted in the top right of the front cover, giving away a free Pysch CD, which all help to grab the readers attention and make them more willing to buy the magazine. Obviously the typical conventions of every magazine, including a bar code and a mast head were main features on the cover, and a colour scheme of black, white and red. The masthead is black on a white background with the tagline also in white, all in capitals, to ensure that the masthead is a prominent feature and stand out component of the cover. All of the strap lines and main title are all in white with sub text in grey to show the reader the clear differentiation between the main articles featured in the magazine to further grab the readers attention from them being placed on a multicoloured artistic background.

"Q" magazine mock up

This mock up is of an issue of "Q" magazine which primarily focuses on the indie music genre also. A lot of the time when a music magazine is very recognisable and well known, the central image on the cover would overlay the masthead, not worried about the cover up due to it's popularity and established name, however Q magazine, only being one letter, produce this same representation but through the stand out, very unique and trademark bold red box with the white "Q" overlying the tagline. The Masthead "Q" always takes the place in the top left had corner of the cover but always one of, if not the most focused part of the cover, which attracts its target audience of teens to early 20's from this recognised layout and masthead style. I thought this cover was very cleverly thought out as the main image forms a continuation of the main title, inside the word "Gigs" which merges the two and creates a signified relationship between the word and the image of a mass of people in the beaming lights of a music concert/gig. The rest of the main title is delivered/displayed quite differently with a couple of the words being the same colour range as the "Gigs" text, however the beginning of the title starting with "The" is produced in a plain black semi-formal font against the white background. This provides emphasis on the word and with the whole title reading: "The ten greatest gigs of all time", the use of the emphasis allows no room for deliberation and shows that what they (NME), think is right, must be, which may intrigue and attract the target audience, making them want to know what these gigs are. The overall colour scheme is quite basic only really consisting of red, black, white and blue, for the majority, but this draws more attention to huge title making up a third of the cover.  However, all of the main features and exclusives of popular artists are encased into gold boxes which will heavily attract people to want to read the magazine, as gold has connotations of expense, wealth and rareity, or in terms of magazine special, unique features/content.                                               

Ideologies: Prelim Task

Ideologies are a body of idea or set of beliefs behind different media texts. It is important to be able to clearly identify/differentiate between different ideological components. When producing my own newsletter, I will need to research and consider what ideologies I want to portray/represent, which can be displayed through my use of font choice, images and also the choice of colour scheme, that all relate back to appealing to my target audience of parents.

The main ideology I wanted to convey in my newsletter was that Deyes is an established school, with traditional values. To do this, after evaluating different newsletters, I have decided that I should use professional looking photographs of areas of the school that look traditional. The main area that shows this and an image that I will most probably use, is the front of the school with it's red brick and ivy covered walls which not only makes the school look established and traditional, but it is the main entrance to the school which plays an important role in representing the school, as it is where visitors will enter. Also, by using a mature colour scheme and fonts, this will show that Deyes is a professional establishment.

The next ideology that I wanted to portray was that Deyes cares about it's pupils by going above and beyond to showcase their talents and encourage motivation, to allow them to fulfil the best school experience as possible. To get this ideology across in my newsletter, I will organise shoots with teachers allowing me to take images of pupils enjoying their lessons, and focus on the students' achievements and success' in all aspects of school life. Also photographs such as students holding their exam results or just simply displaying them in the newsletter amongst text, or showing stage productions that have been held for parents and visitors to showcase their talents, all hold the ideology that the school cares for it's pupils. These photographs will also be taken as professional as possible catering for my target audience and showcase that student success is the main focus of the newsletter.

An ideology that I think is quite important to portray about Deyes, is that it is community of pupils that work together to achieve success. In the past, I know that some parents have been worried about sending their children to a school campus that has ages varying from 12-18, afraid sometimes of bad influences. I think it is important to show the parents, my target audience, that Deyes students are available at any time for help to all years. To do this I may include/feature an image of a sixth former helping out a year 7 student for example to represent the school's sense of community. This may encourage parents to send their son/daughter to Deyes or reassure parents that already have children within the school that it is a friendly and close environment.