Dear Moderator, 

My name is Katy Breen. 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 Bassline' together with the magazine's accompanying website. My music magazine is published by the independent publishing company Hot Metal publishing and covers rock music

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.

 

 

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

 

 

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 'Reviews' tab at the top of the page.

 

https://katybreen40.wixsite.com/thebassline

Website homepage - Production log

 

When I was producing the home page of my magazine's website, I was conscious of  creating digital convergence with the front covers and contents page of my magazine. Because of this, I used the same fonts as my front cover (Chopsic and Konexy pro) and I created both a "Latest Features" and "Music news" section where I incorporated some of the same stories as my second contents page. I also advertised the front covers on the website as well as featuring the model of my second front cover in my audio-visual content. I also wanted to appeal to my target audience, 16 - 24 year olds, who are generally more likely to be digital natives so I advertised the magazine's social media accounts to encourage the audience to further interact with the magazine. I also included my masthead, a header and an editor's welcome to conform to what a typical, new magazine would feature on their website. Further, I made a fake Ticketmaster advert, including an original photo, to further appeal to music fans as well as creating a sense of verisimilitude.

Contents page 2 - Production log

 

Front cover 2 - production log

 

Contents page 1 - production log

 

Front cover 1 - production log

 

Production Task One - Photography for first cover

 

For the photography for my first front cover, I used a male model and used the prop of the guitar to quickly communicate that it's a music magazine. I used a white/plain background so that the text I insert over it will stand out more and be more eye catching. I used a picture on my contents page from the same photoshoot as my main image to create anchorage between the main cover and contents page and to link to the main story. I also took a picture of CD's for my contents page as one of my coverlines is based around CD collecting. I directed my model to play the guitar in the main image and to act like he was in a conversation in the image for the contents page as the main coverline mentions an interview with him. 

Main image -

 

Contents page images -