Evaluation

Who would be the audience for your Media product?

The audience for my music magazine would cover both males and females, primarily aged between 16 and 24 years, i do realise after audience feedback however, that the main models are female, yet this is only by chance and every other issue probably wouldnt include this. Although i wouldnt just focus on this target audience as it could be for any age group that enjoys the sort of music my magazine promotes. The language used isn't too formal, complex or has any profanities so would appeal to most and also a younger audience. The price is £3.50, i realise that for my audience which because of the age range would contain mostly students, this could be quite expensive but my magazine is a monthly issue so this hopefuly wouldnt be a problem.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I used a variety of techniques to make my magazine appeal to my target audience. I used colours and font styles which made my product look professional and eye catching to attract more of an audience. The content for my magazine was based on some of the interests of my group of friends who fit into my target audience group, i asked them questions such as "ideally what bands would you like to see in a magazine of your choice?" and "what giveaways/competetions and advertisements would you like in said magazine?" The result of my magazine reflects their answers, so hopefully reflects the interests and ideas of my target audeince. Another technique which I used to attract my audience was to give short, vague descriptions of the articles on the contents page so as to encourage them to read on and find out more. I also put a subscription offer on the contents page with a saving of 33% to encourage the consumers so buy more. I kept the language informal and easy going so the articles wasn't to hard to take in. I used alot of imagery also to make it more eye catching.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of contructing this product?

I have learnt many new skills in creating my magazine by using many different prgrams on the computer, I now know all the elements of publisher wish overall allowed me to design my magazine much more creatively and effectively especially with the double page spread. Also i have learnt much more on Adobe photoshop which will help me create more effects in the future and i will be more confident doing so. By learning the different conventions on the magazines i now know what i have to do in order to create them effectively and what program to use to do so.

Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I think i have progressed and improved greatly from when i produced my preliminary task, i feel i have become more confident in using the different programs and techniques to create a good music magazine. Also i believe my knowledge of magazine conventions has broaded, i also became more creative in making my magazine, i have experimented with a variety of different shots, angles and frames when taking my photgraphs and the language i used is more suitable and effective for a magazine. I dont think i was very creative and spent as much time on the preliminary task so i dont believe it was as good as my music magazine, but still gave me practice in creating magazines.



In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Before beginning creating my media product obviously i had to do a lot of research about music magazines, i bought some and also found examples on the Internet, both on google and by looking on the music magazine sites such as the NME site and Q. I tried to research music magazines that were of the genre of the type of magazine i wanted to create. I think in my opinion and also audience feedback my magazine would be classed as a hybrid as it has many conventions of different types of genre of magazines. I think this is a positive thign as it means my magazine is more open to a wider audience range. In all my contents page, double page spread and front cover i tried to include many concepts of music magazines whilst also twisting a few. For my front cover i decided to have the entire background as one image as i think this is very effective and more appealing to the eye, this convention is used in many magazines and i think looks better than lots of other images put together. I went against usual conventions in two ways, the first by keeping the text on the cover to the bare minimum as i think it looks more effective this way and secondly by putting my masthead on the right hand side with the fate and magazine website underneath, i feel it looks better this way although i realise i may not sell as well as the consumer may not be able to see the name of the magazine clearly if it were stacked in a shop. For my contents page i put the textual information on the right hand side and an image on the left like i had seen in previous magazines. also below the image i had put in an editors note, which doesn't always come up in music magazines but thought it would be fitting in mine. I have sectioned my two types of contents off into "features" and "every month" making it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for and also giving a more personal feel to the magazine with the every month section, letting the audience become familiar with it. Finally in my double page spread i had to look at many different music magazines and double page spread to find which styles, layouts and conventions i liked the most to use for my magazine. i decided to go for a half image, half text which seems to be the theme running throughout my magazine. It has many conventions such as a strap line with the page number on, a drop cap which directs the reader to the begining of the article and also a pull quote which attracts the reader more without them having to read then entire article. My magazine follows the same ideology throughout by using similar photographs and colour scheme.


How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product represents the younger people of society, particulary the invidual alternative side who are interested in that genre of music as the mise en scene represents this by including appropriate attire that the models are wearing etc. It appeals to both music listeners and makers alike as the content gives them aspiration to make music because of the artists telling their story of struggle and then achienvement. Also the music line up that the magazine features will attract the social group i am aiming it at. The composition of my magazine gives the feeling of care free, enjoyable music making by the positioning of the models, setting etc. i created this effect in hopes this will reach my audience and inspire them

First Drafts

After completing this i realised that the writing at the sides made my magazine look messy and too busy. I decided to remove this for my final cover.

Edited images

For all of my images i have edited them mainly in colour, to make them more attractive anappealing to the eye, i had to re size a lot of them to fit on an A4 size. I took my photos with my own camera in my garden, i didn't want to them to look like normal generic band photos posing, so i tried to make them look like natural poses with limited band instruments in an unusual setting. Some of the photos i decided not to use as they would either be irrelevant or just simply wouldn't look right.

Drafts

For my double page spread i decided to get the layout simple to outline the general conventions, with the image dominating the left hand page and the writing on the left

For my contents page my initial design is also very simple, the textual information is the sub headings about each different part of my magazine, they are short, attracting the reader to read on to the rest of my magazine

For my front cover i want the layout to represent to the entire magazine, very simple, with the front cover being dominated by an image of the main article

Original images before editing

Name ideas for my product:

For my music magazine i tried to think of appropriate names that would be suitable and fitting for a music magazine. Doing my research i found that many magazines had short, to the point names that would not take up the entire magazine cover. I began thinking of different names such as NOISE, BEAT, TEMPO, SILENCE. I finally decided to settle on BEAT. After choosing my name i then had to decide on a font. I didn't want the font to be too over the top and over powering the main aspects of the magazine on the cover. Here are some examples of fonts i considered using:


Yet after going over these i decided to use a very simple and plain font which i think is very effective in a maroon colour to brighten it up:







Colour Scheme: for my colour scheme i decided to use a range of colour that would compliment each other well and also appeal to my audience, as you can see i decided to use a standard black and white for the majority writing but for mastheads, sub headings and tag lines i decided to use a pale pink, pale blue, burgundy and grey which i think all compliment themselves, also with the photos set in a garden a dominating colour of green comes through also.




The Band:
For my band i have decided to use myself and my friend as a "house electro" duet. i think by choosing this genre it will appeal more to my target audience as it is quite alternative and different. Also i think with only small members of this band it will be easier to photograph them.

Research of conventions of magazines:
I have analysed a number of different magazines to find out all of the conventions each of them uses to help me in producing my magazine to either use these conventions or go against them.
For front covers the norm conventions range from: A masthead, usually done in a logo form, placed to the left of the magazine so it is easier to see logo when the magazines are stacked in a shop
a bar code
a main focal image, usually of a band
a selling line
date of the issue
numerous other images
sub headings
special offers, giveaways
For contents pages there are: The contents of the magazine
images
masthead
dateline
For a music magazine double page spread: Images of the things/people the article is based upon
highlighted quotes
images
title
sub headings
color scheme
font colors
header and footer
page number
information concerning the people/things the article is about

For my Foundation Portfolio – Main task I have to create a new music magazine which consists of: the front page; contents page; and a double paged spread. i will use key media concepts to help create my magazine with using the LIIAR.

Language
The language i will use for my magazine will be all of the text used, the colours, photographs, as well as the small detail such as the size of the fonts so as to catch the readers eye. I will have one main photograph as well as many other photos around it to add more interest on the front cover. I will stick to one main colour scheme for my magazine so the reader gets a real feel for it. The text will be short. snappy and to the point, also quite informal using slang to give a relaxed friendly feel to the mag.

Ideology
The main ideas behind music magazines is to promote current and also older music, they do this by advertising merchandise, up and coming gigs and shows, interviews with the band or artist, stories on the band or artist etc. They include comments from top writers on the music. They also entertain and inform the readers on the music usually depending on the genre of the music magazine.

Institution
In the magazine industry there are many competitive publishers.

IPC Media are the publishers of NME (New Musical Express) and they are one of the United Kingdom’s leading consumer magazine and digital publisher. This company manages to sell over 350 million copies each year when publishing the magazine. Around 27 million UK adults consume an ICP magazine each year. IPC’s brands are very simply at the heart of the UK's cultural life. High in representation and reaching their target audience.


EMAP is a British media company, specialising in the production of business to business magazines, and the organisation of business events and conferences."EMAP" is an abbreviation of East Midland Allied Press. Magazines include: Sneak, Smash Hits! Kerrang!, Mixmag, Q and Mojo. EMAP worldwide publishing empire comprising 238 magazines worldwide in 15 countries, as well as TV and radio stations. As the number one consumer magazine publisher in the UK, there's a magazine for everyone

Future Future includes titles such as Total Film and Guitar World, as well as Classic Rock, the UK’s fastest growing rock music magazine. They are the global market leader in guitar magazines From computer games to films, from cycling to music-making, they provide magazines, websites and events that inform, entertain and unite these communities.


Audience
The audience are the consumers of your magazine and are main priority when creating it. The audience is entirely dependent of the music genre of the magazine, it affects the age range, sex and as well as the type of person reading. My music magazine will be aimed at a target audience of males and females, who enjoy alternative music and are aged 16-30. Factors that affect this are the bands promoted in the magazine, the colours used and also the language is a very important one.

Representation

The magazine you create has to represent the audience you are aiming it at as well as the music that you are promoting. The language used represents the class, age and type of person you are aiming at it and my magazine will be using informal language so it appeals to most. Also colours used represents the feel of the magazine as in kerrang a lot of dark reds and blacks are used to show the style of music and audience. The layout also does this same thing as in kerrang it is almost as though the publisher has thrown everything on. By Using Photographs to show a band, during a concert, in an interview or in a deliberate pose, will show and represent the band to the Audience