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

Analysis of music magazine contents page




This contents page is taken from king size magazine and the logo is situated top left hand just above the contents. The font for it is quite small in comparison to usual music magazine contents page so this one is going against the usual conventions. The layout of this magazine is very simple yet effective with the images framing the content, anchoring what the content is, to them. It is all very rectangular in shape and the colour scheme of the font is red and black bar the images around it which obviously are a range of colours. The main name of the page is in a larger red font done in capitals with a small lower case black font underneath, this being the subtitle. this is to draw the readers eyes to the main title giving them an idea of what the story is about and also because it is giving them a taster of it with a small amount of information of what it is about, it makes the reader want to read on. The images are very large, bold and attractive to the reader.



This contents page is taken from from the nme magazine, the nme logo is situated top left hand corner which is a typical media magazine convention, next to this in a bold black font is "this week" which straight away the readers eyes are drawn to. This is a very busy contents page in comparison to the one above with only three smaller images placed in the center and very bottom of the page. The contents of the magazine are split up into categories "news, radar, reviews, live, features, plus" making it easier for the consumer to chose which part of the magazine they would like to read. Also next to the stories that are advertised on the cover are red arrows saying "on the cover", this is because the reader has chosen the magazine based on these stories and the arrows reinforce them. In the very center of the magazine is a paragraph on what seems to be the main story, this gives the reader a bigger insight to what it is about. At the very bottom center of the page is an advertisement for a subscription of the nme magazine claiming the reader will save 33% by doing so, this will encourage readers to subscribe every month, buying more of the magazine. The advertisement is reinforced by the images of magazines.

These examples have given me an idea of how to create my own contents page and I now know what features and conventions I could use and feature to create my own contents page.

Research for music magazine
I have used numerous magazines as influence and ideas for my own music magazine. I have looked at different genres to help me get a better understanding of that type of magazine, i have looked at ones such as Q, Rolling Stone and Kerrang. Mostly each one for the front cover had a large image as the central focus for the magazine which was of the band or music artist that the main interview or story was on. quite often this image covered the masthead slightly as these magazines are well known and can be daring enough to do so. Each of the sub headings are bright and bold yet not too over powering for the main image and some are accompanied by sub photos. i will be using this layout design for my own magazine.

This second magazine is the NME mag. It doesn't have a lot of information on the cover of what the magazine actually includes. Although it still has many conventions of a music mag. The first being the bold logo, in a red font which is very iconic as the magazine is so popular. Also the entire layout of the mag frames the main photo of the band, showing their relevance and importance. It has a design so the cover looks as if it has been ripped to reveal the page underneath, this is the only source of information of what the magazine includes. I think because of the amount of people presented on the cover, too much information would over crowd it.

The colour scheme is a bright pink and yellow against the dark background of the bands outfit. This contrast is very eye catching for the consumer and could attract buyers. The magazine also has aspect which persuade the customer to buy it as it has an offer for a free CD on the cover with a list of the artists included on it. It mentions the free CD twice, once at the very top, right above the NME logo, so when the consumer recognises the logo, they will also see the offer. There is a sub title above the main title which is unusual for a magazine but works with this one.

The cover overall includes mainly visual selling points and also uses just the names of the bands to sell it. It is effectively put together with an attractive colour scheme and an interesting persuasive offer.


My third my magazine is the cover of rolling stone
this cover is quite unusual and not the typical generic cover you would expect from an average music magazine. The photograph being used is a close up and quite a controversial image of Kanye West representing Jesus. It has a very earthy tone of colour for the colour the scheme, using reds,browns, golds and blacks to create quite a dark effect for the magazine. The masthead cover the top of the singers head slightly which is also unusual as rolling stone quite often has the main imagine slightly covering the masthead. The sub headings are in a bold bright font, either in red or white to contrast brightly against the singer, drawing the readers eye in. It has many techniques of drawing the consumer in the buy the magazine such as very short subheadings that only give a little information, making the consumer want to read on.

Final piece evaluation

In what ways does your Media product use,develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product includes many conventions of a real college magazine, such as a masthead, price, bar code, issue number and date of distribution etc. It has a medium close up of two rugby players as the main focal point. Also with the main image being rugby players it anchors to the masthead "Vocation". It also has an advertisement for NUS at the top right of the magazine.
How does your Media product represent a particular social groups?
The main and most important social group that the magazine represents is Wyke college students, also sports students within the college as the main image is of rugby players, this making it more appealing to this group.
What kind of Media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The main media institution that would distribute my magazine would be Wyke college itself, distributing around the college to the students and teachers.
Who would be the audience for your Media product?
The main audience for my magazine would be the students of the college, also teachers, visitors, parents and guardians. Anyone linked with the college.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I aimed to attract and address my audience by giving the magazine a pretty simple layout, making the main focus the medium shot image. I put sub headings on my magazine that i knew students would be interested in such as the wyke college party and the rugby charity fundraiser, yet keeping these sub headings short so as to make the consumer want to read on. I could have made the font i used a brighter colour to stand out more against the background image as it can be difficult to read.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Through designing and constructing my magazine i have left a lot about the technologies. I have learnt the many different conventions of magazines that i would have to include and also how to create them so as they appeal to my target audience. I have had more practise on things such as photo shop and Microsoft publisher which has widened my knowledge on both of these, hopefully helping in the production of my future products.
Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel i have learnt a lot more about the conventions, styles and topics of magazines and this will help me in creating my music magazine. I have also learnt how to use different programs better and more effectively on the computer such as adobe photo shop etc.

Drawing of draft

These are the drawings of the drafts of my college magazine. i have included the positioning of text and images for the entire layout.