Comments on my music magazine

EVALUATION

1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product uses some of the conventions of real media products. It uses most of the conventions of a magazine front cover.

This is one of the music magazines I used for inspiration for my music magazine.

This is my labelled front cover with all the conventions it uses. It doesn't use all the conventions of magazines as I didn't think it was nessasary to use them all. I used the examples of music magazine front covers (found in the blog titled 'Evidence') for inspiration for the layout of my front cover. I used this font for the masthead as it looks distressed and fits in with the theme of 'Grunge Pop'. It connotes a rough style and people will see the masthead and be instantly drawn to buying the magazine if it catches their attention. I have used this feature article photo as it looks mysterious and it fits the text around it. The photo indicates who Brandie Birke is but you cannot see her whole face which makes it mysterious. This challenges the conventions as most magazine front covers have photos with direct mode of address so the audience can see who the artist is. The lead story is in bold in the top left, which is where the readers eye will look first. This gives away the name of the new artist and also keeps to the house style as the colours are purple and black.

The secondary lead picture is an enigma, as on the front cover it doesn't link to anything so readers won't know what it is about. But when they turn to the contents page there is a page reference on the picture so people can then find out what it is about. The picture is to make people buy the magazine as they will be curious as to what it is about.

I have kept a house style throughout as I have used the colours purple, black and white on the front cover. I kept the background white to tone down the dark colours on the rest of the front cover.

This picture shows the house style perfectly, using the colours purple, black and white. The photo connotes the music scene I wanted to achieve. I considered the clothing and accsesorise for the photoshoot I conducted. I chose messy clothes and musical props to make the pictures have the style I wanted.

The Grid System
The grid system is about the top of the front cover including more important things than the bottom.


This is the top grid. It is at the top of the page, where people will look first, so it had to include the most important information such as the masthead and the selling line.

This is the middle grid of my magazine. It includes the main photo and the rest of the interesting stories. This is less important than the top grid as it just gives a bit more insight to the content of the magazine. This fits in with the conventions of music magazines as it is using the grid system.

The bottom grid has the least important information such as the extra features of the magazine and the barcode. I put this information in a red menu strip to make it stand out a bit.

My magazine only uses a select few fonts. The front cover uses more of a variety but the contents and double page spread use the same few. The titles on each page are the same to keep the house style. The font is called 'Hard Rock' and I found it on http://www.dafont.com/afont.com/. On my other blog called 'Evidence' you can see how I experimented with the fonts. On photoshop I changed the font by adding some purple to it.

I have ensured that my images communicate a meaning as they all have the same house style and they all represent the same music style. The photos are interesting as they all use a different mode of address. The feature article photo is unusual as it has an indirect mode of address. It has a good effect though as the clothes, hair and accesorise show the style of the magazine and not being able to see the face gives a feel of mystery. On my contents page I have used page leads on the pictures to let readers know which page to find the story linked to them.

I have considered inviting the reader in by using a buzz word, 'exclusive'.

The word exclusive is in bold capitals and is on a red backgroud. The colour red will grab the readers attention and make them look here. The word 'exclusive' is a buzz word that readers will think they have to read, as this will be their only chance to find out what it is about.

I have also used a graphic feature to draw readers in to the magazine.

This feature I have used to grab reader's attention. I have used the colour turquoise to give a calm effect but still stand out. The colour is different to the house styles colours therefore it stands out on the page. I have used this to promote the 'Style tips from Kesha' as Kesha is a big influence in this style of magazine.

This photo has a direct mode of address, unlike the main image. This is inviting the reader in because although they cannot see who the person is on the main picture, this smaller image gives them more of a clue as to what this new celebrity looks like and will make them want to look inside at the bigger photos.

I selected the certain colours, purple, pink and black as my house style colours. This sounds like a girlie combination but toned down with black and white they look quite roungh, but you can still see that it is aimed at girls.

My layout is different to the orignianal flat plan i produced. When i started making my magazine I didn't stick to the flat plan and the pictures I had taken didn't fit with it. I based my layout around the main image as I needed to know where there was space to add text. The layout I ended up with is an improvement to my original plan as I played around with the features and chose the perfect position for them all.

I have challenged the conventions of typical magazines by using a photo with indirect mode of address on the front. Usually, magazines use a direct mode of address on the front cover to grab attention of readers.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? What social groups are you representing?
The main subject of my magazine is 'Grunge Pop', this is a clash between pop music and indie styles. The main audience is girls who are into the indie style, age 14 to 21. This magazine is representing the social groups B C1 C2 and D classes as it is cheap and most teenage girls will be in these social groups and know the music the magazine is offering.

I have used the Uses and Gratification theory for my magazine, so readers can decide for themselves the meaning of it. Image and text play a big part in what the readers get from the magazine.

This title shows three different fonts, which contrast together to make an effective heading. It will draw readers attention to it as it looks different and quirky.

These are examples of image and text from my magazine. These represent the specific ideology of the scene I have tried to achieve. The images will address the readers interest as they are bright and eye-catching and relate to the music scene of the magazine.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

IPC Media would distribute my media product as they publish magazine such as NME and LOOK. IPC Media produces over 85 media brands which reach almost two thirds of UK women and 44% of UK men. This is good for my magazine as it is aimed at females.

This is the link I used to research the publishing company: http://www.ipcmedia.com/

IPC publish NME magazine, this is one of the most popular, respected music magazine in the world. This company would be good for my media product, as they must be good at publishing music magazines.

This is the NME page on the IPC media website.

IPC Media produce a whole variety of magazines, ranging from wedding magazines to country life magazines. This makes it a perfect company to use as my magazine would fit in with the big range of media produced here.

This is only a few of the magazines owned by IPC media.

IPC have three core audiences, men (IPC inspire), women (IPC connect) and upmarket women (IPC southbank). My magazine would fit in to the IPC connect audience, along with LOOK, Now, Chat and Women. This would differ from NME magazine which is the the male catagory, but would make a change to the gossip magazines from the womens catagory.

The music magazine 'Rolling Stone' could be compared to my music magazine, as it is generally a young persons magazine containing music and popular culture. This magazine is published by Wenner Media LLC, which is a private company that only publishes a few magazines. This is different to IPC which has many magazines to produce.

This is an example of a 'Rolling Stone' magzine front cover.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product would be females, age 14 to 21. I carried out a questionnaire to figure out my target audience.

This is the questionnaire that I handed out to 10 students. It includes questionnaires on parents jobs, self image and social life to give me an idea of their social status.

These are the results of my questionnaire.

From these results I started deciding what to include in my magazine. The price is cheap because only 2 of the people I surveyed have a job and the average person receives under £200 a month, which shows they are not poor but not rich. This made me decide to make the audience the social classes B, C1, C2 and D. I discovered that my target audience care about their apperance, so I involved fashion tips and included style and beatuty into my music magazine to keep my female audience interested.

This is my readership profile. I based it on my questionnaire results and it gives a feel of the typical Defuse reader's style.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?
My media product adresses and attracts my audience in many ways. One way I did this was by writing an editorial for the contents page. The editorial is used to interact with the readers so they feel they have a connection to the magazine. I have used casual language to appeal to the teenagers and it lets them know what has happened in the making process of the magazine they are reading. This gives a personal feel to the magazine. Another way I did this was by making the interview with Brandie Birke quite personal, so the readers feel like they have inside gossip that only they know. They will then feel connected to the celebrity from the start of her career.
The research I carried out helped me make decisions about what to include to attract my target audience. The questionnaire and readership profile helped me plan the colour scheme and house style for my magazine.The colours I used appeal to my young audience and the photos attract their attention. The images show a celebrity, which the readers may admire and want to look like. They will then buy this magazine thinking they will have more ideas about how to look like her. The clothes in the photos will also attract the audience, as they are fashionnable and suited to this music scene. My questionnaire results showed that the readers go shopping when they can, which indicates that they are interested in clothes and their apperance.

Feedback from my target audience included,

'The pictures are very appealing and the layout will attract me, I would buy this magazine' Jodie, age 17.

'I think the magazine is very eye catching, if I saw it in a shop I would be drawn to it.' Alex, age 16.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

To construct my product I used a digital camera, photoshop and the internet to make my font. I practiced how to take effective photographs which represented my house style. Using photoshop I adjusted them to be perfect for my music magazine. I brightened the colours to make them eye catching. Photoshop was useful for producing a media piece as I could edit everything I needed to make it exactly how I wanted it. Digital technology is easy to use and widely available these days. I used convergence by downloading my font of another website. I also used paint, for the background of my contents page. This was a simple black swirly line which turned out to be very effective and fitted with my house style. A lot of my research was also done on the internet, such as magazine examples and information. My skills in digital technology have inproved by producing my magazine. I have learnt how to use photoshop, which will enhance my creative skills.

7. Look back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the process from it, to the full product?

Looking back on my college magazine front cover and contents page I have improved majorly in my composition skills. I think my college magazine is too bright and has no where near the amount of detail as my music magazine. I have developed better photography skills, as the photos on my college magazine are very basic and not composed properly. In comparison, my music magazine photos have more of a theme and are positioned exactly how I want them to be. The overall look of my music magazine is more constructed and thought out. I did a lot of research into music magazine, whereas I didn't with college magazines. I also knew the style I wanted to achieve and the target audience. When producing my college magazine I was less experienced and was unsure of the magazine industry. Throughout the time producing my music magazine, I learnt how to interact with the readers and techniques to adress an audience. I also leant how to use photoshop, which helped me a great deal in the making of the media product. On photoshop I improved my editing skills. This included changing colour contrast and defining certain parts of a picture, to add emphisis and effect to images. This magazine has also improved my journalism skills, as I has to come up with a whole interview. Although I researched interviews, my piece was thought from scratch and I believe I did a good job of it, and getting the information across to the readers.

Overall, I have learnt a lot from producing this music magazine, and I am pleased with my final product.

Photos

These are all the photos I took for my music magazine. Even though I only used a few, all of the pictures represent the music scene I wanted to achieve.

Evidence

As research for my music magazine I found some promos and CD covers from my chosen artists to see how they are advertised.

This is an NME readership profile, which I used for inspiration to make my readership profile.

This is a practice of a flat plan. I played around with the layout of the features and added an image of Lady Gaga. This picture works well with this layout becuase it is in the center and all the features are put round it.

These are the music magazine front covers that I found to influence my design. I found these from google images.

These are examples of music magazine contents pages which helped me when designing my contents page.

These are the fonts I tried out before I chose the font I used. I got them off www.dafont.com . At first I was going to call my magazine 'Disturbed Silence, but then decided on a shorted, catchier name, 'Defuse'.