Evaluation Questions for Music Magazine

In what ways does your Media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Within my magazine, I chose to use the conventional features of real magazines because it would help it come across as a real piece of media production and would make it more realistic. The features on the front page which make it conventional and realistic are the headline, edited original picture, features within the magazine, bar code, price and date. In addition to this, the contents page things such as page numbers, story titles and page information, comparison or links with front cover and a picture. The double page spread also follows conventional rules used by real magazines. This is because it includes things such as a large main focus picture, headline, page number, continued theme from throughout the magazine and a body of text.

How does your Media product represent particular social groups?

The social group I am aiming my magazine at is that of aspiring musicians in their mid-late teens and early 20’s. I tried to represent this social group in my magazine by including such things as stories of successful young musician, easily organised layout to make it easy for everyone to enjoy, and consistency within the colour, style and theme to make it flow and come across more appealing to the audience I am aiming it at.

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

I think the media institution I would want to distribute my media product is Emap Media. This is because they already produce many music magazines such as Sneak, Mixmag, Q and Mojo. Although this company makes many popular magazines, it doesn’t produce one aimed at the subject of the magazine itself, for example, my magazine is aimed at people who are aspiring to be musicians, the stories and information are about and created by successful young aspiring young musicians, that are wanting to tell their stories.

Who would be the audience for your Media product?

The audience of my magazine will be both males and females aged between about 13-20. The magazine focuses on the future of aspiring musicians and this is the group of people I am aiming it at.

How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract my audience, I deliberately made it clear that the magazine was aimed at aspiring young musicians by putting on the front cover the phrase; ‘a star is born’. This straight away implies that the main story is about someone who has just entered the music industry, which will make the intended audience want to read to see how they became so successful.

In addition to this, I addressed the target audience by using the page information in the contents page. I added in such things as gossip page, your pictures and your say. This automatically involves the reader and allows them to feel part of the things going on. It also gives them the opportunity to get in touch with other people and share their own musical or just life experiences.

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

The main techniques that I have learnt during the production of my magazine are how to use editing programmes, such as Photoshop, to edit my original photos and also how to use publisher to arrange the pages of my magazine. In addition to this I have taken note of and learnt the important aspects and conventions to be added to a magazine which are essential for making a realistic piece of media.

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

From doing the preliminary task, I have found I have a strong understanding of the essential conventions of magazine to add realism and also what things are necessary to create the effect of a true life magazine. I have also found I understand what’s important within the language, ideologies, institution, audience and representation, and how each one has to relate to one another so the final product makes sense.

Final magazine double page spread

Within this double page spread are many similarities with the front cover and the contents page. Once again I used the same style background, blue and white gradient. I did this because, although other pages in the magazine are going to be different, it adds slight consistancy because the reader can link certain aspects of it together. As well as this, is also links the fact that the front cover has the main story on which is on my double page spread.

In addition to this, I made it so the picture was done in the same way. Black and white sketched affect. This, as well as keeping consistancy within the magazine, is affective for drawing the reader's attention because usually pictures are in colour, so it's something fairly uncommon but eye catching at the same time.

Another thing I kept pretty much the same is the style of writing. I kept it so it's still black and white, but i mixed it up a little bit. For example, on the 'A Star is Born!' I used both colours, black and white, because previous to this I only used one colour, black, but it seems dull and bland. The text I originally put in black, but again, thought was a little predictable seen as many magazines only use the colour black for their text.

The reason I used this picture was because I thought it would frame the page nicely, but also because it went across the two pages slightly. I liked this because it draws the two pages together and makes them seem like they are a double page spread. It also frames the title nicely and allows space for other things on the page without been too over powering and stealing all the attention.

Final magazine contents page

Final Finished Contents Page of Music Magazine

First copy of finished contents page.

I firstly started off with doing the background for my contents page. I wanted there to be a theme running through the magazine, so I decided to keep the background the same as the front cover. I think doing this, links all the pages together and makes them look like they belong together in the same magazine.

In addition to this, the colour of the writing I wanted to keep the same, so the same theme runs throughout the magazine. For examaple, the colours blue and white for the background, and the colours black and white for the writing. I chose to use the colours black and white through out the magazine because I think it's bold and attractive, but subtle at the same time.

The picture is also similarly done to the one on the front cover. This, again, is to add consistancy throughout the magazine. The reason I used this particular picture was because I thought it would frame the page nicely and I also thought that the pose of the picture would be suitable for the contents. This is because his facial expression and body language adds the effect of something being interesting on the page, and makes the reader look there.

I was also going to add a editors's thanks to this contents page, thanking the customer for buying the magazine, but after testing this out, it looked a little out of place, so I decided to stick with a simple 'Thanks' in italics to create the effect of someone else writing it, e.i. the editor.

Usually, you see contents pages with the title horizontally across the top. I decided not to do this because of the picture I was using, but also because I thought it would frame the content well, along with the company of the picture along the side.

I decided to change my contents page due to one; not having 4 essential original picture, so I had to re-do it so i could make room for another one, and secondly; a typical magazine has more than just 19 pages, and people would not pay just to have this amount in a single magazine, so I re-did the contents for the magazine making it appear as though it is more full and complete.

Firstly, I started by re-arranging the content list, and adding more to it. In addition this, I made the text of the contents list smaller so it didn't seem to overcrowded and cramped. By doing this, it gave me the space to put in the picture I needed to make my original picture to four. After editing all the text, I then used 'Paint' to edit an original picture of me playing guitar. I wanted to make it seem as though it was a polaroid picture, so I decided to put thin black and white lines around the picture to give this affect. In addition to this, I found a another picture, which also looked like a polaroid picture, on the internet, on Google, of the bassist in the band 'Fall Out Boy', who I mentioned were featured in the magazine.

I kept pretty much the rest the same due to the fact I still wanted that theme of the blue background and bold lettering and text following on through the magazine. Although I later changed the front cover picture to be in colour as opposed to black and white, I still wanted this one to be in black and white to give the effect of in informing manner, such like a news paper etc.

Final Finished Front cover

Final Front cover for my music magazine.

First attempt at final front cover

This is first attempt as my final magazine front cover. The name of my magazine was the on I originally wanted to use. My first thoughts were to put it in a colour like red or green to add emphesis and make it stand out from the rest of the cover, but after trying this with several different colours, I decided to keep it all more or less black and white to keep it bold but also relative with the style and genre of the rest of the magazine. As well as this, the rest of the text within the front cover I was originally going to put into colour as well, but after testing how this would go, I decided that it looked better all black and white.

The background of the picture started off as been black and white as well, but after deciding that I wanted the rest of the picture to be kept black and white, I wanted a little bit colour to be inserted somewhere within it, so I thought it would be subtle but effective to have the background have colour and the rest be how it is. To make it so that colour of the background is noticable, the top bar on the magazine which shows what else is featured within the magazine is also that colour. This enables the colour to run smoothly through the cover, but not look as though it doesnt fit in with everything else.

The picture I chose to feature on the front cover wasn't my original idea of what I wanted. After trying once with another picture, I saw this one in my selection of pictures and decided that it would look quite effective on the front cover of a magazine. I took the original photo and edited that background so that it made the music artist stand out. After doing this I changed it to black and white. The reason I specifically liked this picture after editing it was because, as well as looking like it was deliberately positioned like that, it also looks like it was a spur of the moment thing and was taken during him actually taking part in a musical act or gig etc.

The headline featured on this front cover ''Tom Hall'' and then a smaller caption underneath it relates to the picture on the front cover, this is because Tom Hall is the person pictured, and he is the main focus and story of this issue of the magazine. I wanted to make his name stand out because he is named to be a new star, and not many people will know who he is, so if his name is in big letters, it is sure to allow readers to see exactly who he is.

The reason I didn't add any other story titles on the front cover of the magazine is because I wanted the main story to be the main and only focus on the cover. This is because I like seeing simply planned out magazines which don't have lots of detail. I think doing this, adds emphasis on what is on the magazine, instead of having everything over crowded, and allows the reader's attention to be caught by what is the most important aspect of that issue of the magazine.

Another thing I deliberately did to the front cover was make it so that the name of the magazine was slightly hidden by the picture. I did this to show the readers that the publishers of the magazine are confident it will do well without the reputation it may already have recieved.

Shortly after creating this front cover though, I came to the conclusion that it didn't quite give off the genre or feel I wanted it to. The use of the black and white picture made it seem quite clinical and bland, almost like a newspaper type style, which wouldn't attract my target audience. I then decided to take the original picture and give it a different feel and presentation. The use of the colour that is in the picture and the slight distortion of colour and texture of the picture makes it seem quite edgy and almost a little fabricated to give a real life feel to the picture.

This was the only aspect of the front cover I changed as I felt everything else did justice to the idea I wanted to create with it. I think the use of the change would now attract my target audience as younger people tend to be attracted to more colourful and 'fun' looking things.

Original Idea for my front cover

When I first did my photo's, I had a clear idea of what I wanted my front cover to look like. So the aim of my photoshoot was to create the pictures I knew I would want to use for my front cover. The picture I was aiming to get was something like this.

After working on this picture for a while, trying my best to create close to what I wanted, I ended up with something like this.

The name of my magazine originally I wanted to be called 'EXCLUSIVE' but due to the picture, I decided to change it to 'VENUE' because I was able to fit it on. After long deliberation on the colours, I chose these colours because I wanted something bright and outstanding. Unfortunately, the colour scheme I decided on added to me wanting to start all over. The only part I like about this version of my front cover I liked and was happy with was the actual picture been in black and white. I liked this because I thought it added nice contrast to the colours.

Another thing which made me want to start over was the fact that the name of the magazine was vertical instead of horizontal. I didn't like the fact I had to do this because I dont think it creates as much emphasis on the name of the magazine as what it would if it was horizontal, and the attention of the reader be drawn to other things on the cover. As well as this, the text featured on the cover was very bland and didn'd make much of an impact.

So instead of trying to put all the wrongs right, and tweak it all, I decided to start over with a complete different idea. I thought this would be a good idea, because then I would at least have an option of what to present instead of sticking to the one I had and had been disappointed with.

Pictures for my magazine

Planning for Music Magazine

To plan my music magazine I am going to once again use the acronym LIIAR. I am planning on the genre of my magazine to be based around a blend of pop-punk and acoustic style artists and bands. I have chosen to do one like this because after researching the biggest music productions companies in the UK, I have seen that there isn't a big magazine which focuses on these genre of music together, which means there is a gap in the industry for a magazine like this one.

Language
As I am producing a magazine that consists of a blend of pop-punk and acoustic style music, the language is going to have to be fairly informative but also entertaining, light and snappy. It would have to have all these elements so that it could appeal to the wider audience.

Ideology
The main purpose and aim of my magazine is to advertise and publicise new bands and artists which fall under the main genre's that my magazine is based around. It is also there to make the readers aware of different styles of music because it will have alternative genres mentioned in it. In addition to this it is there as a guide to anyone that is interested in music.

Institution
After researching the 3 biggest and most influential media and production companies in the UK, I have decided I am going to use the company IPC Publishing to produce my magazine. This is because they create many magazines such as NME, Nuts and Now Magazines and is classed as one of the most influential magazine publishing companies in Britain. I have chosen this company specifically because it produced this well-known magazine; NME, but I think they would be interested in producing a magazine which holds stories and information about up and coming music and artist which may in the future be in their already popular magazine. This means they could have immense control on who could become a professional music or not, and I think this would attract them to producing my magazine.

The reason I want them to produce my magazine is because they are the leading magazine publishing company in Britain, but also, all magazines they produce are the best selling in their caragory. Hence, allowing me to develop the confidence to know that if they took my magazine into their hands, it would do well in the mediated music industry.

Audience
The target audience I am aiming to attract is people between the ages of 14 and 24. I am hoping that the use of informative language and the light approach will draw the wide range of age to read it my magazine because the older end of the scale would be drawn to read it due to the amount of informative language and the amount of useful information included into the magazine; and the younger audience would be attracted by the light approach to the music industry and way it is presented. The younger audience will also be attracted by the way it will be simply set out and easily understandable.

Representation
As my magazine is aimed at the age group I have chosen to target, it will be necessary to represent the music shown in the magazine as appealing as possible to different social groups and as well as the age groups. To represent the music I have choose to base my magazine around; pop-punk and acoustic, I am going to use a mixture of bright colours to represent the pop side of the genre, but then contrast this with the dark colours such as brown, black and grey, which will double up and represent the punk side and the acoustic theme.

My aim of representation is to create a sense of necessity for the music as opposed to just the entertainment side. I want to represent the music so that it comes across as been an important part of everyone's everyday life, and shows that it's not just a form of entertainment.