Evaluation

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

There are many features of a music magazine that all contribute to making a successful one. During the process of designing my front cover, contents page and double page spread, I had a look at a wide variety of existing music magazine which helped towards adding a touch of professionalism to my work.

Firstly, I will talk about how I used existing features on front covers and used them on my cover. The masthead on my magazine appears to be positioned on the top middle of the page. I decided to place it here as Vibe, Rap-up and Billboard magazine all appear to have their masthead there. I tried to play around and place the title in the middle and on the side, but I thought that placing it on the top middle of the page, as this would catch the reader’s attention and draw them towards the page.

The masthead on the vast majority of the magazines I have analysed, I realised that the masthead appeared to be placed behind the main image. So this is another feature which I thought I would try out with my magazine, and it looks really good. This allows the main image on the page to lift off the page and suggests that they are superior. At first I placed the masthead in front of the image of `Nicole`, this made the page look overloaded and would make the reader distracted.

The name of the main feature appears to be in the largest font on the page. I have done this as this allows the reader to recognise who the main feature of the magazine is without having to read much. The same technique is used by Billboard and Rap-up magazine. When conducting my research I found out that the larger the front the more important it is.

In my opinion I would say that the cover lines are one of the most important features of a music magazine. If there is too many it can deter readers from purchasing the magazine as it will look overcrowded. And if there aren’t enough cover lines the page will look empty and lifeless.  The majority of the music cover I analysed had 3-4 cover lines; this was the perfect amount as it filled the page up, but to a point that there were still a few spaces on the page that is still empty, allowing the page to breathe.

The issue date on most music magazines are placed on the top of the magazine usually placed above the masthead. But I thought I would challenge my magazine and do the opposite and place it below the letter `Z` of the masthead. I was going to place it above but I thought that it would look to squashed, and I wanted to make my cover look a little bit different.

The image on the main page is another important feature, In order to grab the reader’s attention the angle, composition, and shot type has to be perfect. Music magazines tend to use a mid shoot, with the person that the picture is being taken off, looking directly into the lens of the camera. So no matter which way the reader looks at him/her, they will continue to have constant eye contact. So I did the same, I used a mid shot angle, which allows the reader to see what the singer is wearing from head to just above the knees, without revealing too much. I like the fact how it would keep the target audience willing to purchase the magazine, so that they can see more images of Nicole on her wedding day.

Secondly, when I came to producing my contents page I did the same and copied some layout and presentational features of existing music magazines, which helped to make my final piece more professional.

The name of my magazine `BEATZ` appears to be written in a slanted, white, bubble font. I copied this idea from the Vibe music magazine, I really liked how they presented the name of the magazine, however they used the letter `V`, instead of the `VIBE`, whereas I wrote `Beatz`, as it thought it would fill the page up more and allow the some of the words do disappear of the page. The way the name of the magazine appears on the contents page, looks as if it has been stamped on the page, and I have cleverly thought I would only make the outline of the word, visible to the reader.

The next step of the contents page production was to choose how many images I should use on the page. I originally planned to use one image, because the majority of the people completed my questionnaire decided that having one image would be best. But I didn’t stick to what the results because according to the coursework guideline you must use 4 images.

When I researched into existing contents pages, there was one magazine that only used 2 images. So I did the same. I decided that the most important image on the page should be in a much larger size, in comparison to the one which is not as important. This also adds more `fun` to the page.

Page numbers and page features are the most important part of this page as this is the whole point of a contents page, as it allows readers to skim down the page and helps them track down on where to looks for certain articles. The page numbers appear to be in a different font and size compared to the text below it as this is less important. When researching into contents pages, they did the same. By varying the sizes and colours, this helps to attract the reader to the most important things on that particular page.

My contents page is also divided into two heading: `features`, and `beatz speacialz` This will help the reader to find things a lot easier. Existing contents pages also do the same but it the number of headings will vary depending on the type of magazine. Rock and jazz magazine will tend to have 3-4 heading whereas hip hop and R&B magazines will only have 2. This is why I have kept it to the minimum.

Everything below the beatz specialz heading is in a larger font compared to the text on the page. I have done this so that this part of the contents page stands out as there are a lot of concert ticket giveaways and freebies, which I think my target audience will be interested in.  `Q` magazine did the same by increasing the size of the text and surrounding the text in a greyish coloured box. This helps it to stand out.

Finally, my double page spread. I spent the most time on this as I had to write up the article and make sure that the both pages tie together and allow a sense of flow and continuity. When I carried out my reasearch into existing double page spread, I didn’t find any particular pattern as to where the title of the article would be placed. They were more or less positioned in right/left of the middle of the page. Whereas I decided that I would place mine right across the top of the page as this is where readers would normally look if they were reading an article. I thought that if my title was placed how existing magazine do, then this will cause confusion to readers as to where they would start off reading, so I think I made quite a sensible choice and going for the saftest option.

I was origionnally planning on using one image for the double page spread as the majority of existing music magazines usually do. I analysed a Vibe music magazine double page spread, and I was hoping to get my image like the one that that have used, which is a full shot, but the bakground of the image has been erased so that it looks as is the artists is standing on the page, giving the illusion that she is superior. However, when I came to erasing the image and adjusting it according to how Vibe magazine did it, I went through a lot of probelems , and if your wernt carefull enough when using the eraser tool, then this could lead to your image looking unprofessional. I tried and tried to get it perfect but it never worked, so then I thought I would do something different that no other magazine I have come across has done yet. I like to be creative and adventurous with my work. I really liked all the images I took for the double page spread and also found it quite difficult to choose one. so what I did was that I thought I would  create a photo reel, in which I can place all of the images I took. This took me a while but the hard work payed off, as my page looks origional and professional.  The photo reel doesdnt looks random, as it tells the readers that the wedding memories will be remebered forever.

Choosing fonts for my double page sprad was also quite difficult, as I had to think about the target audience and try and make it suit the genre, formality and the audience of the magazine. Most existing magazine double pages, used sans-serif, this was because the articlt was informal, so I did the same in using sans-serif as it would reduce the formality of the article. The title of my article, was written in a font that looks as if someone has handwritten it on. This is what I was trying to make it look like, so it would suggest that nicole is probably writing about her big day to the public. The double page article of florence, had done the same, this is where I got that idea from. In that article she is talking about her career in music, and this font ties in nicely with the text.

When researching into double page spreads, I found that the title often looked quite boring

The first letter of the article in Florence’s article appears to be written in a much larger and styled font, compared with the other text on the page. I have done the same with the letter `T` on my double page spread. I thought this looks stylish and sets the text of quite nicely.

The layout of my double page spread is quite similar to the ones I have analysed before hand. The text appears to be in thin long columns, making the text look organised and neat. The Florence article was set out this way and when I first looked at it I thought it looked professional, and easy for readers to read. One of the double page spreads I analysed looked disorganised and unprofessional as it was a question and answer styled article and the text on the page was scattered about everywhere. I made sure that the width and the length of the text within the columns, were the same throughout.

A paragraph of my text has been taken out of the article and has been put in a larger font, different colour and I have added a drop shadow effect, which helps the text to stand out and grab the readers eye. The shadow gives it a 3D look, which also helps it to pop out of page. This is another feature of a double page spread that I copied. However only 2/3 of the existing products used this feature in their articles.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social groups represented in my magazine are quite varied, because my magazine has an average age range from around 16-25. 

I think my magazine represents these types of people as it is not a childish magazine, it has appropriate colours, layout and sense of professionalism, the images i have used are not ones that i did not think about first, i planned them in a way that they looked professional then edited them to make them look more realistic. My images also have good connotations as i used mostly that age ranged models in my pictures so my social groups are able to look at these images and relate them to themselves, `glamorous and rich` images as I thought this would also relate to my readers as it is of "RnB and hip hop" genre.

This is a positive representation as there is nothing negative going on in my magazine, it shows what kind of genre I am aiming for throughout my magazine, and i think if someone who was interested in other genres of music, were to pick up my magazine, they would not be thrown off by negative images and connotation within my magazine.

On my front cover I have used an image of my sister as she looks very similar to Nicole Scherzinger, who will be the main feature of my magazine. The model on the image is 23. I haven’t used any negative connotations. The image is basically saying that no matter what your age everyone has a dream.

On the contents I have used an image of one of my friends who is 18, she appears to be Keri Hilson, and she is a model. This image represents older teenagers as being fun and living life to the maximum.

I have only used one male within my music magazine, and he is Nicole’s husband, who is aged 24. This represents upper class men as being strong and helpful, in my double page spread.


Ethnicity- The images that have been included in my magazine are taken of different Ethnic minority groups like Pakistani and Bangladeshi, by using people who you don't `expect` to see, will make my magazine appear more friendly and national, as it is attracting a wider field of audience from different backgrounds.

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

A institution is a company that disperses a media product for audience consumption. There are a wide range of magazine distributors. IPC media institution doesn’t fit with selling my magazine, as they publish such brands as NME, Country Life, Horse & Hound, Rugby World and Decanter, which are mainly aimed at men. They also produce women’s weekly magazine such as Look, Now, Chat and Woman, TV entertainment brands including What's on TV, TV Times and TV & Satellite Week. My RnB magazine doesn’t fit into this company.

Conde nast digital is another company which wouldn’t distribute my magazine as they distribute media products which are associated with fashion and designers. Whereas my magazine mainly focuses on RnB and Hip Hop music.

I would most likely go with Bauer media, to distribute my magazine. As they have more than eighty influential media brands spanning a wide range of interests, including heat, GRAZIA, Closer, MCN, FHM, Parker's, MATCH, Magic 105.4, Kiss 100, Kerrang!, 4Music. All the names listed above are the type of music that reflects my magazine.

“Bauer Media’s portfolio of influential media brands includes many of the best known magazines in the UK, which deliver excellent content to our audiences whenever, however and wherever they want. This provides an excellent platform for any business to reach their target audience through an effective magazine advertising campaign.”

Bauer media, also distributes nationally, which will help my magazine to be recognised around the world.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My music magazine is aimed at middle/upper class people, aged around 15-25.

The type of audience that I am trying to try attract will obviously have to have a genuine interested in music. This is because when I carried out my target audience research I asked people between that age range and the majority of the people that were asked, preferred RnB and Hip Hop styles music. So my music magazine is built around this style of music.

My magazine is unisex, I have tried to make my product appeal to a wide area as possible. I have attracted a male audience by having solo male artists in some of my articles within my magazine. However I think I could have had tried better at attracting a male audience my having photos of them in my contents page.

I have attracted a male/ female audience by adding a female artist on my front cover, my contents page and my double page spread bt having Nicole Scherzinger as my main feature.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I have tried to attract my audience to my magazine in a few different ways.

Firstly, I used a direct mode of address in most of the images on my magazine. I did this because I wanted the artist to stimulate an interaction with the reader.  What a direct mode of address is when the image on  the reader is looking directly into the lens of the camera. Almost every magazine today uses this address. 

Props and costume: As my magazine is a RnB and Hip Hop magazine I would have to make sure that the images that were used within the magazine suited the type of genre. So what I did was I made the people who I took the images of wear a lot a jewellery and dress the way celebrities would. This helps the reader to confirm that this magazine is a hip hop styled. Obviously my sister didn’t have to wear the `glamorous` jewellery and clothing, as it was her wedding day so she didn’t need to be asked. 

Lexis: I have mispelt some of the words in my magazine so that it suits the genre of the magazine. For example in my contents page, one of the titles to divide the page up is called `Beatz specialz`. I have decided to add the letter `Z` instead of the `S`, so that it gave It more of a tough tone to it, as that’s what RnB is all about. 

Adjectives/superlatives: In my magazine I have also used a lot of words such as `excellent`, `exclusive` and `best`. This helps to attract the target audience by persuading them to read on as it sounds more trustworthy. Adjectives are mainly used on the front cover to attract the readers attention. 

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

During the production of my media product, a music magazine, I have learnt a great deal about technology and they have vastly helped and improved my media product. During the process of creating my magazine I regularly uploaded my progress onto blogger and wrote about some of the stages that were involved. 

To make my product I used a wide range of softwares and programmes which helped to contribute to the success f my magazine, these included:

Microsoft word

Microsoft publisher

Adobe Photoshop

Paint

Digital cameras

Scanner

Internet explorer 

Blogger

Digital camera- This was the most important part of my production as this is what my readers will be looking at. The camera is used was a professional one, which allowed me to take images/ shots up to a staggering 22 mega pixel. Due to the large amount of memory space on the camera I was able to take up to 50 images just on my magazine. The camera also had a screen, so you could go through the images while taking them and deleting them if they don’t look professional. I learnt a lot of things from the camera which I didn’t know before, such as: I could zoom up into the object I was going to take a picture of, so this allowed a close up shot. I could play around with the effect and visuals of the images, whilst taking the images. 

Adobe Photoshop: I created the majority of my pages on Photoshop. As this programme had a wide range of photo editing tools and I also had previous experience of using it as well, which was a bonus. On my double page spread, my images that I had taken appear to be in a photo reel, only Photoshop allowed me to do this as there was a tool which could change the shape of the picture so it could fit into the reel. I never knew how to do this before, and I plan to use it in the future. The programme is extremely good at editing images, as this is what its well known for. 

Internet explorer- The internet was immensely helpful during my production, not only did it help with the research part of the task, but it also helped with the creation of the blog which allowed me to upload and publish work that I had done. I was able to document all of my research in a clear and concise way. 

During the research stage the internet was extremely useful as it allowed me to look into the 

key conventions of magazines and to do some basic research about magazine before I went on to looking at specific examples in my research.

Scanner-  Without this vital bit of technology I wouldn’t of had been able to show hand drawn sketches of my planning and research. The scanner allowed me to scan in drafts of my front cover, contents and my double page spread. It enabled me to highlight and provide evidence that I was not just relying the computer to do all the work for me. All of my scanning were then uploaded and posted onto blogger. 

Microsoft word- I’ve always been good with this programme, this helped me a lot to when I came to writing information and articles for my magazine. 

Microsoft publisher- I hardly ever use this programme but during this media production is has assisted with my work greatly. I have learnt a lot of things when I was using it which I didn’t know about before. For example; I have previously learnt how to arrange text on top of images without the white background of the  text box interfering. 

Overall all technology has helped me my the production of my music magazine in numerous ways. My final product couldn’t of had looked as professional as it does without some of these programmes, and I appreciate the fact that I was able to use a wide range of them. 

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

Looking back at my preliminary task for the school magazine, it is clear that my media skills have progressed to some extent, allowing me to produce a professional magazine. Some areas I have progressed in include my choice of images, fonts, layout and colour schemes. 

In the preliminary it was clear that i may have had some shots that seemed insignificant or out of place merely because they were only place there for that purpose to fill up space, however in my final piece i was able to generate shots which said enough to attract my target audience,  this is consistent throughout.

In the preliminary task, my front cover looked dull, lifeless and unprofessional. This is probably because I wasn’t confident with the software and I didn’t use Photoshop at that time, but now looking at my final music magazine front cover, it looks the total opposite of the preliminary task, as I have used a wide range of front sizes and styles, I have also used drop shadows which I didn’t know about before. The masthead on the school magazine appears to be written on top of the main images, whereas on the music magazine it appears to be positioned behind the image, giving it a professional touch. 

In conclusion I think that I have made the most out of my time while producing my magazine. The preliminary task has acted like a starting point to kind of `draft` out of ideas. I can now say I am fully confident in using photo editing softwares, I hope my skills will continue to develop further.