Evaluation

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

My media product does all 3 of the above; on my front cover you can see I have challenged the forms and conventions of real media products. I have done this by having my title stacked instead of having it in a straight line, whereas most magazines would have the title straight along the top. Also my photo of the artist on my front cover is to the right of the page whereas in normal magazines the picture would be central as they would see this as the most eye catching position on the magazine and would attract the audience the most. On the other hand my front cover does use some of the forms and conventions of a real media product by having some words in bigger bold letters than the others, for example “Exclusive” on my front cover is bold and in Capital letters. Professional media products would do this to get the audience’s attention and interest them. My contents page does follow the forms and conventions as it is a basic layout and would normally be used in real media products. Some may be more attractive to the eye as they may use more colours and pictures and they would say that they have done this to interest the audience. My double page spread does use the forms and conventions of real media products because I have taken some ideas from real media magazines. On the left hand size is a picture of the artist who the interview is about; this immediately shows the audience who the next few pages are about. On the right hand side is the interview. I have taken up one whole page with a picture because I did not want too much text because my magazine is generally directed at males and other magazines that are directed at males are not very text heavy. Also I have Photo shopped the artists name so that it stands out and it is an associated logo. If the audience see an associated logo then they will know who their reading about, real media products would also use this method.

2.      How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The target age range of my product is 16-24 and it is a unisex magazine but is generally targeted at men. The way my media product represents a particular is social group is by having a picture that an indie/pop social group can relate to. The reason for this is the artist in the picture is related to that type of music and the audience that read the magazine will be interested in his music and his life. It also follows the form and conventions of similar magazines related to the same genre. This means that if an audience see’s a magazine like this then they will know what the magazine is about immediately and they would be interested to see what the magazine includes because they will be interested in the artist and other things included in the magazine. The language used in the magazine also relates to the particular social group because there is no slang language used whereas in magazine targeted at a younger audience would use slang words but would not use crude language whereas my media product does which relates to the audience and they will feel that they are reading a magazine that is directed to them.

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

There are many distributors of media magazines; some if these include IPC media and BBC. There are vast differences between these two particular groups. IPC media covers nearly all different types of magazines and distributes many different genres, whereas BBC only covers magazines that they are concerned with. For example BBC distributes magazines like MOTD magazine and Doctor Who magazine, this is because they air these shows on their television channel, they do this so their shows are further publicised and hopefully will attract even more viewers. Whereas IPC media is the biggest magazine distributor in the UK and distributes about 350 million magazines per year. They distribute many different genres for example they release women’s magazines like “woman’s weekly” which women will be interested in and they also release football magazines like “World Soccer” and magazines like this probably won’t appeal to women. This shows they cover a wide range of genres so they can appeal to all genres and to get the widest audience to compete with competitors. I feel that my magazine would be distributed by IPC media because my magazine would fit into one of their many categories that they have to offer. Whereas my magazine would not be distributed by a company like BBC because it has nothing to do with their interests and it would not fit into their genre of magazines.

 

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

My magazine would have a selected audience as I have directed the magazine at a selected audience. I have aimed for a social group of D up to C1; this means that I have targeted a social group that consist of working class and middle class people. I have done this by having an artist represented being at a working class background and talking about his controversies, this will interest the selected audience because it will have someone they can relate to. Also higher classes would also be interested because they can have an insight into lower classes lives, and see what trial and tribulations they have to face on a day to day basis. The age I have targeted is 16-24 and I have done this by including a lot of content that will interest that age group. It may also to appeal to an older age group as they may be interested in that genre still or younger people may also purchase the magazine if they interested in the music at a younger age.

5.      How did you attract/address you audience?

My media product attracts and addresses my selected in audience in many different ways. Firstly attracts the audience by having bold writing on the front cover in red writing. The colour red is associated with danger, power, passions and desire, this means that the colour will immediately alert the audience’s senses and tell them than this is nothing ordinary but something exciting and exhilarating. This will automatically attract the audience and when they look closer at the front cover they will be addressed by the word “EXCLUSIVE” on the front cover, the audience will then immediately know that the contents of the magazine is exclusive to that magazine and no other media product will have the same contents as the magazine they are looking at. Also in my contents page I have made the words “BIG INTERVIEW” stand out so the audience know that the magazine includes a big interview and that it is very important and they want to read it. This will then lead to the person being attracted to the magazine because the audience know that there is no other media product with the interview in. In the interview I talk about subjects that the targeted age range are stereotyped to be involved with. For example in the interview the artist talks about his drug abuse and the trouble it caused. The media largely stereotype these problems with 16-24 year olds and this is a story to do with the artist they like. This means that they will be interested in what he has to say as they can relate to that. For example a magazine aimed at older people would not talk about wild parties and alcohol in their magazine because it would not interest the audience and they are not associated with such subjects.

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

I have learnt a considerable amount about technologies in the construction of my media product. Mainly I have gained skill and knowledge about the computer program Photoshop. This is a complex program to use but does achieve a greater finish and can make a media product look much more stylish. The program is very difficult to use and has many different options to alter your work, but I feel I have learnt a lot about Photoshop and have used it effectively. For example in my front cover I have used the magnetic lasso tool to cut around my photo then I have then placed it onto my front cover to make it look like a professional front cover with a professional artist. I have also done the same on my contents page where I have cut out a picture of the featured artist and included it in my contents page to make it look more professional and to show my Photoshop skills. In my double page spread I have included a large photo of my artist on one page which has been altered on Photoshop. I have altered it by improving the picture and making the artist look better, and then changing the contrast so that the photo is now black and white. The photo in black and white represents the dark times that the artist has been through and that he is living in a very dark world. On the other page I have used Photoshop methods by altering the artists and name and the name of his new album so that it looks like that artist’s logo and the audience will then recognize him and his new album which he is soon to release. 

On Photoshop you can alter the text considerably and add very good effects, I have learnt how to put outer shadows in and inner shadows in the writing. As you can see the logo I have made would look very simple without being altered in Photoshop.

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

I feel that I have learnt a lot in the period between the preliminary task and the main task. I feel that the main task was a lot more challenging than the preliminary task because of the introduction of Photoshop which I feel is a very complex and difficult programme to use without previous experience. Also the depth that this work has been in is very frustrating and long. In my preliminary task I did not work to my full potential and did not achieve the standard of work I can and want to achieve. Although I did complete the preliminary task and I need to do this because I did not gain marks for this but I did not lose any. When I made the transition into the full product I had to start using the program Photoshop more as this would show more skill to the examiners, I completed my Front page and Contents in Photoshop but I constructed my double page spread in publisher which the I transferred over to Photoshop. My work was then put into a further program but I was not responsible for this but I will be willing to use further programs in my A2 work.

Evaluation of Mock up front cover.

This is my evaluation of the front cover of my school magazine.

The school magazine has given me a good insight in what i need to do in my music magazine. Our task consisted of us producing a school magazine. The magazine had to have an original image on the front and this had to be of a school student. In mine i have a picture of myself which meets the criteria of the task. In my front cover i included false stories about the school and did the writing for this is bright eye catching colours to stand out on the quite dull and dark background. I also included a logo of the school so that the reader knows what the magazine is actually about and also the schools name. I put these 2 things at the top of the magazine because this is the most eye catching part of the magazine and this is what the audience sees first. This is contrast to the barcode added which i have included at the bottom of the magzine because it is not very important and the audience do not really want to see it.

Overall i could have put more effert into my front cover but i have met the criteria needed to complete the task and it has given me and insight on what i need to do to succesfully complete my music magazine task.

Questionnaire Results

I asked a total of 15 people to complete my questionnaire about my main music magazine.

The results were:

SpeakerBoxx was the most prefered name out of the 3 with 6 people prefering this name overall. The reason they prefered this name is overall it is quite cathcy and most people didnt like the other 2 names I offered. I am pleased with this result because i feel it is quite a styilised name and i can work well with the 2 X's at the end.

The colours that people wanted to see on my black and white background were bright colours and the reason for this was that they stand out more and they attract the audience.

On the questions about who they wanted to see on the front cover the results were inconcluive because the people i asked did not really mind if there was a male or female or a band on the front cover. I feel that they would be more interested in the design of the magazine.

When i asked the women doing the questionnaire what magzine they read there answers were, Cosmopolitan and OK, the reason for this is the contents of the magazine interests the reader and it has what they want to know about, but some of the women i asked did read music magazines because this is what interested some also.

When i asked the men what magazines they read the answers were generally NME and lads mags, the reason for this is because the contents of the magazine is what they are interested in. And also i feel it is more acceptable for a man to be into the type of music that is featured in the NME magazine.

After looking at the results of the impotant features question the order was overall this:

Importance

1.Price
2.Image
3.Genre
4.Freebee
5.Name

Unimportance

As we can see from the results the price is a huge factor in the magazine and it is very importnat to the reader. The Image is also very important because it shows the audience what genre of music the magazine will include when they see the image of the artist. This shows that the genre of the magazine is important and i must take this into consideration when working on my main magazine cover.

The 2 that the audience feels are unimportant are the freebee and the name, the reason i think the freebee is not important is because the age range i asked and the age range i am aiming at are no longer interested in freebees but more the actual content of the magazine so they will not be looking for a freebee but it may add more selling power to the magzine if the freebee interests the reader. Also the name is not important because the name does not have much impact on the overall magazine.

Magazine Questionnaire

Questionnaire

This questionnaire will seek to find what males and females between the ages of 16 and 24 want from a new music magazine.

Which name do you prefer out of the 3?

Mc                      Speakerboxx                       Lost in music

What is the reason for this?

What colours do you want to accompany the black and white on the front of my magazine?

Why?

Would you prefer a male or a female on the front of the magazine?

Why?

Or maybe you may prefer a band instead of an individual?

Why?

What current magazines do you read?

Why?

What do you look for in a magazine? This ranges from name, freebee, price, the image, the genre or the contents or features. What is your order of importance on the listed above?

Importance

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Unimportance

Semiotics on a front cover of a music magazine.

 

The magazine front cover I have chosen is the front cover of Q magazine which was released in April 2009. The colours that the magazine uses are Black, White, Red and Blue. These colours are highlighted on a dull grey background. This is effective because it makes the writing stand out on the front of the page and it catches the eye of the public. Red symbolises power and strength and it used for the background of the title and a White Q is written on top. White resembles Peace and innocence and cleanliness which are a complete contrast to the red which can also be associated with War, this is effective because it connotes that something unexpected or contrasted views may be in the magazine. The caption below the Q reads “A different take on music” this makes the reader understand they are reading something original and different.  The magazine conforms to the codes and conventions because the title of the magazine is on the top left hand of the magazine to show its importance to the magazine, compared to the barcode which is in the bottom right hand corner which shows that it is not important to the front page of the magazine. In the direct centre on the magazine is Lily Allen’s bum, this is the most eye catching feature of the magazine and shows the artists in quite a sensual way. Lily Allen also has her back showing in the photo and this is very sexually revealing for a woman, this shows her very feminine side which a contrast to other features in the magazine. These are that the camera angle of the shot is a low angle which means you are looking up at Lily Allen which shows masculine type dominance. The top of the magazine is always where the important features of the magazine go. For example the logo and title are at the top and also the bigger stories that people are more interested in are also at the top and the little and less important stories are at the bottom and are smaller which gives the main stories more room. This is because this is the most eye catching part of the magazine and if people see it there then they will be more likely to buy Also the picture on the front is central on the front cover and there are no other pictures on the cover. This makes the picture on the front cover very important and catches the eye of the viewer. There is writing surrounding the picture which is concerned with other stories in the magazine, whereas the writing that is concerned with the main story and the picture is overlapping the dominant picture in the middle. The writing on the talks about “Lily Allen” and her “Wicked, Wicked” the words wicked are written in red ink and makes them stand out compared to the other writing. It also puts a lot of emphasis on the words and makes people stop and think about what is written this is because the magazine is trying to make the mise en scene quite provocative. They are doing this by having “Lily Allen” in the picture poses sensually around two panthers. The reason they are creating this theme on the front of the magazine is to try and encourage male viewers to buy the magazine and also to make the readers think they are getting an inside look into “Lily Allen’s” world. The denotative meaning of the pictures is that there is a woman in a sensual pose with two black panthers next to her. The connotative meaning of the pictures could mean that the woman is very fragile and in danger from the two panthers, or that she is giving the viewer and inside view into her private life and that it is quite “wicked” and this could be why the two black panthers are involved in the front page. I feel that the reason why the two panthers are there is because the words “wicked, wicked ways” would not really work if they did not have something dark or animalistic about them. There are also other references to animal like features, on the front cover it says “I am a tiger!” this then further sets the mise en scene of the magazine to be more animalistic, this could be the overall theme for the magazine. When they explaining the interview with the Group “Oasis” it says that it is a 55 pint interview, this language would not be used in a child’s music magazine because that target audience would not be interested in that and they would not buy the magazine.  Also the words “sexy beast” are used before the name is written on the front cover, this is another reason why the panthers are involved in the picture because they are classed as beasts in nature. The magazine is targeted for a specific target audience and this audience is teenager and young adult between the ages of 16-24 on average. This is why the language is the way it is on the front cover. For example in a younger persons magazine like “Top of the Pops” a lot of slang language is used and this is used because it appeals to that target age range and it also includes stories about people of their target audience’s age range. This interests their certain age range and this makes them want to buy it. The colours are of more of a mature nature on the front cover of this Q magazine compared to other magazines like “Top of the Pops”. The reason for this is the respective target audiences for both magazines will be enticed by the colours the magazine use and this will encourage them to buy their magazines. This is an obvious point because more mature readers will be very unlikely to go out and buy a magazine which is covered in colours like Pink and Yellow and uses slang terms like “OMG” but are much more likely to buy a magazine which is set out like the Q magazine is. The image on the front of the cover is a long shot of an artist (Lily Allen) who will appeal to the mature target audience that read the magazine. The long shot means that we can see her whole body and not just her top half or her face. This may emphasise the point that the reader is getting an in depth interview with the artist at a more mature level.

Analysis of 2 contents pages

The initial thought you get when you see this contents page is that it looks like it has a lot on information on it. There are not many colours used but the ones that are used are Black, Red and White. This makes the red stand out so much against the other 2 tones. Red is a primary colour and it is associated with Power, Strength and Energy. This is why it is effective with their readers because it makes them feel liberated about their choice of music magazine. The layout of the magazine is a picture dominating the middle and information all around the outside. It also shows the different information areas the magazine has. They also mention a segment about the main article with the artist or artists on the front. At the top of the magazine the title is in the traditonal red colour so the reader knows what it is and the it is followed by this week and this is also a tradition of the magazine. The language used in the contents page is for the targeted audience, for example more sophisicated words are used in this compared to a tops of the pops magazine.



This is a different contents page and as you can see they keep the traditon of the magazine the same because they use the same style and colour of the title in the contents page. And they also use this the phrase this week so that their audience know what their reading.

Main Magazine idea

For my main task of a music magazine, I plan to aim mine at Teenagers and young adults. The reason i have decided to do this is because i feel i will be able to design a magazine to attract people of this age range because i am round this age range myself. This will help me in my main task because i will know what attracts me to a magazine so i will hopefully be able to use these techniqes in my own. This does not mean that i want mine to be a carbon copy of a magazine sold in a shop because i want mine to be original. I will use the techniques i have used in my preliminary task to help me make my main magazine, for example i will use such programs usch as photoshop to give my photo a professional finish and to make the overall magazine look better.