Music Magazine Evaluation

Elise Apall Bjorgsvik

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

• When I did my research I found out that there are strict conventions for music magazines. When I started my planning I wanted to try to develop some of these conventions, like having a photograph covering one whole page of the double-page spread and fill the other page with the article. I also chose to use a studio to take my photographs in, cause this is conventional (especially for the front cover). I also used a medium close up shot as my front cover image. The person on the front cover is looking straight into the camera, trying to connect with the audience. This is also a convention. I have also chosen to put the classic bar on the bottom of my contents page and double page spread, with the magazines website and page number on it. The page numbers placed on top of the images on the contents page is also a classic magazine layout. My front cover also contains a barcode, price and publishing date as a part of the typical magazine layout. I have also used a colour scheme that is conventional for music magazines; grey, black and dark red. I have also written my article in a conventional way with oral language and a mix of quotes and a regular article.

• I have also chosen to challenge some conventions by editing my front cover in a “vintage photograph” way. I did this to make my front cover stand out from the rest of the magazines on the shelf. The magazine logo is also a bit unconventional, and it is not like every other music magazine logo. Also my photo editing on the double page spread image is a bit unconventional, when I have chosen to do it black and white with just the red t-shirt being in colour.

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1. Medium close up image2. Masthead across the top partly placed behind the model3.Large cover line across the bottom4.Barcode5. Cover lines on both sides of the model

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1. Image covering one whole page2. Title3. Pull quote4. Three column article5. 2nd title6. Page number

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1. Main image, connected to the front cover2. Title3. Page number where you can find the contents4. Features

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• My magazine mainly represents young females. This shows in the design; its not very masculine it is just simple and classic. Also the colours used are unisex so there is no particular gender represented in the magazine layout. The images in the magazine are meant to make young girls want to buy the magazine. There is a young boy on the cover and only young people in the other images in the magazine as well. Bea(s)t magazine is a magazine made for teenage boys and girls, who are interested in indie, punk-rock and acoustic guitar music. I would say that the magazine is pretty neutral when it comes to social classes. The ethnicity represented in my magazine is white people, and this is because the music the magazine is about is indie, acoustic guitar and punk rock and these are typical white people music genres. I have chosen to represent this through the pictures of white teenagers in my magazine.

• The writing style in the magazine is pretty conventional for teenage music magazine, and it contains slang words and other informal language. The photography in the magazine represents conventional teenagers, and is not very challenging.

• I have also chosen to break some conventions by putting a girl playing drums on the contents page. Drums are often associated with masculinity, and I have chosen to break this convention. The girl on the picture is also dressed in black jeans and a simple denim shirt, which is also a bit unconventional for women, and not very feminine. Whilst the boy on the front cover clearly cares about fashion and looking good, which is often linked with femininity.

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

• I think Future Private Limited Company would be a great distributer of Bea(s)t Magazine because they already publish music magazines such as Guitarist and Guitar Technique. Bea(s)t magazine is a magazine which focuses on acoustic guitar music, but also chart music and “punk rock”, which Future doesn't’t have a magazine about yet. I therefore think that they would be interested in publishing my magazine, because it is something they don’t already have but it links with they're existing magazines so they might get some of the old readers to buy Bea(s)t. This year Future teamed up with international rock behemoths Green Day to produce an app-only interactive special. Featuring exclusive interviews with all three band members, new and unseen photography and 17 videos, it is a must-have for any Green Day fan and a new business development opportunity for Future. This also show that Future’s audience is interested in punkmusic which is a small bit of what Bea(s)t would be about.

bea(s)t

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• The typical reader of Bea(s)t: Eleanor is a 18 year old girl from London who studies AS Levels at college.She studies Art, Music Technology and Media. Eleanor is very interested in music and plays guitar when she is bored. Ellie often writes her own songs, and she is in a band. Her favourite song is Wonderwall by Oasis. On the weekends she often goes out with her friends, or to concerts. Her favourite band is All Time Low and her favourite artist is Ed Sheeran. Last summer Ellie went to two different festivals, and she also went travelling with her best mates. Eleanor also has a part time job at Ark right next to where she lives. She loves her job, and her clothing style is inspired by the store she works in. On a regular day Ellie would wear black tight jeans, burgundy converse, a cool leather jacket and a chilled tank top. She is also interested in fashion and reads Bea(s)t to get fashion tips, as well as music tips and to discover new and interesting artists. Eleanors bedroom is covered in vintage posters of old bands, andsome new ones. She has got loads of old concert tickets on her wall behind her bed. Her guitar is laying on her bed, and she has got a pretty cool and expensive stereo system. She has got music lyrics from an All Time Low songwritten on her black and red bedroom door. Ellie is also very up to date on social media, and is a frequent "instagrammer” and uses Twitter a lot too.

How did you attract/address your audience?

• I edited my front cover photo in a way that I think make it more interesting than normal front covers. It is has a “vintage” look, and that kind of represents the magazine in a good way.

• The model on the front cover is a young teenage boy, which I chose to put on there to attract audience the same age as him.

• I chose to put the names of famous artists from different music genres on the bottom of the front cover to make more people interested in buying my magazine. Also I chose a range artists from different music genres to write on the front cover to try to appeal to many different people from different social groups, to get my magazine sold to a wider group of people.

• The cover lines are also meant to make young people (the target audience) buy my magazine, and it’s supposed to make them want to read the articles inside.

How did you attract/address your audience?

• On the contents page I have chosen to use quite a lot of pictures to make it look interesting and make the audience want to read the different articles.

• I have chosen to use the model from the front cover as the main image on the contents page as well, just because the main article (double page spread) is about him. So I want to attract the audience, and make them read the article about him.

• The other cover lines/ features are also written to make the article seem interesting and exciting. I have also chosen to put in cover lines which covers all of the different types of articles in the magazine. For instance fashion, reviews, quizzes and interviews.

• The photos on the contents page is also meant to attract readers. All the models are young people like my target audience. I have chosen to put a girl playing drums on the contents page because this is not very conventional, and might attract some readers. One of the other photos is a guy playing guitar with his dog, and this is going to make people read the article because they think its cute.

How did you attract/address your audience?

• On the double page spread I have chosen to put a huge image covering one whole page so that if people are just browsing through the magazine they might stop when they see that huge black and white photo with the red t-shirt that stands out.

• The pull quote is supposed to make people read the magazine, when they read the pull quote they might be tempted to read the whole thing.

• The subheading is also supposed to have this effect on the readers.

How did you attract/address your audience?

• I used different kind of words and language to appeal to my target audience, which is young people. Words and phrases I used to attract my audience is for instance:

Top 10 album droppes this month At home with Mackenzy Mackay 40 Must have: Converse All Star The Lumineers: INDIE BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR! Upcoming star: Ryan’s debut album is being released in March and he promises his fans a great album His passion for music and performing his own songs as well as covers has now taken him pretty far. Original and unique Ryan Clark`s music is new and hip “Fangirling” Epic moments like that is what makes music so incredibly awesome!

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

• Technologies I used and what I learned about them:• Photoshop –Learned how to duplicate layers and then use the rubber tool to rub out some text and keep

the background.• InDesign – Learned how to open Photoshop images directly from InDesign by using the link. And the photo

in InDesign changes by itself.• Survey monkey- Learned how to create a survey and read information off it.• Slideshare –How to share PowerPoint presentations online.• Facebook –Used to share my survey.• PowerPoint –Used for analysis and evaluation.• Blogger –How to share my work digitally online ( I used tumblr before but I found out that I like • Blogger much better). • Word –Used to write my article.• Canon EOS 600D –Used for photos to in my magazine.• IPhone 4 –Used to record sound for audience interview.• Premier Pro –Used to edit the audience interview and post it to YouTube

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

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

• I feel like I have learned loads of different things from working on my magazine. On my preliminary task I did not think about and evaluate every single think on my front cover. I had to do that on my music magazine. I have learned about photography planning, layout planning, audience research, reader profiles, different distributors and music magazine conventions.

• There is a huge difference between my preliminary task and my final front cover, and I am happy with the progress I have made.

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

• The contents page for my preliminary task is really simple, and has got a lack of images and too much text. While I was doing all my research I found out that there were loads of pictures on contents pages to make the audience more interested in reading the articles inside.

• I also used different kinds of conventions to create a contents page that looks good and contains loads of information.

Why I changed my contents page

• In my planning of my contents page I had this idea of two images in each column of the contents page, with text in between the images, and a title on the top left.

• I had to change this completely because I thought it looked unprofessional and cheap. I therefore chose to put in a bar on the top and placed three of the images right underneath that. Then I cut out the background of a picture of Ryan and placed him as the main image on the right hand side, and placed all the contents on the left hand side.

• I also had to add some contents to make it look like a real contents page, but I kept the idea of having the different contents written in different colours. I think the new contents page looks much better, and the layout fits more in with the rest of the clean modern design of the rest of the magazine.

Why I changed my photographs

• My original idea for my double page spread image was Ryan looking over his shoulder and directly into the camera.

• After the photo-shoot I soon changed my mind and thought that the image on the left would be much cooler to use as my double page spread image. This decision was based on the editing possibilities and the expression on the models face. I thought the image on the left would attract more readers than the one on the left.

• I also had to change my contents page image of the other boy (Mackenzy). It was supposed to be an outside shot under a streetlight of him sitting on a skateboard playing guitar. I had to change this because of the weather conditions outside the day of the photo-shoot. I then had to rearrange and do the shoot inside. I also replaced the skateboard with a dog, but I think this worked out just as good as the original idea.