Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of

real media products? My magazine has a masthead, which is typical of magazines as it informs the audience about firstly, the name of the magazine, but secondly, makes the magazine easily identifiable as the masthead is usually the logo of the magazine. All of the fonts that I have used are in the rest of my magazine, to keep the sense of continuity that is normal in most magazines. It makes the magazine flow and keeps a sense of professionalism, which is important in a music magazine. Much like most other music magazines, my writing style is informal as this magazine is targeted towards young people. This means that the text will be easier for them to understand and they will be more likely to read the content as they are not reading a formal piece.

I also made sure to include page numbers as all magazines do this and it keeps the magazine professional, and as there is a contents page it makes the articles easier to find, as they have numbers on the bottom that correspond with those on the contents page.I tried to make my contents page similar to Alternative Press’ one because I like how organised it is. I decided to make it slightly different though as I did not want to copy it exactly. I made sure that the different sections of the magazine were in a different colour to the contents in that section so that people could easily navigate through my magazine. The numbers are also in a different colour as I thought that it would be easier to look at the numbers if they were in a different colour to the rest of the contents pages.

I tried to organise my contents page to make it easier to read and follow, much like Alternative Press.

I also wanted to place text in the top corner of the page so that readers know what part of the magazine the article goes into. I took this idea from Kerrang!, however they do not put it on every page, but I would if I had created a full magazine.

My style of photography however challenged the conventions of magazines as all of my images are of live shows, even the main image on the front cover. This is because I wanted to make my magazine focused about live music. Most other magazines use studio shots as their main images and I wanted to make my magazine different to those so that it stands out. It emphasises the fact that the main article is a review of the live shows, and invites those interested in reading about it. The lighting in my images also links into my colour scheme as my front cover’s image included blue and pink hues. I would say that my colour scheme is challenging the rock music magazine stereotype as they all include mostly dark colours in their colour scheme. Mine is lighter however still includes colours seen as dark, such as greys and blues. I wanted to challenge the conventions of rock music to show it in a more positive light, as I think that it is shown negatively in the media.I also decided to not use pull quotes in my magazine as my main article was of a review. I would have used a pull quote if I had done an interview, however because my music is based on live music I did not interview anyone.

As you can see, my magazine challenges the convention of a studio photo as the front cover image, however the artist is the same, which shows that I have decided to use a popular artist on my front cover to attract the audience.

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

For my magazine I have tried to make sure that teenagers and young adults are represented in a positive light, as they are usually seen negatively. Those who like rock music tend to be seen even more negatively as it is seen as a violent genre, however I tried to challenge that stereotype by creating a magazine that was seen as being the opposite. My magazine shows that rock fans are more bothered about what is going on in the music world, about where they can go see their favourite bands and what other people think about them than the negative things that have been said about them. My magazine shows that these fans are not just into the music, they are also into other things such as fashion, film and tv. This challenges the stereotypes of my audience as they are seen as constantly going to concerts and being loud, and so I tried to show a different side of them by including things other than music in my magazine. I tried to use a colour scheme that is not stereotypical of a rock magazine as it means that people may think twice about the stereotypes given to rock music fans. My photography however uses stereotypes of rock fans constantly being at concerts as they are all photos of live shows, as that it what I wanted my magazine to be about. The writing style is informal, as I tried to make it more appealing to the 16-20 age range that is stereotypically associated with rock.

The artists that I included in my magazine are all of different ages, for example some are in their early twenties, and one of them is actually in his 40s, and so that challenges the conventions of rock musicians as they are seen as being young. This also means that his age group are also presented positively in my magazine, as they are seen as not being to old to enjoy rock music, it is not just a young person’s genre. I have also tried to include a lot of female musicians in my magazine as female rock artists are usually criticised as there are not many out there that are well known. I wanted to show my audiences that female rock artists are just as good as male rock artists, and that the conventional all male rock band can be different. I tried to make sure that most age groups are included in my magazine positively because I believe that no one should be criticised for what music they like.

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

I would most likely choose to distribute my magazine with Bauer Media as they have extensive knowledge of the magazine market and know how to successfully promote magazines. Bauer already distribute a few music magazines (such as Kerrang!, a magazine I reviewed and looked into before creating my magazine) and I feel like they would have the most extensive knowledge about how to make my magazine successful. I would say that Kerrang! Is a magazine very similar to mine and so Bauer would definitely know how to distribute it well and attract my target audience, as a vast majority will already buy Kerrang! Magazine. On the other hand, this may be a negative thing as the magazine is so similar, it does not broaden Bauer’s range of music magazines. I feel that the experience Bauer have with Kerrang! would be beneficial for my magazine as it would mean that The Noise was being distributed by experts in this magazine type. I may also consider distributing with IPC media as they own NME, which is a magazine which is much different to mine. This would mean that IPC would broaden their brands and branch out into a different genre of music magazine. This would be good for them, however my magazine may not be well distributed as they may not know how and where to distribute it. I would also say that NME is a magazine targeted to audiences slightly older than my own target audience, and so my magazine may be advertised to those who are not in the target age range.

BBC also publish a small variety of magazines, however they only publish one music magazine. This is mostly classical music and so it is very different to The Noise. Choosing BBC magazines may be a risk as they do not really advertise their magazines and they do not have the experience like other distributors of music magazines. I would also say that the target audiences for the majority of their magazines are the older generation and so do not match my own. However, it would mean that they could gain new experiences about advertising and would reach out to a younger audience. EMAP may also be a distributer to consider as they do not currently have a music magazine. This would mean that they would gain new experiences on distribution and would give them something different to add on to their list of magazines. On the other hand, the magazines that they currently distribute are more dominated towards the older generation and to men, which is not my target audience. This may mean that they do not have the knowledge to reach my target audience and would mean that my magazine would probably not be as successful as if Bauer media distributed it.

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

I would say that my magazine would be targeted towards teenagers, and mostly girls. I would say this is because the artists I have included are most popular with younger generations and so they will be more likely to want to purchase and read this magazine. Also, as I know about the bands myself, I know that they are mostly liked by girls, and so including them in my magazine means that girls will want to read the articles including them. I also learned from my earlier audience research that those who answered my questionnaire were mostly female and so I have tried to include articles that will attract them. I also found that they are mostly students and so they would be in schools and colleges, however older people will still be able to access and read the magazine. Even though I have tried to target teenagers, I believe including 30 Seconds To Mars may attract older audiences as they have a wide fan base that spans across many age groups. This means that most age groups feel like they can read the magazine as it is still diverse. From my audience research I also found out that the genres my audience most likely listen to alternative and rock music, which are the genres I included in my magazine.

During my audience research, I created a reader profile, to highlight who my target audience is. This is what I found out: “My reader profile is based on what I found out from my audience research. The majority of my readers will most likely be females and in the 16-20 age range. This means that they will most likely be students. The most popular genre is rock and will most likely already read The magazines I have previously researched. They are also willing to pay around £2-£2.50 per issue of the magazine and spend over 5 hours per week listening to music. My audience also like to buy online rather than go to the high street and like to go out to concerts in their free time, as well as go online, especially on social networking websites.”

5. How did you attract/ address your audience?

I attracted my target audience by using colours that they would like to see in a magazine, such as bright blues and pinks as they are colourful. This means that these colours will catch their eyes and then they may be more inclined to buy the magazine. I also decided to use photos of well known artists from the genre of music I decided to make my magazine about. These artists are some of the most popular in the genre, meaning that my target audience will be interested in the magazine and what is being said about these artists. I also know that my audience like to go to concerts so I made sure that I included live show reviews, and a list of upcoming live shows so that they know about what is coming up in their local area. I have also made sure that my magazine is of a reasonable price, as my target audience are students, so that they can afford it. I have also tried to include what they want most out of a magazine, which were posters and album reviews, so that they will be more interested in my magazine, and I have also made sure I keep my magazine in the alternative/ rock genre as that is what my target audience like most. This means that they will be more likely to look and buy my magazine as the contents is what interests them, which may be different to the other magazines that they buy. I have tried to make sure that my magazine is similar to those that are already around that my audience already buy, however have also tried to make it different so that they do not think that it is just the same as ones that are out there already.

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

When constructing this product I used many different programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint to plan and present my pre production and planning, SlideShare to upload these presentations online, Blogger to present this work online and Photoshop to produce the final product. Microsoft Powerpoint:I had used PowerPoint many times before and so I had the skills to create successful powerpoint presentations which easily conveyed what I wanted them to. Even though I had used PowerPoint before, I learned how to used themes, create transparent images and as I used a more recent version of PowerPoint I also learned how to create shapes and change the colours. As previously mentioned, I learned how to use themes and so I used one theme for all of my presentations related to this project. This gave all of my planning consistency and continuity. This also gave my presentations a house style, which is consistent with how the those in the music magazine industry would present all of their work. I also used Microsoft Word to show my colour schemes and style sheets as I thought that they would look best presented all on one page so that they could be easily compared. I already knew how to use Word well and so did not really learn much from using this program. I then took screenshots of these and placed them on to my blog as images, however I could have easily uploaded them on to Scribd, a website like SlideShare which takes the word documents and makes them easy to upload and embed onto blogs and other websites.

Blogger: I created a blog on Blogger so that all of my work was easily accessible and was organised well. This also meant that I could access my work anywhere and could upload completed tasks whenever they were finished. I could upload these tasks in any order, and could even create them straight on the blog. I was able to save drafts, which meant that I could go back to the post and edit it as many times as I wanted before publishing it. Even when I had published the post, I could still go back into it and edit it. I could also track my page and post views, find out where these people were viewing the blog from and also how they found it. I would recommend Blogger and I will most likely use it again as I found the website easy to use and it didn’t take me long to figure out how to work it. SlideShare: to upload my PowerPoint Presentations on to Blogger, I used a website called SlideShare. This was a very good website to use as you simply upload the presentation, and it is then saved onto your account and you can embed it on to blogs and websites in a variety of different ways. For those who don’t know how to embed the presentation, the website shows clear instructions that were easy to follow. My presentations were then easy to read on my blog, however the only problem I have with SlideShare is that it has changed some of my fonts to different ones.

As I had an email account with Microsoft, I was entitled to use their online storage website called OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive). This meant that all of my files were stored online and were easily accessible. This website is easy to use, and I have used it quite a lot in the past to store files. It means that I don’t have to worry about losing work on a USB as it is stored online and can be found anywhere that has an internet connection. OneDrive also offer apps for most phones, making it even easier to create and edit my coursework. Since I don’t have Microsoft office at home, OneDrive has online apps that make it even easier for me to edit and create tasks. Camera:To take my photos I used my own iPhone camera as they are all from live concerts. I did this as you are not allowed to take professional cameras in to concerts, and taking photos on my phone meant that it was easier and I could get the photos better. As it was my phone camera I did not learn much about it, as I have used it many times before. I think that it does take good quality photos and my photos are the best they could be because of how bright the lighting was in the venue at the show.

Prezi:As well as using PowerPoint, I decided that I would use an online presentation software called Prezi. This gave me the opportunity to create an interactive presentation using themes. I could also easily add different types of media such as images, videos and audio tracks. As it was an online program, that meant that I could easily share and embed the presentation on to my blog. I didn’t really learn much from this other than how to use the website as it was very similar to Powerpoint.

Photoshop:I hadn’t really used Photoshop before so I did not know much about how it worked. This meant that I learned almost everything about Photoshop whilst making my magazine. I learned about how to make different sized pages (A4 and A3 for my double page spread), how to create text, resize and change the fonts, and many other things that helped me create successful pages. I had used Serif DrawPlus for previous projects and so I felt more comfortable using that, however Photoshop has a similar layout and so I could easily work out what I needed to use to create the desired effect. I believe that as this was my first time creating a project on Photoshop it went well, and I feel like I have the skills needed to use Photoshop for other projects in the future. Photoshop also give you the chance to colour code each layer which was very helpful for me as it meant that I could easily organise each layer and could navigate to the one that I wanted quicker. USB stick:As well as using online storage, for the beginning of my project I used a USB memory stick as it meant I could take my work with me wherever I went and access it where I wanted to. I had previously used USBs before and so I knew how to properly use them. Later on in the project I decided to just use online storage as it meant there were no risks of me losing a USB stick and with the risk of a memory stick corrupting, I felt like online storage would be safer and meant that there was not a risk of me losing any of my work.

7.Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it

to the full product? Compared to the preliminary task I feel as though I now have a wider knowledge of the magazine market. I have learnt in detail about the production of a magazine, such as research into existing products, audience research and planning. I have learnt all of the factors that go in to planning a magazine, and how to successfully do this. I have also learnt about how to successfully use Photoshop, as before I did not know how to do it and for my preliminary task I was just playing around trying to find out what to do on the program. This meant that my plans were basic, however now that I have learned how to use Photoshop I can create successful pages. I have also learnt about all of the different things you have to include in a magazine, such as a masthead, cover lines and also what the images should be like on the cover and on the double page spread. This means that I now know how to create a successful magazine. I have learned about researching too, for example using different platforms such as survey monkey and sharing that on social networking sites, as well as interviewing people. This means that I now know exactly how to collect accurate research and reach out to a broader audience by using an online survey.

As you can see, I have learned a lot about how to use Photoshop as I have learned how to change the stroke on text, and have learned about layers and how to change the opacity of colours. This makes my music magazine more professional as I now have the knowledge that I needed to create a successful magazine. I have also learned how to improve the images, meaning that I can make a better looking front cover. Even though my contents page is very simple for the college magazine, I found it quite hard to do as I was not used to using Photoshop. This meant that my college draft pages were simple and were not very professional or successful, however my music magazine looks more suitable. This is because I have learned all about how to make a professional magazine, and have been able to apply this to create a magazine that I am proud of.I have made the magazine suitable to my genre as I have been able to collect information from my target audience to make sure that I make my magazine suitable for them.