Media Music Magazine Final Evaluation

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

I learnt from the preliminary task the typical features of magazine which I was then able to carry over into my main music magazine task. By studying the magazines so closely, I discovered features that I would not have normally noticed, but that greatly contributed to the overall effect of the magazine. By designing my student magazine, I was able to see how to make my music magazine more professional and the preliminary task acted as practice for me to get to grips with what I needed to include. The images I used in my student magazine, I left unedited and between then and now, I have learnt many photo-editing techniques which have improved the quality of my photos. I have experimented with a lot more fonts which helped to make my designs more unique. I have also learnt a lot more about the conventions of magazines; my student magazine was the image I had in my head of what a magazine should look like whereas my final product was researched more thoroughly. The colours I have used in my final task are a lot more professional looking in comparison with the bright and conflicting colours of my student magazine. I also learnt which conventions I could bend and which I needed to keep to make sure my product looked authentic e.g. the masthead in my student magazine is in a non-conventional place and is an unusual shape, but does not jump out at the reader whereas the masthead of my student magazine is where you'd expect it to be but is still eye catching. When I look at both of my designs, student and music magazine, I can see how much my designing has progressed and how, in so little time, I have improved the level of professionalism in my work.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents both younger and older adults through the images featured. The main article and front cover feature a young adult who is bright and colourful, typical of young adults, but there are also articles featured with older musicians and artists to represent older generations. The writing style is easy to read, though a wide vocabulary is used to reflect the magazine’s adult audience. I think there is a fair balance of text and fewer images are needed as the ones that are included are bright and interesting. The style is sharp, neat and I have made sure it is not cluttered which reflects the age of the audience. The articles featured includes ones on older artists and new up and coming artists which would also mean older generations could be introduced to new music, as well as vice versa.

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

I used several different programmes to produce my music magazine, primarily, Microsoft Publisher. I used this to construct the pages and to design several different layouts. It allowed me to move text and images freely so that I was able to do everything I had planned. The programme was also easy to use, with simple but effective tools. I was able to download several different fonts form the website dafont.com which were available for use in Publisher and this helped me to make my design more original and to create an eye catching masthead. I used the same font for most of the text throughout the magazine which links all the pages together and shows they are all from the same magazine. To edit my photos I used Adobe Photoshop CS2 where I lightened, changed the contrast and colour of my images. The images themselves have a common colour scheme and tone which gives the impression that they are all from the same photo shoot, making them look more professional. Editing the pictures with this programme made them appear glossy and professional in contrast with the basic images I actually took. The lighting in the photos that I took either bleached out the model or had an orange tone and without Photoshop, they would look significantly more amateur.

The digital camera I used to take the pictures was the Canon EOS 1000D which I choose to use due to the quality of the pictures it produces and the vast memory which allowed me to take multiple images and select the best ones to feature in the magazine. I recorded a video showing how I changed the hair colour of the model from brown to red and for this I simply held up my webcam to the screen as I edited the photo.

I then used Windows Movie Maker to speed up the longer sections of video and to put music over it to make it more interesting. The main piece of technology I used was the site blogger.com on which I uploaded all the steps of both my prelim and my final magazine task. The site allowed me to upload pictures and video to illustrate what I was writing about and I could create polls and questionnaires to get the opinion of an audience. To create the poll I used the site pollcode.com and then copied the HTML over to my blog. I wrote up most of the text on Microsoft Word before transferring it over to Publisher as I found this helped me to make my writing clearer and allowed me to focus on the text rather than where it was going to go in relation to the rest of the magazine layout. The final touches to the images were done on the editing software programme GIMP as it had tools that were simpler to use that Photoshop and it was quicker than trying to work it out. I learnt a lot about the programmes Photoshop and GIMP during the task as I had to look up tutorials and new techniques on the internet which expanded my knowledge of photo editing. Finally, to create this power point for my evaluation, I used Microsoft PowerPoint.

What would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience is young adults (20+) who either already have an interest in retro music as an alternative to current popular music or are new to the retro music scene and are looking for an alternative. The reader may have an all around enthusiasm for all things retro e.g. clothing, and would fall into the C1/C2 socioeconomic group which would allow them to purchase CD’s and merchandise advertised in the magazine. They would be interested in reading reviews of acts before buying concert tickets so would look to the magazine for information. They will primarily be interested in retro music but may also favour popular music that has noticeably been influenced by older styles. The magazine is targeted at both males and females and has a good balance of articles suited to both genders.

How did you attract/address your audience?

My magazine cover is designed to attract my audience in several ways. The clear, bright masthead attracts readers due to the colour and the fact that some of the lettering is behind the models head. This makes the image in front jump out at the reader and catch their eye. The image itself is bright and interesting and the vibrancy of the model's red hair makes for an interesting image. The large sticker with the word 'free' would attract readers as they think they will get something extra when they buy the magazine and the word 'exclusive' that runs across the banner makes them think the magazine contains something they can not get anywhere else. I think it is good that the free posters are not previewed on the cover as this encourages people to purchase the magazine to see what is inside. The banner is also covered by an identical one made of card which stops people looking inside before they buy the magazine. They can only access the content if they purchase it. The bright red and blue stars I have made part of the brand identity, help to draw the eye towards the cover lines and encourage the potential buyer to look closer. This would attract more readers as 70% of magazine purchases are impulse buys. The black background behind the cover lines and list of artists make the text more visible and if the reader doesn't have to struggle to read the text, they are more inclined to try to read it in the first place. A quote from an artist is included on the cover which makes the reader what to find out what it refers to. In the main image, the model is making eye contact with the reader which helps to draw them in. I made the price small, next to the barcode because it will be the last thing they look at; they will have been drawn in and attracted by everything the magazine is offering, so when they look at the price, they will pay whatever is asked. I also changed the spelling from 'psychedelic' to 'psychodelic' because the word psycho has more impact and is more eye catching.

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

A media institution that may distribute my music magazine would be Bauer Consumer Media who are responsible for publishing such magazines as Q, Mojo and Kerrang. They would be ideal to publish my magazine as they are experts in their field and publish many different types of magazines e.g. Kerrang is a rock magazine where as Mojo is focused on older music. There is a gap for a magazine like PsychoDelic as it is specifically aimed at young adults but is about older music (from examining Mojo magazine, I would say it was more for adults than young adults and relies on knowledge the adults already hold of that period of music.) PsychoDelic informs readers of older music but relates it to new, updated music which would appeal to a younger audience. Alternatively, I could go for a lesser known publisher than specialises in specific genres of music. An example of such a publisher would be Future PLC who distribute thousands of specialist magazines.

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

I have mostly stuck with the conventions of music magazine with my media product.Front cover: The masthead is in the conventional place and stretches the width of the page. The image on my front cover is a typical image of an artists making eye contact with the reader and I stuck with this convention as it helps to lure readers in. If the picture is of a famous artists or someone who is popular at the time, people are also more likely to buy a copy. I mostly stuck with the conventions because all the best selling music magazines contain the same features and by using this formula, my magazine would be more likely to sell. A banner stretches across the page which is a typical feature and the cover lines are either side of the main image. Another typical feature is using enticing language such as 'free' to attract readers as they think they are getting something more out of buying it. Another word that is commonly used is 'exclusive' which makes the reader think the magazine is offering something they can not get anywhere else.Contents page: My columns are conventional as they run down the length of the page and the headings are bold and run in the same way. There is an editorial which is common in all types of magazines and an offer of a subscription. There are also examples of previous covers which is often used when trying to entice people into a subscription. The contents are laid out in an easy to read way and are divided up into two sections; on the cover and regulars. This is common among many magazines although sometimes an image is included of the cover and the page numbers and indicated by arrows pointing to the areas of the picture. I decided against this as it would look too cluttered.Double spread page: Half of my double spread is taken up by a large image with the title spread across it, as is the convention. However, I decided against stretching the title across both of the pages as that would leave less room for the article and I wanted to keep both sections separate. There are also two smaller images to keep the reader interested as they read through the text. It was important that information was conveyed without boring the reader so the pictures are bright, bold and interesting. A quote has been inserted in the middle of the article and has been given a black background to make it stand out. This is a convention of all magazines who include a large quote to encourage the reader to read the entire article to discover the context of the quote.