Evaluation Of Music Magazine

FOLLOWING SEVEN HEADINGS. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? 4. Who would the audience be for your media product?5. How did you attract/address your audience?6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? (Screenshots will help to illustrate this)7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Masthead

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

Grab quote from a feature article

Grab quote

Footerdate

date

Main imageMCU

Cover lines

Strap lines

background

background

Main cover line

The font throughout both magazines is serif. The colours are also very bold throughout.

Main image- MS

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

The front cover of my music magazine follows many forms and conventions of a real magazine as it has a masthead in the top left third to follow conventions of a real music magazine. A date which is essential in any magazine to show how recent the magazine is. The name of the genre in the top right third in order for my audience to know what magazine they are buying. A large main image at eye level in the middle of the magazine which is a MCU of the main artist featuring in my magazine and in the vibe magazine the image is a MS. It also has a barcode and the price which is also essential to my magazine for people to buy it. It has strap lines and cover lines to tell you what is featuring in my magazine and what artists are going to be in there. The only conventions it challenges is that it doesn’t have as many cover lines as the vibe magazine, and the name of the artist ‘TIMER’ should have been in a bigger font to show which is the main artist on the page like it does in the vibe magazine with ‘EMINEM’.

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

Date and website

Main image of artist and caption

Main image of artist and caption

Initial of the mastheadInitial of the masthead

The title

Small image with a caption

Small image with a caption

Main features

Additional deapartments

Additional departments

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

The contents page of my music magazine follows many forms and conventions of a real magazine as it has a main title which says contents page like the Q magazine below. They both have initials of the masthead featuring on the page to show that it’s a ‘rime’ and ‘Q’ magazine that are both in the top left third. They both have features to show you what is in the magazine to persuade you to read it if you are interested in any of the following features and artists. They also both have a date and website in the top right third of the magazine which is essential in order for you to buy the magazine. They also both have a main image to show you the main artist that is going to be interviewed and in the caption there is a quote from the interview. Also they both have a smaller image to show you what else is going to be in the magazine but they keep it small as it isn’t going to be a main thing in the magazine. The thing that challenges forms and conventions of a real media product is that is should have more departments as I only have a few but the Q magazine tends to have a lot more about what is going on the in magazine.

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

Headline/ artists name

Illustration

Illustrations

Page number and date

Page number

Page number and date Page number

Pull quote

Pull quote

Cover line

Cover line

article

article

caption

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

In my double page spread I have a title whereas in the vibe magazine it has no title as the woman on the front cover is well known but my artist isn’t therefore I had to include a title on mine. My image is a MS whereas the vibe magazines image is a LS. Both images are at eye level and are looking at the audience. They both have page numbers, the name of the magazine and the website as it is essential to the magazine. They vibe article is just about the artist however my article is an interview. They both have pull quotes to show what the main thing they say in the article. They also both have cover lines to explain what is going on in the main article.

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

The social groups I have aimed for in my music magazine are low to middle classed lifestyles, that may be from a poor background in some cases but take music very seriously and see it as a route out of where they currently are in life, that is why I didn’t make my magazine so expensive as it is only £2.95. My media product particularly represents rap/grime music. I have represented this through the image on my front cover. My image fits in with the rap genre as he is wearing headphones and particularly the mise-en-scene in the image suggests that it is coming from the rap genre, along with all the names of the artists surrounding the main image who are very well known from these genres of music such as Kkoke and Giggs from the ‘ Grime’ genre and Eminem and Biggie Smalls from the ‘rap’ genre. Therefore this magazine represents people who are either interested in this type of music or lifestyle. So at the same time this may attract people aspiring to be like Tupac or Biggie Smalls in the sense of their musical achievements.

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

The pictures I have used on my contents page and my double page spread also fit into the genre of my magazine and would also appeal to social groups like ‘hoodies’ and ‘chavs’. The use of the headphones on my music magazine is because they are being advertised in because there is a competition in my magazine for them to be won. This would appeal to my target audience and beat headphones are very popular in my genre of music. This genre of music tends to deal with race issues as it is such a controversial genre that talks about drugs and makes a lot of sexual references and tends to have cursing language. Social class is also a big issue in this music as most of the rappers started off with nothing in their lives and seemed to be very poor before their big careers. I also made sure there were different ethnicity groups within my pictures.

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

Fans of my music would be quite young if not young adults as it is very modern music that only males tend to listen to as it mainly features males. Black males are usually represented in this genre of music, therefore black males tend to like and listen to the music, however it’s social groups seem to be very mixed. The stereotypes for my music magazine would be sub-cultures like ‘hoodies’ and ‘chavs’ are seen to be very keen on this music as they aspire to be like the rappers in the industry. The language is also quite explicit as well in this genre that’s why the target audience of hoodies and chavs tend to listen to this music, as they are notorious for their bad language. They also tend to be ‘Aspirers’, even though they mainly come from poor backgrounds they seem to wear exclusive brands of clothes, and decent lifestyles. However, they also have mainstream profiles like Eminem and Jay-Z as they are very important in the rap industry and have a sense of security and belonging.

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

IPC (formerly International Publishing Corporation) is a British publishing company that publishes different types of medias and music magazines. IPC might distribute my media product as they only distribute NME magazines which is an indie magazine. As my media product is a rap/grime magazine and IPC only distribute NME which is an indie magazine I therefore think there would be a place for my magazine as IPC only distribute indie and no other genres of music. The fact NME has lasted for around 50 years shows what a good media company they are therefore this would be a very good music company to distribute my magazine.

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

Bauer Media Group is a multinational media company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany which operates in 15 countries worldwide. Since the company was founded in 1875, it has been privately owned and under management by the Bauer family. It was formerly called Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG, abbreviated to HBV and usually shortened to H. Bauer. The worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Group's magazine titles amounts to 38 million magazines a week. This also suggests that this is a good media institution to distribute my magazine as they tend to distribute Hip-Hop and rock magazines like KERRANG, therefore I think there would be a place for my rap/grime magazine. In addition, my music magazine would jeopardize any of the other magazines as mine is different.

• InterMedia Advisors, LLC, also known as InterMedia Advisors is a private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in the media sector.

• The firm, which was founded in 2005 by notable private equity investor Leo Hindery, is based on the 48th floor of the Chrysler Building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

• Among the firm's most notable investments are Thomas Nelson, Universal Sports, @Home Network, InterMedia Outdoors, Vibe Lifestyle Network, and Puerto Rican station WAPA-TV

I think that my media product could have a place in this media institution and it tends to fit in with all the other genres of music magazines. However, as it is similar to all the other genres in this magazine this might jeopardize the other magazine in this institution therefore I think IPC would be the best media institution as it has no grime/rap magazines and only distributes and indie magazine that is very popular and has lasted for over 50 years.

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

4. Who would the audience be for your media product?The age of my target audience would be between 15 and 23 as this music on tends to appeal to younger people like teenagers and young adults as older people tend to think the language is appalling and disagree with how artists from this genre act. My audience would access music online from websites like YouTube and usually download music from ITunes as some grime music doesn’t tend to be free download as it isn’t a very big market of genres therefore it would have to be brought. However, rap music is very popular therefore easily accessible so my audience would listen to it on YouTube. My audience would also be people that like to keep up with their idol artists and in some way try to imitate them in some sort of way e.g. dress like them (buy expensive clothes like them) and make music like them. As my target audience are still young and figuring out what social group to be like they would tend to buy the magazine to see what their idols are wearing so they can copy their style instead of being unique and individuals. They also tend to spend the money they have on clothes and concerts.

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

They usually tend to be boys so they would listen to music all the time, go out with friends, house party’s, play games and socialise online e.g. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube that’s why I tended to add the most famous grime and rap artists in my magazine as my target audience would be more attracted to my media product, as if I chose to use artists that aren’t very popular then no one would be interested in my magazine.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

As I done a questionnaire and a focus group I knew exactly what people wanted from my magazine and I incorporated all this into my work. They wanted the house style of blue and grey therefore I put this into my work. They said I shouldn’t have too many pictures in my magazine and have more text as it is more interesting so I took this advice and done this in my media product. I also gave them a list of what grime and rap artists I should put into my front page and contents page and they gave me the feedback and I put them into my magazine such as Kkoke, Giggs, Eminem and 2Pac for example. All the various questions I put in my questionnaire and focus groups I done near enough exactly what my audience was mainly attracted to in order for my magazine to be very appealing to my target audience.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

• The way in which the artists in my artists all look moody and are not smiling is very stereotypical of my genre as rappers tend to try and look powerful and mean to show them nothing can phase them.

• The features on my contents page are very appealing as you can win prizes and there are interviews with top artists in the industry.

• The double page spread in my magazine is a direct interview from a new group in the industry and people might be interested in this as it is there first ever interview.

• The colours are very bright, and the images all like to the text..

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

I used InDesign and Photoshop in order to construct my product. I made the front cover and contents page in Photoshop as I found it a lot easier to use than InDesign as the effect on the images tended to be a lot better than InDesign and was a lot easier to do.

All you have to do is go to the right side of the page and click on what colour and effect you want on your image. You can also click the buttons below is you want a black and white look on your image or if you want a certain thing to be a gradient.

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

The text was also very easy to do on Photoshop as all you have to do it click on the ‘T’ tool then go to the top and change the font, size and thickness of the font if preferable. It is also easy to change the colour of the text by highlighting the text you want to change the colour of, and double clicking the coloured box in the left hand corner and then I chose my preferred colour.

Here is the text tool

Double click and then choose your colour then press OK.

Here you can change the font type, size and thickness of the text.

Front cover:

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

To make the gradient back ground on the front page of my magazine I used a rectangle and covered my A4 page with it then went to the side of effects and change it to gradient and rearranged it to the way I wanted it to be. I then saved it as a JPEG and added it to InDesign.• Firstly I click the move tool

Then click on rectangle box and click effects then choose your desired gradient. Once you’ve got the one you want click OK.

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

Contents Page:For my contents page I used Photoshop as I think it was the best possible way to make my contents page to a decent standard as I wasn’t too confident with using InDesign at this point. • Firstly, I done the big letter R the same way I did on page 19 I just made the font bigger

and thicker and changed the colour of the font to grey.• I done the words of the contents page separately so I could change it easily into the

position I wanted it to be in.• The background was made the same as the background in my previous slide.• The images were both made my clicking the black and white tool on the right hand side

of the page

Black and white tool.

• ‘features’ and ‘departments’ were different texts to the rest of the page as I wanted these words to stand out on the page as it was important for the reader to read what is going on in each page of the magazine.

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

• Everything else on my contents page was made by pressing the ‘T’ tool and then I just changed the thickness and the colour of the font for aesthetic purposes.

• I also used a rectangle tool; as a puff to put under the caption so it was eye-catching on the page because if I didn’t have them the text wouldn’t be visible on the page.

Text tool

Shape (rectangle tool)

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

Double Page Spread:My double page spread was done on InDesign as it was easier to do it on here than on Photoshop as the layout was easier whilst writing my article.• I imported my image by going to file and place and then finding my document.

In order to get my image I went to file and place and then went to my media file and imported it this way and I used Photoshop in order to get ride of my background as I couldn’t do this using InDesign.

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

In order to do my text I used the T tool and changed the colour and font to the same colour and size throughout my whole magazine to keep the house style the same.

This is how I got my text box.

This is how I changed the font and size of my text.

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

To change the colour of my text I double clicked this tool, which then took me to colour picker I then chose my preferred colour and then pressed OK.

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

In order to get the line under ‘TIMER’ and the 3 black lines I used this rectangle tool and then double clicked the colour tool and changed them all to my preferred colour.

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

In my preliminary task I had basic knowledge on how to use Photoshop and InDesign, however after experimenting a lot on both of these software's I am now confident in using both as I spent a lot more time using them. Also, in my preliminary task I didn’t know a lot about magazines but I thoroughly studied music magazines and learnt most codes and conventions in order for my music magazine to look like a real media product. In my full product the front cover looks a lot more full on the page and stands out a lot more as my image is very eye catching whereas the image in my preliminary task looks quite dull and the lighting isn’t so great as it was taken indoors. This time I made sure I took my image outdoors in order to get better lighting on the image, as it is the main focus on the page is it is completely necessary for it to stand out. I tended to use the same colours from my preliminary task in my full product as they are very eye catching and tend to work quite good. I also used a background in my full product so the empty spaces didn’t make my cover look so bare. I also used a few more cover lines and strap lines to persuade the audience to want to buy my magazine. I also included buy lines and made my masthead stand out a lot more and made important things on the page bolder and bigger.

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

My preliminary contents page was very empty and there was a lot of space that could have been taken up therefore in my full product I made sure it was completely full with interesting stuff on the page to engage my audience. I used black and white for the contents page as when I was researching into different music magazine contents pages they all tended to be black and white therefore I wanted to use these codes and conventions. I didn’t use as many images in my full product as I wanted the focus to be more on my text than my images as it was a lot more important to my magazine and in my preliminary task I tended to use a lot of images to take focus off the text as I wasn’t too sure on what to feature in my magazine. My double page spread was quite plain as when I researched into double page spreads the text was more important and if I included a lot of colour it would take to much attention away from my actual article. I also made sure that all my images stood out and was bright as they were quite important and was all to do with the features in my magazine. I kept the same house style throughout as it looks messy if I was using different fonts, size of text and colours and I thought if I stuck to the same few colours my magazine wouldn’t look so over the top, but still eye catching.

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

Overall, looking back on my preliminary task I have learnt a lot in the progression from it to the full product because I have a lot more knowledge on Photoshop and InDesign. In my opinion I think that my full product has definitely improved a lot from my preliminary task as I have researched more into the codes and conventions of music magazines so I know what things to include in my work, also all the stuff I don’t think worked in my preliminary task I took on board and changed them to make my full product look better.