Music Magazine – Evaluation

First DraftChloe Gregson

IntroductionTASK: I was given a task to create a

music magazine using a programme called InDesign.

- I worked as an individual.

- I shot pictures which was placed onto my magazine via a studio, which I took myself.

- I edited the pictures using PhotoShop.

In what ways does your media product use,

develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media projects?

The music magazine which I created was based on thegenre of rock. This was evident by the colour scheme(ethos style), models and their costumes and textinvolved in the magazine throughout.

It was vital that I used these basic elements of amagazine when I created mine as if these was notinvolved it would attract the wrong readers or not attractanyone at all. I had to make sure that the magazinefitted in with the magazines which are already on theshelves based on a rock genre.

Did you change anything to make your

magazine challenge forms and conventions

of real media products?

• Usually a music magazine‟s contents page has

many pictures and text boxes telling the reader

about what is coming up in the magazine. I decided

to break the regular rules of music magazines by

only having one main picture on this page and

having the writing in one simple block. Also in

addition to this, I also did not include the word

“contents” on my page as I thought the text said it

all itself without the need of a title.

As you can see from the picture of my „contents page‟ I did not

actually put a title saying „Contents‟ as I wanted to break

the rules of regular music magazines. Also in addition to

this, usually there is many pictures on a contents page so that it will interest readers so

they read another page. I think that the use of this one picture

is enough to interest the readers as the picture is just in your face, which links in with the genre. Finally on top of all this, I have no put an editors

letter on this page, as I personally think and so do

people who have assessed this page we think that it says all it has to say just with the text on

it what I put on myself.

Did your choices here work effectively for

your audiences?The choices I made whilst creating the magazine worked

to my advantage as my audience feedback showed. One of the questions asked them “Does the contents page simply inform clearly or does it also manage to interest you in the rest of the magazine?” and the answers came back telling me that my magazine interested them into reading the rest as answers read:

“I want to read on because of the stories being told on the contents page.”

AND

“This contents page interests me because it is very eye catching and makes me want to read on.”

How does your media product represent

particular social groups?

• This magazine was created for mostly a boy

audience as the genre rock is based around

them, but because I didn‟t want it to come

across as a sexist magazine so the front cover

would catch the female audience as it has two

girls on the front (which hopefully will make

them pick up this magazine and read it.)

Costume• The models I used throughout my music magazine

was wearing an outfit which fitted straight in with thegenre which is ROCK. The costumes I got them to

wear was a black body con skirt and a black lacey

leotard. I think this worked well as it made them fit

in with the genre whilst also being not too „emo‟ or

looking like „moshers‟. This is because of the way

they was posing with their props (a guitar and a

microphone stand.)

Make-up• On my models Nicole and Sarah Turner (who made up

the band for my music magazine „The TT‟ I used quitesimple make-up on them as I thought the props weused on the photo shoot and also the outfit they woremade much more of a statement.

• I used their natural colour skin for the foundation butthen made their eyes a lot darker by using lots ofmascara and eyeliner. I also put lipstick on their lips,but only a little bit, so it makes them edgier but not tooedgy.

Does your magazine fit in with the

dominant mode of the representation of this

group?“Is it adhering to stereotypes that we see commonly

in the media or is it offering an alternative or challenging representation?” is a question which I asked people when I showed them my magazine. This was some of their answers:

“It is showing us that all rock stars do not have to crash a hotel room to become famous and hardcore.”

And also…

“It has changed my stereotypes of rockers as they look just like myself, and nothing different so people shouldn‟t judge them.”

Who would be the audience for your media

project?

The audience for my music magazine would be

put at the age rang between 12 and 25 year

olds.

REASONS:- More likely to go to festivals

- Rock has a younger target audience

- Fans of rock are mostly teenagers and a

minority of adults

Why is this a good target audience?

• Rock has more young viewers/listeners than

adults

• They are in the age range within all media

elements

• They represent rock well

• Most festivals are based around this age

group

• Rock has a large mass audience

Are you likely to have any secondary target

audience?

For my magazine there might be some extra viewers who

like to read a rock based magazine or listen to this sort

of music (which is based in this magazine.) this might

be for their love of music, or festivals but either way

they will enjoy reading this. The reasons for this is that:

- They will like the music

- They might have been brought up around this genre of

music

- They enjoy festivals such as Leeds and/or Reading

Audience Feedback

(PICTURES OF ACTUAL

FEEDBACK, EDITED –

SAYING WHAT THEY‟VE

BEEN ASKED AND HOW

THEY‟VE ANSWERED IT)

How did you attract/address your

audience?

Front CoverOn the front cover of my magazine I tried to

attract the audience as well as I could,because this is what they are going to seefirst on the shelf before picking it up. I had tomake sure it was different from any othermagazine and I did this in many ways:

- White background

- Bigger font than usual (to attract them to themagazine

- A very big picture, as a statement picture

- The title of the magazine takes the whole toprow up, so that the name of the magazine isseen easily so that they know what it is calledstraight away

This front cover will hopefully attractthe audience as I think thedifferent features on it will do itjustice.

Contents PageThe contents page I created was made to

attract the readers of the magazine, as I

wanted them to read past this page and

want to actually read on. I didn‟t want them

to get onto this page, see lots of writing and

shut the whole magazine. That is the main

reason why I kept this page minimal and

short.

ATTRACTIONS TOWARDS THE AUDIENCE:

-Main picture catches their eye straight

away

-Different coloured font, makes it more

interesting to read

-Hardly no writing so they‟re not put off

-Tells them the date, page numbers so they

do not have to find it out all for themselves

Double Page Spread

Things that will attract the readers:

-Different colours, so that they can understand what is being said and who by

-The two images are striking, so it will catch their attention

-The text grabs are big and readable as soon as the page before it is turned

-There isn‟t a lot of writing so they will feel more comfortable reading it

My double page spread was a article

which I made up myself pretending I

had an interview with a real music

band. The questions which I asked

and placed in this article are the ones

that you would normally get in a music

magazine as it has the same amount

of questions and the usual questions

which are asked. As there isn‟t a lot of

writing it will not be daunting on the

readers and they will hopefully want to

read it to find out more about „The TT.‟

What have you learnt about technologies

from the process of constructing this

project?Whilst creating this magazine „Riot‟ I used many different

websites and programmes through preparation, and also whilst actually editing it:

- Blogger.com

- Google.com

- Dafont.com

- Youtube.com

- In Design

- Photoshop

Editing Pictures• I used Photoshop to edit my pictures before putting

them on my magazine. I did this because I wanted

the pictures to look ever so professional and

editorial. The colour of background (after I edited

the pictures) fitted into the background of each

page.

Preliminary TaskBefore actually creating the music magazine, I was given a task to create a magazine

(for a practice) based on a story I made up for my college. When I looked back at

this magazine after doing my actual one I seen ways in which I slipped up on my

prelim task.

My final music magazine was better than my preliminary task magazine because:

- It had better colours on it (fitted in with the genre and also it was brighter and

looked more professional.)

- There was an actual barcode on the magazine

- The pictures were edited better, and looked more professional

- The whole magazine looked more believable

- Much more like a magazine rather than a poser

- The font and font size looks a lot more standardized

- Lighting on the pictures are a lot clearer (makes everything which needs to stand

out, to stand out)

PRELIMINARY TASK FRONT COVER OF ACTUAL MAGAZINE