EVALUATING MY MUSIC MAGAZINE

I'm going to evaluate my music magazine...

I put a “free music” caption to attract the

attention of costumers.

Mast head in a BIG font making it stand out and unmissable

Feature in this edition of the

magazine also in big unmissable font and

colour

Use of same prop

‘Mic’

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

Cover Lines

My music magazine has many examples of conventions similar to a professional music magazine. I did this by looking at every detail on the NME music magazine as I wanted my magazine to be similar to NME, for example my masthead.

As you can see my masthead on my music magazine is similar to the NME masthead. I made my music magazine name three letters long as I thought it will have a similar effect to the NME masthead. I copied the idea of having an outline and changed the colour scheme slightly though I still used the 3 colours they used (Red,White,Black). I decided to add little things that I felt would make it more eye catching and appealing.

My music magazine has many conventions, for example my image of my model. Its a medium shot, The NME front cover I chosen is also a medium shot of big time rapper Eminem. I tried use the same sort of style as NME with my image as its very effective

On my music magazine and the chosen NME music magazine the featured rappers both have their names in the middle of the models body. This shows who the rapper is and adds effect to it as it shows there value by having their rap name in a bigger font size.

I decided to let my rap modal hold a prop, my magazine is on rap so i felt that a microphone would be suitable for the front cover. This is conventional as big time rapper Eminem is also holding a microphone in his picture for NME. This is also symbolic as people instantly think of music once looking at a microphone.

On the bottom right hand corner of my music magazine I decided to put my bar code there. Most magazines do this so I felt it would be very conventional to do so. I put my price on my bar code and also my magazines website. The everyday magazine reader knows prices are on the barcode so it was good to put it there.

I decided to put a ‘free music’ caption on my front cover to attract my audience. I figured this is a conventional thing to do as the NME music magazine shown on my past slide. It’s a smart way way to attract audience. The captions are both in a different colour allowing it to stand out and instantly catch the audiences eyes.

How does your music magazine represent a particular social group?

On my music magazine I found out my age group and social group by analysing NMEs music magazine.15-23 social groups C2-E. So I felt as having a young audience I really need to have a young, eye catching model. Dressed similarly to how the everyday rapper would dress. So I did this, I feel by doing this it can connect with the reader more and also make them feel comforted at the fact that as a streetwise person they can happily pick up this magazine and know it’s aimed at them. But then again you don't need to be street wise to enjoy this magazine as its about rap. Many social groups from all sorts of ages can like this genre of music this is what made me decide on what colour schemes I should use. By using the colours black, red and white I feel it gives a street design to it. I did this to connect with the readers interested in my music magazine. I feel that my front cover represents my targeted social group as young, streetwise and determined. You can see this by looking at my modals emotion, dress sense and image.

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

I think IPC Will publish my music magazine. They’re the leading publisher in the UK and publish magazines such as NME, Nuts and many other magazines. My music magazine is similar to NME yet more to the rap genre of music. This makes me feel they would notice what I have to offer. the consistency of news updates my magazine would provide. I also feel that my magazine has something others don't. Connecting very well with the younger generation who haven't been raised with a silver spoon in their mouth. I believe I'd be able to move television based viewers into magazine readers if my magazine had the chance to be published by IPC And I think IPC will notice this. My music magazine will be published at many local news agents mainly in the lower-class areas. Also the price is incredibly low so I'm sure they would sell very well as they are definitely worth every penny. I'm sure IPC Profits will be incredibly high and this is why I believe my music magazine would get published for IPC I also think my music magazine could have it’s own television channel and radio station due to its popularity. I think it would be a huge success, maximizing profits.

Who will be the audience?

My targeted audience would be around the ages 15-23. Social groups C2-E. Mainly looking at the lower class areas. Most likely to be males due to the male and other headlines. The magazine is in English so anybody who can read English is a targeted audience. I know this as my music magazine is similar to NME and they have this same targeted audience. This is what helped me find out who my targeted audience is more clearly and made me decide it. The reason I decide this audience will be good for the music magazine was due to the genre and liveliness of the young. I felt there would be allot of storeys I can publish which allows me to have many new articles I can talk about on my music magazine, as the rap genre have many young fans.

How did you attract audience?

•I attracted audience with a short yet powerful name for my music magazine, its straight to the point by instantly showing what genre the magazine is about ‘RAP’. I made sure I used a big font size to attract the readers eye. I also used a colour scheme of red, white and black these colours are powerful and seem to link well.

•On the bottom left corner I used a ‘Free music’ advertisement. This is done in a red circle with white text inside. It’s unmissable as its on top of a black background and instantly will catch the readers eye.

•I put the price under the huge masthead. The price is £2.50 which is incredibly cheap. I believe the cheap prices is a main aspect and will definitely attract anybody walking past.

• My model is also a main aspect from the way he's dressed to the way he's looking eye to eye to the reader. He has a serious look to him and as he's an upcoming artist it makes people want to know who he is as he seems he’s a new face. By putting his rap name ‘FATAL’ in a big font its another eye catching aspect as they make the reader want to know more about Fatal and want to know what all the fuss is about.

•I used short headlines in a big font size. Small yet powerful, I go with my Mike Tyson theory. You don't have to be big to nock down the big. So I used short headlines that sickout on top of the black background in the original colour scheme (red and white). Some of the text has hints of yellow onto them making them standout from everything around it. These headlines will definitely attract my audience.

•I showed some friends samples of my music magazine including the front cover, contents page and double page spread. I got left with a lot of positive feedback involving the colour scheme and use of vocabulary

What have you learnt about technology from the progress of constructing the product?

I learnt a lot about technology. For example I learnt so much about Photoshop and Adobe indesighn. I didn't know how complexed the programs where, and I didn't know something this complex existed until using it myself. It showed me how far technology is going and how nothing is impossible.

I also found blogger really hard to use. I think technology is up to date with blogger but i feel they should make it more simpler to use as I really struggled to organise my layout and put things in order by date as if I forgot to upload a folder I wouldn’t be able to reorganize is unless I delete the past posts. I found this really annoying.

I used many other forms of technology for example:

-Slideshare

-Digital Cameras

-Microsoft Office

-Mobile phone ( organising my interview)

Looking at your pliminery exercise what do you think you have learnt in the progression to the

final product ?

I have learnt so much in the progression of creating my final product. I learnt a lot on how important location of images are, before I thought it doesn't matter where I take my image ( background ) or where it is located on the magazine but I learnt that its best big in the middle of the magazine. I also learnt how effective it is having the model looking at the reader in the eye. I also learnt taking my picture portrait makes better use on the pixels of the camera giving a better image. It’s also easier to adjust it to the music magazine that way, I didn’t know this before.

I learnt about the appropriate language for the music magazine. I used slang in my new music magazine to make it look more street wise making it more relatable and interesting to the reader.

I learnt that big is powerful. What I mean by this is my font sizes on headlines and the masthead need to be big and powerful, this has so much more effect then having it small.

At first I didn't know how to use Photoshop or Indesighn but after the pliminery exercise it helped me understand it more so the second time around I found it a lot easier to use saving me a lot more time

I also learnt how important little features are, for example my ‘free music’ advertisement. I didn't think it was important at first but I realised how much more readers it could attract just because of this little add on.