Evaluation: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of creating this product

While I already had knowledge on how to use digital cameras, some parts of this coursework have been a complete new thing to me that I had to learn to use quickly. Although I had to do this, I feel I learnt how to use them effectively to create my magazine.


Software
Software would include any program on a computer. To create my magazine I used Adobe Photoshop CS3, which I had no knowledge of previously. Although I had to teach myself to use it, I found it very easy to use and I found it very useful for making my magazine.


For creating my article I used Microsoft Word to write it all out before putting it in my double page spread. This allowed me to see what I was writing clearly and allowed me to make any changes to spelling and punctuation that were necessary.


I used Microsoft Paint for small touch ups of my work, for example reducing the reflection of the flash in the eyes of my model on the front cover.


I used a program call GIMP (short for GNU Image Manipulation Program) to take parts of images for specific uses, for example the guitar across the top of the contents page was cut from an image much larger than the space I had available at the top of my page.


Computer
For my work I used the Apple Mac computers at school and my own laptop. While I used the school computers mainly for textual posts, I used my laptop to upload my image-based posts, as this is what I used to create my magazine, so they were all saved on it. I also used my laptop for text-based posts when I was at home.


Camera
I used my parent’s Fuji digital camera to take my images for my magazine, which is very simple to use so it was not problem to understand this.

Evaluation: Looking back at your prelim what do you feel you learnt in progression from it to final product

Evaluation looking back at your prelim what do you feel you learnt in progression from it to final product

View more PowerPoint from chriswaltonasmedia

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

I have 2 options for publishing companies that may distribute my magazine. The first one is a publisher that is well known for publishing magazines in my genre and the other is a publisher who has not produced magazines in my genre before.

One magazine publisher I would consider is Bauer Media Group. This company publish music magazines such as Q and Kerrang! magazines, This would help my magazine to become more popular quickly, as they have first hand knowledge on the best ways to market successful rock music magazines. On the other hand, they may be more reluctant to take on my magazine, as they already have two successful magazines in the genre, so may not see the need for a third magazine, or may not want to cut into the profits of the other two magazines.

The other magazine publisher I would consider is Development Hell Limited, publisher which makes music magazines in other genres. Although I would lose the specific knowledge of the music sector that Bauer would give me, Development Hell would also give me some expertise on advertising my magazine to make it popular. They may also be more likely to distribute my magazine, as they would be able to tap into a completely different market and take profit away from competition in their industry.

Complete magazine

These are all 4 pages that I produced for my magazine, I wanted to put them all in one post for convenience

Evaluation: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms + conventions of real media products

Annoyingly, I had made a powerpoint on this, but it was too large to upload to Slideshare, a website which allows you to share powerpoints. This means I'll just have to type it out.

Front Cover

I kept to many conventions of rock music magazines for my front cover, using colours to draw the readers attention, and having a direct mode of address with the audience. I used the image on the right as a style I wished to replicate, and I believe I stayed true to the style displayed.

Contents

For my contents page I tried to stay close to styles already used in rock magazines. I used highlighted areas to show different sections of the magazine, such as news and reviews. I also used images down one side of the page as previews of whats in the magazine, which is also done in actual magazines.

Double Page Spread

There are several different ways of doing a double page spread in rock magazines. Some magazines for one full page of writing and an image, others go for more writing and some for less. I decided to find a middle ground and have a page of writing and a page with a picture. I quite like the style I used and I feel it kept to the conventions of my music magazine genre.

Evaluation: Who would be the audience for your media product?

During our lessons we were told about SAGEL, an abbreviation of the terms Social group, Age, Gender, Ethnicity and Lifestyle. I will use these to explain the ideal target audience for my magazine.

Social group

This section refers to the social class of the readers. Generally, rock music magazines would be read by middle and working class youths, as these groups are where the genre normally gains fans and bands originate from.

Age

Generally speaking, magazines in my genre are read by younger readers, aged between 15-30. I would target this age range as I know they buy magazines of this genre and are fans of the music inside

Gender

After reading the NRS (National Readership Survey) and focusing on rock music magazines I discovered that there is a much larger number of males who buy this type of magazine than there is females. Using this information I would focus my magazine more on young males aged between 15-30.

Ethnicity

Although the roots of rock music can be traced to originate in black music, there is very little representation of black people in the modern incarnation of rock music. Due to this there is likely to be very few front covers or interviews with a black musician in a rock magazine. This would probably also affect my audience as there would probably also be not as many fans of the genre who are of an ethnic minority, especially since, when you link this to social groups there is a trend where ethnic minorities live in more built up, urban areas where the social class is generally lower (working + lower classes). In these areas music such as Hip-Hop, RnB and Drum and Bass would be more prevalent as the main genre, so this would mean that I would have a smaller ethnic audience than some other magazine types, such as RnB, would have.

Lifestyle

This would encompass a large group of areas and is difficult to specify, but the features that set the lifestyle of people who are fans of this genre apart from others is probably their passion for the music they listen to. Most fans of rock music are very keen to go to gigs, and are more often than not seen wearing merchandise of their favourite bands. Many also choose to have tattoos, and they are far more prevalent in rock culture than any other music culture.

Ideal Audience

From what I’ve shown here, my ideal audience is young, middle/working class, white males, who gravitate towards a similar lifestyle to the one shown. To this extent, I would use these people as examples of a member of my ideal audience:

Double page spread second draft

After being told i needed to do more for my double page spread, I have redone the page and included an article on the first page, with an image on the other side. I have portrayed the model as a typical rock music character, making them seem like an anti-hero character, somebody who is the opposite of a good role model for young people who listen to the music.

Evaluation: How did you attract and address your audience?

Double page spread

These are the two pages for my double page spread. I decided to make them as two separate A4 sized documents in photoshop, as I felt this would make sure they were both the same width

Contents page

This is the contents page that I am currently using for my music magazine

fifth front cover draft

I've had a very productive day it seems. This is the 5th draft I've done for my front cover, and the 3rd today. With this draft I reverted back to having more sell lines around the central model, but i edited the way the main story's sell line was written, as I feel this makes it stand out more from the other stories on the front page, due to it having more colours and overlapping words, which makes it more visible and draws the readers eye

Fourth front cover draft

After editing the positions of sell lines on my front cover I wanted to try out a new idea, so I tried to used a minimalist approach to my cover, removing almost all of the sell lines and replacing them with a list of artists in a line across the bottom of the page. While I enjoyed creating this draft, I don't think I will use it for my final piece, as while having very little on the page does look good, I think it is not done very widely in my genre to be considered as 'conventional', so it would not be done in normal circumstances.

Third front cover draft

After some going over of my current draft I decided to try to add more to my front cover, so I moved the sell lines around and added a new one to use the most of the space i had given myself by moving others around. While it is a minor change I am happy with how it turned out so I thought I should blog it

Media Institutions

A media institution is an organization that deals with the production, marketing, distribution and regulation of media products. While there are many of these companies to choose from, if I was to produce my magazine professionally I would want to use a company that already produces magazines similar to my product.


Some of the media institutions that produce music magazines in the same genre as my magazine are:

• Bauer Media Group - Publishers of Q and Kerrang! magazines
• Freeway Press Inc. - Publishers of Rock Sound magazine
• Alternative Press Magazine Inc. - Publishers of Alternate Press magazine
• Jann Wenner - Publisher of Rolling Stone magazine
• IPC Media (Subsidiary of Time Warner) - Publisher of NME

While any of these companies would be a potential publisher of my magazine, I could also go to a publisher which does not produce a rock music magazine, e.g. EMAP, who published smash hits magazine. Doing this would allow the company to tap into a new market, and increase their own profits without risking a loss to any magazines they currently produce.

Comparison: Alternate Press and my magazine

  

While making my music magazine, I used some ideas from the magazine 'Alternate Press' to pad out my front cover. The magazines above show the range of styles this magazine uses. The magazine in the centre has been turned black and white, an idea which I replicated in my piece, and the saturation has been changed. As a result this image can be associated with the 1970's, when in reality it is a modern day image and band. The image on the left, on the other hand, is in colour and uses a high angle to show the group of models. The final image, on the right, shows a close up of a single model. The use of colour, or lack of, makes the model stand out in my opinion as the paleness of the models face against a completely black background makes him stand out. This, coupled with the direct mode of address, makes this style of cover look quite effective at drawing the readers attention in my opinion. My magazine, shown on the right, uses a style similar to the magazine above it, with a single model close up taking up the majority of the page. While I like how the style I used for my magazine looks, I might experiment with changing the saturation levels of the image to give the image a different feel

Second draft

I've recently finished my second draft, which has used some of the ideas on my first draft and removed others completely. I used the image as the background, taking up all the space in the magazine cover, and put text around this to add to the page. I removed the red banner at the top of the page on my first draft, as I felt it would be too clashing with the full black and white page. I kept the image as monochrome, as I think this makes both the image and the text on top of it to stand out more.

New cover ideas

I have just had a revelation for my cover idea! Instead of using an entire band, I'm going to use a close up of a single persons face, which takes up the entire page. I have also considered making the picture black and white, as while not often used, black and white images are sometimes used in rock music magazines, especially in alternative magazines such as Alternate Press, who have had cover pages such as these:

While not often used, I feel that this is a very good idea to use, as it is directly addressing the reader, and pulls focus to the main story in the magazine.

Unconventional ideas: David Carson and Ray Gun magazine

Although for my magazine I would like to challenge conventions and make something original, I have been advised by my teachers to make something that is conventional and sticks to social norms for my magazine genre. I have decided that if I cant make my magazine unconventional, then I will post about an unconventional magazine to show what can be done if a genre is challenged.

For this I am focusing on David Carson's magazine, Ray Gun, which was an alternative rock-and-roll magazine from the 1990's which was cancelled due to low sales. David Carson was very inventive with his covers, putting the masthead in different places and making each issue very original and different. These are examples of issues of Ray Gun:

As these covers for Ray Gun show, each issue was very different from the others, in some cases being very difficult to tell who is in the magazine. For example, on the cover on the right, you can see that the main piece is about the band Jane's Addiction, but the other artists names are spread out across the page, making it difficult to read the names. While I like the styles used in this magazine, I can understand why the magazine went out of circulation as it is difficult to tell what the magazines are on about at some points.

Media Theories

This post is about the theories of how the media affects our view of society. There are several theories about this, such as:

Hypodermic needle – the media affects a passive audience by ‘injecting’ a message they cannot resist (discredited)

Drip, drip, drip effect – also called Cultivation effect. The repetition of a message in the media has an effect on audience (e.g. reporting about crime heightens fear of crime)

Two-step flow – the media introduces the public to an idea (step one) and the public discuss it with others and reach an opinion (step two)

Limited effect – media reports don’t affect us much as we are literate, sophisticated readers of text

Media dependency – the belief that we come to depend on the media (is this addiction/dependency or just a choice)

Uses and Gratifications

The Uses and Gratification theory is more about ‘what people do with media’ than ‘what media does to people’. It assumes people take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own life. The theory states that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs, and that people use media to fulfil specific gratifications.

Common reasons for media use

Information

-         Finding out about relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings, society and the world

-         Seeking advice on practical matters or opinion and decision choices (NOT relevant in music magazines)

-         Satisfying curiosity and general interest

-         Learning/self-education

-         Gaining a sense of security through knowledge

Personal Identity

-         Finding reinforcements for personal values

-         Finding models of behaviour

-         Identifying with valued others (in media)

-         Gaining insight into oneself

Integration and Social Interaction

-         Gaining insight into circumstances of others; social empathy (NOT relevant in music magazine)

-         Identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging

-         Finding a basis for conversation and social interaction

-         Having a substitute for real-life companionship (NOT relevant in music magazine)

-         Helping to carry out social roles (NOT relevant in music magazine)

-         Enabling one to connect with family, friends and society

Entertainment

-         Escaping, or being diverted from, problems

-         Relaxing

-         Getting intrinsic cultural or aesthetic enjoyment

-         Filling time

-         Emotional release (NOT relevant in music magazine)

-         Erotic/sexual attraction

Plans for music magazine

After trying to sort out a shooting schedule for the images to use in my music magazine, I have finally sorted something that would be useable for either a front cover or an interview. My friend is in a band and said that I could take pictures of them for my work, as they are in a recording studio in a couple of weeks, which allows me to get pictures in a professional environment. This would also stick to the conventions of rock music magazines, as they often have interviews from a recording studio.

First draft of front cover

This is the first draft of my front cover

While I like some of the ideas that i used for this piece, I feel that there are some pieces that could of been done better. For example, if I intend to use a close up of a single person's head on the cover, I should make it larger so that it fills the page rather than just the centre. I would also put more around the edges, as the cover seems quite empty. 

Recce

This post shows the images I have taken from my Recce into what I want in my magazine. I have decided I want to use urban surroundings for my double page spread, and use a single block colour for my title page, as these are used conventionally in rock music magazines

This area would be good, as I could use a high-angle shot to get the whole group of models in the picture, but could present problems as it could be in use often, restricting the amount of time i would have to take the photo. There is also the possibility that one of my models could trip on a step. I would also have to photoshop the sign on the wall out of the image, or place my model in front of the sign, covering it from view.

While this area is a good width and is well lit, there are some problems with this area for an image. The first problem that is obvious is the amount of rubbish and debris in the area. This could present a hazard for the models, as they could trip on it.

This area could be used for an image, but the narrowness of the alley constricts how many people I could have in the image. This location could also be a problem as the floor is damp and has some moss, which could cause a model to fall over, but the wall on the left also looks like the paint is chipping off, which could cause problems if a model suffered from conditions like asthma.

While this is not in the same sort of area as the other images, this location could be used for a double page spread, as natural locations are conventionally used. While this could be a good location for a large image there would be the obvious risks of low branches and roots coming out of the ground that models could either hit their head, or trip on. There would also be a problem if one of my models had hay fever, or something similar, as this could mean they would be unable to be in this location for long.

Research Methods

There are 4 types of research that are used in the magazine industry. These are:

·       Primary

·       Secondary

·       Qualitative

·       Quantitative

Primary

Primary research is first hand information which you have gathered yourself. This is an advantage as it allows the information to be completely up to date, but can be costly and take a lot of time to collect the information together.

This form of research can be used in interviews and questionnaires, and can be used anywhere from the streets to social networking sites

Secondary

Secondary research is information which was collected previously by other companies or opinion survey organizations. While it is cheaper and quicker to get this information, the information may be out of date or not as true as it was, which makes it not very useful for use on modern music.

Secondary research is easily accessible, as much of it is available from books, the internet, newspapers and even census results could hold some useful information (how many people live in an area where your magazine is selling well etc)

Quantitative

Quantitative research deals with numbers. For example you could research the number of magazines of a particular genre bought in a week, and break that down to see how your magazine is doing compared to its competition. This type of research can also be used for looking for patterns in the numbers obtained in Primary or Secondary research methods.

Qualitative

Qualitative research is research that is based on words or interviews rather than numbers, for example an interview with members of the public would be qualitative. These can be useful if you want to gain an insight into popular opinion of your magazine rather than look at sales figures. These normally take the form of surveys or questionnaires

moodboard

This is my mood board of ideas. The images I used are the result of research into the music I wish to cover in my magazine. I have included various camera shots, as well as magazine covers, titles, double page spreads and sell lines. I have also included layout styles, graphics and house styles. 

I used images which show the grim and dark style of the genre of music I am using for my magazine. There are colours in this which would link to this, such as blacks, reds and blues for contrast. I also showed a electric guitar, which is an instrument associated with rock music. I used images of bands in the genre of music  that I am using, such as Motionless In White, Get Scared, AFI and others to show the variety of individual styles in the genre. I will use some of these bands in my piece, for example a chance to win merchandise or tickets to see them, or I could use them as an interviewee. By using quotes from songs in this genre, I have shown how the songs can be fuelled by any emotion, ranging from anger to depression or love, often using violent imagery in the songs. I also used the quotes to explore different types of font that I could use for the magazine.

Overall the mood board has allowed me to see the conventions associated with a music magazine, and allowed me to compare the various methods of doing these. I feel that it has been very helpful and I will try to stick to these conventions during the creation of my piece.

History of music magazines: Kerrang! magazine

Kerrang! Magazine is a rock music magazine that first appeared in 1981 as a piece in the newspaper sounds. Initially devoted to the British metal scene, it has since changed to fit the market of popular rock music of the time, going through the thrash, glam, grunge, industrial and metalcore sub-genres to become what it is known as today.

The magazines name is meant to be onomatopoeic of the sound that is made when power chords are played on a guitar, as these sort of chords are normally used in the type of music in the magazine.

Contents

Within Kerrang! magazine there is a large range of information. There are reviews of new album releases from bands that the editors think the reader would be interested in. There are also reviews of the latest live concerts by bands, and interviews with bands or specific members of them. There are also poster pages for fans of bands, which may help convince people to buy the magazine if a band they like is in the poster section.

Typical Reader

Kerrang! magazine is generally aimed at a younger audience, and shows this with their change in focus on types of music over the years. To stay fashionable to younger audiences they have supported different sub-genres of music more than others at different times. They would also probably advertise this magazine to a more male audience, as the images on the front cover can be very vivid or angered, causing women to probably not buy the magazine as much. This idea is mirrored in the NRS data for the magazine. The NRS shows that 321,000 people aged 15-44 buy Kerrang! magazine, while only 39,000 people aged 45+ bought the magazine. There was also a large split between males and females buying the magazine, as 222,000 males bought the magazine in comparison to 137,000 females buy the magazine.

House Style

Although the colours on the page and the placings of the story can vary with each weekly release, there are certain areas that are kept the same every week, to promote continuity and make it easier for the fans of the magazine to find it. One of these is the masthead, which is placed at the top of the page in large, bold font which normally has lines going through to give it a 'shattered' effect. this effect is instantly recognizable, making it easy to find if on a shelf with other magazines. Often the main image on the page goes over the title of the magazine slightly, but in some cases the title is put in front, as is shown in the images above.

Media Terms

for the task of creating a media magazine, I had to research terms that are used in magazines.

Title - The name of the magazine, usually placed at the top of the page

Banner - a strip of images or a phrase across the cover

Sell Line - a catchy phrase used to attract the reader 

Splash - written across the front cover of a magazine, to attract the eye  

Menu Bar - these are at the sides of the cover page, informing the reader

Burst - a shape, usually in the corner of the page, with information included in it 

WOB (White On Black) - white writing on a black background

Puff - a short snippet of text to attract the reader quickly

Ear Piece - a piece of information, presented in the corner

Call-Out - part of the front cover that shouts out at the reader 

Barcode - a machine-readable code, defines the price

Tag-line - a memorable phrase 

Boost - the biggest sell line, to increase sales

Dog End - a pretend fold in the page, usually to present the page number

Direct Mode of Address - when the information talks directly to the reader, using pronouns. Eye-contact from the model on the front cover could also be seen as a direct mode of address

Evaluation of prelim

While I think some parts of my preliminary were done well, I think that some aspects could have been improved, for example:

FRONT COVER

Conventions

On my front cover I used many conventions that are used in magazine production. I applied a 3-colour scheme, which uses the schools colours of red, white and black. I did break some conventions however, as I did not put a barcode on the piece, seeing as it was pointless for a magazine that would not be on sale. I also had the title running down the side of the page, breaking the convention of the title being at the top of the page.

Title

I placed the title of the magazine down the left hand side of the page for my front cover, where it is written in a bold, sans-serif font. While I like the look of the title being down the side of the page, I will not repeat this style on my music magazine, as I feel it takes up a lot more space in comparison to the title being at the top of the page.

Image

I tried to stick to the idea of having a single picture on the front page, using the image as a border for different aspects of the page. I think that the use of writing on the image for the corresponding story makes it stand out from the other stories by being larger and more central to the page rather than around the sides. I also used a small image of the school logo at the top of the page to confirm the magazines affiliation to the school

Text

While I like the use of white text on red background, and the reverse, I feel that the black text on a red background is more difficult to read and stands out less than the white text. I will try to avoid this problem in my music magazine by deciding exactly what colours I want and using colours that will be readable on that colour.

Blocks of Colour

I feel that the blocks of red along the right hand side and bottom of the page, while showing an obvious place to advertise stories inside, can draw attention away from the rest of the cover as it takes up a lot of space and draws the reader’s eye to it. I also feel it doesn’t match with the rest of the background, because on the left hand side and at the top of the page there is a white background. I feel that I will not be repeating this idea in my music magazine for the above reasons.

CONTENTS

Text

I think that having the page numbers down one side of the page opposite the information of what is on that page is a good effect, as the entire contents looks more organized. I would be very likely to continue to have this style on my music magazine, as I think it works well and gives the magazine a more professional look as everything is in the same column.

Text Colour

The use of text colour on the contents page is good I think, as having the text red stands out from the rest of the page and helps to draw the reader’s attention to the information in question.

Images

While I think that the use of images as a border for the contents is a good tool, I feel that I could have placed the images better, as they overlap in some places, or there is a small line where they don’t quite meet. I would use smaller images if I used this on my music magazine, and have them placed so that they don’t overlap, but fit well together.

Prelim cover done!

I finally finished my preliminary work's front cover today, after having several issues with minor details (also known as being a perfectionist). Although in my earlier post about my sketches for this task I had 3 very distinct ideas, I ended up using an amalgamation of all 3 for this task.

Without further ado, here is the completed preliminary cover!

I tried to stick to the 3 colour scheme conventionally used in magazines, using the schools colours of white, red and black and I think they look good, but the white definitely stands out more on red than the black does, which makes it easier to read. I would of put a bar code in the top of the magazine, but as it is a school magazine I felt it would be unnecessary, due to the magazine not being on sale.

I also finished my contents page, which uses images to border the details of the pages.

I like the use of red text on white background, as I feel it stands out. I think the images could of been more creative, but i was limited for time as the deadline was drawing closer and closer

Prelim sketches

For my Preliminary task I made 3 sketches of ideas for the front cover and contents page. Each sketch consisted of a different ideas which I thought were potential designs for my pieces. Each front cover centred around having an image in the centre of the page, but with other aspects like the masthead and other stories in the magazine being in different locations in each one. The contents pages all follow a similar pattern of text accommodated with images, but in some the images are linked to the stories, while in others the images are used to show separate stories.

In this sketch I had the main image taking up the entire of the front cover, with a small bar explaining the main story. I would then use the space around the model to show different stories inside. With the contents page I put the pages and explanation down one side of the page, with images running down the other, with the intention of making the images correspond to the page it is next to.

In the second sketch I made I intended the image to again take the entirety of the page up, having a small box to explain the story behind it embedded in the image. I also planned to have the other stories in the magazine in a box at the bottom of the page. For the contents page I have images in the top half of the page and the written contents in the bottom half. In this I put the images as separate stories to those that are shown in the written contents.

In my third and final sketch I had an image again taking up the entirety of the page, but had several small sections of stories embedded around the central figure. For the contents page I have the page numbers and information written on one side, with images creating a border around the information. I would make the images correspond with stories in the contents, and have the page numbers shown below them

Target audience, ideology and representation

Every magazine has a target audience, based on the genre of music the magazine is based on. A magazine's design and use of fonts, graphics and colours will reflect the ideology of the genre.

An ideology is the beliefs a person or group stands by. Different genres will have different ideologies, which will effect how the magazine represents itself. For example, a pop music magazine will have bright colours, taking a positive social view, while a rock magazine will use clashing colours, and could have an antisocial tone that would be seen as negative.

Ways this affects magazines
The ideology of a genre of music can effect a music magazine greatly, as these cases show:

Pop Magazine

As these images show, pop magazines are colourful, and use a large image of a single person as their main attention grabbing piece. The models pictured usually look quite approachable and kind.

Rock Magazine

As shown, these magazines use fewer colours, but sometimes use brighter colours to contrast the main image. They also use a single model, or group of models, in the centre of the page, but their facial expression and general impression is far more menacing than the pop magazines.