Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Preliminary Task

Evaluation 1

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

As you can see my magazine cover doesn’t have many of the conventions that you would see on a regular magazine. This is because unlike regular magazines mine is a specialist magazine which focuses on one band or artist per issue.

This cover is for an indie-rock artist and therefore I have built up my magazine to make it look as individual as possible. By using a white filter as a base colour on my image I could enhance the eye colour making them a bright blue colour that links with the text used. I have also blurred around the face making it look softer and they eyes more prominent. This entices the reader as it is different and something that isn’t used with every magazine.

As my magazine is a specialist issue it challenges to normal conventions by not using many. For example, I don’t use pull lines on the front covers, this is because all the stories relate to one artist and the reader already knows this. I don’t completely throw the idea of conventions out of the window though. I do have common conventions such as a tag line and barcode.

The mast head on my magazine is very similar to the ‘MOJO’ style model I was using, this is because I thought that technique was very impressive and I applied it to my own masthead ‘AURA’. The masthead of my magazine is central, similar to MOJO. During my research I found that magazines like ‘Q’ and ‘NME’ have their masthead/logo in the top left corner. I personally didn’t like this idea as I found it repetitive, especially is the logo is there on each page. 

The layout of my magazine cover photo was extremely important as I took inspiration from the ‘MOJO’ cover and in some aspects I have mimicked it. For example the tagline and main cover line are both placed at the bottom of the page. This is because of the close up image of the models face— if the text was in the centre of the page it would block out certain aspects and draw the attention away from the eyes, which is where I wanted it to be.

 

My contents page was also modeled from a ‘MOJO’ magazine but not the same issue. As you can see this contents page contains Florence Welsh (left) . I have adapted my contents page to match its format and have tried to get the layout at an equal balance. (right). Compared to each other they are very similar, despite the changes in font and colour. I kept the contents page relatively simple because from my research I have found that simplicity the best. I made sure it had a clear and logical structure. I tried my best to make sure all the text was formatted correctly.  The image used on the contents is the same model as before as the magazine is all about her. The house colours flow throughout the magazine, which makes the magazine, seem more professional.

My double-page really challenges the conventions as its is not set out the usual way. For example, compares to this NME DPS mine looks completely different. Which was what I was aiming for in a way but i also think it makes it look a little less professional.  I used pull lines from certain answers as quotes to highlight them.

The written content in my magazine was very important to me and i wanted to make sure it was qualitative but also not to much of it that the reader would get bored. I thought that it was very simple to write an question and answer article because I thought of both questions and answers. 

The genre of my magazine was indie-rock music which is one of my favourite styles of music which means I was very aware of what it entitled. I knew the type of images and colour scheme that would compliment the genre well. I looked at magazines such as rock sound and q, along with mojo. They all gave me basic ideas of what I wanted for my magazine and I specifically decided to challenge the conventions by creating a specialist magazine.

Evaluation 2

Evaluation 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is a indie-rock magazine and therefore appeals to a certain social group of both genders, aged 18-21. I believe that it represents social groups in the same was as other indie-rock magazines like 'Mojo' and 'Q'. Both very popular magazines. People who class themselves as part of an 'indie' social group are all about individuality, which is what I wanted my magazine to be and therefore, appeals to individuals.

I did this by making my models dress in relatable outfits, e.g. collared shirts, denim jackets etc. The models hairs was in waves/loose curls which gave her a sort of retro 'I don't care' look which reflected the style of my target audience. I made her were very little make up, just a smokey eye effect. This was to keep it very basic and very glossy. I directed different poses for my model that I believe represent the social groups.  (This image to the left isn't one that made it onto my magazine but it is a good example to use when explaining the poses).

I chose a female model as this straight away represents the female side of my target audience attracting them to the magazine, similar to this, a male might see a pretty girl and want to know more about her. So, in truth this technique attracts both genders. 

I gave my magazine a colour scheme of white, blue and black. These are all very clean and clinical, this connotes that the magazine is very professional. As the colours are very basic but also well thought out, it makes my magazine seem a lot more appealing to the target audience. I have used the same house colours throughout the magazine which gives it a consistent theme.

Evaluation 3

2. What type of media institution would distribute your media product and why?

Bauer Media offers over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, on TV and onradio stations. As well as this, it distributes ‘MOJO’, I assume that Bauer is doing something right in order to help make the popularity of this magazine possible. Bauer will already have the target audience ready for my magazine as it is the distributor of 'MOJO' and my magazine could slot right in . Seeing as they have had experience of distributing magazines such as mine, I could be confident in the knowledge that my magazine would be distributed correctly and fairly. Bauer Media is also a multi-platform UK-based media Group therefore once my brand of magazine became established, it could be possible for them to help me to launch into other areas, such as TV and radio in the future.

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• However, IPC Media produces 60 media brands and has the ability to reach out to a wide range of different audiences. research has told me that they can reach out to almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men. Many of the brands they distribute are well known (for example: NME, Country Life,What’s On TV etc.). This makes me believe that they would be a good company to get involved with. Also, during my research i noticed they don't have a music magazine that covers my genre which means there is an open market for AURA. Therefore I think mymagazine could fit in well with the company. There aren’t many magazines in their range which are too similar to my own so I think it would be a good opportunity for me, as well as them, to get them on board because I would benefit form a major distributor and they would benefit from a new magazine genre which could help them to expandtheir market. 

To conclude, both distributors have their pros and cons but over all I believe Bauer Media would be the perfect institution to distribute my magazine because it is a well rooted company, with the potential to make a magazine like mine successful. It would serve my magazine well as it already distributes magazines and other media products on a wide range of platforms such as radio, TV and online magazines. Bauer would be a great asset to my magazine as it is a wealthy, private family owned company which is reliable and also has a great audience.

Evaluation 4

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

I have developed my magazine so that it relates to the older audience members, rather than the event and festival aimed audience, despite my article being about a young musician, this is because I believe it is vital to bring the generations together. This audience that I am aiming for consists of both male and females, from 18 years old all the way up to 21. As I think that people grow out of the musical genres they enjoyed at an earlier age.

I also have tried my best to use colour scheme to fit in with the audience themes keeping to brighter shades of blue and using white and black where is necessary to make things look professional and appeal to an older audience but a lot of my headings and fonts are also kept stylised and fresh to keep it appealing to the younger generations. 

It relates to them because of the way the magazine have been set out. The media product is rather urban and retro, using 'Valencia' filters on the images which give it a old fashioned kind of effect. There are all things the audience will notice and relate too. The genre of music its self relates to my audience as they wouldn't be wanting the magazine if they didn't like the type of music it was catering for.

Evaluation 5

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract my audience I have made my magazine look professional but it also has a flare of fun with the fonts and colours to appeal to everybody. I drastically changed my magazine during the processes of creating it. Originally I started with Dark red, white and black, But soon after I realised I needed to make something that was more appealing to the younger and brighter generation. so my colour scheme now sky blue, white and black when necessary.

 

                       (Before)                                                                                      (After)

As you can see on the images above the right looks a lot better than the left. I believe the changes made were necessary. The right cover gives the magazine a more vintage feel and attracts the target audience. I used certain conventions and imagery that I believed would appeal to the audience e.g the enhancement of the models eyes and her direct contact that pulls the readers in. The colour scheme also attracts the audience as it bold and bright-  which is very relatable to the younger members of the audience.

Evaluation 6

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

To construct my magazine I used many technologies, including a Nikon camera, Photoshop and other photo editing applications/software. I used the camera to photograph the images for my magazine, using the rule of thirds I made sure that my images were to scale before taking them and I made sure to take a couple of the same shot encase of any blur or problems with the original image.

I then used an application to give my main cover image a filter, this made the images looked unique and stylish. After the filter was used on my images, I picked out the best ones that would attract the target audience. With the chosen image I then used photoshop. From this I had also added extra filters to suit the genre of the magazine, enhancing the eye colour on my model to make it look fresh and different.

I then continued to use the magic wand tool that cut the image out automatically. From this, the image has began to show pixelation. To fix this, I used the blur tool to blend out the skin to make is look smoother. I made sure to blur the outer edges of the hair so they didn't look jagged and badly edited. 

I used these techniques many times throughout the possess of constructing my magazine to keep the theme flowing on each page. The text was used by photoshop as well as it was only a simple text that I needed. All the fonts used were from the photoshop software.

Evaluation 7

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

To start with I already had a basic knowledge of Photoshop but since I began to construct my magazine I have noticed a considerable increase in my skills. I now have a deeper understanding of how to use specific tools and features, such as filters and the blur tool. I have learnt how to blend images into the background. An example of this would be on the images used for the DPS and contents page, by blurring the around the images it made the lines look less sharp.

I feel as though I have gained a wide variety of techniques since completing the preliminary task because I have researched more style models and include more conventions such as quotes and tag lines. My prelim task lacked theses features and therefore doesn't look as professional as my finished music magazine. The images taken for the preliminary task seemed rushed and lacking structure, something I aimed to improve upon when taking my final images.

I believe my understanding of software's has improved greatly throughout the course. Photoshop is a complex and time consuming application, It takes time and effort to master but once I got a grasp on what I was doing I found it getting easier to understand.