Music Magazine – EvaluationChloe 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.- I created a Rock music magazine called ‘Riot’.

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 the

genre of rock. This was evident by the colour scheme (ethos style), models and their costumes and text involved in the magazine throughout.

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

Front Cover – does it challenge conventions of real media

projects?The front cover of my music magazine

challenges conventions of real media projects in more than one way. The main reason for this is that I wanted my magazine to stand out from the rest so that people would want to read mine more than they would want to read anyone else’s.

One of the ways that this magazine is challenging the conventions is that upon creating this front cover – I have left lots of white/clear spaces on this front cover which will give the audience of this magazine time to look at this cover and not have to read lots of different text grabs and titles.

Double page spread – does it challenge conventions of real

media projects?My double page spread which I created

challenges the conventions of a real magazine in some ways. an example of this is by me having a much larger picture on one side of the page, this is effective because if somebody was flicking through the magazine, this would stand out to them and make them want to read some/all of the text on it to find out what it is about. This is also done by my text grabs which I have used on this page in the middle of each column. Also in addition to this, the white clear background is unusual for a double page spread as most of them have striking background colours whereas mine is plain, so the writing and pictures speak for themselves.

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 conventions 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 male 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.) the target audience for this magazine is between the ages 14 and 21.

Costume• The models I used throughout my music magazine

was wearing an outfit which fitted straight in with the genre which is ROCK. The mise on scene which I used as 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 quite simple make-up on them as I thought the props we used on the photo shoot and also the outfit they wore made much more of a statement.

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

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.”

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

As the genre of this magazine is ‘rock’ there are already a lot of Rock music magazines in the media industry already such as; NME, Kerrang and Q. the publishers of these magazines are as follow:

Q – Bauer Media GroupNME – Robert TameKerrang – Bauer Media GroupFrom the three above it is obvious to see that some magazines run by the

same publishers. So when I was creating my magazine I would want it to be under the ‘Bauer Media Group’ producing list as it is more famous than any other one around.

These publishers would think they are likely to make a profit with my music magazine as this magazine is unique, well thought out and entertaining.

Who would be the audience for your media project?

The audience for my music magazine would be put at the age range between 14 and 21 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

“What does the title suggest to you?”

1) “The title suggests that this is a magazine which is going to be based on rock music.”

2) “That the magazine has a certain fierce vice about it.”3) “It is going to be rock/indie magazine.”- From this audience feedback it is good to see that I

chose the right name for my magazine as it suggests to them that it is a rock magazine, which is correct and what I was aiming for.

“What genre/type of music does the magazine focus on and how to do you know this?”

1) “Rock, because of the black and red colours and the models outfits/make-up on the front cover.”

2) “Rock. The artists used are part of the rock genre. Also the font make it look ‘hardcore’ and rock like.”

I am pleased that the front cover and the other two pages make it look like it supposed to be from a rock based genre. The fonts, mise en scene on the models and the colours used throughout made this rock theme visible.

“What makes the pages look professional and what stops them from

looking professional?”1) “The pictures make the pages look professional, and also

the font does too as they are not normally used on a day-to-day basis.”

2) “Very good use of space and the pictures look professionally edited.”

3) “The pictures look professional and the front cover is laid out like every other magazine in the music industry.”

4) “The way it is wrote is in proper English which makes it come across professional.”

“How genuine does the front cover seem?”

1) “The front cover seems very genuine, real and professional.”

Every person which I did this questionnaire said that the front cover seemed very genuine or just simply genuine which shows me that the front cover I produced looks a lot like the ones of the shelves which they have seen before and it will fit in perfectly with them.

“Does the contents page simply inform or does it also manage to interest you in reading the rest of the magazine?”

1) “The contents page simply informs people but because it is informing them it is also interesting me to want to read on.”

2) “It simply informs, but the large picture catches my attention and I want to read on.”

This feedback is good because I thought that my contents page has too much writing on at first, but with this feedback it shows that it is eye catching and it makes people want to carry on reading the magazine.

“Does the article sound like a piece of journalism?”

1) “Yes”2) “It sounds just like a piece of journalism which has

come out of a proper professional music magazine.”3) “It sounds professional when you read it, but the

brackets stop it looking professional.”4) “The article sounds like a piece of journalism which I

have read before and it is well written. It comes across in proper English and sounds just like a conversation which is what it is supposed to sound like.”

“Does the articles layout make you want to read it?”

1) “Yes, because the text is broken up with quotes and text grabs it makes it easier for me to read it and I enjoy reading it as it is so easy.”

When creating my double page spread I wanted to make sure that I made the conversation sound like a proper conversation and not just one big boring paragraph. So I added text grabs to it to break up the conversation and from this, it appears that this decision was good as it makes people want to read it all and not skip parts of the page.

“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 see first on the shelf before picking it up. I had to make sure it was different from any other magazine and I did this in many ways:

- White background with bright coloured fonts- Bigger font than usual (to attract them to the

magazine- A very big picture, as a statement picture- The title of the magazine takes the whole top

row up, so that the name of the magazine is seen easily so that they know what it is called straight away

This front cover will hopefully attract the audience as I think the different features on it will do it justice.

When I was creating the front cover of this magazine, I wanted to make sure that when people was reading the headlines, it made them want to read on and actually buy the magazine from the shop. By the different text grabs and bands/stories/quotes it creates enigmas which will make the audience want to actually answer these questions by reading through the actual magazine. In addition to this, on the front cover there is a variety of artists on here as it will appeal to all Rock music fans taste!

Finally I made the price of this magazine cheaper than usual music magazines of this genre because it will allow more people to actually buy it because they will be able to afford it. This is the reason why on the front cover, I placed the price of this magazine with bigger font than it usually is.

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

When creating my contents page I decided to put the contents page as a long list down the left hand side of the page as it would be different than most of the other music magazines in the industry at this moment in time. Because it is different it will attract the audiences eyes more than a general contents page. I have placed different interesting articles and stories on this page such as; an “exclusive live interview with the girls on their lust of fame”, “regulars” (crosswords, reviews etc) and “upcoming gigs.”

Because these are important stories I put them in a different colour so that it would stand out to anyone who is going to read this contents page. I used the colour red as it would fit in with the ethos of the genre as well as fitting in and standing out.

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.

• Whilst using these programmes I learnt the importance of editing photographs for magazines etc. The time and effort put in to remove backgrounds or anything else is massive. Also whilst editing the pictures which I took myself in the studio, I learnt different tools I can use to edit pictures so that they will be changed for the better and will make them look a lot more professional.

• Photoshop and In Design both are programmes which I used to produce my magazine and both of them was very helpful for editing pages/pictures and also helpful in many ways because of the tools you could use to help me complete the magazine to the best it could be.

Blogger.com• www.blogger.com is a website I used to

upload my research and planning before and during making my magazine. It was a very helpful way of putting things in order and on screen so that I could look back on it and see what other magazines look like etc.

• I learnt that blogging is a free way of updating posts about anything and by doing this with my magazine (and if I was actually creating a magazine which was going to be published properly) I would upload it on here monthly along with the magazine so that people can see it and then buy it.

Camera and Studio Lighting

• The studio were I did my photo shoot for my magazine was very useful as the background for each image was a clear white one because of the sheet I placed on the wall so it could look clear and clean. The reasons why I chose to use a white sheet was that when I edited the images I could edit around the people and still have a white background in places rather than editing a white background around my models.

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.) this created a clear house style for my magazine by the colours and fonts which I used.

- 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) and also it makes the images look a lot more professional.

PRELIMINARY TASK FRONT COVER OF ACTUAL MAGAZINE