Perry Wayman

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Because of the highly unconventional colour scheme, I decided on a fairly conventional main image of a band arranged in a triangle shape in order to create a visual hierarchy. Where this challenges the typical form of a band is that the female is the dominant figure.

The medieval style font on the header is typical of many hard or classic rock magazines whilst taking some inspiration from more modern music magazines. The inspiration for this was taken from an amalgamation of two magazines headers (Kerrang and Metal Hammer).

My theory behind the logo was to make it look as though the banner is attempting to keep it in place but it cannot be contained, hanging out over the banner itself. This happens to be fairly conventional in some rock/metal magazines.

The most obvious unconventional item about my front cover is the 3 tone colour scheme of black, white and red. I decided on this as I thought it would stand out more than a fluorescent magazine on a typical newsagent’s shelf.

I also decided on another unconventional feature, and this was the use of designated areas for information on the page. Typically, these are set boundaries and while I’ve kept to them I also used a ‘ripped’ effect around them, showing that while it is structured it is by no means dead set.

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT

PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

The magazines that I researched for my products were exclusively of rock/metal. It is evident from the articles, language and advertising that these would be aimed at 16 – 25 year olds. This creates a rather distinct area of around 9 years that the magazine must target.

The primary ideal therefore, would be to target this 16 – 25 age bracket somehow. It is stereotypically shown that many more males are into rock/metal music than females. But that there are also a few female-only bands out there. I decided to mostly capitalise on this by adding a predominantly male band on the front, but also to include a female in a position of power (The lead singer of the band).The use of language on the front also speaks for the 16 – 25 age range. There is little to no slang used and therefore automatically caters to an older audience as they can actually understand what is written on the magazine. However, there are also no complex words which also lends itself to the younger age. I feel that this creates the finest balance in the 9 year age gap and therefore capitalises sales.I have also followed with the theory that readers in the 16 – 25 age bracket will want to read what old classic rock/metal bands are up to now, as well as newer bands. This has been demonstrated on my cover with a section entitled ‘Also Introducing’ alongside a splash about Led Zeppelin having a reunion. I feel that this caters to the two extremes of my magazine’s chosen genre and therefore capitalises on this.The final area that covers the social groups is the colour scheme. Black and white is typically represented as being older or more sophisticated, as the market for my magazine is of a specialist taste, I see no reason why this should put potential customers. Also included is a red for contrast and to show some rebellion (As the customers of this magazine would be, shunning pop) and to add contrast to the entire design.

WHAT KIND OF INSTITUTE WOULD DISTRIBUTE MY MEDIA

PRODUCT AND WHY?I think my project would attract the interests of several prospective publishers. The required publisher would have to be a magazine company (Not necessarily specialising in music) who publish specialist magazines. This is because my magazine may have a very concentrated audience and this publisher would have the ability to put the magazine where it would be most successful. I decided the most hopeful publisher for

my magazine would be MusicMags (www.musicmags.com). MusicMags was formed in 1996 from a multitude of independent publishers, I think this will help my chances as these publishers may have many different targets and magazines.

Another reason why I think my magazine will be perfect here is (As shown in the screenshot) MusicMags publishes magazines much more specific than my own. I also think that this publisher will push my magazine straight to a music instrument store. I think this will be best as most of my audience will most likely be those who play instruments and this will enable my product to reach it’s maximum potential.

WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR MY MEDIA

PRODUCT?After researching magazines such as Kerrang and Metal Hammer I found that the targeted audience was very close to my own. My own personal taste in music influenced my decision heavily and therefore based my magazine around my tastes. I decided this was a good idea as even though my taste is relatively niche, it has no lack of supporters worldwide.The initial and final layouts were based on some designs that I had seen from the magazine ‘Classic Rock’. My idea for this was that a successful rock magazine has been able to use these designs effectively, so should my own idea based on this.

It therefore stands to reason that my targeted audience should be the same as that of Metal Hammer or Kerrang. As mentioned previously, I take this to mean a 16 – 25 predominantly male age bracket.

HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR

AUDIENCE?

My first idea for attracting my audience was to have a strong, obvious header that from a glance will immediately tell the potential customer of the genre of magazine. This was done purposefully in order to capitalise on any passing sales. For example, when comparing my header to that of NME, it is obvious as to which is the Rock/Metal magazine.As stated earlier, my language and construction of the front cover does attempt to attract a large amount of the 16 – 25 age bracket. It’s outlandish enough in order to attract the 16 year old age bracket but also contains enough structure and correct use of English that the more mature 25 year old audience can be attracted. I have also enabled my magazine to stand out to anyone of ‘Alternative’ music styles by the ripped/torn splashes and header.The marketing campaign to my magazine would be something that would enable to attract the audience that appreciates something new, while mixing it with the old. Essentially what my magazine is about. This could be achieved by having a new cover band play an older song over an advert. The advertising inside would also be marketed towards my audience, allowing me to use adverts for new technologies to cater for the younger base. For the top end (and lower end potentially) of the age bracket for my audience, the magazine would probably contain advertisements for instruments or lessons to play these instruments. This again appeals to what I believe to be the audience for my magazine and hence where the majority of the customers would come from.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM

THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS

PRODUCT?From creating this product, I have learned about the ease and importance of sharing information via the internet. The purpose for this is to enable easier feedback from my peers and, of course, enables easier marking of my work. This also works as it cuts down the amount of time needed to be working on paper medium and therefore cuts back on the workload required for the course.

Even though I had managed to use Fireworks for several projects prior to this one, including several personal products. I have never had chance before to extensively use Fireworks for such a long, sustained period. Because of this, I feel I have managed to properly understand how to create an appealing product with a unique style, using several features of Fireworks I never had before.The most substantial part of my product that I have learned, is camera angles and how to take a good photo. Before the project, my ability to take good, editable pictures wasn’t on par. However, since the project I have learned about placing of the light source, using a plain background behind the shot to allow ease of editing the background and the types of angles that can be used. From the majority of my pictures on my magazine, it is quite evident that these skills have been used in my opinion to a good extent to create a reasonable end product.

I have also used another part of media, and that is content produced by the user for others to see and use. One example of this, used on this exact presentation, is SlideShare. This allows users to upload slideshow presentations to their website and for it to be linked onto blogger. Also available is the use of viewing other’s slideshows to enable the end user to look into what they have created and therefore be inspired by said product.

LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE

LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

As can be seen from these two covers (The pre-lim is on the right), the most stark contrast is how the PL does not look like an authentic magazine. Not by any stretch of the imagination and especially when put against the final product. I think this is because I did not have a significant grasp of magazine making in Fireworks at this point.

I have also learned a lot about conventions, when comparing the PL to the final product, it can easily be seen that the PL follows the conventions of a typical school magazine, whereas my final product challenges these conventions in order to further convey itself.This is further linked in by how I learned to attract an audience, the PL task is essentially a generalised magazine designed with only a school in mind. The final product meanwhile is created to fit a somewhat niche market and this conveyed by the magazine’s cover alone by being entire black, white and red, a limited palette.

On the whole then, it can be seen that the PL is a far weaker magazine than the final product, however it should be noted that some of the techniques I used in the PL were carried over and expanded upon in the Final Product.