1. EVALUATION
LAUREN ROBERTS

2. LOOKING BACK AT THE PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?
From the beginning of my coursework, I have learnt a lot about the use of different technologies and methods in order to create the look I want. During the research stage, I analysed a series of well-known music magazines and studied their front covers, contents and double page spread.
I gained a lot of knowledge, particularly about layouts, that would allow my magazine to live up to the successfulness of others.
3. I then continued to plan a magazine which involved designing style sheets, a pitch and a series of flat plans.
4. I did an initial preliminary task which was to create a magazine suitable to be distributed around college which was to include real-life topics. I designed a series of flat plans for this and then created a front cover using Photoshop. I had never used Photoshop before so this gave me the perfect opportunity to play about with it and get to know a lot of the basic controls and effects possible. Carrying out the process of actually making my magazine comprised looking back on all my previous research and taking the best features and ideas to create the best magazine possible.
5. Progression from preliminary task to main task;
6. WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR PRODUCT, & WHY?
A media institute is any type of organisation who supports the acknowledgement of media texts by audiences by producing, marketing, distributing & regulating them. An institution is a place that will employ lots of people who all works towards one common goal & that is to achieve an overall style & feel to the media to entice the target audience to buy into it.
7. I am opting to join an establishment that has a mass market empire and covers a lot of areas and target audiences because I feel like this would help draw in a wider audience to my magazine & I would be working with people who had a wide range of ideas & experience in many topics. Therefore, I believe my magazine would benefit from the organisation Bauer the people who publish music magazines such as Kerrang! & other magazines such as womens magazine Bella.
8. I believe that Bauer will be a good institution to allow my magazine to fall into the hands of because it is evident theyve produced some very successful titles. For example, the rock magazine Kerrang! has expanded from just a magazine into a TV station, a radio station, a music tour etc.
Bauer Media reaches over nineteen
million UK adults across multiple
media channels. Wehave more than
eighty influential media brands
spanning a wide range of interests,
including heat, GRAZIA, Closer,
MCN, FHM, Parker's, MATCH,
Magic 105.4, Kiss 100, Kerrang!,
4Musicand the Big City Network,
our group of twenty local radio stations.
Our business is built on millions of personal
relationships with engaged readers and
listeners. We connect audiences with compelling
content, whenever, wherever, and however they want. Our
unique insight allows us to work closely with
our customers to develop innovative solutions
that create a difference to their business.
Source; http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/
9. Kerrang!s success shows me that the institution is perfectly capable of taking something small and expanding it into a huge success; bringing in a larger audience and making more profits. As a European company (situated in Germany) Bauer makes it likely for my magazine to have direct access into a European market making Vida a continental success.
RADIO
Vida (my music magazine) covers a wider range of music genres in comparison to Bauers leading magazine Kerrang!. Whilst it covers the rock/alternative side similarly to Kerrang!, it covers music at the opposite end of the scale; dubstep, drum n bass etc. Appealing to a wider audience and bringing in more profits. I believe that whilst Vida could be classed as rivalry, if Bauer were to invest in my magazine, that rivalry once expected would not exist because profits from Vida would be made to the same organisation. Once the magazine was a success, it would be greatly beneficial to such a transmedia establishment as Bauer as they would triumph in launching Vida into other media, such as TV, radio, & a website.
10. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS & CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
I began my project intent on making a music magazine similar to Kerrang!, NME etc. One that was very in your face & had strong indications of what type of music was involved & who the target audience were.
However, I felt that just replicating the existing magazines would not bring any individuality to my own & it wouldnt stand out. I would simply be copying. It would certainly hit part of my target audience but I wanted to draw in more readers & expand the interests within.
So I decided I needed some sort of theme to go with, & it soon became apparent it would have an American Old School feel(heavily influenced by the type of font I used!) that was crossed with eye-catching colours & layouts, appealing tomodern, widespread audience.
11. First impressions of a magazine are always made on the cover. I wanted a style that screamed different! at passers-by! I wanted to create a style that reflected perfectly what was featured; the combination of heavy metal music with dance, electro beats; all music that can easily be classed as underground & couldnt get further away from mainstream.
I wanted a clear page that didnt look messy but was eye-catching. I felt like using only the one photo was the best option as nothing could have covered the models face.
I moved away from the usual expected conventions of a magazine by putting my masthead on the side. I feel like because this is abnormal, it reflects the unusual combination of music featured.
12. NNNNNN
I looked at several other contents pages to gain understanding of the regular layout used. Originally I made one very similar to the RWD contents page I researched but it just didnt look right.
So I manipulated commonly seen layouts by adding the skull in the corner & using a very blotchy, scruffy, print font unlike the usual neat, tidy fonts seen.
I used the idea of sections & used banners with a blue strip the same as that used on the front cover. I also put in the magazine logo because thats a common feature however I once again put mine on an angle.
I feel it harmonises well with the front cover.
13. I wanted a straight-forward DPS but with a bit of a twist. I noticed that each DPS I researched had an individual theme or look. I decided to add an old feeling to mine by changing my pictures into sepia tones & editing them on top of polaroid frames. I drew my own logo for the band onto baking paper and scanned it in to keep in line with the old feel. I also used scrap paper to scan in & add a variation in the background.
14. HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

Pose being pulled by model connotation of strength as his arm is flexing muscles

15. The mise-en-scne featured in the picture gives off a threatening, rebellious feel due to the tattoos, the long[ish] hair, the t-shirt design, the screaming facial expression & the stretchers in his ear. 16. Model fits stereotypical rock band member 17. It has no hint at what particular class or ethnicity it is aiming at.