Final Front Cover (Re-Submitted)

Final Contents Page (Re-Submitted)

Final Double Page Spread (Re-Submitted)

Magazine Construction Before Resubmission

Evaluation

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I did a lot of research into rock magazines to make sure that I did everything correctly.  I did two LIIAR analysis' of  NME's and Kerrang's front cover, contents page and double page spread to make sure I included all the the common things i found on both magazines into mine so it could look as professional as possible.
When looking at the front covers of both magazines I noticed that the main images were mainly medium close ups or mid shots. These are used because they help to interact and catch the eyes of the audience. I also noticed the mast head took up a lot of room on the page. This is so the title of the magazine stands out really clearly compared to everything else on the front cover. It is done this way so the audience will see it, come over and then look at the content of the magazine. I found my front cover the most difficult to make because trying to get a good look that looks professional and fits in well with the genre is difficult to do. I did two main drafts of a front cover and put them on my blog as well as my final front cover.

For my contents page I looked at NME and Kerrang once again. Mainly taking inspiration from Kerrangs contents page. I did two drafts and then realised that they didn't look very professional, therefore i decided to take inspiration from NME's front cover and changed quite a lot of the colours i had used in my previous drafts. I feel this has made my final product look a lot better and a lot more professional

When getting inspiration for my double page spread I research some to see what the main conventions were and realised the image usually takes up half of the double page spread and is usually really large. The article is written in columns. I included all of these conventions on my double page spread and developed them slightly which was shown in the Prezi above. I also included the bands social networking information which will be good for the promotion of the band, and because digitalisation and technology is advancing this seems to be becoming quite a common things in magazines because it is a quick and easy way of promoting, which not a lot of extra cost.

LIIAR analysis of my work:
Language: As you can see the main image on my magazine front cover is an artist from a new band which I made up called 'The Rejected'. This shows the audience that the main focus of my magazine will be on the band, therefore given them an idea of who will be the main feature on my double page spread. This will attract fans of the genre because first of all she has the look of a rock/indie artist and younger audiences usually don't pass up the chance to find out about new artists. There is a use of a pull quote saying "Yes, I am the lead signer and the only girl in the band. So what?" This is following the typical conventions of a magazine and also gives input into what will be included in the double page spread. The colours used for my front cover straight away show the audience the genre of the magazine therefore following another convention. Which is also going to make my magazine realistic because I am using the conventions of real media forms.
I used a medium close up for the main image which I found was a very typical convention in any
kind of magazine because it really helps the artists interact with the audience because it is a good
position for making direct eye contact with the camera and the audience. Sell lines and free posters
are illustrated which is also enticing my target audience to by my magazine.
The masthead stands out above everything else of the front cover and also represents the genre of my magazine. This gives my magazine more of a chance in being recognised because it is more
noticeable to my targeted audience above other magazines if the same genre.

Ideology: The ideology of my magazine shows the public that it is for people enjoy rock and indie music. The layout gives a sense of the genre of music and makes it clear that the magazine will not be for people who enjoy chart and 'mainstream' music and those who like pop, RnB and hip hop music. It may have been quite a risk to use a unknown artist for the main feature in my magazine because she will not be recognisable to the audience and therefore they might not be as interested in buying the magazine. But because she has the 'conventional' look of a rock artist the audience might buy the magazine to see if they like the new band.

Institution: The institution for my magazine will most likely be a label that is owned by one of the Big 3. Most probably RCA records because they produce magazines of the same genre as mine.
My magazine will be sold in big supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda because it will be noticed more by the aged audience my magazine will mainly reach out to. But I would also like it to be sold in record shops where a majority of ages will be willing to buy it.

Audience: I believe that my magazine can reach out to people of all ages because this genre of music does not have a specific cut of point to when you can enjoy listening to it. But I do think that the majority if the audience will be between the ages of 16-24. It will more than likely reach out to only fans of rock music aswell.

Representation: The representation of my magazine shows quite a rebellious attitude. This is mainly
shown through my main artist in the magazine because she gives of the "we don't care" attitude and
in her double page spread article she swears also showing how she doesn't care what people think. Her sense of style and out going hair and personality also shows that he the readers of the magazine will most probably not be people to follow all the rules and trends.

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

For my music magazine i believed that the higher percentage of readers would be boys. That is why on my reader profile i added images such as Leeds festival, Guitars, Converse and vintage T-Shirts such as The Rolling Stones. I included these images because these could be products and brands that my audience would like.
I also included percentages showing new readers and the audience the majority of readers, the highest age percentage and the main bands the readers like and opinions on certain subjects.
This reader profile represents the social group of the magazine because the bands, colours and product images would not be included in a magazine that focuses on pop, RnB and hip hop etc. This was important because it means that if new readers come along that like Indie/Rock music then they will know that my magazine is exactly that.

In the contents page of my magazine there is an advertisement showing the audience that you can subscribe to VENUE magazine. This makes my magazine easily accessible without the audience needing to go and buy it physically. I did this because technology is becoming a big part of our lives now meaning that media forms need to advance with it. Therefore an app and subscription for my magazine could result in more readers for my magazine.

Other ways in which I made my media product represent and particular social group was when i was picking a model for my magazine i changed the way she dressed for the actual photo shoot. For example making her wear either a denim shirt or a leather jacket. I also made the pose she was doing fit into what would suit the typical indie rock artist. For the front cover, contents page and Double page spread she looks rebellious and looks like she has a 'non caring' attitude. This fits the social group for my magazine because the rock/indie genre of music is all about going against the rules and being rebellious.

Then whilst i was creating the media product i changed her hair colour to make her seem less 'mainstream' and different to how other artists from other genres of music look.
These are the type of people i wanted my media product to reach out to and also where i got style information from. The images have been taken at a popular festival, Leeds Festival which was
advertised a chance to win in my media product.

I got some audience feedback from a male AS Media Student and a Female Non AS student to see if they shared their views on my magazine. I asked them questions about the type of social groups they think would read my magazine and these questions and answers are included in the Prezi below.

Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? (Re- Submitted)

There are two media institutions that would be an option for distributing my music magazine.

The first institution that I would have distributing my product would be IPC media. IPC media is responsible for producing, publishing and distributing NME magazine. NME focuses on a similar genre of music as I do. It is described as "UK's leading consumer magazine and digital publisher." They engage with 26 million UK adults.
But there are things to dislike about this institution. They don't only publish rock/indie magazines they also publish magazines such as Nuts, Now and Women's Weekly. This shows that the majority of the readers who buy IPC products will be women. The variety of different magazines they publish also makes me think that they do not care about producing magazine which they love. They care more about what will make them money.
Here is the link to IPC Media's website which gives you a look into their institution: http://www.ipcmedia.com/
I would like for my magazine to be owned by a more independent label because they care more about the artists and making music rather than the money, which is the ideology that is represented throughout my magazine. But the positives about my label being a major label means that it will attract a mass audience resulting in more publicity for he artists shown in the magazine and he magazine itself.

The second and better media institution to produce my media product is Bauer Media. These publish and distribute magazines such as Kerrang, Q and Mojo which are all magazines that i took inspiration from whilst creating my media product. My magazine has similar traits to Kerrang magazine and therefore could appeal to Bauer Media. It will also appeal to the audience of Kerrang magazine because it will reach out to a similar target audience. Therefore getting more readers and customers for my magazine.
Here is the link to Bauer Media's Website: http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/

I would like my magazine to be sold in big supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda because that is where the age range of my audience will mainly go. Therefore it is where my magazine is the most likely to be seen whether it be when they are shopping. There is always a shop like Tesco or Asda where you live so it is a good place to quickly go into and buy the magazine of your choice. But i would also want my magazine to be sold in music shops so new people and lovers of the genre might want to read it and therefore it would encourage new readers and customers. Also with it being sold in music shops it would be able to reach out to an older range of audience because if they are already in the music shop you know they will be a fan of that genre of music and will most likely be a person who buys music magazines. Which would be giving my magazine a varied age range and gender difference.
Supermarkets such as Asda also have mass amounts of people that use them and are located all around the country which is making it easy for magazines to be distributed. Also Tesco and Asda are probably the biggest supermarket chains across the country. This means that my magazine will be seen a lot more often if it is sold in these particular shops. The fact that these supermarkets are everywhere it means there will be more distribution and consumers for my magazine instead of it just being sold in the small amount of music shops in the big cities such as London.

As you can see in the table below (from Wikipedia) there are many Tesco stores around the UK. It shows there are currently 3,370 stores around the UK, including smaller stores such as Tesco Extra and Tesco Express that will be in villages and towns.  By selling my magazine in these stores it would mean that a wider range of people will see the magazine, not only city people that might be the only people that would be able to get access to small music shops. This gives people in small towns or villages an advantage to buy the magazine. So by selling it in popular stores is will get more publicity and will reach out to a wider target audience, Therefore getting more publicity and promotion.

Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product? (Re-Submitted)

On my reader profile I mentioned that 71.5% of the readers were between the ages of 15-24. This age range means that when thinking of how to produce my magazine I had to think of what class and gender the majority of my magazine readers will be.
The reader profile I created is based on mainly on my target audience. I decided to add popular brands such as apple products and fashion wear as they are all part of modern society. As technology and designer brands are becoming more popular to people of younger generations including my target audience it means they will be more drawn to my magazine if it offers prizes and competitions to win said products.














During the planning and research stage of my product I create a Prezi. Describing the basics of what my target audience will most likely be. I did this to help me to decide what I should include in my magazine to create a successful product. 

 This slide explains how different magazine and genres of music will reach out to different social classes. As I wanted to reach out to people from all social classes I wanted to. However it did mention that I should focus on one social class and develop my magazine from that, so to do this I included quite a lot of designer products in my reader profile. As these are expensive a middle social class would probably be more likely to buy the magazine. But to reach out to possible a lower class of people I included competitions in my magazine to win prizes such as Apple Products or ticket to festivals. This meant that it could give a person a chance to have an apple product or go to an expensive festival, when they usually couldn't afford it. This therefore might persuade them to also buy the magazine. 

 To reinforce this genre of music I included colours which would usually be associated with the genre of music. I also made it clear in my reader profile that the percentage of older readers were low. This is shown clearly to the audience and shows clearly that a younger audience are the typical buyers of my magazine. 

 This slide explained the target audience I wanted and who I would develop my magazine around in order to attract the right audience for my magazine. I feel I did this quite successfully and that it is shown in my final product that it will be mainly targeted towards a teenage/young adult audience.

 This slide shows the types of people who I thought would most be likely to buy my magazine. As I stated in a previous slide it would not be likely that a high social class of people would consume my magazine and therefore I thought it would be more beneficial to target it towards working people in a low or medium paid jobs. This decision also affected the price I would charge for my magazine which ended up being £2.00.

To conclude I officially decided that I would create a magazine mainly aimed at a young audience. Looking back at my magazine I feel I have accomplished that and if my magazine was to be sold as a real product the largest percentage of the consumers would most likely be young people.

I also had the think of what would be a suitable price that my target audience would pay. When looking at the different social groups:

I noticed that most of my target audience would probably be in either group D or E mainly because they will still be in school and not have a lot of money to spend on magazines. Therefore coming to the conclusion that a suitable price of my magazine will be £2.00 or as advertised on my contents page £7.00 a month if you subscribe. I also noticed on the magazines that i researched their prices usually didn't go past £2.50.
I believe £2.00 is also a good price for the older readers because as shown on my reader profile the percentage of readers between the ages of 35-44 is 9.2% so because of this smaller percentage having a cheaper priced magazine it would mean that they would be more persuaded to buy it maybe in a spur of the moment. Whereas if it was expensive they would be more reluctant to buy it.

I thought the majority of audience for my magazine would be male so therefore i included more male colours and articles to my magazine. But by using a female artist as the main feature it means it will also reach out to the female audience, but the competitions and reader profile in my magazine reach out to both genders so everyone can enjoy my magazine.

Evaluation Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Some of the ways in which i attracted and addressed my target audience were mentioned in the go animate video above. Other ways i attracted the audience was by adding a plug which offered a free track download to a new band which i created. This download would persuade  the audience to buy the magazine because the aged audience i mainly wanted to attract was between 16-24 so they are young and know more about technology. So they would usually not pass up the chance to listen to a new band that belong to the genre of music they like. On the contents page i also included a chance to win Leeds Festival tickets. This advertisement will attract the audience because they are young this means they will most likely not have £200 to spend on a weekend at Leeds Festival so the chance to win free tickets would be a good way to make them buy my magazine.
The introduction of a new band would also attract and address the audience. It will attract them because they will buy it to hear the free download of the new band "The Rejected" and it addresses them because the band fit in with the rock/indie genre of music.

Evaluation Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? (Re- Submitted)

Photoshop was not the only technology that i have learnt about and improved on during the process of creating my media product although it was the main programme that i needed to learn to use in order for my media product to be created. That is why i have shown two slide shares of what i had to do on photoshop to change the hair colour and make up of my model.

Through the process of making my music magazine i feel i have improved massively with using certain media technologies. Before constructing this product i knew hardly anything about using cameras, lights and how to take the perfect photo. But now i can safely say i do.
 I also found out about other ways of media technology such as SlideShare, Go Animate and Prezi. Now knowing about these means i can show a variety of media technologies on my blog. Creating the blog as a whole has largely improved my skills with media technology. Before the media course started I had no idea how I would cope with all the technology needed because it was all new to me but I am now confident in using them all.
During this process I have learnt how to crop images, manipulate images and as a whole how to make a music magazine. Other things were how to add other media formats to my blog using the HTML which at first seemed impossible and something that I would never feel confident with but now my view has changed.

Media platforms on the internet are not the only technologies that I improved with throughout the duration of the coursework. Another thing I feel I highly improved on was my camera skills, before AS media I didn't have very good camera skills, I had no great knowledge of framing and how to take an effective photograph. However with doing all of these tasks I feel I learnt a lot more about using a camera. Learning the effects of using certain camera angles and framing to fit a stereotype, possibly to make someone look more dominant, sexy or powerful etc.This helped a lot when taking the photographs for my music magazine as I could take the correct photos to fit the theme and genre of my magazine. I feel my improvements are shown in the development between my perfume advert, college magazine and finally my music magazine.

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

Through the process of this media course i feel i have progressed massively with creating a realistic media product.
When i had to make my first magazine which was the college magazine i didn't have much experience with using PhotoShop and how to make a professional looking magazine.
Now when looking back at my college magazine front cover and contents page i notice i had lacked continuity and a lot of conventions of a magazine. On the front cover the sell lines look plain and do not stand out at all to the audience i was trying to attract. I used minimal Photoshopping skills and the one plug i did include looks out of place and does not really fit in with the theme of the whole magazine. The masthead of 'Wyke 6th Form College' is not big enough across the top of the page and therefore would probably not attract the eye of the audience which will then not get many consumers for my magazine. I only included a barcode, there was not an issue number or date included. When i see my college magazine front cover now i realise it looks like more of a poster rather than a magazine. I used the exact same font for each sell line which makes my magazine look really boring which means it would not be very good competition for the other college magazines already in the industry. But there were also good points about my college magazine for example the shot of my model and the pose she was doing was appropriate for a college magazine. She looks intelligent and to the audience does look like a college student.
The contents page draft i did was completely wrong and when looking at my music magazine contents page i have increased my skills a huge amount. The image of my contents page was really distorted. The colour scheme did not match the colour scheme on the front cover and the competitions and fundraiser were the same size text as everything else and did not stand out at all. There were also a lot of empty spaces and the word 'Contents' should have been bigger than the title of the magazine.

It was really helpful to be given this preliminary task because it gave me a chance to realise how difficult it would be to create a final music magazine. It also gave me a chance to learn the basics of PhotoShop before creating my perfume advert so i would be able to improve my work.

By the time it got to creating a perfume advert i knew the basic skills of cutting out images using the lasso tool and how to photoshop other things such as the horns and the wings onto the model included on my advert. Also how to link the layers so they wouldn't move separately away from each other. But other than that i still was having difficulties on how to make it look professional. After learning the skills of how to change the colour of my models hair on my music magazine i noticed that when i had attempted changing the hair colour of the model on my perfume advert it did not look very good or professional. That is because i had used a different way of changing the hair colour. Instead of using 'soft light' and a fine brush. i used the lasso tool to go around all the the hair and then i just painted over it with the brown colour. Now i realise that was a mistake. But it gave me a chance to improve and helped me to figure out where i was going wrong.
I did notice improvements with my PhotoShop skills whilst making this advert. Especially when i created the perfume bottle. I got an image of a plain perfume bottle off of Google and manipulated the name of my perfume 'Tormented' onto the front of the bottle using the text option and the colours on PhotoShop. I then got an image of the wings and cut them out and then dragged them to go behind the bottle and then linked the layers.






















In conclusion i have learnt many things during this media course. I learnt how to include the typical conventions of a magazine so it will look professional and i learnt the particular conventions that were needed for the genre of the magazine. For example how my model looks and how she is addressed in the image taken of her. To get these photos correct i also learnt how to take the 'perfect' photo and the attitude she had to portray in the images. Each sell line, image or plug was positioned on my magazine in the correct places for a reason to follow the conventions of real media products which i did not know and the beginning of the course.
That is everything that i learnt during these past months to help me create a music magazine.