Completed Cover page, Contents page and Double page spread

Evaluation

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

When researching music magazines there were conventions that were widely used. The magazines all had a title relating to music and if not had text relating to music and the artists. I have disregarded this convention because the magazine will target more than one genre of music and will also focus on the artists and other content, therefore I decided to have a more ambiguous title. It is also because my genre of music has varied since the beginning production of the music genre; a large variety of music will be shown in the magazine.

 All of the magazines had coverlines and taglines to feature the contents of the magazine. Initially I wanted to include taglines however the page became too cluttered and complex and it did not appear aesthetically pleasing.  I did not include any coverlines because I did not want to advertise the contents, I wanted to grab the reader’s attention from the image and the lack of information on the cover.

 Aside from Kerrang not many magazines had multiple images on the front page. I agreed with the convention of having an image but I did not want to advertise much considering it is the first issue. Therefore, the audience is not very large and I wanted to entice people rather than confusing them. I wanted to not Billboard and Vibe have not added bar codes to their cover page. However, I wanted to agree with the simple convention so that it was easily accessible in a shop instead of having to purchase online or look for the bar code.

Neither did I include a covermount because it is a new magazine and it needs to be connected to a global institution for the packaging and distribution. -Virus has separated text in both size and font so that the title can be easily located and to show the importance of the title in comparison to the rest of the text. I decided to use a grungy font to hint at the content of the magazine. Despite the lack of conventions used I used graphics to highlight my bar code, price and issue number.

  

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine projects punks/ grunge styled people to be educated in the surrounding issues such as the social affair of the lack of funding for the NHS. It shows the musically interested people aware of other genres but against music related to partying and showing off materialistic lifestyles. This makes the grunge and punk social group appear to be more sentimental than materialistic as well as being aware about issues separated from a particular genre of music and fashion.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I believe -Virus would be distributed by an independent company such as Wolf At Your Door. This is because my magazine is controversial with using non mainstream conventions as well as mentioning views on politics. This would not appeal to such a volume of audience in a small area. For example, NME has more than 30 distributes in London alone whereas -Virus would not be in such demand so it makes sense to use a smaller company. So I would wish for the magazine to be distributed by an independent company (Wolf At Your Door) that is rated on content compared to appeal.

 

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My audience would be aimed at English speaking and reading audiences (would not be distributed in illiterate areas). The audience is young teenagers and adults (this is because age does not detach the reader from the content). They are people that are interested in new mixes of genres preliminary focusing on grunge, punk and rock both in subculture such as music and fashion. All people showed in my magazine were teenage girls therefore the audience are assumed to be in a similar age bracket. However, the neither gender nor age are prevented from reading the magazine.

How did you attract/address your audience?

My magazine has a controversial layout; this will attract people interested in smaller branded magazines. I’m targeting people that buy independent magazines; my magazine should appeal to them with the front cover having a different format. The colour scheme of monochrome against the bright vibrant background is enticing because of the contrast. This is also shown in the simplicity of the cover. The fashion of the featuring new band with the leather jacket and messy hair should also appeal to my audience as they should be associated in some form to that fashion.

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

Before my magazine I had not used Photoshop before. So using it in production showed in my magazines quality. But through tutorials and the new devices I learnt how to layer my text, opaque the layers, to filter images and to sharpen/ soften/ blur lines. This is shown through my second drafts for my cover image where the title is overlapping the image and background. The images are heightened in colour/ stripped. Later drafts showed the title layered on top of the image in transparency and in gradient. The finalized product features the subtraction of the title so that it shows the new device I learnt from the magnetic lasso tool to select parts of the image. Furthermore, the sharpening and darkening of the image. Using Photoshop has helped me create my magazine especially as it is fluent to use and create on (made for making similar products). Using advanced technology made my magazine appear more professional compared to the original drafts which were performed on PowerPoint, which is used to make power points rather than magazine covers.

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

In hindsight of my preliminary tasks I did not understand how to use Photoshop, how the general layout of a magazine was, the language used to show formality and informalities towards the audience. Looking in depth in other magazines has helped me see how professional published magazines use these devices and layout. For example, my case study of retro gamer heavily affected my original layout of my double page spread with multiple images and texts on both pages. However, with further research I developed a more professional layout with a larger amount of text and advertising for all content through lager text and separate fonts as well as background images.

 The preliminary cover page annotation of Clash magazine showed me that I could make the contents more intimate by showing a close up and keeping the style plain and simplistic. Whereas, TIME showed me that using a monochrome filter can be used on a professional magazine.

Creating a school magazine helped me understand how to create a magazine in a detailed brief. Creating my Hampstead School magazine helped me progress as I was putting the whole cover and contents page together by my previous preliminary tasks and then applying it to the work. It aided me making my drafts for my contents page to show previously thought out template that I made myself to show how the product is put together. It also helped me to create a questionnaire for my target audience because I had to make the magazine with my audience in mind so that it would appeal to people instead of a non-relatable magazine.

Analysing colours of magazines showed me how it can show a connection throughout the magazine as well as a theme, this is why my genre of heavy/ dark music was shown through dark and vibrant colours and that was running throughout my whole magazine.

Overall I believe that the preliminary helped me create my product of my magazine’s cover page, contents page and double page spread. Through analysing and breaking down the meanings and attributes for every decision in my product.

Formative feedback - Miss Hunter

 WWW: Sabrina - your recent updates are excellent. Well done for getting your magazine completed and published.




EBI: Return to your case study and develop your ideas further.



Next steps: Begin your evaluation. Consider how you can use varied media when you evaluate.

Finalised Magazine Cover

I've added cover lines to the magazine cover so that it advertises the bands included so that the contents make more sense to the cover as well as the images.

Developed Magazine Cover -Virus

I have chosen to not include taglines or minor headings in the cover as a unconventional approach to the magazine.I have included a musical note to indicate that the magazine is based on music with the contents relating to the music made by the artist. I only made one relation to music as I wanted the attention be be placed on the vocalist Half-in instead of the entirety of the magazine. This way the audience will feel more connected with the band, with the lack of advertisement and other stories in the magazine.

Finalised Contents Page - Virus

I have chosen to add advertisement for the magazines other media platforms online. With this I have included the logos per application to visually convey the information. I have included an editors letter to connect to the audience. I've placed it beneath the images so that one side is not overwhelmed by text and the other by images.

I have made all of the images the same sizes and in a regimented order to make it pristine alongside the image numbers as they are all placed in the bottom right corner of each image. To show the significance of the story on page 9 I have given it an addition title and have sectioned it off.

Finalised Double Page Spread

I have enlarged the text so that it is easier to read as well as splitting the page with the title on so that it appears to be split. I have removed the box around the photography text so that it is similar to the other pieces of text.

Improved Double Page Spread

I have moved the title into the centre of the double page spread as well as spreading out the interview over the two pages. I moved the text towards the bottom of the page so that the image of the band members was clear throughout.

Additional Double Page Spread

I've changed the text position and changed the colour to a darker purple to connect the double page spread to the cover image. I have removed images so that there is more focus on the main image. I have included page numbers so that it correlates to the contents page.I have moved the website link next to the boxed text on the bottom half of the page so that the text was not boarding the page. I decided to change the boxed text to white so that it corresponded with the rest of the text in the magazine.

Detailed Double page spread - Virus

I have changed the format of the double page spread so that the second page is more text and picture based so that the audience do not become overwhelmed with the content. The colour has been stripped to imitate the previous pages and show the theme of dark and punky through the images. I changed the background image to the whole band and I stretched it out between both pages as they are the main focus. I flipped it backwards so that the interview was closest to the vocalist. I have made the magazines name smaller and on a diagonal axis because it is not the main attraction to the page but it has colour to show it's importance throughout. I have added information regarding the photography as it is more professional and it advertises the content. This is also shown through the website name being shown above the magazine title.  

Feedback

Through my feedback form I am shown the majority of people enjoy the aesthetics of my music magazine. It also shows that my music genre is not certain through my magazine. However this is what I wanted to achieve as I wanted to show that the bands were not necessarily only one genre. Overall it showed that my theme was dark as people wrote punk, rock and grunge. Not everybody liked the magazine which is realistic as not all people enjoy the same music and therefore shows my audience is not completely open as I focus on heavy music. 

Because I have not shown music on my cover page to show the audience that the magazine is based around music I will add some imagery to show that it is a music magazine. As well as this I want to highlight the variety of music genres presented in my magazine by using more images, such as bands and concerts in my contents page. This will be alongside an editors letter to connect further to my audience.