Evaluation

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

Every magazine follows the basic codes and conventions whether it's the main image or the use of the left side third and my magazine is no different. From my research I found out that the Pop and R&B genres were the favourites so I decided to focus on the codes and conventions of both genres.

Front Cover

           

Q masthead

My front cover

I decided to make my masthead similar to that of Q magazine because I felt like it was a bit unusual to have just one square in the top left corner instead of having it going across the top. My magazine also uses the left side third, this was purely accidental, while writing all of my cover line I found that because of the way my picture was shot it would make a lot more sense to put most of my cover lines on the left. I also used buzz words like all other magazines to entice customers to buy my magazine. Then there were the obvious things such as the barcode, date and website which most, if not all, magazines have.  

I tried to follow the codes and conventions of magazines as much as possible but found that when it came to the colour scheme, it just wasn't possible. Generally magazines stick to a colour scheme of no more than 3 different colours; I on the other hand found it very difficult to do that because of the colour of my main image. Looking back on my front cover I regret using more than 3 different colours and if I were to do this project again that would be something that I would change. Another way in which I challenged the codes and conventions of magazines is that my model isn't giving the camera a direct gaze. In my opinion, I feel like by not looking at the camera it gives the overall image even more emotion and may intrigue the audience which would hopefully lead to them buying my magazine.  

Contents Page 

Q contents page

My contents page

My contents page has everything that a professional magazine would have, there are pictures relating to the articles in the magazines, different fonts and sizes where appropriate and it stuck to only 3 colours. Out of the whole magazine I most proud of the contents page as not only does it follow the codes and conventions of magazines but it also looks very professional. The inspiration for the layout was once again taken from Q magazine.

Unlike other magazines that like to split their contents page into different sections, I decided to keep everything under one heading ‘Features’. I felt like it made my magazine look neater and more organised, not only that but I found that with just one heading the contents page was easier to understand and you could find an article quicker.

Double Page Spread

My double page spread follows the codes and conventions of music magazines in a number of different ways; firstly, I decided that I should use a drop letter at the begging of the article I felt like it made the article look more interesting. Also I inserted a pull quote into my magazine because when I was doing my research I saw that nearly all of them used this. Pull Quotes have two main reasons, one is to break up the article so that the reader doesn’t get bored and two it gives the audience a snippet of what’s going to be in the article, this intrigues them and makes them want to carry on reading. Another thing that I did which I found a lot of other magazines do as well was writing an brief introduction, which is normally in bold, about who the double page spread is dedicated too. Finally another code and convention I abided by was to use an image that fills up at least half of the double page spread.

                Overall I feel like my music magazine conformed to the codes and conventions of music magazines more than it challenged them. In my opinion this was a good thing to do since I know that by following them my magazine will look more professional. If I were to do this whole process again I definitely feel like I would challenge them a bit more, since I’ve already played it safe I would want to know what the outcome would be if I rebelled against the codes and conventions that have been set.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I have purposefully made my magazine more biased towards the female gender; I feel like women purchase my genre magazine (pop/R&b) more than men do. By using a male model on my front cover it will attract the attention of the female audience because hopefully they will think he’s cute and want to know more about him. By having a pretty female model for my double page spread you could argue would also attract a lot of attention from females, it’s human nature for people to judge others women I feel do this a lot more than men. So by having a ‘famous’ female model they will want to get the magazine to judge them or maybe because they want to aspire to be like them.

I think that my magazine would be classified as mainstream especially since the genre of my magazine is a mixture of pop and R&B, so anyone that likes things like the UK Top 40 would like this magazine. I think this is once again reinforced by the mise-en-scene of my front cover. The model looks like a younger version of Justin Bieber who is well-known all around the world and has made many appearances on a number of different charts around the world. By making my model wear a snapback and telling him to hold a guitar makes him looks very manufactured, which is what most of the mainstream singers look like these days. Conforming to mainstream stereotypes will make sure that my magazine has as big of an audience as possible.

Finally, I think that by using images of a live band my magazine slightly represents those that prefer to go to festivals or gigs and listen to live music. It’s not only the images that reflect this social group but my articles do too, one of them focuses on the best music that was played at this year’s festivals.

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

After doing research on different media institutions I feel like Bauer Media would be the best for my magazine, especially since they are the publisher for the magazine that heavily influenced my magazine, Q magazine. Not only that but Bauer Media hold a 50% stake in the British television company Box Television, this produces several popular music channels that I feel the bands in my magazine would be on. Some of these channels include Kiss, 4Music, Smash Hits and Kerrang! Not only that but they also have their own radio station called Bauer Radio, this means that they would easily be able to publicise my magazine effectively.

I feel like they would like to distribute my product because it sort of fits in with the products that they already have, such as Q, also feel like my magazine would give them room for expansion into the pop genre. So it would be beneficial for the both of us.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

In my opinion the contents of my music magazine would appeal mainly to female gender between the ages of 16 and 18. I feel like at this age girls are more interested into the opposite sex and like to read about the latest celebrity gossip, so my magazine would be perfect for them. The model on the front is a young male which I feel teen girls would like. The reason that my target audience is in the late teens instead of early teens is because of the language that is used in my magazine. Even though there is an essence of pop in my magazine which you would stereotypically assume is girly there is also a lot of R&B influence which means that some vulgar language may have been used. The age of my audience affected a lot of things about my magazine, for example, since my target audience are still students I had to make sure that the price wasn’t too high.

If we were going to look at the psychographics of my audience according to V.A.L.s theory, which was proposed in 1978 by Mitchell, would be experiencers. They have a lot of energy that they like to put into physical and social activities; they are keen consumers and spend a lot on clothing, music and other similar activities. They especially like to go out and do new things and find new products or services and because of this they easily represent the stereotypical person that would fall into the psychological needs part of Maslow’s Hierarchy. They need to feel like they belong and to do so they would read my magazine so that they can keep up to date with music which they can then go and talk about with their friends.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Since my target audience are mainly going to be females I decided that using a male model on my front cover would be the best decision. Richard Dyer’s star theory states that stars are constructed for the sole purpose of making money, they are not real people. This made me think about the hype that went along with Justin Bieber when he first started, so I thought that if I try and get a young attractive model on the front cover than maybe the same thing would happen. Another way in which my audience would be attracted to my magazine would be through the use of puffs, for example 'free poster inside'. Everyone likes it when they can get something for free so not only will this attract the audience’s attention but it will also entice them into buying my magazine. Another way in which I attracted my audience was by using words such as exclusive, everyone wants to know the latest gossip so by making them feel like this magazine is the only one that can tell them this secret then it will make them want to buy the magazine.

The way that I addressed my audience is quite informal, I used phrases like ‘Are you excited? We are!’ I think that by using this type of language our audience can relate with the magazine a lot more and feel like they are actually with the interviewers and celebrities.

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

Since starting this project I have learnt how to use a number of different programs like Serif PagePlus, Serif PhotoPlus and Dafont. Each of these programmes has useful tools that have helped me a lot all the way throughout the making if my product, however I didn't realise how hard they were to use. I have had a little bit of experience with these programmes but it still took me a lot of time to get used to them, this meant that I wasted a lot of time at the beginning by learning how to use all the different tools. Even when I finished my magazine things still weren't going right as you can see on my front cover. When I tried to save it these red lines appeared and because I wasn't used to the new technology I had no idea how I could fix it. This meant that my final front cover doesn't look professional any more it just looks messy which I am very disappointed about. Another thing that I had learnt from this process is that the programmes and new technology I used are very temperamental, I think that I should of messed around with the programme just to get used to it before actually using it for my magazine.

On the positive side Serif PagePlus had nearly everything I needed just on that programme, for example the cut-out studio which I used for the image on my double page spread. By having practically everything in one package it made the whole process a lot easier and less time consuming.

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

From my preliminary task to my final product I feel like I have learnt a lot about the production of music magazines. When first starting this project I had no idea how much time and effort went into making them but know I realise that every part of the magazine needs to be analysed in a huge amount of detail. If something doesn't look right or if there is a mistake on there then the whole magazine doesn't look right, if this happened in real media products it could greatly affect their sales figures. I have also learnt that I shouldn't myself to certain programmes such as Microsoft Word and PicMonkey like I did for my preliminary task, that's why when doing my final product I used other programmes such as Serif PagePlus and PhotoPlus. 

          When I look back on my preliminary task I can see clearly that I only followed one or two of the generic codes and conventions of music magazines. For example, I did have a masthead on my front cover but that’s about it, there were no cover lines, straplines or puffs, however, in my final product I have followed the codes and conventions a lot more closely and by doing so it has made the final look more aesthetically pleasing. Another thing that I have realised is that in my preliminary task I was severely lacking images, this meant that you couldn’t really tell what my magazine was actually about and more importantly it looked very dull. Images are a big part of music magazines it is one of their codes and conventions so by adding more images it has made my magazine more professional looking.  As you can see in my final product I have rectified this problem, not only have I added more pictures but I have used a number of different camera shots and angles. Not only that but I have used a number of different locations for my photos in my final product, some are staged while others are live shots.   
Another thing I have learnt throughout this process is that I am really bad at checking over my work and making sure everything is as good as it possibly can be. By not checking my work carefully it has meant that some parts of my magazine look a bit odd almost as if they aren't from the same magazine. For example in the pictures below you can see that the numbering on my contents page is white and on a black box, whereas on my double page spread the numbering is a light pink colour and completely different font. If I were to do this project again I would definitely make sure that I check every single detail of my magazine before presenting it as my final work.