Evaluation

Question 1)In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge the conventions of real media products?

Conventions of a music magazine front cover

Central image- This is conventional because the artist is looking directly at the camera which means that artists is making direct eye contact with audience.

The barcode-for NME is conventionally placed vertical on the bottom right of the page.

Masthead- the masthead of NME is conventionally placed on the top left of the page over the central image, to attract the readers attention and help the recognise the label.

Background- the background of the cover has been photo shopped, this is conventional because this shows that the photo has been taken in a studio and it lets central image stands out.

Main cover line- the main cover line of the magazine is bolder than the rest because its about the main artist that is being featured.

Eyebrow- its convectional to put this above the masthead, to let the reader know what posters are in the magazine.

Other cover lines-its conventional to let the reader know about extra features of the magazine, such as behind the scene of a music video., this is done in a smaller font than the main cover line and have it spread all over the magazine.

Conventions of a music magazine contents page

As NME is a music magazine which features a large number of different bands in each of their issues, they have a band index. A band index makes it easier for readers to find the specific band that they’re interested in finding.

It’s conventional to have the subheading for each part of the magazine in capitals so that the readers are able to identify what the page they’re looking for is. To make it even easier for the reader to identify what they want, each specific section is in a smaller subheading with its page numbers next to them.

It’s conventional for the masthead of the contents page of the magazine to consist of the name of the magazine and the title of the page (contents), so that the readers are aware of what page their reading.

Putting the date that the magazine was published under the masthead is very conventional as it informs the reader about when the issue was published.

The editors of the magazine have decided to put their important information in in a bright red box, so that it grabs the reader’s attention, it also tells the reader the page number so that they can easily access the information.

The magazine editors have differentiated the colour of the subscription, so that it’s easily spotted by the readers who might be interested in subscribing.

for NME its conventional for the to promote their magazine and get regular buyers, so the ask the audience the subscribe. This done at the bottom of the magazine however in bold yellow and white writing to catch the readers attention.

Conventions of a real magazine double page spread

Pull quote- its conventional that the article has a meaningful quote from the artist, this gives the reader an idea of how interesting the artist being features is before they read the full article about them.

Main image- its conventional that the image takes over half of the double page spread if not more.

Title- the title of the article is the name of the artist that is feature and its conventional to have it bold so it cans stand out.

Stand first- this is an introduction of the article and its conventional to have it under the title, in slightly bigger writing than the actual article, and the artists name should stand out by having it in a different colour.

Byline- the by-line is under just above the article, and it tells you who the photographer is.

Drop cap- is used at the beginning of a new paragraph.

Gutter- The gutter is a margin of a page.

Conventions of my music magazine front cover

Barcode- I have followed the conventions of NME magazines layout for their barcode on the front cover as I have vertically placed it on the bottom right of the page.

Main image-I have challenged the way in which NME have taken their photo which was a face-shot instead of a medium-shot photo of the main artist. However my artist is looking directly at the camera and this is following the convention of NME.

Cover lines- with my cover lines I think I have followed the conventions of NME because I have 3 different cover lines which all give the reader a brief insight of what extras are featured in the magazine, such how to give yourself an VIP makeover.

Main cover line- the main cover line of my magazine follows the conventions of NME as its bolder than my other 3 cover lines because its based on the main artist so it should stand out.

Eyebrow- with y eyebrow I have followed the conventions by actually deciding to actually feature an eyebrow in my magazine.

Masthead- my masthead ‘chord’ follows the conventions of a rock magazine because its bold and its stands out and catch's the readers attention.

Conventions of my music magazine contents page

Masthead- my masthead is conventional because its bold and its on top of the page, and also the fact that date of the issue is in small print under the main masthead.

Subheading-It’s conventional to have the subheading for each part of the magazine in bold and specified so that its easy for the reader to find what their looking for in the magazine.

Subscription- I have followed the conventions of NME by adding a magazine subscription so that I gain loyal customers who will regularly buy the magazine.

I have challenged the conventions of NME by including personal information of the editor as this is the first issue.

I have also challenge the conventions of NME, by not including a band index on my contents page.

Conventions of my music magazine double page spread

Gutter-as I have decided to use a gutter for the margins of the page, this means that I have followed the conventions of NME.

Drop cap- using a drop cap on my magazine is following the conventions.

Byline- I have followed the conventions of NME, by putting the name of my photographer above my article just like NME.

Title-I have followed the conventions of NME by making my tile bold and eye catching.

Stand first-I have followed the conventions creating a stand first that gives a brief introduction of the article.

Main image- the fact that my main image is taking over half of the double page spread is following the conventions of NME.

pull quote- using a pull quote which represents the artist ‘Ellie Goulding’ personal quote, Is following the conventions of NME.

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

What is representation: This is when either a someone or a something is portrayed of being of a particular nature.

In the processes of making my music magazine I have learnt that each genre of music represents their magazine to attract their target audience. For example in a music magazine which is based on rock music, the magazine would need to focus on the ways in which their magazine layout could relate to their target audience through the photography, text and design.

Target audience

• My magazine is an indie rock music magazine which is aimed at people who are of the social group C2-C3, and the age range of 16-25year olds. The magazine doesn't focus on a particular ethnic group, races, nor gender.

Design • The ways in which the design layout of my music magazine represents my

target audience is through the colours in which I have used which are; red, black and white , these colours would attract both genders and also the different age ranges that my music magazine is aiming at. This is because the colours are mutual colours that the majority of my target audience would be attracted to. I also haven't included a cover mount such as a free CD to my magazine, instead I decided to give away free posters of the artists that are featured in my article such as Ellie Goulding. This is because due to my audience research I have found out that, hardly anyone listens to music on CDs knower days. instead people tend to download music on to their Smartphone's and music player such as IPods. So it would be a waste including a CD.

Text

• The ways in which the text that I have used represents my target audience is through, the type of font that I have used in my magazine which is not complicated and also my use of informal language represents the type of language used my target audience which are 16-25 year olds.

Photography• The photograph that I have used for my magazine front cover,

contents page and double page spread are of my chosen artist Ellie Goulding who is an indie rock artist. I believe that the model that I have used for my pictures can portrait Ellie Goulding due to her blond hair and flawless skin tone. I also felt that by using a young attractive woman for my front cover would attract my male audience into buying the magazine. I also felt that my female readers could relate to the model by maybe wanting to find out how to put her look together, and to help them do this, a page number which guides them into the putting that particular look together.

Question3)What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Future publishingI have chosen to make my music magazine publisher Future, this is because Future creates high-quality multi-media products which reaches audiences’ online, on mobile and in print. Future is a magazine and internet publisher which was founded in 1985. Future publishes magazines to the United Kingdom, America and Australia. In 2006, future was the sixth-largest in the United Kingdom. It publishes more than 150 magazines in fields such as video games, technology, automotive, sport, music and creative. Future is the biggest guitar and music making publisher in the UK. Magazines that Future publish are; Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Total guitar and Rhythm. Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Revolver are still largely expanding. Future is the UK’s number one licensor of magazine contents. Future publishes over 100 special editions every year generating newsstand revenues of over £4.5 million with a huge amount of high-quality content to choose.Based on this research I decided to choose Future as the publisher for my magazine. Future publishes various magazines of different fields including the music field. Future has proven to be successful in its publishing of magazines in particular music magazines and publishes over a range of countries and so is a good publisher too looks into for publishing my indie rock magazine. The fact that Future publishes Classic rock could be seen as a positive as it is clear that future is successful in producing similar magazines on rock although the similarity would not affect sales as there is still a dramatic difference between classic and indie rock.

Where my magazine will be sold

I have decided that my music magazine will be sold in news agents all over Britain as well, main grocery stores such as Asda, Tesco, Morrison and Sainsbury. This is because these stores are visited by people of all social classes and age groups including that of my target groups which are C2-C3 and the age range of 16-25, and customers are likely to purchase their daily newspaper and magazines articles from theses stores.

How much is your magazine

I have decided that my magazine will be sold at the affordable price of £2:00 This is so that my target audience who are of C2-C3 social class and the age range of 16-25, that are likely to be students, will be able to purchase it

Also would like to distribute my music magazine into other countries such as USA and Canada as they are two countries that have large populations of Indie rock bands and fans.

Existing magazines that are published by future

Classic rock and Cycling are two of the other types of magazines that are published by future. These are just examples of the different fields of magazines that are published by future. As ‘Classic Rock’ is music magazine and ‘Cycling’ is a sports magazine.

Question 5) How did you attract/address audince

• http://youtu.be/ZmRZFFTDbj4

Question6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Computers

• The main hard rive that we have used to create our music magazine was a computer, this was because a computer contained all the software's that we needed for our magazine such as InDesign and Photoshop. The computers where available for me to use at college and home, and i had no difficulties using them.

Camera & Photo shoot• I needed to use digital cameras to take the pictures of

my featured artists, and the these where provided to me by the college media department . At first I found it quite hard to handle the cameras however as time went on I got the hang off them, with some help by friends of mine who are photography students, who are more familiar with the digital cameras. The room in which I took my pictures in was in the college media department. In order to use this room i had to book with a member of the media staff.

InDesign & Photoshop

• InDesign and Photoshop where the two main software's that I have used to create my magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread honestly found it difficult to use both software's due to having no previous knowledge with any of the. However I believe that with practice and reading guide books on both software's which I have found in the college library. I have managed to complete my music magazine using theses software's. Photoshop for cropping my pictures and InDesign for putting my magazine pages together. I had accesses to both of these software's through the college computers.

Microsoft word and PowerPoint

I have used Microsoft word to type up my magazine article, and PowerPoint for some of my evaluation. I had no issues with using any of these software's, as I found them simple to use. I had access to both of these software's at home and at college.

The internet

• I have used the internet and mainly Google to research my featured artists, publisher and to also get pictures of other magazines to study their conventions and to also get pictures of my main artist so i had an idea of how my model should pose. I had the internet available at both home and college.

Wordpress

• Wordpress is the online blog that I have used to post up all my completed work of the magazines. This was only accessible through the internet, which was available to me at college and at home.

Question7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

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