Media Studies AS Evaluation

Music Magazine Evaluation

By Maddy Howell

Introduction• After a lot of time spent editing and changing

elements of my final media product, I am happy with the outcome.

• I feel that my magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread uses a lot of conventions of music magazines that cover similar genres whilst also challenging some, making it a unique product.

• I am happy with my decision to focus on punk music in my magazine, as there isn’t currently a magazine that focuses directly on punk in the UK market and so I was able to create something entirely different to anything that is currently available.

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

• I have met some of the conventions of similar music magazines such as Kerrang and Rocksound through using a chatty style in my text that engages the reader and allows them to relate closer to the magazine. This is shown especially in the editors letter and contents page, through the use of the casual and friendly greeting ‘hello readers’.

• My colour scheme was also closely matched to that of the music magazine NME, who use a simple black, red and white variation in the majority of their pages.

• The banner across the front cover with the artist name written on it is similar to the typical design of a Kerrang magazine front cover, which frequently uses this format.

• The simplicity of my logo is similar to that of Q Magazine, especially with the combination of red, black and white.

• However, my front cover challenges the conventions of rock/punk music magazines as it features a female solo artist, something that is very uncommon.

• The basic colour scheme of my magazine also challenges the conventions of the magazines most similar to it, Kerrang and Rocksound, as both of these are very bright and use a wide variety of different colours.

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

(continued)• The contents page of my magazine most

closely resembles that of Kerrang magazine and has quite a lot of similarities.

• I have used headings within my contents in order to categorise the pages of my magazine, which is a convention of music magazines.

• Similar to Kerrang magazine and other music magazines similar to my own, I have used images of live bands on my contents page to illustrate the articles within the magazine.

• I have also included an editors letter and an advertisement for subscription services, which is a convention of music magazines such as Kerrang, Rocksound and NME.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• The artists and the reader are both represented in my magazine through the use of images, linguistic techniques, language and layout.

• The artist is shown to be hard working and passionate about music through the interview on the double page spread as she talks about music in a way that suggests she has a great love for it and a lot of knowledge of the industry.

• The front cover contains hints about what will be in the stories, without giving too much away, immediately drawing the reader’s eye if they see an artist they are interested in.

• I have presented my cover artist as an individual person, as she is a female punk solo artist, which is quite uncommon in the punk scene and especially in the music scene in general. This sets her apart from other artists and suggests that she has a great passion for what she does, as she is willing to stand out form the crowd.

• On my front cover I have portrayed my typical reader as being introduced in small/unsigned punk bands by including artists such as Murder By Death and Bad Company.

• I included a mixture of larger bands such as Bad Company and recently established bands such as Murder By Death as through my market research I discovered that readers of rock music magazines wanted to see a mixture of the two being discussed. This also establishes the punk audience, as they are bands that it is unlikely people would be aware of if they were no0t a big fan of punk music.

• In the double page spread I have used a high text to image ratio that portrays my audience as passionate about music and passionate about the artist as they want to read about Jenna’s life and see what she is doing with her career.

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

• It’s possible that my magazine would be distributed by the same institution that distribute Kerrang Magazine and Q Magazine and Planet Rock radio.

• This institution is called Bauer Media Group and they distribute over 100 different media services to over 19 million people per week.

• I think my magazine would be distributed by this institution because they offer a wide range of music related services such as 4music and Magic, showing that they cater for a wide variety of different genres.

• They don’t currently have any magazine/radio/television stations that focus on punk music so it is possible that they would distribute my magazine to fill a gap in the market.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• The audience for my magazine would be fans of punk music who want to find out more about the genre and the bands involved.

• The audience is likely to be older than of magazines such as Kerrang and Rocksound, as the double page spread features a high text to image ratio which is likely to bore people in their early teens.

• The audience is likely to know about punk music already, as there are phrases within the interview that require a certain level of understanding, such as the mention of other punk bands like Black Flag and Descendents.

• The audience is also likely to be more male dominated as the punk scene is comprised of more male fans than female.

• The typical reader of the magazine is likely to be a male aged between 16 and 21 who has a strong interest in punk music and music in general.

How did you attract/address your audience?

• I attracted the audience through the use of a simple colour scheme that makes the important information stand out and puts emphasis on the images.

• I chose to use a simple colour scheme as I was aiming my magazine towards an older audience who won’t be drawn to the magazine through bright colours but will be more drawn to organised structure and information that they’re interested in.

• The magazine occasionally addresses the audience in a friendly tone, through the phrase ‘hey readers’ in the editors letter. However, overall the tone is quite formal, especially in the interview where the interviewer and artist both speak in a professional way.

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

• To create my media texts I used Microsoft Word, allowing me to add different media elements into my design easily such as images, text and auto shapes etc.

• I decided to use Photoshop to edit my images, specifically the ones on my front cover and double page spread, as I am most familiar with Macromedia Fireworks and wanted to enhance my knowledge of other photo editing software.

• I found this relatively challenging as although the two programmes are quite similar, Photoshop contains features that I am not familiar with and so it took me a while to understand it.

• However, I am happy I decided to use this software as not only did it enhance my knowledge of a new computer programme but it helped me to create a final product of which I am happy with.

• To log my progress through AS Media Studies I have used Wordpress. Before starting this course I was unfamiliar with the site as I don’t have a personal blog on it. However, once I had familiarised myself with how the site works I found it easier to log my progress on here and was happy with the way my information was displayed.

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

• Looking at my preliminary task compared to my main task, I feel as though my final products have definitely improved.

• The overall look of my school magazine wasn’t very professional and the text boxes and font made it look quite rushed and a bit plain.

• I feel as though I have researched more effectively for my main task and therefore it fits into the genre conventions for music magazines and looks a lot more professional.

• I am happier with the photographs I have used in my main task than I was with the ones used in my preliminary task as well because I feel they represent they genre I was portraying in a more effective way and they look more suited where I have placed them.

• I also think that my writing style for magazines has improved as when I wrote the cover lines for my school magazines I was unsure what to include and therefore they didn’t particularly fit the genre, whereas I researched a lot into the language and writing of music magazines before starting to write anything on my music magazine and so I think the words I have chosen fit the conventions of the magazine genre a lot more.