EVALUATION Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task (The School Magazine Task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

EVALUATION Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

EVALUATION Q5: How did you attract/ address your audience?

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

EVALUATION Q4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Question 4: Who would be the audience fore your media product?

The target audience for my magazine would typically be 14-19 year olds who are young, trendy and fit in with the indie/rock genre. Typically, the majority of my target audience will listen to bands like Oasis and Mumford and Sons. Their free time is usually spent on social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter or reading up online about their favourite bands. I have chosen to make my magazine unisex to appeal to both male and female teenagers. This is shown through the colour schemes in my magazine as I have kept a repetitive black, red and white theme throughout.

In other free time, my typical target audience would be following rock/indie bands on tour around the country, and if the band isn’t that well known, they would be following them at local events/gigs. Festivals would usually be around summertime when my audience would typically travel as they are mostly students so my magazine would be ideal for those who are a little strapped for cash and want to follow bands around the country and want to get involved with local bands.

If I were to include adverts in my magazine, I would make sure that they were tailored to suit the target audience for my magazine. As summer is approaching fast, I would maybe feature camping or festival adverts with links to websites so my audience were travelling, the research is done for them. Additional adverts would include new CD album releases online so my audience can keep up to date with the latest music.

Typical clothing style for my target audience would be dressed down in baggy t shirts with converse pumps and pants or leggings, nothing too obscure.

EVALUATION Q3- What kind of Media Institution might distribute your media product and why?

Question 3: What kind of Media Institution might distribute your media product and why?

To distribute and produce my magazine, I would choose IPC media as it is a long standing, trustworthy and reputable media institution. It produces magazines like NME and reaches over 25 million users globally every month. IPC Media are perfect as I would reach a wide global audience range as they are already attracting millions of users and the users from different countries can see what English music is like. I feel that my magazine would be perfect for IPC media as there is a current gap in the market for a young, partly unconventional magazine style. I feel that IPC media would sell my magazine well, selling it online and into supermarkets.

Additionally, there is another media institution called Bauer Media who could distribute my magazine as they produce and distribute 230 magazines in 15 different countries and reaches over 19 million adults every week. Bauer Media distributes magazines like Kerrang, Q and Mojo.  As Bauer media already distributes these kinds of magazines, I felt it would be unsuitable to try and fill the gap in the market when the likes of Kerrang is an already hugely successful indie/rock magazine, therefore Bauer Media would be unlikely to distribute my magazine with the extreme similarities to Kerrang and would not want to affect the magazine’s sales.

I did also consider another reputable Media Institution to possibly distribute my magazine. (Immediate Media and Co produces the BBC’s magazines). The BBC distribute a music magazine, home magazines and garden magazines and I could attract a large interest as the BBC is well known to lots of people across the UK however would be very unsuitable as the BBC is not a global company so would not attract a wide range of audience to my magazine. The target audience for BBC magazines usually attract older people which would be an unsuitable target audience for my magazine.

EVALUATION Q2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

I have chosen to compare Taylor Momsen and my artist Milly.

-         Both teenagers are wearing dark clothes to represent the rock/indie genre. Both double page spreads have the same conventional colour schemes (black, white and red).

-         Both teenagers denote similar personalities- a little wild and rebellious as this is shown through Taylor’s dark facial makeup and the expression on her face.

-         Taylor Momsten’s lighting on her photo is much darker than Milly’s image as Momsten is much more shadowed whereas Milly is seen to be more the angelic figure as she is seen to have a lighter background to her photos. Momsen definitely denotes more of a wild chick with her wild and wavy blonde hair whereas Milly’s hair is more styled and the ponytail denotes more of an innocent look.

-         This represents some social groups to be outgoing and flamboyant like Taylor’s personality but some to be more innocent like Milly. I feel that my target audience would be somewhere in the middle, as Taylor’s personality could seen to be too boisterous by some social groups.

-         Dyer Star Theory- Concludes that celebrities are constructed, artificial images however I do feel that my magazine artist does have a unique selling point in the way that my is created and the way that my artist has a realistic flare as she has a style and a personality. However I do feel that Taylor Momsten’s image is constructed and partially fake to fit in with the indie/rock genre.

EVALUATION Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

1.     Title of my image

a.     To create my title, I hand drew it on paint. My title fits in with conventional rock/indie magazines as my title is bold and black and stands out on my magazine front cover; however it is unconventional as the style of the title is so much different to normal professional magazines.

 

 

However, my title is unique to my audience and will be more attractive and memorable which may expand my target audience as there is a gap in the current market for a young and hip rock/indie trendy magazine. This may attract a more young and trendy musically orientated audience.

As I created my title through paint, I have manipulated my title and filled in the background to make the title style look similar to other magazine mastheads like NME and Kerrang so my title fitted with the white, black and red colour scheme in that denotes the typical rock/indie magazine.

b.     Contents page title

I found the title for my contents page online. Again the title is conventionally bold but also unique as each letter of my title has music notes inside it which all denote to my musical genre theme. I edited the title through Photoshop making the letters of the contents page title stand out more so it is bolder on the page to attract the audience’s attention. However the title is a little unconventional to real media products as you would not usually see a similar style heading on a real contents page. This unconventional title is more edgy and eye catching which would make it more memorable to my target audience.

The subheadings which link to the text keep in with the repeat theme of the page to make it look more professional and an easy glance over the page. This would be used in conventional magazines to keep in with the theme of the page the same to make it look neater and more professional.

  

c.      Double Page Title

My double page title is also black and bold attract the readers attention to the quote at the top of the page. My title style is very similar to the double page spread featured in NME with Lilly Allen. This again fits in with the conventions of a real media product. The quote is used at the top to attract the reader’s attention to the article, persuading the readers to read the article to become more familiar with the artist.

2.     Mise-en-scene of Images

My image of Milly the young upcoming artist fits in with the conventional themes of a front cover. She appears to be musically talented by holding her guitar and smiling at the camera which makes the connection with the audience seem more personal. Her dark clothing (leggings and converse shoes) also fits in with the colour scheme of my magazine and matches in with the rock/indie genre.  This is typically conventional in a real magazine as dark clothes will blend in more with the colour scheme on the page.

Featuring a solo breakthrough artist in a conventional magazine is typically unusual as with the likes of Q and Kerrang, breakthrough bands would usually be featured.  I wanted to make my double page and front cover different to conventional magazines to fill the gap in the market. I wanted to appeal to my male market by featuring a pretty young girl on the cover and to my female market as Milly could be someone who my audience could musically look up to. This is the type of things that conventional media products would do to attract interest.

3.     Written Content

The written content in my magazine is effective and fits in with real conventional magazines. For example, my front page features to different popular bands like The Verve, Oasis and Stereophonics from within the rock/genre era, which typically fans from that music genre would be interested to read as they are featured in conventional magazines like NME. This is ea persuasive technique used to persuade the audience to buy the article and read it, as more popular bands are more likely to generate higher interest which will mean more magazine purchases.

Subscriptions to magazines again are typical conventional features. Subscriptions are a really good feature to have in a magazine as they enforce a loyal customer base and rewards the audience by saving themselves money for repeat purchases. I have featured this in my contents page to make my magazine look as professional and as realistic as possible. This is usually featured in real magazines like NME.

My editor’s letter featured next to my subscription box is informal and chatty. “Hey Guys!” connects the audience with the editor which is conventional for a magazine. The conversational almost chat between the editor and the audience persuades the readers to read up on the main artist as the readers put trust in as the editor as “Vicky” is the respected and established figure for the magazine. The editorial signature again makes the editors letter more realistic and gives the note a more personal touch.

Throughout my magazine I have made sure I have included “Don’t miss out” or “Check out...” which are conventional hooks used by professional magazines to persuade the reader to read through the articles. This is used to attract attention so the audience reads through the magazine; additional info keeps the readers interested like “winning £200 cash” that conventional magazines would feature to keep in form with repeat purchase loyalty.

Facts about my singer on my double page spread makes the audience aware of the potential new artist as conventional magazines will try to feature new bands from the genre to attract a wider fan base and spark up an interest for the new solo artist or band. I have used this to fit in with the conventions of a real magazine to make it more realistic to my audience.

4.     Pricing

I decided to set the price of my magazine to £1.50 to fit in with my 14-19 age range of readers who are typically students and strapped for cash. This is unconventional as better known magazines like NME and Q are more expensively priced at £2.20. This makes my magazine stand out more as readers can get the same musical content for a cheaper price. This will hopefully attract more readers who are maybe a little older like 20-25 who are also interested in the same musical genre.  

5.     Layout

Front Cover- I think my front cover layout is mainly conventional as it includes a masthead, tagline and a dateline. I wanted to make my magazine look realistic and professional so these features were essential for my front cover. My front cover also includes a barcode and price which conventional magazines would include and also makes my page look more realistic and would make it look more eye catching on the magazine shelf.

Contents Page- My contents page follows a conventional layout as it displays both a balance of text and images. I have made sure that the colour schemes on the page have kept in with the same style as my front cover so the pages look like they would link together in a conventional magazine. Again, I have made sure my editors note is noticeable and follows the conventional chatty type style conversation with a handwritten signature to make it look like the editor has written the note themselves. I used the colour blue to make the box stand out more on the page and so the black red and white colour scheme did not look boring on the page, as the blue does look very eye-catching. This is conventional of real magazines to keep the readers attention on the page and to keep them interested on the articles.

Double Page Spread- My double page spread layout is definitely conventional.  The quote title is effective in keeping my audience’s attention on the page and my text is laid out in a typical column like format. My images on the page are included to break up the text on the page, and make the page look more appealing to read. I also included bold quotes from the article to the audience could get a taste to what my artist is really like if the readers are just flicking through my magazine. Conventional magazines like NME and Kerrang will use a double page to promote new bands into the rock/indie genre to make fans familiar to the artist so the band/artist starts to gain popularity. I have also used convergence of media by including my artists Twitter account link and more videos on the magazines website (web address). This keeps in style with conventional magazines to also build up interest online and keeps the magazine’s fans updated with Milly’s latest movements via Social Networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. 

6.     Colour Schemes

During the creation process and the research gathering, most people from my questionnaire said they would prefer a more red/orange/yellow colour scheme. During creating my magazine on Photoshop, I felt that these colour schemes were unsuitable for the genre of music I wanted to write about. I then changed to a darker colour scheme which fitted in a lot more with typical and successful magazines like NME, Kerrang and Q. My magazine now looks more professional and realistic from changing the colours around and makes it more sellable to my target audience.