Bethany Hughes

MUSIC MAGAZINE EVALUATION

AS Media Studies Our brief was to make a new

music magazine (front cover, double page spread and

contents with a minimum of four original images

1.IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Masthead

Date/Issue number

Cover lines

Main image/ mid shot

Main cover line

Barcode/ price

Footer

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

• MASTHEAD: I used a retro, destroyed font as I feel it’s different to other indie rock magazines out there that favour a clearer and cleaner san serif font, such as NME. It takes up the top 1/5th of the page conforming to magazine conventions. This font suits the retro name but the destroyed font gives it a modern edge and links to the rock genre the magazine would cover.

• HEADER/FOOTER: Many magazines of all genres use a header and a footer for extra information or longer cover lines. I have used both a header and a footer as it appears as if the magazine has more going on and presents more reasons to buy it.

• COVER LINES/ MAIN COVER LINE: I only have three cover lines and one main cover line and no real anchorage text. I would consider my magazine cover to be too sparse. Magazines, especially new ones, must have many cover lines in order to draw a buyer in.

• BARCODE/DATE./ISSUE NUMBER: This is a convention that nearly all magazines conform to. I have my barcode locate in the bottom left hand corner which is relatively typical of a magazine.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Drop Capital

Page number

Pull quote

Main image of artist

House style

Title

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

• MAIN IMAGE: I have taken up one page with an image of my artist. If an artist or band appears in a magazine there is often a large image to accompany the article and makes for good publicity for the artist.

• PAGE NUMBER: It is a convention to have pages numbers so to easily find pages within the magazine

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

• HOUSE STYLE: Having a house style is a convention of a magazine and makes it more easily recognisable . I chose to have the masthead reprinted on every page for my house style

• TITLE: The title indicates who and what the article is about. The font gives a clue to the tone of the article. For my font I chose a soft font as the article is about talking to the ‘real Harriet Jackson’. The words ‘up close’ link to the pictures on the left hand side

• PULL QUOTE: This instantly shows the reader what the article is about and highlights a key fact from it.

• DROP CAPTIAL: This is also a convention of a magazine it. It is aesthetically pleasing and breaks up the article.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Date

Columns

Pictures

Subheadings

Page numbers

• HOUSE STYLE: The masthead is reprinted here and throughout. The same font is used for the word ‘contents’

• SUBHEADING: subheadings are used to break up the contents page and make things easier to find

• EDITOR’S LETTER: This tells the reader what to expect in the magazine and gives them a ‘behind the scenes’ insight into the workings of a magazine

• PICTURES: Pictures relate to an article and give the reader a preview of what to expect. This also entices and draws them in to buying the magazine.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

2. HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

Gender: Most music indie/rock/ alternative magazines represent males more than females purely done to that genre of music being dominated by males. However my magazine represents both male and female in order to reach out and appeal to women as well as men.

Race: My magazine is more representative of white people as alternative music is as well. Whereas magazines covering R and B would represent ethnic minorities more.

Class: The magazine represents the lower middle class. This, once again, is due to the fact this is representative of the alternative music scene.

Subcultures: Alternative/indie subculture is the most mainstream on any subculture and many mainstream fashion and more well know alternative artists still appeal to them. Unlike other subcultures who prefer more individual and specialize clothing and music.

3. WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND

WHY?

At first, I assumed that IPC would be the best publisher for my magazine due to how well it has done with NME for over 50 years. However this would not be a wise move due to the fact NME wouldn’t want to have another magazine competing for the same audience. Moreover it would be a good move for my magazine, being an unknown publication trying to go up against an established magazine.

3. WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND

WHY?

I believe that Dennis would be a good choice as they currently don’t have any music magazines but do have well known magazines such as Men’s Fitness therefore would be able to provide good marketing for my magazine. Their magazines have websites and apps they would be good at reaching my tech savvy audience.

4. WHO WOULD THE AUDIENCE BE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

Lifestyle/ consumer

choices of my audience…

4. WHO WOULD THE AUDIENCE BE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

Males and femalesAged 15-26StudentsPeople who spend disposable

income on CDs and gig tickets.

Although not in ABC1 themselves due to being students, who come from a family that is in that band

WhiteMiddle class Image conscious

5. HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

I’ve addressed my audience by having cover lines that will appeal and intrigue them. The cover line relating to HMV shows my magazine is concerned with what matters to the audience. It also shows my magazine has it’s finger on the pulse over current music relate issue. The main cover line ‘Harriet Jackson up close’ draws the reader in as they want to feel closer to their favourite bands and artist.

I’ve attracted them through the image on the front cover. The girl is beautiful so it is appealing to the male market but she also isn’t fake so the female market feel is if they could relate to her. The way she is dressed is fashionable but also quirky to give her an edge. I think my audience can identify with her but also aspire to be more like her.

6. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF

CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

I used a website called dafont.com for my mast head as well as my titles on the contents and double page spread. It is a simple and easy to use website. However there was a lot of choice and sometimes a font that looked good on a white background wouldn’t work on another colour. It was a case of trial and error.

I used two of the same programs I used for the college magazine: Indesign and Photoshop. Whilst doing my music magazine I expanded my knowledge on the tools of the programs and about more ways I could use the programs

For my double page spread images, I fi rst took them in colour then decided I wanted to turn them black and white. To do this I desaturated the picture then used tone, contrast and colour in order to bring out the brightness in her eyes and the dark of her l ips. Over all I felt this gave it more impact and became a more striking image.

6. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF

CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

My cover lines were pasted as images from dafont.com therefore I had to get rid of the white around them. I did this by using the select too and pressing delete. I noticed the black didn’t stand out much on the page but I want to keep the colour scheme simple. To solve this I put a white glow around the text. I did this by clicking eff ects then outer glow.

6. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF

CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

6. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF

CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

As using the rule of thirds makes the magazine more visually appealing, in Indesign I used grids to check the

positioning of the text and pictures on my page.

7. LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE

PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

I think my preliminary task looked less sophisticated in the use of technology and looked more generic. Whereas I feel ‘Cassette’ looks unique and with a masthead that could become easily recognisable. I also think my picture taking has improved. The framing in my music magazine is much better and I was more confident in telling the people featured in the pictures what to do. But I felt with both magazines I kept the design quite simple, especially the contents page. In some ways this works but I feel like there is too much white space.