Music Magazine Evaluation
1. In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
‘BPM’ (Bass per Minute) is the title of my magazine which is
the most original convention of my magazine. I felt that by having such an
original title, it would make the magazine more appealing to it’s target
audience as they are more likely to take an interest in something they haven’t
seen before.
The structure of my magazine follows that of most other music
magazines to make it look as professional as possible. I looked at other
magazine pages for inspiration, and incorporated their styles and fonts into my
own magazine. For my contents page, I looked at a ‘Vibe’ magazine contents page
and really liked the style of the title, where the word ‘contents’ is split
onto three lines. I used this in my own contents page, but have a more
colourful colour scheme as I think it looks more effective.
Every magazine cover I looked at had a mid-close up shot
which covered the majority of the page. I thought this looked effective and
found that the image on the front cover is the first thing the audience sees,
so is important it stands out. I used a mid shot for my front cover, focusing
on the models watch and fur hood which helped with the genre of my RnB
magazine.
Looking at other double page spreads, the main structure of
them have a big image on either the right or left page with an article on the
other side, along with titles and quotes. I followed this structure, as again I
wanted to make it look professional and follow the idea of developing real
media products.
My colour scheme is a mixture of colours including pink,
black, grey and white which isn’t the same as any other magazine I have looked
at. I felt it was important to have something that made it look original and
different to every other magazine you see. By using a colour scheme that hasn’t
really been used before makes it that bit more appealing as the public wants to
see different things on the market.
I liked the way Vibe magazine structured their contents page, especially the title with it on three different lines. I made my magazine look similar to this as I think it looks unusual and appealing.
2. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
My music magazine focuses on RnB music which is very popular
among teenagers, so would appeal to the teenage target audience. It means that
the members of the audience can also relate to the magazine themselves and feel
encouraged if they want to pursue a music career. Through looking at other
magazines, I saw that RnB front covers included images of characters with quite
a ‘serious’ expression and my image is similar, conveying that it relates and
fits in with that genre. I dressed my model in a fur hooded coat that she wore
up, with a watch, similar to a Rolex. I did this as I feel the image on the
front of a magazine says a lot about the magazine and speaks for the rest of it
based on the first look at it. I deliberately dressed my model with clothing
and props that are fashionable at this current time to attract the right
teenage audience.
3. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and why?
When creating a music magazine, I think it is vital that the
distribution of the item is thought about, and why certain places will want to
distribute it. You have to think about which company would actually want to
publish your magazine as there is a lot of competition within the media.
Whilst looking at different institutions, ‘musicmags.net’ stood
out for me for the distribution of my product as it includes magazines that aren’t
too mainstream. Although my magazine has some similar features to that of a
professional music magazine, it looks original, especially with the colour
scheme. This websites also highlights that the number one reason a dealer
carries music magazines is to educate their customers about the product, which
is important for my magazine.
There are a range of magazines published on musicmags.net,
not just one style, so would be good to carry on publishing a range of
different magazines.
‘Ipcmedia.com’ is the UK's leading consumer magazine and digital publisher
and publish a range of well
known magazines that are very successful with their sales. ‘NME’ magazine is
published here which is one of the most popular music magazines, so publishing
my magazine on this website would ensure that it would succeed financially.
4. Who would be the
audience for your media product?
The target audience for my music magazine are for males and
females between the age range of 16-22. This is because RnB music is listened
to by both males and females of these ages especially. My magazine also
features both sexes, to attract a wider audience rather than just males or females
which are important when selling a magazine.
Other music magazines are mainly for the younger generation,
so based my idea for the target audience on those aswell. ‘Vibe’ magazine is
one that I focused on most because I feel it related most to the style of
magazine I wanted to create, as it is RnB, with young models featured.
5. How did you attract/
address your audience?
For my magazine to successfully attract my
target audience, I used an informal register to fake a personal relationship
with the reader, resulting in the magazine appealing more to teenagers. The
lexis used on the front cover connotes that the magazine is clearly RnB as for
example it uses the word ‘tunes’ instead of songs, giving it more of a ‘street’
or ‘slang’ effect. I also used adjectives such as ‘hottest’ to describe the
music, again giving it the ‘street’ effect that fits in with the genre.
Giving my magazine the title ‘BPM’, shortened version of
‘Bass Per Minute’ means that it’s more catchy as its short and snappy. It is
also a simple name to remember and will come to the readers mind easily. The
word ‘bass’ relates to the type of music included in the magazine, so as soon
as the reader see’s the masthead, they will automatically be more attracted to
the magazine.
The image on the front cover shows the model with a fur hood.
I used this image because I feel it is important that the style of the clothing
the model wears should be similar to that of the type of clothing people who
listen to that style of music wear. The
watch is also an important part of the image as it goes with the ‘street’ style
the majority of RnB magazines have such as ‘Vibe’ magazine for example.
The price of my magazine is £2.50, which is quite a good
price to attract a wide audience. With the price being quite cheap, teenagers
are more likely to buy it because it’s affordable for that particular age
range. It is important for the target audience to be taken into consideration
when thinking about the price.
The contents page features two models that are different to
the model on the front cover and double page spread. One of the models is
holding a microphone. Props are important when attracting audiences as they
make it clear straight away what the type of magazine is. In this case, the
microphone shows the audience that it is clearly a music magazine.
In my double page spread, I have included large fonts for the
models name especially as the audience are more likely to want to read the page
if it has big titles and mastheads attracting them to it. It is important that
the type of font you use on each page relates to the type of magazine and fits
in with the genre. My magazines main feature is the female model ‘Lily Rose’,
so the fonts I have used, on the double page especially are more ‘girly’ so as
the text goes with the image.
The colour scheme is also one that would attract both males
and females as it includes the right colours based around the images. For
example, the contents page matches the colour clothing the male model featured
is wearing, and the front cover and double page spread use more pinks.
6. What have you learnt about the
technologies from the process of constructing this product?
In the
process of making my magazine, I found that it wasn’t as easy as I thought it
would be. I enjoyed doing the photography of my model as I learnt how to take
photos using a canon camera. The importance of shot angles and sizes are
significant which I wouldn’t have learnt if I didn’t have the chance to take
these photos. Mid shots and close ups are the best type to use on a magazine
front cover which I found by looking at other magazines for ideas. The lighting
is important for pictures being taken to get the most effective look, and
making it look as professional as possible.
To create my
magazine pages, I had to use Photoshop which I had no experience of. Photoshop
is something that needs a lot of practice to get the hang of the effects you
can use to give a professional finish. All of the photos included in my
magazine have been cut out using the ‘magnetic lasso’ tool. This wasn’t hard to
use, however did need concentration to make sure the photo was cut out
properly. I also used the basics such as the ‘T’ tool for text and the tool to
create boxes.
Some of the
writing didn’t stand out enough where it should have, so I used outer glow
effects which gave those more of a ‘bold’ look and made them dominant. The Internet
was helpful when creating my magazine as I was able to look at other magazines
for inspiration and give me ideas in making it look more professional. A website
called ‘dafont.com’ included a wide range of fonts that I downloaded to make my
magazine look a lot more appealing.
‘Ipcmedia.com’
was a website that helped me learn a bit more about companies of magazines as
it is one of the leading consumers, therefore helping in selling my magazine.
7. Looking back at the
preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it
to a full product?
Before completing both the preliminary school magazine and
the music magazine, I had no experience of using Photoshop whatsoever and also
used barely any of the equipment to help me create them. There is a significant
change between my preliminary front cover and the main task and I feel it has
improved a lot.
There wasn't as much information included on the front cover as I could have done, which meant it looked quite plain. Most other magazines are filled up with as much writing as possible, also showing that the customers are getting the most of what they're paying for.
The background of my preliminary contents page let it down the most as it is too plain, giving it quite a boring feel. Looking at music magazines, you could see that they had some kind of background colour that fit in with the images and text, so for my main task, I made sure the background was suitable.
I have learnt that when creating a product such as a
magazine, every detail is important for making it look at professional as
possible. The font used is one of the most important changes I made, as they
were very basic on the preliminary, but much more variety on my main task.
The costuming and props were a major part of the magazine,
especially the clothing because it gave it the informal ‘street’ look i wanted
it to give off.
I designed drafts in sketch form for my magazine which are on
my blog. The sketch of the front cover is similar to my final product, however
the contents and double page spread are completely different. I changed my mind
quite a bit as I didn’t think it looked enough like a music magazine.
8. Evaluate how successful your product is with
your target audience using audience feedback
Feedback from others:
"From a first glance, I would personally buy this magazine as I am into RnB music, and this genre is shown straight away. The fonts used compliment the genre aswell, as they aren't too curley or too bold, they look like the type of fonts you would see on another RnB magazine. The structure of the magazine is professional, as you can clearly see the structure has been followed and closely looked at to create the effect it has given. There is a link between the colour scheme on the front cover and the double page spread, as both pages include the same person, and the colour scheme on the contents page is different which really stands out for me. I think this is effective as it is more appealing to have pages with completely different colours used, for different information. It also creates the sense that it is really clear what is where.
I can also see that good use of technology has been used to create the magazine, especially through the photography. The quality of the photos are of a high standard and there is a good use of photoshop tools shown throughout all 3 pages. The pictures have been cut out with writing behind them and over them, which makes it look really professional. To cut the pictures out, you obviously have a good idea of how to use the tools on photoshop, which shows you know what you are doing.
Boxes and different fonts have been used, creating a professional feel to it once again. The layout is especially good on the pages, for example, the front cover has each title down the sides, with the masthead at the top. The double page spread has the text split into columns like most double page spreads you would see with quotes included.
The price of the magazine is also decent for the target audience as it is affordable.
To improve upon this next time, I think you could focus even more on a professional music magazine as you have shown a lot of things that do resemble them, however I think you could gain more marks if you copied the style of them even more."
This feedback has helped me see my magazine from a different point of view, which I feel is the best way to analyse a piece of work. After reading the comments made, I agree with what has been said and feel that if I looked at magazines more closely, it would look even more professional.
The main strengths of my magazine is the fact I have used an original colour scheme, making it fit with the models clothing, and the font styles that have made it look like a professional magazine.
I feel I could include more images over the 3 pages, which may make the pages look more filled up.
Overall, I have included the main conventions of a magazine.
