Evaluation Question 7.

7.Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Contrasting my magazines, my final definitely looks more professional than the prelim. The main image is not washed out and more striking. Also the smaller title is more eye grabbing and not spaced out. I think the overall fonts are a lot more striking and in general a better well rounded magazine. I also think the polaroid effects really add to this because they're really striking and professional looking.I also think that my model is better suited to the style of my final magazine with her makeup, clothes and general image, also the props such as the piano and guitar have helped create the effect of a music magazine, whereas my prelim model didn't use any props making the overall look a bit bland.Overall, my final piece looks a lot better, and the prelim helped me draw upon something.

Here is some feedback from Facebook:

Please click on the image.
This feedback also shows my target audience, as many of the people commenting on it are what I consider to be my target audience, this shows that my magazine was successful in attracting a audience.

Evaluation Question 6.

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

The software I used for my magazine was Adobe Photoshop. I used this because it was the design software made accessable to me, also it was easy to add effect and change images. Before starting my magazine I played around with effects to know what to do.

For my double page spread I used Microsoft publisher, this was because I was used to the programme and it worked really well with text, for example it had auto-flow features which helped organise columns. I also used it to make my collages for my blog.

I used a SLR camera for my photoshoots because they're very high quality and made available to me .

I used blogger to make my blogs and publish them.

Evaluation Question 5.

5.How did you attract/address your audience?

Please click on the image.

Comparing it to other magazines, I think I used similar techniques, as shown in my research earlier the magazines have the same titles, and sort of pictures, they also use the same type of music and bands, the fonts are also quite similar.

Evaluation Question 4.

4.Who would be the audience for your media product?

Here is a collage of my target audience, these pictures are from the internet, and highlight the people who would be intrested in buying it. My target audience would be a younger audience, average age range from 16 to 25, focused to both genders, and to a 'indie' influenced social group. They would be intrested in a wide range of music, such as experimental or alternative music. They would wear vintage things or shop in places like topshop. My magazine would attract a similar audience to the magazine Q, here is the audience profile for Q and how I would market my magazine depending on this.

"Open minded experience seekers, the Q audience don’t define themselves by the music they listen to. Music is an important passion, but their love of music will never be to the detriment of their other passions, such as film, sport and comedy."

I would advertise my magazine in a similar way, saying that music is the main intrest in the magazine.

Sales figures:

Q is mainly focused towards males, it is usually a rock genre and sellls about 131,300 every 6 months, the UK's biggest selling music magazine.

I think I would try and advertise my magazine towards females as well as males.

Evaluation Question 3.

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

Both IPC Media and Bauer are very large media publishing companies. IPC is based in the UK and distributes magazines such as NME nationally. Bauer, distributor of magazines like Kerrang! is based in Germany and distributes internationally. I think either of these institutions would be interested in distributing my magazines as they already distribute similar magazines, which have been successful.

IPC Cirrculation:

IPC Media produces and distributes over 80 media brands, with their print brands alone reaching almost 65% of UK women and 44% of UK men equalling to almost 27 million UK adults. Magazines such as; NME, Ideal home, Country life, TVTimes, Marie Clare, Loaded,and even more niche marketed print magazines such as Golf Weekly.

Bauer Circulation:

Bauer Media is Europe's largest privately owned media publishing business . The group is a worldwide media empire offering over 220 magazines in over 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations.

Evaluation Question 2.

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

This is a splitscreen image of my model and Amy Winehouse. I think these two images are similar because they are both at the same market/social group- 'indie'. I also think they are quite similar becuase they are both female and have a gutair with them. There definatly are differences though, my model is showing a more viscous pose whilst Amy Winehouse is showing a more relaxed pose, I think this could affect the audiences, such as older people being more intrested in Amy Winehouse and a younger audience being intrested in my model. It could also affect the social groups intrested, my model coulod get a more rock audience, whilst Amy Winehouse could attain a R&B audience. Here are some pictures of what I think the audience would be for each of these: I think this image shows the audience for each of the audience's really well, for my model I used a much younger audience and for Amy Winehouse's audience I went for people who look in there early thirties, this is because I think she attracts an audience of this age. I also gave my model a wider audience range, because of her age I think she will appeal to most social groups of that age i.e. Indie kid's and Moshers. I also think the angeling and lighting effect the audience, my model's picture is quite bright suggesting its cheery, this would attract a wide audience. Amy Winehouse's picture is very natural lighting and would attract a wide audience too. The expression of my model is also really important because it shows that she is a little bit more 'edgy', this would suggest her attracting 'scene kids' or 'indie kids'. Her hair also shows that she would attract a younger 'edgy' audience because it is a bit wild. Amy Winehouse on the other hand may attract older audiences because she based her self on the 60's and her hair style and music would appeal to those around in the 60's.

Evaluation Question 1

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

Title of the magazine:

I decided on these names because they all either stand for something or are quite eye-catching. The titles: Electric; Wired! and FUSE, are all eye grabbing titles that would attract readers, the title N! stands for Noise, NMW stands for New Music Weekly, I decided on ALT this stands for Alternative Music Magazine, I think my model suits this title and the 'grungey' look of the magazine gives it an 'alternative' feel.

Mise-en-scene:

Please click on the image.

Costumes and Props:

This image shows the costume and props off really well because it has the pink guitar in shot, which was used to make her look really indie. Also it is a good shot of the costume because it has all of it in. I chose this costume because it shows her as a 'edgy' artist.

People:

I think the people I used illustrated the magazine's target audience. Young, rock-type audience. Title & Fonts:

Written Content:

The written content is set out like an interview, I think this is really effective because a lot of magazines use it. I don't thionk it challenges the forms of real media products, but it does use them and draws upon ideas from other magazines such as Q. I think it develops on ideas from real media products because I researched many different magazines and drew on ideas from them, here is some of my research:

Music Genre:

The music genre it is meant to represent is alternative-rock/indie music. I think it potrays this
well because real life media products look like, as shown by my research. I thnik it develops on ideas from real life media products becuase it has two angles instead of just a rock magazine like Kerrang! or a more alternative pop magazine like Q, it mixes the two together. I also think the bands, such as Crystal Castles, and music I used in my coursework refelcted the target audience because it is alternative music.

Layout:

I based the layout on other magazines of the same genre, I think this is shown as I copied things like circles off them. I also used a menu with a background, which I saw in Q. I also used the general layout for my contents from an addition of NME. In my double page spread I used the idea of having a picture on one side and the writing on the other, I saw this in The Wire. Here are some of the things I used from other magazines:

However, I did develop upon ideas from other magazinesm for example the floral background to the contents was my idea, this is developing on real media products because it is a new idea.

The Contents page:

This is my contents page, I think it is really effective because it has a really intresting background and fits in with the theme of the magazine. It is also quite like real life media products, although I did draw on ideas from music magazines I made up ideas myself to come up with a final image, developing ideas from real life media products. In my opinion the contents page is really effective and adds a grungy look to the magazine.

Double page spread.

Here is my final double page spread. I really like the way it has turned out. I think it is really effective, and also goes well with my front cover and contents page.

Contents page.

This is my final contents page. I really like the final look of it, and the features of it such as the background. Also the 'ALT chart' and the 'Band index' add to the professional look. The picutres have also turned out really well. I think it goes well with the front cover and adds to the continued look.

Front cover.

This is my front cover finished. I have tried to make it look really professional and like other magazines at the moment. In the end, I think it turned out really well, and is definatly at the target audience. Comparing it to other front covers,such as NME, I have really reached the audience I wanted to get. A teenage 'Indie' market.

Textures.

On my front cover I wanted to create a 'grunge' look, so i decided to add a grunge texture. After looking through the internet this is the texture i decided upon.

I think this texture is grungy, it adds a distorted effect to the front cover. When i put it on my front cover, i decided it looked better if it wasn't as obvious, i faded it using the Opacity and Fill tools. I reduced it to 26% and 19%. I think this shows a faded-grunge look and is very effective. I also use the texture as a background on my contents page.

Polaroid effect

Throughout my coursework I have used a polaroid effect, because it is very effective and looks nice when used together, here is an example of the polaroid effect i used.

I found a tutorial off the internet which showed me how to create the effect, here is the

website:

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/create-a-polaroid-effect-of-your-photo/

Second Photoshoot & Editing

This is a picture that i took for my front cover, it will be used as a background picture, and made into a polaroid. Here is how it looked before i edited it on photoshop. I changed the Brightness and Contrast, along with the Exposure, Colour balance and the curves, this made the picture brighter and the background whiter, this made the overall picture more vibrant. I then also edited their eyes, with the Red eye button, then i airbrushed them with the Dodge tool, and got rid of their blemishes with the Spot-healing brush and the Patch tool, this was effective and made the picture look more professional, here is the final picture, I think it looks very effective.

Investigating target audiences.

I will conduct a questionnaire to see what my target audience would be, here is a questionnaire i have conducted:

1. Are you male or female?

______________________________

______________________________

2. How old are you?

______________________________

______________________________

3. What type of music do you like?

______________________________

______________________________

4. Do you buy any music magazines?

______________________________

______________________________

5. Would you be more likely to buy a music magazine if it featured established artists or unsigned artists?

______________________________

______________________________

6. Why do you buy magazines?

A) To look at pictures.

B) Read articles.

C) To find out about new artists

D) To find out about up-coming concerts

Other- ________________________________

_____________________________________

Target audiences.

After choosing my magazines name, i decided to focus on the target audiences. Here are some sales figures for existing music magazines:

Q (M)	Emap/Bauer	Rock	131,330
Mojo (M)	Bauer	Rock	106,218
Top of the Pops (F)	BBC Magazines	Pop	105,025
Uncut (M)	IPC Media	Rock	91,028
Kerrang! (F)	Emap/Bauer	Rock	76,937
Classic Rock (M)	Future Publishing	Rock	67,399
New Musical Express (W)	IPC Media	Rock	64,033
Total Guitar (M)	Future Publishing	Practical/playing	48,673
BBC Music Magazine (M)	Bristol Magazines	Classical	47,104
Metal Hammer (M)	Future Publishing	Rock	45,809
Sources: ABC *Jul-Dec 2007

Here are the sales figures(Jul-Dec 2007) for the core music magazines in 2008. I think that my magazine will have a wide commercial audience because seven out of the ten magazines have the same genre as mine. My audience would mainly be a teenage one (13-20), aimed at an 'indie' audience, much like the audience that the 'inkies' magazines have.

Potential Names.

After deciding to make an 'indie' music magazine, i started to look at existing names of magazines, and I began to come up with some of my own ideas:

Existing magazine names:

1. NME
2. The Wire
3. Q
4. MOJO
5. Rolling Stones!
6. FHM
7. Kerrang!
8. Smash Hits

Although some of these magazines aren't aimed at the specific audience that my magazine will be aimed at, I can still get ideas from them. I thought that using initials to stand for something was a good idea. In the end, i decided on the name ALT!, this stands for alternative music magazine.

Photoshoot

I took some pictures for possible front covers and double page spread images. I borrowed a camera from the media department and took it home. Here are some of the pictures:

Overall, i think that the pictures turned out well, however there are a few problems, such as things in the way like plug sockets. Also some of the pictures are landscape which could be problematic for a front cover. However overall I am quite pleased with these pictures.

Research- Double page spreads.

In this part of my research I was looking specifically at the type of stories produced for a double-page spread. I also want to look at the way they are designed and the other bits used in the production of the double-page spread. Here is my research:



After researching these, I concluded that the stories are mainly about a specific artist who is promoting albums or tours etc. I will incorporate this into my work.

Research- Contents page.

This is my research for contents pages, I used the same magazines as the research for my front cover, I decided to also look at the type of stories that magazines like this produce. Here is some of my research:


I cocluded that the contents page to this type of magazine are all pretty similar, with the same colour scheme and sort of pictures as the front cover. I also looked at the type of stories they produce, things like the 'rising stars' of the music business. This has helped me with the stories I will write in my magazine.

Research- Front cover.

After deciding that I would do print work and reading the brief, I had to choose what type of music magazine to create. I decided that I would do an Alternative-Indie music magazine. I then had to do research in to magazines like this; I searched things like NME magazine, Q magazine and The Wire magazine. Here are some of my research images:




I chose these magazine covers as I would like my finished product to look similar to these. I think they give a typical view of the type of music magazine I will be making. It shows the type of music that they write about and the pictures they use. Also the logos and colour schemes used gives me a good idea of what to use on my front cover.