Evaluation: How did you attract/address your audience?

   

Language
I used quite informal, inviting language throughout my magazine, to address/attract my audience. 
The article in my double page spread was written exactly how the musician responded and therefore means that the interview is informal and makes it feel more like a conversation. I chose to do it this way because I wanted it to feel inviting and I felt if I used formal language there could be a language barrier between the readers and the magazine. 

Images
The images I used throughout the magazine were to be intertwined with the article, she doesn't really smile inn any of the shots, this again is because it gives off the impression that we aren't sure if she is happy about taking a break from music or not. I think these images                 create suspense for the audience as they want to read about the musician. These images help represent my audience- cool, relaxed and collected. 

Evaluation: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challange forms of conventions of real life media products?

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

Evaluation: Who would be the audience for your media product?

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

My magazine is aimed at a mass market as it is there is a range of different styles of bands/solo articts within the magazine, as it is a mainstream magazine it writes about the latest popular acts in the music insustry at that time, therefore that could range from a lot of different genre's of music.

I used the magazine's 'Vibe' and 'Q' I looked into what sort of distrubutors they use to see if they would be suitable for my magazine.'Q' magazine distrubutors are called Source IPD. I then went onto their website to do some more research about them and they distribute a big range of magazines from gossip to sports. I think that Source Interlink would be a good distributor for my magazine as it distributes well known magazines and has an award winning art and production departments. Source IPD distribute to wide ranges of the world, such as the United States and many other countries abroad. They quickly provide the consumers the magazine's which woul therefore mean that the magazine would make money more quickly.
Although Source IPD produce and distribute their own different types of media they also distribute for other companies. There mission statemeant is: "To inform, inspire and connect with consumers through our own multimedia properties and to provide core sales and logistical services for other media companies. To continuously strive to provide our clients, both retailers and publishers, with the very best in sales and marketing, operational excellence and other services that drive measurable results". I have highlighted 'Inform, inspire and connect' because I think that applies to my magazine. For example, Inform - 'Loud' informs readers about the latest acts, songs, festivals etc. Inspire - I hope that the magazine would inspire the readers to create their own band or maybe do something within music by reading the articles or just by the general look of the magazine. Connect - The magazine connects with its readers by letting them subscribe to the magazine to gain the best offers.

To conclude I think the choice of distributor is the best one that fits for my magazine as it is interesting and creative, like 'Loud'.

Draft of Contents

This is my draft of the contents page, I really like this draft because it looks interesting and colourful which catches your eye. 

I plan on having my final contents page look like this with the image of the talent incorporating the three colour colour scheme whether that be in the clothes they are wearing or a chair like the one in the image above. 

I wanted the talent to be on a slant because it looks fun and interesting, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the contents page until I placed the image, then I was able to decide on fonts, content etc. When it came to placing the contents masthead I firstly placed it normally so straight, but then I thought it looked a lot better on a slant with the image so they were both intertwined. 

Final DPS



I ended up changing the design of my DPS because you wernt able to read the body text as it was on a dark background and I wanted the text to be dark. Therefore I went with this look, it isnt what I planned for it to look like however I still think it looks ok for the final DPS.

I kept the colour scheme of blue, black and white running through the double page spread like I wanted to make it look better. I also put an effect on the image of the talent that added a flash of blue onto it so it was in keeping with the rest of the page.

Evaluation: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

As I have previously mentioned in a different post, my music magazine is aimed at both male and female, however predominantly females, aged between mid teens to mid twenties that are into mainstream music.

Through my magazine I decided to represent this group of people to want to know the latest news on bands, songs, solo artists, festivals etc. I have represented this by putting sell lines like 'The 10 best new acts'; 'Summer tunes for 2013'; 'This years top festivals'. I have decided to represent them like this as mainstream is all bout the latest new, popular acts therefore i thought that the audience that would read mainstream magazines would want to know everything and be very interested in finding out as much information as possible. For example, in my contents page I included 'features' and 'regulars' to try and give as much new information as possible for the readers. 
As you can see below I included regulars like, 'The faces of 2013' and 'Tours of the month'. All of this is to inform the target audience of the latest music news, tours acts etc.

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

Final Contents page

I'm really pleased with the outcome of the contents page as it turned out better than I expected. I wanted it to have the three colour colour scheme so it was in keeping with the rest of the magazine. I also wanted it to look creative, yet informative. 

I based the whole layout of the contents page on how I laid out my draft of the contents. I wanted my talent to pose like Lana Del Rey who was the talent in my contents draft because she had a hidden smile like Mona Lisa. This was in keeping with the article for my DPS i.e. Susie Lockwood's break from music.

Final magazine cover

This is the final front cover for my music magazine.

I chose the masthead 'Loud' because I wanted something that was associated with music and I thought this would be the best. I previously did some research to get some inspiration, however it was unsuccessful as I didn't like most of the potential names for my magazine.

I chose the colour scheme to be black, blue and white because I think they all work really nicely together and I was planning on doing black white and another bright colour to make it stand out.

Overall I tried to change the layout a bit from my draft because I thought the draft looked a bit boring and I thought I could use the space that I had better, for example putting writing on a slant and placing the issue number inside the masthead.

I wanted to use various fonts throughout the magazine cover to make it look more professional and to make it look more interesting. However I didn't want to use too many fonts because I didn't want it to look cluttered and a bit sloppy, overall I think I avoided this.

I prefer this cover to the draft as its more interesting and fun. I wanted my talent to pose like Lana Del Rey who was the model of my draft, because I really liked the position she was in and I was planning on using a close up for the cover photo. The main idea behind my talent was that she had a hidden smile like Mona lisa. I have made sure this idea is constant throughout the magazine, including the photos and also the DPS article. The reason behind using a smile like Mona lisa is because 'Susie Lockwood' is taking a break from music so you don't know if she is happy or sad about the decision she has made. 

I changed the edit on my background image because I didn't like the lightness of it. I prefer this edit because it is more natural and looks better as a front cover.
  

Research questionnaire

Questionnaire

1. What genre of music magazine do you read?

Mainstream: 4

Pop: 2

Rock:0

RnB: 3

Country:0

Indie: 1

Other:0

Analysis of answers

I asked 10 people the question above and the questions below so that I could get enough information to help me create my magazine.

4 out of 10 people said that they read mainstream magazine's so this was a bonus because then I was able to get a lot of information for my mainstream magazine. I asked this question so I could see what type of audience magazine's get, specifically mainstream, and also so i could find out how many people read specific magazine's.

2. What features attract you to read a music magazine?

• Popular band/solo artist
• Competitions
• A well known magazine in general 
• Interesting sell lines
• Colourful 
• Bold masthead
• Not too cluttered
• Interesting articles

Analysis of answers

Most people were in agreement with each of what catches their eye on a magazine cover, for example 6 people said that a bold masthead and for there to be a popular band/solo artist on the cover. I was  expecting the obvious things like, bold masthead and competitions because there are so many magazines that have this.

3. What colours would you prefare throughout the magazine?
A) White, black and blue:5
B) Blue, pink and black:2
C) Black, red and blue:1
D) White, black and red:2

Analysis of answers
Most people said white, black and blue. I asked the people that chose white, black and blue why they chose that colour, and most of them said because it was colours that would appeal to both genders and because they prefared those colours out of the others.

4. What is the main reason you buy a music magazine?

• To keep up to date with the latest new acts
• To get festivals up dates
• If theres a band/solo artist I like on the cover I will buy it
• To read articles on solo artists/bands
• If I am interested in a competion that was on the front cover
• If I have heard through friends that it is a good magazine to buy

Analysis of answers
Most people said that they buy music magazines so they can find out the lastest bands/solo artists, so they are up to date with whats good. I was surprised that not many people said about the competitions within the magazine, I asked people if the competions was a reason but a lot of people said that wasnt a main reason they would buy it, unless it was advertised on TV so they went out specially  to get the magazine.  

5. How much would you pay for the magazine?
A) £2.00: 7
B) £2.50:2
C) £3.00:1
D) £4.00:0

 Analysis of answers
I wasnt surprised at the feedback I got on this question because I knew that people would want to spend as less as possible on the magazine. A few people were willing to spend up to £2.50/£3.00, but everyone said that £4.00 was too much for a music magazine or a magazine in general.

Health and Safety

I took my photos for my DPS In my room because I wanted a plan background for the photos as you wernt going to see the background in most of the photos anyway, so it didnt matter where I took them. I used a plain white sheet for the background so I didnt have to change much when editing the photos, this was just for ease.

My room is quite big but has a lot of furniture that I had to take into consideration. For example, a TV; bed; table etc. Before we started we move the table out of the way with the TV and unplugged the wires from the wall so no one tripped over them. We pushed the bed against the wall so that was out of our way as much as possible so we didnt trip and so it wasnt in the way. The sheet for the background was pinned up against the wall by blue tack in several places. I would say this was a main risk because if it wasn't securely put up then there would be a risk of it falling on someone. Also if the bottom of the sheet wasn't  pushed back so it was out of the way, his could mean that someone could trip over it and cause a casualty.

Other than the furniture and sheet there wasnt any major risks, we were very safe in making sure that there were no major hazards around us so we were able to take the photos safely.

Target audience for my magazine

I am going to make a Mainstream magazine that aims at mainly 16-20 year olds, both males and females, although I think it would be more for females because I am designing it so I think I will unintentionally put more of a female look on it. I have been looking at magazines Q and Vibe as I want my music and look of the covers to look along the lines of them. However I want my magazine to be more like Q as it is more mainstream and I prefer the layout and design of the magazine. 

After researching on www.nrs.co.uk, I looked at the readership of Q magazine and on average there is 377,000 people that purchased the magazine monthly in January 2012 - December 2012. 257,000 of those are men and 120,000 are women.

I also found out that the most people that buy the magazine are from socio-economic groups A,B and C1. I think this is because Q is quite expensive therefore people in groups C2, D and E would rather spend their money on a different, cheaper magazine or something else altogether especially during the recession. For example bills, food, mortgage etc. The age group of the magazine is big as it is 15-35, 233,000 of the readers are from that age group. 144,000 of them are 35+.

I have taken into consideration the above information and used it to work with what I want and think my readers would be like. My magazine wont be as expensive as Q magazine, i plan for it to be around £2.00, therefore my readers will be in socio-economic groups A, B, C1 and C2. 

Second draft of DPS

This is the second draft of the DPS. I tried to use the same sort of image that was used for the first draft because I liked the layout of the body text around the talent as it looks professional, however I don't like where i have placed some of the text, such as underneath the talent.

I stuck to the colour scheme of black, white and blue like I used for the second draft of the front cover because I wanted each page to be tied in together so it consequently looks more professional. However, i planned on having the text in black but because the some of the image is dark the text was unreadable. This meant that I had to make the text blue and white.  Overall I think that the DPS has too much blue, it doesn't look like a DPS that should be in a magazine to me.

For my next draft/final DPS I am going to try and move the image over to the right, like my first draft as i have more room to place the body text because I think it looks quite cramped. I am also going to lighten the background and maybe the image altogether so I can then have the text in black like I planned. I would like my DPS to look more like my first draft because it was clean, bright and it didn't have too much of one colour. 

Second draft of the magazine cover

This is the second draft front cover for my music magazine.

First Draft of DPS



This is the first draft of my DPS, it is the sort of layout I am thinking about for my actual piece. I didnt want to carry on the colour scheme from the draft of my front cover as I didnt like the colours from it being that bright, therefore i tried a different colour scheme. However, had i liked the colour scheme from the front cover then i would of carried it on. I am planning on using the same colour scheme in my actual DPS, front cover and contents page as it makes it look more professional and links every page in with each other.

I saw the photo of Lana Del Rey and thought instantly about putting the articles around the image, I really like the layout and think it looks really effective. I think from editing the image, the bursting red from the chair and ribbons round her wrists draws attention to the page. This is when I created the three colour, colour scheme and therefore went with red, white and black.

I plan on doing something like this for my actual DPS because I like it a lot, I want a bursting colour contrasting with black and white and a lanscape image so I can put it across both pages.

First draft

This is my first draft of my magazine cover. I am going to use a mid shot or a close of the model because i like the way the masthead goes over the head of the model. 

I am still under sided of what my magazine will be called, this is why i have just put 'Masthead' at in the place of the masthead.  

I love the photo the edit I have done, however when it came to adding the sell lines etc. and creating the three colour, colour scheme i found it hard because I couldn't find a good set of colours, a part from bright colours, that would stand out on the background so you were able to read it. This is the main thing I don't like; the three colour, colour scheme because personally I don't like vibrant colours therefore I would change this in the next draft.

Photo edits

Here are a few photo edits that we did in one of our lessons. The photo edits are of Biffy Clyro and Lana Del Rey. 

This is the original photo that we took from Google. 

First Edit- black and white with coloured background

 Final Edit with light effect

 Original image from google

First Edit- black and white with coloured flag

 Final edit with flames

Final edit with stars

Women & Home deconstruction

According to www.pressgazette.co.uk 'Women & Home' magazine sold 347,653 copies in the first half of 2012. The sales have gone down by 1.5%. I think this is mostly down to the recession as the magazine aims at older women and most women at the moment would rather put the money they spend on the magazine on other things such as; bills, food, clothes for their children etc. 

The magazine is clearly for older women as  the model on each cover is an older women. The content inside has information and help with fashion, hair and beauty, easy quick recipes, diet and health etc. 

This particular cover looks quite busy and therefore gives off the impression that there is a lot of good information inside. 

The masthead is very girly with an older style of writing that goes along with the attitude and age group of the magazine, the bold pink that it is in gives it this girly twist and makes it stand out of the page. The masthead is the first thing that i look at because of the font, but mainly because of the colour of writing. 

The model looks happy and is wearing quite old fashioned styled clothes with a twist of modern. The dark blue contrasts with the three colour colour scheme as it consists of white, black and pink. The dark blue of the white background makes the model pop out the page. I think there is too much pink used throughout the page as it feels like they are forcing the fact that the magazine is a women's magazine. Instead they could of used more black for the sell lines.

The sell lines are very overpowering as there is a lot of information in each one and every sell line overlaps the model and consequently send the focus of the model to the back. I think that by placing the sell lines like this on the page it makes it look very overwhelming. I don't like the sell line at the bottom of the page at all, it is far too big and takes over the whole magazine cover. The way it is laid out on the page with each line of the writing lined more to the right of the page each time it looks a messy and it looks like they are trying to take up as much free space as they can. With the big masthead at the top of the page and the big sell line at the bottom the space is very limited. I think there should be less sell lines and a bit more space. 

I like the use of different styles of fonts throughout the magazine as it makes the page look more interesting, each font links in with the attitude of the magazine as they look elegant and stylish. 

UGT and HNE

In the lesson  today we talked about the Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT)  and the  Hypodermic Needle (HNT). We have previously researched about these theories individually for homework. Below is the infomation that i found.

Uses and Gratifications Theory
This theory is based on how people use media for their need and gratification. In other words we can say this theory states what people do with media rather than what media does to people. Gratifications can be obtained from a medium's content and from the social context it used . For example watching a specific programme, and watching TV with their family. Studies suggest that peoples needs and moods influence how they use and respond to a medium, for example, feeling bored results in them wanting to watch exciting content and feeling stressed encourages relaxing content.

Hypodermic Needle Theory

The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response. Both images used to express this theory (a bullet and a needle) suggest a powerful and direct flow of information from the sender to the receiver.

In todays lesson i learnt more about this theory, we recited from SpiderMan that says "with great power comes great responsibility" this was applied to the mass media as they are so powerful they can 'inject' whatever messages they want to into their audience.

We were shown The Sun's frount page of Arthur Scargill caught in the motion of a wave which unfortunetly looked as if he was standing in the 'Hitler Stance' with the masthead of 'Mine Fuhrer'. The print unions decided that the photo was too insulting and decided not to print it, therefore resulting in there being no photo on the front page with no masthead. Consiquently proving that the print unions were more powerful than the owner, Rupert Murdoch, as they went against his wishes of keeping it. Below is what the front page would of looked like and then what was printed.

 

 

Textual analysis of Vibe and Q

Vibe magazine

The first thing that captures my eye is the image, it is a close up of Kanye West and his pose is quite arrogant and therefore in a way captures your attention. His head is overlaps the masthead which could indercate that he is more important than the magazine.

I'd say the next thing that captures my attention is the headline next to the image that reads "the truth hurts Kanye West 'I am rap'". The words Kayne West and 'I am rap' draw me to read it as they are in a bigger font, bold and a different colour to the other sell lines. I like the way this headline is on a tilt, almost to match the image as Kayne's head is also on a tilt therefore they have made good use of that space. However, the space below the sell lines above the barcode and the bottom little corner there is a big amount of free space, it makes the page look quite boring. The designer's could of put more sell lines, social networking logos and information or a burst within that space to make it look like more is going on and therefore intise the reader in.

The masthead is across the top of the page in bold writing and in a different font to the other writing on the page. It stands out as it is in a vibrent colour. I like the title of the magazine as it could represent how this genre of the magazine makes the people feel when listening to this type of music.

There is a three colour colour scheme of pink, blue and black. This makes the magazine look more professtional and they are all eye catching, bold colours.

The sell lines to the right of the page are short and snappy. They are names of artist's which could mean what the reader would see within the magazine. Personally i dont like these sell lines as they dont say much about what is inside. The top right sell line looks out of place as it overlaps the masthead. To make better use of the free space below they designer's should have moved the sell lines down, however the other sell line with the artist's names look good and creative as they fit around Kayne's ear.



Q magazine

The first thing that i see is the bold red masthead at the top right corner of the page. It over laps the models head slightly suggesting that it is more important and dominates the page for attention.

The coverline 'The UK's biggest music magazine' stands out because it is in white on black in capital letters. The coverline is quite persuasive, it captures the reader's eye and draws them in wanting to read and buy the magazine.

The model looks quite dark and appealing to the eye and therefore might make reader's buy it. The mise en scene in the cover photo, such as her dark make up and black leather looking clothing is in tied with theme of the rock styled magazine. Along with this by using the words 'Cheryl Cole rocks' with the word rocks in bright red ties in with this theme and portrays the model as a rock chick. Underneath the model the magazine uses the model's song '3 words' to sell the story within the magazine.

Throughout the cover there is a three colour colour scheme of red, black and white. It makes the magazine look more professional and by using the bold colours it creates an eye catching cover.

The sell lines overlap the model slightly with the writing in white, red and gray. As you read down the sell lines they get smaller and consiquently arent as bold as the top of the sell lines. I find the smaller writing hard to read especially on the background that it is on i.e. the rain drops have a light sheen to them making the gray writing in particular difficult to read.

History of music magazine Vibe and Q

 

Vibe is a music and entertainment magazine founded by producer Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip-hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. Quincy Jones launched Vibe in 1993, in partnership with Time Inc. Originally, the publication had been called Volume before co-founding editor, Scott Poulson-Bryant gave it the name Vibe.

 

After shutting down production in Summer 2009, Vibe was purchased by the private equity investment fund InterMedia Partners and is now issued every-other month.

 

 

 

Q has a mix of different genre's of music within the magazine. The cover models vary from Lady Gaga to Michael Jackson.The first issue was produced in October 1986 from then on the magazine publishs another issue every month. The circulation and readership in January - December 2003 was 800,000 and 950,000 and has dropped to 64,000 and 470,000 in January - December 2011.

 

Every issue of Q has a different message on the spine. Readers then try to work out what the message has to do with the content of the magazine. The magazine is well known for compiling lists. It has created many, ranging from "The 100 Greatest albums" to the "100 Greatest '100 Greatest' Lists".

 

Research Methods

In my lessons i have learnt about different research methods to use.

There are four different methods:

• Primary
• Secondary
• Quantitative
• Qualitative

 

Primary is research you find and carry out yourself. It involves using questionnaire's/survey's, interviews, foucus groups, word and mouth, letter's, email, textual analysis etc.

Adavntages:

• You can research exactly what you want, how you want, and don't have to rely on other peoples work.
• You can interpret the results how you want, and dont need to rely on other peoples interpretations.
• The research will be accurate for the current time / place / situation you are studying.
• It is tailored exactly to your needs.

Disadvantages:

• It can take a lot of time and cost a lot of money to conduct primary research
• You might not always have the necessary things to conduct it, e.g. samples etc.

Secondary research is research you take and use from someone else. This means that you would use books, internet, search engine's, industry websites, blogs, newspapers and magazine's.
Advantages:

• It is often cheaper than doing primary research.
• It may allow you access to data you could not otherwise get.

Disadvantages:

• You may have less control over how the data was collected.
• There may be biases in the data that you don't know about.
• Its answers may not exactly fit your research questions.
• It may be obsolete data.

Quantitative research is to do with numbers and looking for patterns and trends. The methods you would use questionnaires, survey's etc.

Advantages:

• Quantitive data is in great quantity
• Cheap to manufacture
• Easier to answer

Disadvantages:

• The context of the study or experiment is ignored
• It not study things in a natural setting or discuss the meaning things have for different people

Qualitative research is finding out people's opinions and responces in a structerd way. You can use

Disadvantages:

•  The questions by researchers can lead to the people being asked to be interviewers desirability bias, where the data actually reflects the view of the researcher instead of the participating subject.
• Time consuming
• Can be expensive

Advantages:

• Qualititive data is detailed
• You can obtain insight in the respondent's own voice and they will be able to go into detail in their own words
• You can discover new ideas which may help drive innovation by exploring a topic or idea

Research

This lesson we asked 11-12 year olds what they would like in a school magazine to reasearch and help with some more ideas. They told us that the main features they like are:

• Bright colours, such as organe, blue, red, green etc.
• Funny stories about teachers
• Compititions with exciting prizes e.g. a one direction poster
• Menu's for the canteen
• Photo's of previous school trips and infomation about upcoming trips
• Term dates
• A department profile
• 'Thought of the week'
• They would also want them to be avalible every end of term

School magazine.

This is my final design of my school magazine. I'm really happy with the outcome as it was a better outcome than i expected. I have included a header, boots, links to social networking sites and the schools logo. I didn't want to have a lot of infomation as it is a front cover of a magazine. I wanted to draw the reader(s) to take a look inside, that is the reason why i put bold bots at the side of the page.

School Magazine Deconstruction.

International School magazine

This school magazine from International School is good because it has a bold title with an eye catching picture in the background. I like the font of the ‘IS’ title along with a globe of the world as the dot on top of the ‘I’ which links back to the schools itself, as it is international. However, the overall page is quite boring as there isn’t much content on the page and isn’t giving off too much about the magazine therefore I don’t think it would lead many people to read it. It’s as if the background picture takes over the whole page. I don’t think it looks like a magazine cover, but more like a photo.

 

 

 

MSG magazine

 

The MSG Varsity magazine looks cheap and boring. The background photo looks too posed and cheesy. I also think that there are too many clashing colours on the page, the four different blues that the people are in, the strong purple background and the eye piercing yellow. I’m not sure why anyone would think to put purple and yellow together anyway. On the other hand, the font of the Varsity title matches the sports theme magazine.

 

 

 

 

 

Ryedale School magazine

The Ryedale school magazine looks very professional and has a lot of content on the front page. Considering that it is a front page I think there’s too much information on it, it makes it looks cramped. However by having the school logo next to the title of the magazine it draws the reader in and catches their attention. I like the arrangement of the pictures as it looks neat and quite modern. There is a clear colour scheme within the front page, blue is obviously the schools colours, for a school magazine I think it looks good and the range of blues isn’t boring. If it was anything but a schools magazine it would look very boring and I don’t think it would catch many readers eye.

 

 

 

Hello.

Hi, i'm Ria Nelson and this is my AS media blog. I am currently in year 12 and for this blog i have to produce a front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photo of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid out text and a masthead. Additionally i must provide a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate my grasp of the program.