The final product for my music magazine

Evaluation Question 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?

 I feel that I have progressed quite a lot from the start of media because I started with no skills of Photoshop or Indesign and I have been able to create two media products which I feel are quite appropriate for the tasks that were set. I have learnt about how to change contrast and to make the writing with a glow around the edge to make them stand out more. I have also learnt about being able to make the writing look as if it is hovering above the picture so that it doesn't blend in too much with the background. There are still many aspects of Photoshop that I would have liked to have learnt about to make the magazines look more professional but I feel that I have done the best to my ability.

I think that there is a real difference between the school magazine and the music magazine, I am not completely happy with either but I feel I did the best to my ability. With the school magazine, at the time I was making it I thought that colouring the bricks would make it more vibrant and colourful but instead I think it is a bit too overpowering and I don't think the picture really says "school magazine"




The biggest difference for me was the capability of creating a contents page, there is a real difference of skill between the two. With the school magazine I found Indesign too complicated so I made the contents on Photoshop, although at the time I thought the school magazine contents page was quite successful, now I look back on it and think that it is quite amateur and there are many things that I would do now instead.


 Overall I have learnt many new things from media this year that have been really useful and I believe that there is a clear difference, with the imagery, placing of things and techniques

Evaluation Question 6: What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing This Product?

This year has been the first time I have properly used photoshop at first I found it quite confusing but with a few lessons I have been able to confidently use it.

At first I did not think I could possibly make a magazine with the little skills of photoshop I had but I have progressed quite a lot since then and have been able to create a unique magazine that I feel has the essence of folk that readers would be attracted to.

This was the picture that I started off with and there is quite a large difference between the two pictures, I changed the contrast to make it stand out a lot more, I also took out the background because I wanted the magazine to be plainly about the musician and I felt that the background was a bit too distracting. I also made the violin a brighter shade of red so it becomes a lot more vibrant and I think it would attract the audience. I also cut out parts of the picture to make sure people are solely looking at the musician.

Overall I think by using photoshop I have made a appropriate front page that people would be attracted to because it is bright and bold and quite clean looking, compared to mainstream magazines that are edgy and dark looking.

I have never actually used Indesign before as I had used photoshop on the preliminary task because at that point it seemed a lot more easier to use however it did help with lining up writing and pictures and making columns, when making my double page spread and contents page I combined both Photoshop and Indesign together because I couldn't really edit any pictures on Indesign.

I made all of the tabs on Indesign by creating a straight line and then transforming it into a circle and then filling it in with the colour and that is how i was able to make a border on all of the tabs. The one thing that I would change if I could is the heading on the contents page because it is slightly different to the heading on the front cover but I had trouble re-creating the same font and colour etc.

Evaluation Question 5: How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience?

                                                   

 I attracted my audience by using the vivid colour of green which I think would stand out amongst other magazines. The colour green is quite natural and because folk is associated with country music it makes it quite appropriate to use.

I looked in to magazines and they had written a lot about music awards and so I decided to see if there was actually a real folk awards and I managed to find one, from there I found artists who had been nominated and won awards which I have then been able to use in my magazine which would attract audiences because they might want to find out about upcoming artists and by having an awards ceremony for folk it makes the genre a bit more prestigious so more people might be interested to find out what it is all about.

I feel that my contents page could attract an audience because again the bright colours of green and all of the tabs make it look quite interesting because I found with a lot of people from research that they tend to look past the contents page because they find that there is too much writing and they would rather just read on through the magazine. However I feel that people would read what is actually in the magazine and would address them about what my magzine is about and what it contains.

Out of the three I feel that my double page spread lacks the most because it is quite simple but I think that the large picture on the right might make people stop to read because I looked in many magazines and the majority had a large picture on the right, a large heading, a small introducing paragraph and little writing, I didnt want to make the writing in Question and answer form because I think it makes it too chatty whereas I want to inform people about who my act is and what they are about.

Overall I think my magazine attracts and addresses my audience because I think the captions on my front page would make people want to read the magazine but I would change my double page spread because it doesn't quite go with the overall layout of my magazine.

Evaluation Question 4: Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?

Overall I think that my magazine is mainly targeted for women, from responses by people I talked to the majority of people thought that the magazine was more targeted for a female audience.

The age of the audience that would probably read my magazine would be 16-20 year old, even though initially I wanted to make the magazine for an older audience, the magazine is more appropriate for a younger generation.

As I live in Hastings, there is a strong base of teenagers who would prefer alternative and "different" types of music and I know people who promote themselves online or other bands that they like and as I have said before the majority of people who would read my magazine would prefer to watch live performances unlike music videos which are more associated with mainstream music. I found that with research a lot of people share music online, via YouTube, myspace or facebook and as my audience is a young audience they are more likely to communicate online about bands that they like which is what my magazine is trying to do, it tries to tell people of new and upcoming artists.

Evaluation Question 3: What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?

I did briefly look at distribution companies for an institution that I could use for my magazine, I looked at the magazines that I was looking at and  "songlines" is an e-magazine that a lot of inspiration came from and I noticed that they only have 8 issues a year which are subscriptions. Songlines dont actually have a distributon company behind them, which is probably what I would do for my magazine because it is quite unique and wouldnt have a huge population of readers it so it would probably be more appropriate to have an independent distribution company. I have also made it accesible to subscribe to my magazine which might bring in a larger audience because I found that quite a few people at my college read online magazines.


I also looked at "The Fly" which is another music magazine that I looked at, which again is an online magazine so it does'nt have a distribution company, however unlike "Songlines" you dont have to pay anything to read the magazine online and there are 12 issues evey year which is what I thought would be more appropriate for my magazine.

I did however want to look at a magazine that wasnt online so I looked at NME because it is a very popular magazine amongst young readers and it is successful, therefore I looked in to the magazine for some influence for my magazine. IPC is the distributor behind NME and overall they have over 60 brands and around 26 million readers. If I had made my magazine more commercial and with a more popular genre of music then I would most likely have gone with IPC but because my magazine genre is folk I think going with an independent distribution company.

I did look at an independent magazine which is called "Indie" which even though it is more of a style magazine than music, it is quite relevant for my magazine because it is simple and which could be another magazine that my readers could also read to get influences from.

Evaluation Question 2: How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

My magazine represents a social group who are dedicated to their music and will stand up for what they like but aren't necessarily shown widely in media because they are seen as "different". They are people who continually go to gigs to support their bands and genre of music and tend to go to festivals because they want to express their love of music and prove that you don't have to be "mainstream" to be successful.

On my front cover I did add the "New and Upcoming artists" as a caption because my readers are people who want to see new bands and by also adding "Folk Awards" as another caption it makes it look more prestigious and important and something that more people should look in to.

At first I was going to make my music magazine for 18-24 year olds but as I made my magazine I noticed that it would probably be better for a younger market so my magazine would probably represent 16-20 year olds who would have an essence of the 60's and an alternative type of style.

I used the artist Laura Marling as a source of inspiration because she optimises the type of people who would read my magazine, she has the type of style that would represent many of my readers and also the type of music that they would listen as well.

The main people that would read my magazine would be female because the main artist on the cover is a girl and I think many girls would associate themselves with the magazine, at first I did try to make it for boys as well as girls by putting male artists on the front cover and on the contents page but in the end it still looked like a female magazine so I kept it that way. I did ask many people who they thought this magazine would be for and the majority said female which would  represent a media group who are not advertised much because if you look at magazines such as Kerrang and NME, the majority of acts are male.

Overall I think I represented my particular social group quite well and even though I havent quite kept with the initial ideas that I began with, I adapted to these changes and I think I have made the magazine  far more superior because my aim was to challenge media institutions by making more people accessible and representing groups who arent shown enough within media.

Evaluation Question 1: In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?

My music magazine to me personally, has challenged and developed the forms of real media products because firstly, it is a magazine that would be rarely seen in stores and is a genre that is quite understated in the music industry because it isn't so "mainstream".
 I came up with the name "Unsung" because I wanted a name that represented music artists that aren't really talked about much and that are undervalued in media, I had to choose a name that would be quite memorable and bold and also relates to music which was quite essential for me.

As the theme of my magazine was folk I wanted the house colours to be quite "earthy" and natural I tried out the title in many shades of greens,oranges, yellows and reds but the main colour that stood out for me was green because it made the cover look quite fresh and because I wanted to challenge the conventions of magazines I didn't want to go for the typical red and black colours which I noticed many magazines had like NME and Kerrang, therefore I chose a vibrant tone of green which I think has worked quite effectively. I made the title quite thick so it is easy to read, I didn't want the font of the title to be too fancy and distracting from the main act on the page so I went for something simple and noticeable because that was the aim for my magazine- to be seen and be heard by more people. The colour green is seen all of the way through my magazine to make the magazine pages fit together and don't look to mis-matched.

The magazines that I chose to develop were "Songlines" and "The Fly" which are both online magazines. A way in which I developed these magazines is by making my magazine a product that is sold in stores because I want my magazine to be noticed by people. I have used the some aspects and conventions of "Songlines" because I found their contents page really interesting, with all of the tabs showing which page an article was on, I slightly changed this for my magazine however because instead of using multi colours, I chose a variety of different shades of greens and changed the sizes of the bubbles. I think the mise-en-scene of my magazine has and also used many of the conventions of magazines that I have looked at but I have developed those conventions to fit in with the style of my genre and audience.

Overall I think my magazine has been quite effective at developing and challenging the forms and conventions of real media products because I think it would be quite memorable and I think people would know by the front cover that it is a magazine that is quite different to most and has a "folky" genre. 

Media magazine response

This is a response of my magazine as a whole to get an opinion of what people from my target audience really think of the magazine.

Other act on contents page

this is Unthanks which I have based my other band on which are on my contents page. I tried to resemble my band on Unthanks because they are quite young and have the style of music which goes with the magazine.

Larkin Poe

Now still only 19 & 20 years of age they have launched themselves as Larkin Poe, this is the kind of band that is very similar to my main act "Holly Finch" they are very reminiscent of the kind of music that my readers will listen to and the kind of style of clothing as well, their music is very "folky" and very easy to listen to which is what i was aiming at for my act, which resembles my magazine because it is very easy to read, simple but to the point.


Here is their music video which gives you an idea of what kind of music and culture I am trying to aim for and which I think is approppriate to relate to my magazine.

Looking at online magazine "The Fly"

Here I have looked at online magazine "The Fly" because I wanted to see what different variations of magazines there are, I have also found out that they are quite popular because the majority of them are free. The layout is very similar to what I want mine to be like because it is very simple and the band are the main focus of the magazine. I also like how the background is kept white because to me it looks a lot more modern and the band members stick out.

On the contents page it consists of only one large picture but not of the actual band who are on the front page which shows that the magazine are trying to put in as many different bands as they can to create more of a variety for different readers, they have also placed the front cover band "The drums" on page 22 which makes people have to read on through the magazine to get to the cover story. The fly have kept their contents very simple with all of the writing at the bottom in one large paragraph. The only way in which they make bands stand out is by making their name in red and the rest of the writing is in black. I don't particularly like this layout because I don't think it makes other people in the magazine stand out and the writing is too small and bunched up together

Looking at other artists

Laura Marling is an act that I want my magazine to relate to because she is quite young and is a very similar genre to what I am aiming to show. I am going to have another photo shoot to try and show a bit more of an essence of Laura Marling as she is the type of act that I am trying to manipulate.

The photos of her seem very natural and not really posed but there is something interesting to her photos.

Looking at contents pages

Here is a contents page from an NME magazine, I like how it is quite informal because the main attention are the pictures on the page, with little writing underneath describing the act. I like the layout because there are many different column sizes which makes it quite interesting. It is quite simple but bold which is what my magazine is about. This page draws you in to the main article in the centre which is effective because it makes you look at the at the artist and read what it is all about. The "Inside this week" makes it seem quite formal because it almost reminds me of a newspaper article, whereas most magazines dont tend to make the title of the page very big and make it more about what is in the magazine instead.

Target Audience

This questionnaire will help me to choose my target audience and get an idea of what other people are interested in and if they like music magazines at all. These are the questions that I will get people to answer and when I have got sufficient evidence I will evaluate all of the answers.


Questionnaire

Gender        F/M

Age            16 or below    17-20     21-25     26+

Do you buy music magazines at all?           Y/N

What type of music are you the most interested in?     
Rock   Pop   R&B   Hip hop   Folk   Classical   Jazz   Blues   Electronic   Country   Indie

Do you prefer reading the magazine online or actually owning the copy?

Do you read music magazines on a regular basis?      Y/N

Do you prefer a magazine to be-            Weekly    Fortnightly   Monthly

What is the most appropriate amount that you would spend on a magazine?  
£1.50     £2.20   £2.80   £3.00  £4.00 

What type of article do you like to read?
Interviews   Articles   MusicFashion   CD previews

Name for the music magazine

These are ideas that I have come up with for a new, interesting and young folky magazine title.

Untamed      Wild: in a natural state; not tamed or domesticated or cultivated
Mellow         Laid-back: unhurried and relaxed; "a mellow conversation"
Major           Of greater importance or stature or rank; "a major artist"
Current         Occurring in or belonging to the present time; "current events"; "the current topic"
New wave    Any creative group active in the innovation and application of new concepts and techniques.
Pioneer         Someone who helps to open up a new line of research of art
Instant           Instantaneous: occurring with no delay
Raw              Being unprocessed or manufactured using only simple or minimal processes
Native           Characteristic of or relating to people inhabiting a region from the beginning
Unsung          Obscure: not famous or acclaimed, unappreciated, having value that is not acknowledged

So far my favourite name is Unsung because I want to make a magazine that is new and almost "unappreciated".

My photo shoot for music magazine

Music magazine

My school magazine cover

 This is my school magazine cover, I chose to colour the bricks in because it is the house style of the magazine and I want to keep those colours to make the magazine more relevant to Parkwood.
 If i changed it I would have moved the photo up because there is too much space by the title. I think that the purple stands out and I made a white border around the words because it makes it bolder, I also made a shadow behind the words so that it would make the words "pop out".
 I decided to make the photo a mid-long distant shot because I thought that the picture showed communication between the two people and I didn't have any mid distant shots that I really liked and that were appropriate for the cover.
 I didn't want to have too many words on the page because I think that it would look too studious and that wasn't the point of my school magazine.
 Overall I think it is an okay magazine but it is a good starter magazine that I can learn from and as a first attempt it is good.