Music Magazine EvaluationBy Jessica Freeman

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?This real media product has used a strap line, cover line, mast head, a barcode and many other codes and conventions, these ones in particular thought I see as the main features on magazines.

In my music magazine I have also used the codes and conventions of a strap line, cover line, barcode and mast head. Using these my magazine would look more realistic and appealing to the readers.

This real media product of a contents page has used, bold writing as a heading for the page, a main picture along with a smaller one, it has included the name of the magazine again in the contents and has also made the page numbers stand out, this is what would be expected and normally seen in magazines sold in the shops.

In my music magazine I have used the same kinds of codes and conventions as used in the proper product above. By using these it helps my magazine look more like a proper real one and more presentable to the reader.

This is the media product of a double page spread, it has used a main picture, followed by other smaller pictures, it has a quote made large representing what the band said, the page numbers including the date and magazine name, it also has a small block of writing about the band. This is an example of one of the ways a double page spread can be represented.

My music magazine double page spread has near enough the same features as the real product but also has some different as I have done an interview rather than a story and I have the bands name in big writing. My double page spread would be an example of a mixture of different uses that a real product would use.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The people that I have represented in my magazine are of the following:

BoysCreative

Popular

Unique

Fashionable

Happy

ExpressiveConfident

Teenagers

How have I represented teenagers in my production?

I have represented teenagers more on the boy side in my magazine as I have chosen a boy band as my focus, they are represented as outgoing confident lads who have a passion for their music.Is this a positive representation? Have I challenged stereotypes?

I feel this is a positive representation as it shows that not all youths of today are wasting their lives, this group of lads are using their talent to get them far in life. I have challenged the stereotypes by the way that they are dressed, they are dressed quite indie and mainstream, as this is what boys of today would wear. Their hair is also quite stereotypical because you would represent their hair and class them as rock music lovers.

What style do my images promote?

My images promote the rock style, you can tell this by what I have said in the question above about the style of their hair and dress style.

What lifestyle do I promote?

The lifestyle I promote is how lads can come together to make a band and go far with it. It promotes a good lifestyle showing that you can do what you enjoy.

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

http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/

Bauer MediaBauer Media is a company that has more than eighty influential media brands spanning a wide range of interests. The magazine that they sell which would relate most to my magazine is ‘Kerrang’. This is because it has the most relevance to rock and that is what my magazine is based on. All the other magazines were for example ‘Heat’ and that has no relevance at all to my magazine or music.

Here is the front cover of my magazine, as you can see it is more like ‘Kerrang’ as it is about music and rock. It also has the codes and conventions to match that magazine.

http://www.kerrang.com/

Kerrang MediaKerrang media focuses completely on music, especially rock. The music magazine ‘Kerrang’ has a lot of relevance to my magazine. This is because it is all about rock and has the same vibes that my magazine brings across to the audience. On the website (which you can access from the link below) shows the magazines and types of music they use, even the brands of clothing they advertise on there has relevance to my magazine.

Here is the front cover of my magazine, as you can see it relates very well to the magazines produced by ‘Kerrang media’. All about music and relating mostly to rock.

http://www.ipcmedia.com/

IPC MediaIPC Media produces over 60 iconic media brands, reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men. This media doesn't focus on music at all apart from one of the men magazines ‘NME’. All the other magazines are focused on all types of brands like TV, Health and sport. ‘NME’ has the most relevance to my magazine as it is about rock music.

Here is the front cover of my magazine, as you can see it has more in common with the magazine ‘NME’ as it is about music and the magazine ‘what’s on TV’ isn't about music at all.

http://www.developmenthell.co.uk/

Development Hell LimitedWe currently publish two monthly magazines, ‘The Word’ and ‘mixmag’. Both of these magazine have reference to music. Meaning that they both would be relevant to my music magazine. The Genre’s of music are all quite varied though whereas mine only focuses only on Rock. Apart from this, the magazines have got a lot in common.

Here is the front cover of my magazine, as you can see it is like both the magazines that ‘Development Hell Limited’ produce as they are both about music.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my magazine would be people that like rock music. It is aimed for secondary school kids up to people in university, meaning my magazine would have to be exciting and eye catching. I would be able to target these audiences by meeting the demands of what they expect. I would be attracting a large audience as my magazine is mainstream, and by using young people on the front, the target audience would be able to relate better to it. I have also used quite popular bands as well in the contents and front cover to advertise a wide range of rock music to the audience. The audience is also mainly for boys, but can be for girls as well.

How did you attract/address your audience?The way I attract my audience to read my magazine is to have an exciting front cover that will capture the readers attention, it will also have a lot of popular music rock bands that the target age group would know and relate too, they would also relate to the use of young people on the front and inside because they are around the age and have the same type of style. The mainstream attraction would help address the audience because it is similar to how they dress/act anyway and so it would fit there being better.

For the school magazine I originally did as the preliminary task my target audience was year 11’s going on to either sixth form, college, or an apprenticeship. I addressed the audience by using the term ‘thinking big’ meaning the choice the make going on would be a big choice and that they had to think carefully about it. I attracted them by using colours that would be unisex so anyone could read it and the pictures were of people their age, that way they could relate a lot easier to what the magazine has to offer.

For my music magazine the target audience is for people in secondary school right up to university. I addressed the audience by using title ‘slam’, as my magazine is about music, especially rock, I felt this would be the best word to use and it is quiet a loud word, just like rock music is loud. I attracted the audience by using quite rock like colours, black, purple and grey. This would help the magazine to stand out, also using a picture of a band around the target audience age would help attract the audience even more as they would be able to relate to it. The colours and bands advertised are also all unisex meaning that the magazine would be suited to both genders.

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

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

Once I had completed the school front cover, I realised that it was good practice for when coming to do my real one. It gave me an insight into the level of work that would be expected. For example I have to think very carefully about the target audience and the skills I can use to achieve this. Also about the basic codes and conventions of making a realistic magazine with simple things included such as prices, barcodes, page numbers etc, this adds to the realism of my products and what essentially makes them comparable to existing magazines.

After finishing my music magazine and comparing it to the school magazine I made I could see a huge improvement in every aspect of it. I feel my skills in making a magazine are a lot stronger as I understand the criteria's needed to be met and all the codes and conventions needed to make it as realistic as possible. I feel I was most strongest at improving the codes and conventions as you can see in my school magazine front cover it is very bare and hasn't got much too it, whereas in my music magazine front cover I have met the demands of several codes and conventions that would be found in a typical magazine. By putting the two magazines next too each other I can see clearly what my strengths and weaknesses are. For example my strongest point was the photography as I captured the image needed pretty accurately in both images.

After comparing the contents pages together also it shows how much I have improved in making a more realistic magazine. Just like with the front covers my main weakness was defiantly the codes and conventions, as you can see in the school contents I haven’t got much to it at all. The mast head is bare and blank, compared to my music contents where the mast head stands out and includes the title of the magazine produced in the same writing as on the front cover. Another thing I have improved greatly on is the page numbers. In my school contents they are just listed in a boring fashion and doesn't give much of a variety, whereas in my music contents it gives a lot more to offer and has been representing in a much more exciting way. The way I have used my pictures also links to the page. Whereas in my school contents they are just put at the bottom of the page with no real link.

When making the magazine it also helped me to advance my creative skills by using several websites to help make my magazine more realistic. For example the website I found the most useful and the one I used the most was dafont.com, this website gave me the opportunity to get the words I wanted in a huge variety of style, by using this I managed to get the writing that best fitted my magazine brand.

From using the website dafont.com I was able to produce the title ‘Thinking BIG’ and ‘SLAM’ and get it in the style writing that I felt would represent my magazine front cover to help it stand out to the readers. Comparing the two titles from my school magazine to my music magazine I can see a huge improvement once again. I have been able to make the writing a lot more clear and neat. Whereas the school magazine one looks scruffy.

Overall throughout the process of making the magazine I have learnt so many skills in creativity and learning as I have learnt all about codes and conventions and what is needed in a real magazine and what I can use to make it more realistic. I have leant all about how to produce an interview and how to make it interesting with the questions and answers I could come up with. I have come a long way through improving from the school magazine to the music magazine as the music magazine looks so much more realistic and eye catching tot he audience, it also meets the demands of the target audience and social groups I had picked.