Final Blog Post

Here is my last official post which overall started from 26th February. It is now ready to be marked.

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

   Overall, i think I have learnt to always link to my target audience whenever I am doing practical work. Throughout the preliminary plan, I think that I had to remark and check with every blog I made to fit in with the target audience as the whole blog wouldn’t make sense otherwise. I have also learn a lot about the actual target audience that I have aimed at. I have also learnt about how to analyse fully about a media product.

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

Overall, the technologies I have used are... Blogger, InDesign, Photoshop and a Digital camera. By using blogger, it shows the journey and steps that I have gone through to get to this point of creating a whole front cover, contents page and double page spread. I feel that it has helped me to get to my final magazine ideas overall as I could look back to my target audience.

   InDesign has helped me learn how to design a magazine by using the different tools that it has to offer. It has also made me more confident with this program as I now understand how to use their tools to create a media product.

   Photoshop has helped me to edit the images I have taken to change them to make them look like they would link to my target audience. Such as the front cover I used the model playing the guitar and changed the image to black and white to fit in with the rock fan audience.

   A digital camera helped me capture images that would relate to my target audience. I used models and props such as an electric guitar to relate to rock scene. I feel that this product has helped me to take an image with relation to a target audience.

Evaluation: who would be the audience for your media product

   The age for my media product would be the teenage side of the age between 16-21 and would appeal to both genders who are just interested in this kind of music. I feel that I have succeeded these criteria’s as my colour schemes, language use, brand identity and house style of my magazine. The profile that I would give my target audience would be Rebellions. I think that this would be the gender profile as rock fans would be outgoing and out spoken. They wouldn’t care about what they are wearing but just to care about the music they love.

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

   Bauer Media Group have published magazines such as Q, Kerrang and Mojo. All of these music magazines that they have published are all into the rock scene. Especially Kerrang which is what I feel is the most well-known rock music magazine. However this magazine only specialises in just rock and heavy metal which is a lot stronger than the music I was concentrating on for my magazine. I feel that this institution has a gap in the market for my magazine as it will fit into their selection of music magazines. My music magazine has two genres of music combined into one which is a unique selling point for my magazine. It has the famous and well-known stars involved with this magazine which is just like the many magazines that Bauer Media Group have published.

Evaluation: How does your media product represent particular social groups

  The target audience that I have aimed my whole magazine at is the teenage Indie Rock scene. These are fans that would be interested in this type of music and would like to read about the famous bands involved within the magazine. I have represented them in a stereotypical way by creating the house style of black whites and blues. These dark colours represent the dark heavy music that may be played by Rock fans. Using these colours, I feel that it dominates over all of the other competitors just like the targeted audience as they like to stand out of the crowd and fall into the category of rebellions.

   The first image I have used on my front cover appeals to the target audience as it is in black and white. I edited this image using Photoshop and put the gradient effect to fit in with the target audience as the typical colours usually consist of the black and white. The gradient effect will give the harsh and grudged look. The image also sees that the model is holding an electric guitar that the audience could potentially win. This would relate to the target audience as if they were to know that an upcoming star was to hold this guitar then it would be more profitable. Electric guitars are known for creating Indie Rock music, so this would persuade the audience to try to win this guitar to play or just to keep for the music.

   The language I have used throughout the magazine has been informal and chatty. I think that the target audience- teenagers would be more interested in a magazine with this type of language as they can understand it much more and gives them a break to the intelligent formal language that they are seeing on an everyday basis. Especially in the double page spread, the interview has tended to be quite informal and not taken so seriously.

   The ratio of pictures to text are quite even. I used a few pictures to break up the large bits of text especially for the double page spread as this is where I had quite large block of texts. However by using the images in these pages it didn’t look so much to read. For the front cover and contents page i used one big image to cover the background so that you could concentrate on both text and images as they take up the same size of space. I think this would relate to my target audience especially as teenagers dislike the idea of reading a block of text as it seems to them like it goes on forever. By adding images between the text, the reader has a chance to pause to look at the image also.

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

The key conventions of a typical music magazine are mostly to aim at the target audience. It has to have the colour scheme to match the audience type of taste and this has to be showed through the Front Cover, Contents page and Double Page Spread. For the front cover it is important to have a big and bold masthead to catch the audience’s attention. It also has to be catchy and relating to the information that the actual magazine contains. The Masthead is always located in the top left side of the music magazine as it would be the first place that the audience would look at. The cover lines are also like the masthead. They have to be eye catching and the most important stories within the whole magazine. They also have to connote with the topic of the magazine which is music as these are the stories which persuade the audience to buy the magazine. The features have to relate to both genders and the language has to be consistent throughout the whole magazine whether it is Formal or Informal.  In any magazine there is always a Central Image, this image will obviously relate to the topic of music. In most cases of using the Central Image, it relates to the main story that the magazine has to offer. Puffs are another convention which is a direct mode of address to the audience. They have to be eye catching to draw the audience in. They also have to be good offers and to relate to the audience to what type of music they listen to, as the audience will think that they are getting something out of this magazine more than just reading about the stories. Other typical things that a magazine must include are such things as a barcode, price and date of the magazine.

    For my own magazine I feel like I have included all of these key conventions and most importantly I have done so whilst aiming towards my target audience. Also, as my colour scheme for my front cover is black and white, I have used a bright blue to highlight the important thing that I wanted the audience to know about the most. This then allows me to add another colour into my colour scheme for my contents page and double page spread. For my Masthead I have chosen a style text which relates to my Indie/Rock target audience following with the informal text. My central image is of a teenage girl which would fit into that target audience and playing a well known Electric Guitar. The image relates to the audience as many of them will be interested in the music that the electric guitar makes. I’ve created the puffs to interest the audience such as ‘Have a chance to win a Jackson Flying V Electric Guitar!’ This would associate with people that can play the Guitar and are interested in this sort of music.

   A typical contents page would have a title named such as ‘Inside this week...’ ‘Contents’ or ‘See what’s in this issue...’ this lures the audience into seeing the main stories that are shown in the music magazine. There is also a larger image than the rest to show that this is the main story and could be the first double page spread. This story has to be exciting and above the rest however, as this story is the following of what is to come throughout the magazine. They also have sub titles such as ‘Reviews’ and ‘News’ and page numbers. This makes it easier for the audience to go to the right page that they wanted to read about. The colour scheme that i have used for the front cover also continues to the contents page, which sets an overall house style to the magazine.

   For my contents page that I have created, I feel that I have done the key conventions appropriate for this page. The colour scheme that I have chosen for my front cover then follows through to the contents page and I have just chosen to work with the colours black, white and blue. I have made the blue more obvious in this page by using it as the background; I think that this makes the whole page more inviting. I have also included a title which says ‘See what’s inside this issue’ I feel that this intrigues the audience in. It is also the same style writing as the masthead on the front cover page of my music magazine, so you can then tell that both pages are together as the overall house style is the same. Instead of making a larger image to go in the centre of my contents page, I have used an image to cover the background; here you can tell that this is going to be the main story provided in this music magazine. The main convention of a contents page is the subheadings and the page numbers to have an idea of what’s in the magazine. I feel as though I have achieved this, as I have made it clear and put the topics into columns where appropriate.

   In a Double Page Spread the key conventions would to be focusing on one particular story, which has been highlighted throughout the front cover and contents page to be the biggest story that they have to offer in the magazine. Double page spreads usually have images so that they break down the text so that it doesn’t look like so much to read. They are also usually about interviews on famous bands and about their music; this would target the audience as it may involve their favourite bands and their type of style of music. The colour scheme should also match to these pages as well as the front cover and contents page so the audience can tell that it flows well. Quotes on the interviews attracts the audience’s attention as they would be more intrigued to read the whole article if the quote was interesting.

   Overall I think that my double page spread has succeeded all of these key points. Throughout my front cover and contents page I have highlighted one story by using larger images and using them as backgrounds. I have also been adding larger text to point out that this is the main story of the whole music magazine. I have broken the text down by adding images and putting the text into columns to make it look like there is less writing. I have added quotes that I think are most exciting about the whole interview. I have used ‘This is just one big adventure that I can’t get enough of’ this will make the audience think and wonder about what the adventure is and how they can be a part of it, and this will then overall lure the audience to read over the whole article. My double page spread was an interview on an upcoming band; this is different as I wasn’t focusing on a celebrity. I think this would be an article that this type of audience would want to read about as many of them may be in this stage and would want to know how to get that far. For the colour scheme I am still following the same house style from the front cover and the contents page. I have used black and white in these particular pages as I feel like these are the most contrasted colours to put together and therefore will stand out to the audience. To make my double page spread different to the other music magazines; I have included a ‘Free CD’ as they are only an upcoming band. To have a CD in the double page spread I think it will make the audience want to read on in the magazine as they will feel like they are getting something out of it.