Bethany's Media Blog

Music Magazine Evaluation

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
There are many conventions of a music magazine which I have thought about when creating my music magazine. These conventions are used in my front cover, contents and double page spread. These conventions will grab the audiences attention and will make them want to read my music magazine. The many conventions of a music magazine, here are an example of a couple of conventions for a front cover

Mast Head
Feature Article Photo
Coverline
Puffs
Colour Scheme
Plugs and free gift
I got my inspiration for my front cover two different magazines. These magazines were classical magazines. They were called ‘BBC Music’, and ’Classical FM’. As you can see I used a variety of ideas from this magazine front cover ;

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

The first convention that I am going to be explaining about is the mast head. The mast head is the most important part of any music magazine, this is because the readers first look at the mast head and will decide whether they want to carry on reading. As you can see on the BBC Music magazine front cover there mast head is dominant and eye catching however there choice of font colour is not effective. This is because there background colour is dark so the font and the background clash. For my front cover I wanted my mast head to be clear, and mainly noticeable. The way I achieved this is by changing the font colour so that it stands out from anything else on my front cover. For my music magazine I wanted my mast head is not too dominant but still eye catching. This is because the font colour is different from any other colours and also the style of font is very different. The font style shows a sense of class about the magazine and you can tell that the target audience is more for adults rather than teenagers. In the BBC Music front cover they’ve placed there mast head in the centre of there front cover. I really liked the idea of placing the mast head in the centre however I felt that it wasn’t as effective and people wouldn’t read it so I decided to place the mast head on the left hand side.
The next convention which I will be explaining about is the, the main feature article photo. I had lots of ideas for my main article photo and I was spoiled for choice. My initial idea was that I wanted a mid-shot of the cellist’s face and the cello however the outcome of this photo was poor so I changed my idea and went with the long shot. My inspiration for the pose was from an image I found on the Internet. I wanted my pose to be simple but effective. Here is the photo of the pose I wanted to use. This photo was from the internet;

I felt that this pose was effective for my music magazine because you can see the whole cello and the stance that the women is doing looks professional and classy.
I felt like the long shot is more effective for this genre of music because you get to see the instrument fully and you see what the cellist is wearing and the readers will want to see that on he front cover. The similarity in my front cover and the ‘BBC’ one is that the size play’s an important part on the front cover. Both the size of the photo is big which will capture the readers eyes and this will make them want to read the article. The photo is bright and colourful. There is no dull/dark colours used. The is symbolising that this magazine is happy and cheerful. Another similarity is that both of the images are placed in the centre of the front cover.
The next convention that I will be explaining is the coverline. A coverline gives more information about the main feature article photo. I would say my coverline is very dominant on the front cover which I feel isn’t always a good thing because you want your feature article photo or your mast head to be dominant but I feel that the coverline is a little bit too big. I decided to place m coverline underneath my mast head but on top of the feature article photo. I used this idea so that the readers know that it is the coverline. I wanted the font colour to be the same colour has the shade of maroon that is on the page. This gives my front cover a sense of simplistic. The coverline of the ‘BBC’ front cover is nation choirmaster. I feel like my coverline and the BBC one is similar because we both talk about what are feature article is going to be about. The coverline is simple and straight to the point.

The next convention I will be explaining about is plugs. Plugs give little hints about what’s going to be inside the magazine. What I found out in my research is that classical music magazines have lots of plugs on there front cover. This suggest that they want there readers to know what they’ll be reading in the magazine. In classical magazines I also found out that they have a column on the right hand side which contains the plugs. When I researched this I really like the idea of the plugs being on the right hand side and in a neat column. So I used that idea but made it into my own. I used the same colour has the coverline has the background colour but instead of using the same font colour has the mast head I used white. I used white because white is clear to read and is eye catching. Like the plugs on the ‘BBC’ they don’t give too much away so that the readers can go away and read them themselves. Here are a few examples of the plugs. This is an example of the plugs being on the right hand side. With the plugs being in a column it gives the sense that the magazine is neat and tidy, this will give the magazine a good image. As well has the plugs, in most classical magazines they insert a free gift. Inserting a free gift will capture the readers eyes and will want to buy the magazine whether it's just for the free gift or the articles in the magazine. I like the concept of including a free gift on my front cover.

The next convention i will be explaining is puffs. Puffs are powerful words that will try and persuade people to read the magazine. In my research i found out that in every classical magazine they use the same puff which is either 'Best classical magazine in UK' or 'The best selling classical magazine'. This will instantly hook the readers into reading because they will believe that the best is the best. I feel that if these classical magazines didn't have this puff then they wouldn't be has successful. I wanted to use this same puff which all of the classical magazine use. I wanted my puff to be believable, so i went with 'Britain's Best Classical Music Magazine'. I feel this puff is good because the use of alliteration will make it memorable and the readers will fall into the trap that my magazine is the best in the UK. My puff is placed along the top of my front cover, just like all the other classical magazines. I kept the same theme going all the way through my magazine and that is the colour maroon. The background colour is maroon and the text colour is white just the same has the plugs. I feel like puffs are very important in any magazines especially music magazines because puffs are selling the magazine to the readers.

The next convention i will be explaining is the colour scheme. Colour scheme is very important when making a music magazine. If you don't have the right colours then the magazine will not be effective. This was something i had to consider when creating my magazine. This was when the research comes into play. When i did my research i found out that in classical magazines they use certain colours to sell there magazines. These colours are white, red, blue and black. They use a variety of dark and bright colours. The reason why they use a variety of dark and bright colours is because if the main feature article is sad they would use dark colours, if the article is happy they would use bright colours. I found this out in my research. So i deiced to use red, white and brown. This instantly suggest that the main feature article will be happy. Another reason why i used the colours white red and brown is because these colours are eye catching and our eyes are drawn to anything that is red.
Content page;
For my content page, i wanted it to be simple and classy but i wanted it to be similar to my front cover. My inspiration for my content page is 'BBC Music'. The reason why i was inspirited by this content page is that the pictures are placed at the top of the content page and the writing is placed at the bottom. Here is my content page and the BBC Music content page.

In both content pages, we used columns to spilt up the writing from the images. This is effective because the readers will be able to read what will be in my magazine clearly. The use of the columns make my content page look neat. The main difference of the columns is that mine has a background colour that matches the front cover and content page colour. The reason why i chosen to use this colour in my content page because i wanted to show the readers that my pages flow together by using the same colours. Has you can see on the BBC music magazine they use the same colour but they use the colour has the title of the content page. This suggests that most classical magazine use the colour maroon has there main colour. The images i have used in my content page are relevant to the articles in my magazine. Just like the BBC Music magazine I've placed my images at the top half of my content page. I found that having the images at the top of my content page and the text at the bottom of the page effective because it splits the page up and doesn't make my content page look busy and messy.

Double page spread;
I wanted my double page spread to be eye catching and original. My inspiration for my double page spread was the same as my content and front cover, from all of the other classical magazines that are out there at the moment. Here is an example of one of the double page spread that i would inspiriting and interesting;

The reason why i found this double page spread inspiriting because they have use one of the pages for the main feature article photo. This is a good idea because you don't have to think about what to write, you don't have to write too much and it gives the double page spread some life and makes it look more interesting. The similarity of this double page spread and my double page spread is that one page is full of writing and the other page is of one dormant photo. I took this idea from this double page spread because i liked the idea that my double page spread doesn't have to include just writing. It gives the readers something visual to look at. The difference however is that the color of this double page spread is black and white however on mine it's colorful and bright. This suggest that my double page spread is cheerful and positive. Another similarity is that the writing in both double page spreads are in a nice neat column. This suggest that both of our double page spread are classy and it represents our target audience which is adults and people who have a passion for classical music. There is a major difference between my double page spread and there double page spread is that the style is informational. Meaning it gives you information about the given person. However my double page spread is an interview between the reporter and the celebrity. I feel that an interview involves the reader more than given the reader information. They can give there own opinion/feelings about the interview but the audience wouldn't feel like this when reading information. Another significant difference between both double page spread is that they only have 2 pages for their double page spread, however i have 3 pages. I wanted to have 3 pages rather than 2 because i felt that it flows better with 3. The main reason why i chosen 3 pages is because one page is just a photo of the celebrity the article is about. The teenager is posing with her cello which i think is effective on the double page spread rather than the content page and front cover because there is direct eye contact which will make the reader feel more involved. Also the pose the teenager is doing is suitable for my double page spread. The pose is of her sitting with her cello and smiling at the camera. The next page is like a big coverline. Giving a little hints about what the main article will be about. The final page is the main article.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
As the genre of my music magazine was classical i have made my magazine target a nesh market of both female and male but other ages are 30+. The reason why i have made the age 30+ is because the older generation appreciate this kind of genre of music more than this generation. But anybody of any age can read this magazine. I feel like this magazine is aimed at the upper class/middle class people. I feel that the upper class people would appreciate this magazine more than lower class people. This is because people who listen to classical music are usually from an upper class of life. But i wanted to make this magazine appeal to both upper class and middle class. I wanted to stop the comment that classical music is only for upper class people because anybody can read a classical magazine not just upper class. Another reason why i feel that this magazine is for the upper class/middle class is because the price of my magazine is £4.00 and i feel that people from the middle and lower class would not pay that much for a music magazine, they would find the magazine expensive and they would feel like they could get a music magazine the same for cheaper for example Classical FM. They would rather buy something else whereas the upper class would buy it because they can afford the magazine every month. People who are aged 30+ would buy this magazine more than teenagers because teenagers wouldn't be able to afford the magazine every month because they are in full time education and won't have a job yet whereas people older would have jobs

Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
For my music magazine i had to think about which institution would distribute my magazine and i decided that the best for my magazine is Bauer. The reason why i think Bauer is the best institution for my magazine is because Bauer is marketed at the music and entertainment market and i feel that my music magazine would sell really good with this institution. Bauer usually use R&B and pop magazines for example Kerrang and Q. But I've taken into consideration that Bauer have already got music magazines however Bauer doesn't have a classical music magazine in their collection. Most music magazines are weekly magazines however my music magazine is monthly meaning that the readers don't have to worry about buying my magazine every week. Most music magazines that Bauer have are aimed at teenagers for example Kerrang, whereas my magazine is aimed more for adults. Therefore i feel that Bauer is suitable because it publishers other music magazines but none are of the same genre as my magazine. Another reason why Bauer would be the best institution for my music magazine is because they reach 19 million adults from there influential brands. This would be perfect because my target audience for my magazine is adults and Bauer reaches 19 million adults meaning that my music magazine would be popular with this institution. However there were some institution that wasn't suitable for my music magazine. These were ICP Media, Future and E MAP. I reason why i feel that ICP Media is not a suitable institution for my music magazine because IPC Media is mostly for the female population and my music magazine is for both genders. Another reason why i feel IPC Media wouldn't be the best institution because most of the brands are feminine for example women's weekly and they don't include music magazines and i feel that my magazine would look out of place. The reason why i didn't consider Future PLC because there brand of music is rock. Future PLC deals with the biggest guitar magazine in the world. Whereas my brand of magazine is classical and it's different from the values of my magazine meaning that my magazine wouldn't fit into the company's need. The final institution which i haven't coincided was E MAP. The reason why i haven't coincided E MAP is because this institution mainly brand health magazines for example Nursing Times. EMAP doesn't distribute music magazine. So on that reason why i wouldn't chose this institution to distribute my music magazine.

Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The type of people that would be reading my music magazine would be people who are interested in music, classy people, people who are upper class and people who wants to learn new things. The gender of my magazine is both female and male. This is a good point of my magazine because i am doing a magazine that is equal and both genders can read it. Meaning that my magazine is not sexist. The audience that would read my music magazine would be adults aged around 30+ but anybody that has a passion for classical music can read my music magazine. The reason why i chosen my target audience to be 30+ because adults would appreciate this type of genre more than teenagers. I focused my magazine on being classy and mature but has a quirky twist from the other classical magazines out there. My magazine would focus on being on being informational on the latest artist that are coming out of the classical genre, innovation of the classical music industry and also entertaining by adding quizzes and crosswords that the readers could win prize's in. I found out that classical magazines uses crosswords and quizzes in there magazines. My magazine would provide tips on how to make it into the music business, like on my double page spread, the article is about a young musician who has broke into the music world and she gives tips and information on how she achieved this. I wanted my magazine to be different from any other magazine that is out there at the moment. A magazine that is fresh and different. A magazine that takes an old idea that people have used but developing it into an idea that has never been used. There ain't many classical music magazines out there at the moment so that is why i think my magazine would be fresh and different. I wanted my magazine to be a monthly issue because most adults don't like weekly magazine. This is because they have to go out and buy the magazine every week which wastes time. Adults thinks that it wastes time because they have jobs and children. However teenagers would buy weekly magazines because they don't have jobs and they have nothing really to do, so they would read weekly magazines. With my magazine being a monthly issue it gives all the gossip you need that would last you till next month.

Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?
The first thing i did was that i looked at how 'BBC Music' and 'Classical FM' attracts and address there audience with my audience being the similar range has there's. I found out that they address there audience with complex language. This is because the target audience is for adults and not teenagers. Whereas teenagers would read magazines with slang in. I found that they attracted there audience by having certain aspects that I then used these techniques to attract my audience. In attracting my audience I had to include things that the specific age group would like for example real life stories that the readers would enjoy to read or that the readers/audience could relate too, music chart, new artists. In choosing who would feature on the front cover I had to think carefully about the kind of person i wanted on my front cover. I had a number of ideas like a new orchestra which would feature a group of people. I didn't use this idea because i would of been difficult to get the models in. So in the end i decided to choose a young teenager, fresh, natural looking girl to be my feature article photo. The reason why i chosen this idea for my feature article photo is because older people like reader articles about young people/teenagers achieved fame from a poor/bad background. I also chosen having a young female on the front cover is because it might draw the younger generation to read my magazine. By looking at the girl the readers will want to read the article. The teenager on the front cover is natural, by the teenager looking natural the younger generation might want to be like her and will want to read the article. The shot type that i have used for the feature article photo is a long shot. The reason why i used a long shot is because i wanted the readers to see the cello fully and i wanted them to see the teenagers dress, I feel that this shot is effective on my front cover. I tried many different variety of shots for example, i tried doing a close up on the teenagers face but this didn't work because the cello was covering parts of her face, it made her face more darker than it is and this wasn't the look i was going for. Another shot i tried was an extreme long shot of the teenager playing the cello. There is use of eye contact from the teenager, this will make the reader/ audience feel involved. This also didn't work because i felt like it wouldn't connect to the audience and that i felt that this photo would look better in another part of my music magazine. The colour of my feature article photo is bright and colourful. This gives the impression that my music magazine is happy and cheerful. The colour scheme is important when attracting the audience. That is why the colour scheme is red and brown. At the top of my pages i used the same puff 'Britian's Best Classical Music Magazine'. This will persuade people into reading my music magazine because of the powerful word 'Best'. This suggest that my magazine is better than any other music magazine out there. The price of my magazine is a little expensive but i feel that adults would be able to afford it. The reason why i made the price a little expensive is because the readers are getting good quality articles that will last the readers a month and they won't get bored of reading the articles. Also the fact that my music magazine is a monthly not weekly or daily magazine will help encourage them to buy it as it will only be published twelve times a year, compared to fifty – two times a year if it was a weekly magazine, therefore the quality and standard of the latest information is of the highest class of excellence. I also found out that one way that the audience would be attracted to my music magazine is by the wide range of photo's i have used. These pictures which I had used have a certain impact of what genre my music magazine is and what my music magazine is about. Another way in which people would be attracted to my magazine is the chance of getting a free gift. The fact that this information is freely available to the reader and that they do not have to pay for it can influence whether they buy my magazine for not. The mast head will attract the reader with the bold writing and the meaning behind the mast head. If people who are into classical music will understand what my mast head means. 'Crescendo' means bigger and i loved the concept that my magazine is bigger than any other magazine. I addressed my audience with formal language throughout my content and double page spread. The formal language includes long complicated words that younger people may not understand. For example on the double page spread i included lots of formal language, this is because my target audience is for the upper class and adults. I also used models that are within my target audience.

Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Sound clip will be added.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJEAz7nU9pU

Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at my preliminary task i feel like i have learned so many new skills has i have progressed throughout the unit. Here is the example of two front covers. One from my preliminary and one from my front cover music magazine.

The main thing I've learned is how to layout a front cover effectively. For example on my preliminary front cover the write is randomly placed anywhere and i feel the text is squashed up even though there is lots of free space on the page. Whereas on my music magazine I've learned to spread my writing up, not squash it up. Another difference is that my main feature article photo is very dominant on my front cover. I leanred from the preliminary task that you don't always need your main feature article photo to be too big or dominant. I felt like i got the size of my music magazine photo just right. The final thing i learned from my front cover of my preliminary task is the use of space. In my preliminary task i didn't use the space correctly on my front cover. This was because i didn't plan what was going to be on the front cover as much has i should of done. With learning about this i planned thoroughly and made space for every single detail.

On my content page in my preliminary task I feel like i didn't get the concept on what should be included on a content page. For example there are no columns for the writing. This made my content page look messy and unprofessional. I took this on board when creating my music magazine and straight away i included columns. The final thing i learned while creating my content page was that i learned is the use of colour and knowing which colour work best. As you can see on my preliminary task the colours don't go well together, this is because the photo's I used are green and grey and they are behind a blue background. This made me think about having a white background behind my photo's. The reason why I wanted a white background is because having a white background will go well with any photo i take, whether it's red, black or cream it will go well with the background, meaning that it won't clash. Taken the feedback from my school magazine and given questionnaires for my music magazine i feel that i have progressed a long way, in the completion of my music magazine. I now have a wider range of knowledge of Adobe photoshop also i have a wider knowledge of how to use blogger. Overall I feel that my music magazine is better than my preliminary task. This is because it reaches out to the target audience by the use of language and the conventions of my magazine. I feel like I've learned so much throughout my experience of making my music magazine and I've learned so many new skills which will be helpful in unit's to com

Date	Time	Shoot	Successful
14/12/12	6.30-7.00	Group Photo. (New Orchestra)	Yes
03/12/12	11.00-12.00	Single Shot, (Me with cello) used for all pages	Yes
8/12/12	5.30-5.40	Piano key’s shot (used for front cover)	Yes

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