1. Evaluation of my Music magazine Chris Smith Candidate Number: 4169 Centre Number: 22158

2. How my magazine follows Media Conventions: Front cover My magazine cover looks filled up and there is not much White Space on it. My Masthead is displayed clearly at the top of the page alligned to the left. This is the same location professional magazines, such as NME, have their masthead The masthead is short and memorable. The image covers the full page and has the band name in a clear large text, which stands out with the image. The strapline above highlights important words by having it written in a different font colour: “World Exclusive”. The font is very professional looking and appropriate for that particular headline. There are lots of features/thumbnails and photographs, which make it look colourful and interesting. I have delibertely made the image in the “[live…]” section look like an action clapper board as it relates to an act or performance. I have been consistent in keeping the same several fonts. I have used mainly red, black, white and yellow constantly. Red stands out well, the others i.e. white, yellow and black, all appear as a White On Black feature. This is where two completely different colours are used together to make a text stand out. For example: using black text with a white background. I have included a bar code and an appropriate price for the magazine. I have used professional programmes to edit the pictures. In the main picture, I have made a band member’s head appear infront part of the title and subtitle, whereas the rest of the image is behind all. I like the way the head covers the final word in the slogan. This suggests that my magazine is well known so people don’t need to see the full sentence. I have used language techniques to make the audience look at certain words i.e “REHAB Owen throws in the towel .. Again!”. When someone see’s the word “REHAB” in large capitals, its grabs their attention straight away. Also the fact that it says “.. Again” makes the reader want to read more about this particular person and their troubled life.

3. How my magazine follows Media Conventions: Contents page The title “Contents page” is written in a large font which is very clear. All the listings are neatly on the page and I have used consitent fonts to keep it tidy. Date and website written at the top makes it look more professional. Sections are kept separatley instead of keeping everything together. Each small head line has its page number next to it and more information about the topic. There is an advertisement at the bottom saying how to subscribe to the magazine. I saw this in an NME contents.

4. How my magazine follows Media Conventions: Double spread The interview is constructed in a professional looking way. The text fits around the pictures and other obstacles. The title of the article is obvious as it is the largest text on the page. I have used alliteration in the title for more effect. Between some paragrapghs are quotes which stand out well. I have included the mugu logo (and website) and page numbers.

5. How does my media product represents particular social groups? My products have pictures of young people on. For example the main image on the cover and contents page are of young bands. This suggests that the magazine is aimed at the younger population. Things that apply to a young audience are concerts, celebrity gossip and news. My magazine cover had examples of all of these. There is a competition at the top to win ticket to go to the O2 Arena and there is gossip about musicians/celebrities on the news section.

6. Where would I distribute my product? I would consider to distribute the magazine in popular supermarket stores like Tesco and Asda. This is simple because they have the most customers and I feel my magazine follows some of the main conventions so it would be noticed on the shelf. I would also create a website for the magazine. The website will feature news stories and images that were in previous issues, reviews and interviews and competitions. I could possibly advertise the magazine on popular websites such as Ebay. Another way of advertising my magazine would be on billboards on busy high streets.

7. Difficulties and how I could improve The main difficulty I had was taking pictures. I don’t own any instruments so, for my band images, I just took pictures of people in groups – some of which may have not been relative to a music magazine. Like in the previous point, some of my pictures do not relate to a music magazine as they are clearly in a school environment. I could improve by taking more pictures out of school as using props to make the images look authentic. I had no difficulty using software to create the pages and edit pictures.

8. What have I learnt? I have learnt how to use editing programs to change pictures and fonts. i.e. “sublime” on the cover is on a central slant. Also the main picture was editedinfront of the slogan. I have learnt techniques on how to make my magazine look professional. I have done this by looking at real music magazines and following their conventions. Compared to the Preliminary task where I made a school magazine, I found the main task a lot more challenging. The school magazine is no where near as detailed as the music magazine I created as I did not follow many conventions to make it look realistic and professional.