2. My music magazine follows many typical magazine conventions. For example, on my front cover
image the subjects are making eye contact. I did this because eye draws the readers in, and
almost all magazines use this convention. I dressed my subjects in clothes that are associated
with the Punk/Punk Rock scene, which ties the subjects in nicely with the genre of my magazine.
They are stood in quite a strong pose, which also ties in to my genre of music as the sort of music
featured is strong, powerful loud music, so having the subjects in a pose that represents this was
essential. I also had the music magazine title in a large, bold eye catching font at the top of the
page; this is so when it’s on magazine stands the title is always visible. I decided to put some of
my features in an oval shape to draw attention to them, and the things inside the ovals are
‘freebies’ and a competition, which also attracts people to magazines.
I have made my dominant ideologies clear by addressing the genre of
my magazine in the title. Two musical genres are included in the
title, making it clear exactly what genre of music my magazine
targets.
3. I found out from my questionnaire that people are interested in freebies, and would
be more inclined to buy my magazine if it included these things. I priced my magazine
at £2.50 and added this into the bottom right hand corner in a small font just above
the bar code. Most magazines place their bar codes and prices here as it is clear and
easy to see the price, and quick and easy for the cashier to scan. After reading my
questionnaire I decided to price it at £2.50 as most people chose to buy magazines in
this price rage- any higher and people are not willing to pay, any lower and people
don’t expect the magazine to be that great (they expect poor quality pictures etc.)
I added the issue number
and date of magazine
release just under the title,
as many magazines put this
information on the front
cover, and many of them
have it where I placed it, or
near the barcode. I had it at
the top so it was easily
visible, and because there
wasn’t enough room near
my barcode.
4. Almost all of the colours I used on my front cover were extracted from the image. I
used the ‘eye drop’ tool on Photoshop to select a colour, then add this to the
swatches. I then selected this colour and changed the colour of my font to it. For
example, the burgundy red that is used for the footer and one of the ovals is the exact
colour of the female’s hat. The three different shades of blue were extracted from the
collar of her shirt, and the text that reads ‘ALL RUMORS REVEALED’ is coloured by
extracting the colour form the grey jumper, then making it slightly lighter. I decided to
have the colours extracted from the picture as lots of magazines do this, for example
the Kerrang! Magazine I analysed prior to now did this using reds and blacks.
5. My magazine genre is punk, rock and punk rock. Throughout my magazine I have
included certain things to draw people who are interested in this genre of music in. I
dressed my subjects in punk rock clothing- band t-shirts, hats and tattoos are all
included in the front cover image. These things are associated with the punk rock
genre, so having them on the front cover is important as it will be the first thing the
audience will see, and the image is an important part of drawing the reader in. I also
used certain words/phrases that are often used in the punk rock community. I
included things such as ‘make your room kick-ass’ and the ‘maddest and baddest
bands.’ Both of these phrases are commonly used in the punk rock scene, so including
them was essential to drawing in my intended audience. I also included articles that
this age and genre of people would enjoy reading about. If I included articles about
bird watching for example, this wouldn’t fit in with my genre of magazine or the age
range it is aimed at.
Here is a similar T-
Shirt to what my
subject is wearing.
Both contain anchors
and writing. The blue
shirt is a Punk Band
(Lower Than
Atlantis)’s Band T-
Shirt.
6. Most of the people reading my magazine will be interested in attending gigs,
and having free posters of band members, so articles like this were a good
way to attract the right genre of people. My intended audience are teenagers
and young adults who are interested in the Punk Rock genre of music. I have
used language and images to tie in with both of these things, in order to
attract as many people as possible.
From my research I
have learned that
putting things in
ovals or boxes
draws the readers
eye towards it.
7. I have aimed it at teenagers and young adults as statistics show that the average teenager (14-19)
listens to music on average 2 hours a day. This is higher than any other age range of people. This
is important as it means they will have a strong interest in music, and want to know about bands
and band news, and my magazine will keep them up to date with both these things.
8. I think they type of media institution that would distribute my product is an organisation similar
to Bauer, who are the distributors of Kerrang! I think my magazine would appeal to this type of
organisation, and therefor they would consider distributing my product. The contacts that they
have would help my magazine to get out there, get seen and get bought. Vertical integration
would save money, and allow myself, or the producer or the magazine, to watch over what’s
happening at each stage of the process, and keep an eye on things.
9. I would prefer this type of institution to distribute my product as I think that they could get it seen by
many people and know good places to advertise, (e.g. on radio stations that my genre of readers would
listen to, for example Kerrang! Radio, as opposed to classic FM), they would have lots of constructive
criticism and know what they are talking about, and overall be more confident with distributing my
magazine, where as I personally think a smaller company may be less confident, and not be able to
distribute my product as well.
http://www.classicfm.com/radio/
http://www.kerrangradio.co.uk/on-air/listen-again/
Above are two links to listen to Kerrang! Radio and Classic FM online. By clicking on them, and then
pressing play you will easily be able to see the sheer contrast of music genre, and you will be able to
see why advertising or talking about my magazine on a radio station like Kerrang!, instead of a radio
station like Classic FM.
10. Throughout making my product I have experimented with different technologies and this has
developed my understanding of them. At the beginning I was not confident with Photoshop and
uploading photographs to the computer, and I struggled with both of these tasks. As the product
progressed I became more confident with Photoshop and I became more experimental with it.
I started off with a simple lay out, and
little on the front cover.
After experimenting and trying out new
things with colours and shading
my front cover started to come together well.
11. By the end of the creation of my products I was able to use Photoshop confidently and
successfully, and I have a detailed knowledge of tricks and short cuts of editing pictures. These
skills have helped with me in my other subjects, for example I now regularly use Photoshop in my
Photography lessons to create interesting images.
My first try to my final product.
12. I have also learnt how conventions of music magazines help to draw in readers, and how if used
correctly they can help to attract and appeal to a target audience.
The USP of my product is the genre- there are few popular music magazines that specifically target this
genre of music, there for my magazine is unique and would hopefully be successful. If my magazine was
successful I would also like to introduce a radio station that plays the genre of music my magazine is.
This synergy would help to attract more customers to the magazine, and the magazine would help to
attract people to the radio station. I would use cross media convergence to promote my magazine, as
this way more people would hear about my magazine, making it more popular.
My journey from my preliminary task to the creation of my Music Magazine has been eventful and eye
opening. I now feel like I have a good understanding of technology and programs, as well as how
magazines are produced and edited, how important content is, how to draw specific audiences in, and
how positioning and language can completely change your style of Magazine
13. I feel that the creating of the first task has helped my second task as I can see how far I have advanced- I started
with standard images, simple editing and non-catchy titles; slogans or contents. Now, I have made a good,
sellable media product, that contains carefully planned and edited images with things like clothes, lighting and
eye contact taken into account, a title that attracts a certain genre of readers, a contents, front cover and
double page spread that looks professional and realistic, and a carefully written interview that contains hints of
humour, news and stories, all things that my audience would like to read in a magazine interview. My
questionnaire and general research helped me with these things, I have learnt a lot from seeing other people’s
opinions and what professionals actually produce.
14. Without this research my work would look unprofessional, tacky and not worthy of
being a real media magazine.
Overall I am very pleased with my finished products, and the skills and information I
have learnt is very useful. I have enjoyed this project very much, and I am going to
look into producing more similar products in the future.
