Music magazine evaluation.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? One of the challenges that I faced was finding the right genre for my music magazine, being a person who enjoys different genres of music, I struggled to choose what genre to base my magazine on. Fortunately I chose the genre Punk for my magazine because I feel that Punks have a world of their own, and producing this world through just information on punk music and artists around the world can deeply impact Punks in today’s society. My music magazine uses all the conventions that a real music magazine contains. For example, my masthead is bold and eye-catching similar to NME. Photoshop has many unique fonts, however I never selected the font for my masthead from Photoshop, a website (www.fontspace.com) contained fonts that were perfect for Punk Trap. I edited the masthead by using the selection tool on Photoshop and turning the black into red. After researching many more magazines such as ‘Hip-Hop Connection’, ‘Smash Hits’ and ‘Kerrang’ I found that a majority of magazines select 3 or 4 predominant colours throughout the production of the magazine, so I chose the colours red, green, black and white. Secondly I created cover lines, a convention that every magazine must have to draw in an audience, using names of made-up bands which sound famous: Headsmashers and Static Fire, to attract purchasers so they aware that Punk Trap holds the latest information about worldwide famous artists. I used the colour green and red for the sell-lines so they attract readers, plus green being one of the main colours for my magazine.

2. The front cover also contains a bottom strip that consists of extra information as to what the magazine unfolds inside, and also an insight to more articles/reviews or competition etc. A made-up website is written vertically next to the barcode (which I created myself on Paint), showing that Punk Trap can be accessed though different types of media: over the internet/ radio and mobile, (this is shown from advertisements on my double page article). Most magazines view their prices next to the barcode but I have chosen not to do so with Punk Trap, it has a target audience that is new and unique for the genre I selected moreover I want it to be different as to what is on the market today. In my opinion the price £3.50 is perfect because the contents of the magazine, is of such standard that I would not purchase Punk Trap one penny less that its price, it’s suitable and worthwhile. I found it challenging when creating a name for the band plus artists in the magazine itself, "Immortal" is a name that I created for the artist on the main image, which I have written a double page article for. I thought of names relating to 'fire' because fire is dark and scary similar to punk personality; I came across 'death' leading into synonyms- 'afterlife', something that Punks do not believe in. Turning my list into antonyms I found 'Immortal'. The development of other made up bands that I have wrote about were made up in the same style as Immortal, through one word, its synonyms/antonyms I found band/artist names. The main image is about Immortal, shown from the cover line "Hailed as the most memorable moment in history..." The fake Immortal should be placed on the front page as she is described as a major artist in the music industry, and if she made it big at Glastonbury then her so-called performance deserves to be the main article! I have placed writing on the shoe, (the picture was taking from a low angle) to make the sell line look trendy plus I added the lens flare effect to make the image more dynamic.

3. The image of ‘Headsmashers’ was edited using the brightness tool from effects which enabled the image to look more professional, as though they are really performing on stage. For my contents page I used a reckless laid back image, using the contrast, feather and lighten tool to edit the picture creating a more intriguing appearance of artists within the magazine. The typography is from In-Design itself which was easy to select and used straightforwardly. Most of the text on the contents page is made-up to make the magazine more realistic about events taking place in the music industry. The news information is similar to showbiz news, yet it is only based around music. Another way that my music magazine reaches out to its readers is through competitions, getting the readers to interact with music industry. I have placed the fake website at the bottom of the contents page as I have on other pages, so readers are always aware of other ways of contacting PUNK TRAP!

4. How does your media product represent particular social groups? My music magazine appeals to its social groups by using images that attract the targeted audience. The images of “Immortals” two album covers on the left page of the double page featured article were made on Photoshop. Using the cookie cutter tool, I chose crop shape 4 which cropped around an image of one dressed up as a punk, making the image effective, I then selected from the effects tool: Glowing edges, this made my image look very intriguing; furthermore I cropped out pieces from a guitar from the use of the Rectangular Marquee Tool, and placed them randomly. In addition to this I added text which has attitude to it, a stereotypical code of being a punk: attitude and being independent yet everyone still wanting you. This is shown from the main song lyrics: "Your not living...Until your living with me". The typography: Rounded MT Bold, is the size 40. I wrote 'Immortal' in blue, a different font so it was different from the song lyrics in the album, Eras Bold ITC, standing out on the album cover ensuring readers are aware of the artist. I added some finishing touches to the album cover, selecting Dune Grass from the Brush Tool, which creates splatters in the background of the image. The image above the radio was quite easy to create; Photoshop contains many unique fantastic Cookie Cutter Tools, where I selected Crop Shape 38: stars. I filled these in with three primary colours: blue, red and yellow.

5. In addition to this I used the brush tool to create ink splatters behind the stars in the three colours selected. I took a picture of a guitar and using Impressionist Tool I smudged the edges of the guitar so they were more rounded and looked effective; to make the guitar livelier I chose the effects menu Mezzotint, which creates faint lines on the image. Again, the Dune Grass from the brush tool, were my finishing touches of splatters in the background. The image on the right page (top left corner) of the double paged article was easy to make as well, again due to researches before starting to produce the music magazine I had examples and rough ideas of what I wanted to make. The colour pink is very important, it targets my audience perfectly. I have represented the social groups of readers for Punk Trap through an image that contains butterflies and hearts, a great way to draw in the audience I selected. The layout of the magazine is the main target overall of how it is representing particular social groups meaning Punks: the readers themselves. The double page article will impact your readers most, I wanted my article to be about a review from one of the largest festivals in the world, which millions of people watch: Glastonbury. I wrote on my front cover Immortals performance at Glastonbury is "Hailed as the most memorable moment in history..." Bringing in more purchasers as they will read to know the exact details of what the festival consisted of and an amazing review, making the reader feel as if they were actually there! The layout of the pages is funky, eye-catching and very attractive. I planned out a layout from researching double page articles from an example in NME; I wanted my double page article to look cool and fun to read.

6. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? The type of institution that may distribute my music magazine is HMV/ WHSmith/ Waterstones. I have targeted these institutions because they are more likely to widen the audience due to the stores being worldwide. HMV is a famous music store and there would be more chances of Punk Trap to be brought more at a music store that at a supermarket simply due to the fact that it is a music magazine.

7. Who would be the audience for your media product? The targeted audience for my music magazine is 18yrs + females, this is because after researching music magazines I found that 65% readers of NME are male, I decided to make a music magazine that targets females only. I wanted Punk Trap to be seen traditionally as a 'serious' music magazine. Research also showed how in the past female targeted music magazines have failed over time, for example Smash Hits. Major at first yet over time teenage girls got bored of seeing boring information about music in dull language and colours. In contrast Punk Trap uses dark, gothic colours yet it still manages to present it is a girls magazine from the images as I have explained before. Another reason why I have chosen 18yrs + is because I think that the concert and festival reviews are for young adults plus in the language and some images may not be suitable for teenagers.

8. How did you attract/address your audience? I have reached out to the readers from the images my music magazine consists of; briefly explaining above about how I carefully picked colours and cropping tools to attract purchasers. Dressing up as a Punk may have been fun, but I had to be perfectly sure that I was happy with the clothes, make-up etc. This is because if I over-dressed I would have ended up looking like an emo or rocker, but if I under-dressed, I would have looked like I am a person who has a style of their own. One may argue that Punks have a style of their own, yes that is partially true, however there is not one Punk, there are many, they like to have environments of their own but they want a community around them. Not only by the use strong colours have I addressed my audience of the genre, so far the use of language is very important. The left third on the front cover is used to promote the best part of the magazine for the reason that, magazines are displayed likes so in shops. The language in the double paged article, "bona fide superstar", is made up Punk slang yet it fits in perfectly with the words "Totally", "Yeah", "Rocking" etc. Every language has a shorter version to it that mostly youngsters use; my magazine targets young adults, so the language used, makes total sense! It also contains words not suitable for teenagers for example “bullshit.”

9. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Throughout the production of my music magazine, I used different programmes: Photoshop, mainly for my images, Paint for creating barcodes and editing Screenshots, In-Design overall and for my double page article. I found it easier to produce writing in the language style I thought of and had planned on my A3 flat plans. I have learnt a lot from photography in this Portfolio. Learning the names of different types of lighting, for example, soft lighting: a light, in my sentiment that can change the construction of ones face. The brightness in an image can make one look more attractive and positive even if they look negative. For instance, the ‘punky’ clothes in my images make me look negative, because stereotypically one see's a punk as someone that does not care about what people think about their dress, its not modest or formal. Be that judgement as it is, the soft lighting breaks this invisible boundary where others think that the Punk has created self-imposed isolation, instead making the Punk seem fun to be with and very likeable. What is more, I have learnt to use different angles when taking pictures to make the images efficient. On the front page I have placed an image of myself sticking my shoe into the camera from a low angle, and then placing text on the shoe, making the main image very appealing.

10. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? In my preliminary task evaluation I have spoken about the many problems that nurtured during the formation of HTS, fortunately we learn from our mistakes! When first producing flat plans for Punk Trap, I researched a lot to ensure that I was fully confident about creating the magazine. I have also said that freebies was an unsuitable convention for a school magazine because "schools do not have enough funding for every student to receive free gifts from the school magazine," a very good point made here. I 'totally' agree, nevertheless one may argue that it’s acceptable not to have freebies in a school magazine, but surely a music magazine must contain so??? I have made my music magazine the first issue of Punk Trap (refer to fake barcode - #:1) so it would be unlikely that a first copy can give away thousands of free gifts without knowing if the magazine is going to be a seller or not. Flat planning was very helpful, I have made sure that all my flat plans are detailed, so the progress of planning has been more than perfect, even if I have had to make some amendments. I have learnt how to use the cropping tools correctly to make work look more effective in different shapes and sizes; also I challenged myself to try out different effects on work.

11. Hopefully I will be confident and satisfied with my final cover, contents page, double-page article when it has all been put together with my flat plans, so I can see the production of Punk Trap and the adjustments I have made for my music magazines well being. The images I am probably the most happiest with right now because I spent most of my time editing them to fulfil the genre. The magazine itself may be a type of media yet I have added other ways to access the Punk Trap team, this widens my audience in many ways, I thought of this idea from looking back at my school media magazine.