1. 1) EVALUATION
2) There are many conventions and aspects of my music magazine that are
similar to those of an existing magazine; however there are also some
challenges to the typical conventions. On my front cover, I used the
Guttenberg principle, which is very common in real media products, as this
is very important when it comes to attracting an audience. People naturally
look from the top left corner, down to the bottom right corner. I put a ‘WIN’
box in the weak fallow area to attract the readers.
I chose the masthead ‘Amplified’ as it reflects the genre of rock, because it
represents a guitar amp. This could be compared to ‘Kerrang!’ magazine as
that is onomatopoeia (sounding like a guitar).
On my contents page, the images take up most of the page, which I
deliberately did to make the page look more attractive and appealing for
the reader, and so they do not lose interest in the magazine. I also included
a subscribe box in the lower right corner, which is a very popular
convention of a music magazine. Again, I used the Guttenberg principle on
my contents aswell to make sure that it attracts the reader, and makes
them want to read on.
3) On my double page spread, I decided to use an interesting quote as the
heading to intrigue the reader and give them an idea on what the article is
about. I feel that by doing this, it would make the page look alot more
appealing, and as it is targeted at young adults, I wanted to make the page
look fun and rebellious. The main image on my double page spread is
taking up a large amount of the page, which is similar to that in ‘Kerrang’
and ‘NME’. This makes the page look more appealing, and it also ensures
that readers will not lose interest in the magazine, as there is not much
writing, so therefore this will not put the reader off. The article on my
double page spread is an interview, which is usually used in music
magazines. The language is quite chatty and informal, which is common in
magazines such as ‘Kerrang’, as it reflects a younger social group.
4) The social group I aimed my magazine at was young adults, aged 16-26,
interested in rock/alternative music. On my front cover and double page
spread, the images are of the duo ‘One and the Same’, in which consists of
two girls aged around the same age as my target audience of young adults.

2. My models are dressed in similar clothing to how someone that is
interested in rock music would dress themselves, so this represents the
social group I wish to aim my media product at. I used the colours red,
yellow, black and white because these colours represent the genre of rock,
and the red also gives a sense of rebellion, which is a common theme with
young adults and teenagers. The article on my double page spread is an
interview. I did this so that I did not lose my target audience’s interest, as
from my market research, I found out that younger people prefer the
photos rather than the writing, so I attempted to make my article as fun
and appealing as possible.
5) I chose Bauer media to distribute my magazine because it distributes
some of the most popular magazines across the globe. There are 38 million
magazines distributed per week by Bauer media. It distributes Kerrang
magazine, which I feel is similar to mine as they share the same musical
genre. So, I think that with this media company distributing my magazine, a
large audience would be gained. In 2008, Bauer media bought Emap
consumer media, and went on to be the UK’s biggest publishing group.
6) The target audience for my music magazine would be around 14 to 26,
similar to that of Kerrang. I believe that as my magazine is based around
the alternative/rock genre, it would target more of a male audience as these
genres are stereotyped as a more masculine genre, however, it can also
attract a female audience too. In my market research, the first question I
asked people was ‘what genre of music do you listen to?’ Eight out of the ten
people that I asked said they liked to listen to rock music. So, this is why I
decided to base my magazine around the rock genre, as I felt this would
gain a larger audience.
7) The main image is taking up the majority of the page. I did this because in
my market research, 3 out of the 10 people said that the photographs are
the aspect that makes them buy the magazine.
I used bright colours (red and yellow) because people said that the colours
attract them to a magazine, and it draws the readers in and makes the
magazine look a lot more appealing and attractive.
8) During the process of constructing this media product, I have learnt a lot
of new things from using a wide range of technology that I was unfamiliar

3. with. I have used many different technologies such as: Digital cameras,
Adobe Photoshop, Slideshare and Eblogger. I have took a wide range of
images using a digital camera, and I tried to use many different techniques
whilst doing this, like using the rule of thirds and changing the ISO and
aperture on the camera, to produce the best photos that I could. I have also
gained knowledge on how to use Eblogger, because this is where I have
been uploading all of my coursework to. To upload word documents, I had
to upload them to Slideshare first, and then copy the code onto Eblogger.
Before I begun uploading my coursework, I had never used these
technologies, but, now I’m confident in using these websites.
9) Whilst using Adobe Photoshop, I have learnt many new techniques and I
now know how to use tools such as ‘magic wand’, ‘clone tool’ and editing the
brightness and contrast of my images. I used a range of different fonts,
images and shapes on my magazine layouts, which really developed my
knowledge when it comes to using Photoshop, as I now know how to insert
and edit things easily.
10) I have learnt many things from starting out with my preliminary task
until finishing my final products. I have learnt the different conventions of a
music magazine, and what I needed to include on my final product in order
to attract an audience, and make the magazine more appealing to the
audience that I aimed my magazine at. I have gained better knowledge on
Photoshop, as I now know how to edit images and text easily.