The document discusses a media studies coursework assignment evaluating a student's mock magazine. It provides details on the magazine's design elements, conventions used, target audience, and how it represents and attracts that audience. Specifically, it summarizes that the magazine draws inspiration from Kerrang magazine's style and targets young adult rock music fans, using formal language, fashion photography, and references to bands like Florence and the Machine to appeal to and represent that social group.

1. Coursework Evaluation Ryan Durkin AS Media Studies http:// armthorperdurkin.blogspot.com /

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

3. Plug Plug Cover Price Masthead Issue number & Date Barcode Main Cover Line Zebra Print Lots of space, nothing is cramped Lots of white space

4. Three column house style. Large attractive image. Pull out quote which stands out and attracts the reader. Attractive heading which tells you what the article is about. Only bit of colour on this page. Most of the page is black and white.

5. Large Image of attractive model. Catches your eye. A list which shows you what's inside the magazine. Also it is set out in my house style which is three columns and by the use of colour. This attracts the reader by saying “see more on page 60”. Large font which stands out and shows what the page is about. Works well with the whole page. Three small images which look interesting and attractive. Small page number which shows you what page the picture represents.

6. Whilst researching Alternative Rock magazines “Kerrang” was the one which stood out the most. I analysed several Kerrang issues and then I was influenced by the house style because I liked the use of colours which stood out and were very effective. The house style colours were: Black, White and Red. Nearly all Rock magazines use these colours. My magazine has a similar house style to the Kerrang magazine. I used Red, Grey, Black and White and three columns on my pages. These are basically all the colours used in Kerrang. This house style which Kerrang uses are used in most popular Rock or Indie magazines. Other examples of this house style are Q and MOJO. But with their use of simple yet elegant colours it creates a good effect which strongly stands out from other magazines on the shelves. My magazine is very similar to “Kerrang”. My cover image is in front of the masthead like Kerrang. Which gives a sense of importance but also it shows that even with part of the masthead covered the audience will still know what the magazine is due to how well its known or its popularity. I have used a black and white masthead which is in a Display typeface which will appeal to my audience. My audience would be a young adult who reads Kerrang, NME, Q or MOJO. They would also socialise a lot and like having fun but like a serious or formal read. The magazines which I have researched used black and white mastheads in a display typeface which stands out . The use of black and white is strong whilst looking attractive. Two plugs have been used on my cover." Top Albums of 2010” and “Blast From The Past”. These are both followed by lists to give an insight into the magazine. Kerrang has a busy cover which uses pictures as plugs. My magazine basically is like “Kerrang” with certain aspects yet its very different with the use of the actual colour, pictures, masthead and layout. I did not want to use images because I wanted to go for a strong, elegant look which makes my cover similar to “Q” with the lack of images on the cover. Kerrang uses a large typeface on their cover which is the artist/bands name. I have also used a large typeface to represent my main featured artist. This is the largest typeface on the cover besides the Masthead which stands out from the rest of the magazine.

7. How does my media product represent a social group? Attractive model, with a slight smiling expression. It doesn't show happiness but it doesn’t give off a gloomy miserable feeling. White Background gives a sense of maturity for a older audience. Clothing is black, and has a stylish, sophisticated and mature look. This will appeal to the older audience who have money to spend on fashionable clothes. (18+). Zebra print stands out which creates a statement which shows confidence in the magazine. House Style colours appeal to the audience due to the fact most other rock/indie magazines have these colours. The positioning of all the text creates an even look about it and balances both sides out.

8. This could represent the Rock social group due to the word “EMO” which many people who like rock music or dress in a rock fashion will get called in this day and age. The same model used as on the cover. In a Black & White fashion which looks appealing and professional. Red number which is part of my house style colours which are used in many rock magazines. Some birds are located atop of the band name. These are attractive and are on many pieces of jewellery which a lot of people wear. So it gets involved in the trends.

9. Fashionable model who is wearing fashionable clothes which young adults will like. Three small images of an attractive model in fashionable clothes again. Also the colour grey is used to highlight the pictures and text which is one of the house style colours. A list which is simple and quick to read. The young professionals or the young adults who have jobs will be able to browse these contents whilst in a rush to get to work. Which will allow them to know what will be inside therefore buy it. All house style colours used. Which is similar to rock magazines which the people already like.

10. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product? Bauer Media is a good example who would distribute my media product. Bauer produces many magazines, some are music magazines. These consist of: Kerrang!, MOJO and Q. These magazines are Rock/ Indie but also other genres of music magazines which will target a certain audience of Young adults and my target audience. My magazine is aimed at Young adults and it is about the rock genre so, I think it would be appropriate for Bauer to distribute it. Bauer does not only distribute these music magazines, but it produces many hit magazines from “Empire” to “Heat”. Bauer produces music, film and celebrity culture magazines. Bauer brings all of these together which young adults like to read about it. So this would be an appropriate distribution company. Bauer Media www.bauer.co.uk

11. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product? IPC Media IPC Media produces the NME magazine. IPC also produces other popular magazines like Marie Claire and Look magazines. NME is a massive Indie/Rock magazine. My magazines genre is rock which NME covers. I believe that this could be a good distributor for my product due to how well NME sells and how much of a success it is. Also IPC would be able to help me appeal to my target audience because of the experience it has with NME. www.ipcmedia.com

12. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product? I believe that Bauer Media is most suitable to distribute my magazine. This is because Bauer has more experience with producing rock magazines which are successful and how it has experience with young adults.

13. Who would be the audience for your media product? The target audience for my magazine are young adults in the 18+ boundaries. My magazine is aimed at university students or young adults of that age which are young professionals and don’t want to read about the latest gossip. No ‘OMGs’ are used in any of my magazine, no slang. I have used formal language which creates a mature and a more adult feel. People would not mind paying £4.00 for its quality and classy look because they have disposable income. This comes from my market research of the price of Q. I chose this age group due to my survey because teens like Alternative rock, so my magazine would appeal to them. My magazine offers a quite intelligent read which any age could read, but children would find the articles boring because of its use of words it is not aimed at them. My magazine is aimed at a ABC1 audience. This is the Lower Middle Class to Upper Middle Class. The jobs which these people have are Experienced Doctor to a monk or nun. My magazine is aimed at this audience because of their class. They can afford to spend £4.00 on a magazine where as the D class might not. The people in the ABC1 class also have good jobs which allows them to spend money on items other than the necessities they need. This class is well educated and will appreciate the well written formal standard of my magazine, the less educated class would go for a younger age magazine with slang. A Upper middle class B Middle class C1 Lower middle class

14. Who would be the audience for your media product? I am middle class. I am 18 years of age I like to read magazines I use social networking sites I am trying to make a career . I like rock music I socialise a lot. I am in university. I live in a city. I have a part time job. Typical Reader

15. Who would be the audience for your media product? A typical read would be someone who is eighteen years of age or older. They are working or at university in a city or town. This person likes to go out and socialise and has a busy lifestyle, also listen to a lot of Rock music.

16. How did you attract/address your audience? Florence Gemma How my photos attract the target audience. Also to attract more of an Indie Rock audience, my model is similar to Florence and the Machine. These two images a quite similar. My image of Gemma is taken in a very similar style yet they are both different. Florence and the Machine is an artist who is classed as indie/rock Genre. So I thought the audience would like a similar artist, therefore I took this photo.

17. Audience Feedback Cover Positives Lots to look at, Like the use of colours Like the use of photography Like the name of the artist which is used Nice and simple Negatives Because the images used and headlines are so clean cut it looks more like a book cover rather than a magazine. Its not chaotic like a magazine Double Page Spread Positive Good use of all the space Like the use of photography Like the little birds and attention to detail Like the structure and layout of the article Likes the use on no colour. Negatives Lack of colour Contents page Positive Like the use of colour Like the use of photography Like the structure of columns and written words. Negatives Thinks the grey box does not belong, looks out of place.

18. How did you attract/address your audience? My magazine is very similar to other Rock/Indie magazines which my target audience red. The house style colours of red, black and grey. Model is attractive and wearing rock/indie style clothes. A plug which shows well known indie and rock artists on the cover which attract the attention of the consumer. Masthead is very in your face, which creates a statement and appeals to the audience. Classy and mature look from the white background. It looks like it has quality and not like a Childs magazine. No slang used on the cover or inside. A good formal read for the sophisticated.

19. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? During the creation of my Main Task I have used image manipulating processes from Macromedia Fireworks and Adobe Photoshop, I already had knowledge of photo manipulation. But I have never done photography before and it let me learn about camera use by Rule of Thirds and Depth of Field. I have never blogged before. So learning how to blog was a helpful and good experience. It allows me now to blog my work online and from school or home. I have learnt how to create a magazine using Page Plus. I started making a preliminary task, which allowed me to get the hang of page plus and how to create a magazine knowing how to make good use of the codes & conventions. Also making this magazine has made me be able to attract certain audiences a lot better than when I was creating my preliminary task. These are pictures I have edited with manipulating processes. Before After

20. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? Overall from the preliminary task to the main task I have learnt a lot about codes and conventions.

21. Covers In my Preliminary Task I made the error of not taking my own pictures. In my magazine I have used my own photography skills. On the preliminary task I used a skull in the picture which attracts all the attention when it should be the person drawing the skull which I wanted to be the main focus. The photo which has been used on the preliminary task has used depth of field by making the background out of focus. On the Main Task I used a simple, effective and clean image which stands out and attracts all the attention. This is a great improvement I think which looks professional. In the Preliminary Task I have used lots of colour which clashes and makes it too vibrant. The improvements I have made are using a clean white background and stuck to a house style of Red, Black, White and Grey. These colours work very well together and do not make everything bright and too vibrant which made it very hard top find appropriate colours to use for text.. It compliments the whole magazine and works well as a whole. The Masthead on the Preliminary Task in very plain and boring but it does stand out on the cover because it is white which is not very ambitious. But on my Main Task my masthead is a lot better . I have used a zebra print masthead which looks attractive and stands out whilst still using the house style colours and attracting my target audience. The Plugs used on the Preliminary task are dull and boring plus there is only one, it links with some of the colours I have used. In my Main Task I have used two plugs which both have lists of band names or albums which is information about the contents inside the magazine.

22. Contents On my Preliminary Task I have used the same typeface as my Masthead to link the pages together which stands out yet. On the other hand it still looks quite boring. On my Main Task I have use the font which is the same as the Main Tag Line and all the other large font in my magazines. This is in a maroon/red colour which links well with the other colours used throughout. On my Main Task I have included a list of everything in the magazine down the left side with page numbers so you know what is in the magazine. But on my Preliminary Task I wrote a short paragraph about each picture along with the page number. I believe the list of content is more effective and looks more professional. I have used three images on my Preliminary Task and four on my Main. The main is more effective and more professional yet it has more images. All of my images link well together on my main task. I have given some information about the artist of the three small images. This is to get the reader interested, so they will want to read more. Both of the house styles used in the contents page are linked to the other pages of the magazine. On my main task three columns have been used whilst on the preliminary only two. The photography used in both magazines are very different. In my main task I have got the lighting right in my photos. But in my preliminary task the lighting on the photos are all wrong which makes them look dull and unprofessional.

23. Double Page Spread I never had experience making a Double Page Spread due to the face I did not make one for my preliminary task. I have kept my DPS simple with the colours black, white and a small amount of red. I have stuck to the house style with the colours and the three columns used. A large image has been used to take up one side of the page, whilst the other side has an article. The image has correct lighting and has a professional look. When creating my DPS I had no experience so I had to take influence from other magazines like Kerrang and Q.

24. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? During this project I have learnt to structure a magazine cover to look professional, classy and attractive. I have also learnt how to make colours work well together on my final magazine rather than too many colours to work with. I learnt how to use editing and camera technologies more easier which allowed me to edit great images and take good photographs by using the correct angles and lighting and other helpful things like depth of field and rule of thirds. Unlike my first magazine where I didn’t even take the image. I have also learnt a lot about existing magazines and the industry which produce them. This has helped me to be able to tell the target audience the magazine is intended for by the use of language and other things like colour. I learnt that I needed to address my target audience by the use of images and colour. On my preliminary task you couldn’t tell who my audience was because of all the different colours used. But on my Main Task I have addressed my target audience. Also I have learnt how to make my magazine stand out with its simple look and by the attention to detail unlike my preliminary task. Finally my preliminary task magazine did not look very realistic like a real magazine. It looked more like a poster. So I have made sure my Main Task magazine looks like a magazine. This is from the use of a barcode and by using the codes and conventions of real magazines.