The document discusses the author's music magazine coursework project. It analyzes how the author's media product uses and develops conventions from real music magazines. The author challenges some conventions, such as using one cover image instead of multiple images. The author also discusses representing the target audience of 16-20 year olds interested in indie/soft rock music. The author aims to attract this audience through the choice of bands featured and using models the target age group can relate to.

1. AS Media Coursework 2010 Music Magazine Evaluation Rosie Tully

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? I used a convention from Kerrang! of having an extra section across the top of the cover giving some extra information. I used a different colour for the text to draw the reader’s attention to what has been written as it will be of interest to fans of the band. Another convention I have followed that is typical of music magazines is that I have put the names of bands that will be featured in the magazine around the image with some information outlining the feature of their piece. This is so that readers can instantly see who is featured in this issue. I have also included a list of other bands featured in the magazine but who have not got full feature articles. A convention of all magazines is that they have to have a barcode which is needed for the sale. Also I have included an issue number, price and date which again in a typical magazine convention. A convention that I have challenged is that I have only used one image on the cover whereas other music magazines use more than one image

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? I have put in the page number and website address as some magazines do, however the two magazines that I used for most of my ideas (‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang!’) do not have the website address and page number displayed on the contents page so I am challenging the conventions of these two magazines as this makes my magazine different. A convention of real magazines that I have followed is I have put the title of the magazine across the top of the contents page. I have also included the date of the issue. So that the contents page does not look too busy I have only used two images. I chose the large image of my cover model because he is the main feature of the magazine so another large image of him reinforces that he is the main feature of the issue. I chose this particular smaller image as I have not written anything about this feature on the cover so by giving it a space on the contents page with an image shows another main feature of the issue. Adding a smaller image was a way of developing the conventions of the contents page for ‘Q’ as quite often it only has one image. I did this because I wanted to keep a minimalist and tidy look to the page. As with all contents pages, I have listed the features and articles in numerical order with the corresponding page numbers in a contrasting colour so that they stand out. I have split the contents list up into two sections to break the page up and make it look more interesting, this is a typical convention used in ‘Q’ magazine.

4. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? I used yellow as a way to grab the readers’ attention as it is a bright and contrasting colour against the background image and is different to the title colours. I got the idea of using a contrasting colour from the Kerrang! contents page as often yellow is used as it stands out and catches the readers’ attention. Also, yellow is not one of the colours I used for the house colour scheme so again this shows how it contrasts. In my double page spread I have challenged the conventions of a real music magazine by only using one image whereas other magazines that I used for research, such as ‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang!’, used more than one image. I used the convention of having a pull out quote and developed this by using two. I used these pull out quotes because they highlight points in the article and are the first thing that grabs the readers’ attention so will make them want to read the article. Another convention I have followed is the magazine website and page number at the bottom of the pages. For the title of the article I have challenged the conventions of other music magazines I used for research by putting a box underneath it to add emphasis to this particular point of the article.

5. How does your media product represent particular social groups? My media product represents an age group of students through to people aged about 20 who are interested in this type of ‘indie’ and ‘soft rock’ music. I have represented this age group by the bands featured and the minimalist style I have used on the pages which adds some sophistication and a grown up feel to the magazine. I have represented the younger group of the age range by using a model who is within the student age range and who is the stereotypical young, white male who dresses in the typical ‘indie’ style and also on the contents I included a student-aged white female. I did this so that the younger group would be able to relate in some ways to his story and show that they too could achieve what he has. In the double page spread I have continued to represent this social group by using a chatty and friendly style to the text. I have also reflected the group in the story by using characteristics of a troubled teenager and how he has ‘turned his life around’ which enables younger readers to be able to relate to it. The issues I have used include relationships and drug use.

6. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? A media institution such as Bauer Media might distribute my media product because they print a variety of magazine styles and genres as well as being horizontally integrated with other types of media such as Radio, TV and Ticketing. This would be good for a music magazine as the bands featured would also be featured on the radio stations and the music channels that Bauer are involved with, such as the channel 4Music. Bauer Media are responsible for distributing ‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang!’ magazines which are the two magazines I used for my main research. For the brand ‘Kerrang!’, there is a website, a TV channel, a radio station and the magazine so this example of synergy could similarly be used for my media product.

7. Who would be the audience for your media product? The audience for my magazine would be people aged 16-20. I have shown this by using a stereotypical British white male who young girls may find attractive. However, I have not just targeted one specific gender, I have been able to target both genders by the bands included and the stories included as they will be of interest to both genders. The audience would include people who are fans of the bands featured in this particular issue of the magazine. For example fans of You Me At Six may buy the magazine because there is a feature on them in this issue of the magazine. Also people who listen to similar types of music may be interested in the magazine as a way to find new bands that have a similar style.

8. How did you attract/address your audience? I have attracted my audience by using a model that the female readers may find attractive and the male readers may be able to relate to. Also the way I have styled him will appeal to the audience because his style reflects the theme of the magazine. Similarly I have also used a female model who is styled in a way that female readers may want to follow as they will see that she is wearing an outfit which is on trend. Throughout the magazine I have used neutral colours which will appeal to both genders. I have also used neutral looking fonts to have the same effect. Throughout the pages I have created I have kept everything simple so that it is easy to read and understand.

9. What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Whilst I have been constructing this product I have learned a lot about different technologies such as the Digital cameras and Photoshop. When I started my magazine I was not very good at using Photoshop so I have learned how to use it as I have been making the magazine pages. I have learned to do things such as airbrushing the image so that my model looked the best that he could. I also learned how to adjust the text to get it how I wanted it to look and how to move the layers around so that all the items on the page were in the right order. For the images I had to use the Nikon D60 Photography camera to take my photos. In the studio I used one that had a radio transmitter fitted to it so that it was linked into the lighting system. To create a shadow on one side of my models face I took out one of the lights that was pointed towards that side of his face. For my double page spread I used Microsoft Publisher as I found it easier to use with the amount of text I had. I had used this programme quite a lot before but I still learned quite a lot while I was creating this page. I learned how to create the layout guides and work on the larger A3 sized page. I also learned how to layer the items on this programme as at first I did not know how to layer things in the correct way.

10. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? From the preliminary task I have learnt a lot about how to use the programme Photoshop and how the images should look to give a magazine a professional look to it. For example, the image on my Prelim magazine is not very good because the models are too small on the page and there is too much background on the image which takes the focus away from the models. Also there is not very much text on my Prelim magazine cover which makes it look quite empty whereas my main task front cover has more text to give more information about what is featured in the magazine and this is typical of all magazines. When doing the contents pages for the two tasks I learned again that the contents page needed more information on it about the features included in the magazine. On my music magazine contents page I also arranged my images in a better way and used captions to explain what each image is and give the page number for the feature that the image corresponds with.