This document summarizes the key learnings and feedback from creating a mock magazine focused on metal and rock music. The creator challenged conventions by keeping the front cover minimal but received positive feedback on the images and article. Some feedback suggested adding more article information to the cover and using different fonts. Overall, the creator learned about their target audience and skills like Photoshop manipulation and receiving audience feedback online.

2. Masthead Date and issue number Main image Main article Barcode Front cover This is my front cover to my magazine, I have followed some of the normal conventions of a real music magazine. But as I wanted my magazine to have a clean/ simple house style I went against some of the normal conventions, like skylines, left third and cover lines. This makes my front cover simply and will appeal to the readers I want to attract.

3. Contents Other articles included in the magazine. Free poster and CD included in the magazine. Image linked to main article.

4. Drop cap. Image. Main article. Pull quote. Double page spread

5. Framing my shots: I think that I have framed my shots pretty well, on the front cover the model has his fingers up and the camera and his fingers frame his face, this gives the audience a first person view, making them feel like the front cover in aimed individually at them. Shot Distances: I think I could of used more shot distances than I did use. I used one close up and two medium close ups. In my cover shot I tried to blur the face of the model and focus close up on his hand, this will hopefully make the reader want to know who the cover model is and continue into the magazine. Shooting appropriate material: I used appropriate material in my shots, the clothes the model was wearing matched the style of my magazine, also the front cover shot is him fingers up, I think the audience that this magazine is aimed at will be drawn to this as it represents rebellion and anger, which rock can be associated with. Also I used a prop microphone in the DPS picture, this is suitable as the article is about a band and also this shows his status within the band. Mise en scene: I don’t have much within the shot apart from the model, the clothing and the microphone. I wanted the images to look as clean as possible, also there is a white background which I choose to shoot in front of in the studio.

6. Manipulating the photographs: I think that the photos I took have been well edited. I used Adobe Photoshop to edit them, with the front cover I duplicated the image so there was to layers of the same photo, then turned the top layer black and white, after this I changed the opacity of the top layer to some colour from the same image underneath through. This gives the photo a washed out look but with some colour showing. I did this with the other photos too so they match the cover. I also added a black vignette to the photos. I used the spot healing brush to get rid of any blemishes on the models face. DPS article: I researched some interesting questions that an interviewer might ask in an interview and changed the register to suit the tone of my magazine. Then I thought of responses that would keep the audience interested but also made them sound real. I used a pull quote in my article which was in a bigger font size, this would hopefully catch the readers attention and make them read the whole article to find out more. Language and register: I thought of what my audience would appreciate and like first, my reader would be around 15- 25 and like rock/metal. I used young language, slang and swearing. This suits the style and would not offend the type of people who would read it.

7. The style I wanted to achieve This magazine, have the same house style that I wanted to achieve, It doesn’t have much on the cover and its white background pulls the readers attention towards the text and image .

8. In what ways does your music products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Conventions of a magazine: I understood the conventions of a magazine and used them within my magazine; I also challenged the normal conventions on magazines. For example I wanted a clean look for my magazine so I kept my front page minimal with only the image, masthead and main article. I chose to not use things that would normally be used in magazines like, skylines, flashes, pull quotes and cover lines.

9. How does your media products represent particular media groups? My media product represents a particular group that I wanted to attract, firstly the people who would read my magazine are into metal/ rock music, and are interested in finding out about their favourite bands. The image I took also will appeal to my readers, I used a model that had the same style as my magazine, he clothes, hair and piercings suit the style I was going for. The poses that he is in also represents the themes that surround metal and rock, he is swearing at the camera and therefore seems rebellious and tough. When I was manipulating the photos from the magazine shoot I thought about the colours that would be linked to metal, black, grey and red. I toned the colours down to make the pictures seem darker, and added a vignette around the edge to focus the readers attention.

10. What kind of music institution might distribute your magazine and why? I think that a institution that might want to distribute my magazine would be Bauer Media, this is because it is currently distributing “KERRANG!” which is a metal and rock magazine and also they distribute photography magazines, which is a big part of the magazine. KERRANG! Also has a website and radio station which my magazine would also have. My audience age would be from about 15-25, therefore readers of KERRANG! Could move onto my magazine as it’s more alternative.

11. Who would be the audience for your magazine? The audience of my magazine could be former readers of KERRANG! And other metal/ rock music magazines like Metal Hammer and Rock Sound as it has an older target audience. Also as it would have a radio station, they can listen wherever they want with a radio or online.

12. Audience feedback. Here is some audience feedback from my blogger page where I posted my magazine. From the feedback I was given I can see that the readers like the Images I have taken and how I have manipulated them, as well as my DPS article. On the other hand they have said that the contents page “seems a little rushes” and that I could of used different fonts. But they like the Mise-en-scene and say that it suits the genre on music that my magazine promotes.

13. Audience feedback questions. Here are some short questions answered by a person who read my magazine: Q: How would you describe my magazine? A: Its an alternative metal and rock magazine, maybe for a older aged audience as the content has language a younger reader might not understand of be offended by the swearing, which the older readers would understand. Q: What elements do you like about my front cover? A: I really like the images you have taken, it make the whole magazine look really professional and well thought out, you’ve clearly thought about the audience and included that in the photos and style of the magazine. Q: What could be improved? A: I like how you’ve not crowded the magazine with information about articles within the magazine, but the front cover looks a bit empty, you could of added a couple of more article information lines within the left third. Q: Does my magazine have a recognisable house style? A: Yeah I like how each picture has been manipulated to look darker and more metal, Also the font is consistent throughout the magazine. And I like the red stripe you’ve used in the front page and contents, this links them together.

14. Audience feedback questions. Q: Looking at my DPS – how do you think my band is portrayed or represented? A: From reading the article I can assume there pretty crazy. They sound like a great band and probably have a good relationship together. Also you can tell there a metal band from the way the front man is talking. Q: Would you buy my magazine? A: Yeah it seems like a really good magazine, think I’d defiantly read it. Q: What genre of music would you say its focused on? A: From the layout, images and main article its clearly a metal magazine.

15. What have you learned about technologies? Photoshop: I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut out the image in my contents page. I used to blemish tool to get rid of any spots. Duplicating layers and changing the opacity to take some colour out of the pictures. Used the filter bar allot, mainly to a vignettes to the images. Also changing curves of the photo. Used front from Dafont.com and added them into Photoshop.

16. Using Youtube to help with my magazine. I used Youtube to find out about Photoshop and I used the Tutorials to edit some picture. This is a good example of the community within the internet.

17. Other websites I used to get feedback. Here are some websites that helped allot with receiving feedback from my magazine. Websites like Facebook, SurveyMonkey, Blogger and Tumblr are the websites I used, they were very useful as I could read other peoples opinions about my magazine and see what my audience liked or disliked about it.

18. What have you learnt? After finishing my magazine and receiving feed back on it, I have learnt more about what people like within a metal magazine and learnt from people comments about what they didn’t like within the product. If I were to do this again I would of spend more time researching my target audience and finding out about things that attract reader to this style of magazine. Also I would have spent more time learning different techniques on Photoshop. I have learnt many skills while producing this magazine, the main skill I think that I have gained would be using and understanding how to use Photoshop, I really enjoyed manipulating the magazine and enhancing the picture I took. Also I have learned how the normal conventions of a magazine can be changed depending on the style of magazine you are trying to achieve. This project has encouraged me to more on to the A2 section of this course, I really enjoyed this project, mainly having to organise a photo shoot and then edit the pictures to suit the genre of music you have chosen.