The document discusses how the media product, a music magazine, uses and challenges conventions of real magazines. It follows most conventions, such as using a masthead to identify the genre and target audience. The color scheme and layout are also similar to other music magazines. However, one convention challenged is placing cover lines on both sides of the magazine rather than just one side. The document also discusses the technologies learned from creating the magazine, such as using Photoshop to edit images and Publisher for layout. The creator feels their skills and understanding of magazine design improved from their preliminary task.

1. By Joe Westall
Music magazine evaluation

2. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
a real magazine?
 My music magazine does follow most of the conventions that you will see in today's
magazines, I have tried to make it look as professional as I possible could through research
of other magazines.
 One of the main conventions of a music magazine is the masthead, this instantly identifies the
magazine, and just by looking at the masthead you can immediately see the magazine type the
target audience and the genre. With my masthead I wanted it to give off a classic feel, and really
give people the thought of old school rock, I spent a while looking for a suitable font but this font
looked really good and I was happy with the way it looked. It is very important to not over
complicate your masthead as it needs to be easy to read and at the same time look good, the font i
have used is called 'little Rickey nf' I chose this because it was clean and looked good whilst being
very easy to read. One other main convention that music magazines tend to follow is that they will
have a really eye catching colour scheme or house style, A lot of the time/in a lot of magazines, the
house style uses red as it a very eye catching colour such as the rolling stone magazine, this is
why I chose red as my house style, to capture the attention of the audience, also it stands out
against the darker background.

3. Here is an example of an NME magazine
using the red masthead against the black
and white picture, similar to my magazine,
it really catches your eye and looks really
effective, I have found a lot of magazines
use the colour red in their house theme.
Another main convention that I have
followed is the 'plus' sign seen on many
front covers of magazines, as you can see
in my magazine and the NME example I
have got, both have a plus sign to show
more content within the magazine, it
makes the magazine look like there is a lot
more going on and draws the reader in to
want to find out more.
One convention that i have challenged in
my magazine is the idea that most
magazines have all there cover lines and
lures in the same place or on one side of
the magazine whilst I have them fairly
spaced out and on each side of my front
cover.

4.  Here is another example of an NME magazine as an
example, this shows how I have challenged magazine
conventions, as you can see most the cover lines of this
magazine are shown on the left side, I have some on
both sides.
 My main image on my magazine is in black and white
with some colour, this makes it look moody and effective,
this was the look I was going for with the whole moody
looking band with the lighter, to show that they are
rebellious, this effect is used a lot in magazines, to do
this I used Adobe Photoshop cs5 and edited my image to
look how I wanted, I did this with the Quick select tool
and the image adjustment tool, I then modified it to look
how I wanted.

5.  For my contents page, I stuck to the conventions
of a normal music magazine, most of the
magazines I researched had plenty of pictures and
an area where they actually said what was in the
magazines with the page numbers. Also another
thing I kept the same is in most magazines they
have a section that appears in every issue, this is
why I have the 'regulars' section. Another
convention that I have in my contents is the
pictures coming out of the box they are in, this
really catches your eye and looks really
professional, this is seen in many music
magazines. Also I have kept my house
colours/style the same with the blue and red, this
is because I want the theme of this magazine to be
set colours. Another thing I have done that follows
conventions of real music magazines is I have
made it easy to read and easy to find what you
want to read, as you can see with the clear
numbers next to the articles/pictures.

6.  Here is an example of a NME
music magazine contents page,
I have tried to base my own
contents page off this magazine
with the big pictures and page
numbers on the pictures, also
as you can see, on each
picture, they have a short
sentence introducing what it is,
I have done this with my music
magazine as I have introduced
each Picture. Also, as you can
see from this picture, there is a
section that says 'plus' this has
what is in the magazine, I have
also got something similar to
this on my contents page with
the 'features section' and the
'Regulars section.'

7.  I feel that my double page spread has used
the conventions of a real magazine with
this double page spread. From the
research I did i found that many of the
double page spreads within music
magazines have columns of question and
answers, these inspired me to do the same
with my own double page spread, I decided
to my questions in yellow and my answers
would match the colours of the band
members you an see in the picture. Also I
found a rolling stone magazine that had the
black eyed peas on the double page
spread, I have analysed this magazine and
they have the band members in slightly
different colours so I did that with mine,
although, this could be said to be a
challenge to normal conventions because
although on the rolling stone magazine the
people are in slightly different colours, they
are not completely in different colours, this
is a way that I challenged normal
conventions of real magazines. Although,
one convention I did stick to was the way
my main image is on the left with the title
and masthead of the page also on the left, I
have found this in many magazines.

8.  Here is some examples of double page
spreads from the rolling stone
magazine, as you can see, in the Kings
of Leon magazine, there is columns of
questions and answers, this is what my
magazine is like, so I have followed a
convention of a real magazine. Also as
you can see in the black eyed peas
one, he image is on the left similar to
mine and the titles and mastheads are
also on the left, my double page spread
is very similar to this one, also as you
can see the main man in this magazine
is a different colour to the others, this is
where I got the inspiration for my own
picture on my double page spread.
Another convention I followed was the
fact that my questions are in a different
colour to the answers, just like the
Kings of Leon magazine only in this
one the text is bold instead of a
different colour.

9. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
 My music magazine represents certain social groups in a way that
does not generalise against any group. My magazine represents my
target audience and social group in a good way, it shows off that they
are into old music and like to find out about all what is going on within
there interests. Although some may say that I was representing my
social group in a negative way with my moody looking colours and
pictures and with the almost rebellious look to my main image, I did
want to show the sinister side of classic rock so I represented this
with my dark colour scheme and eye catching images. I still think I
have shown my target audience in a good way though as with my
different font types I have shown that there can be a variety of people
who are within my target audience, for the mast head I have fancy
classic looking font yet for my main cover line I have font that makes
it seem more of a heavy rock magazine. This shows that I am
keeping my target audience open for a wider variety of people and
not slimming it down to a certain group. The image I gave across
from my front cover was that it was aimed at an older audience which
is correct as my magazine would contain strong language and adult
humour. I have my models dressed in old school, 'cool' looking
clothes which portrays my social group as fairly fashionable and into
their old school trends, I had a lot of inspiration from the 60's when
there were 'mods' about, these were the likes of The Who and the
Kinks, this is what i wanted my target audience to be like. Also I think
i have represented my social group as a middle/working class group
as on my magazine I have a bit of bad language and in a upper class
society this would be seen as outrageous, another thing I have done
is not overwhelmed people with information on the front cover, I have
kept it neat looking and clean this is so it is easy to read, this could
represent my target group as individuals who like to get straight to
them point of things they are looking for instead of pointless
information that doesn't need to be there.

10. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product
and why?
 The type of media institution that would
distribute my media product would be a
magazine/online publisher such 'imagine
publishing' this is one the leading magazine
publishers in the UK that own a variety of
different magazines and smaller publishing
companies. Another publishing company that is
very big within the UK is IPC media, who own
and publish more than 60 well known media
brands. Although there my be online publishers
that would be interested in publishing this
magazine. The reason they would publish my
magazine would be to extent their empire of
ownership, in other words to say they own
another magazine which will make them gain
more profit from more and more people buying
a magazine that they own. If they choose to
buy a magazine and it becomes popular, not
only will it make the company much more profit
but it would significantly raise their popularity
leading to more publishing deals and once
again more profit, they would only choose to
publish my magazine if they knew it would be
successful.

11. Who would be the audience of your media
product?
 The audience for my media product would be older people
age from about 18-40, the reason my audience would be
so old is because, as my magazine is a classic rock
magazine, most of the what is in the magazine will be
music and bands from older generations such as the who
and the Beatles, most younger people would not like
these bands now a days, if they have even heard of them
at all. I wanted my target audience to be able to
appreciate the music in my magazines rather than hem
thinking it was dated and not good, this is why I wanted
my Audience to be older rather than younger because
they would recognise the music and bands. This does not
however mean that some younger people would not like
my magazine as there are a lot of younger people today
who actually like classic rock much more than new music
of today, like myself for example, I much rather prefer
older music like the Kinks and the Doors rather than any
new stuff. My magazine would be slightly leaning towards
the male side of things with the humour and language
used but it is not completely biased and would be
appropriate for all genders if they are into this type of
genre. Although my magazine would be aimed at an older
audience, it would however be up to date with the latest
trends and modern culture so people who are younger
would actually understand and appreciate it as much as
older people.

12. How did you attract/address your
audience?
 I attracted my target audience by making this magazine look and seem
rebellious, I did this by making it look really moody and the main picture
shows one of my models holding a lighter, this could be seen as
'naughty' and would attract the attention of many. Also the use of bad
language and eye catching quotes would of attracted my audience to
think, wow this is shocking I really want to read this. I also think the
bright colours in a magazine are the first thing people notice so this
would also draw them in. I addressed my audience in a informative and
almost friendly way but just as if it tells you what is there why and the
main points, I think its best to get straight to the point so this is how I
spoke in my magazine with direct easy to read responses, this would
attract people as it doesn't seem like much to read and looks
interesting. I think a main thing that attracts my audience is the pull
quotes used on my front cover, they are so outrageous that it just
makes people want to know more, people love it when bad things
happen and to see quotes like 'F*ck the establishment' or 'midgets and
strippers were all over the place' really makes people want to find out
what is going on, thus drawing in the audience.

13. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
 From making my music magazine I have learnt that it takes a lot more thought and consideration
about the layout and content of the magazine, a lot of research has to be done to get it right. I have
learnt that to get the best picture you have to have a high quality camera and the lighting is very
important to make the image look the best it can. One main use of technology that I have learnt to
use from creating my music magazine is the program called Photoshop cs5, this was used to modify
and manipulate pictures and images to make them look how I wanted. I used a variety of tool whilst
using Photoshop such as the 'spot-healing brush tool,' the 'polygonal lasso tool,' the 'crop tool,' and
the 'clone stamp tool.' Before doing my magazine I had no idea about how to use Photoshop but
now I feel I am confident and good at changing pictures and editing photographs, I find this program
really fun to use and really helpful in the production of my music magazine. I have learnt that without
the use of programs such as Photoshop, it would be significantly harder to create the emotion in an
image and capture the exact look that a person is looking for, it can make a picture look so
professional and effective, I would use it on any photo to make it look better. Another thing about
what I've learnt is that it actually takes a lot of time to properly edit an image and to get it to look
good, originally I actually thought that Photoshop would be easy to use but I was mistaken, it takes a
lot of time, patience and effort to make sure it is up to the standard that you want.
 Another thing I learnt about technologies from the process of making my magazine was the program
'Microsoft publisher' this program really helped me to get my magazine to be lay out correctly and
get everything in line and looking professional. Publisher really helped in the layout of the magazine
as you could put guidelines on it to make sure everything was aligned. This program really helped
me complete the task well and correctly.

14.  Another use of technology I learnt to use was
blogger, I used this program to upload all my work
and keep it in order.

15. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in
the progression from it to the full product?
 I feel I have come a long way sine my
preliminary task, as my Photoshop skills
have greatly improved and my idea of
what a magazine looks like has got a lot
better. When I did my Preliminary task I
thought that the more that was on the
page meant it was better, I have found
that this is not the case as magazines
actually looks a lot better if they have
less on and are cleaner. One major thing
I have learnt is that colour schemes are
very important and the colour used will
make a massive difference to the
magazine, it is good to get a theme and
stick to it. Another main thing that I have
learnt is that the picture needs to be of
great quality and the best picture you
can get, in my preliminary task the
picture wasn't great as I don't believe I
took enough pictures, this is why I learnt
to take as many pictures as possible so
you have more to choose from, the more
the better.

16.  Here is my final front cover
and my preliminary task front
cover, as you can see my final
front cover looks so much
better than the preliminary
task, it looks a lot more
professional and just miles
better. The colour scheme for
my preliminary task doesn't
really go and it isn't set out
very well at all, also the picture
is not of very good quality. My
final picture on the other hand
looks very good and the layout
is much, much better, in my
final I now have a house colour
of red and blue were as in my
preliminary there was no real
theme to it. Also from research
into magazines, I found that in
my preliminary task, my bar-
code was not in the correct
place as this is never seen in
any magazines, this was fixed
in my final piece.

17.  Here is my preliminary
contents page and my final
contents page, for a start I
have learnt how to actually
make it look like a
magazine, my preliminary
task did not look at all like a
magazine but my final does.
The images are clearer on
my final this is because I
learnt to take my time with
the pictures and make sure I
got them right. Another thing
that I learnt from researching
magazines was that they
actually have a lot more
pages than I originally
thought as in my preliminary
task I hardly had any pages, I
made sure to add many more
in my final piece. Also I
added a lot more picture just
like in real magazines. I think
I have progressed a lot since
my preliminary task and i am
very happy with the out come
of my final piece.