Media Products Evaluation

AS Media Evaluation on Prezi

Double Page Spread Final Draft

This is my final draft of my music magazine contents page, I will evaluate this peice of work, with the rest of finished products, above.

Contents Page Final Draft

This is my final draft of my music magazine contents page, I will evaluate this peice of work, with the rest of finished products, above.

Front Cover Final Draft

This is my final draft of my music magazine front cover, I will evaluate this peice of work, with the rest of finished products, above.

Magazine Institution Research

As I am I designing my own music magazine I have decided to do some research into the main magazine institutions. The aim of me doing this exercise is to find out what type of institution may distribute my media product and why.

International Publishing Company
IPC is the United Kingdom's leading consumer magazine. It has a very large and impressive portfolio selling over 350 million magazines a year. Over 26 million people in the UK read a magazine distributed by IPC. IPC Media is split into five distinct publishing divisions: IPC Connect, IPC Inspire, IPC Ignite, IPC Southbank and IPC TX. Magazine's that IPC own include NME and Guitar & Bass.

Bauer Media Group
A large German publishing companies based in Hamburg, which operates in 15 countries and was founded in 1975. Bauer owns 282 magazines including Kerrang, Mojo and Q. All three of these magazines are advertised as men's magazines on the Bauer Media website.

Emap
Emap is the second largest magazine publisher in the UK. However in 2007 the company split, it was sold to Guardian Media Group and private equity form Apax -which owns incisive-for £1 billion. The new company is now called Incisive-Emap. Magazines they publich include, Kiss and Magic, which also have radio stations and music T.V channles.

Development Hell Ltd.
Based in South London and has a business plan to launch three magazines over six years. It is a new institution which was first launched in March 2003. They bought clubbing magazine "Mixmag" from Emap in November 2003.

Magazine Front Over Inspiration

I have decided to go against the orginal conventions of a music magazine by making the magazine a festival special edition version. I done this to attract a wider audience to my magazine. Although there are many festivals which attrcat different target audiences every year, by having coverage of them all in one magazine it will attract all these audeinces to this one magazine. Also festivals are linked with hot summer weather, therefore my magazine will be produced in time for the festival season.

I highly understand the importance of the image on the front cover of a magazine. There are a number of qualities that sell a music magazine - the font, the aritcles, the layout - however the image remains the most important ascpect of a magazine front cover. The image is the first thing the consumer will see. As I explained earlier voyeurism is highly prominent in music magazine front covers, this is because they are somewhat different to fitness or clothing magazines which can easily advertise their articles and products through a picture. However music magazines cannot do this as sound is aural not visual, therefore they must be more unique in the way they look - they must stand out, voyeurism helps them to do this. Magazines use attractive pictures of bands and singers to make the consumers become visually appealing to the music they represent. As my music magazine is going to be a special edition about music festivals I decided I wanted to get a calm soft picture that represented summer perfectly. Whilist searching the internet I found a number of pictures that represented the summer, the majority of these were taken on beaches and by pools - however I wanted my magazine image to show more of a country summer. Below is an image I found from People Tree's Spring & Summer Photoshoot of Emma Watson:

There are very supple pastle colours used in this image that gives a very warm soft feeling to the image. It is clear that this image inspired my front cover for my music magazine:

The picture above is the image I have chosen to use for my magazine front cover. Of course I did not want to completely duplicate the Emma Watson photoshoot, instead I wanted to retain more of British summer and I felt the People Tree's photoshot reprensted more of a south american theme.

I made sure the weather was correct before taking the photo and opted for a low angle shot to emphasize the long grass and clear skies. The colours of the models dress also highlight the pink flowers and different shades of green and yellow in the grass.

Rock/Indie Music Research

Since I am going to focus on a rock/indie music magazine I have to research these to genres to get a better idea of what type of music magazine I will be designing. Indie rock is a genre of rock music that originated in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980s.Indie rock artists are known for placing a premium on maintaining complete control of their music and careers, releasing albums on independent record labels (sometimes self-owned and operated) and relying on touring, word-of-mouth, airplay on independent or college radio stations and, in recent years, the Internet for promotion. (MGMT is an example of and Indie Rock band.) Musicians classified as indie rock are typically signed to independent record labels, rather than major record labels, although there are many examples of indie musicians switching to major labels mid-career. In recent years, the line between indie and mainstream has become increasingly blurred, with traditionally indie bands like Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie signing major label contracts and enjoying commercial success. Radiohead ended their contract with EMI and self-released their seventh album, In Rainbows, in 2007. Indie rock bands without major label backing increasingly turned to the internet for promotion, as music review web sites that specialize in indie music such as Pitchfork Media saw their influence grow.

Questionnaire Results

After managing to get a high number of people to answer my questionnaire I have been able to get a fair evaluaion to my questionnaire of what people look for in a music magazine. The results are shown below.

The first questions I asked was to do with gender and age. The reason I asked these questions was to help me decide who my target audience is going be. As the results of the questionnaire showed that the biggest catergories to buy magazines are 10-20 and 21-30 year olds these are the ages I have decided to target my own music magazine at. Both females and males but music magazines so my own music magazine will be targeted at both genders.

My third question, "How often do you buy a music magazine" links to the first and second question to, again, tell me what genders and what ages are must interested in buying music magzines.

The next question helped to decide what to mostly concentrate to help more protental readers but my magazine. Most people are mostly attracted to the band/singer which is presented on the front of the magazine. There in my magazine i will use a band that i believe will attract my target audience. "What is your preffered genre", helps me decide what type of band/singer will attract my target audience and therefore will help sell my magazine. The results were that most 10-20 and 21-30 year olds enjoyed indie/alternative and rock/base and drum, therefore i am planning to focus my magazine on a indie/rock band.

The next question tells me what layout and what type of music magazine attracts my target audeince. People mostly chose the "Rolling Stone" magazine. Rolling Stone is a very professional looking popular culture magazine. As a result i will try to make my magazine look as professional as possible. I also found from my magazine that suprisingly most of my target market would like to see small articles on new unsigned bands as much as mainstream bands. I will include some advertisement for unsinged bands.

The eigth question, "Who would you prefer to see on the front cover of a music magazine", links in with the question "what is your preffered genre". The two results of the questions supported each other as the results of this question was The Kings of Leon and The Artic Monkeys.

The ninth question helps me decide how much my magazine should cost depending on how much my target market would be willing to pay. Most would be prepared to pay between £3.01 and £4.00. As a result I am planning to price my magazine at £3.50.

My last question, "What would you expect to see in a music magazine" was unanimous. All my taget market expected to see professional pictures, tour dates, latest releases, new bands an the UK top 40 in a music magazine therefore i will include all these things in my magazine.

Double Page Spread Analysis 2

I have decided to analyse two double page spread articles to get a better understanding of how they are written and presented for when I write my own article in my music magazine. This article comes from Q magazine which is not just targeted for indie/rock fans but includes a mixed genre of music. I have analysed an article on the R&B group N-Dubz . The first thing i notice about this double page spread is that most of the article is taken up by a big low angled picture of the group. The group are dressed casually, especially the two boys "Dappy" and "Fazer" who are in tracksuits, trainers and caps. But they also show their unique style by wearing scarves loose under their caps, this gives the feeling that there music also has uniqueness. The fact that all the members of N-Dubz are dressed casually tells the reader the article will also be wrote in a casual way, this creates an anchorage. The puff in the middle of the picture "The haters come at you to plunge a big metal ting into your leg or neck". This is to draw the reader’s attention, mostly what you find in articles in music magazines are the singers or group talking about their music. However in this article they are talking not just about their fans or music not also the people who don't appreciate them and how they react to N-Dubz. The main headline of this article is "Who the hell do N-DUBZ think they are?" The headline is in bold black text for "N-DUBZ" which is in a blue colour. This is so the name of the group will stand out and therefore fans of the ban will see their name be attracted to buying the magazine. The headline also relates to Cohen's Moral Panic. This is when a condition or a person emerges as a threat to societal values and interests. The headline is quite aggressive and therefore appeals to the moral panic, the folk devil being the person who is saying this headline. Under the headline there is a kind of sell line for the article "The sound of young Britain. “Init?" This gives an idea of the type of language this group uses and what young Britain really is like by using the words "Init". As usual the article starts with a drop capital again this is to break up the text and make it look more interesting. The article begins with telling us how hectic N-Dubz lifestyle is and using a younger form of language. For example the word "buzzing" which is onomatopoeia is used as a verb. The hectic lifestyles of the N-Dubz would also appeal to the younger generation. The personality of the group is also brought out in the article by using quotes from the members, such as, "Alright, bruv!" and "S'appening?" This also brings across the friendly and relaxed atmosphere around the N-Dubz. However although many quotes are used which are in an informal language the mode of address is actually very formal and almost seems as though it is targeted at a older generation. For example, "He is dressed in an oversized hoodie, low-slung jeans and old-school Adidas trainers. He says 'S'appening?' again, several times in fact, but never seems to require an answer." The colours used in this article are kept very simple and professional. No bright colours are used behind the text of the article and the only puff which is used is on a white border on the picture of N-Dubz. The mis-en-scene of the article is white and the writing formally set out with two columns and one wide gutter, to again break down the text. This layout is a traditional house-style design of a Q Magazine and even includes the red "Q" logo on the bottom left hand corner of the page next to the page number.

Analysis of a double page spread article 1

To help me when writing my article on my chosen band for my music magazine I have evaluated the double spread article "Two Nights In Bird Land" which featured in Mojo magazine. The edition of Mojo magazine featured Kings of Leon on the front cover. This tells me that I could do my article of a band/artist and feature a different article on the front cover, this way a will be appealing to a wider audience.

The choice of the band featured in this double page spread, "Doves", is an indie/rock band. This relates to the magazine, Mojo, whose target market is indie rock. And therefore tells us that this should relate to the people reading this magazine and the reader should have vested interest in this article.

The masthead "Two Nights In Bird Land" is in a larger font and in bold and the banner is bright yellow. This is to attract people to this particular article, to grab people's attention. The actual words "Two Nights In Bird Land" is a pun on words, as the band themselves are called "The Doves", which related to the words "Bird Land".

The imagery used in this article is very realistic, the main picture is not actually a set up photo-shoot but The Doves in their "natural" environment; on stage singing and playing for their fans. However the colour used in this main picture is not realistic. There are a lot of shocking colours used, such as, electric blue yellow and orange. This tells the reader of the kind of atmosphere The Doves play gigs in. The picture is taken from a low angle shot, as though the photo is taken from within the ground of one of The Doves gigs, so you get a fans point of view. It is also taken from a low angle shot to how the fans look up to their favourite band and admire their fame and good taste in music and songs.

More imagery is used to show close up of each of the band member faces. These picture are in black and white and in a mug shot type of style, this may be to give off a bad-boy image. Each picture may be in black and white to again attract the reader, as the colours clash with the other pictures on this page which have a very high composition.

The article starts with the lead, "Hometown heroes doves pound Manchester, and then move to Newcastle." Alliteration is used is this first paragraph, "Hometown Heroes". The lead is a very short sentence for effect and to make a pint, the point being how Doves have rose to fame. The graphic verb, "pound" also suggests that the Doves have become a successful strong band. The by-line is also included in the lead, "Elisa Bray reports". The drop capital used is "D" to of course stand for Doves, which is at the beginning of the cross head.

The language that is used in this article is informal, for example "He would join his 'music head' dad at gigs, leaving Jez wondering who that 'cool' guy in shades and dressed in white was." This is to give a relaxed feeling to the article and make the mode of address conversational. It also reflects the band's attitude, they are also very relaxed. Many quotes from the band are used to make the article seem much more personal. For my magazine I too want to give of this relaxed, laid-back feeling. However the article also has descriptive writing, but is very upbeat and energetic, "the energy surges through the heaving throng, from the step lip to the rear wall, for four glorious minutes...".

The layout of the article is house style. This distinctive design distinguishes it from its competitors. The main picture takes up a quarter of the whole article. This may be because pictures tend to attract readers rather than too much text. The gutters used are also quite wide to again break up the text. The colours are bright and the text informal this relates to the demographic that Mojo magazine is trying to appeal to.

The bottom right hand corner of the article has an insert of a conversation between Jez and Jimi, members of the band. This again gives us a feeling of the attitude of the band and how relaxed and down-to-earth they are. It gets us to know more about Jez and Jimi as people. It includes quotes such as "we racked up a £3000 bar bill ". This tells us the type of impression that the band want to give off about themselves which would appeal to indie/rock fans, it also shows a witty and funny side to there personality. The picture next to grey box is a picture of William Orbit. The colours of this picture are unusual and are in correspondence to the main picture. The caption at the bottom of the page (rust devils...) is distant from the picture but still relates to the main picture and it linked to the name of Doves new album.

Contents Mock Up

This is my contents page mockup for my school magazine. I have decided to keep most of the colours the same as that on the front cover.

On the left hand corner there will be a picture of the school badge/logo, therefore people can relate to this and notice that this contents page is for the Deyes High School magazine. The main attraction of the front cover is the picture of the same student that will feature on the main cover. This shows how this is the main story of this weeks article of "School Pas" and again appeals to the front cover.

Pages that are listed with a blue background will be targeted at students, such as the word "PAS" was in blue. The writting of this section will be in the font Lucida Bright, which i a much more informal up-to-date, so again it relates to the front cover.

Pages listed with a red backgroud will be targeted at parents, such as the "School" was in red on teh front cover. The writting will be in the font "Edwardian Script ITC". This writting is much more formal than the font Lucida Bright.

"Special Editions" and "On the Cover" will also be presented on the contents page in big yellow star-like borders to draw attention and be eye catching

I have decided to analyse a contents page to help me when designing my own for both my preliminary and main tasks. This contents page is from a Reggea, African and Caribbean music magazine called "The Beat". I have decided to evaluate this particular contents page as it is very different to any other music magazine I have evaluated or read. The contents page is very "upbeat" and modern in its design. The colours which are used are electrifying pink and yellow, which is eye catching when placed on a black background, which is used as a banner to help the text stand out. This tells me that the target market for this magazine is a teenagers or young adults. There is not one specific importance on this page. What is in the magazine is ordered under main titles, such as, Tour Info, Interviews, Regulars, Latest Gossip and Posters. The mode of address is informal and slang is used to, again, appeal to the target audience. Anchorage text is used to help pin down the meaning of the pictures on this page, for example "Back Stage Goss" is situated next top a picture of a man and a woman sitting back stage of a concert and "P.37" to tell us were this article can be found.

Front Cover analysis 2

This is my second evaluation of a Music Magazine. I have decided to evaluate an edition of "Smash Hits!"

The reason I have decided to evaluate this magazine cover is because it is so different to an edition of Rolling Stone.

The magazine is clearly targeted at teenage girls. This is apparent in the house style of the magazine; every edition of this magazine uses very bright colour feminine colours, such as yellow and pink. This is a distinctive design that distinguishes it from its competitors. For example the Masthead of the magazine "Smash Hits!" is in the same colour and same text on every edition to attract regular audiences, it is familiar.

The mode of address is very informal and slang is used to appeal to their target audience.

The main attraction of the magazine is the picture of "teenage heartthrob" boy band Mcfly. This image can appeal to Richard Dyer's Star Theory. This is the idea that "stars" have some key features in common; a star is an image, not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials. They are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meaning. Stars depend upon a range of subsidiary media, such as magazines, in order to construct an image for themselves which can be marketed to target audiences. The image is made up of a range of meanings which are attractive to the target audience; audiences are always trying to find out more about the star. The Masthead "Wild Boys!" which is followed by "The lads reveal their naughtiest ever secrets!" suggests how the audience wants to find out more about this boy band.

The mes-en-scene of the picture is a plain background which is pink, to, again, appeal to the teenage female market. The bright yellow banner at the bottom of the page tells us of more of the contents of the magazine. This is to help attract a wider audience, for example some members of the target audience may not be interested in Mcfly but may be more interested in other singers, such as, Christina Milian.

Front Cover Magazine Analysis

I have decided to evaluate a front cover of the music magazine "Rolling Stone". This is to help me decide what to include in my own music magazine, to see what people are attrcated to.

The main attraction to this edition of Rolling Stones is the model Megan Fox who posing for a picture. This supports the idea of Laura Mulveys feminism theory. Mulvey argues that audiences look at magazines in two ways; voyeuristically and fetishistically. Mulvey argues this voyeurism involves turning the represented figure into a fetish (object) so that it becomes increasingly beautiful but more objectified. This can be related to the picture of the movie star Megan Fox found on this particular front cover. The picture is there to attract the audience to her beauty so as a result they will buy the magazine. The theory argues that voyeurism can lead to two effects: objectification of female characteristics in relation to this controlling (male) gaze; and narcissistic identification, with an ideal image seen in the magazine. Mulvey suggests fetishistic looking leads to the cult of female stars, celebrated for their looks but considered as an object and often treated as such. There is even an example of this on Megan Fox's tattoo on her arm of Marilyn Monroe who, even years after her death, is seen as an object rather than someone who was a human being. Therefore on screen, or on a page, women can be used as "eye candy" to appease the male gaze of the male audience. The masthead "America's sexiest bad girl" also appeals to feminism as it is to attract males to the magazine.

The fact that Megan Fox is on the front of this magazine shows that music magazines do not always have to be about music. Megan Fox is an actress and model; she has no influence in the music company. This tells me that Rolling Stone magazine does not only concentrate on music but on popular culture as well. The puffs on the front cover also tell us what are included in the magazine, such as, "Best Fall Albums...”

The background is a plain white colour to make the magazine look professional as possible. Also if there was colour in the mis en scene the magazine may look to hectic and put potential buyers off purchasing it.

Rolling Stone magazine naturally has all the conventions of a typical music magazine, such as, bold mastheads and 4 - 6 puffs of writing to tell us more about what is inside the magazine, to help attract a wider audience.

The title of the magazine "Rolling Stone" is placed at the top of the magazine with the celebrities head covering some of the letters. This is common for a Rolling Stone magazine. Even though the colour of the writing may change depending on what edition of the magazine you are buying, the letters are always in the same font and the celebrity is always covering some of the letters, this is the audience can relate to the magazine.

Questionnaire

I posted a questionnaire on my blog and also printed a copy of the questionnaire off the computer and handed it out many different groups of people and aksed them to return it to me when it is completed. When enough efficent questionnaires have been completed I will upload the results to my blog.

School Magazine Front Covers

I have designed two front covers for my school magazine. My first magazine cover is arranged very simply, just as any fashion or music magazine on the highstreet is, therefore this is following the conventios of untemporary design. The name of my magazine, "School PAS", appeals to both parents and children. The word "School" is written in very formal writting, whilist the word "PAS" is written in much more modern upbeat font. "PAS" is an abbrevation for Parents And Students. This title shows the ideology between adults and pupils within the school. I have put most of the topics my magazine will be covering on the front page for my taregt audience, such as, general school news, fashion and the annual school/college like exams, topics and events rips and deadlines. I have also included a section which is primaly targeted at adults about inforamtion about the school. The badge of the school is also included to give the feeling of an educational envrioment.

The Chosen target audience for both my magazine cover designs is students aged 11-19 and parents aged around 28+. I have decided to target my magagzine to both students and parents to show the close relationship between children and adults in the school. This magazine discusses issues and topics that are usually dealt with in schools and colleges like exam preparation to notices about up comming inset days and half term.

This is my second design for my school front cover. I have decied to make it alot more colour as it will appeal more to my target market. I have continued to use the colour red to appeal to to the older generation of my target audience and have used bright colours, such as blue yellow and orange. I am unsure as to whether to keep this picture for my end product or take another picture.

With both my magazine designs my main attraction will a medium close up of one of the students in the school looking exetremly excited, this expression matches the article which follows. This will greatly attract the younger generation of my target audience.

The mis-en-scene of my first magazine design is a plain light colour, I have chosen this colour as the front cover will have much writting on, if a bright or dark colour was used the magazine may look too "hetic".

A small section of both my magagzine designs will be targeted directly at adults. This section is found in the right hand corner of the front cover and includes what adults may find of interest inside the magazine. This section, "Parent's Corner", will be formally written. I have used different colours in both magagzine designs to appeal to everyone whether they are 11 0r 50. This is because different colours attract different people. Foe example 13year olds prefer bright colours such as yellow or blue, whereas most 30 years would prefer more relaxed and formal colours, such as red.

Introduction to my AS media coursework.

For the purpose of my AS media coursework I will produce a music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. The aim of this blog is to clearly show my progress of this project from beginning to the end finished products. In order to produce a succesful media package find it necessary to carry out both primary and secondary market research, which are of similar genres to that of which I intend to create. By doing this research I can help make my media package direct to my target market. I intend to start my AS media coursework by getting use to tools I have never used before. I shall do this by creating a simple mock-up/practice magazine front cover. This will better my skills for coming to design my product.