Note To Moderator

Dear Moderator,

The brief for my Media studies A/S coursework was to create a front cover, contents page and double page spread for a new music magazine. I chose to do my magazine based on the genre of Indie and Alternative rock music because it is one of my favourite genres so I feel like I know what the market would like. There is also a shortage of indie/alternative related magazines around at the moment so my magazine could help to raise the popularity of the genre. I wanted to give the audience a magazine that was up to date with the latest indie, yet also keeps in contact with music from the past.

I have used labels on my blog so that it is easily navigable in order to find what you are looking for.

Yours sincerely, Harrison Smith, Edgbarrow School.

Candidate number: 0228

Centre number: 51111

Evaluation Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Evaluation Question 7

Here is a link to my Padlet about question 7:

Created with Padlet

Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 6

Here is my Google slides presentation about question 6:

Evaluation Questions 4/5 - Who would be the audience for your product? How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Questions 4 and 5

In this post I am going to be talking about what different age brackets and genders would feel about my magazine and what parts of my magazine are attractive to them.

Ages 12-16
The masthead of my magazine uses a large font which might help to entice the younger audiences. The guitar being held y the model might help to entice young enthusiasts of rock music or guitarists. The use of a mixture of old and new artists might also help with attracting the younger people with artists such as Imagine Dragons or Fallout Boy. These features are more likely to attract young males rather than young females since young females are more likely to like mainstream pop artists.
However, my magazine is not really designed to be attractive to this age bracket, so I have not included many features that are specifically used to attract younger people.

Ages 17-27
This is the one of the desired age brackets for my magazine. To help attract this age bracket I have used a simple layout and colour scheme, so that the magazine does not look too childish or over the top. This helps to attract young adults because it means they do not feel like they are buying a magazine that is designed for a young audience. The artists that are included within the magazine also help to attract young adults because the 17 to 28 years are of an age where they most likely appreciate both old and new music/musicians. The type of content included within my magazine will appeal to 17 to 28 year old's because they will be people who would like to know about both inside information, and also to be informed about upcoming event dates.

Ages 28-35
This age bracket will be attracted to my magazine mainly by the fact that my magazine includes articles about musicians from the past. This is because this age bracket would have been listening to when they were younger. The cover photo will also help to attract this age bracket because they will be more likely to recognise the artist on the cover. However, the cover image will not always be related to older artists. This age bracket will also be attracted by the colour scheme and the layout of the magazine because it is formal and not over the top.

Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Question 3

The two media institutions that I have previously studied are PIC and Bauer. Bauer media distribute over 600 magazines, 400 digital products and manage over 50 radio and TV stations worldwide. Some of their magazines include Q magazine and Kerrang! as well as other popular magazines such as Empire and FHM. The radio and TV stations they manage include Absolute Radio, Kiss, 4 Music and many other smaller local stations. IPC, also known as Time Inc. UK, manage one the UK's largest music magazines, NME. They also distribute another music magazine called Uncut. Both of these magazines are very similar to the genre of my magazine.

Bauer would be good to choose for my magazine because of the massive amount of connections they have within the music industry. Bauer's radio and TV stations could help with the advertising and marketing of the magazine, helping to get the magazine more coverage across a wider area. Bauer media also have a lot of experience in the magazine industry, meaning they could make the processes of production and distribution much easier and give good advice.

IPC would also be good to choose as the distributor of my magazine because the magazines that they currently distribute are of a very similar genre to my magazine, meaning they would know what methods of marketing help to sell to the target market of my magazine. However, IPC do not have the radio and TV connections like Bauer do, so the coverage and advertising of the magazine might not be as good as with Bauer. IPC may also not choose to take on my magazine because of their current magazines, since they are similar to mine, they might think that they would be distributing too many magazines that are similar.

My product would most likely be sold in newsagents like WHSmith and also music shops like HMV. This is because these are shops that people are most likely to buy music magazines from. They are also well known shops meaning a lot of people will visit these shops.

The products that my magazine would sit among would be magazines like NME, Q, Classic Rock, Kerrang!, Uncut andother magazines that are of similar genre.

Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 2

Here are two images, one of my cover image, and the other is a Classic Rock magazine cover that I used for inspiration:

Posture: Both of the models in these pictures are standing up straight, however the Classic Rock cover model has less of a narrow posture than my cover model because he is holding out his hands compared to my magazine where he is holding the guitar. 

Costume: Both of the models are wearing casual clothes to represent how they are laid back and do not need to use clothing to establish their popularity.

Shot type: The shots used for each image are fairly similar except the Classic Rock image is taken from a bit further back including more of the model and the guitar. This makes the magazine more distinguishable as a music magazine.

Both of these images are very similar so I feel that my magazine represents people within that social group in a similar way to other magazines for that genre. My magazine doesn’t include any articles about women which represents how the indie, alternative and  rock music industry is dominated by male artists. Because of this, the majority of my readers are likely to be male because most females will not want to read about all male artists. The colour scheme and house style of my magazine help to represent rock artists and fans as people who do no need the use of a lot of bright colours to make themselves stand out.

Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media artifacts?

Evaluation Question 1

Here is my Prezi about question 1:

Final Drafts

Final front cover

For my final draft of my front cover, I have Made the cover lines on the left hand side all white so that the text does not clash with the background. I have also very slightly zoomed in on the picture and moved it slightly to the left. I have done this so that the model fits on the page a bit better and also so that the text to the right of the model does not touch his face.

Final contents page

For the final draft of my contents, I have shifted some of the big parts of text so that they fit the page better. I have also sorted the text in the 'visit page 65...' so that the spacing is now normal. I have also tried my best to crop the cover article picture so that the background is less visible. Finally, I have used another thin black line to separate page 9 and page 48 articles, keeping the style of the page consistent.

Final double page spread

For my final draft, I have added the smaller picture to the left page. I have also boxed/outlined and captioned the image so that the picture is not randomly placed. I have also cropped out a lot of background of the main image on the right. This helps to focus the image on the model and also removes a lot of the unnecessary background content.

Evaluation PLAN

Question 1 (prezi format)


Question 2 (blog post format)(Completed)

Images:

Here are two images, one is my magazines cover photo and the cover of a magazine that I used for inspiration ‘Classic Rock’ magazine. Posture: Both of the models in these pictures are standing up straight, however the Classic Rock cover model has less of a narrow posture than my cover model because he is holding out his hands compared to my magazine where he is holding the guitar. Costume: Both of the models are wearing casual clothes to represent how they are laid back and do not need to use clothing to establish their popularity. Shot type: The shots used for each image are fairly similar except the Classic Rock image is taken from a bit further back including more of the model and the guitar. This makes the magazine more distinguishable as a music magazine.

Both of these images are very similar so I feel that my magazine represents people within that social group in a similar way to other magazines for that genre. My magazine doesn’t include any articles about women which represents how the indie, alternative and  rock music industry is dominated by male artists. Because of this, the majority of my readers are likely to be male because most females will not want to read about all male artists. The colour scheme and house style of my magazine help to represent rock artists and fans as people who do no need the use of a lot of bright colours to make themselves stand out.

Question 3 (blog post format)

I would choose bauer media for my magazine’s publisher because they are primarily a music related media institution. They own a lot of radio stations that can help with promotion of the magazine. They also distribute a few music magazines already meaning they would be experienced in the music magazine industry. Bauer also distribute an existing music magazine called Q magazine which includes all genres. This would mean that Bauer have experience with selling to all types of music fans. A rival institute that bauer would have would be IPC media. IPC distribute the magazine NME which is a very popular magazine.

Question 4 (prezi format)

The audience for my magazine would be mainly male and female 17-28 year olds who have an interest in most forms of rock music. 

Question 5 (possibly video format)

I have used a wide range of artists from the genre to help entice all ages and help to appeal to more people. I have also included a range of articles from interviews, reviews, and lists of upcoming events. I have also tried to use a colour scheme that was similar to other magazines of the same/similar genre. I tried keep the colour scheme and house style simple and quite basic so that the magazine does not look too enthusiastic or possibly informal and possibly put off the target market from buying it.

Question 6 (google slides post)(Completed)

From this process I have learnt that it is much better to use a range of different media products to present my work. This includes presentation software like Prezi and Emaze to present my work rather than always using Microsoft office programmes. I have also learnt how to use Serif PagePlus X6 which is a very good programme for photo editing and creating projects from scratch. I have learnt that using blogger to present my work is a much more creative and unique method than printing everything off of Microsoft word.

Question 7(padlet format)

After the preliminary task I feel like I have learnt how to keep the house style consistent much better, which helps to make my magazine look much more professional. I have also learnt how to make my information stand out much better and appeal to my audience much better. This task has also helped me to improve my skills using software other than Microsoft office programmes and also helped me to see the benefits of using multiple media products like different presentation software.

Second Draft - Double page

Below is my second draft of my double page spread:

The main change that I have made to my double page spread is that I have widened the borders of the page to allow more room for text. I have also changed from two columns of text to three. I have done this so that the text is more spaced out and less packed together so that it is easier to read. I have also Given a white outline to the pull quote so that it is easier to read and stands out.

What I will be working on for my third draft is adding the past photo and also seeing what I can do to improve the main image on the right.