Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When designing my music magazine I looked at a different variety of professional music magazines and chose which one would best suit the ideas I had for my own magazine. I decided to choose the popular magazine that is NME a well known and established publishing ‘Indie rock’ magazine. As this was my style model I used the conventions of this towards my own media product such as NME tended to use bold and obvious colours for their front covers and use one competitive colour which is the bold red. So I decided to follow these conventions through my magazine, I also used the a bold colour of red and I used the same colour through out my magazine and I believe I have used it effectively. The title I used for my magazine was ‘Stone Love’ as it was a unique name and represents the ‘Indie’ atmosphere well. I felt this title was creative and interlinks with my style model and the genre of music I was trying to recreate in my magazine. In my style model it has a strap line above the title so I included that within my media product as this follows conventions of the magazine I used. With my own magazine I structured one convention differently and this was the free CD inside, I placed this in to give the media product a more realistic effect, NME have done this before in a few magazines and I tried to follow this well although may have been a bit bland it gave the reader clear information and followed conventions well.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents a particular social group that is teenagers to young adults that are interested in indie. I think my media product represents this type of social group as it is a popular style of music and always involves new and creative bands, I think this attracts young people more males aged 15 beyond, but definitely unisex. I feel my magazine does not appeal to any ethnic minority in particular I did not do this in a bias way I feel that my magazine could be read by anyone but my main target was to get the attention of teenagers interested in alternative music. My media product doesn’t target sexuality it is a unbiased magazine and may only attract more males as my audience research showed that more males enjoy this type of music and would were more likely to buy this type of media product. My magazine is directed towards the class of young working adults and students from high schools 6th forms colleges and universities as it is quite rude and talks of situations that would not interest younger people. The language used in my media product is informal in a chatty as it is a interview from a band, but it is structured properly and easy for the reader to understand. For example here is a section of my double page spread when I interviewed

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The type of institutions I would choose to publish my magazine would be very similar my style model to the well known magazine NME, I believe IPC media would take a keen interest in my magazine as it does follow the same pattern as NME but I feel my media product does have more edge and involves the reader more with actual bands and gives the reader what they want to hear, such as interviews with the bands where readers get to hear from the band. To get the maximum coverage for my magazine I feel that the internet would be the best option for me as there are lots of chances these days to advertise on the internet such as through facebook, myspace and twitter these would really boost a reputation for Stone Love and get the magazine out there, I also think that these are the kind of websites that my target audience would be mostly on and would catch their attention. Also marketing my media product at gigs, giving fans free samples of what my magazine is about, this is also good because most of potential consumers would be at gigs. Creating a website for Stone Love would really help my marketing as there would be a definite place where fans could subscribe for my magazine and post new ideas for up and coming issues. Finally I think that the TV or possibly radio would benefit me as well getting celebrity endorsement such as big name Bands to talk about or even market my magazine, if I did use TV to advertise my product, I would uses channels such as MTV but specifically MTV 2. The distribution of my magazine would definitely be internationally because I feel this type of music is appreciated in most parts of the world but would be well based in England as we would be focusing on English bands; the distribution will be more so for America and the United Kingdom as the music is at a pinnacle in these two countries and is a very popular theme with young adults and there is no language barrier with these countries.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product would be more directed towards young working adults and students from high school students to university students who take an interest with the indie music and the whole gigs and festivals scene in general. I would be looking particular and this kind of audience as from my audience research it showed that these were the ages that were most interested in this type of music and this type of music magazine.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I feel I have catered towards my audiences needs in my magazine by the images I chosen and have taken this is because they are related to the type of music by including colours that matched that of NME magazine, as to get the same feel of an existing music magazine. Within the photographs that I took I used instruments that matched this type of genre, which was a guitar, also the type of clothes that I choose for my models to wear show things that represent the genre and type of people who my media product is directed towards, this will attract them and possibly give style tips. The stories I chose for my front are similar to my style model NME I felt that this was critical as it would attract the same audience towards my magazine, also I included recent affairs such as up and coming festivals and gigs, also interviews with certain the main band which the lead singer poses for on the front cover. The elements of my contents page which I feel the audience would best like and why would be the colour scheme I used such as a plain white background with red writing and within the black text boxes I used white writing. This page does not try to grab the readers attention it instead is very clear and allows the reader to access the page needed easily as possible. My language which is used in the double page spread article is very laid back and informal as it is just an interview with a band, it users more informal language that the younger generation would clearly understand and this would be how they speak. I did this because when I looked at my style model the language used was very chatty and made the reader feel involved with the article. The message I feel my magazine is sending out is that my media product is unique and the most up to date with the indie music and new bands scene also the audience who buy it want to be projected as true indie music fans that are involved with the new and up and coming scene in the music world. Finally with buying this magazine it gives across fashion tips, these are what is new and what is looking good from the big name manufacturers.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt that framing a shot is important to get the right angle with the picture to give is more edge and look more professional, also the background for the picture is vital such as including elements that will make the picture unique and appropriate for my magazine. The shot distances used for the pictures are critical as if they are to far away they do not compliment the picture as much and don’t let the reader see the full picture and vice versa for to close up, but where as if they are at a right distance the picture can make the whole front cover contents or double page spread look professionally done. I learnt when taking a picture to have the flash on for certain types of pictures within certain areas these included outside or in a dark place this is with artificial light and worked well for my magazine, on the other hand when outside taking pictures which I did I used natural light and this did work well but I only could use this method for when the lighting was right. Photoshop was very helpful for when making my media product, I enhanced my pictures by cutting out unneeded objects in the background or the full background all together also I used the clone stamp tool to blend in colours with the skin tone of the model I used. The tool I found very helpful was the magnetic lasso which cuts out the object I wanted to and this really made my end product look professional. By creating a blog I found it a lot easier to manage my work and keep it in order also the advantages of this are that my teachers can look at what I have done and how I am keeping up with the work load also I can organise my work and talk about certain areas which I want to this goes with pictures as well. I learnt a lot form the school prelim task more so about time management and keeping up with the work also I learnt how to frame a shot well and make it look professional and go with the genre of the magazine. Finally I believe the prelim task gave me incentive to achieve better in my magazine and improve my media product in general.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
With my preliminary task that was to make a school magazine, I did this task to the best of my ability at the time. This task helped me prepare for my Music media product. Although it did prepare me for them you can see that it is not very well done, compared to my final product. I have learnt a lot since my preliminary task, I learnt how to use photoshop fully and how to create a professional looking media product. I learnt that I need to organize my time better, If I had done this I could have created a more satisfactory media product.

double page spread

Contents page

Q Analysis
Front cover
Masthead - Name of magazine displayed. Wrote in a unique style. Q's use of mast head is a Bold red square, with a bold capital white Q in the centre. The Q may represent 'Que the music' as in the word 'cue' they use a play on word affect.Date Line - Month and year of publication, for furture references. Q's dateline is situated on the right hand side below the coverlines. noramally situated underneath the masthead or at the bottom of the page.
Main Image - In the case of this cover there is just one single image of the artist Madonna. The Shot fills the whole magazine front, with the artist making full eye contact with whoever looks at it.With Q you usually refer it to bands and indie artists, we start to see more pop groups within these issues.
Model Credit - This Says : 'Madonna: "Stupid question! Next!" It is not unusual to have a credit like this on such a bold music magazine. The cover line shows Part of the interview puplished. Grabs the reader with this tiny bit of text.Cover lines - Q uses a many cover lines, which are spaced out around the main image. Making sure it does not draw its attention from the main shot. The cover lines are in either white or red, the same as the colour of the mast head. The colours stand out to give it a fresh bold look as the back ground is very dark.
The main cover line - Covers up to a quarter of the cover area, the font used is mainly in three sizes and or colours.Q uses two font sizes to create there main coverlines, using the largest for the Artists name(most important). In the second to largest font they use speach, large bold writing with one of the words in italics, this line is in white font witch contrasts the black background colour to capture the artist shown staring at the reader. The size in which they use there main cover line attracts the audience because they are bold and attract the audience, the main coverline appeals to the audience through the use of sans serif, it creates a proffesional look to the writting. Left third - the left third of the cover is the part shown when up on magazine stands, containing most of the cover lines and the main line. the title must be recognisable in a dozen of other competitors. Q uses a big bold font with the use of reds blacks and whites to create there main title to stand out, all the writting is large enough to see, the use of colours gives it a crisp fresh look, which is easy for the eyes to read. Its important the mast head is viable here.
Bar code - a standard bar code used by all retailers, contains the price of the magazine once scanned. Q's bar code is situtuated in the top right hand corner, which is easy to find and not stuck down in the bottom right like other magazines normally place them.
Selling lines - Short, sharp description of the title's main marketing point. Q('Britains Biggest Music Magazine') or perhaps setting out its editorial philosophy.


Contents page
The contents, again features all of the basic, such as a mast head of the magazine (Q magazine), This much like the splash, allows us to identify the intuition of the magazine. In this case Q magazine. At the left hand-side of the magazine, there is a index of what the magazine contains. The colour are quite bold e.g, red black and white. The also are colours which quite commonly go together. The red heading stands out and gives the impression (much like the contents of NME) of been new and up to date, i.e been red hot information given straight to the readers. Below the index there is text box giving the reader information on a special feature within the magazine, the colours of black and silver give us the impression of the article been special and important. We also can see a date in the far right side of the magazine on the masthead. The are two images on the contents page, the first of which is a image of the featured band in the magazine (The Courteeners). The image is placed directly in the centre of the magazine and shows all the band members is an dominant position as the camera is looking up at them. The text box in he lower left corner of the image, gives the reader more information on the band and shows us the page number of the article. Again the main colour if the text is black, which allows it to stand out to the reader. The second image is another artist, however instead of being a article its a small review at the bottom of the page. Here that artist is seen as laid back as he is using the pedestal to support himself, this also makes him seen more relaxed. The text is again black which works well with the grey colour of the text box. At the far bottom of the left side of the page there is a small text box, showing the different aspects of how the reader can get in touch with the magazine, such as; e-mail, letter and subscription. This again shows the institution of the magazine. Within this section we also get a list of things which are always in the magazine such as crosswords and competitions.



Double page spread
In this magazine I think that the audience will be middle aged because the band in the picture are middle aged and they look quite boring, so teenagers wont be interested. They are also a rock band so it will attract readers who listen to rock and metal so this might attract teenagers who like that music because they want to know what they sound like. The language that the article is using is English this is because it is an English magazine. The colours that are used are white, red and grey; I think this makes the magazine look quite serious and dull. These colours will not attract the readers as well as other double page spreads; this is a disadvantage to the magazine. The red is used for the writing to stand out because it’s the brightest and boldest colour of the three; I think this works because I more focus on the red writing.The white writing is used for explaining things like the picture, as you can see on the page it is underneath the writing it does stand out because the pictures background is not white. The grey writing is used for the text this does not stand out because there is loads of grey writing and it is small so it does not appeal to the audience well. The writing style that is used is small but bold. The title is just bold because it is the main text on the page and I think the designers of the magazine did this well, as for the other text I think they should of made it clearer by making it bold and a bit bigger so that the text in red really stands out. The double page spread is laid out very neatly, I think this because the image is taking the whole of one page and on the other page it is telling the audience who they are and what they are doing. I think this is a good idea because the audience will concentrate on the image first and then move on to the text and this is what I think the designers of the magazine wanted. I think the magazine is getting wants a personal relationship with the audience because the people in the image are looking straight forward towards the reader, I think the tone they are using is trying to get the reader to be more a fan than a close friend because in the article they are talking about how the band is going on tour and they want their fans to go, but I also think they want their fans to be their close friends because they also talk about their hometown being bad for example it says ‘wife beaters’.

NME Analysis

Front cover
The front cover of this NME magazine is very striking. It is set up in a memorial way, like a grave stone type. It is all in black with white and gold royalty, the gold represents royalty indicating that although these artists are dead they are still loved, remembered and respected like royalty figures are. They have also used these colours as they are the ones which stand out the most on a plain black background, it also fits with the typical colours of NME which are black, red and white.

The font along the sides of the cover, looks like someone has written all the writing onto the front cover itself, this is a very good effect as it makes the cover seem more authentic than fake if it had just been written in a serif or sans serif text. However, in comparison to the main headline text 'Special tribute issue', this text is written in a serif font to make it look more professional and official like a real grave stone.
The image on the cover is of rock legend Kurt Cobain. His image is a very similar size to those which are seen at funerals. It is placed dead centre of the cover with writing around it in the gold and white, again giving the authentic feel of a grave stone/plaque. The photo itself is taken in a sepia mode which gives it an old yet authentic theme but again linking back our minds to images of funerals. The way the model looks can be seen in different ways, had he been alive and presented as someones boyfriend or partner, then friends may turn their noses up or look down on that person because he upholds a very masculine, rugged look with stuble on his upper lip and chin indicating to the reader that he hasnt shaved in days prior to this photo. With bags under his eyes it also looks like he hasnt slept in days too, with old news of Kurt Cobain and peoples knowledge of his life many would have said he was probably 'off his head' which is why he looks like he does.
However, because this man is not alive any more we see the image in a different light. The look of the unshaven stubble gives a strong, manly appearance in contrast to looking like a 'druggy'. The bags under the eyes show a man that was in love with his music and was probably at a studio writing new material or at a club performing. Finally the idea of him being 'off his head' is dismissed as ludacrous.


Contents Page
The use of the ‘NME’ logo in big bold red text gives it a center piece in the page. The gives the reader constant reminders of the company leading the magazine and the resource to research the company on the internet,
The font, colours and house style are all the same type which gives the magazine a bold, but effective way of presenting their pieces. The layout is also very similar which gives the magazine structure and the reader’s a clear understanding of where to find what article or piece.
The use of sub-headings puts each piece of content into easier and clearer categories, making the magazine make sense and clearer. The images used on the contents page feature two big stars making the magazine an even greater prospect as the audience will feel more engaged and want to read the magazine more with music bands like Oasis on the contents.
The audience targeted for this magazine is very clear and obviously doesn’t relate to social groups who like gardening or ‘UK garage’ for example. It has specifically targeted people who enjoy rock and indie music through the use of an Oasis member and features on bands, such as, Arctic Monkeys.
The basic magazine structure consists of a ‘taster article’ on the contents page giving prospective buyers an insight into the content on the magazine. The pronounced use of ‘subscribe today’ is a sly way of persuading and easily showing people how you can get the magazine on a regular occasion. The sub-headings are clear and precise and show you very easily where you can access that content in the magazine. The band index gives the reader and precise showing of what bands will be in the magazine. This may give the readers more purpose to buy the magazine as maybe there could be a feature on their favourite band.



Double page spread
This double page spread is very much like the one on the Artic Moneky's band member. It has the main image at the left side, which dominates the whole page.The right page then has, again like in the other, a main title, which is big, bold and themed. The text is columned, and also has the brief sypnosis of the full article.The title is also catchy and easily recognisable to a fan of the band. The main image is also trying to attract you and grab your attention.
It seems to me that even within the double page spread, the magazine wants you to read the article and will put a lot of effort into making you want to.The theme is also important in the double page spread. Graphically, it has to look good and cool. Too many colours and it will look stupid, and too little will look boring. In this, they have used the simple black and white but revived it, to look retro and hip.