Evaluation

By Nathan Bromley

Both my magazine cover and the NME cover both use similar conventions on the main image, Both of which of close ups of a persons face which takes up all of the page which is quite a conventional picture to have. But the real media product uses unconventional properties as it has a greyscale effect on and my sticks to conventional ways as i have used no effects on my picture. Both of the covers also have one large main splash at the bottom of the page which is also a conventional way of laying it out, my magazine cover uses an unconventional font on a rock magazine cover as it is quite hippyish and 60’s. Over all i would say apart from the colour scheme this magazine cover uses many similar conventions as my media product.

My masthead uses similar layout to the NME magazine as it is located at the top, but mine sticks to a more conventional layout as it spreads across the page. My splash challenges conventions also as it has an invert effect on which makes it a bright blue and pink and translucent which is not normal for a rock magazine cover. The colour scheme of my magazine cover is a very neutral plain colour which is uses conventions on most magazine covers to help make the main image stand out. My magazine cover also uses a banner which is conventional for a magazine cover. My cover is conventional as it follows visual hierarchy perfectly like a lot of magazine covers, it is effective as you see everything at a glance.

Over all i would say my magazine cover is a very conventional cover as the layout is structured simply and it uses a large main picture as the background.

Conventions – front cover

This is my magazine contents page. The layout of my magazine is nothing like the real magazine. My masthead is very unconventional as it is laid out vertically instead of horizontally which is not often used. My sub-title stating ‘this week’ is very conventional as most magazines usually say something similar to show what is inside the magazine. Both contents pages stick to the normal conventions of having the text down the side of the page to make the images easier to see and eye catching. My image challenges normal conventions as it uses the same technique as the front cover as it uses one main image to take up most of the background. my contents uses page numbers to keep with normal contents page conventions to make the magazine look real. Overall i would say my product uses both conventional and unconventional properties which make it a little unusual with its layout.

Conventions-contents

I found magazine front covers to help me decide what genre of music magazine i wanted to do. I found it helped as it helped me research what conventions and techniques certain kind of magazines used to represent there genre, and which techniques suited me best to make a realistic product. I found 2 main different genres of magazines that i wanted to focus on and develop. They were an 80’s heavy rock theme with bands like guns n’ roses which is aimed at an older audience, and a 60’s alternative rock like the Beatles which is also aimed at an older audience and is for a more acquired audience.

I finally chose the 80’s heavy rock theme as it can be aimed at a larger target audience and i would find it easier to use techniques to represent my product using this theme. I want my product to be different than other magazines of this genre so i want to add hints of 60’s alternate rock to make the magazine unique. To make my product unique i used normal heavy rock conventions to represent the genre like a large main image as the back ground, also to help with this the image of the person is wearing a leather jacket to represent a indifferent rock star which is a normal thing to do on this kind of magazine. The model is also wearing sunglasses which adds to the feeling of the picture along with the long messy hair. All of the aspects of representation link with magazines such as Kerrang and Q which dress there models how i dressed mine. To contrast this though the person on my product is wearing a tie dye t-shirt and a peace necklace if you look closely which puts a 60’s hippy twist onto the heavy rock theme. I want to attract both sexes with the magazine as it would obviously have a greater target audience, to do this i have tried to make the model look attractive to women and men with the way he looks.

The main colour scheme of my magazine is very conventional for a heavy rock magazine like Kerrang as the colours represent indifference because the colours are very plain and neutral to make it look like it isn't trying like a rock star would want it to look. These colours also make the main picture stand out as the musician would want to be the most important thing on the page as they want to be well known and notorious which also helps represent the musicians ego and presence on the cover. To contrast with the normal representations of dull colours the splash is very bright blue which represents the 60’s rock theme to help show that the magazine covers more than one genre of music.

The layout of the magazine cover is very simple like most kerrang magazines which helps and adds to the representation of indifference as it doesnt look like its trying to hard. The fonts also link in with this style as the articles are in very plain font. The masthead is in an unusual font which does not fit with the articles but it works well as a rock magazine. The main splash represents the 60’s theme as it is a wavy font unlike th other 2 and looks like a hippy groovy font.

Representation

Institutions

There were a few different magazine distribution companies i could of used to distribute my magazine. I want my product to be sold world wide so i want a large distributor to make my magazine successful and famous. I would also want my distributor to have a lot of experience distributing magazines so they would do it efficiently and well. Another benefit of a distribution company would be if they distribute other genres of music magazines as it will help to get people interested into my magazine

My chosen magazine distributors are Musicmags as they tick all of the boxes on my requirements. They are a large distributor of magazines so they would help my magazine get successful. They also have a lot of experience distributing magazines and they also specialise in music magazines hence the name, this means that the company will know exactly how to market my magazine so it gets as successful as possible

Who would be the audience for my media product ?

When researching magazine covers like ‘Total Guitar’ and ‘Kerrang’ i found that they used techniques that i thought were effective and were relevant to me as they attracted me. Judging on this i thought that these kind of magazines would be suitable for me to make as i feel that they are apart of me and what i would like to produce. Also my taste in music made a huge impact on my choice of magazine as i love music and i new straight away that i would be doing an old rock style magazine influenced by bands like guns n roses and led zeppelin hence my main picture.

I believe that my target audience would be for people like me who love old fashioned music where it all began, i don't believe that it has any particular age target as it could be for people of my age who appreciate old music even though i was not even alive then, or people who actually experienced the music when it first began back in the day as i don't believe there are really any magazines around that support original music and i wanted to target this niche audience.

So i would say my target audience is quite a niche market as the music it is about is not being made any more as it is from 30 , 40 years ago, it is aimed at either sex probably more male, any age its just for any one who appreciates good old fashioned rock.

How did you attract/address your audience

A main way i believe of attracting your target audience is the masthead as it labels the magazine and it is the first thing you see judging by the visual hierarchy. So to attract and address my target audience with my masthead i gave it an obvious name for its genre giving it the name of r-Rock so anyone looking for a rock magazine would know straight away that it is a rock genre. It also helps with the font i have used for this as it looks old and scribbley instead of most magazines where the font is usually quite boring or modern.

Another way of attracting your audience is the main picture as mine takes up the whole page. To attract my audience with my picture I have taken a ‘cool’ picture which could look like it resembles slash from guns n roses which is a band that i would want my audience to like and be attracted to. It helps how the model is dressed to attract its target audience also as he has a leather jacket and a tie dye top on which reflects rock theme.

The fonts I have used also help attract the rock audience as they are not normal modern fonts so straight away the potential buyer should know that it is not like normal magazines. The fonts are effective because the masthead which is the first thing you can see is old looking and scribbley instead of modern so buyers will know that it is for old music. The splash also doesn’t use a conventional font as it is wavy like a hippy font, so this should also reflect old 60’s to 80’s music.

The whole colour scheme of the magazine addresses its target audience, it does this by having quite a dull, dark background and picture which reflects the music and the image the music possesses over the artist, also it has hints of colour where I want the buyer to know that it isn't just heavy rock genre it has a large amount of alternative 60’s music. This is done by having a bright blue and pink splash which is the main article of the magazine. Also where it says ‘Woodstock’ it is purple and blue, this needs to brightly coloured as it was the biggest music festival of the 60’s and by including this festival it makes the buyer know what kind of music this magazine is about.

Overall I would say my techniques have worked well to attract my audience as I have thought about everything to attract my audience, even by having a simple traditional layout to reflect the traditional music.

Progress from Preliminary task

As you can see my prelim is on the left and my finalProduct is on the right. Straight away you can tell the Differences of authenticity, compared to the final product It doesn't look like a professional magazine cover at all.This being mainly because by this point i had grasped Microsoft Fireworks and how to use its effects in helpingme make an authentic magazine cover.

My final product uses far more advanced skills to makeThe product look real, this is because the prelim follows conventions of a typical boring free school magazine, but the final product plays around with conventions as uses them, develops them and is unconventional in some ways to represent its own genre.

The preliminary task uses no representive skills as it is a very generalised magazine as it is only about the school, but my final product uses techniques which really help it to look professional and represent the genre it is about. The main picture of the final product makes a huge difference as it looks like it is done very professionally with good lighting and better clothes. Also just little things like a barcode on a magazine cover makes it look so much more authentic.

Overall i would say that my final product is far better and more professional than the prelim, it uses far more techniques and uses them in a way to represent its genre and attract target audience even the layout has been carefully considered where it looks best. But some attributes are kept front the prelim like the masthead being traditionally at the top spread across the page and the picture taking up the whole background. But would say that my final product far surpasses my prelim.