Evaluation of

Media Music Magazine

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?

Front Cover
The price of my magazine is important for all readers as it will determine
whether someone will buy the magazine or not. I thought I would price mine
at a £1.00 and see how many copies sell in comparison to other music
magazines.

My main image happens to be the most dominant part of my magazine. I

thought I would use an image which is different to other magazines so that it
is unique and individual. The way my photograph has been edited connotes
that it is a girlie music magazine and we can also see this throughout the
colours used.

As I have used a competition on my cover I think people may buy my

magazine as they have a chance to win tickets but they will have to buy the
magazine to find out more about it. This will hook all the readers in.

My magazine has a typical barcode which will be scanned into all shops
systems so they can price the magazine

As I have used the word “exclusive” this shows that it is only for my
magazine and that no other magazine may be able to have an interview with
this music artist.
Contents Page
The image I have used for my background is related to the date that my
magazine is released. Due to the fact my magazine is released in December, I
have used a snow scene image which all of my target audience may like. To
make the tree with snow stand out more, I have put the page numbers and
what is on the pages.

The colours I have used are in my house style. Unfortunately when I had
typed what was going to be the pages, I was unable to see the text so I had to
insert a drop shadow to make it stand out.
Unlike the colour of the text about what was going to be in each page, I
decided to use a white font so it would stand out and link to the image which
was used.

By having a next issue page, this allows the target audience to see which
bands will be in here and what the competition will be. This also lures the
audience in.
Double Page Spreads.

I have decided to use a quote from the interview,

I have a mast head in my double page spread so people know who the which gives the reader an insight of what is
interview is with. going to be in the interview.

I have included images in my interview, these images

of my specific artist. And these allow the audience to
see a different side to the interviewee
In my magazine I have used different media terms.

Mast Head – the effect of having a mast head is so that my magazine is recognizable with the use of
product recognition and the target audience will get to know the layout of my magazine.
Plug – this is an incentive to buy the magazine, the incentive I have put in my magazine is a special
price which people may see as a good thing as they won’t have to pay more than £2.00
Kicker – this shows what it is inside the magazine
Date line & Issue number – by having a date line and issue number, this shows what day the
magazine was realised and what issue the magazine is up too. So if a person has missed an issue they
are able to buy the previous one.
Feature article photo – the feature article photo is an image of the main artist which allows the
audience to see who the magazine interview is about.
Quote from interview – by having a quote from the interview, it gives the audience an insight into
the interview. The quote is often meaningful and is also in the interview.
 Why I have laid my magazine like this.

I have designed my magazine similar to other popular ones as people instantly pick them
up. As most magazines are A4 size people find that they are easier to carry and are at a
cheap price. Most magazines contain interviews, reviews and competitions which allow
the audience to interact with the magazine.

This is an image of what my flat plan would look like, I

designed my magazine like this as it is similar to many other
magazines and as they are a common style many people would
obviously buy them. Over the years magazine sizes has
changed, some magazines have been produced A5 size but the
most common size is A4. This is the size I will make my
magazine.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is aimed mainly at the female gender as they

tend to be a range of people who like a wider variety of
music and fashion; and who also seemed to be
stereotypically judged for either the music they personally
like or the clothes they like. In my magazine although it is
very pink, it does contain reviews on bands of all different
genres, it also contains an interview with a solo artist who is
female but also likes a wide range of bands and also likes to
dress individually so hopefully the females who read my
magazine can relate.

In my magazine, I will allow the audience to write or email in and

talk about all different bands and gigs so they can have their own say,
by allowing them to write in it will also allow other people to comment
on what the person has said.
 3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The media institution which might distribute my media product is Bauer Publishing. I
think that this company would be suitable as they are one of the largest magazine
publishing houses in Europe.

In Germany, Bauer publishes 46 magazines which shows it is a good company to publish

my magazine. However they entered the UK with a magazine called Bella in 1987. They
introduced a new format which mixed previously unseen real life editorial and exciting
features.

Now a days they publish a well know women's magazine, Take a Break which has
maintained its #1 status.

I would like Bauer publishing to publish my magazine, as they have made many
magazines of top quality fly off the shelves. I would love for my magazine to be a well
executed magazine which millions of people will buy regularly and not want to put it
down.
4. Who would be the target audience for your product?

The main target audience for my magazine would be the

female gender as U can relate to this specific target
audience, I would want my magazine to be aimed at this
audience as they are an easy audience to aim a magazine at.

I would also want my magazine to be aimed at females who enjoy

concert and gigs and would enjoy writing in to my magazine to give
their vies on things like this.
 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted/addressed my audience by the colour scheme I used which was different shades
of pinks, greys and whites.

I edited my main image to create an impact on the audience. I decided that I would change
the colour of my friends nails and the bracelet she is wearing so they also suit my house
style.

The language I used in my magazine; is language which the audience would use such as
colloquial & chatty language. I have also used interrogative utterances, and declarative
utterances by using these utterances it allows the editor of the magazine and the
interviewee to interact with the audience.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Firstly I learnt how to create a blog account which would allow me to add posts about my
work and the process I have done my work in. By having a blog it would allow my
friends and my teacher to view my work and read about the production of my magazine,
the problems and the solutions I faced.

I made a number of posts which include what I thought about the images I took, analysis of a
different music magazine and the health and safety of using “Redheads” when taking
photographs.

I also used Photoshop to create my magazine as it is a professional

software which many magazine use, I decided to make a front cover, a
contents page and two double page spreads.

I also used high tech cameras to take my photos for both my college
magazine and my music magazine
 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
Progression from it to the full product?

Throughout this module, I have learnt many things;

I have learnt how to use Photoshop in a lot of detail, and how to merge layers. When I began using
Photoshop I didn’t really understand how to use it and why it was so important to use. After a
group tutorial, I learnt how to use the main features and why it is important to use Photoshop, it’s
important to use it because it is the main software which many companies use, it is also
professional and documents look better on Photoshop rather than Word.

I also learnt how magazines have got to be aimed at a specific audience and have features in the
magazine which will cater for this audience. In my preliminary task, as the magazine was released
near Halloween I made it dark and scary so that many people would buy it, however inside I had a
range of features which would cater for everyone.

When taking the photographs for both my college magazine and my music magazine, I learnt how
to use the Redhead lights, these added perspective to my images and also made them look edgy, I
was able to have different coloured back drops which made photos look professional.
 Overall Conclusion.

To conclude my evaluation, I enjoyed working on this unit as it allowed me to make up

my own interview, have fun working with friends and also taking images and editing
them to suit my house style. I think that if my magazine was to be published by Bauer
many females of all different social genres would enjoy reading it and also entering the
competitions.

Although there seemed to be a lot of work to get this task done, I thought that it was a
reasonable task as everyone was able to express their own views on social genres and
make their own magazine for their specific genres.