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

I have become accustom to blogging regularly, through http://www.blogger.com/. Furthermore I have gained knowledge of how to take good pictures with the right angles and backgrounds in mind with a digital camera, and have then learnt how to upload the images onto the hard drive for use in my magazine. I have been able to edit certain images and titles on Microsoft Word by pasting the things that need editing onto there, whilst using the programme I have become accustom to changing backgrounds, giving images boarders, rotating or changing the contrast in the picture. I got my masthead for my front and contents page from http://www.dafont.com/. Finally I have been able to crop and edit certain elements out of images or titles through the programme Paint, such as making things smaller or enlarging them without the specific image going fuzzy with a poorer quality.

New Evaluation - How did you attract/address your audience?

By following the strict conventions of other popular music magazines, I attracted my audience. This was done by using the same colour scheme throughout, and also using the same styles of images so that the magazine would remain on its set task and would stay with the genre of Indie music, which the images highlighted so well with typical conventions of not just music such as having images in the studio but also having the guitar as a prop which gave the images and furthermore the magazine a conventional Indie feel. My masthead is also specifically important as with all magazines, if the masthead is not very good then it will not attract people into buying it. Therefore I made sure that my masthead would be of a high quality so that it would attract people into buying it as it would be eye-catching and also unique as it would make the target audience want to buy it because of the text of the masthead would be so stand out from other magazines as it has a distinct layering technique. I also had to have a intriguing headline that would make people want to buy the magazine with a guaranteed interesting story to capture them:

MR WILLIAMS MAKES HIS

COMEBACK!!

 I felt this was a particularly effective method of making the magazine a success as it gave it a selling point and underlined the main story inside. The text was in a bold, large stand out font "Rockwell Extra Bold" and it was a large size which would catch peoples eyes and make them want to purchase the magazine. The exclamation marks helped to add emphasis and it was also against a yellow background which black goes perfectly with as it is impossible not to see what it says and makes it very noticeable and gives it the effect that it is coming out of the page.

Images like this were used throughout my magazine to show "Mr Williams" as the main artist and also the artist that would be featured as the main story on the two paged spread. This would have got readers familiar with his looks, also able to recognise him for future reference and it builds a strong image in the readers head that he was a figure of importance and that he will be prominent throughout the magazine.

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

A media institution that would most likely distribute us would be a none biased or non-male/female orientated media institution as with Indie music it is very much unisex where people from both genders tend to listen to it and there is no major difference between the ratio of men to women who listen to Indie music. Also Indie acts can vary from male to female, however there does tend to be more male Indie stars than females and I have portrayed this point in my magazine as I have included males and females but the majority are males as they are more commonly seen. On the other hand this has no effect on its audience as it is very much balanced out with who listens to it.

New Evaluation - How does your media product represent particular social groups? & Who would be the audience for your media product?

My product represents the ever changing, reinventing social group of Indie people, that enjoy expressing themselves through their music. I decided to do a Indie magazine as I find the music enjoyable and there are always changes in that part of the music industry and it gave me more to talk about in my magazine due to the constant changes, which interested me. There are different styles of it, as at times it can be relaxing and soft whereas other times it can be booming and quite mesmerizing. This is perhaps why my magazine will only appeal to certain people who are knowledgeable about music as a whole but also Indie style music on its own, and it is perhaps best understood by younger generations as it is constantly developing and as a follower of it, needs to devote time in listening to new songs and becoming accustom to new artists that are appearing on a regular basis. It also appears best to young people as they are constantly in contact with music; through mp3's, television, radio stations and the internet. Indie music is seeing a rise in interest by people at the moment as it is now becoming fashionable to be different from the crowd and this would include listening to different types of music and expanding musical tastes and influences. So it is becoming widely spread through many different groups of young people. I found it a wise choice to do a Indie magazine as the style is on the uprising and will become even more popular over the coming years I feel. Traditionally the target audience would be people of a young generation such as late teens, and 20's as they are the main followers of Indie music in the present day. However the magazine caters for the person with only a slight interest in Indie to the avid fans, of all ages as it is not a challenging read and is easy to grasp as it has a simple layout and narrative, with little slang words used.

Here is an example of the language; in the contents the wording is simplistic and short so that it is easy to grasp and easy to navigate around the magazine as the page numbers are clearly marked.

I felt that my front cover held specific reference to Indie music as throughout the magazine there is a strong influence on guitars which is the main/most common instrument found on Indie tracks. Further more the names of the acts "The Updates" and "Mr Williams" are typical names for acts that you would see performing Indie music. Also the "NEW TALENT" box highlights that there is a constant renewal of talent in this part of the music industry with new acts coming through all the time. Finally "GIG DATES" was included because there are often gigs of upcoming or established Indie artists who perform on a regular basis, which was a key convention to include in my magazine as I wanted it to appeal to the social groups that would enjoy going to these gigs and have a interest in learning about them.

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

The final draft of my magazine follows the main conventions of a music magazine. It's specific traits to a music magazine is to advertise and promote certain types of music, to have interviews with musicians, to advertise upcoming gig's and tours and also to feature musical terminology and musical props. Another key element of music magazines is to follow a specific colour scheme throughout which I have used black, blue, yellow and green for so that the reader can identify my look straight away at first glance as my masthead will always feature the same style every month and will become the brand identification towards my magazine. My magazine specifically does not attempt to challenge any of the conventions of music magazines as with following normal conventions it is easier to know what sells to the public and what magazines are in high demand and popular with the majority of the public at this moment. Therefore I specifically tried to base my magazine around other popular magazines so that I knew it would be a success and also would guarantee sales and be a success in the eyes of others. I did not try to reinvent conventions with it as it would have been a gamble in whether it would have been a success and whether it would have been a hit with other people in terms of interesting them and being appealing. I feel that my magazine looks traditional to the Indie music scene and upholds key points of it. This is why I have had to change the design of my title a couple of times, in order to meet the criteria of the Indie style but not to be complex so that it loses signs of originality.

Originally I went with the first one but I thought it looked a little boring and very simplistic that it would not appeal to many people. Afterwards I thought about the second one as I thought it looked authentic and the type of title you would see placed on a Indie magazine but then I began to doubt it as it looked a little decorative and old fashioned for a style of music which is constantly reinventing itself and therefore I wanted a more modern look. This pushed me and made up my mind that the third one was the best as it looked like a new style and I also felt it would drag in my intended audience that was for teens and young adults. I then tripled it to match the name of the title which I thought would cement a young persons view into buying it as I thought they would understand and relate to it but also give them a sense of maturity and intrigue. I based my look on some of the typical conventions of the "NME" magazine.

New Evaluation - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? (Changes in comparison to previous magazine)

I found it more useful to compare my old magazine to my new one instead of the preliminary task, due to a previous post comparing my older magazine to my preliminary task.

I feel that my new magazine is far better than my previous one as I have spent more time on perfecting it and have also followed the conventions of a typical music magazine such as "Q" or "NME". I have also focused on enhancing my colour schemes so that the same style is seen throughout and also contains more detail and looks more like a magazine found in a shop on general sale. I feel that my front page is key for this portrayal as everything has been built upon, such as the title and masthead being more convincing and appealing. Now the title has been reworked to have 3 layers which represents "Treble" and makes it stand out from the page more and will have more of a interesting look. The masthead is now larger and been completely redone to enhance the new colour scheme which makes it more eye-catching to audiences. I also feel that the headline and what is being advertised in the magazine is more attractive and furthermore will make people convinced that they will want to read the inside articles and receive the free content. I feel that "FREE THIS WEEK: 2 SIDED POSTER OF "THE UPDATES" IN THE STUDIO FOR THEIR UPCOMING ALBUM!" is a good way of advertising "The Updates" and is also a good selling point for readers of the magazine and also fans of "The Updates". People who have an interest in "Mr Williams" and his story would be roped into reading the magazine and is a sure way to raise sales as he is the magazines main feature and is covered in the two page spread.

The Contents page now looks like a official, well made contents page instead of a cheap and tacky version with little intriguing stories and news. It also contains more images than before and the whole page has been completely reinvented and now looks quirky and interesting; setting up the reader for the rest of the magazine. I feel that the dividers of each section on the new one and also the variety and depth within each article on offer really adds a freshness to the magazine and the colours make it feel vibrant and like a good read, with all the offers and short sharp information which is just what my contents needed to make it straight to the point of interest for the readers as they want to get to their preferred part of the magazine as quickly as possible. It is stark contrast to its dull, boring and bleak predecessor.

 

 

I feel that the 2 page spread has drastically improved as it now has a catchy headline which acts to draw the readers into reading the article. Moreover it has a nicely worked colour scheme that fits the conventions of a typical magazine as it keeps the four main colours throughout the magazine (green, yellow, black and blue) rather than the dull brown of the previous one and also without the badly wrote quotes, such as "I'm better than ever". Another improvement made that is absolutely crucial in a magazine is having columned writing, which did not feature at all in my last magazine and another criticism would be the font I was using for some of the text which was "Times New Roman" which is a really uninteresting font for a magazine that would instantly switch off readers attentions, therefore I chose to incorporate bold and strong writing to keep readers interested and also capture them throughout the two page spread.

To conclude this section, I feel that my new magazine has been a great improvement on my other one as it has the ability to capture the audience and also to stand out from other magazines as it follows and builds upon the typical conventions of a magazine. Unlike my old magazine that was unlike any magazine that was out there, which was why it was not held in high regard, this magazine follows a strong tie to indie/rock magazines as that was the look I wanted to achieve and to stay close to its particular style, while putting my own uniqueness into it which came across in the text and also the colours were slightly different to what you would normally see, such as green and yellow instead of the common and perhaps over used red and black "NME/Q" style that is already on the market.

Update on Progress for Media Magazine and Re-evaluation

Last year I did not get the grade I wanted for Media Studies, and it was the quality of my magazine that was poor and brought my grade down, therefore I have decided to resubmit my Foundation Portfolio, which will show the changes and improvements made to my magazine in comparison to last year and also a re-evaluation of it.