Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation Question 6

Over the course of the production of my music magazine my technological skills have improved no end, particularly using software and hardware I would not have been exposed to otherwise. I have also learnt a great deal about presenting work using a number of methods online that makes my Portfolio far more visually pleasing. The technologies  have used are as follows:



I used Adobe InDesign for most of the year to create my preliminary task (School Magazine Cover) and my final task (Music Magazine Pages). When I began using Adobe InDesign I found it difficult to use, but with some help and demonstrations as well as a great deal of trial and error on my School Magazine Cover, I found it much easier to use when it came to creating my Music Magazine. Much of the production process was spent on this application, and I found it highly useful as it allowed me to become even more creative and experimental in producing my pages.






I used Blogger from the beginning of the year I recording my every step from the market research phases, to actually creating my music magazine pages. This form of application was alien to me at the tart of the year as although I have used various social networking sites before, I was not a fan of online blogging. My mind was changed however soon after first using it when I found it to be an easy way of recording my ideas, using a diverse range of tools such as videos, photos, powerpoint presentations and prezi posts for example. I found this particularly useful in this evaluation stage to be able to look back with ease at my thought process throughout the production stages.

I had no prior experience of Adobe Photoshop before my AS Media Course, and so I originally found it a complicated tool to use. Thankfully after a few demonstration lessons I was able to utilise it to benefit my magazine pages. I mostly used photoshop on my final task, where I removed the backgrounds of a number of photos including the Main Image for my Front Cover. Although I found this to be a laborious task, I did see the benefits on the final product as I felt it enhanced the quality of my images, giving them a more professional look. Because of the time consuming nature of this program I adjusted the filming locations of my article photos to incorporate a blank background so as to be more efficient in producing the images for my magazine pages.






Prezi was a ground breaking piece of equipment I used in both presenting the findings of my market research and answering evaluation questions as two examples. The program allows you to use a diverse number of patterns and animations to invigorate your presentations, beyond other more boring and rudimentary products. The addition of this to my arsenal has made my presentations far more visually pleasing.







Throughout the production process I have been introduced to a number of pieces of software, hardware and programs that have meant I have been able to create my music magazine pages efficiently in a number of ascetically pleasing ways, which has introduced me to the workings of the production side of the media industry, Along the way I have learnt a great deal about photo shoots and the importance of camera angles and the inclusion of props to get the best images possible.

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

 

 

What Kind Of Media

Institution Might Distribute

Your Product & Why?

 

 

If my music magazine were to be published, I would use a number of institutions to maximise it's potential by distributing it to it's target audience. The first of these companies would be the Bauer Media Group.

 

 

Bauer was founded in 1875 in Hamburg Germany and since then has grown to become a multinational media group. Bauer's slogan "We Think Popular" adequately sums up why they'd be the perfect candidate to produce my product: a company with their fingers firmly on the pulse of all that is great and good and popular about the media industry. The recognition and prestige of Bauer would nourish my product and help it grow. Bauer own over 300 titles, meaning they have a strangle hold on the market place with majority ownership. This means that Bauer producing my product would ensure it is competitive with other big selling brands on the market, ensuring it's longevity. Of it's 300 titles, Bauer owns many house hold names such as Kerrang!, Q and Empire. The prestige of these titles would mean my product would become far more lucrative for a potential buyer, therefore increasing it's appeal and ultimately expanding it's readership. Bauer is a multi platform brand owning many  TV & Radio Stations as well having a major input on the internet. This is a crucial weapon in promoting my product to a wider audience, appealing directly to the technophile nature of younger target audiences interested in interactive content. Lastly Bauer operates in 15 countries around the Globe. This would make my product infinitely successful due to the dramatic increase in market.

Secondly I would consider using Time Inc. to distribute my product. Time Inc. are the largest publisher of magazines in America, with a total annual profit exceeding $2.4Billion. As a division of the Time Warner company formed in 1990, they publish 130 magazines, most popular
of all being "TIME" magazine. I believe my product has a huge potential to become successful in the American market due to a number of reasons including it's comprehensive coverage of some of the world's most popular music genres and it's championing of some of the biggest bands in music history. Therefore for this to become a reality, the involvement of such a prestigious and successful company would be of great importance.




Last company I would use to distribute my product would be Frontline. Frontline is Great Britain's largest distribution company and so would prove an ideal candidate to distribute my product.


Frontline are an important business partner for Bauer, as they distribute 160 of their magazines, 58 of them being in the top 200 selling titles in Great Britain. I therefore would see the involvement of Frontline in the production and distribution of my product being of paramount importance.



 



 

 



Evaluation Question 2

 

 

How Does The Media Product Represent A

Particular Social Group?

 

 

When I began my research for my music magazine, I discovered that I wanted to champion the legends of Indie/Rock/Brit Pop scene. I wanted to bring them to a younger market of roughly 16-25 year olds. My magazine would also focus on the modern equivalent of these idols, bringing them to market of 38-48 year old, which I felt would also appeal to the younger target audience at the same time. Ultimately the publication I would produce would provide a comprehensive view of the genres selected. Therefore I would have to represent a variety of ages and social groups in my magazine, which I felt I did in a number of ways.

 

 

 

 

 

 The Front Cover appeals to the target audience in the same ways that Q Magazine does, as the text is largely informal, details of a variety of features & artists appear, and universally popular contemporary artists appear as the main focus of the Cover. I chose to deviate from the latter by extending the coverage to "older" artists to appeal to both ends of my target audience.

 I took inspiration for the facial expressions of my models from the Q Cover featuring Jay Z. as it is a Close Up of his face, the emphasis is on his facial expressions. We can see here how he's frowning, suggesting he's unhappy about something, or perhaps he is displaying his famed cocky care free "c'est la vie" attitude which could arguably display how he's become comfortable with his surroundings and where he is in his career. The Models featured on my Cover give off the same cocky, care free vibe which represents the constant partying attitude of my younger target audience.



Through the body language of the models I displayed a "bad boy" image to the group. The band are seen smirking, showing they have little or no respect for authority. They also have their arms crossed, suggesting impatience, showing a boyish arrogance to the group. This attitude, and one's described in the above paragraph are also reciprocated throughout the genres of BritPop/Rock &Indie, in the bands as well as the groups of fans who follow them. I believe therefore that the facial expressions and the body language of the models represent the social groups that follow Britpop & Rock music.

 

 

 

 The colour schemes of both "MELODY" and Q Magazine represent the genre and subsequent social groups. One colour scheme (usually focussing around red and black) is selected, and stuck to across the cover. This perhaps shows the "no nonsense" approach to music and life in general of bands and the music enthusiasts that follow this genre. This idea is followed through in the organised structure of the Cover, however this is more seen in MOJO Magazine, where it possibly represents how their target audience (roughly 35+) prefer to listen to music in it's purest form (often seeing bands live), using more traditional forms (on records, without modern developments such as iTunes).








Artists of both genders also appear on the Cover. This appeals to the politically active nature of followers of Indie music, who are concerned with a number of social issues such as equality for example. The fact that there is an equal representation on the Cover "MELODY" and other music magazines on the market shows how social groups and followers of music are concerned with identity.





The clothing of the models on my Contents Page are equally important in the representation of the target audiences of my music magazine. The prop of the acoustic guitar suggests connotations of singing songs round a camp fire, maybe on a beach. This idea represents freedom; a popular image for younger generations, which therefore represents my target audience. This idea is carried on in the provocative "War Is Over" prop. Here this represents how young people question social issues around them as they become more enlightened through education.









 The clothing of this model is fashionable and therefore appeals to the vanity of the younger generation. The clothing here represents again how fashion is equally important in the modern era, as it was in the sixties and seventies.







I have also appeared to the a younger target audience through the promotion of social networks and websites. This inclusion benefits the brand as it makes it consistent with other titles on the market adopting a similar approach in becoming multi platform brands. Therefore this expansion of services with the technological boom represents the needs of the younger, computer savvy, generation who could be considered a technophile. Practically every other music magazine on the market has had to move towards an inclusion of social media and modern technology for their product to attract and maintain readers in order to survive in a cut throat market place. Examples include Kerrang & Q introducing their own TV Stations.







The wide variety of artists and bands covered in the Contents Pages appeals to the "music enthusiast". These types of fans are ordinarily identified by their love of live music, necessity to collect B- Sides as well as live recordings as well purchasing high volumes of records outside their preferred genre. "Music Enthusiasts" are typically in the ABC1 income bracket and are described as a more "mature music fan". Therefore this diverse selection of bands on offer represents my older target audience. Kerrang also include a wide range of reading materials in order to cater for their younger target audiences thirst for knowledge, particularly with their favoured genre.














The props of the blazers represent the importance of fashion in social groups such as Mods &  Rockers. The band t-shirts also displays how the youth feel the need to assert their musical tastes on their surrounding environment, therefore representing followers of the Punk Scene for example. I felt also that the fact that their pictures appear as four individual close up shots represents the individuality and need to express personality of my younger target audience. The Mod target symbol also represents the older target audience of my publication as it pays homage to the sixties London scene as well as the Mod movement. MOJO magazine often pays tribute to iconography in this way, mostly through references within interviews and props in photoshoots to represent their target audience.









The mode of address through out my magazine pages was light and informal, using with & humour to engage with the target audience. Q Magazine use this technique to give the impression that the reader is equal to the journalist's intellect, can match their music knowledge and their opinions are as equally valid. I used a number of colloquialisms, slang and expletives to engage with the target audience further as it represents the way they speak and address one another, particularly friends. This also personifies the rock and roll lifestyle and attitudes of amny of the bands featured in "MELODY" and other magazines on the market such a NME and Q. Examples of this can be seen throughout my pages. Kerrang adopt a similar approach in their mode of address to engage with a similarly youthful target audience.



 

 



Evaluation Question 1