Evaluation Draft

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




The front cover of my rock magazine follows the conventions of those set out by professional magazines as it consists of various technical elements which a real rock music magazine has. An example of an element is the masthead. Mastheads in actual magazines such as NME, which was one of my case studies, have a simple bold and big masthead at the top of the magazine. Similarly I have followed this rule of using a simple bold font for my magazine masthead. The only difference between my magazine and NME’s magazine is that NME prefer to put their masthead in the corner of their magazine however, I have challenged this idea by simply expanding the masthead across the top of the front cover in order for it to look bigger so it captures the target audience’s attention. As for the image, I have used a medium close up shot of the cover star as this particular shot is used in many music magazines. This shot was taken in the studio and the black backdrop works well with the costume as despite that they are both black, the lighting and flash of the camera ensure that the colours don’t blend, making the image stand out more. The costume of the model reflects the rock genre as he is wearing black. Also, the septum nose ring as well as the earrings reflect the rock genre as it is quite edgy and cool. The facial expression of the model also suits the rock genre as he is pulling a serious and straight face rather than smiling. Other conventions of the front cover, which I have followed, are the barcode and price at the bottom of the magazine, the issue number of the magazine and the date being given. A skyline is featured on top of the masthead, with information on a competition inside the magazine. This would attract consumers to purchase the magazine as they may be in with the chance of winning a free item. As for the cover lines, I have ensured that my main cover story is bigger than the other cover lines by making the pull quote bigger than the rest of the cover lines. I have kept the cover lines restricted and simple as in the rock magazine of my case studies NME, it didn’t consist of many cover lines yet it looked professional. Beneath the cover lines, I have put brief details on what to look forward to inside the magazine so readers have some sort of idea of what to expect. I have used a typical 3 colour scheme of black, white and red as they are bold colours which are mostly used on rock magazines. Also, with the white writing contrasting the black background, the cover lines seem clearer and stand out more.


The contents page of Rockefeller consists of a double page spread, listing all the articles that would be featured in the magazine. Unlike my case studies, Kerrang! And NME, I have created the contents using 2 pages and not 1 page. Reason being is because, the double page allowed me to insert all the article information that was needed as well as fitting in an editor’s note, a subscription box, an information box and various photos. I have followed the conventions of a typical rock magazine by producing an editor’s letter, which is on my case study Kerrang too. The editor’s letter suits the rock genre as I have used Kerrang’s editor’s note as inspiration for my own by making it playful and casual. I have done this by asking a rhetorical question and by adding fillers to make it seem more laid back and appeal to my target audience, as they wouldn’t want to read something long with formal language throughout. Like NME, I have added a subscription box so that people can subscribe to Rockefeller as well as save money when doing it. I have followed the conventions of a typical contents page by adding subheadings such as regular, features, extras and the cover story. I have also inserted several images which link to the feature articles and the page numbers of those articles are put on the bottom right side of the images which is done in NME and Kerrang magazine too. The colour scheme remains the same as the front cover however, some conventions which I have challenged are the font styles and font sizes. In real magazines, the font style and size is consistent throughout, however despite that I have used a variety of font styles and sizes, I believe that the magazine’s contents page still looks professional.


The DPS of Rockefeller follows some of the conventions of a real music magazine as it includes an image relating to the article on one page, mine being an image of my cover star, and on the other page is the article laid out. The article is a question and answer type of article, and consists of a title, a summary of the band, a pull quote in the middle and the actual article itself surrounding the pull quote. The colour scheme also remains the same for the DPS and throughout the DPS, the font style is consistent.




2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?




My social groups for Rockefeller magazine are young adults, ranging from the ages of 15-35 of both genders; who are located in the UK and maybe the US. They would be people that are interested in the rock genre specifically, pop rock and indie rock, and are also interested from various bands as well as artist from mainly the UK and US. The genre rock, can be shown through the image used in the DPS as the cover star has a sort of typical look of a rock artist with the scruffy hair, piercings and the serious facial expression given. Stereotypically, most rock artists have piercings, though it may not be as clear on the DPS image, the cover star has ear piercings as we as a septum nose ring worn, which is the trend nowadays for many rock artists to wear. Typical rock artists are considered to be from a white background, but I feel that I have reinforced this stereotype by using someone from a different ethnicity, but still suits the rock genre. Also, people from various ethnicities listen to rock music too.




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




Initially, I chose Town Square Media as the media institution that might distribute my media product as they did not have any rock magazines in the market under their institution, which would create a gap in the market with my media product. However, since my target audience is aimed at mainly people located in the UK, I have decided that Conde Nast would be the best choice to distribute my music magazine. Reason being is because, Conde Nast have their institution set up in both the US and the UK, which is where my target audience would be located and also, they too do not sell any music magazines of the rock genre. Conde Nast usually sell magazines such as vogue, bridal, glamour and Conde Nast traveller and many more which are similar to the ones already listed. These types of magazines are mainly about fashion, events and travelling, therefore my music magazine would create a gap in the market as they do not sell a music magazine like mine already. Also, readers of the magazines they already sell worldwide, may be interested in reading my music magazine as it is being distributed by the same company as the other magazines that they already read. Conde Nast also have a digital version on their website, which enables those who do not have access to paper copies of a magazine, to read it online. There are choices such as the iPad edition, and also a subscription option so people can read the magazines digitally rather than buying the paper version themselves. Similarly, I aim to have Rockefeller copies sold in shops such as WHSmith and Tescos, where most Conde Nast magazines are typically sold, and also have it available as a digital copy too so people can read it online.




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




The audience for my music magazine would be people 55% male and 45% female as in my case studies of Kerrang and NME, their gender ratio shows that more males listen to rock music than females. They would be aged 15-35 and the median age would be 25. Their music taste would be specifically pop rock and indie rock music, as that is the type of rock my magazine consists of and they would most likely be located either in the UK and the US. The social class of my audience would be middle/working class and the ethnicities would vary. My magazine is mostly aimed at the younger generation in society therefore, it would appeal to those possibly in education, for example high school, college and university as well as those who work but are interested in the rock genre.




5. How did you attract/address your audience?




To attract my audience, I used bold colours like red, black and white to ensure that my audience will be able to recognise and remember my music magazine. My colour scheme is the same as my case study NME’s colour scheme as I felt those specific colours would attract my audience more. From my magazine proposal, I received various feedback on the choice of colours and font styles. Majority of the class preferred the use of the 3 colour scheme of red, black and white as these colours are usually associated with rock magazines and as for the font style, majority of the class liked the idea of using a simple, big and bold font style for the masthead. By using the feedback I gained from class discussions, I decided to go with the colours and font styles chosen by them as they represent the type of audience I am aiming for. The layout of my contents page would attract my audience as I have used a variety of images taken in different locations. In addition, the layout of my cover page would also attract my audience to buy my magazine as I have used interesting cover lines along with captions below to let readers know what to expect from the magazine. On my blog, I have also received feedback on my magazine overall, and the comments show that my audience would like the use of colours and images however, criticisms show that my DPS could’ve been better if I exported the file without the border lines of the text showing.




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




From the process of constructing this product, I have used many media technologies such as the DSLR cameras, PhotoShop, Indesign, blogger, slideshare and timetoast. These technologies have helped me create my music magazine and also learn a lot about the media industry and what they use. The DSLR camera (Nikon D7000) was simple to use due to the induction lesson we had on how to use them as well as on how to use the 3 main studio lights. Though I had difficulty in the beginning when using the cameras, I gradually got used to it and captured many photos to use for my magazine. My skills further developed as I was familiar on how to get the flash on the camera as well as the studio lights together when capturing a photograph and I also knew how to use the reflector boards in order to get rid of shadows and either harden or soften the light. PhotoShop was a technology which I was already familiar with as I have used it in the past however, in the process of the constructing this product, I feel that my skills have developed. Before, I used to create many layers which were not needed, but whilst making my music magazine, I was able to organise my layers effectively by labelling them and by locking the ones which I didn’t need to work on. My skills further developed when I put rulers along the sides of the page, in order to make my cover look well-structured as well as separating cover lines and their captions as different layers to make it easier to move around and place. As for InDesign, this was a technology which I was not that familiar with. However, after using it when I first constructed my college magazine, my skills have really developed to when I used it to create my actual music magazine. I have learnt how to remove the lines from text boxes once I export the file into a JPEG and I have used gridlines in order to make the contents page as well as the DPS look organised. These gridlines enabled me to minimise and enlarge text boxes as well as images on the contents page, to ensure that everything fits in well and are laid out in an appropriate form for a music magazine. Also with InDesign, my cropping and re-sizing skills for images have drastically improved, as before I had difficulty with this but for my magazine; I was more confident in doing so and placed the images in a way that I initially wanted them to be presented. Blogger was a technology which I was never familiar with, but after using it to upload my work on a regular basis, I have updated my work well by using it. Slideshare was used to present my magazine proposal as well as my evaluation plan on my blog and timetoast was used to produce the production timeline of the coursework.




7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?




Looking back at the preliminary task, I feel that I have learnt a lot during the progression from the previous tasks to the full product. One thing that I improved on was making my contents page look far more professional as my college magazine’s contents page looked very basic. I have achieved this by making the colour scheme link more to the rock genre of my music magazine as well as use a range of different font styles that would compliment the colours as well as the images. Another thing I developed on was the use of my photography. I improved on my photography from when I first created the college magazine as for the music magazine; I used a Nikon DSLR (D7000) camera, which made the images look far more professional and clear. Also, by taking these photos in the studio, it enabled my background to blend in well with the cover star and look like a real music magazine. Other elements which looked better on the music magazine rather than the college magazine were the masthead and cover lines. The masthead was developed as I had created it on Illustrator which made it far more specialised. As for the cover lines, I made them bolder and bigger in order to attract readers and by using 2 different colours, one for the cover line and the other for the brief description, it made the cover lines stand out even more. One final thing which I developed was that for the college magazine, I used only one page to create it however for the music magazine, I used 2 pages. By using more than one page, I was able to insert several images and add information about the magazine through the editor’s letter and the features, regulars and extras. One thing that I did not really address and improve on was making my front cover as professional as I aimed for it to look and be. This is shown through the masthead as I was not able to put it behind the model as it was quite difficult to so. Overall, I feel that I have developed and improved from the preliminary task as I have grasped various skills in order to make the magazine professional.