My course work is now completed this is my final post

My evaluation of my student magazine

Evaluation of my Music magazine

In what way does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The key ingredients for a magazine cover are; a variety or bright or interesting pictures that attract attention, bold titles that stand out from the images to inform a potential reader about the content of the magazine and any offers or special articles inside. There should also be a price and date of the magazine issue stated. A typical contents page contains brief summaries of the various articles and stories inside the magazine along with more images to compliment them.

My front cover used all of the correct methods including an interesting pair of images and bold titles; however I think that I could have used some more images on the front page to make it a little more interesting. The audience feedback I have had about this page generally says that the image is very good and likely to gain interest. However I think that I should have tried to have taken another photo of both people in the same place at the same time to make it look much better and more realistic.

My contents page features two main images that are relevant to the big stories in the magazine. I have used less text than I did for my previous magazine this is because I decided to sum up each article but without a huge amount of text that would bore readers. This is more effective than using large amounts of text as it would make the magazine seem very wordy and boring.

My double page spread was a little challenging as I had to find an image that would suit a two page article so I decided to do an interview with a friend, and took a photo that would span two pages.

Front cover                                                                                               Contents page

Double page spread

  

How does my product represent particular social groups?  

I think that I have represented the student social group as all the photos used are of students around college and are very similar to those found in a typical music magazine, therefore I think that they will appeal more to them. The language used in my two pages is very casual and in the same style student’s use, this is another reason why I think I have represented the student social group. As for the ratio of text to images I would say that it is less on the contents and the front page which works better as these pages are designed to attract readers, this is one example of what I have done differently to my preliminary task.

 However there is more text on my double page spread as this is one of the main articles featured in my magazine. Audience feedback tells me that my pages are very good with a lot of colour and good images; however my double page received the most praise as it contained an interview with some humorous questions included.

What kind of media institution might distribute my media product?

An institution that is likely to distribute my media product would be either a music company aimed at students or a university or college as they will have the highest number of my target audience and would benefit from selling the magazine as they would make a large amount of money form selling it to their students, and also the students would be able to get all the latest

Who would be the audience for my media product?

I think my audience would most definitely be students ranging from first year sixth formers to university students, aged 16-21, this is because the magazine is all about music with various genres on offer; this makes it appeal to pretty much all students as they all enjoy music to the full.

How did I attract/address my audience?

I have tried to attract a potential reader by using a wide array of colourful titles and artistic images, audience feedback showed that this was effective as the colours I chose were eye-catching and the images are artistic and exactly the sort you would find in a music magazine. Another way I have tried to attract attention is by using student language in the pages, this will hopefully attract more of my target audience as they will be more comfortable reading text written by another student.

    

What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In making this magazine I have used many programs and new websites and so I have gained new skills and knowledge in how to use them to my advantage.  One of the programs I had never used or even heard of before was Gimp- 2.6.  I used this to change several photos I had taken for my magazine font cover, contents page and especially the double page spread.  In this case I learnt how to develop a photo to what I wanted using a variety of tools and then how to add it to the magazine front cover and then upload the finished front cover to my blog.

Looking back at my preliminary task, what do I feel I have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I feel that I have learnt a great deal more on how to make my pages look more realistic, in order to do this I had to research into how real music magazines like Kerrang! Or Q set out their pages. I noticed that they feature more than once image on double page spreads this makes it more visually pleasing to the reader, another element I researched was how to create better looking titles on a computer. This involved several failed attempts on Gimp – 2.6, however eventually I managed to create three very realistic pages.

My final compleated page (double page spread)

My second compleate page (contents)

My first compleat page (Front)

Second photo shoot

some of the photo's I have chosen to use

yup you guessed it another page draft this time it's the double page

Another first draft this is of my contents page

This is the first draft of my magazines front cover please let me know what you think =)

The Treatment

The Magazine: Jammin' !

Target Readership: Jammin'! is a new style music magazine that covers some of the best genres in the musical world including Rock, Reggae, Blues,and much more. The Jammin'! reader is aged between 15 an 18  but the magazine may also appeal to a younger audience such as younger borthers or sisters of the target audience.Parents of the readers will fall into the C1/C2 soceoeconomic grouping  meaning that the readers will rely on their parents for finance. The readers of Jammin'! will have grown up listening to many different genres of music, as such many readers will be able to experience more genres of music that they may enjoy.The average Jammin'! reader is a real music appreciator open to just about any type of music, outgoing and confident, they are keen to have some fun in life.

Form and Style: Jammin'! is an A4 full colour magazine that contains the latest news from the world of music, competitions, advertising for gigs an much much more. Covers usually feature a rastafarian colour theme as the name Jammin'! was inspired by Bob Marley's hit song "Jamming" and will feature colours such as Reds, Greens and yellows. In some special issues a celebrity will feature on the front cover and an exclusive interview will be featured in the magazine such as Billy-Joe Armstrong, lead singer from the punk rock band "Greenday" or the fabulous blues star SeaSick Steave.  Graphics used will be bold but in dark colours to contrast with the bright red's and yellow's of the front cover to make them stand out to the reader. The magazine will sell at around £3.50, an average price for a music magazine, making it affordable to almost all potential readers.

Themes and Typical features: Jammin'! will have many regular features typical to that of any regular music magazine, the main articles will be based strongly on different music genres as well as a weekly competition, along with interviews with famous singers and musicians. Another feature will be a special article called Jammin'! with ... this will be part of the interviews with local musicians with several photo's of a jamming session.

Potential advertisers:A variety of music brands will be most likley as they will be able to advertise future gigs and shows. This will attract a great deal of intrest from music lovers throughout the UK and will raise sales.

Editorial Team : The editorial team for Jammin'! will be made up of experienced writes and designers chosen from the top magazine brands such as kerrang and Q. The team will be mostly made up of musicaly talented artists and writers around the age of 18 to 21, however eaders of the magazine will be asked to contribute to further design ideas. The team will also try to appeal to most peoples chosen music. The aim of the team is to keep bringing in fresh new bands and music to keep the readers up to date with everything in the music world.

Photoshooting

ok folks I need ot organise a wee photo shoot in the near future can anybody let me know if they can lend me a hand

Pleeeease tkae part in ma survey

hi folks i really need some more votes on the survey thanks

This is the fornt cover from "Q". the first thin that catches my eye is the picture of the guitar player as it stands out form the grey background. The name of the magaizne isn't east ot miss as it is bright red and will attract potential readers, however the rest of the text on the page is very dull, just plain black font tat tells the reader about the main focus of the magazine.

Textual Analysis



                                                                                        

This is the front cover of Big Cheese magazine. The first thing I notice about this picture is the group photo of Paramore and the name of the band written in large withe text in the middle right of the page. The main colour theme of the text is either white or light pink. The page also eatures simple but effective text, for example there is alist of band names telling the reader what content is inside as well as a smaller photo in the left hand corner to advertise other articles inside.       

                                                                   

Action plan for music magazine

So,a new term and a new task woop dee doo oh well here's my action plan for what I will need to accomplish in the following weeks:
 3.1.11 - (Research and planning) - Textual analysis of magazines 2 covers , 2 contents and 1 DPS
10.1.11 - (Research) - Audience questionaire
17.1.11- (Construction) - Photoshoot, Font analysis,Colour analysis
24.1.11- (Construction) - Drafting pages
31.1.11 - (Research) - Audience feedback
7.2.11- (Construction)- Layout design
14.2.11- (Research) - Internet reseach into institiutions
21.2.11- (Construsction) Evaluation
7.3.11- Final tweeks

DEADLINE 11TH OF MARCH !!