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Overview

The Stages Of My Final Production

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The slide above is a presentation that I made referring to my final stages of my production. It consists of what I did through my research and planning and final evaulation

Evaluation of Final Product

Q. In what ways does your music magazine use , develop or challenege forms and coventions of existing music magazines?
A. My magazine 'BREAK OUT' uses forms and conventions of real media products such as strap lines, main headings; main images which draw the audience to the magazine and give the magazine a professional feel. I think my magazine does not challenge music magazines in most ways, although by the way I have given the double page spread a more artistic flowing look it is different to those I have researched which were 'BLACK BEAT & 'BLENDER' double paged spreads however I still stuck to the same conventions. Looking at other real media products played an important part in developing my magazine as it helped me to develop ideas and create my own and gives my magazine its own identity that would stand out in the competitive music magazine market.

On my double page spread I have stuck to media conventions by putting the writing in columns. Also on my spread I have used the convention that I saw on other magazines by creating a white space to put the text against so it clear and easy to read. During my research I saw that on 'BLACK BEAT' and 'BLENDER's double page spreads the magazines logo or name was in the top corner, so to stick with this convention and give my magazine a realistic professional feel I have done but instead of be doing my logo I decided to just write the name of my magazine and issue number at the bottom right hand corner of my double page spread. My magazines contents page also conforms to media conventions found in print, It is typical looking with pictures on the page with quite alot of writing to show what will be in the magazine.

'BREAK OUT's contents page does however not have much continuity with my front cover which most real magazines try to have. However it does stick to conventions of contents pages by having a large title saying contents, and pictures of content from inside the magazine. Conventions of a music magazine front cover are such as a main image, a bar code, issue date and lure , many different fonts to add interest and a colour scheme. I think that my cover has all of these. I took a heavy influence from popular music magazine ‘Blender’ which has meant I have managed to keep my magazine to these conventions that make music magazines sell. The font on my cover is often different and has different colours , this is a convention used by 'Blender' magazine that helps to fill the space and give the magazine a young and unusual journalistic style. My main image does differ to usual media conventions seen on music magazines and the fact that the featured artist is not looking directly at the camera goes against the conventions that many magazine in the shops have. Although this is going against conventions I think that it makes my magazine stand out and gives a quirky and edgier look to my magazine that would attract my audience.

Q.How does your music magazine represent particular social groups?
A. 'BREAK OUT' represents the social group of teenagers between the ages of 15-19 that are into hip-hop/pop music. It does this through the mise-un-scene; the clothes that I have dressed my featured artist in are styles which relate to this age group. By her (featured artist) wearing bright colours represents that this social group have a bright , funky mode of address that can relate to my target audience (15-19) for example the picture taken of my featured artists shows that my intended target audience does not care about all the bad press their getting because they are not going to look you in the face and give you the satisfaction to bring them down, this is what my featured artist is trying to represent through the music magazine. The different font and colours of the font gives an artistic look to the page that relates to teens, as they like to think of themselves as artist (trend setters). On my contents page I have pictures of different types of artist that represent my magazine. However I do have pictures of my main artist at the bottom of the page with her holding a stereo to represent her musical interest, also it is to represent that she is not ashamed to go around holding a stereo if that is what gets people to know she is serious about music and I think that this represents what teens feel in society today. Also with in my double page spread the featured artist is showing her funky side in many of the pictures with the style of posing. There is one picture where she is knelt down and looking up into the camera which represents how youths feel today, with the sense that people are looking down at them however in another picture she is showing that she is ‘breaking out’ from that norm and she is sticking her hand out to show that she has broken out and is now starting to let people see who she really is. I think that the pictures being placed around the page and with the ‘ripped’ paper edges gives it a surreal look that appeals and represent youth social groups. The colours on the page are bright and ‘out there’ to go with the outfit that the featured artist is wearing , this I think represents more of the typical youth social group as they like to stand out and be seen as bright.

Q. What Kind of institution might distribute your music magazine and why?
The main institutions that may distribute my magazine would be music shops like HMV. As well as independent franchises in areas like Tottenham, Islington, South London, I think areas like these will find my magazine more appealing. Also shops like Borders which have a more varied selection of magazines would be good because it could be linked with other well known music magazines from around the world including America. I think this would be helpful to my magazine because the solo artist and news in my magazine wouldn’t just be from England , and if we had the connections with bigger magazines over from the USA then the reader could see that we had news and albums from around the world for example album reviews from American artist, this could work well because magazines like 'Vibe' and 'Blender' are sold in this country but still managed to 'Break Out' into many different independent shops because these types of magazines understand the psycho- graphics and demographics of their target audience. I don’t think it would be a great idea to sell my magazine because at train stations because now there are many free magazines and no one from my target audience is going to spend money for a train ride home when they can read a free newspaper with reviews on music. A print distributor that distributes similar magazine to mine style is Dorchester Media. Dorchester media is a UK publisher and it publishes magazines such as 'Black Beat' that my magazine has a very similar style too, it would in turn be the type of company that my magazine would be distributed by. Many people read an Dorchester Media publication so for my magazine to be published by this company would give my magazine a set reputation and would also be sent to all major suppliers meaning that it would reach a large audience.


Q. Who would be the audience for your music magazine and how did you address and attract the audience for your music publication?
A. The main audience of my magazine would be males and females aged 15-19 who have an interest in pop/hip-hop music. I created an artist for my magazine similar to those who are in the charts currently. This means as current chart music is usually popular among young males and females; it would be them my magazine would be selling too. I also have on my front cover made my featured artist who has a look that appeals to music fans of this age, she is wearing all bright colours with glasses that give her quirky, funky look that relates to my audience and would attract them to pick the magazine up, whereas someone slightly older people may look at her and consider that as she is young and dressed youthfully the magazine will not contain content of interest to them. V.V Brown is the artist I used to help me relate to what I wanted to do by using her as my guide line it helped me attract young females and males as they are her audience too. My front cover has a youthful look. It looks youthful from having the font in different sizes and colours.
On my contents page I have used images of other artists that are mentioned in my magazine. The font on this page is all in different colours, this gives the page a quirky look that is appealing to young males and females. On the strap line that is on my front page that is above my masthead which says ‘Its all about the music’ gives an impression that if you want to escape into a magazine that is all about music then my magazine is the one to read, it appeals to my target audience as they like the fact that they can escape into something. On my double page spread the look of the pages are very artistic. I think that this addresses my target audience as young people that are interested in the genre of music that my magazine is are also interested in art and through this would find my double page spread appeals to them. The picture of my featured artist would appeal to my target audience of 15-19 year olds as it gives a feel of escaping and they can relate to her by the way she is posed in the picture. The distorted and eroded masthead gives a broken look which relates to the title ‘Break Out’. This appeals to youth as it is a style they recognise from their era. My magazine may slightly appeal more to the female audience than male. This is because of the colours that I have chosen for my front cover, bright colours e.g. orange, pink, and yellow. The colour is light and feminine and may detour a male reader although it is for both male and females because there are things that can appeal to the male reader. I have made the contents page half black and half white so that if they do pick the magazine up and turn to the contents page it will show that it is not the theme of the whole magazine, but it will also shows that the magazine varies in style when you read through it which appeals to my target audience, as they like to change in their style.

Q.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of construction of this product?
A.To construct my magazine I used two different programs. I used Adobe Photoshop and Pages. I used Adobe Photoshop to edit all of my images, and construct my complete front page, and then I used pages to conduct my contents page and double page spread. Before I started to edit my picture of my featured artist for my front cover I had experimented with other pictures to see which suite best. I managed to create this after experimenting on Adobe Photoshop; I found that by brightening the picture it stood out on top of the black background on my front page. I found that this gave a bold effect that I had intended to go for. I used this effect of brightness and the bold effect on my images on my double page spread, although I did not edit to the full extent that I edited my front page picture. On Pages I also learned how to edit around the pictures, for example it gave the pictures a frame that created a rugged, ripped paper effect which came across as funky and quirky. I also learned how to put a picture behind the text so the text over laps the image in the background, I thought that this would give a unique look because most magazine that I read do not have this affect in it.
Also on pages I learnt how to move the pictures in between the text so it will let the text be placed around the images. Also with my contents page which I also done on pages I gave my 2 main pictures that cutting edge look , pages allowed me to make a text box so I can colour half my page black without making my whole page black , this allowed me to have a page half black and half white which a lot of magazine do not have. Also using pages I learnt that using a template to create your contents page or double page spread is not the best idea because it will restrict you from making the magazine your own.

Q. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
A. I feel that I have learnt a lot through my process whilst doing my preliminary task into my main task as I have been able to change any mistakes that I believed I made within the first task that have helped me with my second task. Mistakes that I made in the first task were things such as doing a school magazine that did not include a mid shot of a student , however the reason I done this was to go against the norm of usual school magazine . I wanted to show that school magazine didn’t need to have a picture of student to represent that it is a school, you could include other thing that can represent what kind of school it is. Also from not having the same amount of research that I had for my main task my preliminary task did not use as many media conventions for it as I did the main task, this again meant that my school magazine did not look as professional as my music magazine. I could not successfully make the magazine look busy AND professional so the magazine had quite a simplistic look which while suited being a school magazine, may not have been ideal as it was just aimed at school students who would have probably preferred a younger and more edgy look , the look I gave was more of an childish kind of look with the use of really bright colours , this will do well to attract students from year 7 -9 but however the year 10 -11 would have preferred something that referred to them a bit more , this then taught me that in my main task I need to represent every angle of my target audience not just a certain bit of it. When I came to my main task I was much more adventurous and managed to create a much busy look whilst keeping a professional feel to the magazine. I realised through research and looking back upon my preliminary that I could experiment with different and un-even fonts to add interest and give a more quirky look whilst staying with a professional finish. I was also much more adventures on my music magazine when it came to designing the pages , I realised in the progression from the preliminary that the design was done merely to show that it was a school magazine , however in my main task the design was done to show what interested my target audience. The stages from my prelimary task to my main task has differed in many ways, I learnt how to design and use colours in a way that it will connect with my target audience. What I did take on board whilst doing my premlinary task was the use of the bright different colours , I kept that idea and used it in my main task because I liked the idea and it connected with my target audience.