Magazine Evaluation

Rob Northover

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Front Cover
My magazine masthead is a plain impact font which is multi-coloured in red, green and yellow. Most real media products use a single colour for the masthead but I have used the three colours as they fit into the mise-en-scene of the reggae genre and appeal to my target audience. The clash magazine has used a plain white masthead which unlike my magazine they have layered the masthead over the artist. My main image of the featured artist is him staring directly to the camera as a mid-shot. I have used one main image as it was popular in my questionnaire. This is the same as on the front cover of Clash magazine but they have used a medium close-up, also they have their main cover-line central at the bottom of the page as have I. However I have used a red and green background with a dark shadowing keep with the reggae colours of red green and yellow that are prestigious in the reggae genre. Where Clash magazine have used bright colours to show the happy nature of the artist and connect with the audience better. The cover-lines on the clash magazine are along sides of the front cover as are mine however I have used a wooden background from my use of Photoshop. Both magazines have used the rule of thirds which means the main image is clearly visible with the cover lines easy to read. Both magazines have used a header and a footer. They are used in real media products to create an overview of what will be in the magazine or to inform the audience of something in the magazine. My header is used to describe the genre of the magazine Reggae Ska Dub, where as Clash magazine are promoting the free CD included in the magazine.
Header Masthead Bar Code Main Image

Cover-lines Rule of Thirds

Main Cover-line Footer

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Contents Page
Both contents pages have similarities in which they develop the conventions of real media products, my magazine Calypso takes inspiration from the standard Clash magazine contents page layout. The plain grey background make the colours stand out and is easily visible. Anchored to the images is a small light grey font informing the audience of the nature of the article. I have continued to the Red, Green and Yellow colour scheme which dominated my front cover. Like the Clash magazine contents page, I have used the rule of thirds to divide my page, which makes the page easier to read in the audiences perspective. My main image is towards the top right of the page and is the largest image on the page which shows that it is the main feature of the magazine. I have chosen to use an artist review as my main feature because from my questionnaire it was a popular choice of what the audience would like to read about. At the bottom of the page I have a fashion section as many other magazines use and is included in the Clash Magazine. I have used a custom shape in Photoshop as a pointing hand to the features of the fashion section. I have also used a graffiti looking font which fits in with the reggae genre. Along the left hand side of the magazine I have included the features and articles with page references in the colour scheme. I have used a grab quote of an article to show the audience of what is included in the article.

Title Page Reference

Main Image Anchored Text

Grab Quote

Cover Title

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Double Page Spread My double page spread continues the reggae genre with the red, yellow and green colours. I have used the rectangle tool in InDesign to create a background for my article. The NME article of Lily Allen has a plain background so that the title of the article which is a grab quote will stand out from the page. I have used a grab quote which is commonly used in music magazines in the middle of my article. I have used text wrap around the middle of my article with the most impactful words in a larger font to catch the readers eye. Both articles begin with the use of Drop Caps, this shows the beginning of the article and is easily viewable by the audience. In the two articles the main image is on the right hand side of the article. Both images have the artist looking directly at the camera to get closer to the audience. Title Grab Quote Text Wrap Sub - Title Drop Caps Article

Planning
Planning was key to creating a cover, contents and double page article. I was able to analyze and understand the codes and conventions of real media magazines, this gave me an insight on what techniques to use whilst creating my music magazine. I made drafts of my cover, contents and double page article. However these drafts were only a rough outline and my final pieces do not completely reflect them but they were helpful for me because I could see what worked and what didnt work. Using a questionnaire helped me to define what needed to go into the magazine to appeal to my target audience. I Looked at the laws of media to make sure I did not break any of the laws. E.g. Privacy and accuracy (codes 1 & 2 in the editors code of practice). This helped to make my magazine resemble a real music product.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups

My magazine represented a range of different ages and cultures. My magazine included artists and articles that were aimed at 16 21 year olds and others that were aimed at people who were 35+ I have represented both sides of young artists in which they have an exterior that people see and an inside that is explored by my media product. This was because my questionnaire revealed that people would like to hear about new artists. I made my magazine to fit with a wide range of audiences because the responses from my questionnaires showed that a wide range of people enjoyed reggae.

Stern Exterior showing his rough exterior

Old and New artists for all generations of audiences

A contrasting smiling picture from the front cover.

Older generations music interests so a range of different audiences will be interested in the magazine

Young white artist staring straight at the camera to show the intimacy between celebrity and audience Displaying his progression and his determination to get better. This represents him as a good role model

Although the genres of Reggae Ska and Dub is mainly known for its black roots and Jamaican heritage. I have included both Black and Whit artists in my magazine.

3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
IPC would be likely to distribute my magazine because there is not a UK reggae magazine that stands out in the market which would give them an opportunity to create another source of profit and they have experience in distributing alternative music magazines such as NME. NME magazine has bee at the forefront of music magazines for over fifty years, it has a circulation of 40,948 (January June 2009) and is well known around the world. From their track record since 1952, they would be perfect to distribute my music magazine.

Bauer could also possibly distribute my music magazine as their knowledge in the music magazine field covers a wide range of genres compared to IPC, with magazines such as Kerrang, Mojo and Q. However their knowledge of the market still does not match up to the award winning work of IPC.

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

Age: 16 30 year olds. Social Class: B/C1 (Monthly magazine with the availability to buy other features of the music magazine such as downloads and festival tickets etc.) Gender: Male Ethnicity: Any ethnicity but predominantly black Physcographic Profile : My target audience will not be mainstream because reggae ska and dub are not part of the mainstream category. They will appreciate the music for what it is and not the image of the music.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Before I created my magazine I made a questionnaire and the feedback from the questionnaire was that my target audience wanted to see reviews from old and new artists so I have included old artists such as Junior Murvin and The Clash along side new artists such as Skream and The Dirty Heads.

 I used the reggae colours of Red Green and Yellow to attract my audience as from what I learned from my questionnaires is that the image surrounding reggae was a main incentive to read my magazine. I also used a graffiti tool in Photoshop to relate to the working class background of the reggae genre.

 In my feedback questionnaire some answers that were given why they were attracted to my magazine were:
Striking Reggae colours Interesting Artists/Articles Easily readable Eye Catching Fashion Section New top 10 Chart

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

Through the use of Photoshop I was able to use the custom shape tool to create a recycle sign for my bar code on my front cover.

I changed to colour balance on my contents main image on Photoshop with a blue tint to get rid of the white background.

I used the effects such as drop shadow, inner glow and bevel and emboss on the computer software Adobe InDesign to make some parts of my magazine to stand out from the page and catch the readers eye.

I have used the drop cap tool on Adobe InDesign to begin my article I have enlarged the font to 16 pt where the font is normally 12pt.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From my evaluation questionnaire it is clear that Calypso magazine is more appealing to an audience and would be the main choice of the two magazines.
Use of drop shadow makes the title stand out from the page on my music magazine compared to my student magazine. My main image has been cut out from its background from using the polygon lasso tool in Photoshop this makes my image have a consistent background colour.

Changing the colour balance on Photoshop made my plain background of my main image to a lighter blue colour that fits with my magazine contents page where as my picture stands out without effects and looks plain in my student magazine I included more pictures in my magazine with anchored texts to make It look more like a real media product. As my student magazine had little text and random pictures which looked disorganised.