Final Post

This is my completed Media coursework. It includes the research, planning, application and evaluation, to create a music magazine.

Evaluation Q7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from this task to the full product?

Since creating my college magazine I have learnt new skills and collected new ideas which have helped me to improve and create my music magazine. I now have a better understanding of the layout of magazines, and how the use of layers can help a magazine to engage the reader. I have also learnt that lighter colour schemes such as grey, blue and black are more visually engaging than black and blue. This also increases the visual appeal of my magazine. I have also increased my knowledge of the conventions of magazines, with my music magazine having a much stronger brand identity than the college magazine. I also used a more colloquial mode of address for my music magazine, and I am therefore more likely to engage with the target audience.
I have also learned to use more programs with my main project, such as Adobe Photoshop and SlideShare, than I had with my college magazine which has allowed me to express my ideas more creatively.

Evaluation Q6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have used a variety of programs and technologies in creating my music magazine, some I had used before and others that I had not. By using them I have improved my project and feel confident in using them in the future to help with work then.
I completed this project on two computers; the Apple Mac which was used in lessons and my own Acer laptop which I used at home. I took all of my photos with my Canon Digital ixus 9015 camera.

These photos were cropped and edited using Adobe Photoshop CS3, a program that I had not used before and now feel confident using.

The research, final magazine and evaluation of my magazine were all posted onto a website called Blogger, a blogging website which sets out all the work I have done for my project. This has given me an interactive platform to show my music magazine.

My music magazine itself was made using the program Adobe inDesign CS4, as was my student magazine for the preliminary project. I had never used this program before, and I found it a very useful creative tool. It allowed me to convert my ideas that I had for my R&B magazine into a real magazine. I learnt about the different layers a magazine uses, as well as how to layout the piece.

One example of a program I had used before was Microsoft Word. I used Word to type out the text of my double-page spread, as well as to write the treatment, action plan and evaluation, as it is the easiest program when writing text. This text was then copied over to Blogger and posted online.

I also used Microsoft PowerPoint to create a presentation on ‘How to create a questionnaire for a music magazine’, which I then turned into an interactive production using SlideShare.

In order to get people to complete my questionnaire, I posted on my Facebook and Twitter pages in an attempt to gain more feedback.

I created the questionnaire using www.surveymonkey.com, which collects the information. I then turned this feedback into graphs using Microsoft Excel.

As you can see, I have used a variety of technologies and programs to create my magazine, with this experience making me confident and capable with all of them.

Evaluation Q5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract my target audience, the mode of address for double-page spread is spelt in the way it would be said by an R&B star (eg. want to > wanna) in order to make the magazine appear youthful and cool. It is also important to ‘hook’ the potential customer with the front cover, as 70% of people buy their magazines in the spur of the moment. For this I have chosen the main image of a self-assured artist to connote that this magazine features popular figures. The colour scheme is very calm and inviting, whereas had I chosen stronger colours such as black and red the magazine could have been viewed as aggressive. I have also used a puff in order to entice more readers to buying the magazine, as the choice of which festivals to go to is a common dilemma for teenagers who do not have lots of disposable income. I also asked my target audience throughout the magazines production what the thought of it, and the analysis of my final magazine can be seen below.

Evaluation Q4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my magazine is predominantly teenagers of both sexes aged 16-21. The unique selling point against its competitors is that it focuses on up-and-coming or breakthrough artists rather than more established artists, meaning it is more likely to appeal to alternative personality types. That being said, R&B is quite a mainstream industry, so this will hopefully bring in a wide range of customers. One could argue that his magazine would appeal more to young black people, or people of an urban background, but I am hoping to target a mixture of races and social backgrounds. I will keep the price at a relatively cheap, competitive level, as the audience for this magazine will have a limited amount of disposable income. They will either have to rely on money from their parents or a part/full time job so they will want a magazine that is affordable. They are likely to be the sort of person who enjoys lyrical music, and wears NewEra flat caps and sweatpants. Their free time is likely to be spent playing basketball and going out socially.

Evaluation Q3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think that an institution such as Time Inc. would be the best institution to distribute my magazine. Time Inc. are a subsidiary of the media conglomerate Time Warner, and as a company publish over 130 magazines. Their UK-based front is called IPC Media. I chose these because they are the UK’s largest distributers with a 20% market share, which would mean they could provide stability and financial backing for my magazine. They already distribute various other successful music magazines, such as NME, which shows they are capable of doing a job. They also distribute the most successful R&B music magazine in the US/UK, ‘Vibe’ which shows that they have the experience to manage a music magazine. The main difference between my ‘Beats’ magazine and ‘Vibe’ is that my magazine focuses on new, breakthrough artists rather than more established artists in Vibe, so I do not believe they would be in competition, more that they could work off each other depending on the interests of the reader.
I also considered the Bauer Media Group, a large German publishing company based in Hamburg. They are a private publishing company which has been owner by the Bauer family for over 125 years, and publish the successful music magazines ‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang’. They also have a worldwide weekly readership of 38million. I decided against choosing the Bauer Media Group because their music magazine experience seems to be more in the rock/heavy metal category, and they have a lower UK market share than IPC Media.

Evaluation Q2 - Does your media product represent a particular social group?

I have chosen to compare this image of Jay-Z from XVibe magazine with the front cover of my magazine to explain how my magazine represents a particular social group.

Whilst the poses that Jay-Z and D-MONEY are striking are different, they both suggest confidence. Both of their facial expressions are neutral, however it is their body language which suggests confidence. Both men are wearing relatively plain clothes, with the accessories being the main expensive features of their dress. D-MONEY is wearing FCUK shades, Dre Beats and a Rolex watch, and Jay-Z is wearing a solid gold chain, a Rolex and a personalised NewEra hat. Their hairstyles are similar, and they are the same ethnicity which helps to connote the idea of D-MONEY being an R&B star. Overall I believe that my image does not represent a normal teenage appearance, as I do not believe that average teenager would dress with such expensive accessories. However in terms of the representation of an R&B superstar, I believe that the representation is quite similar. This confidence from D-MONEY helps to promote the magazine, with fans identifying with his personal self-confidence as a performer which will endear him to them.