Post-Production; Evaluation of Magazine

Media Studies – 

Music Magazine Evaluation

Liam Goddard

Candidate Number: 6069

Centre Number: 36205

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

Conventions;

-On my double page spread I have followed the house style of ‘Q’ magazine as they have the ‘Q’ logo in the top left corner with a red banner that stretches across both pages, I have followed this by trying to stretch my title of the bands name across both pages at the top in a red font like ‘Q’ magazine. I have also gone with this layout as with the title being in the top left of the page the reader is instantly attracted to this as it is in our direct eye line. I have used the colour red intentionally as it is proven to raise the heartbeat of males so any male looking at this article on my double page spread will instantly take an interest into the article.

-My front cover has a plug, cover lines, one dominant photo, masthead, strapline and barcode. These are all uses of conventions of a music magazine as during my research I saw these used on ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘Q’ magazines. They are all used in certain unique ways for them to attract the target audience and keep them coming back for more with the next issues of the magazine, also draws them to specific information that the magazine holds about upcoming events and bands and news about the biggest and best bands. I have also challenged/developed a convention as the logo is in the top right with the mast head starting top left. I did this because I believe it attracts the audiences eye more when the logo is in the top right of the page and makes the masthead and logo look tidier then it does if the logo was in the top left with the masthead following it going across to the top right.

-On my contents page I haven’t really stuck to conventions as I have four pictures up the right hand side quite small with large writing down the left hand side of the information to what’s inside the magazine, therefore I have challenged the conventions. I have followed one convention however with the logo and title being in the top left, and spreading across the top like a banner. I have done this because it is direct eye line of the reader so you know what magazine you are reading and can understand what page you are reading too. I do not know why I have done this because normal conventions of a contents page would be one dominant image covering most of the page with small writing on the left hand side of information of contents. To improve on this I would make my pictures bigger, or just use one dominant picture and have smaller writing of contents in top left hand corner of the page.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

-My magazine represents the rock/metal social group due to the features I have included and purposely placed there. This is because if I used a picture of a boy band like ‘One Direction’ then this isn’t representing the social group in which I intend and not relevant of any purpose for my magazine for therefore, I have used a picture of a metal band on the front cover which my target audience will see in the shops and be instantly attracted to it.

-Also the logo of the eagle crest has a form of darkness and mysterious almost gothic like appearance to it which also helps represent this social group as this sort of thing being ‘gothic-like’ is stereotypical to this social group within todays society. Therefore I have used this purposely to add to my magazines USP and attract the correct target audience because you would expect to see this on a metal magazine whereas a pop magazine you would expect to see pictures more along the line of holiday, sunshine and celebs.

-Also fitting with the stereotype of my intended target audience and social group, I have used dark colours as these are also ‘gothic-like’ and attract my target audience when they would see the magazine on the shelf as they would look away if they saw a bright pink colour on it. Therefore I am keeping my magazine realistic, relative and simplistic to my target audience.

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

-I think that Future PLC would distribute my magazine as they currently distribute and own rights to/sponsor events and magazines which are similar, if not exact, to the genre that my magazine is about.

-Also because of this it would help Future PLC with ratings, profits and more customers as my magazine attracts the social group that Future PLC already covers therefore their customers will not have to look far for something new and also the magazine will be distributed to the correct places in the world as Future PLC currently distribute magazines of similar genres therefore it would be perfect for them to distribute my magazine as they know where to put it to sell.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

-The audience for my magazine is people who are into rock, metal and indie music and these genres are what my magazine includes with such things as information of bands within these genres and events etc.

-These people that enjoy these genres of music are stereotyped in todays society as ‘emo’s’, ‘goths’ and ‘moshers’ which all are supposed to have a form relativity to the music.

-This target audience usually ranges from roughly the ages of 13 to about 28. However, there some exceptions as there are some people who like this music all their life rather then it just be a ‘phase’ in their youth.

How did you attract/address your audience?

-I have attracted my target audience in a variety of ways ranging from language of the text to colour of font used.

-On my front page I have used a substantial amount of red colour font as this is proven to raise the males heartbeat and also meaning that males are instantly attracted to the red colour meaning it will catch their eye in the shop. Also my masthead is in the top left hand corner meaning that this is in our direct eye-line so anyone who walks past my magazine on the shelf will clearly be able to see the masthead. I have also used a relative magazine name as ‘Mastiff’ is a very dominant word that you would not find on the front of a girly teenage magazine therefore this helps attract my target audience as it is relative to their social group. Also my picture is of 3 out of 4 band members of my ‘made up’ band for this magazine and therefore this picture helps attracts my target audience as the clothes and facial expressions of my main photo is relevant to the genre because of the hoodies and coat that look like clothes worn of metal bands when they first start out whereas for example  a girly magazine of boy bands you would expect to see the boy band wearing scarves with vests and chino’s.

-On my contents page I have kept consistency to my front cover as I have used red font again to keep the audience interested within the magazine and what’s in the magazine. Also keeping with consistency is the positioning of the title and logo as they are in the same place so the audience can easily see what page they’re on and the logo of the magazine as a reminder to them so they know what magazine they are still reading.

-Something different however, are the pictures I have used on here as it is not just one main striking photo but it is four separate pictures. I have used these because each picture is a picture of the different band members so it is on the contents page as a clear viewing to who the main article is about, just like the main picture on the front cover. This is also done for promotional purposes put make sure the message and image of this new up-coming band is out across to their target market audience.

-I have kept some consistency on my double page spread as I have used red font colour on the title to this page. This red colour, as explained for my previous pages, helps to keep the reader interested. Also because my back ground is a murky dark green it also stands out and is clear to see. Also on this title  I have used the drop shadow effect which also helps it to stand out as it adds a slight mysterious look to my title drawing in the eyes of the reader to look at it. The title is positioned purposely in the top left hand corner so it is in the direct eye-line of the reader.

-Also I have used one main and very dominant photo. I have done this because one striking image is all you need for the audience to be able to take an interest and find out more about them. The visuals are the most effective part of promotion advertisements as if you think something doesn’t look good then you will not be interested and won’t go anywhere near it whereas if you think something looks good then you will be  interested and find out more about it.

-On here as well I have wrote a full article about my band however, I have made the font extremely small as this is a convention to all double page spreads in all magazines. Also it is on the far right hand side of the page as this are is not in the direct eye-line meaning it is not the most important part of the double page spread.

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

-I learnt quite a bit through the construction process as I have never used a green screen before. The green screen was simple to use as it was set up for us prior to the photo shoot so all I had to do was tell the models where I wanted them and take the pictures. During this I learnt about the lighting as there was a lot of natural light coming into the room which didn’t make the picture looks good as I had artificial lighting in the room as well therefore I shut the curtains to help block the natural light.

-I learnt a lot of editing techniques on Photoshop CS6 as well as I used the colour range option to get rid of the green straight away without having to rub it out or by use of the magic wand. This saved a lot of time and was also the best option as it was the most accurate to get rid of the green.

-Also during editing I played about with the colour range to edit the overall colour of my picture so it made it fit onto my page better because the lighting of the original didn’t suite it perfectly however after playing with the colours it looked fine.

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

-I have learnt about how effective conventions are and also learnt about different types of font, colours, layouts and photo’s can all be a factor of a very successful magazine.

-Also I have learnt about how absolutely everything on the magazine is purposely there to help it stand out to the target audience.

-I have learnt that one strong and effective photo is all you may possibly need to make the magazine stand out as the visuals are everything. I learnt this because it is used on every single magazine and makes the magazine stand out and look interesting therefore I have used it on my product as it makes it stand out and look good and is relative to my target audience.

Production; Double Page Spread

Production; Contents Page

Production; Front Cover

Prelim Task; Front Cover And Contents

Production; Photoshoot

These photos are the best of what I took during my photoshoot. Clearly some are not worthy of use because of facial expressions however, I may still have used those pictures under reasons of specific editing.

I will try and use this picture on my contents page however if I cannot for certain reasons like, doesnt fit, doesnt look right, not to my liking etc, then I will use it for my double page spread instead. I would prefer to use this for my contents page as I would like to use the four seperate pictures on my double page spread in a square effect.

Pre-Production; Photoshoot Plan

For my photo-shoot I will have four male models who will be dressed with t-shirt overlayed by either coat or hoody. This is so it fits my genre of music as many bands of this genre have always started out looking like so, as you can see in old pictures of the bands. My genre for the band I'm doing my article on, therefore taking pictures of, is metal-core. I chose to do this genre because I listen to this genre a lot in my spare time. I will take a few pictures from different angles, and I will be using these on my front cover, contents page and double page spread.

Pre-Production; Models, Equipment And Props

Models, Equipment and Props;

Models;

For my models I will have 4 boys, for my picture on the front cover as a picture to show the band that my main article is about. They will be dressed, as best as they can be, to look like members of a metal core band. I will take a couple of pictures of them to use one for my front cover and another for the double page spread.

Equipment;

-Camera

-Tripod

-Computer (Photoshop CS6)

-iMac (If necessary)

-Studio

Props;

-Guitar

-Bass

-Drum Kit

-Microphone and Stand

Pre-Production; Draft Article

Draft Article, Bring Me the Sun;

We’ve caught up with the new metal core band on the scene and leaking into the industry and pouring onto the stages. Their inspiration comes from other similar metal bands like ‘Asking Alexandria’ and ‘Bury Tomorrow’. Also inspiration lyrically comes from the band member’s childhood memories as they sing, shout and scream about the hard times they’ve been through battling drugs, social workers and friends slaughtered by local gangs.

They have been playing local festivals like ‘Fake Fest’, playing at ‘The Leopard’ and ‘Party At the Ponds’ for the past couple of years in hope of being scouted by a record label… This luckily for them happened earlier this year. As soon as Epitaph saw the band performing at ‘The Leopard’ they were soon to see them backstage after their set to start talks about a brighter future.

Tim, the vocalist, was quick to say yes to a visit over to the states to Epitaph’s studio’s. The rest of the band was too speechless to respond, but of course it was a no-brainer for them to go. 9 months on and they’re just putting the finishing touches to their first studio album recorded under Epitaph. They are to release their debut album ‘Two Worlds Collide’ on Friday the 15^th of March 2013, featuring their singles ‘Collide With The Ground’ and ‘A Dishonourable Reign’ which they performed at this years ‘Download’ festival.

They are also set to begin a tour of The States in summer 2013 and a tour of Europe in winter 2013. It is rumoured that confirmed dates of these tours are to be released within the next 4 months, also with ticket and venue information. It is also rumoured, at Epitaph, that across both tours there will be a massive total of two hundred thousand tickets for sale across 46 venues, working out at average four thousand tickets per venue, these are sure to be snapped up so make sure you get there first!

Pre-Production; Proposal

My product that I propose is a metal genre music magazine. The target audience for this magazine is fans of this genre of music, metal, metalcore, heavy-rock and alternative rock. The purpose of this magazine is to give information about bands who perform and compose this genre of music and advertise it to their fans and new-comer fans to the genre.

The package will contain a front cover, contents page and double page spread. The double page spread will consist of either an interview or album review of a metal band, probably either the band 'Pierce The Viel' or 'Bury Tomorrow'.



I will use Photoshop CS6, digital camera, tripod and possibly an iMac. These are very professional pieces of equipment that I luckily have at my disposal to aid me to make this music magazine. I will produce it within the grounds of the Armthorpe Academy, with an approximate budget of £7,500.

Pre-Production; Inital Ideas And Thoughts

Pre-Production; Logo Designs

These are just two designs I have so far thought of.

For the first design this is just simple lettering as it's the first step of a development process in making logo's. I wrote the 'M TAL' on one layer and the 'E' on a different layer which then I went into the transform options in photoshop and flipped the 'E' horizontally, hence why I placed it in there backwards. I like the 'E' being backwards because it's something different and looks quite querky to the human eye. The colour I do not think would suit my magazine as I my chosen colour scheme is red, black and white.

However my second design would be better suited for my magazine logo as the colour scheme with the font of the 'M' is to my preferred choice. Also I do like my second design better then the first as it is a crest of an eagle, these are commonly used to show dominance, power and significance within an organisation making them stand out. I also like they layout of it as the 'M' sits perfectly in place on top of it and also I think the font I've used on the 'M' is perect as it looks sophisticated, proffessional and makes that and the eagle crest look like an actual image and not something I've added.

Prelim Task; Mood Board

This is my mood board. It perfectly suits my intended target audience as it is for the genre of metalcore within the music industry. These are conventions into this genre of music.

Magazine Publishers/Distributors

The main publishers are Bauer Media, IPC Media and Future PLC. These are seen to publish many different magazines, of different genre's, worldwide to the general public. These consist of magazines based on gardening right through to music. Also some of these own the rights to radio stations and music channels that broadcast on a daily basis to the public for example, 4 Music.

Bauer Media
Bauer Media are a part of the Bauer Media Group, Europe's largest privately owned publishing group. Bauer Media joined Bauer Media Group in January 2008. They are a worldwide distributor and publisher and offer over 300 magazines to 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer are a UK-Based Multi-Platform company that employ approximately 6,400 people. Over the years they have launched magazines, music channels and radio stations and now own rights to over 80 brand names.  Their sister company is H Bauer, publishers of the UK's biggest TV listings, Take A Break and Bella.

IPC
IPC Media are similar to Bauer as they publish, distribute and own the rights to over 60 iconic brand names of magazines, TV listings and Events. Some of their most famous are NME, Nuts and their Women's Weekly magazines. Almost 2/3'rds of women and over 40% of men, in the UK, are engaged in some form by IPC Media. However, they engage with over 26 million users worldwide.

IPC have 3 publishing divisions called IPC Connect, IPC Inspire and IPC Southbank. IPC Connect is the publisher for IPC's women's magazines such as Now, Chat and Women. They also publish their TV Listings such as, TV Times. IPC Inspire deals with the publishing of IPC's male target audience for example, Mousbreaker website, Nuts and Rugby World. IPC Inspire also publish Country Life and Horse & Hound. Their last division is called IPC Southbank and these publish 'upmarket' women's fashion brands and lifestyle for example, InStyle and Ideal Home.

Future PLC
Future PLC were founded in 1985 on just a £10,000 bank loan. They started publishing just one magazine and now 27 years later produce over 200 specialist multi-media products across magazines, websites, apps and events. They operate in the UK, US and Australia. Future PLC engages with more than 38 million people a month. They are also the UK's number one ecporter and licensor of magazine content. They sell 2.2 million magazines every month and cover 89 countries on all platforms. Their most succesful products include, TechRadar (the UK's number one technology website), T3, MusicRadar and the Official Xbox Magazine.

Music Magazine Contents Page Analysis (2)

As we can the 'Q' logo is in the top left hand corner of the page. This is done purposely as we read from left to right therefore, it is directly in our eyeline. The background of the logo is coloured in red. Red has been scientifically proven to raise the males heartbeat. Also the menu column for the contents on the left hand side of the page is also background coloured in red. Red is usually portrayed as an aggresive and angry colour. This effectively suits this page because the main feature article photograph is of Richard Ashcroft from the band 'The Verve'. It is a very dominant picture and the red is effective because it helps to portray Richard Ashcroft's rock and roll music and lyrics of his era. Richard Ashcroft is seen to be holding his arms in the air like the Angel Of The North. This has a very evangelical style to it and shows his god-like status as a rock and roll artist. 

There is little writing on the page as it's a mens magazine and men are highly likely to just flick through the picture and scan read rather than stop to read every tiny bit of information on the page. Also there is only one column on this page down the left hand side of the page making it directly in our eye-line like the masthead at the top of the page. 

Music Magazine Double Page Spread Analysis (2)

This double page spread is about the band called 'The Vaccines'. As we can see, the picture of the band takes up just under three quarters of both pages. This is so we know who the article is about and also because they do not have much information on the band to go across two pages so they cram it onto one page and put it in really small font to make it seem like there is a lot of information.

The colour scheme to this double page spread is rather interesting as there is use of dark colours and light colours. The overall colour use on this though is neutral colours, like the white and light blue. These contrast with the colours in the picture nicely and attract the eye to the picture rather then the information. Three of the band members are wearing quite dark coloured clothes and the one member at the front is wearing a lightly coloured shirt, perhaps this is to signify importance of each band member.

The title is in block capitals and in black font so it stands out from its background to attract the audiences eye to it so we know who the picture is about. The language and content of the article is highly relative and refers to things in a sense of humour that your average teenager wouldn't understand. This language is more for a sophisticated and educated person who would be classed in todays society as a 'seen kid' or an 'emo'. This is because it refers to things that not many people know alot about, things that also in todays society are classed as 'underground' and not 'mainstream'.

Music Magazine Double Page Analysis

Double Page Spread of 'Asking Alexandria'.

The picture on the mid-bottom left is being used as he is the Vocalist for the band, Asking Alexandria. It's being used because the magazine it's in will be perfectly suited for the audience who will recognise him. Also the Main Title 'Stand Up and Scream' is the name of one of their albums. This could be used to help promote the album to it's intended audience helped along with the picture of the band member to give you an insight on what the album contains. The dark picture in the back ground is the photo used for their album cover, meaning this page is fully connected and relevant to help promote their album as it has the picture and the title right next to each other with a picture of a band member to help show off a bit.  

Also the title it in huge font and white with a 'spray can' effect to help it stand out to the audience, which I think it does quite well. The 'And' in the title is coloured in with Her Majesty's Union Flag as they are from Britain, York in fact. This helps to build a picture of them if someone reads through this magazine and has never bought this magazine before or heard of the band before, helping promote themselves to even the new-comers of this genre of music, metal core.

Layout of this double page spread is simple but affective. This is because the positioning of the picture is directly in our eye-line and the title stands out where it is because the audiences eye is drawn to it. Also the time line at the bottom is a nice feature to have so people can see how long they've been about for and what they've been doing like recording studio albums, touring etc.

Music Magazine Contents Page Analysis

Contents Page from 'Kerrang!' Magazine.

As expected for this genre of music (Rock, Indie, Metal etc) the contents page has use of very dark and neutral colours. The full top half of this page is basically black, this is because the picture of 'Slash' is very dark because of his clothing and his genre of music he is involved in, heavy metal. The picture of 'Slash' stands out because the colour scheme brings him to life and draws him to our eye. Also the font and pictures of the contents on the left hand side is very small so it does not stand out. This means that they are using 'Slash' as their Unique Selling Point (USP). This is because we all know that 'Slash' is a huge figure in the Rock and Roll industry making him the perfect person for this audience reading the magazine.

The bottom half of magazine is mainly white, this could be because of the black at the top of page, black and white contrast very well and give a nice effect on they eye. Also it could be used in a colour code way because the black is all for 'Slash' and the white is covering extra information of what's included in the magazine.

The layout is very simplistic as the information in the top half is on the left hand side because we read from left to right, helping it to stand out. Also along with the whole colour scheme idea I believe that the little sub-titles in yellow are linked to the main title 'CONTENTS' as this is also in yellow font. Also 'THIS WEEK' is wrote in yellow meaning this has a connection as 'Kerrang!' is a weekly magazine.

Analysis/Conventions of a Music Magazine Front Cover

Music magazines usually consist of one main dominant picture on the front cover of a band or artist. This is so our eye is drawn to it so we look at the magazine and try to recognise the artist/band. Also with music magazines I have noticed that the masthead is spread across the top of the music like a banner on a website.

Another convention of a music magazine is that next to the dominant picture there is the main cover line that is always in bold font relevant to the picture. This is usually the name of the band/artist so people who don’t recognise them know who they are.

 

A convention of the content of this sort of magazine is that there are always posters of bands that are featuring in an article in the magazine to help promote themselves. A lot of the time there are always interviews with band members inside about things like how their tours going or how their new studio album is coming along.

Also inside music magazines will be a chart update and album updates. Obviously these charts will depend on the genre of the music magazine. Like we wouldn’t expect to see One Direction at the top of the Heavy Metal charts.

The layout of music magazines is also quite similar with the masthead across the top, one main picture with main cover line across the low middle of the front cover and then the barcode tucked nicely into the bottom right hand corner.

Primary Research Questionnaire Results

These are my results collected from my questionnaire I created for my class-mates to answer.

1)      What colours would you expect to see for a rock/pop punk/ metal magazine?

       Dark (5), Black White Blue, Dark Black,

2)      Would you expect to see very dominant image use of only a few people in this magazine?

       Yes (6)

3)      Would you expect to see a house style?

 Yes (7)

4)      How much would you expect this type of magazine to cost?

        £4 (2), £2-£3 (5),

5)      Would you expect to see more images than text, or not?

        More Images, Equal (6)

6)      How often do you buy music magazines?

        Monthly (3), Don’t/Never (4)

7)      How much would you be willing to pay for a music magazine?

£1 - £3  (1)     £3.01 - £5 (6)      £5.01 - £7 (1)    £7.01+