Music Magazine

QUESTION 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

QUESTION 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

QUESTION 3-What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think the media institution which is best to distribute my magazine is Prometheus Global Media. They are the company which distribute The Hollywood Reporter media group who then distribute Billboard magazine, they are also known for Adweek, Backstage, Film Journal International as well as The Hollywood Reporter. These are all big parts of media.

The Hollywood Reporter is a multiplatform American media brand. They focus on all stars and artists that are Hollywood worthy, As the Hollywood Reporter on the Billboard magazine I think they would be perfect for my magazine as they will know exactly who to target and how to target them. Although my magazine is similar to Billboard I believe they are also different in many other aspects. I focus on more personal and young artists stories, whereas Billboard are very wide ranged and focus on all aged artists and theirs is majority music based rather than articles on personal lives of the artists. The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard magazine are part of Guggenheim Media's Entertainment Group; they make big investments into the magazines distribution, I would like my magazine to be a part of this group as it would receive my media product great publicity. I like how much they promote over social media and at such high class. The Billboard magazine is seen as royalty in the music magazine world as it is owned by such high media institutions. I think this is perfect for my magazine as it could reflect with the Billboard magazine and please all the same audiences. The Billboard magazine has been around for 121 years and people may be beginning to get tired of it and my media product being brought out may add something new on the market for the younger readers and something they can relate to a lot more.

However as the Billboard magazine is a popular one, I understand that it may over rule my magazine and there could be potential issues, but I do not think they would be a big concern as people may grow fond of the intimacy my magazine gains with music artists.

QUESTION 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

QUESTION 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

QUESTION 6- WHat have you learnt about the technologies from constructing this product?

QUESTION 7-Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

After looking through my media product and considering my preliminary task, I feel as though my media product reaches the requirements. I feel I have improved massively from my school magazine and that there is a clear change to my completed music magazine.

FRONT COVER

In my opinion I feel that my front cover has all the requirements and conventions of a magazine front cover. I believe I have included as many aspects from the conventions as I possibly could. I think I have improved massively in my preliminary task from my school magazine cover to my music magazine cover. My school magazine front cover is simple and messy if I am honest. I think I had minimal thought about the colour scheme and how to position the masthead and cover lines. I used pic monkey rather than photoshop and did not play around with different layouts. I also put the text on through pic monkey limiting my options of fonts and colours. I used a simple font from pic monkey for my masthead, leaving it in black with a slight white shadow effect around it to help it stand out slightly. My cover lines are then in black, white and navy. I think this looks messy as I have not arranged them carefully enough to make them reflect on one another. I have also used all the same fonts for them. My main cover line is also in the same font and in white it is just a little bit larger than the other cove lines, however I have placed another cover line in white just above it on the right not allowing it to stand out. It is very unclear that it is my main cover line which I think would affect its ability to sell massively. I have put my price in pink in the top right hand corner I think this stands out but is a random colour to use and does not connect with my cover at all.

When making my music magazine cover I did a lot of research of Billboard magazine covers. I looked for reoccurring features and patterns and how one cover varied from another. This allowed me to then choose how to style my magazine cover and what to include. I choose to go with a grey/black/white theme. These colours are all very similar and complement one another; grey is made from black and white so it was a colour that fitted in between them both so the colours weren’t so extreme in distance.

For my main image I made sure my model was dressed in the colours I was using, so therefore she has a black bodycon dress on with a fluffy bottom. I did her makeup with a smoky eye effect for her eye-shadow; this allowed her to connect with the colour scheme. I placed her in front of a white backdrop, and then changed the brightness, highlights and shadows to create a greyish effect for the background.

For my masthead I used a font which looked like the pattern on a record to go with the music theme. I then put it in black as it was the darkest colour and would mean it would stand out the most. I then placed in a smaller and in Arial font the date of my magazine. This was simple and did not overwrite any of the other text but is still visible. I then placed my cover lines around the model in the main image, using two different fonts and having every other cover line in the same font, I kept them all in black font, and this showed range and was more interesting to look at than to have them in all the same boring text. My cover line was then in a swirly font and larger than all the other cover lines and in white. I placed it across the main image model, to make it evident it was based on her. I then put in a light grey underneath then white text a smaller quote from the article to give the audience an idea on what it is about and to intrigue them. In the right hand bottom corner I placed a grey triangle which was a mix of dark and light grey. In black small text I placed text promoting a competition. This allowed it to stand out without taking focus away from the main cover line, it also made it separate and obvious it was different to the other cover lines. Like every magazine in my left hand bottom corner I put the barcode and in a simple black small font the price, so it was visible but not overtaking.

I think overall my cover shows improvement and development from my school magazine. It shows I have done a lot more research and practice with different programmes to create it. My photography skills have also improved and my main image looks professional, also compared to my school magazine it shows I have taken a lot more time and preparation into getting the perfect photo from even the finest details. I took a lot more time in the planning and every part was done separately and then brought together. My colour scheme was well thought about and my positioning of every part shows that it was well thought about.
To improve I could have taken even more time on planning my cover and to make it look more professional, for example my cover lines could be in a more range of fonts and fitted better to the page. Also the colour scheme could be a bit brighter to make my magazine more eye catching due to it will be up against many other magazines. Also my main cover line could be made to be more clearer, due to the contrast in the models dress and the background the main cover line had to fit on the model so it was visible, this could be changed by making the background darker or using a different colour that fits on both of them. However I am happy with the overall outcome.

SCHOOL MAGAZINE COVER-

MUSIC MAGAZINE COVER-

CONTENTS-

My school magazine content’s is very simple and bland. I edited the images on my contents on Picmonkey which limited my choices of effects and edits. I then created my cove on publisher which limited my choices in editing and colours and fonts. My masthead is very subtle and simple; it is in white and just in a larger font than the rest of the text. For my sections I have used the same font as my masthead and the same colour. Despite the masthead being able to stand out due to its size it is not that eye catching due to the sections being the exact same just slightly smaller. They are also poorly laid out as they look messy and are also all different sizes. I think this looks unclear and non-aesthetic to audiences. Also on the images I have places two cover lines, on the second image the text is in black and is extremely unclear, this would make audiences not want to buy my magazine as it is difficult to read. My images are also very simple and armature; meaning it does not look professional and would make audiences not want to waste their money in buying it. However for a first attempt I think it does include basic features, but it does look very rushed and unplanned.

My music magazine's contents show development and planning. I did all of the creating and editing on Photoshop which opened my resources up massively. First I had to choose my images and delete their backgrounds so they fitted on to the contents well, apart from the large image as the background is a part of the image. After doing this I then choose a background which fit with my colour scheme, so I choose light grey and white diagonal stripes. I used a bold font from ‘dafont’ to use for the masthead. This meant the text would not be the same to any on Photoshop and that it would stand out against the rest of the text. I made it black as this stood out the most on the background and was the most bold.

I then put each section in a different pink, as my main cover line is based on a female, like Billboard I dedicated the magazines colour scheme to that week’s feature. I think the use of different pinks for sections helped them stand out and allowed them to be clear to read. I used three images to intrigue my audience. By having these images it made the contents more vivid and interactive. I put my main cover line model at the top and with her section the largest to make it clear she was still the main feature. Then by the other images I had their sections larger than the other sections but still smaller than the main ones to make sure they stand out.

I like my contents as it is vibrant and looks interesting to look out from the background and the range of colours. I also think it contains all of the conventions of contents pages and also shows improvement from my school magazine. It shows I have took a lot of care into the positioning and colour scheme and what images I want to place on it and how things are perceived by my audience.

To improve I would lay the text out in a different order and have the images on the inside as some of the text is close to overlapping the others which would be seen as unclear and messy. Apart from that I am very happy with the final outcome.

SCHOOL MAGAZINE CONTENTS

MUSIC MAGAZINE CONTENTS

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

This was my first time creating a double page spread. So it took a lot more research and planning than the rest of my magazine features. I looked mainly at Billboards double page spread. They focused one page on an image and the other on text. However I chose to use half a page for an image and still include text on the page as it would make audiences feel like they are getting a lot more for their money and that it was a long interview they are reading about and nothing was cut out. I used a pink tie-dyed background as it fitted my artist’s persona. I then used a swirly text for the masthead as it was girly and suited the interview. I placed this in two parts across the top of the left page. In between the two parts I placed an image of the artist looking fierce and mysterious. This would intrigue the audience to want to read on. I then used a quote from the interview as a subheading to give a taster of what she was going to be saying, this would catch reader’s attention and make them want to find out why she has said this.

I included a short introduction about my interview to let the readers who were oblivious to who she is know who she is and to inform those who know who she is of what is to come. I used a drop capital for the first letter to help it stand out and show a range and to make it look more interesting.

I placed my article in the format of question, answer. Using grey for the questions and black for the answers meant it still fit in with my magazines whole colour scheme and I also feel like this still fitted with the colour scheme of the double page spread and actually worked quite nicely.

I also included an image of her and her boyfriend to make the article relatable and to make the audience have shared knowledge with the interviewer. This makes the interview a lot more interactive and understandable.

I also included her YouTube channel to promote her and to also let audiences know where to listen to her and where to find her. This is also interactive as it gives an afterlife of the interview as it will let people follow her journey and hear the music she is speaking about where it is released.

To improve I would have made my masthead and subheading more interesting and make the page look more creative as I think this makes it look quite bland. I would also use a different font for the text as I think this text is very subtle and not much too it.

Despite all this as my first attempt of a double page spread I think this turned out the best out of all three of my preliminary tasks as it looks the most professional.

MUSIC MAGAZINE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD