The document is an evaluation of the student's media magazine project. It discusses how the magazine uses and develops conventions from inspiration magazines Kerrang! and Classic Rock. It analyzes the codes and conventions used on the front cover, contents page, and double page interview spread. The student explains the photography planning and choices made. Audience feedback is discussed, suggesting improvements like adding borders, focusing on music stories, and making the website link more noticeable. Overall the summary analyzes and discusses the codes, conventions, and design choices used in the student's magazine project.
2. In what ways does your Media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The magazine, across the 4-pages, ârepeatsâ (Steve Neale) codes and conventions
from my magazines of inspiration Kerrang! and Classic Rock. These two magazines
are contrasting in how they choose to present their magazine to their choice of
target audience. Whilst Kerrang! uses a multitude of colours, font styles and
pictures to present their magazine, Classic Rock seems to have a more formal
approach towards reaching their target audience through the use of basic font
styles and colour scheme with few pictures. This juxtaposition was important in
producing my own music magazine because I could see the effectiveness of using
different techniques to produce a music magazine of the same genre.
For my front cover, I made sure to include codes and conventions such as:
⢠Masthead
⢠Cover lines
⢠Main image
⢠Barcode
⢠Date/Price
⢠Issue number
⢠Strapline
⢠Social networking links
⢠Website
⢠Puff
I also added to the codes and conventions in my contents page:
⢠Page numbers
⢠Editorial
⢠A subscription offer for the audience
⢠Features
To produce my front cover I mainly repeated codes and conventions from Kerrang!
magazine as I found their magazine more eye-catching and appealing than Classic
Rockâs. Therefore I thought this sort of design would be suitable for my target
audience. For example, the masthead of my magazine was inspired to look similar
to Kerrang!âs by using dafont.com to find a unique style that would conform to the
rock genre. The placement and design of my magazineâs barcode, price, date and
issue number has also been repeated from Kerrang! as it is simple and clearly
displayed in the same place for the audience to easily notice.
The puff of my magazine was designed in a similar fashion to Kerrang!âs, along
the bottom of my front cover, because it displays simple extra bits to
encourage my target audience to buy my magazine.
My contents page was also briefly inspired by Kerrang!âs contents page as I
designed my editorial with a similar layout. I did this because I thought its
placement was big enough to make it noticeable yet small enough to not take
away the main focus of my contents page subscription offer and features
contained in my magazine as a whole.
On the other hand, my double page spread was largely inspired by Classic Rock
because I found that the layout was basic yet effective at achieving
professional looking codes and conventions which made it easy and enjoyable
for the audience to read. Also, the use of âstar appealâ (Richard Dyer) of a
celebrity covering the whole of one of the two pages could catch the attention
of potential audience members who flick through magazines as the large
image is conspicuous. I also edited my main image to be black and white like
Classic Rock did as evident in the images below.
There are examples of some âdifferenceâ, however, in terms of the forms and
conventions in my own media product for example, in my front cover I
included social networking links to both Facebook and Twitter which neither of
my magazines of inspiration did. However I included this convention because it
allows me to connect with a broader audience online, which is where most of
my target audience discover new music.
Some of the design for my contents page was created in an original way
compared to my magazines of inspiration as it didnât require as many cover
lines and pictures to attract an audience.
For my double page spread I included the names of the editor, photographer
and stylist and I differentiated between the questions and answers in my
interview by using different colours.
3. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
The denotation of representation is the action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone, however in this context it
relates to whether I have material in my magazine that appeals to various social groups such as âChavsâ, âGothsâ, âEmosâ,
âNerdsâ, âHipstersâ etc. As my magazine is devoted to the Rock genre, I believe it appeals to the social groups of âEmosâ,
âGothsâ and âScene kidsâ because it features famous bands from this genre such as Linkin Park, Paramore, Young Guns,
Foo Fighters and Evanescence which would appeal to them. Also, I believe that my magazine would attract socio-
economic groups such as D and E because it could act as a âdiversionâ (Katz) away from their busy academic and
manual lives and therefore, they can gain some entertainment for a little while. In addition, the majority of my target
audience from group D would be students, so perhaps reading a rock magazine like Revolution could help them to be
âsocial climbersâ (Maslow) in school which would enable them to gain popularity. Furthermore, they could also become
âexplorersâ (Maslow) because rock music is one of the most prominent music genres to listen to, therefore as my target
audience focuses on teenagers (Hartley), they are more likely to be influenced into reading a rock magazine that all of
their friends and their school are reading. My magazine also provides my readers with a âwindow into the worldâ
(Wendy Helsby) of what rock âstarsâ (Richard Dyer) lives are like as celebrities which would interest them because
Hayley Williams features in the worldwide famous band Paramore which many of my teenage audience would know;
therefore they could view her as a role model and want an insight into life in the music business.
The magazine, across the 4-pages, helps provide female rock artists with positive representation because it creates
âdifferenceâ (Steve Neale) to the usual style of rock magazines such as Kerrang! and Classic Rock which usually feature
mostly male celebrities as their main image on their front covers. Having a female artist represented on a rock
magazine would encourage females, to buy my magazine because female teenagers who enjoy rock music are able to
âpersonally identifyâ (Katz) with the âstarâ (Dyer), Hayley Williams, who has managed to become very successful despite
being a female in a mostly male dominated music business. Therefore, this goes against the expectations an audience
would place on a rock magazine which would encourage them to read it because itâs unique.
4. What kind of media institution (Publisher) might
distribute your media product and why?
From the research that was completed pre-production, I would envisage that Bauer
Media group may publish âRevolutionâ because they are well-known for building a
âpersonal relationshipâ (Katz) with their audiences which is what I have aimed to do with
my target audience by including a âstarâ (Richard Dyer) that I believe they could relate to.
The similarities of my magazine to âKerrang!â, such as the design and placement of the
promotions, âsignifiesâ (De Saussure) that Bauer may distribute my magazine because the
use of similar codes and conventions could attract an audience of the same sub-genre
which would lead them to believe that my magazine could potentially be just as
successful as a well-known published magazine like Kerrang!
Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main
divisions â Magazines and Radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators.
Our business is built on influential media brands with millions of personal relationships with engaged readers and
listeners. Our strategy is to connect audiences with excellent content through our broad multi-touch point brand
platforms, wherever and whenever and however they want. Our wide portfolio of influential brands gives us
advantages over pure play magazine or radio competitors.
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/about
5. Who would be the audience for your
media product and why?
Hartleyâs seven subjectivities
According to Hartleyâs seven subjectivities, my target audience would be 16-25 year olds who are predominately
female but could also be aimed towards males as well. This is because my magazine goes against the usual
expectations of a published Rock magazine as I have a female artist as my main image rather than a male. This
means that teenage girls who are interested in rock music can read a magazine and be âinformed and educatedâ
(Katz) about their favourite female bands and artists who generally donât appear in other rock magazines.
However, my magazine could also be aimed towards males as well because it features famous female artists which
could attract a âmale gazeâ (Laura Mulvey).
Katzâ Uses & Gratifications theory
According to Katzâ Uses & Gratifications theory, my female audience would buy my magazine because including female
rock artists will allow them to âpersonally identifyâ with stars such as Hayley Williams who features on my front
cover. They may see her as a role model, want to become more like her and achieve the success that she has had
in the music business which, in turn, will allow a âpersonal relationshipâ to develop between my predominately
female target audience and her. My magazine also offers my audience a âdiversionâ from their everyday lives,
which would be appealing for teenagers as they could get away from school work for a little while.
Maslowâs Hierarchy of needs
According to Maslowâs hierarchy of needs, my target audience is aimed towards teenagers therefore they may become
âexplorersâ because if my magazine becomes popular with them it would influence other teenagers into reading
and buying my magazine as it would become the new trend. They could also be âsocial climbersâ because in school
they may believe that having access to my magazine will encourage others to notice them, therefore increasing
their popularity.
6. How did you attract/address your
audience?
In order to attract my intended target audience I decided to use
language such as âExclusiveâ and âWinâ which is directly appealing to
a consumer as they believe they are getting something of good
value and worthwhile for just buying my magazine.
The inclusion of codes & conventions such as my main image, helped to
appeal to the target audience because having a female artist on the
front cover of a rock magazine is unexpected and goes against the
norm of stereotypical Rock magazines. Therefore, this expresses to
my target audience that this is a unique â one of a kind â magazine,
which could encourage them to buy it.
Furthermore, I clearly displayed a variety of famous rock bands for my
cover stories on my front cover to entice an audience as including
multiple bands could give them an idea of what to expect from
future magazines and create the impression that well-known bands
or artists will constantly make an appearance in each of my
magazines.
Also, my editorial in my contents page addresses my audience directly
by using pronouns such as âyouâ and âweâ to make them feel
involved and to develop a âpersonal relationshipâ (Katz) with them.
This could then lead to them possibly buying the next issue of my
magazine as they have established trust in me to bring them the
next best rock artists and information available.
7. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
The denotation of the software used to construct the media product entitled âRevolutionâ was Adobe
Photoshop CS4. I used this because it included a variety of tools, fonts, colours and layers to create
my magazine pages in order to make them look professional and clean, like the desired look my
magazines of inspiration Kerrang! and Classic Rock have.
In order for this product to look fit for purpose and appeal to the target audience, I decided to create
the layout of my double page spread using the Pen tool because I have ârepeatedâ (Steve Neale) the
code and convention of having a quote from the interview in the centre of the page from Classic
Rock magazine. By using the Pen tool I could design my interview questions and answers to
surround the main quote which made the text stand out. Furthermore, I used the Quick Selection
tool to edit and crop around my main image as a close-up shot of just one artist which made my
front cover look more eye-catching.
I also made my product look original by using dafont.com to search through a variety of different fonts
and create my masthead to ârepeatâ (Neale) a similar design to Kerrang! magazines masthead as I
found it to be visually appealing and unique compared to other established Rock magazines.
In conclusion, I have learnt how to effectively make text fit and surround a quote like what has been
done in professional magazines and how to alter images so that they are conventional and suitable
for a Rock magazine.
8. Photography Planning â Front Cover
Originally I had planned to include a full-body shot of the
celebrity on my front cover, however after some research I
discovered that most rock magazines focus on a close-up or mid-
shot as their main image. Therefore I decided not to use either of
these images.
I then decided to try including two people for
my main image however I quickly decided
against this because during my production
work I found that having one person was
better than two because it allowed me to fit
more of my cover stories onto the page. After
editing the image by using the Quick Selection
tool in Photoshop, I chose to use it because
the colour scheme of her red hair and black
leather jacket perfectly matched the
stereotypical colours associated with rock
music which I decided to use across my 4
pages.
9. Photography Planning - Contents
For my editorial, I decided to use this picture to present me as
the editor as I found the use of wearing dark clothing would be
fitting for the genre of music that Iâm representing. I also used
the Quick Selection tool to edit out the background.
Between these two images, I chose
the one on the left because it
shows her using the famous âSign of
the Hornsâ hand gesture which is
commonly used at rock concerts
which my target audience can
relate to.
For my cover stories, I
decided against using
images A and B
because I didnât like the
background as I felt it
didnât represent the
style of a rock band.
Also in image B, I felt that the
shot was too far away and
their postures too laid back
to represent a stereotypically
energetic rock band.
I finally decided on
image C as I believe that
it has the best possible
representation of a rock
band, due to the fact
that their poses could be
seen as âcoolâ and the
background of a light
blue sky brings a bright
contrast to their
placement in the centre
of the image.
10. Photography Planning - Interview
I decided to use this edited
image of a black and white full
body shot because I attempted
to ârepeatâ (Steve Neale) this
code and convention from
Classic Rock magazine which had
a similar style to their image.
I didnât use image A because I discovered that high angle shots
arenât commonly used for a double page picture in rock
magazines.
When I placed image B into my magazine, I thought that it didnât
look suitable for the rock music genre. This was further supported
by my magazines of inspiration as not many of them included
close-ups of the celebrity nor pictures of them smiling.
Image C was not used because I found that her posture and pose
of not looking at the camera would not have been as relevant and
suitable for a main story talking about her life as a successful rock
star.
11. Analysing my Front Cover
Masthead
Strapline
Cover lines
Main image
Main headline
Social networking links
Barcode
Website
Puff
Date/Issue/Price
12. Analysing my Contents Page
Page number
Subscription offer
Editorâs picture
Editorâs message
Smaller version
of front cover
Website
Cover line
summaries and
page numbers
Smaller version
of masthead
Social networking links
Cover line images
13. Analysing my Double Page Spread
Interview
Quote
Introduction of the
âstarâ (Richard Dyer)
Website
Social networking links
Smaller version
of the masthead
Page number
Clear differentiation
between questions
and answers
14. Analysing my Double Page Spread
Interview
Name of celebrity
clearly shown
Smaller version of
masthead
Page number
Credit to the
editor/photographer/s
tylist
Main image
Quote
15. Audience Feedback
I asked my target audience through
social media such as Facebook and
Twitter about what they thought of
my magazine pages individually and
whether theyâd be interested in
buying it.I purposely designed my social networking
icons to be small because next to the
barcode they would be noticeable to my
audience but not too large as doing this
would take up too much room and subvert
attention away from the main image and
cover stories. However, I agree with
spanning my interview across both pages
as one of my magazines of inspiration,
Kerrang!, did this attractively and
professionally but since I was replicating
from Classic Rock magazine I decided
against using this design.
Improving my magazine by adding a
border around the posters would be a
good idea as my magazine of inspiration,
Kerrang!, uses this layout too. Also, I
would have included more cover stories
however I ran out of space to fit
anymore in. However, I only included
one quote in my double page spread
because that is what Kerrang! and
Classic Rock did in their interviews.
To make improvements I agree
with focusing on music stories as
I can see that sensationalist
stories may not be as relevant to
the context of my magazine.
However, I have added a website
link to the bottom of my
contents page but perhaps to
improve it I could make it more
noticeable for the reader. There
was no information relating to
the subscription prices as
generally they are found on the
magazineâs website.
16. Audience Feedback
I have also gathered some audience
feedback from my target audience
through voice recordings on my iPhone
and asked them the same questions.
FRONT COVER
My cover stories, which he mistakenly referred to as straplines, could have been improved as perhaps I
was fairly vague with describing what the story was about. The layout of the posters were arranged like
this to ârepeatâ (Steve Neale) from my magazine of inspiration Kerrang! However to make them appear
more clear and professional, I could have added a border around them like one of my previous target
audience members suggested that I could do. I used small icons rather than long URL links in my pages
because it would have been unattractive and taken up too much space.
CONTENTS PAGE
Similarly to another member of my target audience, this member also mentioned including more cover
stories.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
Although this particular audience member mentioned that the writing was small, I believe this to be
because of the platform he viewed it on (a phone). Had my magazine been printed and viewed from an A4
page format I believe his response would have been different.
FRONT COVER
Like a few other members of my target audience, this member has also mentioned including a border
around my promotion posters.
CONTENTS PAGE
This member of my target audience has also pointed out my magazineâs need for more cover stories.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
Although she recommends transforming my image into more of a close-up, I didnât do this as the image I
replicated from Classic Rock magazine had a similar style.
17. Looking back at your Preliminary task, what do you
feel you have learnt in the progression from it to
the full product?
I feel that, having completed the preliminary task and learning about
the demands of this production process, I have learnt how to use
Photoshop more efficiently and how to choose what images
would be most suitable for attracting my target audience.
Also, I have learnt the importance of a magazineâs colour scheme and
font style and altering it depending on who your target audience is
to make it more suitable for them, as well as how to design a
professional looking layout across the pages to ensure that they
arenât cluttered which makes it easier for the audience to read.
Moreover, I have learnt how to be more original when it comes to
using tools in Photoshop such as using the Pen tool to wrap my
text around the images, which my preliminary task lacked.
There is evidence of progression that I feel particularly demonstrates
how I met the demands of the production process, for example
meeting the deadlines of each of my magazines pages as well as
completing corrections and gathering feedback.
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