Contents and Double Page Spread Changes

I decided to change the image on my contents page and transfer it to the double page spread. I did this because overall the image felt more suitable for the larger spread and lifted the page making it brighter and more appealing. Using one of the images i used from my second photoshoot i decided a black and white image would be best to match the tones on the contents page. The model in the image is wearing a motorcycle t-shirt which matches the rock image i was going for and he's holding a guitar which shows its a musician. 

Photoshoot 2

For this photo shoot i decided to use an older model in the photographs to appeal for the older audience for my magazine, rather than the young cover model. This creates a contrast of representing both older and younger audiences for one product.

Evaluation 2 Draft

Evaluation 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product has a similar social group to those of Classic Rock or Kerrang!

The content of my magazine is fairly similar to Kerrang! Magazine as it includes features, news and live topics which are the main subtitles on Kerrang!s contents page. The double page spread articles are also very similar as they are in interview format, as most double page spreads are.

The images of my magazine are also used to represent particular social groups. For example, im my front cover you can see the model is wearing a suit, has well groomed hair and is of young-adult age, which is there to represent my target audience. The image I used on the contents page also represents a particular social group. 

The model is older, and I edited the image so it is black and white. This represents an older social group.

Here you can see an example of Classic Rock magazine, which features MUSE’s Matt Bellamy as their cover artist. 

 As you can see he is also wearing a suit jacket and is looking directly at the camera. His hair is well groomed and he has a stern look on his face, similar to that of my cover. The model has a quite serious look on his face and isn’t smiling; this represents the more rocky side of the magazine and represents my target audience. This image represents a young adolescent male, the same as my target audience. The models hair was also the type of style that is usually associated with alternative/indie/rock artists and therefore my magazine represents their social group. The costume on the cover also represents a specific social group, the model is wearing a suit, waistcoat and bow tie, and this type of clothing is usually associated with wealthier demographics and often shows how much money a person has. This represents the price of my magazine, as I don’t want the price to be too high for the lower consumers of my magazine nor do I want it to be too low end so that the higher demographics are lost.

Overall I think that my magazine is able to represent the social group through its general style. The dark grey/black background and the red on the front cover represent the rock side of the magazine; these colours are typically used on rock magazines such as Kerrang! Also the green and white on the front cover represent a more indie audience. All these colours make up my house style and represent my chosen target audience, as these are colours that would appeal to them and tempt them to buy the magazine. 

Evaluation 4 Draft

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my music magazine would be both males and females, but primarily males. This is because i used a male model on each page which would interest them and darker colours which stand out against the white, although these both attract male and females i would say my audience is primarily males. The age of my target audience would be between 17-24 years old, so late teens to mid-twenties. For this kind of magazine, indie/rock, i wanted to attract the people who are most interested in that genre which would be 17-24 year olds who have a part time job whilst still in higher education or have just started their career. This is why i made my magazine price £2.70, which isn’t very expensive considering other magazines and isn’t cheap so the audience are getting value for their money and don’t want to waste their earnings on something not worth it, so it’s ideal for my target audience. To consider an audience for my magazine i had to consider their music taste, as it is a music magazine. My target audience love indie, rock and alternative music and they enjoy going to gigs, to appeal to my audience i have chosen bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Mallory Knox and Kings of Leon who fit into those categories and attract the readers. They also enjoy going to gigs around the country and want to know where the best festivals are, this is why i have included a ‘Review’ section in my magazine followed with a ‘Festival Guide’ which tells you the best acts to see in Reading and Leeds festival this year. The house style of my magazine is black, white and green. I chose these colours to appeal to my target audience, i chose black because it is a dark colour which would attract the rockier audience and also the white to contrast this and make it stand out. The reason i chose green rather than a typical red as the tertiary house colour was because red is very common, it is on most magazines such as ‘Q’, ‘NME’ and ‘Kerrang!’ and i wanted my magazine to stand out against them which is why i chose green. I also decided on that colour because red instantly says Rock when its with Black and i didn’t want listeners of solely indie or alternative music to be put off buying the magazine because they think it is aimed at rock listeners primarily.

Contents Page Improvements

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Here shows some improvements and changes i have made to the contents page of my music magazine.

Image 1 - This shows a kind of opening to the magazine, a welcoming. It gives an overview of what is in the magazine and tells you what the best articles are this week.

Image 2 - A subscriber advert. This is advertisement for the magazine and gives the reader a chance to subscribe to the magazine.

Image 3 - I have added an image to my contents page which brightens and lifts the tone of the page, I have chosen to have the artists head appear over the word Contents.

Front Cover Improvements

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

These pictures show the changes i have made to my magazine.

Image 1 - Following the feedback i received from the social networking sites that i posted my work on, i received comments that you couldn't see the white text over the white shirt the model was wearing. I fixed this problem by adding in a stoke effect to the white text on the front cover to make it clear and easy to read.

Image 2 - Adding buzz words to the front cover to attract people to buy the magazine. 

Image 3 - I changed the Exclusive! to exclusive interview so people will know we are interviewing him and be more enticed to buy the magazine.

Evaluation 7 Draft

Evaluation 7 

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

Masthead Here are my two mastheads. As you can see the preliminary masthead follows the generic conventions of a typical magazine. It spreads across the whole of the top of the magazine and stands out. But, my music magazine’s masthead challenges the conventions of a typical magazine masthead, it is only in the top left hand corner of the magazine and is more of a logo, underneath it shows what the letters ‘VM’ actually mean and the white text against the green background stand out and draws the readers attention. I think this shows how I have progressed as a media student, I feel more confident that I am able to challenge the conventions of magazines to suit the needs of the product. The positioning and size of the masthead also are very different; as you can see in the pre-lim task the masthead is very large compared to the main task and takes up a large proportion of the page, so there isn’t much space for any text or a larger picture. On balance my main product has a smaller masthead but doesn’t fade into the background, it stands out and there is enough room on the page for enough text to attract the audience. 

Front Cover 

Both my front covers use a lot of the same conventions but the execution of them is very different. As you can see the cover lines on my pre-lim task are very large and take up most of the blank space and also cover some of the cover image. The text size is too large to only be able to fit three cover lines on the page. On the other hand when you look at my music front cover you can see there are a lot more cover lines on the page. The font used for the cover lines are very different, whilst my during my preliminary task I used the exact same font as I did for my masthead whereas I used a variety of fonts on my front cover, this is a regular convention of most magazines as they want to draw the readers attention to different things, this show how I have learnt to use style models to compare with my work and develop my ideas to the conventions of real magazines. 

I have also used banners on my final front cover, this is to make the main cover line stand out and draw the readers attention immediately to it, on the other hand, looking back at my pre-lim front cover you can see I haven’t used banners and all the text sits on the same level, comparing this to my music cover you can see different text attract your eye at different levels creating a more interesting cover. Looking back at my pre-lim task I have improved my ability to be able to do something for a specific reason, for instance changing the banner to red, so it is the first thing the readers see, when I was creating my pre-lim front cover I did something to the front cover because I liked it and not for a certain reason. The main image on my front covers is very different. On my preliminary cover the model looks closed off and has very locked out body language, almost like he’s closed off to the reader. Comparing this image to my music front cover you can see the model is directly addressing the reader, by looking right into the camera this shows he’s open to the reader and more inviting. Also the image is a lot larger and takes up a good proportion of the page. 








Looking a both of these images I have learnt a lot throughout the process, for example I have developed my ability to use a camera and how to direct a photo-shoot to get the right image for the front cover. I have also improved my skills in editing. As you can see I have blurred out the edges of my full media product to make the edges less harsh and also I have used Photoshop to change the contrast of the image to make it brighter and more appealing to the reader. 










Contents Page and Double Page Spread

Throughout the creation of my contents page I have developed my understanding of the conventions of a contents page. I researched and presented my findings of what you generally see on a contents page on a presentation and posted it on my blog. 


This also helped me develop my understanding of why magazines do certain things, to make sure the reader notices it. For example most, if not all, magazines include the page numbers on their contents page, next to a headline of the article and a brief article. I also did this on my contents page as the headline gives a bold clear statement of the article, if the user doesn’t want to read that much into it. As I have never created a double page spread before I had to do a lot of research into what music magazine double page spreads look like, for example I also did a presentation into the conventions of a double page spread and look at style models to see the kinds of articles and images that you see on a double page spread. From the pre-lim task to the full creation of my contents page and double page spread I have learnt a lot about the font size of text and the layout of the pages. 





For example on my pre-lim task I have put the page numbers and headlines all on one line, spreading out over the whole of the page. In comparison to my main task, you can see that my articles are set out down one side of the page and are smaller in size. Also looking at the pre-lim task you can see that I have used the masthead again on the contents page and a smaller contents under it. As you can see I have developed my knowledge of what a magazine looks like, as most magazines don’t feature the masthead on the contents page. Here, on my main task, you can see that I have used the logo of the magazine on a banner con the top of the page and the word contents in bolder, larger letters, similar to magazines such as Kerrang!