Evaluation Of My Rock Magazine

Evaluation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The title of my magazine

My masthead on my magazine reads ‘Racket’ written in ‘Seabird Light SF’ which I think is a suitable font for my rock magazine which is the genre of magazine. I think that racket is a suitable masthead name because when I researched rock magazines most of the titles for the magazines were onomatopoeias that relate to rock music. For example the famous rock magazine ‘Kerrang’ is the sound of striking guitar strings. Therefore this is why I chose the name ‘Racket’ because this is what some people may relate to rock music. My masthead sticks to the colour scheme I have chosen which is black, white and red. I have chosen to use this colour scheme because I found out from my research that these are the colours that most relate to the rock genre. My masthead sticks to the conventions of a rock magazine because my title is bold and stretches across the width of the page which most rock magazines do, therefore this is why I stuck to this because I want my magazine to look as professional as possible. Overall I am happy with the masthead and the way it looks because I think its suits the rock magazine genre perfectly and the final result looks professional.

Mis-en-scene of images

I think the photos I have taken and used in my magazine are suitable for my magazine and relate to the rock genre perfectly. This is because I have portrayed the band like a proper rock band because they are acting like a rock band would act, and there image portrays a rock band very well. They follow the conventions of a rock magazine because for most of my images the rock members are looking at the camera which shows the seriousness and portrays the seriousness of rock bands. I have used photographs which have only been taken in a studio rather than using certain settings and I have chose to do this because it is different to a usual rock magazine. I wanted to do this so my magazine has its own unique effect to it. Even though I have added my own unique piece to it I have still followed conventions because the rock members are looking into the camera so I haven’t gone completely off the rock genre conventions.

Costumes and props

The costumes and props I have used for my rock magazine make the magazine because I have gone all out for the costumes and props. This is because my rock band members have dressed up similar to the famous rock band kiss as they have painted their faces white with black pain around there eyes. They have also wore wigs, black skinny jeans, stockings, t-shirts and have gone all out for the costumes, making sure that everything they wore was rock related. I felt that it was important to go all out on the costumes because a rock bands look is the most unique thing about them and usually the thing most people remember about a rock band, for example ‘Kiss’ are known for there painted faces and leather jumpsuits, ‘Slipknot’ are known for there scary masks and freaky costumes and ‘Aero Smith’ are known for there long hair and the material around there microphones and microphones stands. Therefore I went for a unique look like this so that people remember the rock band by there own unique look.

People

The people I have used in my magazine and my pictures are 16-17 year olds which is unconventional in a rock magazine. This is unconventional to a rock magazine because most rock magazines include band members much older than this age range. Also most rock bands that are featured in a rock magazine usually consist of all boys however my magazine consists of two males and one female. This is unconventional to a rock magazine but I believe this still looks good because it has made my magazine unique but not too unconventional to the point where it doesn’t look professional. Therefore it doesn’t matter that I haven’t followed all of the rock magazine conventions. I have chosen o change the conventions slightly throughout my magazine because I believe it will relate to more people, and hopefully people like the fact that there is a difference about this magazine, and I think they will like the fact that there is a woman in the main story.

Title Font and Style

 I have created 3 titles for each magazine page, ‘Racket’, ‘Contents’ and ‘Band break up for new careers?’. For all of these titles I made sure that the font style was suitable and easy to read therefore making each page look appealing to my target audience. This is important because if I didn’t make sure my text was appealing then less people would be interested in my magazine but also if my font style isn’t readable then this will also make my magazine less appealing. I feel that my title is conventional because the fonts I have used are similar to ones in rock magazines therefore this means my magazine looks more professional. I didn’t wan to make my text look childish and colourful because this will ruin my magazine and make it less appealing to my target audience.

Written Content

The written content on my magazine pages are conventional and it is important for the written content to be conventional to a rock magazine. This is because it is important that the content in the magazine stays to the conventions because this is the thing that most interests the audience of a magazine. For example I gave my target audience band gossip which is common and conventional in rock magazines because people around the target audience I have made my magazine for like this type of content in a magazine. Therefore with my magazine having this content it makes my magazine more appealing to my target audience but it also makes it more interesting for my target audience because this is what they want to see inside a rock magazine when they buy one.

Music Genre And How Your Magazine Suggests It

The main genre of my music magazine is the rock genre. This is very clear that my magazine is the rock genre because of the props and costumes I have used throughout the magazine. Especially with the typical but also unique look my models have with the white painted faces and black eyes, with there all black outfits. Therefore with this being a typical rock look it is clear that my magazine represents and suggests that the magazine is a rock magazine. Also throughout my music magazine I have used the colours black, white and red on the front cover, contents page and the double page spread which represents the rock music genre and makes it clear to my target audience that this music magazine is a rock magazine.

 

Layout

Throughout my magazine I have made sure that I stuck to the conventions of a music magazine layout. This is because the layout of a magazine is important because this is one of the key things that make a music magazine look professional. Also as you can see on my front cover I have followed the convention of a music magazine because my masthead is at the top of the front cover and the barcode is in the bottom right like other typical rock magazines such as ‘Kerrang’ and ‘Q’. Also my contents page follows the conventions of a music magazine because the title is at the top and the page numbers and information are down the right hand side of the page which is similar to most music magazines. My double page spread also follows the conventions because the writing is written in columns which magazines like ‘Kerrang’ also have because this is the conventions of a rock magazine. Therefore I made sure that I didn’t change the conventions of the layout on my magazine because I think it is important to keep these the same but change other things.

Contents Page

My contents page is a conventional contents page and I didn’t want tot change anything about it because I think it is important to keep the contents page conventional because this is a page everyone looks at, therefore I don’t want to change anything about it in case it doesn’t have the effect a conventional contents page will have. Therefore I made sure that my title was at the top of the page my images were on the left of the page and all my writing and page numbers were on the right of the page. Therefore with me sticking to the conventions of a contents page I feel that this will have a better effect on my target audience and appeal to them more.

 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?



 

 

I have chosen to compare this picture of the band Kiss from the magazine ‘Classic Rock’ with the photograph I have on the font of my magazine and use this image to explain how my magazine represents particular social groups.



 

 

These two images are similar because they both share the same facial expressions in the sense that they both have serious facial expressions but they also have wacky and joking facial expressions. They are also similar because they are staring at the camera therefore I made sure one of my models was staring at the camera but the other two in the background aren’t because I wanted to add my own unique style to the front cover. They are also similar because of what they are wearing and the colours they are wearing. They are both wearing black clothes but my models aren’t as wacky as the Kiss band members but they both have black and white face paint like the two models at the back of my front cover do. They are also similar because of the background of the images, they are both taken in a studio rather than out in the nature where there may be things in the background, it is just a blank white background for both of the front covers. They both also have similar hairstyles because they all have long hair but I have a girl on my front cover to add my own unique style to it and not copy the Kiss band completely. Overall these social groups are very similar and are a gothic rock band look and social group so this is what I aimed to follow and looking at my front cover I think I have done well and represented this social group well. Everything about there appearances are extreme and wacky which is unusual for a typical rock band to dress like this is why I chose to represent this particular social group on the front cover of my magazine.

What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?

The media institution that will be my choice to produce my magazine would be the media company IPC. This is because although they produce similar magazines such as ‘Uncut’ and ‘NME’ that are also rock magazines they don’t aim towards my target audience. My target audience is younger than the target audience that these two magazines are aimed at therefore that means that IPC will have a gap in the media market for my magazine and therefore I believe it will sell well.

I originally first considered Bauer Media because these are famous for producing rock magazines similar to mine however I didn’t go for this company in the end because they have magazines similar to mine and that aim to a similar target audience like my magazine such as ‘Kerrang’ which is a well known rock magazine and therefore it will make it hard for me to compete with this magazine.

Therefore I think the best Media Institution to produce my rock magazine ‘Racket’ would be IPC.

 

Who Would Be The Audience for Your Media Product?

The target audience my media product would relate to and aim towards would be people of the age 16-25. This will be my target audience because this is the age range that is most likely to start going to concerts and follow bands acting as a fan base. Therefore this is the age range I have aimed my media product towards because this is the age range and the audience that are most likely to buy my media product on a regular basis. The target audience will also be male and female but a bit more male because of the context my magazine includes suits males better than females.

 

 

How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience?

 

 

I attracted my audience to my media product by making sure that I include headlines and images that will appeal to my target audience. That is why I added a band on the front cover that looks extreme and not like a typical rock band because this will draw my target audience’s attention.  I addressed my audience by asking those questions about my magazine and involving there opinion into the creation of the magazine. I did this from handing out questionnaires and taking there answers into account and followed the results of the questionnaires. I also addressed my audience more to the male audience because these are the people that are most attracted to my magazine but I haven’t made it dominantly male language because women are also attracted and read my magazine.

 

What Have You Learnt About Technologies from The Process of Constructing This Product?

I learnt and used the photo editing software Photoshop CS5 to edit my photos and produce my magazine pages.

I also learnt and used Serif Draw Plus to edit things I didn’t know how to edit on Photoshop and produce certain things.

I also learnt how to use the BlogSpot programme which allowed me to blog my work and my research.

 

Overall I used all of these programmes to produce my magazine and all of the pages but also to blog my research. I also used cameras, memory sticks and computers that made it necessary to make my final result and my final magazine.

 

 

 

Looking Back at Your Preliminary Task (The School Magazine Task), What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To Full Product?

 

 

Since I first created the front cover of my college magazine my knowledge of using software’s but also making things look more professional has increased. I now have a better view of how to lay things out in order to make it look more professional and what colour schemes to have. I have learnt how to cut things out better and quicker because as you can see my model on my college magazine hasn’t been cut out that well but my three models on my rock magazine front cover have been cut out much better and more precise.

Overall my understanding of technologies has improved and I am now able to make a magazine quite easily without any help because I know what to do and how to do it. With my understanding of the software I feel I have produced a professional looking magazine.