Music Magazine evaluation

Music Magazine evaluation

• 1.
  Benita Walugembe
• 2.
  My idea camefrom the magazine ‘Vibe’. My reason for using this magazine was to help me create my own which was similar to it, as it had the same music genre. The information on the my magazine follows the convention of a real magazine in several ways. Firstly with the information, my text is written in a large bold front in the colour black so that it stands out from the background. Also the layout of my magazine follows the forms of a real magazine. My masthead is positioned behind my model’s head, covering mainly the letters ‘a’ and ‘d’. The magazine vibe is also laid out in this way. This is because the music artist is the selling point and he must be seen on the magazine visibly, as he is our target’s focus to want to buy and read more about a well known music artist. The Vibe magazine uses a settled, composed dark colour for the background which is a mellow red. This is to allow the information that is written in the colours black, white and green stand out. These colours give the magazine a hip hop, cool look so that its appealing to those with an interest of this kind of genre. My magazine does the same. It also follows the typical convention of having cover lines down each side of the page in horizontal lines. I noticed that on the magazine, a well- known music artists name is a large front size to all the other cover lines. I took this and also did the same to my magazine cover lines.
• 3.
  I chose a‘Kerrang’ magazine contents page to help me create my own contents page. I looked at the different conventions it had, which I also followed. I noticed that the page had several images and less information on it. The layout of the page is neat and has been categorised. In the middle of the page, one photograph has been enlarged to out stand the other photos. This indicates to the target audience that he is our main focus on the page so we are now drawn into turning to the page to read more about him. My contents page also does the same. I have selected photographs of models that look appealing to its audience. Also I have one photo that is bigger than the others for the same reason as stated above. To improved my contents page I would have included a caption on each photograph to explain what the page is about, as the kerrang magazine has done this. This is to give a slight information on the images before turning to the page. On my page I have also put each topic in a category, reason being is to make it easier for the audience to know what topics that are in the magazine, who may have an interest in a particular topic where they can easily and quickly turn to the page. I used dark colours such as grey, black and red. This was to keep the hip hop style to it, I chose these colours by looking at the vibe contents pages below as it is a hip hop magazine .
• 4.
  I used aDouble page spread to help me follow the codes and conventions of a hip hop magazine. The font of the masthead is written in a large White bold text with a black background to make the information stand out, I also did the same with my double page spread. Whilst observing The double page spread I noticed one side of the page had an image that took up the whole page. The photograph used is of a well- known hip hop artist, along with information written on the other side of the page. The text is written in three neat paragraphs. At the beginning of the text, the first letter “I” is outsized from the rest of the information, reason being is to indicate to the audience that the article was a one to one interview with the artist himself. This attracts the audience to read the magazine as they would want to know what the artist himself maybe putting out there. My magazine also follows this code for the same purpose. In the corner of the page, below the photograph, a quote is taken from the article and placed alone to standout, as this maybe some important information that needs to be seen and make known of. My double page spread also had a quote positioned on the top left of my photo page.
• 5.
  I used severalconventions of a hip hop magazine to represent my social group. Firstly I chose my model to have a specific look, I forced on what prop I was going to use to make my magazine more appealing to its target audience. On my front page I used headphones, as this object is well used by young teens as they have a great interest in music, therefore they tend to listen to music allot ,also in society nowadays headphones are as well used as a fashion trend. My model was told to wear in a way that represented the social group I was aiming for. This was to attract and be more appealing to my audience. He wore a bomber black jacket with a hood and a baseball hat with a side bag. This dress sense is now worn by young teenage boys, this very well represents the teens of London today. My location of my photograph also represents my social group, reason being is that young teens are known as hanging around on streets, sitting on walls in a group of friends, I included this in my photograph to portray this. I also thought about the information to include on my front page. This is important as it will attract your audience into reading an article that is relatable to them or that fascinates them. So I included information on well- known artists such as Rihanna and Chris brown as their story is something that young people will gossip about and have an interest in. also the topic being on their relationship is relatable to young teenagers.
• 6.
  The type ofmedia institution that might distribute my music magazine would bauer, this institution is a well -known large company, that has a great reputation of the magazines it publishes therefore my magazine would be seen as a really high standard magazine. Bauer is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. This means that my magazine would be well-known around the world as it offers over 300 hundred magazine in 15 country therefore my magazine has a great opportunity to be made recognizable. Bauer Media is also multi-platform UK-based consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators. As my magazine is targeted at uk teenagers its a quicker access to purchase my magazine as they are based in the UK. Bauer’s business is built on influential media brands with millions of personal relationships with engaged readers and listeners. Therefore my magazine will have allot of readers as bauer has a great relationship with its readers. There strategy is to connect audiences with excellent content through there broad multi-touch point brand platforms, wherever and whenever and however they want. This would be great for my magazine, as this brings a large audience into knowing my magazine.
• 7.
  My media productwill be aimed at females but mostly males, from the age range of 15-25.My demographic profile is stereotypical of young black teenagers of society today . The type of audience that would purchase my product are those that have a strong interest in hip- hop and grime music, Especially grime. Grime is a style of music that is birthed from the genre hip hop, Its a style of music that emerged from England in the early 2000’s, primarily as a development of UK garage . Dancehall. The pioneers of the style include so solid crew, dizzee Rascal. Wiley and Skepta, These artist are well known with my target audience. Teens that may be fans for such music artist as the ones listed above are more likely to read my magazine as my magazine has these types of artist.. My audience would also be the same profile audience that the films such “Adulthood” and “Attack the block” aim their films at. Because they have a cast of young teenagers that are dressed in a way that our young teens are of today and they are my main focus. The language that is also used within the movie is appealing to my audience. “slang” is a way teenagers speak to each other. Therefore in my magazine I included informal language so that its relative to my audience.
• 8.
  To attract myaudience I used several features on my magazine that I thought would be eye catching. Firstly my masthead challenges the conventions of most magazine masthead , as it has an imagine of a speaker co positioned in the centre of the letter “O”. I used this to represent the name of the magazine “Radio”. As my magazine is more for young teenagers to get their voice heard, opinions, talents and issues said through the magazine, Therefore this speaker symbolizes this. Furthermore it also symbolizes listening to music. On the front page I placed an photograph of a model, who would be a well-known rapper. Reason for this was to indicate to my audience that information about this rapper is also included within the magazine, by using a well known artist attracts its target audience that it may appeal to. I also thought about the information to include that would catch the attention of my target audience. I integrated information such as “10 facts of becoming a successful music artist”. This will attract my audience as its aimed for teens with a passion in music and this will help them gain knowledge on how to improve their talent to become successful. . Most teens have a dream to make it in the music industry, so this would catch their attention. I’ve also stated on my magazine 120 must – have songs. This draws the attention of the readers to want to know what new songs are out so that they are updated with music that is released by artists. Also i have given away a free poster, people love to receive free items.
• 9.
  During the processof making my magazine, I learnt you go through several stages to have a complete successful magazine. I also blogged my work up to keep a record of my progress. Internet explorer was very helpful as it helped me researched on hip- hop magazines so I known the codes and conventions to include on my magazine. Also to make my product successful I used several technologies such as :- • Digital camera • Adobe Photoshop • Internet explorer • Blogger • Microsoft PowerPoint
• 10.
  Camera -canon 400D. Photography Selected Image Photoshop CS3 Firstly I took a few photographs using a technology “canon 400D camera". From the pictures I had taken, I selected the photo that I mostly liked. When taking my photos I had to think carefully about where my location was as it affected the lighting of my photo. I chose to take them outside using natural lighting. I then placed my image onto Photoshop which was extremely helpful in the development of making my media product. I cropped and resized my image using this programme, I then used the magic wand to take out a section that wasn't needed, the background. Then placed it on a blue solid back ground and used the blur tool on the image to give it a smooth surface. I then added the different coloured, sizes of text to complete my product.
• 11.
   When first creating my college magazine I used the programme Microsoft publisher. This meant that my magazine was poor quality as it was limited to tools that I could have used to help me produced a better cover. While observing my collage magazine I noticed that my masthead was positioned in front of my main photograph this does not follow magazine codes and conventions so as I came to make my music magazine I made the change of placing the masthead behind the main photograph. Also my cover lines were not neatly layout onto my font page, so I made sure y cover lines were neatly spread out and layered on each side of the page written in different sizes to indicate which information is most important. However I do like the quality of my photograph in my college magazine, it was taken with a high quality camera which I didn't even need to do any touches on the photo. I like the way the background was automatically blurred out to bring out the model as a force of the magazine. My college contents page is weaker than my front college page. I have less images and to much descriptive information, this being a college magazine for students does not draw their attention to want to read it as its not eye catching, no interesting photos and to much text to read which will make them bored. Whereas on my music contents page I have an amount of photos and less information neatly laid out and clear to read, place on one solid colour to make the information stand out.