Evaluation Video

Music Magazine Evaluation

Beyond is relatively similar to other music magazines in terms of its audience, considering that most music magazines are aimed at young people because young people are stereotypically more interested in new music and the technological possibilities music is available (for example, iPods). However I have certainly found a niche in the market referring to genre of music; my magazine is based on rock/alternative music, breaching out to a rock/country and rock/indie styles of rock music, compared to other magazines of one inflexible genre of music. One convention that I didn’t challenge was the layout of my magazine front cover, for example, the masthead is across the top of the page, and the main picture is in the centre. These qualities of a magazine front cover are common and I decided that conforming to this layout would be best rather than challenging them because it is used often for a reason; it works well in attracting an audience. The masthead across the top of the page ensures that it is the first thing a reader spots when looking for a magazine, so by challenging the layout of popular magazines would be making Beyond original, but also unpopular in terms of attracting the audience and therefore circulation. I also kept the contents page similar to other music magazines, with the biggest information and article headings for the cover stories, to emphasise the most popular sections in the magazine. This is another marketing technique that is popular with many music magazines and I felt no need to challenge a fool-proof system relating to encouraging the audience to continue reading the articles that attracted them on the front cover. On the other hand, I did develop a specific magazine in terms of design. I highlighted the black and white colour scheme of Uncut magazine to create a brighter front cover but with the same edginess of the black and white main picture. The front cover of Beyond has a colour scheme of black, white, green and red, which is more eye-catching and appealing. Beyond would most definitely fit into the music magazine market because it is original and yet familiar in the sense that young people will recognise it as a magazine of the rock genre but original when compared to other music magazines.

The social groups that my magazine is most centred around are those who are interested in a unique genre of rock music. Essentially, this does not mean my magazine represents a stereotypical teenager interested in rock music, for example wearing scruffy black clothing and dying their hair dark colours. It instead represents a mature young adult who is interested in rock/country music, or rock/indie, classic rock, acid punk rock, pop/rock, and so on and so forth. This means that rather than stereotyping an audience, I am choosing my magazine to represent a wider variety of social groups whilst keeping a continuous theme in music centred on rock music. Choosing the age range of 18-30 for my audience meant that I could relate well to the informal tone of the magazine which made it easier for me to produce my magazine in detail. For example, when producing the double page spread, an article recording an interview with a new artist, I could really go into detail with the questions and answers as I could relate to who would want to read it. Most specifically, my magazine focuses on more individual and mature young people in terms of not only their interest in music but their life in general, perhaps injecting a little cynicism combined with the informality of the magazine. At least, this is how I imagine and hope my magazine to appear, directed to an individualistic young adult interested in an alternative/rock genre of music.

A typical media institution that may distribute my music magazine would be Conde Nast, a well-established distributor that is involved with many magazines world-wide. However, Conde Nast focuses on a female audience, their core audiences being mass market women and upmarket women, distributing magazines such as Glamour, Easy Living, and Vogue. None of these really relate to my own magazine genre or even music magazines. There are many other distributers, such as EMAP, but probably the most likely institution would be ICP Media. ICP already distributes the very popular NME magazine, and as this is of a similar genre of music (rock), my magazine would fit in well to the magazine market if distributed by ICP. It is best to be associated with an institution that is already well established in the media, and one that is related to the type of magazine wanting to be distributed, therefore this institution would be ideal.

My music magazine targets young adults of the age range 18-30 years. Although this may seem a wide range compared to other magazines I feel it is important to include a more mature range in audience. Most readers would be in or just out of higher education, perhaps university, and therefore I have directed the design and tone of my magazine to reflect this. In terms of gender, my magazine is aimed at both male and female young adults. This is because I do not believe either men or women like rock/alternative music more than the other; there is certainly a roughly equal preference for that genre of music, as I have learned through audience feedback and general experience with people and music. The colour scheme is also fairly neutral, perhaps leaning toward the stereotypically masculine colours such as green and red, however, I don’t believe this would be a disadvantage of my magazine. This is because I have learnt it is more likely for a girl to a buy a magazine that has a masculine appearance, than for a boy to buy a magazine that has a stereotypically feminine colour scheme, such as pink and purple colours. I concluded these aspects of my intended audience after analysing the results of my questionnaire, as this helped me consider what genre of music fitted in with this age group (or vice versa) and other aspects such as the price.

I attracted my audience in many ways on the front cover, using some subtle techniques and others slightly more obvious. For example, I selected the title of my magazine (Beyond) because ‘beyond’ is defined as ahead or out of reach, which I thought gave out an ideal connotation of reaching for or aspiring toward what you want. This positive implication attracts the reader in reading something that may inspire them to reach for what they want in music, or gain a deeper insight into their preferred music. The masthead is a bold, deep red which stands out against the black and white background and appeals to the reader, especially considering red is a typically ‘sexy’ colour, and this associated with music is likely to be appealing to the young audience. The colour scheme in general is different and therefore attractive; being black and white the reader is attracted to the coloured headings as well as the main picture. The main picture is a woman playing the guitar, which emphasises the fact that it is a music magazine, and as a brand new magazine this is particularly important for the reader to recognise and be interested in. The use of the guitar is twice as appealing for readers of the audience who not only enjoy that genre of music, but who also play the guitar or are aspiring to learn how. One particular way of attracting my target audience was the small but bold piece of text ‘FREE TICKETS! P79’ which would really entice the audience, as those who like rock/alternative would most likely be interested in tickets to see a concert or gig of that genre. They would therefore buy the magazine to investigate this offer inside. Other attractive features on the front cover include puff lines such as ‘The best new music magazine since Rolling Stone’. This attracts the audience because another very popular music magazine of the rock genre is The Rolling Stone, and if this magazine is just as good or even better, it must be a successful magazine worthy of their purchase. I also created Buzz words including ‘exclusive interview’ which suggest to the reader that buying the magazine is significant as it has information inside that can be found in no other magazine.

During the process of constructing my magazine I have learned a great deal about Photoshop, editing software I had never used before the preliminary task, and developed my skills using the image manipulation programme Roxio Photosuite 5. Taking pictures using a digital camera was relatively simple, but I also found out how to transfer them to a computer and then upload them onto my magazine in Photoshop. One of the most important aspects of technology for my product was learning how to edit photographs by changing the brightness, sharpness, contrast etc, and how to manipulate text with a variety of effects. Also, whilst using the search engine ‘Google’ I have modified my searching methods when researching specific information about magazines, such as the magazine’s distributor, or its audience profile.

The preliminary task was to produce the front page of a new college magazine and a mock-up of the layout of the contents page. The preliminary task was particularly useful in preparing me for the main task because it gave me a better understanding of using Photoshop. So if I had not completed the preliminary exercise I would have been less skilled when using the technologies available and this therefore would have taken up more of my time when progressing through the main task. Also, I learned a great deal throughout the task in terms of researching, planning and designing a magazine, and of magazines in general. Specifically, the way they appeal to their audience in terms of what is included on the magazine front cover. Comparing my main task to the preliminary it is easy to see how much I have improved in my knowledge of magazines and in using Photoshop effectively. Looking back, my college magazine (The Zone) seems less professional than my music magazine, and the content of the main task is much improved. This shows that since producing the preliminary task I have developed my technological skills in both Photoshop and Roxio Photosuite 5 (an image manipulation programme), to the extent that my music magazine was a success. Overall, the preliminary task made me much more confident in completing my main task of constructing part of a brand new music magazine, and this can be seen when comparing the two products.

Music Magazine - Beyond

Photographs

Pictures referred to in my shooting log:

Shooting Log

View more presentations from guest4b052db0.

Shooting Log

The layout of my magazine is very important in being able to include everything I need to attract the audience, and photographs are essential in this because they separate the text so the viewer is not overwhelmed with continuous text. Pictures are also attractive not just because of layout but because the subjects of them are usually recognisable, and so a picture of a celebrity will attract the attention of the audience it is aimed at. I have taken and used a picture of someone posing as a celebrity for the front cover of my magazine, Beyond, and the main article on the double page spread. I also have photographs of another ‘celebrity’ and a location. Below I have outlined the shooting log for each day I took these photographs.

Day One

Date: 21/03/2010

Time: 3.30pm

Location: The Doggets Farm Wildlife Reserve, Rochford, Essex.

Model: Lauren Hone

Props: Guitar

Duration: One hour approx.

Pictures 1, 2 and 3 are the three pictures I used in the double page spread article. To begin with, I planned on including many more pictures in my magazine than I actually did, because I thought that more colour would make the article more interesting. What I actually found was that the double page spread looked so much more appealing with a roughly equal combination of pictures and text. Therefore having taken a substantial amount of photographs, I chose which I thought suited the article and magazine the most. Having used the Photoshop software before for my preliminary task, I knew how to use it so had no trouble editing and moving the both the text and pictures so they fitted nicely together. I chose these pictures because they each included the guitar but with different poses (she stands/sits differently in each one) and her different facial expressions, so they did not all look the same. Although in picture 3 the model is looking down, I liked the lighting and background to the extent that I wanted to use it. However, I would not want more than one picture of her face obscured as this reduces the link to the audience, because the more direct the eye contact, the more the reader feels involved in the article.

I did not use picture 4 because I didn’t think the way she is standing was correct, I preferred picture 2 where she is standing stronger, which has the implication of independence. The model has her back to the reader in picture 6, having less impact compared to the other pictures. Moreover, I asked permission to use the model for my magazine, so she had the choice to disagree with using some of the pictures taken, another reason not to use some of these pictures.

Risk assessing areas before using them is important in considering our safety. As for this location, there where a few risks that had to be taken into account that may have made it dangerous on Day One. The Doggets Farm Wildlife Reserve is a wooded area so there may have been wild animals such as horses in the surrounding area, which may have been a danger to us. Is solved this obstacle by choosing routes which kept us away from areas that had these animals. Also, the model and I may have been at risk in terms of deep water, as you can see in pictures 2, 4 and 5, there were lakes in the reserve which were a reasonably significant risk. The only way to avoid these was to evade ground areas that could cause slipping or tripping into the water, and going to the reserve in good weather conditions helped us to avoid wet surfaces.

Day Two

Date: 28/03/2010

Time: 2pm

Location: Our garden

Model: Lauren Hone

Props: Guitar, chair

Duration: Thirty minutes approx.

The main prop we used in the photographs was an acoustic guitar, to represent the celebrity’s style of music; folk and country rock. The guitar is very significant in portraying this because it then attracts the intended audience, as the music magazine is of the alternative rock genre. It is featured in each picture I chose, to resemble this style. We also used a chair for her so sit down, in a well known guitarists pose. In some of the shots the model sat on top of a small shed, although this may sound dangerous it was in fact very low. However, it still may have been a risk to the model, so we prevented any significant injury by laying a mattress on the ground beneath. Eventually, I used picture 8 as shown above, because the shot was taken as she sang and played the guitar, which gave it movement and so made the photograph more interesting. I used this for the front cover mainly because the camera angle makes the picture perfect for a masthead above and lettering on either side and below.

I decided to transform the photograph into black and white to coincide with my preferred colour scheme: black, white, green and red. As with most music magazines, or any magazine, the main picture on the front cover is usually of someone famous, so already the magazine is fairly eye-catching. Therefore I think a black and white centre picture really causes the other text (coloured) to stand out whilst not decreasing the likeability of the celebrity itself.

I did not use pictures 9, 10 and 11 in my magazine for many reasons. Referring to picture 9, I disliked the camera angle, it is too simple and angled straight-on, I could have instead taken a ground to sky shot to the side of her, or a mid shot to make it a bit more unique compared to the other pictures. I didn’t like the pose in picture 10 and as for picture 11; the wind had blown her hair across her face excessively which caused the shot to look blurred and therefore unfocused.

Day Three

Date: 29/03/2010

Time: 7.30pm

Location: The Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea

Model: None

Props: None

Duration: Ten minutes approx.

I took this photograph at a Derren Brown show at the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend-on-Sea. Although the tickets were booked months before starting this project, I soon realised it was the perfect setting for another picture in my magazine. I spent roughly ten minutes at the beginning of the performance taking photographs of the stage, to use as an example of a show/concert. Before doing this I made sure it was allowed, because with many concerts you are not permitted to take photographs, but luckily a member of staff assured me this only applied once the show had started. I then placed this picture in my contents page (again using Photoshop) under the ‘Your Concert Photos’ section, as if it would be a regular article included in the magazine. The idea would be for readers to send in their pictures of concerts and shows that they had been to, perhaps along with a review of the show, for others to consider watching it.

Day Four

Date: 02/04/2010

Time: 3pm

Location: Front garden

Model: Andre Farley

Props: Headphones

Duration: Thirty minutes approx.

Picture 12 is on the front cover to feature up-and-coming musicians, the celebrity he resembles is both a guitarist and DJ, who is proving his talent in both worlds. In terms of risk assessment, there was little risk in the location or props, nothing that could endanger me or the model during the shoot. The model is wearing smart/casual clothes to imply the informality of the magazine, and is also wearing red, black and white (the main colour scheme of the front cover and magazine in general). I also kept picture 12 in colour, when the main picture on the font cover is black and white; to differentiate between the two musicians and create a spark of interest in the viewer as it is the only coloured picture. I also used this model in the contents page, to advertise once again an important article (picture 13). Moreover, I found when researching other music magazines of a similar genre that one of the small pictures on the font cover was almost always featured again within the first four pages of the magazine. I took this to suggest that the reader’s interest in the article is then reinforced. Picture 13 is in black and white, to continue the colour scheme through to the contents.

Below are examples of photographs taken during this shoot but that I eventually did not use in my magazine. I did not use these pictures because in picture 14, the black wire of the headphones is very visible against the red shirt, and I did not intent it to be so noticeable. Picture 15 is just one of the pictures in which we tried to use sunglasses as a prop, but they were too intimidating, and the most attention-grabbing pictures were the ones without them. On the other hand, the headphones (excluding picture 16, where they seem too rigid around the model’s neck) made the model look more relaxed. Therefore although the sunglasses were not, the headphones created a cool look whilst relating the pictures to music.

Overall I used seven pictures in my magazine: Two on the front cover, two on the contents page and three over the double page spread, being given permission by two models. These photographs are particularly relative to the audience because, especially in younger people, we look for familiar pictures of people we recognise, and if my magazine was in the current market and these were ‘real’ celebrities, it would be a motivator for the audience to be interested in. Both models are also young and therefore relative to my potential readers; 18-30 year olds. Managing the times of each shooting day effectively meant that the photographs were ready for being positioned in my magazine at the right time, which saved the hassle of waiting finish my magazine because the shooting days were delayed or unarranged. When editing each picture, I used Roxio Photosuite 5, in terms of brightness, colour and cropping the pictures. Once I had edited them, I simply chose ‘file à place’ to position a picture onto my front cover, contents page or double page spread. Overall, I am very pleased with the photographs taken and the overall outcome of Beyond.