Main Task: Music Magazine

Front Cover



Contents Page





Double Page Spread

Preliminary Task: School Magazine

Front Cover



Contents Page



1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I used the mise-en-scene photograph of a living room because it connotes that anyone chilled back reading the magazine, can act like Indie artists too.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

 Bauer and IPC Media are two of the biggest media institutions in the U.K. Bauer is the publisher of MOJO and IPC Media are the publishers of NME, a magazine which is similar to my own and a magazine which I have based my own on, respectively. As they are two of the biggest media institutions in the U.K, they undoubtedly have a wide advertisement scheme, so by having one of these institutions publish my production would be a benefit for Independent.

www.bauer.co.uk
www.ipcmedia.com

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

 

Age: 18 (Both)

Hobbies: Football, Music, Gigs/Concerts (Both)

Fav. Genre of Music: Indie & Rock (Nathan), Indie & R'n'B (Josh)

Last Festival: Summer Set Festival (Both)

Last Gig: Hippys On The Hill (Nathan), Adele (Josh)

Favourite Colour: Red (Both)

Favourite Food: Burgers (Nathan), Curry (Josh)

Favourite Belongings: iPod (Nathan), Laptop and Xbox (Josh)

Favourite Band: The Script (Nathan), The Cure (Josh)

Names: Andy Ward (left) & Adam Smith (right)

Age: 18 (Both)

Hobbies: Football, Music, Gigs and Festivals (Both)

Fav. Genre of Music: Indie (Both)

Last Festival: Glastonbury (Andy), V Festival (Adam)

Last Gig: Arctic Monkeys (Andy), The Blackout (Adam)

Favourite Colour: Red (Andy), Black (Adam)

Favourite Food: Chocolate (Andy), Chips & Mayo (Adam)

Favourite Belongings: iPod (both)

                                                                                    Favourite Band: Kings of Leon (Andy), Oasis (Adam)

Names: Rachel Allen

Age:22

Hobbies: Concerts, Going out with friends 

Fav. Genre of Music: Indie/Rock

Last Festival: Glastonbury

Last Gig: Kings of Leon

Favourite Colour: Blue

Favourite Food: Pizza

Favourite Belongings:Laptop and Dog

Favourite Band: Florence and The Machine/The Smiths

This is my ideal target audience:

Names: Nathan Quilty (left) & Josh Davies (right)

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Before the preliminary task, I knew very little about Quark or Photoshop, and only grasped a basic understanding during the preliminary task. When it came to the main task, i was well aware of the key tools I needed in Photoshop, and the majority of other tools.

As you can see by the image above, I have highlighted aspects of Photoshop which I now have knowledge of, this goes from the very basic 'eye' tool, which hides the selected layer, and the layers itself, that the background is a plain canvas, and my production has been built on top of that.

I have also learnt:



change effects on pictures, in this case the red outer glow.



to edit text and change effects.



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

Pictures of my preliminary and main task, front cover and contents pages.

Preliminary task front cover.

Preliminary task contents page.

Main task front cover.

At the start of the year, as I knew little about Photoshop or Quark, the preliminary task was a chance for me to get use to the softwares. Without any specific software tutoring, the ability to use Photoshop and Quark came about naturally, and discussing with fellow members of my class. I have learnt how to layout a magazine, and how to make the content as real as possible. Without question my ability on these programs have grown since day one, and I now have a greater understanding of the codes and conventions of a music magazine, these are things such as fonts, images, colours and the layout.

Audience Feedback

I questioned 10 people, with 10 questions each about my publication.

Here is an example of my question sheet:

1. What are your first impressions of the magazine?
- Adjectives used for my production were most commonly, 'Funky', 'Cool' and that it is 'Striking', 'Stands Out' and it is 'different to others'

2. Does the Magazine reflect the Mainstream-Indie Genre?

 9- Yes 1- No











3. Is the selected price a fair one for this magazine?
Every person indicated it was a fair price.

4. Does the central image of the front cover attract you to buy the magazine?
The majority of people agreed that it does, as the people who disagreed commonly said " No, but the attractive coverlines make up for it"

5. Is the contents page clear and easy to read?

Every person answered Yes, and some labelled it as "very well structured" and "a nice layout because it is in sections"



6. Do the images on the contents page attract you to their respective pages of the magazine?

Once again, every person answered yes, and also stated that "There is a good variety of images"

7. Is the colour scheme of the magazine similar throughout?

Most of the people who were asked said it does, however some pointed out that the "Front Cover and Contents Page could have more similar colours"

8. The magazine is a relatively clean layout, do you think it could improve by having an untidy/uneven layout?

Every single person agreed that a clean, clear layout is much more easier to read, and therefore shouldn't be changed.

9. Does 'Independent' follow similar codes and conventions to other magazines of the same genre?

Most people said it does follow similar codes and conventions, especially as the title represents the Indie genre to the core, and the people who disagreed said that the masthead of other Indie magazines are normally abbreviations.

10. Overall, what do you think about my magazine?
Some of the comments were as follows:

"It's quite professional with a lively mode of address that reflects the genre"

"I think it matches Indie greatly"

"Good, would attract people like myself who like Indie music"

"It is a well produced magazine which represents the Indie genre and audience successfully"

Images I have taken

These are images I have taken throughout the coursework: