Music Magazine Production: 2014

“critically evaluate own print-based media production work in the context of professional practice, with elucidated examples and consistently using subject terminology correctly.”

I need to be able to produce comprehensive and fluent explanation of my work that's well-considered, and to ensure that the technical vocabulary will be secure and used correctly and confidently at all times.

In ways I describe my media product (music video magazine) use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.
My music video magazine that I produced uses the forms and conventions that are mostly seen in MOJO magazine, now I picked this because it's a very trendy music magazine, one of the best, so to apply that to my audience, I used MOJO as my resource.

(My cover to the left; MOJO to the right)

Now I tried to apply and use their style of a main image which is a typical convention used by music magazines and is familiar to my target audience, and many music magazines use an main image to surround the subject as well as using lots of smaller images. Now from my research I found out that the majority of MOJO magazines main images were of a band member or other artists, so I used the same element for my music magazine cover, I Photoshop myself in which was an image from a music video I did in another unit, too look more professional, I added it on a photo I took from our background scenes from the shoot. By including this main image as my front cover, the target audience can now relate to the image/subject of music videos, so when a reader see’s this image they are more likely to buy the magazine and to understand what it is about.

I believe I could of done a lot better as the software I used was on a PC, and I'm much more familiar to MAC software when it comes to this work, there's a few edges I could of made look a lot better when coming to the final front cover.

Elements from my magazine challenged the conventions of magazines, for example; I included a logo at the top left of my magazine (the choice of colour was its natural form, I left it like that as it followed with my theme), as it is the brand in which I work with, and all magazines state these symbols. I did not follow the convention of using a bar code, as it is free student magazine; I found that students don't like paying for things they need for their studies or are not capable of paying, so to make it easier for my target audience to learn, I made it easier for them to have it.

In a selection of magazines I researched into, there was evidence that there was a specific house style they had. Specific colours and fonts were used throughout the magazines to make it easier for then target audience to recognise the brand, I also used this convention in my media product.

In my contents page the layout of the page of the text lays on top of its main image, I used this within my media product as the technique was similar to other magazine brands, as the information the reader would read, is laying on top of image there brain can symbolize the text to.

On my contents page I included the use of page numbers on each picture so that the audience can navigate more easily. I have used this because MOJO magazine (All magazines) uses this technique and I used this as my research.
On my one sided page spread, I made it so my audience can easily see the text against my background, by use of colour of the font, and the edit of the background image colour the balance correctly against the text.

In my media product I used the typical convention by having sell lines around my main image, I firstly used this because MOJO magazine use this convention and I have looked at this very closely in my research, most magazine do use this technique (mainly fashion magazines).

MOJO magazine keeps their title centred on the page, has it layered above the main image, I have also used this technique in my media product.

My media product represents particular social groups.

Most of the magazines I looked into and researched all helped me think about what age group I wanted to represent within my product, I knew that due to my brief given I needed to produce a magazine for students that were interested in music videos and that wanted to learn a lot about them, so I thought maybe to aim the magazine at teenagers aged between 16- 21 roughly. I think I achieved that aspect, I really put in the effort to aim at young adults. I thought of putting a girl teenager, cameras, equipment etc... on the front of my magazine, so I could attract their attentions and get them into the learning zone more about the different styles of music videos by buying the magazine. I wanted to attract my target audience, as I designed the product to be free, so not cost to students.

When representing this specific social group I added specific language to help gain the readers interest, I used words such as; “indepth”, "learn". I used this because, most students need to be informed of what the content will contain and for them to grasp that, then their attention will be pushed for them to understand the dialect of my magazine. So I used this language specifically for my chosen target audience. From my research I have noticed that other magazines used quite similar techniques to gain their audiences attention and make sure they can relate to what is said in the magazine.

Secondly, the main genre I aimed at with my product was uni-sex. This genre of teens/young adults nowadays have uni-sex classes, and both sex studied within this subject. According to my research I found that most magazines have different genres, in MOJO magazine for example they don’t have a specific genre, the magazine uses all sorts of music genres to attract to a wider audience. On most music magazines I researched I found that there is always an image of either a famous singer or a famous band, so to follow this convention and I use my own technique by using subjects, props and equipment that symbolise music videos to my magazine. By putting an image of a girl who's being filmed, lighting, cameras, more background equipment onto the front cover, I also aim to attract audiences of both sexes by the use of colours and font that I used for my final product, which was picked out by data from research into questions from both sexes.

By using this specific social group it was easy to be able to grasp my audiences attention. The effect of my media product is to get my primary audience (teenagers) to read my magazine. My main image to my magazine doesn’t have anyone famous on the front but a average 19 year old with bachground displays of equipment. I used this image to try and represent a face for them to look at, image to create an eye-grabbing effect, then the use of equipment surrounding the girl to show off what the magazine is about. However to try and attract my secondary audience, I have made sure there was no price for the magazine so its affordable for my target audience.

My magazine is aimed at students who are studying Film Studies, Media ALevels, Creative Media Production and much more; I have done this by including references (main image), equipment (front cover, contents page), data (front cover and contents page text). I have done all this due to the fact that MOJO magazine do similar, and from my research I saw that MOJO magazine doesn't aim at a specific sex and I did the same.

Furthermore my contents page attracts the audience by having a very organised structure, simple but factual, which makes it easier for my readers to navigate themselves around the contents page and find what they want. Also the general colour scheme of the magazine makes it clear for my audience to read the text, also the white on the background makes the page look crisp and fresh giving it a professional look to the magazine.

The kind of media institution that might consider distributing my product, would be IOE.

http://www.ioe.ac.uk/services/92.html

"Institute of Education Press (IOE Press) is a university press based in the Institute of Education (University of London) that publishes books and eBooks to meet the needs of UK and international practitioners, students, and scholars while complementing the Institute's mission to pursue excellence in education and related areas of social science and professional practice."

They as specifically for education press, which as I'm aiming towards students they are perfect for getting into business with.

I aimed to attract my audience by making sure that my front cover was interesting and was able to be seen easily from a far. I did this by having a image that stands out from the background which will automatically draw the readers attention, and to balance that with the colour and font of the text.

Sell lines "Music Videos" that stand out from a far. This is so that the audience can see it from a distance. Big bold bright text to stand out. Same style of front is produced throughout the page to give a professional look. Logo ensures its apart of a brand, creates a professional appeal to the students, that can know its solid information.

I've learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product, before the preliminary task I had a basic idea on how to use the software "Photoshop" on PC, but not enough to create a much better look I could of done on a MAC. So it made it difficult for me as I had to learn a lot within a short period of time, in a busy schedule. My PC Photoshop skills have dramatically improved over time and this task has given me a chance to learn new things. I learnt that Photoshop is very temperamental, sometimes during the task my work wouldn't save.

With Photoshop I was able to satirise the image making the girl seem more vibrant (changing the contrast) than pale (lowering the saturation), the software also enabled me the chance to remove the background from that photo to place it upon another photo I edited, this image is the background on my front cover, I created a blur effect and I fiddled around with the colour range and added a block of red blurred diagonally across the corners to create a bold, stand-out effect.

Here's the original photos:

Looking back at my brief, I feel that I've learnt a fair bit of progression from to the full production, I have learnt to organise my time better, in the preliminary I was rushed to finish, it didn't happen to be my best that I could of produce. I think how I took the photos was quite professional and how I used correct lighting and the effects I used within the magazine to display each image, I did fairly well. I am now a lot better at using PC Photoshop , my skills on that software have improved a lot. I have learnt about the use or image manipulation of pictures.

My research has become effectively stronger and how to back up everything that I am saying with evidence from other magazines. I still think there are a lot more things I need to change/add on my magazine, like the front cover, add more text and colour. I think this is a skill I will be able to take into a further.

I have be able to maintain my knowledge on keeping the information on your target audience’s attention you have to add in a lot of key conventions.