Jade Keating
John F Kennedy School

Candidate Number: 6157

Centre Number: 17131

Feed back

Sally Phair - I like the colour scheme shown throughout the project i think it works well and represents a rock theme. I also like the images used.

Jessica Walshe - The image on the front cover interests me to want to read the whole magazine, also the two contrasting colours which caught my eye.

Rachel Sweeney - I like the colours of the magazine and i feel the red and black work well together. The information included on the cover also catches my eye and makes me want to buy the magazine and read on further.

William Keenan - I love how you have portrayed your genre of music, and the colours you have used work well. The front page is my favorite because the model works well. Overall i think your magazine is great!

Katie Cunningham- Your magazine is instantly recognisable as a magazine for rock and indie music. I love the the pose the model uses as it is very eye catching. However i do think some more information could be added on the front cover and contents page.

My Evaluation

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

My media product uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products by:

• The mast head of the magazine, is bold and in a box so it is instantly recognisable as a title for a magazine.
• The costume and props fit well with the genre of the magazine, as my model is dressed in indie type clothes.
• The mise-en-scene of the images are all close up, i wanted to get a full view of my models close up to create a better effect on his facial expression. I edited some of my images to make them black and white, however for my front cover image i kept it in colour and edited it to make it a little bit faded. My magazine's front cover is designed to be attractive and enticing to the reader, therefore i thought it was important to reach certain criteria.
• I did not add any props into my images other than my model wearing big square glasses, simply because i wanted my photograph's to mainly be close up shots.
• The title i chose for my magazine makes it instantly recognisable as a magazine targeted for its genre. I chose to create a big and bold title. I also made each letter black and red to stick with my theme. The styles of font's i used are decorative and modern. I added three stars for decoration on my mast head and again stuck to my theme of black and red.
• The written content that is in my magazine again, instantly presents that it is a rock/indie magazine. For example, an interview with an indie music artist and also the fact on the contents page it explains information on events such as "The Reading Festival" which presents that the same type of music that is played at that festival is the same as the magazine, so it is advertising it.
• The layout for each of the pages i created are similar, as i stuck to the same colours that fit in with the genre. I covered each page with colour and writing to ensure i did not leave any blank spaces. I wanted each page to look very well filled with information, pictures and colour but not so it looked too over the top.
• My contents page states the information on what is inside the magazine in very sophisticated font, i chose a black back ground for this page to make the white font stand out as it is the most important part of the page. I think the photograph's took from the concert i went to see work well on this page, it is very eye catching. Again i stuck with my theme of black and red, adding a black and red stripe on the side of the page for decoration.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents particular social groups because it is clear it is aimed at people that like that particular type of music, not just because of the fact it has information on indie/rock music inside, the whole feel of the magazine, the colours, the facial expressions of music artist's all fit in with the genre. My model's facial expression is similar to Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighter's on the cover of NME magazine. The shot is similar in that they are both close up shots which really show of their facial expression. The angle of both shots are straightforward, and both of them are looking directly at the camera. The lighting on NME magazine compared to my magazine is brighter, which really gives a clear image of the face. You can not see much of each of their costumes, simply because these are close up shots, so the main focus is on their faces, both of their expressions are extremely eye catching. Both of there hair styles are long and messy looking, this fits in well with the genre as it is a popular hair style for people who enjoy this type of music. I think NME's front cover is very successful in enticing its audience, the cover is attractive and contains the relevant information that readers will look for.

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

Institutionally my magazine is similar to magazines such as NME, Kerrang! and Q. NME is a British weekly magazine featuring agenda-setting news, the UK's comprehensive gig guide, definitive reviews of the weeks hottest gigs, tracks and albums, and fiery comment from the nation's most opinionated writers, its the essential guide to the week's music. NME magazines heyday was during the 1970s when it became the best selling British music magazine. During the period of 1972 to 1976 it was particularly associated with gonzo journalism, then became closely associated with punk rock through the writing of Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill. Krissi Murison was named the magazine's eleventh editor on the 29 July 2009, she was the magazine's first female editor. NME.com feature akim-the-teddy-vann-production-company including news, reviews, biography, YouTube video, audio concerts, tour dates, photos, pictures, album reviews, live reviews and facts.

Kerrang! And Q magazine are both published by Bauer Consumer Media in the United Kingdom. Kerrang! magazine's name is onomatopoeic and refers to the sound made when playing a power cord guitar. It is a rock magazine where as Q magazine features more indie music.
You can see the similarities between my model and the band on the front of Kerrang! Magazine. There facial expressions are the same.

Who would be the audience of your media product?

The audience of my media product would mainly be teenagers and young adults who are particularly interested in rock and indie music. The type of person that would be interested in my magazine would also be interested in going to gig's. They would like to dress individually, and have a unique style. The cloth's shops they would like to shop in would therefore be unique in selling clothes that fit in with the genre of music they are interested in. There hair style would also express the fact they enjoy this type of music. They would have long, messy hair preferably a dark colour. The photograph is an example of the type of person who would be interested in this genre, he looks like the perfect description of an indie/rock fan. I have referred to my music collage for this question again to show that the magazine mainly focuses on rock and indie music but also to show the types of people who enjoy this genre.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my target audience from my designs, because i stuck to the genre of music, by using colours which you would associate with the genre. As well as the photographs of a model which clearly looks interested in rock and indie music.

When creating my front cover for my magazine, i had to consider what would really attract and address my target audience. I did not make drastic changes to my photograph for my front cover, i still wanted to keep colour for my front page to make it more eye catching. The font i chose for my mast head is very distinctive. I chose a decorative font, that stands out instantly. The black and red contrasts well together, i used these colours throughout my designing of pages. From the front cover you can instantly see what to expect inside the magazine, as it has all the relevant information on the most interesting parts of the magazine to entice a person to read it.

You can see from my contents page and double page spread that i added detailed information, to these pages like a real magazine publication would. The photograph's on my contents, instantly make the page look realistic, as they are photograph's from a real gig. I thought adding photograph's like this would be a unique selling point as it looks interesting to a reader. For my contents page i again stuck to my theme of black and red, but also added white writing on a black background for an eye catching effect. I thought this was a good idea as it relates to the genre of my magazine. The contents clearly states everything you would expect to find in a music magazine of this genre. For my double page spread, i again stuck with my theme of black and red and stuck with a bold title. I made the interview in bold font to show that it is the main part of the page. For this page i added my photograph's and edited them to black and white for an indie/rock feel. This page would be attractive to a reader as the model's expression is very eye catching and interesting and the bold font really jumps out at you.

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

Here are the two pieces of technology i used to produce my magazines. I was confident when using the camera because we had previously had a lesson on how to use it. On the computer i used programmes such as photo shop, Microsoft power point, paint and Blogger all to develop my magazine pages.

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

You can see a clear difference between my front cover and contents page from the preliminary task compared to the music magazine task. The music magazine looks a lot more professional and more descriptive. I learnt from the preliminary task to put my mast head in a box and to place it at the top of the page to make it look like more of a magazine. My front cover for my preliminary task looks more like a poster because the mast head is not placed at the top in a box. The differences between my contents page from my school magazine and music magazine are vast, again my contents page for my music magazine looks a lot more professional compared to my school magazine. It looks a lot simpler, where as for the music magazine there is a lot of descriptive detail, colour and pictures. Again i placed the title at the top of the page to make it stand out. The photograph's i took for my music magazine task were a lot better because i had, had more experience using the camera so i knew exactly how to angle and zoom in on my model particularly because my images were close up shots. The lay out of both pages from my music magazine are a lot more organised and more eye catching compared to the school magazine. I used decorative font for my music magazine where as for my school magazine i stuck to one simple font. Overall i felt my skills using the computer and camera improved a great deal, i was able to edit images, using photoshop and create font styles which look a lot more proffesional.