G321

By Luke Barnacle

AS Media Evaluation

QUESTION 1

In what ways does your media product use,

develop or challenge forms and conventions

of real media products?

1. Use, develop or challenge forms and conventions

Front cover

When creating my magazine I used various generic codes and conventions that I had recognised

through tasks set on analysing codes and conventions:

http://lukebarnacle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/conventions-of-magazine-cover.html

I then practised adding codes and conventions to existing magazine templates to familiarise myself

with the features I would need on my magazine cover:

http://lukebarnacle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/codes-and-conventions-task.html

After completion of these tasks analysing magazines and

using these codes and conventions I got an understanding

of the layout for a music magazine.

I followed a lot of the genetic codes and conventions

typically seen on music magazines.

For example, I have followed the ‘left third’ rule with the

‘CMM’ masthead and I have highlighted the artist’s

importance by covering a part of the masthead with the

main image.

Also, I have learnt and ensured that the main cover line is

shown as the most important information on the cover as I

have made it the largest and put it on top of the main

image.

I have included other codes and conventions such as,

barcode, pug, date line, price and cover lines.

1. Use, develop or challenge forms and conventions

Challenges and developments

Some of the codes and conventions I

used were not generic or the typical

ones you would expect to see in a

music magazine.

For example I used a white border

around my maid cover line as I felt

that it provided a unique edge to the

cover and put emphasis on the main

cover line.

Also, rather than a mid shot which is

often seen on music magazines I

used a full body shot of the band as I

really wanted them to take up the

space and have the most importance

on the cover. Also this allowed me to

use an effect as if they were fading in

which linked it to the main cover line.

This also helped me to make my

magazine more unique and different.

1. Use, develop or challenge forms and conventions

Influences

A massive influence throughout

the construction of my

magazine was ‘NME’.

Particularly editions of the

magazine with Arctic Monkeys

on the cover as I felt they’re

very similar to the band I have

created.

I like the plain bold NME

masthead and decided to use a

very similar design for mine just

with a different shade of red.

I was also influenced by the

blocking of the main images for

NME so decided to have my

lead singer at up front with the

rest of the band behind him.

1. Use, develop or challenge forms and conventions

Contents

The layout of the contents was also

inspired by NME magazine as I did

research in to contents pages:

http://lukebarnacle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/1

0/contents-page-research.html

In the NME contents page (right) I liked

the layout and in my magazine I followed

this including a similar colour scheme.

I also had a similar banner at the top of

the page with the masthead and title.

However, I decided to have two artist’s

images on the page with less informative

writing as I felt this would be a good

feature for a magazine ‘teasing’ on

stories.

I thought the small amount of writing

made it easy to read and more attractive.

1. Use, develop or challenge forms and conventions

Contents

My contents page continued with the

house style and linked in with the front

cover as it had the same colour

scheme and artists featured on the

cover were also mentioned here with

another image of my band and other

artists in the ‘features’ section.

Although my contents page was

different to NME which heavily

influenced me as I had two artists on

the page there were a lot of similarities

such as the banner at the top and the

way the typical conventions are laid

out.

To maintain the importance of the main

band on the cover I have ensured that

they have the biggest section of page

with their picture and the ‘teaser of

information underneath.

1. Use, develop or challenge forms and conventionsDouble page spread

My initial influence for a double page spread was ‘Rolling Stones’ magazine:

http://lukebarnacle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/rolling-stones-magazine-double-spread.html

However, I was then mainly influenced my NME again for my double page spread in the sense that I had a

picture on one page and the interview on the other.

The house colours of red, white and black remain on the double page spread which brings the front cover,

contents page and this together and makes the magazine feel real.

I have dedicated one whole page for an image of one of my band’s members with a headline for the

interview as I felt this was more attractive and would interest potential fans of the band and the target

audience for my magazine.

The interview is in a question and answer format as I feel this is easier to read and makes it more interesting

and also the layout is more attractive. Certain parts of the answers are bold to highlight them as main parts

of the answers the artist is giving.

I included a picture relevant to one of the answers to separate all the writing and ensure it wasn’t boring.

QUESTION 2

How does your media product represent

particular social groups?

2. Representing particular social groups

My magazine is targeted at older teenagers

such as 16-19 year olds as they are likely to

be going through an ‘indie/rock’ phase and

favour young rebellious bands like ‘Faux fur’

who I have created. NME helped me when

researching how I could appeal to this target

audience:

http://lukebarnacle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/m

agazine-genre-research.html

Cover stars

The cover stars are a band I created called

‘faux fur’ who have a Rebellious indie style,

leather and denim.

They are an up and coming indie/rock band

and their style represents life as young

teenagers to be fun and care free doing what

they want. In these images they are shown to

be looking away which I wanted to highlight

how care free and young they are and I

chose to have one of the artists smoking to

show the rebelliousness of the band.

2. Representing particular social groups

With my main supporting artist I

used very similar photography to

that used with the cover stars. This

was so the genre was consistent

and I was ensuring that the whole

magazine appealed to the target

audience. This female has a similar

‘indie’ style to the main band

wearing leather and denim and is

also smoking to show her care free

attitude.

I feel that she appears to be quite

strong and individual and this

challenges stereotypes that females

are more dependant and passive.

QUESTION 3

What kind of media institution might distribute

your media product and why?

3. Media institution

Due to the influence that NME magazine had on me whist constructing

my music magazine they are similar in genre and target audience that

would be buying the product therefore I think they would be published

and distributed by similar major distributing companies.

I found a variety of magazine genres online:

http://www.slideshare.net/eejc1993/what-kind-of-media-institution-might-

distribute-swagger-magazine

I looked at a variety of magazines from different genres and who

distributes them:

3. Media institution

I’ve chosen IPC Media to distribute my magazine:

http://www.ipcmedia.com/

The main reason I’ve chose IPC Media as my distribution company is due to the

influence that NME has had on me whilst constructing my magazine as NME is

distributed by IPC media.

I feel that CMM will be good for this company as they know how to advertise to

my target audience being young ‘indie/rock’ music lovers in various ways mainly

through the use of modern technology.

QUESTION 4

What would be the audience for your media

product?

4. Audience for media product

I think I'll aim my music magazine at a

similar target audience as popular

magazines like NME. Indie/Rock artists

and bands are most commonly the cover

stars on the issues of NME, for example,

Arctic Monkeys have featured on the

cover of the magazine many times

throughout their career. This makes me

think that the magazine is mainly

targeted at older teenagers/young adults

as people around this age group, male or

female, can relate to the music featured

in NME. However, whilst NME is aimed at

a mass market on a whole, I'll aim my

magazine at more of a niche market,

sticking to indie/rock music.

I asked people around the age of 16-19

years old questions that are relevant to

the construction of my music magazine:

http://lukebarnacle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/1

2/analysis-of-questionnaire.html

QUESTION 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

5. Attracting/Addressing audience

Colours

I used mature and simple colours for my

magazine due to the influence of NME as

I find the NME layout very attractive and

appealing.

I feel that the three colours together are

attractive and therefore would appeal to

anyone. However, I think the darkness of

the black and the connotations of danger

with red suit the young rebellious style I

aimed to achieve to suit my target

audience.

Red is often used to make text stand out

as it requires special attention.

Masthead

The name CMM is an acronym for

‘Cobain Melodic Method’ named after

Nirvana who are iconic to the indie/rock

genre.

I also think the simplicity of the acronym

would appeal to the younger target

audience and is easily memorable

therefore attractive for the audience.

5. Attracting/Addressing audience

Cover lines

The cover lines and the pug

include phrases such as ‘free’

in bold capital letters to grab

the audiences attention

because most people would

be intrigued by what they

could have for free.

The wording is informal, such

as ‘clean up at the brits’ to

satisfy the young target

audience and keep it simple

and make it an easy read.

The cover line titles are in a

bold eccentric font that I think

give it a ‘rock’ edge and

attitude that would appeal to

the target audience of my

music magazine.

Images

The majority of the images are to highlight the youth and

rebelliousness of the artists featured in my magazine.

The main image has a fading effect on to appeal to the

audience as it links with the cover line that the band are

‘fading in to charts’. It also has a red tint which I feel

connotes danger and fits in with the youthful

rebelliousness that would appeal to my target audience.

QUESTION 6

What have you learnt about technologies from

the process of constructing the product?

6. Technologies from the process of constructing the product

During the process of constructing my magazine I used various different

technology including, paint.net, PagePlus and Microsoft Word.

Strengths of each programme:

Paint.net PagePlus Microsoft Publisher

Easy to use and

understand

Good photo cut out

studio

Very easy to use

Very easy effective when

cropping, removing the

backgrounds and editing

pictures

Easy to create template

for front cover, contents

page and double page

spread

Easy to save as JPEG

photo ready to post on

my blog

Able to add text and

shapes

Good choice of fonts on

‘text’ tool

Spell check prevents

grammatical mistakes

Paint.net PagePlus Microsoft Publisher

Text can’t be edited after

deselecting a layer

‘Text’tool is hard to use No photo editing tools

Limited choice of simple

tools like shapes

Imported images don’t

always have good

quality

Difficult to reposition text

and images

Images don’t always

save in great quality

6. Technologies from the process of constructing the product

Weaknesses of each programme:

Each programme had uses when constructing my magazine. Paint.net was useful for

cropping and editing images. Microsoft word was good when I wanted to use basic tools

and group images together. PagePlus was useful for the final construction of my

magazine and putting everything together making it look professional.

6. Technologies from the process of constructing the product

Drafting and planning:

After creating my very first magazine draft a lot

went wrong and a lot of errors needed to be dealt

with, I highlighted this in my first draft analysis:

http://lukebarnacle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/analysi

s-of-first-magazine-draft.html

After assessing the final draft of my

magazine I realised there was still errors

that needed to be dealt with and before

my front cover, contents page and double

page spread were completed.

There were too many fonts on the cover

so I decided on one to make it more

simple.

Also, I felt there was too much negative

space on the contents page and I needed

more to fill it so I added a supporting

artist.

I also had difficulty cropping the

background out of the images without it

looking unprofessional, so I used the

‘feathering’ effect to soften the edges.

6. Technologies from the process of constructing the product

Photographic choices

Before thinking about taking the

photographs for my front

page, contents page and double page

spread I had to plan how the image

would fit in with the genre and layout

of the magazine. Also I had to plan for

the photo itself including the artist’s

outfits, location and blocking in the

photo.

This planning meant that one photo shoot was

enough to get the perfect pictures to fit on my

front cover, contents page and double page

spread.

Not much editing was required to improve the

photos initially but after cutting the background

out I had to edit the brightness and use a tool

called ‘feathering’ to improve the photo and

make it look more professional.

6. Technologies from the process of constructing the product

Blogger

Blogger was very useful throughout the process of constructing my magazine

and it makes the whole process of the construction very clear.

My blog is always accessible and it is much more simple and easy to store work

on the blog rather than saving everything in a folder.

Also, this makes it a lot easier to post, delete and edit work.

My blog address: http://lukebarnacle.blogspot.co.uk/

QUESTION 7

Looking back to your preliminary task, what do

you feel that you have learnt in the progression

from it to the full product?

7. What I have learnt since the preliminary task

PRELIMINARY TASK FINAL PRODUCT

The preliminary task is to dull, plain and unprofessional. There are missing or wrong codes and

conventions such as the face that the masthead doesn’t follow the left third rule and there is no pug.

Also, the main cover line does not stand out from the other cover lines.

7. What I have learnt since the preliminary task

PRELIMINARY TASK FINAL PRODUCT

The preliminary task is extremely dull and boring with a lot of negative space. It follows hardly any

codes and conventions and suggests that the magazine is 9 pages long.

QUESTION 8

How successful do you feel your end product is in

fulfilling the task? How well does it fit the brief?

8. How successful is my end product?

I feel that my end product is successful in fulfilling the task to construct a music

magazine. After all the research in to similar products such as music magazines

like NME which heavily influenced me I feel that I have created a front cover,

contents page and double page spread for an indie/rock music magazine that I

think would appeal to the target audience of people in their late teens/early adult

years.