Evaluation

Oliver Murphy

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

The Masthead of my magazine is similar to others of the genre such as ‘Clash’ and ‘The Fly’, covering the full width of the page and being in a strong, bold font.

Sticking with the conventions of ‘The Fly’ and ‘Clash’ I have a banner line across the top of the page. There is an offer of extra’s you can find inside the magazine which is the same as on ‘Clash’. There is also a similar banner line at the bottom as ‘Clash’.

Unlike ‘The Fly’ and ‘NME’ front covers, my magazine has the theme more of ‘Clash’. It is very neat and uniform, rather than having a messy look seen on the fonts in ‘NME’ and ‘The Fly’.

I have challenged the conventions of most indie magazines by including a range of pictures which look like they have been taken on a polaroid camera and ‘dropped’ on the page. This matches up with the title name of ‘Relic’, as the magazine is presented as being old school.

Barcode, title, date and website are included on my magazine which is a convention of nearly all magazines which aren’t free.

I have challenged the conventions of most magazines by having the person in the main image looking away from camera. This gives the impression that my person is cool, calm and happy to be there.

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

My magazine follows the conventions of ‘Clash’ magazine in using Sub- Headings at the side of the page, using text colours which match the colour scheme.

My main image shows the artist in a natural location (not studio), the location of the shot emphasises how ‘underground’ the artist is in the music scene. The magazines music genre is indie so this suits it well.

My main cover line is at the side of the page which challenges the conventions of a lot of music magazines. It does, however, follow the conventions of having a main storyline followed by a short description or part of the story.

Similar to ‘Clash magazine I have a banner line at the bottom of the page with other band names on in order to draw in a bigger audience. I, however, integrated my banner line with the rest of the page rather than making it boxy as ‘Clash’ did. This helps with the clean look of my page.

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

My magazine follows the conventions of having one image taking up one page of the D.P.S and having the article on the other.

I challenged the conventions of most music magazines by having my artist in a natural location outside with natural light. My artists had an indirect mode of address, this look is typical for ‘indie’ artists. My magazine includes a

small ‘Quickfire Round’ section in the article. This is placed in the centre of the body of text. This challenges conventions of the given double page spreads. The reason for this is that it splits up the body of text making it seem more appealing for the reader.

My magazine follows the conventions of other magazines by including a website address.

Page numbers are included in my magazine, following convention, this enables the reader to navigate the magazine with ease

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

My contents page follows the convention of Q magazine by only being on one page.

I included the issue month on the contents page which follows the conventions of other music magazines.

My magazine follows the convention of having a ‘Features’ section and a ‘Regulars’ or ‘Every Month’ section allowing for ease of use for the reader.

The overall layout of my contents page challenges the conventions of most music magazines. It is very simple and has only one main image. It is, however, similar to ‘The Fly’ magazines contents page.

The title of my contents page ‘What’s inside’ challenges the conventions of other music magazines as it is a lot more informal than the traditional ‘Contents’.

I followed the convention of including a large number of band names on my contents page.

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

My magazine follows the conventions of most magazines by having a colour palette that runs

through the magazine. A common font base also runs throughout

my work which is also a convention of music magazines.

My magazine challenges the conventions of most music

magazines by, rather than having white pages, has slightly yellow tinted pages. This follows the

theme of the magazine being ‘Old School’ as the pages look old.

How does your media product represent different social groups?

The main image that takes up the entirety of my front page is of a young male. The model isn’t represented as breaking the law or any rules, which can sometimes be associated with youth. He is, however, in an urban location which looks slightly tatty and a bit run down. Presenting the model this way gives the impression that he is possibly quite edgy, whilst not being a criminal. This could be seen as a positive representation of teenagers, this would draw in the target audience of males between 16-26 years old as they can empathises with him.

The smaller images on my front cover also contain teenage males. One of the images is of a teenage boy sitting at the top of a grass mound looking out at nothing in particular. This could contain connotations of either, the artist being deeply into and ‘lost’ in his music, or it could possibly represent how he is part of the drug culture enjoyed by a large portion of the target audience and that he is in a ‘trip’.

The clothing of all of the models is all very relaxed and casual. They do however have an ‘indie’ feel to their clothes representing how teenagers care about the clothes they wear and are into fashion. The fact that they can afford these fashionable clothes also represent teenagers sometimes high disposable income when they come from a middle-class background, typical of the indie music scene.

All of the models on the front cover are white males, this is representative of most of the indie music scene, which is also made up largely of white males.

How does your media product represent different social groups?

My double page spread shows one main image of a teenage male. He is represented as being very relaxed in his surroundings, whilst also maybe seeming withdrawn. His hands are in his pockets and he is looking away from the camera showing a possible shyness or vulnerability which could reflect that of the reader. The fact that he is in a

back street with no one else around could emphasise this nervous side to his personality as he isn’t comfortable around loads of people or, it could also, that he is possibly very individual and not one of a big crowd. He is represented as being quite

middle class due to his fashionable/ expensive clothing.

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

• A media institution is a corporation that produces, markets, regulates and distributes media products or does some of the above.

• Examples of magazine intitutions include:

IPC MediaBauer MediaDevelopment HellFuture Media.MAMA Group

www.bauermedia.co.uk

www.futureplc.com

www.developmenthell.co.uk

www.ipcmedia.com

www.mamagroup.co.uk

For my magazine I would seek the distribution of ‘MAMA Group’.

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

Mama group already publish and distribute free magazine ‘The Fly’ which is an indie magazine distributed to fashion shops, live venues, vintage shops and music shops across the country.

A lot of MAMA’s work is in producing live music events. They own live venues across the country such as The Forum in London, Picturehouse in Edinburgh, The Ritz in Manchester and The Institute in Birmingham. They also run a number of festivals such as ‘Wilderness’, ‘Global Gathering’ and ‘The Great Escape’ amongst many others.

Why MAMA?• Through their links with live music venues and UK Festivals, MAMA would

make an ideal distributor of my magazine as it already has the ideal demographic for my magazine, of teenage, gig and festival goers, easily reachable. It would also allow for giveaways in the magazine for this sort of event, which would appeal to the target audience.

• MAMA currently only publishes a free magazine that relies on advertising to generate funding. My magazine is not free and I believe this venture would attract MAMA as they could expand their audience.

• The magazine could easily be sold at all of MAMAs gig and festival venues as well as being distributed to similar shops to that of current publication by them ‘The Fly’. Easily reaching the target demographic.

• By choosing MAMA I would attract a niche audience of committed buyers who are more likely to return and buy the magazine each month, due to its link with real, live music.

• My magazine could also develop a ‘Relic Introducing…’ section and the featured bands could play at festivals and venues owned by MAMA. This would not only generate more interest and publicity for the magazine within the industry and readership, but it would also develop its content further.

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

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• Males, 15-24 – most of the people who took my questionnaire fit within this category and indicated an interest in indie- pop and indie- rock music which are the basis genres of my magazine.

• They would most likely have an interest in fashion and come from a middle class background, thus having a higher disposable income, allowing them to buy the magazine and spend money in shops associated with it.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Typical Reader

• They would have an interest in going to live gigs and festivals and will keep up to date on the latest indie gig dates through the magazine.

• They would be interested in keeping up with the latest technologies such as laptops and mobile phones. This would allow them to use the technological side of my magazine to full effect and would appeal to them the most. (website, QR Codes etc.)

• Whilst having favourite bands they follow, my reader would also be interested in ‘discovering’ new bands, including those which could be featured in the ‘Relic Introducing…’ section of the magazine.

• They would possibly be interested in making music themselves, most likely as part of a band. Artist interviews and instrument giveaways in the magazine would appeal to this audience.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

How did you attract/address your audience?I have used Buzzwords such as ‘EXCLUSIVE!’ and ‘PLUS!’ to initially capture the readers attention and draw them in.

The banner line at the top of the page has a free giveaway of sorts. It tells the reader of the free codes inside the magazine that give them access to special pages on the website, this attracts my audience as they most likely have an interest in technology so these codes will be useful for them.

The overall layout of my front cover is reasonably simplistic and follows a simple colour scheme. This draws in my target audience of middle class teenagers as they generally prefer a more simplistic layout, rather than being bombarded with offers and stories from the magazine. When the cover is too busy it can make it look cheap and too much like a hard- sell. Evidence of this is in similar magazines such as ‘Clash’ and ‘The Fly’ who have a similar target audience.

My front page contains 7 different band names. My audience will have an active interest in bands and new music so, chances are, they will know at least one of the bands on the cover. This will peak their interest as they would be interested in finding out about the bands they know. The names of the other bands they don’t know will also interest my audience as they will be interested in finding out about new bands.

The retro, Polaroid-style pictures on the front cover of my magazine will attract my audience as they will likely have an interest in this ‘retro’ or ‘vintage’ style which is popular at the moment in the fashion scene. Inclusion of these factors makes my magazine seem modern, interesting and up to date, despite the apparent contradiction in saying so.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The price of £2.99 would attract my audience to the magazines. In my research my audience indicated they would be willing to pay up to £3 for a music magazine, thus the price of £2.99 would seem reasonable to them.

Using a teenage, male model for my front cover photo attracts my audience as he seems more of someone you could empathise with rather than an aspirational figure who could seem to belittle the reader. This is positive for my audience as they tend to like one of 2 things- either an attractive female model which they can gain a voyeuristic pleasure from looking at, or they like a person similar to them. My model also seems quite modest in his photo rather than really posing, he seems like this because of his indirect mode of address and how his hands are in his pockets. This appeals to my audience as he doesn’t seem cocky, which could again put the reader off. I may also attract an alternative audience than my main target audience through the picture, this could happen as the model is quite attractive, thus draws in a female audience in a way that turns the feminist theory on its head by showing it works both ways.

The cover lines on my front cover also draw in the audience. The main cover line ‘Andy Wilson, The art of noise…’ attracts my audience due to how simple it seems; it doesn’t give much away about the story inside whilst still capturing their interest and making them want to buy the magazine to read the story. Additional cover lines draw in my audience as, whilst they may have some interest in the main storyline, these could be the clinching factor in them buying the magazine if they also have an interest in the bands/ stories featured.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Again, the simplistic layout and neutral colour scheme of the contents page would appeal to the middle class audience due its apparent sophistication in not having to bombard with giveaways and flashy colours.

The straightforward layout of the band names on my contents page appeals to my audience as it allows them to easily locate the stories of interest for them. They will likely have an active interest in lots of bands so featuring lots of band names means at least one will likely peak the interest of the reader.

Reminding the audience of the website address again appeals to them as they will likely have an interest in computing and new technologies.

The simplicity of my picture appeals to the audience. Having just a picture of a pair of shoes tells us little or nothing about the story and yet this simplicity is almost its best feature as it intrigues the audience into wanting to read the article to see what its all about.

The informal writing style of my header appeals to my audience as it implies the magazine will be fun and easy to read rather than seeming pompous or up itself.

Bleary eyed, dressed in shorts and an over- sized shirt, with just one sandal on his bare feet and braving the mid winter cold outside of -3⁰. Leo Havens, it seems is certainly enjoying the Rock and Roll lifestyle he’s found in each of the cities so far on his 23 date, 2 month long UK tour. The secret Buble loving singer songwriter joined us in the studio for a chat and gave us a live, acoustic version of his debut single ‘Travelled Roads’.WHAT MUSIC INSPIRES YOU?Growing up, there was always either some Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan or some Classic rock booming from some corner of the house. So I’d say that’s had some sort of influence on my music in some way. But I’ve personally always liked listening to indie music, much to the disdain of my mum and dad! I guess bands like Alt- J, Arctic Monkeys, Ben Howard and Wavves are what I tend to listen to nowadays. So I’d say my taste is quite eclectic, probably anything that can be suffixed with indie I like.HOW ARE YOU ENJOYING YOUR CURRENT TOUR?It’s been absolutely mad! So Chuffed there’s been such great support countrywide, along with the free booze it makes it all worth it! (Laughs) But no, seriously, it’s really great to see everyone making an effort to come out to my shows.FAVOURITE MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?That’s a tough one, there’s been so many! But I guess I’d have to say early on in this tour when I was playing ‘Travelled Roads’ and stopped singing and heard the whole audience singing my lyrics back to me. It sounds really cheesy but it was a really heart warming moment.YOU WERE OFFERED A PLACE AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY, BUT TURNED IT DOWN TO PURSUE MUSIC, HAS IT BEEN WORTH IT?(Laughs) Well, my mum certainly wasn’t best pleased when I told her my plans! But after about a 3 day discussion she finally accepted the idea! I think now she might see it was a good idea… maybe. I think it definitely was a good idea! WHAT WAS THE LAST GIG YOU ATTENDED?I saw ‘Everything Everything’ a couple of weeks back in Leeds. They’re so good live; they’ve got such awesome energy and really get the whole audience involved! Their main support was ‘Swim Deep’ as well! I’d never heard of them before the gig but now I’m obsessed!WHATS THE WORST SHOW YOU’VE EVER PLAYED?(Laughs) Ermm, I’d have to say it was probably about my 5th or 6th gig. I was playing a little venue called ‘Cashino’ in Southampton, and half way through my 3rd or 4th song a guy who’d clearly had a bit too much to drink burst on stage, stole the mic, and started singing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ REALLY badly. Not nice. The 3 audience members pretty much just cheered him for it though.WHAT’S THE MOST EMBARRASSING SONG ON YOUR IPOD?I’d have to say anything out of my Michael Buble collection. I know his music is aimed at bored housewives, but I’ve gotta say, I’m a Buble lover, seen him live 3 times…. Yeah.

How did you attract/address your audience?Interview Article

How did you attract/address your audience?

The whole of one of the pages is taken up by a picture of the artist sitting on some railing in a relaxed pose. The person featured is another teenage male who is dressed in casual, yet fashionable clothes. He has the classic ‘indie, unbothered’ pose here with an indirect mode of address which appeals to the audience as he don’t seem too cocky meaning the audience can empathise with him. He also seems a bit mysterious because of this pose which could attract an alternate audience of women who could find him attractive. The location of the shot is in an urban area down a backstreet which makes the artist seem a bit underground and edgy which appeals to the audience as he doesn’t seem too pompous or full of himself.

Having the ‘Quickfire Round’ in the centre of the page immediately draws the readers attention to it and acts as a light- hearted, almost jokey start to the article. It also helps in breaking up the text to make it seem easily digestible and appealing to the reader.

The tone of the article is all very informal and relaxed. Using slang such as ‘Chuffed’ and ‘Free Booze’ connects with the audience as it is written in a similar way to how they speak themselves among peers. This means the article engages the audience as they wont find it a long, dreary block of text that doesn’t engage them. The article is written in an interview style, again, to engage the audience. It allows the text to be easily split into sections for easy reading. It also means that it is written like a conversation so it can better put across the artists personality. It does this especially well through comedic bits such as ‘I know his music’s for bored housewives, but…’ and ‘Well, my mum certainly wasn’t best pleased when I told her my plans!’ which could make the reader empathise with the artist and enjoy the article more.

The article starts off with an opening paragraph explaining very briefly what it will be about. The tone of this opening paragraph is all quite relaxed and comical. This addresses the readers desires well. My audience are partly made up of casual music listeners who’s main interest is simply following bands and finding out stuff about them. The opening paragraph sets up the article well.

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

• Canon SLR Camera• Blogger• Photoshop• PowerPoint• SlideShare• Word• Google Chrome

Technologies Used

• Google Chrome

• Powerpoint• Blogger• SlideShare

• Google Chrome

• Powerpoint• Blogger• Photoshop• Word• Canon SLR

• Google Chrome

• Powerpoint• Blogger• Slideshare

PRE PRODUCTION(Planning/ Research)

PRODUCTIONPOST PRODUCTION(Evaluation)

Pre Production

• Blogger- Learnt how to set up a blog page and create, edit and publish blog posts.

• SlideShare- Learnt how to create a Slideshare account and upload PowerPoint files and link these over to my blog.

What have I learnt?

Production

• Photoshop- Learnt how to layer work so one shape is visible over another and set transparency of layers so one layer is only slightly concealed. Space text in order to cover a page effectively.

What have I learnt?

• Canon SLR- Learnt how to focus shots and plan lighting so as to best light the subject rather than put them in shadow.

ProductionWhat have I learnt?

•Blogger- Learnt how to upload jpegs to blogs in order to present my work easily.

• Technology was vital in the production of my magazine, during the research, the production and the post production it played a key role.

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

Could I have completed the project without using any technology?

What technology could you have done without?• I could have gone without PowerPoint and Word in the production of my piece as I

could have presented it all directly on my blog, however this would have been much more difficult and the end product much less appealing to the eye.

What technology couldn’t you have done without?

• I couldn’t have completed the project without using a camera to take my original photo’s for my magazine. My blog was vital in presenting my work as it allowed all of it to come together in one place. A web browser was also essential to the production of my work as it allowed me to conduct the research before producing my own magazine pages. Photoshop was an essential tool in creating my magazine as it allowed me to construct each of my 3 pages’ including: editing pictures; adding text; structuring my page.

• Technology allowed me to present all of my work in one, easy to find and user friendly, place. It allowed for easy editing and reworking of both the font and images on my Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread. Without a camera I wouldn’t have any images for any of my magazine pages.

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

What were the positive’s of using technology?

What were the negative’s of using technology?

• Some of the technology was difficult to learn to use (i.e. PhotoShop), this slowed down the editing process as I had to learn how to do the desired action before being able to actually do it. PhotoShop also crashed during my work a couple of times meaning I lost lots of work and time repeating it.

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

product? • I have learnt the importance of using a running colour scheme through a

magazine and how different colour schemes are suited to different audiences and different attitudes.

• I have also learnt how different camera shots (angles/ lighting/ model etc.) are suited to different audiences’ tastes e.g. My final piece has a much more ‘indie’ and relaxed feel to it than the very posed, ‘fake’ look of the preliminary task due to their different target audiences.

• I have also learnt the importance of cover lines and how they are laid out on the page, in my original task my sub cover lines were small, bland and unnoticeable at the side of the page, whereas in my final task the sub cover lines add interest to the front page, rather than just filling space.

• The importance of fonts is now also a lot clearer to me as they can make pages look a lot easier to read.

• I have learnt the importance in using buzzwords and giveaways in order to draw in readers to my magazine.

• I have also learnt how to better use the technologies in order to create my magazine such as ‘text spacing’ in PhotoShop to make my masthead cover the full page and look more appealing.