Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Since creating my preliminary task I have learnt a massive amount in terms of aesthetic features and media conventions used on magazines. Researching and analysing existing media conventions before I made my music magazine also helped me massively in my progressive learning experience. I have also increased my understanding of technology using resources such as Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Final Cut, Quicktime, iMovie and equipment like High Definition Cameras, Tripods and Artificial lighting. My knowledge of the media market and magazine industry has also increased a lot due to the research into different media groups and magazine companies.

Whilst creating my magazine and researching into the urban genre I thoroughly looked into the way existing media products portray there genre and one of the main ways they did this was the environment and background of their images throughout the magazine. So when constructing my magazine and taking pictures I ensure the area and environment was urban which relates to my magazine genre. For example for my contents page I have used two examples of brick walls and graffiti which are stereotypically associated with the urban social group.

I also learnt a lot in terms of taking images as the poses and positioning in some of the photos, especially the front cover photo, needs to be striking and dominant. To do this the facial expressions need to be intriguing as if the reader would like to know more about them. Also the body gesture of the male needs to look dominant and powerful as if they look like they are in control. If you look back to the images I took on my preliminary task front cover and contents page they are not as eye catching as my music magazine images. The images below are very boring and not well set up as in I didn't position them into a place where I was able to take an effective front cover photo. Also the background/environment does not portray the genre of the magazine which was a school magazine and I have taken the images on a balcony and beside a tree. Also you can tell that I have learnt a lot in terms of layout, house style and colour coordination which I didn't incorporate into my preliminary task too well as in my music magazine I have used conventions of a unified house style, clear and effective layout and a well colour coordinated design.

I have approached the two tasks with my best efforts in mind, however my time management was significantly different in terms of time spent making and perfecting certain aspects of the media product. In my preliminary task I didn't spend long on constructing the front cover and contents page and I spent longer going out and taking the images. Although we weren't allocated a lot of time for the preliminary task, if I was to go back and do it again I would certainly improve it massively from what I have learnt in a year whilst creating my music magazine. I have spent a significant amount of time adjusting and perfecting certain elements of my music magazine to ensure I pick up the extra marks. For example, fonts colours, font styles and image positioning.

I have learnt how to gather feedback to improve my front cover contents page and double page spread in order to develop my work further to look better. Below are the pieces of feedback I got my front cover, contents page and double page spread.

This demonstrates my ability to take constructive criticism and incorporate it into my work to improve it further. I also took the positive comments into consideration to understand and identify what works well together.

I have also developed my understanding of software programmes massively using Adobe Photoshop and InDesign to help me construct my magazine with more effective tools to make my magazine look more professional and increased my awareness in layout and style. Using software programmes also developed me to create interactivity on my posts. I have learnt to use a variety of different tools creating professional effects in both Photoshop and InDesign which I could now do without having to think about it. I have learnt to also create a CD and Album Cover in Photoshop which I went out of my way to create and show my progression of skills in Photoshop. Another feature I have used to highlight my developed ability in Photoshop is putting my magazine front cover onto a bus stop advertising board which shows my desire to present my ideas on how the magazine would actually be published.

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 6

  

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

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

For this question I have decided to take advantage of the technology I am able to access and create a small video that presents how I attracted my audience by videoing a member of the urban social group to explain what attracted them to my magazine looking at the front cover, contents page and double page spread. Following on with the following questions:

  

1. Do you think this publication could exist as a real media product? (Is it realistic)

2. What are the strongest elements which appeal to you & clearly distinguish the genre?

3. Do you feel the pictures included are relevant to the genre of the magazine?

4. What features of this product could relate to other existing products?

4. Would you buy the magazine?

Features I used to attract my audience:




As you can see here on my front cover of my magazine I have used various features to attract my audience which is of the urban social group. To attract an urban audience I needed to relate to that genre and I have done this by putting up cover lines with featuring urban artists so it immediately appeals to urban users, as you can see in the video the customer wanted to buy the magazine as he was interested in the cover lines and wanted to read more. Also the use of the bold title was mentioned a lot in the video with the reloading sign which is a unique feature that a lot of urban magazines include such as RWD magazine. The style and clothing of the model needed to be urban to attract the audience so when taking my photos I ensured I was following an urban style and trend with my model wearing a casual t shirt and jeans with a smart bomber jacket over the top.

On my contents page I used conventions and features such as urban style of clothing to attract my audience. As you can see the models in the pictures are wearing casual clothing such as t-shirts, jeans and trainers. One of the pictures even has a snap back on which is a familiar accessory used in the urban industry of music magazines. I also used interesting and eye catching features on the left hand side which will appeal to the reader if they fall under the urban category. I have ensured I made the main statements bigger than the text underneath as it stands out more to the eye of the reader. The environment I took my photos in also correspond the urban genre as there are two pictures with brick walls in the background. Another feature on my contents page I used are the event reviews which appeal to the audience as they might be interested in some of the urban artists playing at the festivals. All of these conventions appeal to the urban social group which would be most likely to pick up my magazine on a magazine rack. 

On my double page spread I have ensured that my model follows the same style I have used consistently throughout by advising him to wear jeans, t-shirt and a leather jacket. Also the content I have included in the article of the double page spread uses some informal language which relates to the urban genre using slang in the text.

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my media product would obviously be aimed and directed at the urban social group. When answering this question I have to take into consideration the reasons as to how my media product is suited to the urban category. I have used certain conventions and features throughout my magazine to relate to the urban group. I have considered the clothing when taking my image as I made the model wear urban clothing to portray the genre of the magazine. I also have used informal fonts and phrases throughout my magazine such as "Tracks" and "Sick" which is a prominent example below.

Going back to my original research into UK Tribes I discovered that my media product falls under the category of Urban on the UK Tribes website. As you can see above people who are referred to as Urban, generally listen to urban music, wear urban clothes and are influenced by urban environments. Compared to other social groups such as indie, rock or emo for example are substantially different to the urban group, however urban can be broken down into different categories such as rap, grime, hip-hop and RnB. My magazine takes the route of rap with a grime artist featuring on the front cover. Below is a drawing I have done in pencil of a rough member of someone classed in the urban social group and as you can see he is in an urban environment with brick walls and graffiti behind him and his clothing represents that urban vibe as he is wearing a casual branded t-shirt, sunglasses and jeans.

Final Pieces Feedback

Final Pieces Feedback

 

This image above is my feedback from a media student commenting on my final pieces which are my front cover, contents page and doubles page spreads. Overall, I am happy with the comments and I will change most of the constructive criticism to improve my final pieces to gain a higher mark. My most positive comment in my feedback was 'perfect' double page spread and the most important constructive piece of criticism that I may change is 'try not underlining the quote 'Connor Stevens'' which I totally agree with.

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 3

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

The music magazine market of today is becoming highly fragmented and recently it is becoming very problematic to keep the circulation sales of the magazines in high attendance. Therefore, the publishers of the magazine companies I am looking for my product to be sold to would very careful when taking on a new magazine as they want the best for their company, this means I would have to ensure I put forward my magazine to the most suitable publisher to my magazine. 

Media Institutions

Below is a short presentation of what a media institution is, the types there are and the main media institutes around currently. 

Circulation

Mojo ( Bauer Consumer Media ) : 87,555 ; -7.5%
Q ( Bauer Consumer Media ) : 77,522 ; -12.1%
Classic Rock ( Future Publishing Ltd ) : 62,354 ; -7.9%
Kerrang! ( Bauer Consumer Media ) : 42,077 ; -2.1%
Metal Hammer ( Future Publishing Ltd ) : 35,259 ; -15.7%
New Musical Express ( IPC Media Ltd ) : 27,650 ; -14.0%

As you can see above the media market is currently down on sales by a vast amount and this is simply down to the fact of the uprising increase in online use in the media market. Some media groups are going to extreme lengths to increase their variety in target audience to keep their profit margins from going under and this is a key factor for choosing which company I wish to produce my magazine as the most likely group is going to be one that doesn't currently feature my genre of music which will increase the variety in choice for potential customers and hopefully increase the profit margin. 

There is a clear gap in the market for my music magazine as not many media groups produced urban magazines and this newly informed magazine would certainly boost the sale profits in years to come. Below is some examples of evidence I found when researching into the shocking decline of sales in the media market mainly focusing on music magazines. 

• "NME and Q suffered sales declines of almost 20% year-on-year in a tough first six months of 2012 for the music magazine market." 

• "Q was the worst performer in the music magazine sector, with sales down 16.7% compared to the six months to the end of December and 19.7% year on year, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures released on Thursday."

• "Sales of Kerrang! fell 4.5% period on period and 6.6% year on year to 40,203; Mojo, the best-selling paid for title in the sector, dropped 2.7% period on period and 2.4% year on year to 85,149."

• "The second biggest faller in the category was ICP Media-owned NME, down 13.5% period on period and 17.6% year on year to 23,924." 

(Guardian- Mark Sweney) http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/16/nme-q-magazine-sales-declines

As I mentioned in the presentation above the two main Media Institutes are ICP Media and Bauer Media. 

  Direct quote from the Bauer website telling us what they are about (http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/)

"BAUER MEDIA REACHES OVER NINETEEN MILLION UK ADULTS EVERY WEEK.
We have more than eighty influential media brands, spanning a wide range of interests, including heat, GRAZIA, Closer, MCN, FHM, Parkers, MATCH, Magic 105.4, Kiss 100, Kerrang and 4Music. Our business is built on millions of personal relationships with engaged audiences."

Bauer media are Europe’s largest privately owned publishing German Group. They are a worldwide media empire contributing over 300 magazines in 15 different countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer joined the media market in January 2008 and have already highly established themselves as one of the best in the business. The multi-platform UK-based media group consist of many companies, however mainly focusing on magazines and radio. Bauer to not yet have an urban magazine to date which will provide me with the opportunity to slot into this gap in the market. Below are some of the music magazine brands that Bauer publish.

Below is a video clip to give you a more developed understanding of Bauer Media Group and everything about them.

 

IPC Media (International Publishing Corporation), could also be another possibility when choosing my publishing group. It is owned by Time Inc is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the UK, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. 

Direct Quote from the IPC Media website (http://www.ipcmedia.com/about)

"With more than 60 iconic media brands, IPC creates content for multiple platforms, across print, online, mobile, tablets and events.  As the UK's leading consumer magazine publisher we engage with 26m UK adults - almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men."

Similar to Bauer, IPC Media do not publish an urban genre of music magazine so this group could also be a strong possibility in choosing a company as it is one of the most established media groups today. There only music magazine currently being published is NME which tells me that they concentrate more on lifestyle rather than music. This could change if they were to publish a new genre of music in their group. Only having one music magazine could also indicate that they may be wishing to expand on the variety of music magazines to sell to the public in order to boost their profit margin. Urban music such as Rap, RnB and Hip Hop is a very popular genre at a young age and the most likely target market to buy music magazines are to be teens and people in their early adultery which would be more interested in the urban genre. 

Development Hell Ltd. is not as publicly recognised as other media groups such as Bauer or IPC Media and perhaps produces lesser known music magazines such as 'Mixmag'. They are an independent media company based in Islington, London that currently publishes the market leading international dance music magazine, Mixmag. This magazine may also be looking for a new genre to start publishing as dubstep and drum and bass are not commonly the most favoured music genre throughout all ages. However, if they were to introduce an urban magazine they may start to increase sales and develop their profit by reaching out to a wider target audience. 

 Finally, I have researched into another media publishing group called 'Future', founded in 1985. In 2006, Future was the sixth-largest in the UK, publishing more than 150 magazines. 

 Direct quote from the Future website (http://www.futureplc.com/about/)

"Future attracts more than 50 million monthly unique visitors to our digital properties websites; and we deliver over 100 digital editions and bespoke apps on tablet devices. We sell 2.2 million magazines every month, and export or syndicate to 89 countries, making us the UK’s number one exporter and licensor of magazine content."

Future is the biggest guitar and music-making publisher in the UK. Future produce a variety of classic rock magazines and one their music magazine called 'Rhythm' is currently maintaining it's position as the UK's number one drumming magazine. Although they already produce a lot of classic rock magazines, they could also benefit from a new magazine being introduced to the group as it will almost definitely increase the profit margin of the company from opening out to a larger target audience. 

 

As I mentioned earlier the music magazine market is in a huge decrease in popularity which is due to the increase in technology such as computers and smartphones. This is a major dilemma for the publishing companies like the four I have researched above, as they are confined to publishing the content on paper when people are predominantly more interested in using technology to source their information. To ensure my magazine uses some conventions of technology I made a QR Code and included it on the front cover so people can be redirected to the website and view the magazine online.

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The presentation of my media product to particular social groups is a vital aspect of producing a product in the fragmented media market today. There is so much competition out there that my magazine has to represent a wide range of social groups instead of narrowing it down to just one. Therefore when planning my initial ideas of my magazine and researching my target market I decided to apply my magazine into the urban genre which allows a wide range of social groups to take an interest in my magazine.

Below I have placed four images that I feel share some similarities and some differences as the image on the front of my magazine does not look very similar to either of the existing images, however I didn't want to copy the image from another magazine. I wanted to dress my model in clothing that Ive never seen before on an urban front cover to stand out from the crowd and have a unique taking on the urban music magazine market. I decided to use a standard branded t-shirt and a smart baseball jacket to compliment the model so he doesn't look 'rough' or out of place. Subsequently I wanted to keep the posture and position of the model simple but dominant with the direction of gaze and the placing of the hands. The hair style of my model was also important as I had to work with his fairly long hair and wanted it to look more stylised and urban. So I decided to use a parting and a quiff in his hair to make him look possibly more attractive to potential customers when buying the magazine.

The images below were my inspiration when taking my image for my front cover. I followed the urban, casual route with clothing and kept the pose of the model simple like the rest of these magazines. The almost aggressive, intimidating facial expression of the model is an important feature to have in an image on a front cover as it draws people in, so I decided to use this element when taking my photos. The magazines below, 2/3 of them ensure the hands aren't just placed by the models side, so I also wanted to ensure my model was doing something with his hands. I instructed him to place them in his back pocket to give off a confident relaxed mood in the photo. The photos when being taken, are usually from eye line so they are medium long shots and the main focus is on the head of the model including some of the torso as well. I ensured that I kept the camera eye line during the photo shoot to follow the style of these magazine covers.

The lighting of the photo is another key feature to include when constructing an image for a front cover. The photo obviously needs to be well lit using some artificial light to boost the contrast of the photo. In order for the photo to work as being dominant, crisp and clear cut the quality of the photo needs to be very high. Using a well equipped camera can help with this and also using a tripod is usually an effective method of keeping the camera still for maximum results. In some photos like the RWD photo of 'Skepta' they have used a reflective red artificial light which links in with the house style of their magazine. However most magazines use natural light for a high quality image as too much artificial light can cause heavy shadows on the background which could draw the attention away from the model. When doing my photo shoot I decided to do it outside in the early hours of the day to ensure the pictures were well lit and high quality.

So it could be said that the social group I was aiming for in my target market wears the types of clothes I have dressed my model in and the urban genre would generally be based around the age of about 16-30 as any age below 16 wouldn't generally read magazines and any age over 30 may be fading out of the urban genre due to the age gap.