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

As it is vey clear from the image above I have learnt a great deal from my preliminary to my full product. Before starting my media coursework I could not use Photoshop, Indesign and fireworks. I have felt I have learnt how to use all these programs because of my media coursework. I found websites useful such as.....

http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-use-photoshop-to-make-your-photos-look-great

http://desktoppub.about.com/od/indesigntutorials/Adobe_InDesign_Tutorials.html

http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/fireworks.html

I especially found photoshop helpful which helped transformed picture from this:

To this

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

After research, which can be seen in an earlier blog, I have decided that Bauer Media Group would be the institution best suited to distribute my magazine.





The reason I believe Bauer Media are best suited for my magazine is because they already distribute magazines such as Q and Mojo which my magazine is bery much like. However the difference between these magazines and my magazine is that on the Bauer website both Q and Mojo are advertised as men's magazines whereas my magazine will be advertised as both women and men's magazine. Bauer Media Group are yet to have a music magazine aimed at women. My magazine will be at interest to them as it is a gap in their market.



Here is a link to Bauer Media Group's webiste were a retrieved most of my information:

http://www.bauermediagroup.co.uk/

Evaluation: Double Page Spread

In this evaluation of my final double page spread I will be answering the following questions:

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

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

How did you attract address your audience?

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

My double page spread features the same artist as that on my front cover. This is because this article is the main attraction to this months edition of Jango.



My article does not have a title, as many magazines such as Rolling Stone and Q do not have main titles for there articles. Instead I have focused more on the picture. The picture is of the artist playing at a live gig. There is a clear anchorage between the picture ad the text. The text clearly describes Sally High's current life and live shows she has recently performed. I have included two pictures of Sally in my article; one with her with blonde hair and another with her ginger hair. This links to the text which states "her non-stop change of style". This article shows tow of those different styles. The readers of the article will instantly recognise the picture of Sally High and know this article is the article that is displayed on the front cover of the magazine, "Confessions of a good girl".

The article starts with a drop capital. Drop capitals are clearly evident in most magazines, especially in the Q article above on the Arctic Monkeys; therefore they are a popular magazine convention. Drop capitals are generally used to draw the audience into the lead paragraph. I understand that my lead paragraph has to be interesting and captivating, I feel as though mine is, "Two years ago, Sally High found herself wrestling a dead-end job, no money and unsigned". I have not challenged any of the traditional code and conventions of a music magazine as I feel these conventions fit in perfectly with my magazine and are a great way to attract an audience. The colour of text co-ordinates if the colours of my magazine, my magazines basic colours are green, black and white, this continues without the magazine. This idea of colour co-ordinations is also shown in the Q magazine article; Q's main colours used are red and white which are also used in the Arctic Monkeys article.

The main picture of my article is placed at the top of my magazine, is landscape and crosses over both pages. Q's Arctic Monkey's picture is placed all on one page and they use more then one. My picture challenges the conventions of a music magazine. I placed the picture at the top of my page because I wished it to be eye captivating and the first thing the reader saw. This has been used in magazines such as Mojo (an example of this article can be seen at the bottom of this blog). My main picture does relate to iconography to slightly target more to toward women then men. The reason I have chose to try and aim this article more at women is because there are not many music magazines aimed at women, by concentrating more on women in this article I could attract a wider audience. This also relates to Laura Mulvey feminism theory and shows how media has progressed since the 1970's. The colour of the picture fades from left to right, this because there is two people in the picture, Sally High and a musician. I chose to fade the colour so Sally High was in full colour and musician was not, to show that Sally is the most important in the picture as the article is about her.

The type of article I have written is not an interview style. I decided against writing a question answer interview, I believe that a more story like article is much more interesting; it relates to conventions in magazines such as Mojo, Rolling Stone and Q. I felt as though a question answer interview may target more to a younger music magazine. This style of article can be seen above in the Arctic Monkeys article and below in The Doves article taken from Mojo magazine. The mode of address used is in-formal but no slang words are used. I felt as though slang word would not attract an older teenager young adult audience. The article begins by explaining how Sally High was an ordinary working-class girl who dreamed of being a singer. I used words such as "wrestling" as verbs to describe the struggle Sally High as been through to gain fame. In the gutters of the text I have used a puff quote "I would party 'till 6am - every night". The buyer would see this quote before reading the article and may draw them into actually reading the article. This quote also helps split the text, i decided to keep my article small as interest can be lost very easily if the article continues for too long. I decided the mis-en-scene of my article would be black. I decided on plain black as I did not want the article to look too cluttered but with a white background I was worried the article may look too plain. I decided on a black background to continue the colour co-ordination of my magazine.

The article I have produced is almost an introductory article of Sally High. Therefore know previous knowledge is needed on this singer before reading this article. This way I will attract old fans and new fans to Sally High.

Evaluation: Final Contents page

In this evaluation of my final double page spread I will be answering the following questions:

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

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

How did you attract address your audience?

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

My contents page of my magazine links strongly to the front cover. My second original picture is used as the background of the contents page. I took this picture when recently seeing this artist singing at a festival. I thought it would fit in perfectly as my contents page picture as this is a special festival edition of Jango magazine. Using a picture as the background of my contents page is a traditional conventions of a culture music magazine which can be seen used in the Q magazine.

The set out of the magazine is very original, neat and professional and similar to that of magazines such as Rolling Stone, Q and Mojo. A Q magazine contents page can be seen using this kind of style next to my own magazine contents page. The headline of each section of my magazine is written in black on a green banner background. This is to relate to the colours on the front cover of the magazine. The colours, green, black and white are used throughout the magazine to establish these colours with the house style of Jango. The headlines are written on a green banner to make the black text stand out. This is to also help the audience to find what particular part of the magazine they want to read and where about it is situated in the magazine.

The word "Jango" is typed in the biggest font as it is the most important text on the page, to establish the magazine with this contents page. Again it is typed in a green font. The subheadings are written in a white font and tell the reader information of what page they can find and where they can find it within this magazine. Under the subheadings as puffs with small pieces of information to tell you discretely about what each article is about.

This contents page demographically represents indie and rock fans as it is aimed at people who tend to go to festivals such as Glastonbury, Leeds, Reading and Oxegen. These festivals are mostly sold out by indie and rock fans. Whereas other festivals such as the V Festival is more for those who are pop fans. My original picture also on this page appeals to rock and indie fans as the picture was taken at a recent Glastonbury Festival. The ideology of the pictures is to show how much fun it is to attend these festivals, as the crowd watching this artist sing can be seen having a good time in the bottom of the right hand side of the picture. There is no iconography within this picture as this magazine is aimed at both males and females.

The mode of address for my contents page in informal but not slang. I felt as though slang would not appeal to my audience but would appeal more to a younger target market. Words such as "Festival Features" "Regulars" and "On the Cover" are regular conventions of a music magazine which is shown in such magazine as the Q contents page which used words, such as, "Features" and "Every Month".

Evaluation: Final Front Pgae

In this evaluation of my final double page spread I will be answering the following questions:

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

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

How did you attract address your audience?

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

This is my final draft of my front cover for my magazine. This magazine is a culture music magazine and mostly aimed at rock and indie music fans, however it can also be targeted at pop fans. The house design I have used for my front cover is some what the similar as Rolling Stone magazine, which is also a cultural music magazine. For the mis-en-scene I have used a plain black background. This is so the magazine front cover will not look to busy as allot of writing and a busy background on my magazine may look unprofessional and prevent reader’s buying the magazine. I have aimed my magazine at both female and male and therefore have not used any feminine or masculine colours, such as blue or pink. Instead i opted to use neutral colours, green, black and white. I decided to only use three colours so, again, the magazine does not look too busy and therefore unprofessional. The main attraction of my front cover is the picture of a singer called Sally High. This is one of my four original images. The pose I decided on for the main image was of the model to have a microphone thrown over her shoulder. This straight away tells us that this person is a singer. It also gives a laid-back feeling which will suit my magazine perfectly as I hope it to be a relaxed entertaining music magazine. A cut out picture of the main article on a front cover of a magazine is a common convention of a music magazine.






The name "Sally High" is the biggest headline on the front of my magazine. The reason this is the biggest headline is because I want the name of this singer to stand out and the first thing potential buyers will see, as I hope an article on this singer will sell my magazine. Under the headline is the name of the article "Confessions of a Good Girl". The word Good is in green whilst the rest of the words are in black. This is so "Good" stands out from the rest of the name of the article as "Good" is an intriguing paradoxical phrase and will therefore attract customers to read my magazine. "Sally High" is also in a rugged font, this links with the type of personality I want this singer, Sally High, to have.


The masthead "Jango" is at the top of the page and in a green font. This is the name of my music magazine and therefore at the top right hand side of my page. The masthead also crosses over on to the singers face. This is the name of my magazine would always be situated if the magazine had more editions. This is to establish the house style of the magazine. Underneath "Jango" is the sell line of my magazine. The sell line will help my magazine. Every time someone hears the phrase "I am music - Music I am" they will relate it to the music magazine Jango, just as Kerrang’s sell line is "Life is loud".


The smaller headlines on the front page, such as, "The Killers in crisis", "The Kings of Leon on Led Zeppelin" and "100 ways to get free music" are all to draw buyers to my magazine. "The Killers in crisis; is this the end of Brandon Flowers" is volatility, a short lived panic which have negative consequences. Many who are fans of The Killers will buy this magazine for this specific article to get the latest gossip on The Killers. In the headline "100 ways to get free music" the word "free" is in green whilst the rest of the rest of the text is in white. This is to make the word "Free" stand out.


"100 pages of festival gossip" will appeal to my target audience as most audiences at festivals such as, Glastonbury, Leeds and Reading are late teens (16 years+) and young adults. If the reader had been to any festivals the past summer then they will but the magazine as they have a vested interest to. Or if they did not they will buy the magazine to see what "gossip" they missed.


At the bottom of my front cover is a banner. The banner is to help the over bands that have smaller articles in my magazine stand out. Guns & Roses, Vampire Weekend, The Arctic Monkeys, Blur and U2, are all bands which appeal to my target audience, of males and females aged from there late teens to mid 20s who are fans of rock and indie.


Barcode is placed at the top right hand corner of page, so not to "interrupt" with the front cover of the magazine. The date the magazine is issued and the price is also in small font under the bar code. This information is not important and therefore is in a small font in the corner of the page.

Magazine Institution Research

As I am I designing my own music magazine I have decided to do some research into the main magazine institutions. The aim of me doing this exercise is to find out what type of institution may distribute my media product and why.

International Publishing Company
IPC is the United Kingdom's leading consumer magazine. It has a very large and impressive portfolio selling over 350 million magazines a year. Over 26 million people in the UK read a magazine distributed by IPC. IPC Media is split into five distinct publishing divisions: IPC Connect, IPC Inspire, IPC Ignite, IPC Southbank and IPC TX. Magazine's that IPC own include NME and Guitar & Bass.

Bauer Media Group
A large German publishing companies based in Hamburg, which operates in 15 countries and was founded in 1975. Bauer owns 282 magazines including Kerrang, Mojo and Q. All three of these magazines are advertised as men's magazines on the Bauer Media website.

Emap
Emap is the second largest magazine publisher in the UK. However in 2007 the company split, it was sold to Guardian Media Group and private equity form Apax -which owns incisive-for £1 billion. The new company is now called Incisive-Emap. Magazines they publich include, Kiss and Magic, which also have radio stations and music T.V channles.

Development Hell Ltd.
Based in South London and has a business plan to launch three magazines over six years. It is a new institution which was first launched in March 2003. They bought clubbing magazine "Mixmag" from Emap in November 2003.

Double Page Spread Analysis

I have decided to analyse two double page spread articles to get a better understanding of how they are written and presented for when I write my own article in my music magazine. This article comes from Q magazine which is not just targeted for indie/rock fans but includes a mixed genre of music. I have analysed an article on the R&B group N-Dubz .

The first thing i notice about this double page spread is that most of the article is taken up by a big low angled picture of the group. The group are dressed casually, especially the two boys "Dappy" and "Fazer" who are in tracksuits, trainers and caps. But they also show their unique style by wearing scarfs loose under their caps, this gives the feeling that there music also has uniqueness. The fact that all the members of N-Dubz are dressed casually tells the reader the article will also be wrote in a casual way, this creates an anchorage. The puff in the middle of the picture "The haters come at you to plunge a big metal ting into your leg or neck". This is to draw the reader’s attention, mostly what you find in articles in music magazines are the singers or group talking about their music. However in this article they are talking not just about their fans or music not also the people who don't appreciate them and how they react to N-Dubz.

The main headline of this article is "Who the hell do N-DUBZ think they are?" The headline is in bold black text for "N-DUBZ" which is in a blue colour. This is so the name of the group will stand out and therefore fans of the ban will see their name be attracted to buying the magazine. The headline also relates to Cohen's Moral Panic. This is when a condition or a person emerges as a threat to societal values and interests. The headline is quite aggressive and therefore appeals to the moral panic, the folk devil being the person who is saying this headline. Under the headline there is a kind of sell line for the article "The sound of young Britain. “Init?" This gives an idea of the type of language this group uses and what young Britain really is like by using the words "Init".

As usual the article starts with a drop capital again this is to break up the text and make it look more interesting. The article begins with telling us how hectic N-Dubz lifestyle is and using a younger form of language. For example the word "buzzing" which is onomatopoeia is used as a verb. The hectic lifestyles of the N-Dubz would also appeal to the younger generation. The personality of the group is also brought out in the article by using quotes from the members, such as, "Alright, bruv!" and "S'appening?" This also brings across the friendly and relaxed atmosphere around the N-Dubz. However although many quotes are used which are in an informal language the mode of address is actually very formal and almost seems as though it is targeted at a older generation. For example, "He is dressed in an oversized hoodie, low-slung jeans and old-school Adidas trainers. He says 'S'appening?' again, several times in fact, but never seems to require an answer."

The colours used in this article are kept very simple and professional. No bright colours are used behind the text of the article and the only puff which is used is on a white border on the picture of N-Dubz. The mis-en-scene of the article is white and the writing formally set out with two columns and one wide gutter, to again break down the text. This layout is a traditional house-style design of a Q Magazine and even includes the red "Q" logo on the bottom left hand corner of the page next to the page number.