Evaluation

In order to complete my brief of creating a front page, contents page and double page spread of a new music magazine I researched the conventions of music magazines and did a LIIAR analysis on 3 different magazines. This gave me a better understanding of what a music magazine generally includes and how I could create my own. It also gave me inspiration in how I wanted my magazine to look, what I wanted the magazine to represent and what audience I wanted to attract.

I started the process of making my magazine by creating a mind map enabling to get my ideas on paper and think in detail about the Audience, Image, Text, Genre and format I wanted to use. I originally wanted to create a R&B magazine but soon realised the images I had taken were more suited to a ‘pop’ magazine.

I analysed three music magazines these were; VIBE, Flavourmag and Billboard.

These helped me a lot in the process of making my own music magazine as i quickly picked up the main conventions I needed to include and chose which bits I liked and did not like in their magazines in order to make my own. Such as Masthead, datelines, taglines, headlines, barcode and images.

After looking at the three magazines I had analysed I decided I wanted to target a similar audience so chose the age range of 16-25 year olds and social economic grade C2 hwo are most likely to be students, in the hope to attract their audiences also.I then started to plan what the title of my magazine was going to be. At first I was unsure whether to call it BEAT or B.A.M (Bust-A-Move), however I decided to go with BEAT as it was more suitable for pop music whereas I felt B.A.M was aimed precisely at R&B music.

I decided to use two of my friends to create my front page; I wanted their costumes to clash, so I dressed one of them quite casually and the other quite dressed up. I also decided to dress one in bright colours in quite a revealing dress whilst dressing the other model in darkish colours with no flesh showing to create in order for the artists to contrast, therefore heightening the versus headline. I decided that I wanted to keep the mise-en-scene bare as if they were in a “blank canvas” studio. I think I could have maybe been more imaginative with this and chose an appropriate background for my front cover instead of just creating a green gradient along a blank white background. I had my models stand in a stance against each other as if to show rivalry which fits with my headline “Anya VS Kiara”. I chose to use long shots on my front page in order to show rivalry through my models body language and show contrast in their outfits. I have used the house colours of purpley-blue, red and black to make my front cover stand out, whilst also fitting into music magazine conventions. The colour scheme fits in with my genre of music as supported by my feedback where 4 out of the 6 responses agree that it fits in with the genre.

I chose to price my magazine at £1.50 and publish the magazine once every two weeks. It is therefore affordable for my target audience who are stereotypically students therefore with low income, it is also not published too often, but the readers are not left long enough either. I conventionally placed the barcode in the bottom right hand corner so it doesn’t appose upon any of the magazine. I attracted the audience through my choice of image where both artists are staring directly towards the reader, however both have stern looks upon their face which connotate serious musicians and would therefore attract readers who also take their music seriously. I used the same font for my cover lines as I did in my contents page to make use of continuity and continue the house style throughout the magazine. I included the headline “Noughties top 50- who will you crown the winner” which addresses the reader directly so they therefore feel involved.

To make my contents page appeal to my audience I used the same simple background idea as in my front cover uses a black background with a pink gradient which will appeal to my predominantly female readership. This has worked well as shown in my audience feedback, where one of my interviewees said my contents page looked elegant. I decided to use a similar layout to billboard by using the features and regulars section separated by lines. To make it easy to read. I have also put them in numerical order of page numbers so the reader can easily find the headline they want. I used the same font as on the headlines on the front cover to create continuity. I think this works well however, I think I should have chose a different colour for the features section as it doesn’t stand out enough from the background. I used three images on my contents page, each page numbered to show which headline they are covering. The main image, takes up the whole left hand side of the contents page. The pose works really well as it is as if the artist Is pointing towards the magazine title, creating synergy for the artist and the magazine. The expression on her face also works well, as it connotates that she is amazed by the magazine, however the image itself is a little bit blurred and would have been better if it was better quality. I used the magazine title and dateline on my contents page, another convention of music magazines, in order to create a link throughout my magazine creating continuity. For the contents masthead I used the font Trajan pro to create a harsher look contrasting to the quite soft background colour. I think that I should have used a different font for my masthead as it doesn’t stand out enough.

My double page spread is of one of the headlines from the front cover “Kiara- love, war and music”. I used the conventions of a double page spread by allowing the image to take up a whole page. However I went against conventions of double page spreads by finishing it on the second page, whereas it is usually continued onto another double page spread. I decided to use a black background which allowed my text and image to stand out. I decided to use a black and white image of the artists in the background and place a colour in the front slightly overlapping. Both images are looking the reader in the eye, creating audience involvement. I used baby blue, pink and white text which will attract my predominantly female audience, these colours are also variants of my house colours, purpley-blue and red. I also used the contrasting colour of white to represent the black text. I used the font Myriad pro for my interview so that it was easy to read, and stood out well. The pull quote is direct and pulls the audience in, as it is quite comical and will intrigue the reader. I used the font Chopinscript for the masthead and pull quote, to make it stand out and portray the artists personality. I used the convention of putting the interviewer and the interviewee in different colours to show the reader who is who and create continuity.

The kind of media institution that would distribute my magazine would be mainstream as this music is constantly in the chart. Looking into the various institutions the most successful one is Bauer media, who produce magazines such as Q, MOJO and pop! All these magazines have a similar target audience and have high production value, therefore would be the kind of institute to distribute my magazine. Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel I learnt the basics of a magazine production, taking in account the conventions of other magazines, aswell as the time and effort to create a publication. I fell my skills on Photoshop have really developed and  they were enhanced by the preliminary task. I used Photoshop to obtain a professional look for my magazine. It was useful as I was able to use layers and create effects and different colours to create the look I wanted. I have found blogger to be very useful for my work as I have been able to access it everywhere without having to worry about lost memory sticks etc. I used a digital camera to take my original images which allowed me to upload them on the computer and then edit them on Photoshop.

The feedback I have received about my magazine has mainly been positive, and quite fair, they showed that I was attracting the audience I was aiming for. The main negative comments were about my colour choices and font, which I have since changed from their feedback. Although half of my respondents said they wouldn’t buy my magazine, it was because they didn’t like R&B music which is expected for a music magazine. Overall I feel the feedback is okay, and I took all the comments on board and changed the things where I received most negative comments.

Overall, I think my music magazine has been successful and I am really happy with the outcome and the feedback I received. I think the changes I made to all my pieces, especially the front cover have really improved it, and make them look more professional.