MMR

Evaluation

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

The masthead is bold and large in the top left third to gain reader interest. It is in a similar font and style to the magazine NME. This bold font has a very masculine connotation resulting in gaining further male interest.

I have included cover lines which feature the name of bands in which my targeted audience would know, to gain interest. I have also featured a cover line reading the main story in a larger font to gain reader interest. This is also featured on plenty of other existing magazines

I have used a puff on my front cover to encourage readers to purchase my magazine believing that they are getting more for their money.

I have used an acronym as my magazine name similar to 'NME' magazine. MMR meaning 'Monthly Music Review' is again similar to the NME acronym, meaning 'New Musical Express'. The acronym I have used tells the reader to which genre my magazine is. I have also ensured I have the acronym meaning written on the magazine for reference.

The model is placed on a white background in the right third ensuring no attention is diverted from the model. The model is dressed in casual indie fashioned clothes to demonstrate what type of music this magazine represents.

The three piece colour scheme containing black and white with one contrasting colour is a convention often used with many magazines. Mine consisted of a burgundy red, black and white which give a masculine feel.

The bar code is placed in the bottom right third so it is more discrete and not easily seen.

I have given my readers a 'music index' so they can see which pages their favourite bands are featured on, I think this gives an extra feature to my contents as it allows the readers to scan through and find their favourite bands quickly.

Often on contents pages you find many images, I however challenged this convention by just placing one image on the contents page. The model is also holding a guitar demonstrating the genre of the magazine through the props used in the image.

Using the subscription information box on the contents helps encourage the readers to subscribe to the magazine. I made sure this box was in a larger font to gain readers attention.

Many magazines use the very stereotypical title of the contents as 'contents', I however challenged this calling it 'MMR this week'

I added a small story to give the contents page a bit of flavour to what the rest of the magazine is going to be about and encourage my audience to read on.

I have divided my contents up into sections to make it easier for my reader to find what they are looking for. This is a convention used by NME magazine.

I have again proceeded to use the three colour scheme throughout my magazine ensuring that it looks consistent.

I have used slight puns in my contents to make the stories more interesting encouraging my audience to read them.

I highlighted a feature of 'No.1 Best Gig Guide' because I thought my readers would like this.

Usually magazines place more on the image than just the name of the model, I have used a full size image of my model which is taking up the whole page and only placing the models name on it. Therefore I am challenging this convention.

I have used two different fonts on the title of my double page spread, I am developing on the convention of having just one font in the title.

You often find a puff on a double page spread advertising other interviews. However I decided not to do this as it gives more room for the interview.

I used more fonts on this page as I thought it would make it more interesting for the reader. It also emphasises elements of the page that I want the reader to recognize.

I have used a larger letter to symbolise the beginning of a paragraph which is a very conventional feature. I have added to this by using a alternative font and colour than the body of the text.

I ensured to use the page number and the 'MMR' symbol at bottom right third of the second page, along with the date of the magazine to keep with the very widely used convention. I did this as I believe it makes it easier for the reader to know where the article is for future reference.

My model is pictured putting his middle finger up as the readers will be able to relate to this emotion. It also reflects the personality which is demonstrated in the interview.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The model on the front cover would promote the interest of white, middle class males which what my magazine is aimed at. The social and fashion group my magazine is aimed at is Indies which is what I tried to demonstrate on my front cover. My model is also holding a guitar which will grab the attention of any music lover. My magazine cover is very stereotypical and supports the dominant ideas about my social group, but I feel this would work in my benefit as the audience will know instantly that this magazine is aimed at them. My model is wearing a Ramones t-shirt which is the name of an old rock band that my target audience would know and listen to. The t-shirt is also from H&M which is where my targeted audience shop again they would have either seen or have the t-shirt. I have positioned my model with the guitar on his leg and showing a relaxed and easy-going approach which again represents my target audience. This however, wouldnt appeal to the majority of ethnic minorities due to the relaxed approach and the type of fashion which I have demonstrated. I have used a burgundy red for my main colour scheme which is a more masculine colour, it also isn't a stereotypical 'red' which will inspire my audience as they believe in originality.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Consumer Profile:Age: 16-25Sex: MaleClass: Working - Middle classWorking Status:: Student

Hobbies: Socialising with friends, going on internet, playing music, playing in a band, going to parties, smoking.

Musical Interests: Indie, 60's and 80's bands and music, Acoustic Alternative, Rock, Unsigned bands.

Likes: Vintage, being unique, retro, photography, art, music, culture, tattoos, ear stretchers.

Media Consumer: TV, films, magazines, independent films, social networking sites, photography, posters.

Ambitions: Don't really know what they want to do, living for the here and now, maybe become a musician.

MMR is targeting males from 16 to around 25 year old, whom are most likely to be students. I have kept an ideal character profile as I made the features of my magazine. Keeping my target audience in mind, I chose to use a sand serif, large and bold fonts throughout my front cover, contents page and double page spread. These, I found, attracted my male audience as the lettering looks wide and masculine compared to scripted or serif fonts. Although I used various fonts within my different pages, all the text on both the contents and font cover are in capital letters, giving a feeling of urgency and excitement making my magazine more eye-catching, whilst attracting my targeted audience. The burgundy red colour scheme is a similar one used in both NME and Q, which are very successful music magazines. Unlike these same genre existing magazines, I tried to make my magazine appeal to the younger audiences as well. NME appeals to a slightly older generation of men with a musical interest of both rock and indie music. The cover lines and bands within this magazine both indicate an indie rock genre.

How did you attract/address your audience?

My magazine attracts the younger generation of indie music lovers as it uses the prop of the guitar and the indie looking model to relate to them. From the indie style presented on the front cover model you can make the necessary connotations towards the indie genre. This is similar to NME as it presents an indie styled model on the cover along with minimal cover lines about bands within that genre of music. They have the title in the same place which is eye-catching and the cover lines are seen in a similar font. They also use a similar colour scheme of balck, white and red.

MMR uses the model on the cover to sell the product through the style of clothing and the prop of the guitar used. These both represent the indie style to the audience demonstrating that there is an indie genre.

By using quirky cover lines such as 'no more silence' and 'no more roads' make the audience want to purchase the magazine because these are both subject in which my audience would know about and would be able to make reference to. This also give the readers an indication to what the magazine includes, I feel this would be a good selling point as it attracts the audience via their interest in the subject, suggesting that this magazine will be of interest to them.

The white background makes the magazine features stand out and gives a good contrast between the colours shown on the magazine.

The contents page holds a 'music index' which will attract my audience as it makes it easier for them to find and read up on their particularity favourite bands. This is a very useful and handy convention for this reason, and it also shows the variety of bands the issue beholds.

The minor story in the middle of the page gives the audience a taster of what the magazine is going to be like. This would also encourage the audience to read on and find out more information, providing a very useful and informative convention.

The option to subscribe to the magazine is written in white in contrast against a burgundy background, not only making the writing stand out, but indicating to the audience that this particular offer is good, attracting the audience to the magazine as they believe it is good value for money.

The different features of the magazine are partitioned separately to provide an easy and direct way for the audience to find what they are looking for. This would attract the audience as it is easier to find their specific wants than to have to flick through the whole magazine to find them. It also highlights the main page that the magazine feels would be the best page for the reader to view at the bottom of the page. This makes the reader believe this magazine is for them.

I have used a pull quote to sum up the interview in a sentence grabbing the readers eye and urging them to read on. For this I used the quote 'I'll do my best in 2012 but no matter what, I will somehow fuck it up'. This quote shows to my audience that the interview is relaxed and easy going with the use of taboo language, this attracts the audience as they can relate to this.

The image I have used for my double page spread is one of the model putting up his middle finger. This gesture reflects the tone of the interview, suggesting it is relaxed, however it also demonstrates that the audience will be able to relate to this interview urging them to read on.

The second type of handwriting font used on this page again reflect the non seriousness of the interview, it dilates the lack of urgency reflected in the bold capitals and makes it more fun and easy going.

I have used the models name in a white bold font, but also written in capitals letting the readers know who the interview is abut instantly, attracting my audience to read the interview as they are familiar with the person it is about;.

The use of the capital letter at the start of each paragraph not only links the font used in the title of the page into the body of the text, it also connotes a fun and quirky feel, attracting the reader to the page.

I asked 2 boys and 2 girls of my targeted audience whether the front cover of my magazine attracted them. I found that both the boys were attracted to my magazine through the musical element, one of the girls was attracted to the front cover by the attractiveness of the model, and the last girl wasn't attracted to the cover at all because it wasn't the music genre she liked. All in all I found that my magazine attracted the right audience of a male student, for the reasons I expected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I3gSeo1u_w

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

IPC media was created in 1968, by merging the UK's three leading magazine publishers George Newnes, Odhams Press and Fleetway Publications. It has created over 90 magazines and they have good experience with publishing magazines. They also publish the music magazine NME which is of similar genre to my own.

Bauer have been around for over 100 years and has magazines circling around the world. It owns over 80 influential media brands which include Kerrang and Q magazine, two very successful music magazines. Although these magazines are of a different genre than the one I have created, Kerrang is made for the Rock genre and Q is for a wide audience of new music, which unlike my own magazine, leaves them open for many different genres of music.

From this light research I have come to the conclusion that IPC would be a good publishing company for my magazine because of it's experience with the similar magazine NME in which they have been publishing for many years. However, the magazine NME is very similar to my own which could be conflicting. Although IPC has lots of experience with publishing many different genres of magazines, they only have one existing music magazine demonstrating a lack of knowledge in this genre. Bauer, on the other hand, have years experience of publishing multiple successful music magazines such as Q and Kerrang. For this reason I would choose Bauer magazine to publish my magazine as they have more experience with a variety of music genres, however they don't appear to have a indie magazine which shows there is a gap in their publications for my magazine. They also have a very good reputation with music magazines which will give my magazine a good reputation before it is even published. Therefore Bauer would be the most appropriate publication company for my product.

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

I used a variety of software's to complete the making of my magazine cover, contents and double page spread. These include: Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign. By this experience I extended my knowledge in InDesign, and learnt how to use iMovie for the first time. I produced my final outcomes in InDesign, however I found this software hard to use and understand, resulting in my final outcomes not being the higher quality that I wanted them to be. However, this software did have helpful tools which I used to produce my final outcomes. For example the boxes which are seen around the features on the magazines enabled me to ensure that the texts and images where in-line on the front cover and contents, making them look a higher standard. I used colour selection, coloured boxes, multiple fonts and sizes to give my outcomes and more professional look and feel. I used a drop shadow on the title of my magazine to add empathises to it, along with a outer glow around the title of the magazine on the contents page. I used Adobe Photoshop to edit, and cut out my images seen on my front cover and double page spread. To do this I used a variety of the pen and magic wand tool, which provided me with a clean and professional finish to my images. After cutting out my image used on the double page spread, I placed a slight grey gradient in the background to give texture to the image. I found these software's very useful when producing my final outcomes even if I struggled slightly with the InDesign software.

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

Looking back at my preliminary task I have discovered that I have gained the ability to make a successful magazine cover. Through progression and practice with Photoshop and InDesign I have been able to successfully cut out figures, with out looking amateur, and produce effective backgrounds, Another weakness I had with doing the preliminary task was the unrealistic appearance of the magazine cover, I have learnt that by looking at other exciting magazines you can ensure that your own looks professional. With my preliminary task I also seemed to use the use of bocks for my text to be in, looking back I find that this looks very unprofessional and unrealistic. It doesn't flow nicely and looks very amateur. I also used the same font style the whole way through which I have later found to be very boring. Through my prliminary task I have learnt a lot about what looks professional and what doesn't. However if I didn't do this task at first I don't believe my music magazine would look as professional and realistic as I believe it does now.