1. Kate Cronin AS MEDIA EVAULATION

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? I have kept as close as possible to the main conventions of existing music magazine by using things such as barcodes, price and dates. As well as these things I have kept to the usual cover star and main headline layout with other features mentioned. As you can see from these images, one of an existing magazine cover and then my own magazine cover they are very similar in layout. The title and image are placed very similar and so is the headlines and barcode. I have used images of existing magazine covers, like this, in deciding on the layout for my magazine. The only way I have really challenged the conventions of front covers, is by using a black and white image as most covers I have looked at have been in colour.

3. From looking at this example of an NME contents page, automatically you can notice a link between the contents page and the cover of a typical NME issue. I have used this by creating a clear link between my cover and contents page. I have also included an image similar to that of the example shown, and a piece of information about subscribing to the magazine. Again, with my double page spread I have stuck pretty close with the conventions of an existing music magazine. I have one large image taking up most of one page similar to that of the existing example. I also have a clear title of the name of the artist I am Interviewing so the reader can clearly see who it is they are reading about. I have also done quotations in bigger text which highlights key parts of the interview.

4. How does your media product represent particular social groups? My magazine presents young people and musicians. My magazine is aimed at the Indie culture and the musicians that take a key role in it. Therefore, the musicians that appear in my magazine have a certain ‘look’ that the public relish and try to follow. For example, my cover star is meant to give off the ‘Mod’ look and therefore I have posed him with his Rickenbacker guitar in a mismatched suit and giving a ‘moody’ look as if he doesn’t care. This is an example of the look I wanted to create, with the cover stars giving an effortless ‘cool’ look that is what the public like and try to copy especially the my target audience as they like this style of music/fashion.

5. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? From looking at media distribution companies I have found that IPC media would be the best option for the type of magazine I have created. IPC Media produces over 85 iconic media brands, including NME, Horse and Hound, NUTS, Look and Now magazines. The main thing about IPC that attracted me to them when thinking about who would distribute my magazine was the fact they distribute NME magazine which is the closest style of magazine to my own and is what I have modelled my own magazine on. Also from my questionnaire to find out about what type of magazines people like, NME came out on top as the favourite magazine. IPC uses its own products to advertise more of their other products. This is a good thing because it means that IPC media would be about to market and advertise my magazine through their other areas such as other magazines, TV adverts and websites.

6. Who would the audience be for your media product? I decided that the target audience for my magazine would be both males and females of an age range from about 14-25. I chose this because the genre of my magazine is mainly indie/alternative music as this was the most popular type of music from my questionnaire and most people who listen to this kind of music are from around this age range. However this isn’t to stop anyone from any age range from buying my magazine. My magazine is aimed at people who have an interest in music and mostly indie/alternative style music, although my music magazine has elements of different genres of music too. This creates a wider audience and hopefully will attract an equal amount of males and females.

7. How did you attract/address your reader? I have used eye contact to connect with the reader. It draws the reader in. I have also used certain clothing and the whole layout of the photograph. This is called mis-en-scene; when the image is set up in a certain way to portray a certain meaning. I have purposely placed my model on an amp with his guitar sitting next to him to show the audience what type of music he likes. I have also purposely placed ‘The Clash’ poster in view so that readers can see his influences and hopefully it will draw them to the interview advertised on the front page. I have dressed my model in quite old fashioned, yet quirky clothing that is in fashion. I wanted to get across this ‘mod’ style, that similar to the likes of Paul Weller etc, with the suit jacket and black trousers and contrasting shoes/socks. I have used the colours red and blue because not only do they stand out against the black and white background image but they also portray confidence, passion and power which I think is relevant to my magazine as I want to give a confident vibe out and also its all about music and a passion for music. I also used the colour to attract the reader to certain areas, for example the ‘exclusive interview’ and the ‘10 new acts to look out for in 2010’. These are the main two articles in this particular issue and the colour draws the readers eye straight to these areas as they stand out. Also by using the ‘plus’ at the bottom of the page shows that the magazine has more to offer and attracts the reader by thinking there is a lot more to be read. I have also mentioned in this line very popular artists that are already out there and this would attract fans of these artists and fans of their style of music,

8. I have written popular bands in bigger and bolder text to attract the reader and fans of these bands. If someone is interested in a particular group or artist they will instantly be drawn to these pages. I have also mentioned the idea of subscribing to my magazine at the bottom in small writing but also in a white box to make sure it is noticeable and catch the attention of the reader. As you can see there is a running theme throughout my front cover, contents page and double page spread – black, white and red. This make the magazine visually pleasing and shows that my magazine flows and it looks like it would be part of the same magazine. I have not used formal language and the interview is quite easy going which makes the reader feel at ease reading it, further enabling my magazine to attract my target audience. Also particular quotes are in bolder red writing which draws the reader into the article further.

9. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? I have learnt that technologies such as Photoshop and Adobe InDesign play a very key part in the media business. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to create a professional looking magazine. Not only has these programmes help me put the final bits together and create the actual parts of the magazine but Photoshop has allowed me to edit my photos to get the right style for the magazine. As you can see, without the use of Photoshop I wouldn’t have been able to edit my photos this well and using the colour versions wouldn’t have given the right look and appeal to the magazine.

10. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? My preliminary task was to create the cover and contents page of a student magazine. Therefore, I learnt quite a lot in the art of conventions of a magazine cover which I could easily take and use when making my music magazine. I learnt about what attracts an audience to a magazine from headlines to the magazine name. It all plays a key part in attracting the target audience you have aimed at. I have learnt more about technologies such as Photoshop and InDesign, as I wasn’t very confident with using either of the two programmes before. Doing the preliminary task meant I could experiment with the programmes and I learnt what worked and what didn’t work when creating a magazine cover.

11. Blogging Throughout the creation of my music magazine, I have also done a blog which shows each step of creating my magazine. The link to my blog is below: Kate Cronin's Blog