Evaluation

Conventions

One of the convention that my magazine follows is having a large masthead at the top of the page. Another magazine that follows this convention is Kerrang which is the same genre and target audience as my magazine. I used a large masthead so on the shelf in the shop you can clearly see what magazine it is and so if you are a common reader you will be able to recognise it easily.

[see figure 1]  https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG35SfKO_uqBINtCIV6JmzaiQybsYZiRyhuGstkVwM3wrBq0xmXH2F104jDHMdyl4Xa7FprcrkygBShvGFATN9KI76usB3Nh-h3m6qfpblj54tuzZYsdssp7hyFoTPkO5TtXcgaJokcXo/s1600/1%252C+2.jpg

Another convention that my magazine follows is having cover lines on the front page. I put some of the articles in the magazine on the front page, but only in notes almost which will attract the audience to the magazine and to read the articles. These cover lines will attract the audience as if they recognise the band then they will want to read about them and buy the magazine. Another magazine that uses cover lines is Kerrang as well as most magazines. [see figure 2]

The third convention my front cover uses is a barcode on the front in the bottom right hand corner, this is the main place for the barcode as on most things the barcode is near or next to the price and so the best place for the price is on the front. [see figure 3] https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs51yNqfKeZOUGXbK7hGPPiNKwxxV_7VyhOzAgJwSOeJqZeKf6u_n3cfvq14WDePZaLkmz-QMB81PofGSKQQKeImTMDTTCJdlTkXa8T6qinKFa-dC28g2PFAGqXKYiLuPi6Z4oOeKjR2M/s1600/3%252C4.jpg

A convention that my double page spread uses is having text and the title on one of the pages and having the main image on the other. I used this convention as it makes the text easy to read because its in columns. In my magazine I put a large title at the top going across the whole of one of the page and part of the other so its clear that the image is linked with the article. I then also put a sub heading underneath it and underneath that I put the article in columns so its easy to read and its very common for magazine articles o be in columns.  [see figure 4]

The second convention I used on the double page spread is having the opposite side an image linked with the article, I used this as if you’re flicking through and you recognise the band then you will want to read the article. Most magazines use this convention, such as Kerrang which has the same target audience as mine does. Also as well as the image I also put cover lines on it about the picture and the person in the picture for some more information that isn’t in the article. In my case I used a picture of one of the band members and then put a caption of one of his quotes next to it which is another convention. [see figure 5] https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaM7rhO_-k8NYMSmArmZPQnsa4H4NGKt1TYTyGoWX6LY8IENlYjWhazFGZSn5ZTmJj0PN4Q0e0vUhhLnoT1d8MCKa-DaLdGpdJ6zp-uh5twVXwM8V6kA9xxJtCcMkumMoDt8moze7gl7k/s1600/5%252C+6%252C+7.jpg

The third convention that y magazine follows is having page numbers on in the bottom corners so you don’t need to open every page fully to see what page it is, instead you can just fold the corner over to see, this is beneficial if you were just on the contents page and are now looking for a certain page so you can just flick through. Almost all magazines have numbered pages including Kerrang and my magazine.  [see figure 6]

One of the conventions that my contents page follows is having a main image behind all of the text and linked to one of the main articles in the magazine. For my contents page I had a picture of Moynzy as this was related to one of my articles. I also put small captions of text around him just like I did for my double page spread which is another convention that my contents page uses. Another magazine that uses this convention is Q magazine, the benefits to this style of contents page is so if someone recognises the person in the picture then they would want to read the article or if the picture is targeted at them, for example if they are dressed as indie and you like indie music you may want to read about a new band. [see figure 7]

The second convention that my contents page follows is having the volume number on as this is one of the main pages after the front page and so I decided to place the volume number above the heading ‘contents’ as this is one of the first places you look on a page and so you will know easily if you have got he latest magazine. Another magazine that uses this same convention is Q magazine again. [see figure 8] https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikymUVKM7mLs758P547ZuKJNwlFfSewDwVCNZnkTT1R6U1dgPDgs4VxPQdpZZpi7SDmuIMGEUze1s5eIGLwSDsvTHipWZkDgziqHvaQZFImZsfe0njXrIaeqjoRvcZED9c9Go8TusfEjY/s1600/8%252C+9%252C+10.jpg

The third convention that my magazine contents page follows is having the titles of each page at the side of the page next to the main image. This is to make it easy to navigate through the magazine and to find the page that you want. Q magazine also uses this convention. [see figure 9]

Representations

In my front page, the main image is of a band member from the same band that is in my main article. The representation of him is that he is in a successful rock band as he is wearing ‘rock’ clothes with a rock style guitar with a hoodie and a dark t shirt; this is similar to the main image on Kerrang as the lead singer in Biffy Clyro if wearing a light coloured hoodie with a dark t shirt. He is also playing the guitar in a rock fashion with playing further down the neck of the guitar which tends to be more of a rock style of playing it.  It is also taken at a low angle so it’s like the audience is looking up to him to show that he is successful.

For my double page spread I used another low angle mid – long shot of the band member as I wanted the representation of him to be the same to go with the article next to it. The language in the article is informal and is aimed at teenagers as the magazine and genre is aimed at teenagers also. It is aimed at teenagers as I’ve used language like ‘up and coming’ and ‘biggest release of 2011’ which is informal language. This language is similar to that Kerrang uses as in their article they say ‘big hit’.

In my contents page I have a main image on the right and then the page numbers and headings on the left. The main image is of Moynzy standing in front of a brick wall. This is to give the image a rock look. Also the clothes he is wearing is conventional to the rock genre and will also attract the target audience as it’s the same fashion that they follow. It’s taken at a mid shot so it is easy to recognise him if you knew him or his music. This image is similar to that of the Kerrang front cover with Biffy Clyro in rock looking clothes with a plain background looking at or near the camera. The representations of Moynzy in the image is that he is a stereotypical rock star as he has mid to long hair for a male and the style that he has it is traditional to that genre of music.

Institutions

 Kerrang is a very well known music magazine focusing on mainly rock music such as from Papa Roach, Lostprophets and Linkin Park who all are also very well known bands that are the same genre of music to that of in my magazine. This magazine is published by Bauer media group (Bauer Verlagsgruppe) which is a large publishing company located in Hamburg, German.  This company has been privately owned by the Bauer family since 1875. This company publishes on average 38 million magazines a week.

The other brand that Bauer Media Group own is Q. This is also a music magazine but consists of more indie music rather than rock.  This company also publishes many more magazines with completely different magazines such as; closer and heat who are very popular women’s magazines. They also publish other music magazines to Kerrang and Q such as Mojo and Empire. They also make a variety of magazines such as MATCH! Football magazine, Golf world, Angling times fishing magazine, classic cars and many more.

The similarities that these two music magazines are that they are both the same genre of music as my magazine which is between rock and indie genres. My magazine has a very similar masthead to Kerrang as they both look as though it has cracks in or it has been smashed. They also both have a very dark background but with bright masthead and cover lines.

The similarities on the double page spread are that again they both have a dark background but with an outstanding title, in Kerrang’s double page spread they used a dark red title with the second line being in white, for my magazine I chose a dark blue title with a border or background image behind it to make it stand out more and so it can be linked but separate to the sub heading. [see figure 10] www.kerrang.com/

Target Audience

The target audience for my magazine are late teenagers to mid twenties. I have aimed my magazine at this audience as they are generally the stereotypical age range that tend to listen to music and who buy music magazine. I have also aimed it at people who like and listen to rock/indie music as this is the genre of music that is in my magazine.

For my first question I ask how old they were. My results were that 3 people put that they were in my target audience range and then 1 person was aged between 21-30 and then the last person is aged 31+. [see figure 11] https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-9vLaBvFAYoL13Kauj0RutpeS0brxv0HUKiEPYMom263IWD17yQLSKarbEVB_1hnWFKOGBiQZiiUpHXiJWr0f2dVxHPFopfOUuebHL7v270o_T1ggKD-EDl3jtgObrTdD9cnkq4ZBcU8/s1600/11+-+15.jpg

The next question I added was how many magazines have you brought in the last month, this would give me some understanding of how many times they read a magazine and would pay for them in a month. 3 people put that they had not brought a magazine last month when the other 2 had brought 4+. [see figure 12]

For the third question I asked them what gender they were so knew what gender to target my magazine at. For this question 2 people were males when 3 were female. [See figure 13]

For the next question I asked them what there interests are. For this question they answered songs. I asked this question so I knew what to mostly put in my magazine. [see figure 14]

The next question I asked what their favourite colour is, this would help me decide my main colour on the front cover of my magazine. For this question 3 of them put purple as their favourite colour, 2 people voted as blue and red are their favourite colours and yellow got 1 vote the same as green. I let people vote more than once for their favourite colour so I could get a majority vote. [see figure 15]

For the 6^th question I asked them how important a gift was with a magazine. For this question 3 people voted it is very important to get a gift with the magazine when both fairly important and moderately important both got 1 vote. [see figure 16] https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieLePfpduVfaHaViu_SoAsg3-IQfjzb5KZfK09bu-9PHjGSb9AdpXCqmnu_K2Wih8AGpKShDHcec0asFCXre2cNb98l8r1XfDPtipZRuRQpBh4a0RvUvT5OJ9q7aRRW4FYgpCd3YTUx0A/s1600/16+-+19.jpg

The next question I asked them what magazines they are interested in, music got 2 votes the same a fashion and other. [see figure 17]

For the next question I asked them what type of music they listen to, 3 people voted for indie when rock, pop and RnB all got 1 vote, because of the votes I decided not to just do it on rock music but to also have indie music as well. [see figure 18]

The next question I asked how they would rate these magazines so I could base my magazine on. NME was rated at 2/5, Kerrang had a range averaging at 3/5 the Q also got an average of 3/5. [see figure 19]

Technologies

I have used many different technology and software to make my magazine. One of the main programmes I used to make my magazine Is Microsoft publisher as this could let me make different pages easier and to have a double page spread. [see figure 33] ] https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8J-c0yxi8rOeQfXuKPXKCvKlAXU-N3mr-_PTiORBgfC5Tly_4qlvn39FG8imICA_F9Lo_1saof6T9l8iRRg_hYZJfr2ymVB5rTPQ4RE8z8zKOsFoHWjGF2XTw0aaFe71TVW57aNbYPZA/s1600/32%252C+33.jpg

I also used macromedia fireworks to edit my images as this was the easiest programme to use and it had the most features. I used fireworks for the main image on the double page spread to change the colours, blur the neck of the guitar and to give the affect of jagged edges and to give it a rough look. I have also used fireworks for the image behind the numbering on the contents page and the image behind the ‘free poster’ cover line on the front page. [see figure 34]

Other technology, such as camera and a computer, were vital in creating my magazine as I couldn’t of taken my pictures without a camera and I couldn’t of edited them or made a magazine without a computer. I also used websites such as blogger to create my blog and surveymonkey to research about my target audience. As well as these websites I also used search engines like Google to research other magazines to make sure my magazine is conventional and targeted to the right age group.