Evaluation of my Music Magazine NRM

Evaluation
1)In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
For the main task I had to design a music magazine which used all the media conventions for a magazine. I designed a Front Cover, a Contents Page and a Double Page Spread. I decided to called my music magazine NRM (New Rock Music).

The Front Cover
The front cover follows the conventions of a real music magazine. My music magazine is called NRM which is an abbreviation for New Rock Music.
The conventions of a magazine is the Masthead, the Strapline, plugs, Headline, Inside Contents, Barcode and Date.
The Masthead
One of the conventions of a magazine is a Masthead. The masthead for my music magazine is NRM which is an abbreviation for New Rock Music. The inspiration for this masthead came from the music magazine NME, however, I did not copy the magazine. I used NME has a template.Each letter of the masthead connotes something to do with rock music. New which connotes what the magazine is which is New music. Rock which connotates what the genre of this magazine is, and Music connotes what it is representing which is the music.
I designed the masthead on Word Art and put it in the font style of Insomnia. The masthead fontstyle connotates that this magazine is full of loud new and up and coming rock bands which will blow your mind away . So the reader knows what each of the letters of the magazine stands for I put them in bold , the black is meant to connote a warning. The letters NRM in the masthead are chunky so they can be noticed by the reader.

Strapline
On real magazines another media convention used is a Strapline. The Strapline to this magazine is WELCOME TO A NEW WORLD OF ROCK MUSIC. The Strapline is meant to also represent the magazine and give a clue to what the magazine is about which is New Rock Music. It is meant to invite the reader to read the music magazine. It denotates a Strapline which is in bold white and black writing in the font style of Impact, which makes it stand out from the photograph. It is in capital letters so it can be noticed. It connotes that this magazine is giving an entrance into the new rock music world and gives you the knowledge into the latest news and the latest bands.

Plugs
On all magazines there are plugs which advertise what else is with the magazine such as competitions and freebies, they are usually in bright colors, however, this is different for my music magazine. As my music magazine is a rock music magazine the plugs are in a dark colors because dark colors such as Black connotate dark rock music and heavy metal music. At the top of the front cover is a plug which advertises the fact that BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE IS LOOKING FOR A NEW ROCK BAND TO TOUR WITH THEM. This would interest new rock music bands which are not yet established, and by my music magazine advertising this chance it would catch new bands which have not been established attention, and they would buy the magazine. I chose Bullet for my Valentine because they are a rock and heavy metal band and have a large fan base, and fans of Bullet for my Valentine would also buy my music magazine because it has their favorite band included. The font is in the font style of Impact and is White so it stands out from the Black Background. The second plug is at the bottom front cover again it is in Black. This plug is advertising what is free with the magazine which is POSTERS OF THE LATEST BANDS! THE LATEST NEWS. This would attract the readers because they get free posters of bands free of charge, a sort of freebie to say thanks for buying the magazine. Again it is in the font style of Impact and is in white so it stands out from the Black background.

Headline
All magazines have their double page spread stars on the front cover with the headline, this enables them to advertise the double page spread and create an interest. My music magazine NRM advertise the double page stars Sweet and Sour as they are being interviewed. The headline is ROCK ALERT! SWEET AND SOUR! This is so the band is noticed. The start of the headline ROCK ALERT is in red, which connotates an emergency, that this magazine should be bought immediately because this band is hot and new. The second part of the headline SWEET AND SOUR! is in a maroon color so it can be seen by the reader. The maroon is meant to connote rock music because maroon is also a rock color.

Inside Contents
All magazines have other images of what is in the magazine. The photographs represent what the magazine contains and the stories and interviews in the magazine. This is the same for my music magazine NRM. The inside contents for NRM is in Black and Grey Box towards the bottom of the page. I wanted the photographs to stand out. In the photographs the clothes they are wearing connotate rock. The writing is in the font style Frakturika the text looks like it has been stamped onto the page. The photographs of the inside contents like other magazines is smaller, the images are smaller because the interviews are not as long. But both the bands connotate rock music.

Barcode
The Barcode is in the maroon box as well and is quite big so it can be seen. Al magazines have the barcode, so my magazine had to have it to.

Price and Date
The price is underneath the date in white so it can be seen by the reader. The price is also in white so it stands out from the maroon background.


Contents Page
The main conventions for the contents page is the masthead, the strapline, the page number and photographs of the bands or artists being interviewed
The background for my contents page is an actual color, after looking at other rock magazines like Kerrang! and NME don’t use color, they just use White. But I wanted my magazine to be different. So again I thought of the colors which connotate rock. So as you can see on my contents page I have used Black, as the bands in my magazine are dark rock bands. But I did have to think carefully about the colors of the texts.

Masthead
The masthead on this page is Contents. This is in bright Yellow, again this is meant to be in bright yellow which connotates an alarm, like people should be aware of what is on this page. I put the masthead on the Black background and then outlined the box in purple so it stood out more. It is like a sign which lets the audience know what this particular page is going to be about. The letters are in capital letters and are in the font style LifeCraft because this connotates that this magazine is rock solid and full of news about the rock world.

Strapline
I decided upon a strapline for my contents page. After studying other rock magazines I noticed how straplines were used so I decided to make my own up a lot of the straplines used in magazine were lyrics from songs or quotations made up so i decided to create my own strapline . " Rock News. Rock the World. Rock music is not a hobby its life." This strapline is connotates how rock music is such an important part of musicians lives who are in rock bands. The strapline is in the font style of Tahoma but is in capital letters, this is meant to connotate that this magazine is full of extras and the strapline makes the rock music sound important. The strapline tries to get the reader thinking about the magazine and what it has on offer.

Inside Contents
To show what else is in the magazine there is images of the other bands which is in the magazine. There is photographs of the different bands: Sweet and Sour, The Nutters, The Hoodies, and Sister Act. On each of these images the name of the pictured band is in bright red. Red connotates an emergency, and something to be alert of. The red text catches the readers attention and makes them alert of the bands and their interviews. The page numbers are on the images so they are noticed. By giving the page numbers it will make it easier to negotiate to that particular page but the page numbers are again in red which connotates alertness. The red numbers are on a Grey background which makes it stand out to the reader’s eye. The page numbers were put onto a Grey background, the Grey connotates rock music and the actual object rock.

The Double Page Spread
Double Page spreads in all magazines differ in many ways. I tried to make mine different from other double page spreads. But one thing all the double page spreads have in common is it is the star the band or artists on the front cover which is being interviewed. It depends on the genre of the magazine from fashion to music which changes the layout on the front.
My double Page spread is on the band Sweet and Sour. Sweet and Sour are a made up band but i still attempted to make the double page spread professional. On all double page spreads there is the headline, the interview, the photographs and the quotation. The interview has to do the band justice as it is important because the interview portrays what the band is like.
My double page spread is on a dark black background because I have continued to stay with black which connotates rock and also represents the genre of music for Sweet and Sour. I wanted the background to be dark and different to other double page spreads.

Headline
The headline is important to the double page spread because it gives a clue to what the article is going to be about. My headline is just plain and simple, which is the name of the band. “Sweet and Sour”. This is in the font style of Vts Revolt. This font style stands out from the background; it looks like it is on fire, with lighting bolts. The fire is meant to connotate this new band is on fire and they are the next big thing which is going to hit the rock charts. The lighting bolts connotate that this band is electric and is going to be the next big thing, the lighting bolts is meant to catch the reader’s eye. The headline is in Grey and white which brightens up the article as these are the brightest colors on the article.

Photographs
There are 3 different photographs of Sweet and Sour. These are all photographs took by me. The three photographs I took i attempted the photographs look like snapshots, this made the photographs look individual and different to other interviews. The photographs are on a white box so they look like real life photographs. But as this is a new band I didn’t want it to look too professional as they are up and coming and I wanted the snapshots to look a bit unprofessional as if they were took by the band themselves then put onto the double page spread. The photographs were meant to show the different sides of Sweet and Sour; The Sweet side, The naughty side and the sister side. The first photograph is meant to connotate the sweet side of the band as their personalities can be sweet. The second photograph with the hoodies on is meant to connotate the rebellious and naughty side of them both and the last photograph is meant to connotate the sisterhood, as Sweet and Sour are sisters.

The Quotation
In all magazines a quotation from the interview is made bigger. I used a quotation of my interview “Class it as what you like” is meant to connotate that the band is very carefree, young, and individual. It is a quote from Ruth (me). It is meant to make the band seem young and they don’t seem to give a damn what people think of their music just like real rock bands are.

The Interview
The interview takes up the whole right hand page. The questions and answers are in different colors so they can be noticed. The way Sweet and Sour answer the questions and argue shows they are sisters and have their own individual opinions. The banter connotates that the band is funny and that they want to make the reader laugh. The interview is meant to justice the band, as the band wants their music bought; want their music to be listened to and their gigs to be seen. The interview also gave an idea of what the band is like.

All magazines have to have conventions for the magazines to work because magazines are a media product. They have to challenge each other and be individual from other magazines for them to be bought,

2) How does my media product represent particular social groups?
My music magazine is meant to represent the social group who like rock music, who are rebellious and individuals, who have opinions and speak their minds. My magazine had to represent these qualities of this particular social group and I had to think through carefully how I would do this.
Colors
I had to think of colors which this social group would associate with the music genre of rock. I thought about it and came to the decision that the main color which connotates rock music is Black. So I used a lot of Black in my magazine. I did not want to use too many bright colors as this is a rock magazine, and the music genre of rock is dark. The main colors I used were Black, Maroon, White, Grey, Red, Yellow ,Purple and Blue.
Black connotates the rock bands which are in the magazine.
Maroon is associated with the actual object of rock.
White is a color which stands out and is bright and catches the eye.
Grey connotates rock music and makes colors like red stand out.
Red connotates and emergency and something to be alert of. It catches the readers attention and makes them aware of the band.
Yellow connotates danger, This magazine is full of rock music and dangerous!
Purple is meant to be a girly colour and was used on the Sweet and Sour Double Page Spread; this was meant to connotate the girly side of the band.
Blue is meant to highlight the different people in Sweet and Sour on the double page spread.
Clothes
I tried to ensure that all the photographs I took represented my social group, I wanted to show what the bands were like and how they wore the sort of clothes which my target audience wears. Each band wore dark colors dark colors are associated with rock music. Dark colors also connotate the rebellious side of people. I wanted the clothes to look scruffy as well because people are meant to seem care free in this magazine like they don’t care what people think of them and they are themselves they are not going to change their looks or clothes to please people.
Interviews
The interviews represent the bands, but the bands are meant to represent the people, so the bands in the interview needed to sound like the social group who would read the article. The language needed to be appropriate for the audience.

3)What kind of media institution might distribute my media product and why?
The institution I would choose to publish my music magazine is Emap. I did research into Emap and Emap is one of the most popular publishing companies around. They publish all sorts of popular music magazines such as Kerrang! Kerrang! is a popular music magazine and so it would be appropriate for another music magazine which is up and coming to be published by a well known publishing company. Emap publishes for both males and females and seem to please the audience they are publishing for.

4) Who would be the audience for my media product?
The audience for my rock music magazine NRM is an audience aged 15-25 years old but also an audience who is into the music genre of rock and likes to know about new and fresh rock bands coming out today. I wanted to aim my music magazine at people who were carefree, who had an interest in rock music, who liked to be entertained, who were opinionated and individuals, as I wanted my magazine to be talked about and create opinions, but I wanted my magazine to be carefree without any depressing stories from the world around us. My rock music magazine is meant to have an impact on musicians live and give them inspiration to what to write about for their music such as life events are anything in general.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?
I tried to think of different ways to attract and address my audience, I had to, however, remember that this is a rock magazine for young people aged 15-25 years old. I first thought of what young people are attracted to, which is related to rock music. I looked at the rock music magazines Kerrang! and NME and studied how they attracted and addressed their audiences. One of the ways that they advertise their magazine is by giving subscription forms for so many magazines a month. I noticed that Kerrang! advertise on their own radio station that Kerrang magazine is out weekly. Kerrang! also have a music channel which is dedicated purely to rock and heavy metal music and again they advertise the weekly magazine during the adverts. NME is similar to Kerrang! because NME advertise subscriptions in their magazines, and they also advertise on their radio station that NME is out weekly. Again like Kerrang! they have a music channel dedicated to indie music. Again they advertise their magazine on the NME music channel.
So if I was to think of a way to attract the audience I would advertise on local radio stations such as Viking and Galaxy as these are listened to, and also I would try to advertise my magazine NRM on Kerrang! music channel as this is a well watched rock music channel. But also I had to think about the magazine itself, such as the photographs I used, what the bands would wear, what colors I should use on the magazine which would connotate rock, I had to think about the bands interview, how they banter, the sort of language they use. I had to think of the font styles that I would use which would relate to the magazine. I addressed my audience by choosing out of the photographs which is the most appropriate for the magazine. I looked at the clothes my social group wear because if the bands wore trendy clothes which were similar to the target audience then the audience would follow their trends. I tried to interview bands which my social groups would relate to and I had to ensure that the music I wrote about the audience could relate to.

6) What you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
I learnt how to use computer programmes such as Adobe Photoshop, Fireworks and Microsoft Publisher, but I did not necessarily use all the creations I made on these computer programmes. I learnt about the publishing companies but I did not learn much about the actual publishing factories. I learnt about the actual ideas behind the magazines and also I learnt how to use http://www.blogger.com/.


7) Looking back at the preliminary task, what do I feel I have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
For the preliminary task I had to design a college magazine which I called CLASH! I had to think about the connotation and denotation of the magazine. I had to apply the model LIIAR to it to help me create the college magazine. I learnt about the different camera angles used in photographs as I had to take my own photographs for the magazines I created. I had to learn to use new software which I had never used before, however, I have used Microsoft Publisher a lot for past projects.
When it came to the creation of my music magazine NRM I had a lot to think about and I learnt more about how to draft the design in and plan out the text I would include. I also learnt during the making of my music magazine how to download fonts from font sites. This has meant that my computer has up to date fonts which I can use in the future on other media products. I also learnt how to direct my photographs for the music magazine, how the model should pose, how their facial expressions should be. But what i have benefited the most from this project is learning the keywords to do with media conventions.

I have enjoyed designing the music magazine NRM because I have been able to work on my own project and producing work that I can be proud of.