Final Double Page Spread

I decided to make a few changes to my double page spread after I got my audience feedback. I found that I needed to make my introduction stand out a bit more to the rest of the text, therefore I made it bold and italic so it stood out more. I also moved the 'BLAST EXCLUSIVE' to the bottom of the page because this looked more conventional. I also changed the page numbers from 15-16 to 30-31 because I found it was more conventional for the main story of a music magazine to be featured a bit deeper into the magazine, rather than in the first few pages. 

Final Contents Page

After I got my audience research back, I made a few changes to my contents page to suit what my target audience said they would like. For example, I structured it a bit better and sectioned off the regulars and features sections. I also added a few more stories to my contents page to fill it out more and make it look more conventional.

Final Front Cover

I found doing the audience research was very helpful because it helped me realise quite a few things that were not very conventional that I needed to change that would help improve my front cover. So, taking these things into account I made a few changes that may not have been major, however, they still helped improve my front cover and make it look more like a conventional music magazine.

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

 By looking back at our preliminary task (which was to create a college magazine front cover), and in the process from that to my finished music magazine front cover, there are many changes that I made when I made my magazine. 
I have developed by making my magazine look more conventional, rather than just 'poster-like'. I also made the sell lines stand out more in my music magazine because on my college magazine they fade in to the back ground and do not stand out, so if the readers were not attracted by the main cover line then there would be nothing else that would immediately attract them to my magazine.
I also decided to make my masthead bolder, I found this was a convention that all magazines used and on my college magazine I found that, although the colours do go with the rest of the magazine, it is quite a plain and boring font that does not stand out against the rest of the magazine. So when I was making my music magazine I looked up many different fonts that were bold and represented the genre that I want my music magazine to be. By doing this, and making it a different colour to the majority of the other text on the page I managed to make it stand out more and look more conventional. I figured also by doing this, if my magazine was on a stand in a store then people will be able to see this, even if they can only see part of it, as oppose to it not really standing out, which it doesn't on my college magazine. 
If I had the chance to do my college magazine again, I would put the masthead in a much bolder font that was a lot different from the others on the page (but still in keeping with a house style) and I would make the main cover line a lot bolder compared to the rest to make it stand out more. I would put the smaller cover lines in a box to separate them off from the rest of the magazine, and do the sell line that is above the masthead it a colour that stands out more against the black background. I would also try and feature at least one more picture on the front cover because this is a convention of magazines and to just have one image on there is something that is not expected of a magazine. 
It was useful to carry out this preliminary task as it gave me a bit of preparation in making a magazine and provided me background information on the codes and conventions of magazines in general. It was also useful because it meant I could look back on my college magazine to see how I have improved and it also gave me a bit of knowledge about photoshop before I made my actual music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. 

I definitely think I have developed in my media skills, especially in photoshop, as you can see in the previous question for my evaluation there are many new things that I learnt since we started this preliminary task back in September. I have developed in making my magazine looking more conventional in order to attract my audience more.
To produce my final music magazine it took a lot of research, which involved finding popular, existing music magazines and looking at their front covers, contents page and double page spreads to see what conventions they used to make their magazine successful and attract their audience.

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

Here is one of my first drafts for my front cover, and to the right is my final front cover. As you can see the main image on the first draft does not look very conventional of music magazine front covers. The lighting is poor and you cannot really see her face, which would not attract the audience because one of the conventions of a music magazine front covers is to have a strong dominant front cover that will attract your audience. 
Also the text on the first draft for the main cover line is quite dark and blends in to the background, which is also not conventional because readers will want it to stand out against the background so they can read it from far away if they spot it out the corner of their eye in a shop. 
Also I needed to make the cover lines in the boxes go together with the rest of the magazine because on the first draft they look more like they should be on a contents page. 
When I asked around on my first draft, many people said they could not tell that it was meant to be a sixties/rock music magazine, and they said many things about it were unconventional and did not really fit in. For example, the lack of a price or slogan were both unconventional and were things that people said needed changing because it does not look like a proper music magazine without these things that most people expect to see on a music magazine front cover.

Here is one of my first contents page drafts. I found that the cutting around the picture does not look very professional and looks quite messy. So when I was using Photoshop I found the 'magic wand' tool, which allows you to get rid of a white background quicker and easier than having to use the polygonal lasso tool that I previously used, as I found the polygonal lasso was a lot messier and took a lot more time than the magic wand tool. 

  Whilst creating my media product I also learnt many different short cuts on Photoshop. Such as 'Ctrl+T' for transforming an image- making it bigger or smaller, and rotating it. 

Whilst I was making my drafts I also learnt about the gradient tool, that creates a gradient background for you in a colour of your choice- as demonstrated in one of my draft contents pages shown above.

Below is a step by step process of one of my drafts that I made...

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my target audience buy making my music magazine an affordable price for the E demographic category. By making it £2.00 this is a price that students and teenagers can afford and for the number of pages that my magazine includes and the frequency it will be released (every fortnight) I would say it is a reasonable price. 

The special offers I include should attract my target audience, because I found that teenagers enjoy competitions where they can win tickets to concerts and CDs (I discovered this when looking at existing music magazine, for example, 'Kerrang!' (left picture) is a popular rock magazine that teenagers (around the same social group as my target audience) enjoy reading. In the bottom right corner near the barcode there is the big plug saying 'WIN', from this distance you cannot fully see what can be won however, the fact that it is in a bright yellow star that stands out clearly over the black background, this would attract the audience and make them pick it up to see what they could win.
So to attract my audience I thought I would make the 'WIN' bit noticeable but I did not want that to be the main feature of the magazine, I wanted the main coverline to be the main feature of my magazine, however, I did not want that to be the only thing attracting my audience therefore I made the 'WIN' plug on the bottom sell line noticeable so the audience would see that when they pick my magazine up. 
I did a series of questionnaires that I handed out to a group of people that were in my target audience: 


Here are the responses to my questionnaires that I gave out to a group of teenagers to get their feedback on my front cover, contents page and double page spread:

Have I used the conventions of a music magazine successfully?

“Yes, I can see a lot of the conventions throughout the pages”

“Yes” x3

“Yes, it follows them well”

“Yes, especially the masthead. That is very different and stands out”

“Yes- large masthead, structured like music magazines, looks like a genuine double page spread. Sell lines on left side”

“Yes the front cover and double page spread follow conventions very well- however, the contents page could follow conventions more”

Can you identify what my target audience is?

“An audience who enjoys this genre of music, teenagers and young adults”

“Teenagers 16+ pop/rock genre”

“15-25 year olds”

“16+ because of the colours and font”

“15-24”

“I’m not too sure what it is”

“Teenage girls, sixties rock fans. The clothing represents this”

“Pop-rock. Semi Mainstream audience. 15-25”

  If so, does it appeal to the target audience?

“Yes a young, fun font used for the masthead etc. The colours used are bright which will attract the target audience”

“Yes”x3

“Yes, the theme and colour”

“Yes- the colours used appeal”

-

“Yes, large image of girl, represents sixties”

  Can you tell what my genre is?

“Retro music”

“Pop genre”

“Pop-rock”x2

“Pop”

“Pop rock and music from the past”

“60s rock”

“Sixties- dressed sixties, pull quotes. ‘I’m bringing the sixties back’ gives it away”

 Are there any changes you would make to improve it?

“More feature stories on the front page”

“Not fading the edges of the images on the contents page”

“More features”

“Maybe use more images”

“More feature articles”

“Add a price on the front cover”

“Structure contents page a bit more”

“Better contents layout. Price on cover. Outline images to make them clear”

  If there is anything you find unconventional, does it fit in with the rest of the magazine?

“Yes”x3

“Don’t think so”

“The barcode positioning”

-

-

“Sizing of some of the text, it doesn’t fit in very well- makes it look slightly childish in a few aspects”

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

When I was originally planning my target audience, before I finished my final media products and had made final decisions about things such as mise-en-scene, layout, colours, fonts etc. I did a focus group with a group of teenage girls (who are in my target audience) to see what kind of things they would expect from a music magazine and some things that they would enjoy reading and would want to buy. I found doing this focus group was very helpful because it helped me get a wider view of what my target audience wants, and helped me get different ideas that I may not have thought of before. 
When I was creating my media product I wanted to make sure the ideology and iconography would appeal to my target audience, so by referring back to my reader profile I chose certain features that I could feature in the mise-en-scene and location to appeal to my target audience and attract them to my magazine. 
I also conducted secondary audience research with my final front cover, contents page and double page spread, which included a series of questionnaires that I handed out to a group of teenagers and a secondary audience feedback video with my final products. 

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

What kind of media institution might distribute yo by Emily Kuhr-Jones on GoAnimate

Video Maker - Powered by GoAnimate.

The media institution that I decided would distribute my music magazine is Bauer media. I decided that Bauer media would be the best institution to distribute my magazine because they already distribute many music magazines such as Q and Kerrang!, therefore, it would be successful in attracting my target audience and distributing my magazine on a large scale.
Bauer media has also been very successful in creating many other media outlets for their products, such as websites, radio stations and TV channels, and I believe that choosing Bauer media would be the best thing to do for my magazine to create a successful music magazine that is popular to many different people and on many different outlets. I think that Bauer media would be able to help make my magazine a brand (as they have done with Q and Kerrang!), and because many of their music magazines that they distribute are existing rock magazine the fan base for their existing music magazines will be similar to my target audience therefore it will be easier for me to attract my target audience if they are already associated with other, successful music magazines.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The top front cover was one of my original drafts, and while I was making the changes I decided that I needed to make my front cover more appropriate for my target audience. I found that this first draft greatly lacked conventions and did not give the connotations for my target audience that I wanted it to. 
I found that the main image and masthead did not really give people a sense of the sixties/rock genre that I really wanted to give off, so, after getting audience feedback and discussing with peers what they would like to see different to make it more appealing and conventional, I decided to completely restyle it in a way that would attract my audience and represent my target social group in a better way. 

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

To maintain a house style and achieve continuity throughout all 3 of my products, I have used the same font as the masthead on the front cover, contents page and double page spread. I have also kept the colour scheme the same throughout by using dark pink/red colours for the anchorage text underneath my main image on the front cover, then I have also used the same colour for the 'Contents' heading on my contents page and for the quote, banner ('Lilia Eve') and introduction on the double page spread.
I have used the same artist on the front cover, contents page and double page spread and have made sure that the page numbers on the contents page match the page numbers on the double page spread, which also helps create continuity and connect all 3 features of the magazine together.

My layout matches most conventions for music magazines, however, on the front cover I have fewer stories than most music magazines. The reason I have done this is because I have used a close up for my main image (to help capture the iconic sixties/Twiggy theme) and I wanted this image to be the main focus of the front cover, and if I had included lots of other stories on my front cover than the audience's attention would be diverted away from the main story. If you compare it to MOJO music magazine, they also have not used many cover lines because they want the David Bowie cover line to be the main focus of their audience's attention, which is what I have attempted to do on my front cover.
However, similarly to MOJO, I have still included a few minor cover lines on there, to make my magazine more conventional and give the audience more than one thing to look forward to reading. For the contents page I have used most conventions, such as large clear fonts, page numbers referencing the story, 'Features' and 'Regulars' section as well as images relating to the different articles featured throughout the magazine. Also for the double page spread I have matched most conventions for music magazines; pull quotes, introduction, images, article being set out in columns and in a clear font as well as a main image that dominates one of the pages.

Questions For Audience Feedback

Here are the questions that I asked  a group of students about what they thought of my front cover, contents page and double page spread to use as part of my audience feedback in my evaluation:

1. Have I used the conventions of a music magazine successfully?
2. Can you identify what my target audience is?
3. If so, does it appeal to the target audience?
4. Can you tell what my genre is?
5. Are there any changes you would make to improve it?
6. If there is anything you find unconventional, does it fit in with the rest of the magazine?

Double Page Spread Draft

Video Feedback for Front Cover and Contents Page

Double Page Spread- Digital Mock Up

Article for Double Page Spread

 The music industry is tough, for anyone. Lilia Eve is a new up and coming artist into the rock genre and she is particularly interested in the 60s rock era. Blast’s very own Emily Jones meets up with her to find out first hand about her experience about making it BIG in the music scene!

One of the first things we notice about Lilia Eve is her bold and daring fashion sense. Rocking a bold patterned shirt tucked into a leather skirt gives an edgy vibe from her as soon as you look at her. Despite this, she has a surprisingly welcome smile and comes across as very bubbly and cheerful.  She is welcomed by the BLAST team and takes a seat on the vibrantly coloured love seats.

So Lilia, how has 2012 been for you?

Oh my gosh! It's been a whirlwind! It seems to have gone by so fast, I can't remember what happened and when, my months have been mixed up! It was exhilarating though, the time of my life!

Wow! Sounds like a mad rush! How did you manage to write and record and album as well as setting up a world tour?!

Well luckily I have an amazing team that help me with that! I could never have done all of that by myself, I'm rubbish at keeping on top of things, always have been, but I find when you are doing something you love, like I am with writing and performing music, you find it easier to keep on top of things and you can enjoy it while you are doing it.
When did you first get interested in music, especially the 60s rock genre?

Well, music has been in my family my entire life really. My mum and dad were in a band together when they were young, nothing big but they loved it, and when me and my brother were born we were just brought up with music all around us. Our family would always be singing, even if we are just washing the pots or tidying the house [laughs]. We love it. And as for the 60s, I love that era. The fashion, everything, especially the music. I wanted to be different to most female acts my age, I'm bringing the sixties back.

So it sounds like your family were very influential in your career then. Is it hard to work with them when you are in such a tough line of work?

Well me and my family has always been close, and yeah I guess there has been a few stressful times I mean its virtually impossible not to have stressful times, but we are a very strong family. I think that because this is something I love doing, my family love to see me happy and doing something I love. I think that makes it a lot easier for us and I know they will always be there to support me. 

So your family will be coming with you on tour?

Well I think they are going to try and make it when they can, but my brother is at a very crucial age in school so I don't want him to miss out and that, and my mum and dad have work. But they are going to try and be there when they can, but I promised to keep them updated and make videos for them, just so they are involved even if they can't make it to the actual tour.

Aw! That sounds lovely! So when did you decide to try it in the big time then?

I mean it has always been my dream to make it big, singing is my passion and I've known since I was about 8 that it was something I would want to do professionally. But I when I was about 16 I started posting videos on YouTube. I didn't expect anything major to come out of it, but I got thousands and thousands of views and before I knew it people from all over the world were watching my video and commenting how much they loved my music, then agents were ringing me and offering me record deals. It was all so surreal!

Wow! So it definitely did happen fast! No wonder 2012 was all a blur! How was it to hear how successful your debut album 'Rocking Back' was?

Oh it was so unexpected! I mean I did not expect that many people to buy it! Its weird how many people want to listen to me, I mean I'm just a girl from a small town up north and to think that millions of people went out and bought my album...Well I mean it's just crazy! It is weird how quick something like that can happen, one minute your sat in an English lesson and the next all your dreams have come true and people are buying and listening to your music!

It sounds like all your dreams really have come true! So tell us...what else can we expect from you in 2013? If 2012 was that big for you, how big will 2013 be?!

Honestly I don't even know what to expect for 2013! I mean I've got my tour this year with 20 cities in Britain and I know I may be thinking a bit too far into the future but I would love to travel the world and share my music with them! I mean even if I just sit by a campfire and sing them to a small group of people, I just love to share my music. 

Wow, looks like 2013 will be a big year! We here at BLAST can't wait to hear from you later on in the year and see how its going for you! Thanks for coming along!

Thank you for having me! I will definitely keep you updated on how everything is going...Love the chairs by the way!
 

3 Music Magazine Double Page Spreads

 These double page spreads all have the images taking up the majority of one page,and the name of the artist they are interviewing at the top of the page so the reader can clearly see who is being interviewed and this can help them establish if they want to carry on reading the article, sometimes it is not their name but a slogan (like on MOJO at the top and Q at the bottom). They also all have a little introduction at the start of the story to tell the audience what they will be talking about and usually how the interviewee looks or a quick biography of the interviewee just to give the reader a bit more information if they need it. Another convention of a double page spread is having pull quotes from the story, these are usually in different colour the the rest of the font (but still in keeping with the house style) and/or much bigger than the rest of the story so they stand out for the audience.

LIIAR Analysis Of A Double Page Spread

LANGUAGE: The media language used would be the same as the rest of the magazine. They will want to communicate with their audience in the same way throughout the whole magazine. They will use the same fronts, colours, style of writing and pictures to keep with the house style of their magazine. The conventions of these pages will be different, for example, the title of the page is at the top left of the page. This indicates what the page contains. They have pull quotes from the article to give the audience an idea of what they will be reading. And a continuous colour scheme used over both the pages to link the two pages together.

IDEOLOGY: By having lots of pictures of the band performing, and not many shots of them posing together or on their own, it reinforces the fact that they want to make the audience aware of their music, rather than what they look like or what their recent fashion looks are.

INSTITUTION: The only institution on this double page spread, is  the band Mumford and Sons. This double page spread is advertising them and making people aware of their music and what they do. Apart from that there isn’t any other forms of external advertising on either of the pages.

AUDIENCE: The target audience is again the same as the front page and double page spread. They attract the same audience throughout by keeping a house style and keeping the same genre of music to keep their audience interested and make them want to keep buying the magazine.

REPRESENTATION:  This will also be the same as the front cover and contents page as it all fits in with keeping a house style. Again, they have shown the main features of the articles focusing more on music than how they look. 

Front Cover (before audience feedback)

Photoshoot inspiration...

Re-Done Photos

The red lips on this image really stand out against the rest of the picture because everything else is quite light, so the boldness of the red on the lips really stands out and I think will draw the audience in.

I think the lighting combined with the colour of her dress gives quite a 60s vibe, because of the lace and the long blonde hair that is shaped around her face, and has quite a bit of volume to it.

I think this picture would be good to use on the double page spread because it is different to the others because it is a medium close up rather than a close up, so it would allow the audience to see more of her. By having her playing with her hair it gives quite a playful edge to a serious photo so it gives the audience the impression that she isn't too serious when it comes to fame.

This is my favourite photo, because I styled it based on the iconic 60s Twiggy pose, using a close up with quite a serious expression and her hands around her face.

I also like this photo because by having her look over her shoulder it is different to a direct close up, however, I think the lighting has given this photo a yellow tint, therefore, if I were to take this photo again I would change the lighting so it was similar to the one above this photo, so her pale face and red lips will be accentuated more, rather than faded in with the background.

Contents Page Drafts

Hand Drawn Contents Page

Box Plan Layout of Contents Page

NME Contents Page- LIIAR Analysis

LANGUAGE: At the top of the page it has the title and the date of the issue, this is a convention of a magazine contents page, this helps guide the audience and signifies the start of the magazine. It also has lots of pull quotes from the different articles, this gives the audience a taste of what will be in the stories and tries to entice them into reading it.  To go with these pull quotes they have pictures of the stars that are featured in their stories, this is again to attract the audience and the majority of the people in the pictures are giving the camera direct eye contact to engage with the audience.

IDEOLOGY: By using the title ‘INSIDE THIS WEEK’ it reinforces the idea of the masthead NME (New Musical Express) as it shows that there will be a new thing every week for the audience to read. The ideology will be the same throughout the whole magazine because they want to give the same idea throughout the whole magazine.

INSTITUTION: At the bottom right of the page it has adverts to subscribe to this magazine, usually contents pages will have external adverts from other institutions, however this one doesn’t. it only has adverts for its own magazine and then the bands that will be featured in their articles.

AUDIENCE: The audience for the contents page would be the same for the front cover as they would want to attract the same people throughout the whole magazine, because they have a their target audience that they want to attract and will want to keep them interested through the whole magazine.

REPRESENTATION: The representation will also be the same throughout the whole magazine because they have a image that they want to get out to their audience and by keeping their audience, ideology and language the same they will want to keep the representation the same to keep their magazine popular with their target audience.

'MOJO' Contents Page-Conventions and LIIAR Analysis

This front cover also has the conventions of a contents page; such as the name of the magazine at the top and the date and number of the issue, however, it is a lot simpler than the ‘Q’ one as there is only one image with a pull quote underneath it.

Like 'Q' it only has a features section with the main cover story, which suggests that this edition of the magazine is a lot more exclusive than other music magazines on the market. Which could be due to there being a select number of stories/artists featured that aim them for a niche audience.

The font is large and clear, with the page numbers next to the story to allow easy navigating to the article for the audience. 

Language- The main text that stands out on this contents page is the band names (at a first glance) which will attract the target audience because as soon as they open it they can see the band name and the page its on and go straight there without having to search for the page it's on.

Ideology- The audience reading this magazine will value a certain genre of music, and so when they pick up this magazine to read they will expect to see number of artists/articles that relate to that genre. 

Audience- The target audience of this magazine would be those interested in rock/indie music (such as Florence and the Machine and Paul Weller), therefore this contents page is appealing to that target audience by featuring stories that feature these artists and making it clear to the audience when they first look at this contents page that those type of artists will be in this edition which will make the audience what to read it.

Representation- By only featuring one picture on this contents page it can prevent confusion for the audience at which picture relates to which story. So instead of having to look at lots of different pictures and figure out which one goes with each article their attention will be focused on this one story (which could be the first one that they decide to read as it is the one that will grasp their attention the most).

'Q' Contents Page- Conventions and LIIAR Analysis

This ‘Q’ contents page uses the conventions of contents pages; it has the ‘Features’ section with all the stories that are unique to this edition of the magazine. However, it does not have a section for the features that are every week, which is because it is ‘Subscribers’ edition so the people who will be reading this will know what to expect every week and will only be interested in the special features section.

It also has page numbers that give reference to the location of articles in the magazine with the name of the article or the feature person of the magazine (e.g. ‘Zane Low’ and ‘Tinie Tempah’) because these are well known names and will attract the reader directly to that page.

The colour scheme is continuous throughout the entire page, and matches the colour scheme on the front cover and in the rest of the magazine. This gives the magazine a house style and connects the magazine together and makes it look as one. There are also pictures that relate to the features of the magazine, giving the reader an idea of what to expect when they go to that page (for example if it is a band they have not heard of before, the picture could give them an idea of what that band may be like with the clothes they wear/gender/make-up etc.)

The Language they have used to attract their target audience relates a lot to the actual magazine. For example "250 Albums Of Q's Lifetime", this links the reader and the magazine together because it allows them to feel part of the magazine if they share their favourite albums with the reader.
The Institution would be Q magazine and its editors because they want to keep the magazine popular and keep relating to the audience so that people will carry on buying their magazine which will allow them to carry on making money from it.
The Ideology would be putting bands/artists that fit in with the genre of that magazine that would attract the audience to carry on reading the magazine. They would have to feature musicians suitable to their genre otherwise their target audience would not want to read it and their sales would significantly decrease.
The Target Audience would be people interested in a mixture of music, because the artists featured on this contents page are a mixture of RnB (Tinie Tempah) and Indie Rock bands such as Muse and Oasis are also featured on this page, so the target audience would be very wide.

Conventions of a Contents Page

Front Cover