A collection of unused photos:

Music Magazine Evaluation:

My foundation portfolio allowed me to demonstrate my technical, photography and research skills through the creation of a front page, contents page and double page spread of a music magazine of my design. I used only original photographs taken by myself, as well as studied the conventions of other successful music magazines (which focus on the same genre of music which I was focusing on), ultimately allowing me to decide whether or not to follow these conventions, or purposely overlook them. In this evaluation, I am going to refer to media language, institution, ideology, audience and representation, and how my media product is influenced by these.

The target audience of my Music Magazine was 13-21, but focused more upon teenagers, and teenage trends. To further deconstruct my target audience, I intentionally aimed at certain social groups, my chosen group being 'alternative'. My music magazine delves in to unsigned rock bands, hoping to gain them recognition. This would appeal to my target audience directly, as the genre of music is the genre which they listen to and enjoy. It would equally be appealing to talent scouts, working for record labels across the globe, and therefore would do well to partner itself with a larger, successful record label and/or the conglomerate which owns it. Through my past experience, I know that teenage girls tend to like an artist/band if the front man is good looking, well-dressed, and follows the same style as them. I used this information to my advantage, using mise en scene to attract my audience. Costume such as a leather jacket, 'hoodie', black skinny jeans and a lumberjack shirt are all iconic of the rock/alternative genre and exemplify my use of new trends and style to appeal to the target audience. This is similar to the tactics used by NME magazine, a popular British alternative music magazine, as I took direct influence from the NME reader profile, which states that NME use new trends and style to attract their target audience. During the research and planning process, I decided to come up with my own reader profile. The representation of the 'alternative' social group, in most media, is stereotypically biased, and unfavourable. In contrast to this, I decided to look favourably upon my target audience, and therefore decided to represent them as happy, and fun. I did this through the use of, for example, a mid-shot, which allows my cover model to be seen smiling, as well as the female model in the bottom-left corner of my front cover, represented in mid-shot, and therefore can be seen smiling. In reflection of this, I used the same tactic on my double page spread, taking advantage of the mid-shot to reveal the huge grin on my models face, and adding a small, toy guitar as a prop to connotate that the model is exciting, different and fun. This, henceforth, contrasts the usual representation of 'alternative' social groups as sad, depressed and suicidal; a theme which I decided to disregard completely.

I formed my media product on the basis of whether to follow conventions of other rock music magazines, or challenge them. For the most part, I decided upon the former, however, there were some slight changes to the conventions, which I made to create a 'punky' atmosphere around my music magazine. For example, the text on my contents page, for the list of contents, uses all capitalised letters, except for the first letter of each word, which is in lower-case. This is a contrast of the conventions of rock music magazines, and serves as an icon of my challenging of the conventions. In addition to this, on my front cover, I added an "also inside" list. The contents of this list have a lighter shade of black as the background colour, which allowed me to create a messed up look, whilst also situating the text in a scruffy manner (some being close to each other, and some being farther away) which also helped me to achieve a messy look. The conventions I did abide by, on the other hand, include the use of a large central image on the front cover, the use of a dark, gothic colour scheme (in this case, black, red and white). Whilst I have added a tagline to my magazine, conventional of any magazine, I have converted it to an unconventional aspect of my magazine through the use of taboo language, the tagline being 'This is the shit!' However, to allow my magazine to be sold on shop shelves, I have added a star in replacement of the "t".

Throughout my main task, of creating a music magazine, I had in mind what institution would produce, market, and, most importantly, distribute my media product. I decided I would take advantage of being under a conglomerate company such as Time Warner, a company which, if my magazine begins to decline in sales, would be able to bail it out by taking profits from another area of its business (i.e. MTV advertising profits) and transferring more funding in to my magazine. I initially intended my magazine to be 'indie' and without corporate ownership, but I realised that it was in my best interests to be under a conglomerate, if I was ever going to get successful distributors. Distributors of my magazine will include WHSmith as well as local shops and supermarkets, whilst publishing would be undertaken by IPC Media, the publishing company behind the popular NME magazine. Whilst going through the process of the main task, I learnt, most importantly, how to perfect the use of Adobe Photoshop. This desktop tool was essential for creating my music magazine components as it allowed me to airbrush and crop photos as well as allowing me to position my different components of my magazine with perfection. Another tool I became familiar with, during both the preliminary and main task, was blogging. I had never done this before, and learnt how to arrange all of my work in to one, safe location which could be seen by any spectator.

My initial plans of my finished magazine differed greatly from my final product. This is because I had issues with placement of images (I assigned too much space to images on my double page spread and contents page) amongst other issues, such as the general simplistic look, which I was aiming for, would've been lost if I had stuck to my initial drafts and plans. The transition between the preliminary task and the main task was very educational for me, as I gained more knowledge of how a conventional magazine looked, I realised that my Wyke College magazine (which I created for my preliminary task) looked amateur, and too simplistic in terms of the front cover. The colour scheme also added to this unprofessional look, which allowed me to realise the true importance of an effective, straight-forward colour scheme which abided by the genre of the magazine's conventions. In relation to technology, the transition between both tasks also saw my advancement in Photoshop skills. This, overall, saw a dramatic change in the quality of my finished product, and allowed me to create my own fonts, previously not attempted on my preliminary task. The use of fonts on my main task demonstrated the need for a conventional font, which integrated well with my colour scheme and music magazine genre. I also incorporated different angles and shots of my models to create an ideology. For example, my cover model is represented in a low-angled mid-shot, creating a sense of power and dominance. The use of costume within the mise en scene, such as a leather jacket a 'Hoodie' creates an ideology that it is cool to wear this clothing as a lead singer of a band is wearing it. The same applies for the use of costume on my model featured on the contents page. He has long, black hair, is wearing Converse boots, black skinny jeans and a red, black and white lumberjack shirt, all of which are iconic of the alternative style, and represents the model as cool as he is wearing the latest trends. The prop, an Acoustic Guitar, creates the ideology that it is cool to play an acoustic guitar, and represents the model as soft and innocent in nature. The progression between both tasks can be clearly seen through the difference between my college magazine and my finished music magazine front cover, contents page, and double-page spread.

Word Count: 1,414

Final Double Page Spread: 'Unsigned!'

Final Double Page Spread:

Second Draft Of Double Page Spread:
First drafts of double page spread, shown on 2 seperate sheets of paper:

Page 1:

Page 2:

Contents Page: 'Unsigned!'

This is my final design of my Contents Page:

This is my first draft of my Contents Page:

Final Front Cover: 'Unsigned!'

Front Cover Draft 1: 'Unsigned!'

Reader Profile: Unsigned!

I have decided to create my own reader profile for my targeted audience of my music magazine.

Male: 60%

Female: 40%

Average Age: 21

ABC1: 75%

2 Cluster groups -

1. Fashion conscious students who are still attending gigs and festivals. They will have an alternative style, but will be up to date with all the latest trends. Some will have jobs, whereas most will be students.
2. British record labels who are scouting for new talent

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TECHNOLOGY OWNERSHIP:

60% Own a PC

80% Own an iPod/ mp3 player/ digital music player

60 % own a digital radio

60 % will own a CD player

90% own a DVD player

45% have cable/satellite/digital TV

85% have a mobile phone with a built-in camera

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Favourite TV channel - BBC3

Favourite Newspaper - The Sun

90% have access to the Internet

55% have broadband access, and on average spend 12 hours online per week

70% like to keep up with the latest technologies

40% like to buy new gadgets and appliances

62% like to try new drinks

50% go to cinema at least once per month

Circulation: 70,400 (ABC Dec 09/jan 10)

Readership: 300,000 (Jan/Feb 10)

Only 25% actually buy their music.

Music Magazine Mood Board:

Front Page - Mock Up

The tagline/sell-line/slogan will be situated below the "Unsigned!" magazine title. For some reason, I forgot to add it to the mock-up.

Contents Page - Mock Up

Double Page Spread Mock-Up

Written Drafts:

Front Cover:

Contents Page:

Double Page Spread:

Digital Media:

It is well-known that the majority of my target audience are going to be online at least 6 hours a day. I am going to use this to my advantage by utilising all three waves:

• Information Wave - Web as a resource for research and information gathering (Google)
• Distribution Wave - Web as a means of selling products (eCommerce) (Play.com/iTunes)
• Networking Wave - Web as a means of socialising and interacting (Facebook/ MSN)

I have decided that I will advertise my magazine through viral advert campaigns on Youtube. I will also create a Facebook and MySpace page featuring an online subscription service for selling my magazine, create a page on Wikipedia, and once profits rise, I will create my own website with its own web address. These websites will be shown as part of a footer on my magazine

The Contents Page:

Features:

• Focus on main article: "Evil Bill"
• Poster: New Again
• Poster: Secret Crowds
• Demo MP3 - Children Of The Night
• Album Reviews

Regulars:

I have come up with slick names to describe my regulars, and allow my audience to instantly recognise what is going to be featured in the regulars section.

• Said & Done ('The Blackout' song and well-known saying - Feedback and letters)
• Gigs & Gags (Alliteration to attract audience - Gig guide and Jokes)
• Lyrical Genious! - Lyrics
• BEN 'N' BOB - (Capitalised to stand out/ last thing in the magazine - comic strip appearing in each issue).

The catchy names will make the 'regulars section' stand out more and wont become something tedious and boring to the readers due to the names given. I will also make sure that at least one regular is featured on the front cover to advertise its presence.

The Front Cover:

Three - part colour scheme 1:

• Red


• Black


• White

Three - part colour scheme 2:

• Green


• Black


• White

I will use colour scheme 1 for my first issue.

My masthead will be:

Artists who will appear on my front cover:

• Evil Bill (Cover Story)


• To The Edge Of The Earth


• New Again


• Secret Crowds


• 72


• The Monsters


• Never Die


• iSirens!

(All bands are made-up, as they are supposed to be unknown, not famous and unsigned).

Headlines will include:

• Evil Bill: "I'm Not So Evil"


• "POSTER SPECIAL!"


• To The Edge Of The Earth: "Tour The UK"


• Free Demo inside!

Basic Planning:

Music Genre:

My chosen genre is going to be Rock music. I am going to focus more on my music tastes within the 'Rock' genre, which is 'Indie' and 'emo' music.

The key features of this genre include:

• Gritty, nasty, unpleasent, loud
• Used to be associated with muscles, long hair, tattoos and guitars
• Now it's associated with long hair, hoodies, skinny jeans, style & fashion and the colours 'black &red'.

The magazines which I will be in competition with include:

• Kerrang!
• NME
• Q
• Rolling stone, to name a few...

However, there is no unsigned magazines, that I can think of, currently dealing with this genre.

Features which these magazines have, which tie in with their target audience, include:

• Album Reviews
• Posters of big bands
• lots of images
• Gig info/guides
• News
• Live Reviews
• Competitions
• Features & Regulars

I can stand out and appeal to my audience by:

• Free mp3 download (link - which will also advertise my magazine's website)
• Free disc demo from unsigned band
• Individually signed posters...
• New fashions!

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Target Audience:

My main target audience is going to be:

• Teenagers - 13-25 yeras of age
• BC1
• Male & Female
• Social groups: Emo, Goths, Moshers, Scenes, Indies.

My target audience can expect from its:

A) Musical Genre:

• Emo/goth/scene/indie bands
• Cool bands
• Good looking lead singers

B) Musical Publiscations:

• Lots of images
• Freebies
• Black, Red & white colour scheme
• 'Loud lettering'

I am going to appeal to my audience by advertising on :

• Kerrang! TV
• NME TV
• MTV2
• Scuzz

These are all music channels which plays the genre of music which i'm dealing with. It would also cost a lot, but hopefully wont have to advertise for much long, and will have long term benefits. I will feature cover models on these adverts which look cool and are wearing the latest fashion to attract the audience. I will also play demo's from unsigned feature bands on the adverts to give the target audience a taste of what the magazine has to come.

I will sell my audience by featuring advertisements such as:

• Mainstream band adverts ('Album Out Now')
• HMV, Zavvi, Play.com (music retailers)
• Mobile Ads (target audience are always on the phone - stereotypically)
• Clothing ranges: TopMan, Bluebana, criminal Damage (alternative clothing ranges) - Clothing could be worn by cover models as a form of advertising in exchange for payment.

The things I would like from a Rock Music magazine are:

• Freebies
• Album Reviews
• Gig Reviews
• Posters
• Lots of images
• Gig guide
• Favourite bands
• New bands which i've never heard/heard of.

(I have also done a little feedback form which is in the research section. This was me simply asking the target audience for Kerrang! and NME what they would like/expect to see in a Rock music magazine).

Basics:

Possible Names:

• Amplified
• Unsigned! (I chose this one)
• SCREAM;

Rough cover price:

£2.50 because:

• Teenagers will be able to afford it
• I hate it when prices are uneven (i.e £3.30)
• I'd use low quality paper so I have a better chance at making profits

My magazine will be released every 2 weeks on a friday. This is because EMA payments to my target audience are on fridays, my target audience will have the weekend to get it, and there would be two weeks of great, readable news, instead of 1 weeks of news and lots of 'filler', which is the case with most magazines released weekly.

Textual Analysis 9 - Contents Page

Language: The contents page is conventionally split up in to two sections for easy navigation. These two sections are 'regulars' and 'Features'. The colour scheme used is also red, black and white. These colours are iconic of rock music as they connotate evil and signify blood (red). The contents list itself is placed down the left-hand side of the page, with pictures on the right. This allows the page to look professional whilst being simplistic and not cluttered with boring ammounts of text. The use of a long-shot on the drummer allows us to take in the mise en scene, most notably the use of the drum as a prop. We also see a low-angled long shot of a band at the bottom of the page. This makes them seem more powerful. Another photgraph of a drummer playing the drums is lighten in red with low lighting around him. This follows the overall colour scheme of the page and connotates that he's evil and dangerous, as the colour red signifies this.
Institution: There appears to be no mention of institution on this contents page. Infact, I don't actually know which magazine this contents page derived from as the page has no identity, no contact information, or any advertisements for the publishing company.
Ideology: The bands situated on the contents page are represented as talented and powerful, and evil due to the mise en scene of the colour red on some images. This is achieved through their appearance on the magazine as this connotates that they're good because they've managed to get on to the magazine.
Audience: The target audience will most likely be male adults. I say this because the models used look fairly old which isn't likely to attract and appeal to a mainstream rock loving teenagers. There income is unknown due to the lack of identity on the page, or a price tag, which of course wouldn't belong on a contents page.
Representation: The models are represented as quite gritty and hard-rocking due to the use of black and white which makes the photograph look old and battered. Also, the use of a low-angled shot enhances this. The use of 'Moshers' as models tells us, as the audience, that this magazine is to be read by moshers only and an appearance of social groups such as 'chavs' would be defeating the object, as the magazine deals with rock music. I know this because the use of props, within the mise en scene, such as drums and the costumes which the models are wearing (i.e black jeans) and the hair length as long all signify rock music and rock musicians.

Textual Analysis 8 - Contents Page

Language: Features an Index which would allow the audience find a particular band of interest. Not many pictures, and from what I can see, they tend to b pictures of the double-page spreads within the magazine. The colour scheme is also Green, Black and Red. The contents page title, situated conventionally at the top, gives the page identity as it has integrated NME's logo in to the title. Doesn't feature any page numbers. The contents page is split up in to 4 different categories to allow easy navigation. The categories are 1)News. 2) Studio News. 3) Reviews. and 4)live! All of these headings have a background of black with white text
Institution: There's a large advertisement at the bottom of the page which gives out telephone numbers to the audience to allow them to subscribe to issues of NME in later times. This would be beneficial to the institution of NME magazine as it gives them extra money. However, there is no use of adding other contact information such as websites or mentioning of NME TV, which could've advertised these.
Ideology: The most overwhelming ideology I can see on this contents page is the article headline placed in the middle. This is advertising albums which are about to be released, or have been released, and NME is basically saying that all the featured albums are amazing. However, some may get bad reviews by NME and therefore ideolises the albums to be bad and not worth your intrigue. This puts the magazines audience in to a position of whether or not they should listen to the album, but most of us will have the idea of "it's a bad album" in our heads, and therefore wont listen to it. This is because we think that the review has come from a reliable source, and because NME features bands we love, we automatically think that we wont like that music when it's just one persons view.
Audience: The target audience of the magazine will be the same as the front cover and what is stated on the NME reader profile. To go over it again briefly, however, the target audience is fashion-conscious teenage males and females who listen to rock music and indie music, and sometimes delves in to mainstream music (such as lilly allen).
Representation: The contents page is represented with the contents on the right, and an addition of an index on the left. The images, of what few that there is, are placed within the centre of the page. This leaves the page looking cluttered but also shows that there's a lot in the magazine that's worth the mention, therefore meaning that the audience will be more attracted to the magazine as a whole, rather than the cluttered contents page. Groups appearing in the contents page are rock bands; indie bands, alternative bands whom are about to releasea, or already have released, a new album. Social groups such as chavs are left out because the magazine deals with new fashions and styles, and chav's have a very unfriendly, cheap style (stereotypically) which the target audience of NME wouldn't like to see on the magazine.

Textual Analysis 7 - Double Page Spread

Language: The use of mise en scene includes:

• Acoustic Guitar
• Keyboard
• Keyboard scarf
• T-shirt (costume) in background has a heart on it (in red) which connotates love
• Old-fashioned, 60's looking bus
• Colourful costumes
• Suits which look like they belong in the 60's
• Boards with messages and what look like flowers connotates hippie protestors
• Green grass

All of this mise en scene connotates that this band may be from the 60's or be heavily influenced by 60's music and play the same music style as hippies. The use of the green grass may connotate that they are vegetarians or fight for human rights, or naturists - other hippie idealogies. The shot is mid-shot for the man I presume is the lead singer due to his facial expression which looks like he's in the middle of singing, and his positioning at the front. The lighting is bright and natural to connotate a nice, sunny day. This in turn connotates this band to be playing happy music who don't delve in to unpleasent-ness or sing about sad moments in their life. It also looks 'poppy' due to the singing and dancing.
Institution: I do not know which magazine the double page spread derives from, and therefore can not speak in great detail about the institution. What I do know is that the publisher is highly professional, understands the conventions of music magazines due to the correct layout of the double page spread.
Ideology: The main image seems to be conveying the idealism of life is worth living being happy. It also connotates that they are hippies, who love life and are pacifists. The bright mise en scene use of colours enhances this too. Back when these artists where famous, they would have been idols to many fans, and would have been seen as cool and sexy due to them wearing the new styles. However, now that times have changed along with trends, music taste and fashion, this band will no longer be associated with cool or sexy. In our society, and in our pop culture, our idea of cool and sexy has now changed drastically, meaning this band would most probably be not succesful, and although it is accepted, it is not exactly celebrated over.
Audience: The audience would not be teenagers, but more older people (50-60 year olds) who want to relive their experience of seeing an old favourite band which was out when they were only teenagers, and listening to this music was cool. It also seems like the target audience will also be of the male and female gender, most likely in America. I say this because of the bus, which looks American (used in the 1960's maybe?) and back in them days, only massive bands such as The Beatles actually made success overseas.
Representation: The cover models are represented as cool, young and hip. This style was cool back in the days which they were famous, however, as previously stated, they wont exactly be classed as cool by teenagers and most of our society.

Textual Analysis 6 - Double Page Spread

Language: This double-page spread from the NME issue which I had previously analysed features, once again, Lilly Allen. She is wearing iconic costumes such as a 'lumberjack' chequered shirt, which is iconic of indie. Her hair is also black and swept to the side of her face, which is an iconic emo hairstyle. The make-up she is wearing is also thick black which is iconic of emo. She does, however, keep some part of her girly style by the use of the prop necklace, which allows her to express herself as still girly and not a 'tomboy'. The text is also connotates punk as the iconic punk band 'The Sex Pistols' are often wrote in that font style whenever spoken about in a poster of some kind. One contrast between this article and main image of the cover model on the front cover, is that the cover model (Lilly Allen) is now smiling. She is also in a slight leaning stance, connotating that she's a bit tired and fed up, but still happy, and has her hands on her waists, allowing the girly side of her to still be seen. The layout of the article remains conventional; minimal text, large dominating image taking up one whole page and a large headline, in this context, in the form of a quote. It then, above the article text, has a small headline to start it off. The colour scheme, reflecting the cover models personality, is red and black, connotating, through mise en scene, that she is not as good as she appears to be, she has a darker side and is dangerous (the use of red connotates this). The colour of her costume (shirt) also connotates this as the mise en scene of this is the colour red, mostly dominating the article, and the black lines on her shirt. There is also high, artifical lighting showing her good side.
Institution: There is no appearance of institution on this double page spread, which may put the magazine at a disadvantage. The lack of identity on the page means that if you didn't know which article it derived from (somehow) and you hadn't seen the image and text style from the front cover, you would have no idea which magazine it derives from. There is also, conventionally, no form of advertisements nor is there any contact information.
Ideology: The ideas in which NME is trying to convey is that Lilly Allen isn't a 'chav' anymore (that was her first image) and is now quite cool and indie. It also shows us that she's quite sexy which is connotates through the use of her costume (shirt) being unbuttoned at the top.
Audience: The target audience is 'indie', style-conscious, UK teenagers from the age roughly 15-25 years of age. They would be in the class system of C1 as they wouldn't have lots of money, but wouldn't necceserilly be poor as they would be in to the latest fashion, and everyone knows that fashion doesn't come cheaply...
Representation: Lilly Allen is represented as a bit of an 'indie/emo' person due to her costume, makeup, and the text associated with her. Emo is a form of punk die to unconventional style of screaming (or screamo as it is commonly spoken). She is also represented as quite punky in the way she, unconventionally, isn't looking directly at the camera lens. This makes the image look proffessional but not conventional. Social groups such as chavs or 'gangsters' (people who idolise rappers or R&B artists) as these are the styles and forms of music which NME doesn't deal with, and therefore would clash with its overall image. To properly convey what I am trying to say about the text use and The Sex Pistols, here is a poster of them, and note the similarity between the two texts...

Textual Analysis 5 - Front cover Rolling Stone

Language: The cover models are the entire band called Metallica. These are in long-medium shot as you can see their lower legs, but don't seem to be much of a distance away. The lead singer is in a violent, agressive pose, appearing to launch himself at the camera with a clenched fist. This connotates that he's angry and wants a fight. He is also being held back by one of the other members, which may connotate that they are holding him back, music-wise. The lead-singer is also pulling a a face which is iconic of screaming. The band are wearing costumes that are iconic to their image of heavy-metallers. The lead singer is wearing a black vest, allowing his tattoo's (iconic of rock 'n' roll) to be on view, whilst the mise en scene of his black vest and jeans connotate that he's the bad guy; the antagonist. Other band members have long hair or scruffy, slightly baggy jeans, which are iconic of Rock 'N' Roll. The band member on the far right of the front cover is wearing the costume of an American Football team. This establishes them as an American band and the mise en scene of the colour black connotates evil; which is what rock is portrayed to be like, stereotypically. The layout of the magazine follows conventions with the title and the rest of the masthead situated on the top of the cover, the main image in the centre, dominating the page and overlapping the magazine title text and the sell-line. The main headline, which I had to search for, wasn't clearly visible as, as I said, I had to search for it. This isn't very good as it should jump right out of the page and, if possible, be right on top of the main image. The colour scheme is red and white, with some appearances of black as an outline colour. This follows the overall colour scheme of the magazine as it is also red and white. I know this because the background is white, and the magazine title is red and white on all issues of the magazine. The Rolling Stone has also betrayed conventions of a rock music magazine as there is only one image on the front cover. This goes for a simplistic design but makes the front cover slightly boring. There is also no barcode or price tag that is viewable on the front cover. This could be, however, due to the image deriving from the internet, and because prices may vary, thet have decided not to include one on the image of the front cover.

Institution: There is no visible contact information, including websites or subscription service to the magazine, and there is also no mention of the company that owns and publishes the magazine. However, I do know that it is published by Wenner Media (Jan Wenner, who was also the founder) and is an LLC (Limited Liability Company). The magazine is published in New York in America, and is an American magazine. The magazine itself is not sold in the UK and therefore is not likely that British bands would appear in the magazine, let alone the front cover.

Ideology: The message which the magazine is trying to portray is that heavy metal music is gritty, unpleasent and violent. This is told through the mise en scene of the cover models. You may find this magazine sold across the world as there seems to be no prejudice or unacceptable behaviour to allow certain societies to not accept it in their culture. However, there may be some individuals who believe in pacifism, and therefore don't believe in violence, which is what the magazine is trying to portray rock as.

Audience: I'd say that the magazine was aiming at the AB1 audience. I say this because my knowledge of the price of buying the magazine is $6.34, compared to Kerrang! magazine which is sold in the UK for around the £2.00-3.00 mark, meaning it would be catering for the BC1 populace. The Rolling Stone also targets not only rock music fans, but pop music fans. I say this because it features artists such as Britney Spears as a cover story (although there is no picture) and the magazine also delves in to politics and Popular Culture. The magazine is clearly not aimed at UK audiences as, as previously stated, the magazine is not on sale in the UK. It also features no British bands and only deals with American bands. This means that, even though there are issues for these countries, the audience wouldn't exactly be catered for Columbia and Germany, for example. The age criteria of the magazine is most likely to be 30+ year olds as the magazine deals with classic rock bands and not new age pop-rock/emo/indie bands, although The Killers (cover story) are an exception as they are big in America. This means that the magazine is not aimed at teenagers who will either get their magazines out of there EMA or get their money of their parents.

Representation: Heavy Metal (or Mosher) band 'Metallica' are the cover models for this issue of the Rolling Stone. They are portrayed as nasty, evil and brutal characters due to their stances and costumes, along with their costume colours (mise en scene). The tagline on the masthead "The Lies Of Sarah Palin" represents, in just one minor sentence, as a liar and someone who isn't very nice. Sarah Palin, who is the governor of Alaska (or at least was the governor, but resigned) features on the front cover too introduce the use of politics in to the magazine. The cover models represent heavy metal as gritty and nasty, due to their facial expressions. Sub-cultures such as Emo's and Chavs have been excluded from the front cover, and possibly the whole magazine, as the Rolling Stone prides itself on featuring "true" rock 'n' roll and no teenage, good-looking bands who only say they're rock (most of them are genred under pop or pop-rock).

Textual Analysis 4 - Front Cover NME

Language: The cover model, Lilly Allen, is in medium close-up and the angle of the shot is high angled, making her seem more vulnerable. The use of the colour scheme, similar to the previously analysed Kerrang! magazine front cover, is black, red and yellow (with a plain white background) The costume she is wearing is a chequered, 'lumberjack' shirt which is iconic of "indie" culture. NME also prides itself (as reveiled on the reader profile below) on style and looks. This means that it's essential for the cover model to be looking "cool" and wearing new styles as a costume. The non-use of props and background singles out the cover model connotating that she's depressed, isolated and feeling extremely lonely, which also goes with her the "emo" look. The headline text used is similar to that which was used by the Sex Pistols whenever their name was printed. This, therefore, gives a sense of punk as the Sex Pistols were punk icons, along with that style of text. The text is unusually white and therefore doesn't follow the conventions of usual magazines, further emphasising the punk and indie look of the magazine. The thick, black outline of the text allows us to see the text on top of her clothing, pale skin, and white background.

Institution: NME is published by IPC media, which is owned by Time Inc. Time Inc. however, is owned by the fourth largest conglomerate 'Time Warner', making NME american. The cover model also overlaps the title of the magazine, which is NME of course; the 'E' barely visible. The logo for NME magazine is constant and never changes. This allows it to be recognised, and even though the 'E' is half-hidden, the magazine couldn't be mistaken for 'NMF' as the colour scheme and the thick lettering with the thick black and white border, which a red background, allows the audience to recognise it without effort.

Ideology: The costume in which Lilly Allen is wearing, along with her hair colour, style and make-up, is mostly accepted amongst our (British) culture as it is constantly seen by everyone, as the younger generation wear these costumes. However, in some religious cultures, such as muslim, it would not be accepted. Due to the UK being a mixed race country, this magazine wont be aimed at the UK as a whole as Muslims, who have strict rules on dress-code, would find it offensive. I say this because strict Muslim's (only applies to women) have to cover up every inch of flesh including there face and esspecialy the chest. However, the cover model has her upper chest clearly visible, is showing her face, and is not wearing a burka. This is fairly normal in our society and culture, esspecially in the younger society, but wouldn't be accepted in countries such as Iran which is a strict Muslim state.

Audience: The audience of NME, as reveiled in the reader profile, is mostly male (70%) and some female (30%) at the average age of 25. This particular issue would attract fans of Lilly Allen, who would most likely be female, but would cater for the male part of the audience by making her look beautiful; therefore attracting males.

Representation: Lilly Allen is represented as a bit of an "emo", to be honest, which completely contrasts her usual look. Her hair is black, swept to one side, and her face is pale white with dark, black make-up. This represents her as depressed, gothic and a little bit scary. However, this is what the audience of NME would expect to see on the front cover of the magazine. Lilly is also wearing an iconic costume such as a chequered shirt which is iconic of the "indie" look. Lilly Allen is also represented as ill; makybe through the use of drugs? I say this because of her pale, bland face and the quote above the headline "I can't keep living like this, it's doing my head in". This may suggest drug addiction. The layout of the text in this case is also a bit wobbly and messy, which connotates that her life is in a mess, her head is, or is used to make the audience feel dizzy and unfocussed (as you have to focus more on the text than you usually would on any other text) which can be the symptoms of drug use. However, all of this could just be to represent a rock 'n' roll lifestyle, as punk is a type of rock, drug use is stereotypical of rockers and the 'headbanging' may be the cause of the dizziness...

Reader Profile: NME

Male:
70%

Female:
30%

Average Age:
25

ABC1:
72%

2 Cluster Groups -
YOUNG SOCIALITES - style conscious students
- GO TO GIGS AND LIVE EVENTS
LOOKING GOOD IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE MUSIC SCENE
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FIRST TIME EARNERS - Socially active first jobbers
STILL GO TO GIGS
MUSIC IS A VITAL PART OF THEIR LIVES
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TECHNOLOGY OWNERSHIP:
73% own a PC
19% own an iPod/digital music player
31% own a digital radio
98% own a CD player
83% own a DVD player
49% have cable/satellite TV
38% have a mobile phone with built in camera
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THE NEW BREED OF NME READERS ARE HIGHLY OPINIONATED AND CONFIDENT OF THEIR STYLE.
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FAVOURITE TV CHANNEL - Channel 4
FAVOURITE NEWSPAPER - The Guardian
95% have access to the net
50% have broadband access
on average, spend 8 hours online per week
61% like to kep up with the latest technologies
48% like to buy new gadgets and appliances
63% like to try new drinks
half go to the cinema at least once a month
circulation 74,206 (ABC Jan/Jun 06)
Readership: 416,000 (Jul-Dec 06)

ABC1:

A, B and C are the highest three social grades (or classes) commonly used to put a person or a group of people in to a class. Publishing (and other media) companies tend to use this classification system to sort their audience in to it, allowing advertisers to better attract that audience. This is, in many ways, a fairly crude measurement, but is used because it is widely understood and makes it easy for the media to gather data. Because it's so widely available, it is effective at comparing different publishing companies. The A1 and B1 are the highest social grades, the equivelent to upper class (A1) and middle-class (B1) whereas C1 is the equivelent to the poor, or the lower class. I will take this in to account when planning which audience I will decide to target.

Feedback gained From Target Audience

I asked a group of friends, who fall under the target audience category for most Rock music magazines, what they would like/expect to find in a music magazine. As a result of this, I gained the following feedback;

• Gigs & upcoming events
• Posters
• Factual Information
• Pictures
• Humour
• Competitions
• Freebies
• Album Reviews
• Interviews
• Latest Fashion
• Popular bands
• New bands which they should listen to...
• Unsigned bands (similar idea to the above point)
• Magazines within magazines:

(I was shown a demostration of this in the form of heat magazine which had a booklet/magazine inside (and attached to it) which was completely dedicated to all things 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon'). However, I have decided to rule the possibility of thiss out, as I have never seen it used before in music magazines; and believe I am not in a position to re-write conventions.

[Based on a questionnaire given to 20 people at random, but in the audience criteria of most music magazines].

Textual Analysis 3 - Contents Page

Language: The contents page of the Kerrang! magazine has a recurring colour scheme (being a different issue to the other analysed texts) which appears to be black and yellow; with a standard grey-ish, white background. The contents page conventionally features images of bands which appear in the magazine, which are most commonly in medium close-up and standard medium close-up. These shots allow us to see the model and recognise who the photos are of. The camera angles are low-angled shots for people who are on their own in the photo which connotates power, but photo's of whole bands are presented with a high angled shot, allowing them all to be seen clearly and evenly, with the power of the band being represented with the number of them; not the angle of the shot. One image is of an album cover of the band 'Muse', which is iconic as the audience will clearly be able to see what the article is going to be about and that it's going to review or talk about the album; not the band. I know this because if Kerrang! was to feature an article about the band, they would have taken a picture of Muse. Mise en scene includes the costumes of the models, such as Hoodies; chequered shirts, and dark, gothic costumes with masks that you would expect a gimp to wear. These costumes connotate 'alternative' styles, which are icons of the music Kerrang! covers. The band wearing gimp masks and dark gothic clothing are singling themselves out from everybody else which is why they're so popular and worthy of an article in the Kerrang! magazine. Conventionally, the actual list of contents is situated on the left-hand-side of the contents page. However, Kerrang! have decided to not follow these conventions and have situated the contents list on the right hand side; singling it out amongst other music magazines. This is following the attitudes of 'alternative' as this is people singling themselves out amongst everybody else and expressing their individuality. The headlines and points of interest to the audience; such as cover stories, are highlighted in yellow; still following the colour scheme, and the letters are in bold so they stand out. Conventionally, there are also page numbers placed on top of the photos, informing the audience of the page in which it is reffered to. One of the photos (the one of The 'Prodigy') has also been edited so it is yellow; allowing it to follow the colour scheme.

Institution: At the bottom left of the contents page, there is a small section not following the colour scheme. This allows it, even though in smallprint, to stand out. This small section features a competition; allowing the audience to win issues of Kerrang! magazine. It also features the website for Bauer Media; the conglomerate company which owns all of EMAP (the publisher) and everything that is Kerrang! There is also a website for Kerrang.com. These websites, in smallprint, are there to advertise other Kerrang! products such as Kerrang! TV and Kerrang! Radio, and the website for Bauer Media serves the purpose of drawing the audiences attention to the company owning all the rights to Kerrang! and advertising it's existence. The institution has effected the way the contents page as it has had to make room for advertisements for Bauer Media.

Ideology: Quite basically, the ideas in which the contents page is trying to portray include the highlighted headings being the highlights of the magazine along with the photos featured on the contents page. It is also making the lead singer of the punk band 'Anti Flag' seem like a not-so-likeable person with a quote stating "I'd be real slutty if i was a girl for a day..." However, this is probably the image that he has worked hard to achieve. This also falls under representation as this is how Kerrang! magazine have represented him. Kerrang! is also trying to portray the Reading and Leeds Festival as an amazine, "massive" and well-known music festival, and advertises it as part of an 8-page review.

Audience: The audience would most likely be someone looking for a certain article of interest and/or a regular reader of Kerrang! magazine. It is difficult to say who the audience will be as it is only the contents page...

Representation: The models on the contents page all look different, interesting and alternative; the style which kerrang! utilises in order to make it stand out amongst the dozens of pop magazines that are out there. Most of them look quite dirty and sweaty which denotates that they're tired and connotates that they have just done a performance or even performed live at a festival. The use of mise en scene such as guitars and microphones also connotate this. As I had previously said, the magazine uses unconventional methods such as placing the contents list on the right hand side instead of the left and seems to place the images in a way that it looks random and scruffy; but still professional.

Textual Analysis 2 - Double Page Spread

Language: One main article for 2 pages. The emphasis is placed on the model; whom the article is about. Features lots of images (6 in total) with various shots such as Close-ups, Medium close-ups, and a medium shot for the main image. The angles, however, are all pretty much the same, as they are low-angled shots portraying the model as powerful. The images placed around the article are all edited to be black & white, which is used, usually, to portray the model as old, or that the image was shot in the past. However, this article seems to be going against conventions of usual magazine double page spreads as they conventionally feature coloured images and lots of writing. The main image; the only coloured one, has a gret background, allowing the coloured image to blend in seaminglessly with the other images, yet allowing the model to stand out. Another way this double page spread betrays conventions is the poses of the model. On the black & white images, he titlts his head, pulls funny faces and also sticks out his tongue on one of the images. This connotes that he's playful and care-free. However, the main thing that stands out is the dominating, coloured image. This image features the model; Alex Gaskarth, pulling a smug, self-righteous face; with one eyebrow raised. His boxers are also showing, along with his belly, connoting that he's a bit of a care-free person, as I previously stated, and that he's a bit of a punk. This persona is further emphasised with his stance. He has his hands placed behind his head which makes him look relaxed (along with his eyes, helping) but this stance is an icon of being arrested by the police, as the stance represents that he's being handcuffed. Along with this pose, and the raised eyebrow, it connotes that he's thinking "Yeah? You gotta problem?" or something along the lines of this. The costume he's wearing is alos iconic of alternative bands and style; with the chequered shirt being worn by lots of "indies". However, one other thing that stood out most with his costume is his t-shirt that is worn underneath (another iconic part of the "indie look") his chequered shirt. The T-shirt states "Where's the beef?" as a logo. This connotates what he's thinking... Which is what I stated beforehand; that he's wondering if you have a problem with him. Most of what I just said will also fall under 'representation' as the way he's represented reflects on the article and his personality. I have actually read this issue, and what took me by surprise was the contrast between the pictures and the written content of the article. I say this due to the fact that the article is about how he's portayed as "a dickhead" (in Kerrang!s words) and how he's not really like that. Therefore, the images are feeding on what the audience think, and are contrasting his arguement, and the whole point of the article. The headline is also conveniently situated on his costume (t-shirt), with the black text slightly contrasting the yellow t-shirt. This connotates that he's got two sides to him; he can be nice and friendly, but he can also be evil and dark (connoted by the dark text). Also, the use of Red text on a black background has the connotational meaning of danger, or in a different context - love, except that is the incorrect context to this article. This connotes that Alex Gaskarth is an "emo/mosher" type of person, as these two colours are almost often used to connotate "emo" and "goth". This is because the colour black connotates evil, whereas the colour red is the colour of danger and the colour of blood, and emo's stereotypically self-harm. Although this often isnt the case, Kerrang! seems to follow stereotypes and emphasise them (i've always said that stereotypes are fueled by the media) and in this sense, It's quite immature and less-proffesional.

Institution: The Kerrang! logo is situated on the bottom left of the double page spread to give the article a sense of identity. The only other thing I can possibly say about institution, that has anything to do with this double page spread, is that the institution is most likely the one behind the appearance and representation of the model. I say this because the institution is the one in charge, and are aiming to attract a large audience, so put content in to the magazine which the audience are familiar with and what they would want to see. This would also fall under the 'audience' section, but just goes to show how much influence the institution has over the articles. I'm sure Alex Gaskarth's arguement would be more understood better if the images where of him posing as a nice, friendly and 'un-punky' person, but this is not what the audience would expect and therefore the institution represented him with his usual look.

Ideology: The ideology of this double page spread is that Alex Gaskwarth is cool and sexy. I say sexy because the showing of his boxers connotates his sexuality and that he's sexually active. This showing of sex is accepted in our society; commonly spoken about in the young generation, and therefore is accepted amongst the target audience. However, this article would not be suitable in the christian society, for example, as they are mainly extremely strict christians. Christians have beliefs such as no sex before marriage. The main photo of Alex Gaskarth betrays this convention as he is clearly not married, uner the age of 25 and is showing his sexuality in public. The point I am trying to convey is that you wouldn't find this in a weekly parish magazine, but is accepted in our pop-culture.

Audience: The audience of this article will be the usual Kerrang! magazine readers, but most likely, big fans of the band 'All Time Low' as he is the lead singer of the band. The audience will most likely be female as they would most probably be attracted to him, but males, like myself, will think he's 'cool' and like the band. The age criteria, excluding regular Kerrang! readers, will be between 12-21 I reckon, but most likely male/females who are at high school, college or even university. Because Kerrang! is a British magazine (ignoring the german conglomerate as they have no say in the production) the audience will be of the British nationality. Without sounding too racist, I believe that the audience will be mostly white, British people, even though it will most likely be aimed at people from lots of ethnic backgrounds due to political correctness, the main target audience will be that of white people. I say this to prove a point that there aren't many 'black bands' out there and therefore are not often used in music magazines such as Kerrang! and people with different ethnicity will most likely listen to R&B or Rap; stereotypically. Because it's stereotypical to say that, the audience is not restricted to 'white people only'.

Representation: The model is represented, as previously stated, as a punky, rebellious person die to his stance and camera angle (with it being a low angled shot - portraying him as powerful). However, one thing that I havent gone in depth with is the sexual connotations of the main image. The showing of his boxers suggests that he's 'sexually active' and "up for it", and connotates that he's a bit of a "man whore". This is decieving as he's in a happy relationship (which he states in the article) but is used to attract teenage girls in the masses to buy the magazine issue. This is basically a marketing ploy as it contrasts what he's saying and goes with his 'image'. His image is, of course, a young, rebellious, sexy male who is extremely talented, and is someone in which can be said as an idol; and inspiration to young boys. This is because he's represented as a care-free person who 'lives for the weekend' (partying), so to speak, and is still succesful. This contrasts the usual saying of if you mess around at school, you wont become succesful, yet he carries the inspiration of a rebel and yet is still succesful. This, however, is just his image; his persona in the spotlight, and how he's represented as he did, in fact, graduate with good grades.

Textual Analysis 1 - Kerrang! Front Cover

Language: Medium close-up with the emphisis on the face and the hand gesture. The connotation of his hand gesture is that he's tough and angry. The mise en scene of his costume is to connotate that he has a dark side and is effectively evil. This is because the colour black connotes this. The costume is also that of a military nature which further connotates that he's evil. The cover model is also stood in profile, which is used to connotate fights and engagements, and his eyes look like they're glaring. The Main Headline '30 Seconds To Mars" contrasts the black costume, and is coloured red. The colour red has connotations of danger and violence and is often associated with blood due to its colour. This goes with the mood of the magazine front cover. The mast head is situated conventionally at the top and consists of an exclusive article, featured in the magazine, and the title of the magazine. The magazine often features dark, depressing bands and the title of the magazine, and the way it's represented (the dark colours and the ruggidness and scruffiness of it) reflects that. The front cover also uses the colour scheme of black, red and white; mostly quite dark colours to represent the content of the magazine. The title of the magazine "Kerrang!" is situated at the top of the cover as part of the masthead. The text is very rough and has lots of rigid, roughly cut lines going through the text which gave me the impression of barbed wire. Barbed wire isn't a very nice type of wire, and therefore this connotates that the magazine is also going to be nasty and not cute and cuddly. "Kerrang!" is also onomatopoeic and represents the sound which comes from an electric guitar when it is strummed. This connotates the genre of the musc associated with the magazine as Hard/Heavy Rock, standar Rock and everything associated with Rock.

Institution: Kerrang! Magazine is published by the British production company 'EMAP'. This has effected the magazine. I say this because Kerrang! magazine only features bands what the publishers like, or what they expect their target audience to like, and with their target audience being British male and female teenagers, it is not likely to feature foreign bands singing in a foreign language. EMAP is owned by a conglomerate called 'Bauer Media Group', a large german
publishing company, which operates in over 15 different countries worldwide. The conglomerate company has effected the magazine in terms of finance. Due to Bauer's success, they would be able to fund Kerrang! magazine more and allow EMAP to interview, research and take photos of massive bands (such as 30 Seconds To Mars) and feature them in the Kerrang! magazine. Kerrang! is a brand name and is used for Kerrang! TV and Kerrang! Radio. It also has a website which is mentioned on the barcode. However, there is no mention of the conglomerate just yet...

Ideology: The cover model is the lead singer of the successful band '30 Seconds To Mars' and due to his featuring as the cover model on Kerrang! magazine, they're ideolised as a good band who are worthy of your listen. This is, technically, a form of advertising for the band, but it's ironic as they would have probably been paid in return... However, it also advertises the magazine. Also, a sub-heading, featuring an image of Alex Gaskarth of the other successful band 'All Time Low', includes the quote "NEW STAR LAID BARE!" This has the idology that he is very successful, maybe sexual(?) due to the 'laid bare' (targeting the female part of the target audience) and, as with Jared Leto, his band is talented and worthy of your listen. On a similar note, the Paramore video article, featured on the front cover, is connotated as worthy of your watch as it has made the front cover of Kerrang! magazine, and therefore must be something special. I know this because when I bought this issue, I set out to watch the video, thinking the exact same thing.

Audience: The target audience of Kerrang! magazine are both male and female teenage british folk; most likely in their late school or college years. It is primarily aimed at the average person with a moderate to low income as the price tag states that it costs just £2.30.

Representation: Cover model is portrayed as evil and nasty, a persona as previously discussed (above) during mise en scene (Language). This is because of the costume colour of black, which connotates evil, and the profile stance in which he's standing. Also, the hand gesture of punching the palm of his hand whilst glaring directly at us. These facial expressiions and gestures go with the headline, as the cover story, featured inside the magazine, is about how Jared Leto has changed and is revealing his 'dark side' for the first time ever. This represents 'emo' people as angst ridden and angry inside. I say 'emo' because Jared Leto is well-known as being an emo, but on the front cover his hair has been cut. This also connotes that he's changed. The magazine also leaves out 'chavs' to narrow down the target audience criteria. This social group has been left out in particular as it would clash with the overall features of the magazine.

Mind Map: Conventions

Conventions of a Rock Music Magazine

The conventions of a music magazine are pretty much the same as the conventions of any other magazines, but music magazines do have their differences;

Language:

• Masthed situated at the top of the page
• Edited pictures (blemishes removed, for example) to make the cover models and over models look perfect.
• Most common camera shot is a Medium Shot
• Almost always use Mise en Scene in their front cover image to represent the genre of music they are delving in to.
• Items often used in Rock Music magazine pictures include Guitars and Drumsticks.
• Mise en Scene is not always used on main images; instead, the cover models hair would be used to demonstrate the music genre.
• The lighting is often from one of the sides of the camera; lighting up only half of the cover models face. This has a connotation of a dark side to the artist, and refers back to the genre as rock is often regarded as evil.
• You would expect to see the cover model wearing a hoodie of some sort, often black in colour (or a similar dark colour) with the hood up. This varies between a certain bands style choices, but you would find the cover model(s) wearing either black, 'skinnie' jeans, or a normal pair of well-fitted jeans. Another item of clothing would be wristbands. These would be multicoloured and are worn to express yourself as a one-in-a-million person (basically to show you're different from everyone else). These costumes would effectively attract the target audience. These all fall under the category of 'Costume', but the wristbands could be contested as being a part of the costume or a Prop. Either way it still a form of media language.
• The camera angle is often a straight-on shot so the artist's face is clearly visible; afterall, it's the face that would sell the magazine.
• The layout of a contents page would conventionally be:

Institution:

• The publishers of most Music magazines are often large companies, which may, or may not, be owned by a conglomerate. For example, the people in charge of the publishing of Kerrang! Magazine is Emap, a British Publishing company.However, Emap is owned by Bauer Consumer Media; a large publishing company based in Germany. BCM publish in over 15 different countries and have stakes in Radio and Television. Because BCM own Emap, you may say that BCM is a conglomerate company as it is hidden away in the background. This is probably the same case in other Music Magazines.
• ALWAYS have a website or telephone number; means of which the audience can contact the magazine or get extra information.
• The people in charge of production would be young so the target audience is better understood and catered for. This would have been a concious decision by the production company as the production company as a whole doesn't control the process of creating one magazine - it would be left to a small detachment of the company.

Ideology:

• The cover model will always be represented as 'cool' and 'hip'.
• The cover model is ideolised as an artist worthy of your listen, seen as though they'd be on the front cover of your favourite magazine.

Audience:

• Teenage Male and Females
• Emo/Mosher/Indie social groups
• Cater through music interests
• People with low income

Representation:

Individuals that would appear in the magazine:

• Emo/Goth artists/bands
• Rock Bands
• Lead Singers
• People who write in and feature on the contents page along with their letter
• Heavy Metal/Death Metal bands
• Bands about to release an album/record or single
• Artists with an infamous reputation are more likely to be on the cover

Individuals excluded from the magazine:

• Social groups such as Chavs
• Adults unless they look cool or have a bad reputation

[Based on Kerrang! NME and Q]

Conventions of a Magazine

Based on research on 'Heat' magazine and 'Vogue' magazine;

• Celebrity gossip
• Large, centred image
• Moderately large masthead (Including Pics related to the masthead)
• Features 1 or more articles on masthead
• Front cover is packed full of text - black text on white background
• Target audience is generally female, young and old
• Large main headline relating to the main image
• Young, good-looking cover model
• Main image overlapping magazine title
• Colours reflect on the target audience (blue for boys, pink/red for girls)
• Sub headings which advertise the articles within the magazine (usually moderately large, but not larger than main title and headline)
• Text contrasts background colour.

LIIAR:

Language: Media in general; sound, editing, cinematography (camera angles & camera shots), mise en scene (lighting, costumes & props).
Institution: Who controls the production process and how it effects the final product. Websites & telephone numbers. The publisher and the conglomerate company which may be hidden away in the smallprint.
Ideology: Certain ideas that the magazine is trying to portray; rock music is cool, a certain artist is very good/talented and deserves your listen (achieved by the usage of the band/frontman on the front cover
Audience: The target audience of the media product/text, and how I will target that audience and eventually cater for it; Age, interests, gender, wealth/occupation and social groups (chav/emo).
Representation: Individuals/groups/issues appearing in the media text and how they're portrayed. What is excluded to achieve this.

The Brief

Main Task:
Produce the front page, contents page and a double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.

Evaluation:

‘Wyke Magazine’; Evaluation.

Whilst creating my magazine, I had one foremost thought in mind; the codes and conventions of college/school magazines. I decided that I should follow in the professional’s footsteps and follow them. This resulted in me including the following conventions of a college magazine:

· I have used a large, easily viewable (from a distance) title which clearly states the college name in the usual Wyke lettering so it can be recognised easily by means of institution. The beginning part of the title is purposely situated on the top of the ‘left-third’, allowing western audiences (the location of the target audience) would be able to distinguish it from other magazines.

· I have also included a mast-head and a colour scheme to my magazine, again following conventions, in order to further make my magazine seem professional and give sufficient amounts of information at the top of the page. This is where the target audience are most likely to look for the contents of the magazine. The colour scheme, put simply, allows the magazine to look the same throughout and be easily recognised by the target audience.

· The conventional layout, which I used, features a masthead, a large centred image (which would primarily sell the magazine) a headline, relating back to the main image and situated next to it in large lettering, a date, smaller images which refer back to the sub-headings, in smaller lettering, next to the main image, and a barcode.

I don’t believe I have challenged any conventions besides the placement of my picture slightly less centred that it ought to be, but this was a conscious idea as I needed room to place text.

My college magazine represents the ‘indie’ social group as happy and cheerful people who wear whatever they want, whenever they want. The main image connotates Wyke’s tolerance for such styles, and the use of accessories such as earrings and a large scarf connotate this too. This is a type of media language called ‘mise en scene’. It also represents teenage social groups as simply fun, and not anything like the common archetype/stereotype which they are commonly referred to. The institution which will distribute my product will be the college itself, secondary schools (for secondary school students who are still undecided about their future) and WHSmith. I have decided upon using WHSmith to sell my product as they pretty much sell any text product, and is a well-known and trusted store. The media text (my magazine), however, will be designed by the Media students of Wyke College. This will result in my magazine being for the students and not mixed up with anything else, excluding the small section for secondary school children. I realised that the secondary school magazine, which I deconstructed, was created by the British Government, and seemed to be widening its target audience too far. I intentionally avoided this and simply aimed for one particular social group: teenagers.

My target audience for this magazine was teenage Wyke students, and not adult students, studying at Wyke College. I decided upon this target audience because it would cater for them a lot more than anyone else, and a magazine made for teachers, in my eyes, is just pointless. I attracted this audience by using a teenage, pretty girl on the front cover to attract both male and female audiences. Females would idolise her, whereas boys may have other motives, or even be friends with her! Other ways in which I addressed my audience was by offering free tickets to a football match between the local team and a top premiership team. This was a marketing ploy as it is in fact a raffle which is really being held at Wyke College at the time of this magazine. This does, however, address the audience as many students will be fans of the local football team, or just football in general.

I used different modern technologies in creating this media text such as Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS4, Microsoft Publisher and an old 3D text creator, which ended in disaster and therefore didn’t use it. However, the other two computer programs allowed me to edit my pictures and text, making the text my own unique text. Microsoft Publisher allowed me to set my front page layout effectively as it is one of the best programs for publishing. This preliminary task has also enabled me to broaden my ability to use DTP programs. I have also learnt to learn from my mistakes and therefore did two versions of my front cover which I have added to my blog to show you how I learnt from my mistakes.

If I was to go back in time and redo this whole exercise, I would pay much more detail in to my drafts and deconstruct other magazines more effectively. I would also take lots of photos, then afterwards deciding which ones are worthy of my magazine front cover. The disadvantages of my final front cover include the lack of mise en scene for the most part and the lack of a background of Wyke which allowed me to still place text on which can be easily viewable. However, I think I did quite well in the way I laid out my front cover and the way I didn’t forget about the minor details such as the barcode, the price tag and the magazine date and issue. One thing that sticks out the most to me as a disadvantage of my magazine front cover is the Masthead. The masthead simply doesn’t go with the colour scheme of my magazine and stands out far too much. I also didn’t use programs off the internet which allowed me to create my own text from scratch, and instead opted for a simpler route of editing and changing the size and colour of text already installed on to Microsoft Publisher. To bring this to a conclusive ending, my magazine had its good points, bad points and followed the usual conventions expected of a college magazine; resulting in my magazine not really standing out amongst the crowd. However, it does get the point across to my intended target audience of what I was stating in my magazine and does cater for them as well as I possibly could have done.

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