Final article

Final contents page

Final Cover Page

Contents page ammendment

I realised that my change to the cover didn't flow through to the contents page. I had an image of the cover on my contents page to promote subscriptions however this was an image of my old magazine cover.

Double page spread ammendment

I realised I hadn't added page numbers to my double page spread which is a fundamental convention of magazines. I added these in white in order to stick to the theme of my magazine.

Replacement photos

In order to replace the photos of the model I used several times on my contents page, I used another model and took photos of him.

Contents page redraft

I changed the lower right image of my contents page as it was the same model as my cover. I stuck to the model I used as a "poster exclusive" to continue my theme. I changed the image and I changed the text under page 13 as it said "Rebecca on drugs" which would no be relevant therefore I changed it to "Ali and his weight loss" to keep it relevant. I also decided to change back to my old colour scheme of a grey background with white text rather than a white background with black writing as I felt it look too plain and boring.

Cover redraft

I had to change the photo in the top right hand corner as I used the same model as I have as my main photo. I chose to use this photo as it is a conventional pose for a male model in a magazine. Although this drifts away from my main magazine theme, I would use this image to represent weight loss in a famous male artist.

Double page spread flat plan

Unfortunately I was unable to rotate my original flatplan therefore it had to be deleted. I proceeded to try and create a new one however I wasn't able to upload it via blogger and I tried various methods such as scanning, taking photos and creating one on Paint. The only one that would allow me to upload was Paint. Although this is not ideal as I would have liked to have added more detail than I could on a computer, it is all I could upload. 

 

Contents changes

 

There are not a lot of changes I was able to make to my contents page until I have more photos however I changed my background colour to suit the house theme and to follow my cover, I also changed the colour of the writing from white to black as it wasn't visible when the background colour changed.

Changes to front cover

 

I added more feature articles and added another banner at the bottom showing other featuring bands, this is a common features of magazines such as "top of the pops", it gives the reader an idea of what's inside before they've actually read the magazine and is more likely to sell the magazine, I also repositioned the barcode and the price. I resized my background picture and changed the colour of my background from grey to white as it is a more common and selling colour for a magazine. I removed my poster example and I replaced it with a black space keeper until I get another photo taken to put in its place.

Changes

Upon looking at my final pieces there were faults I decided that needed to be addressed before I was able to say I was finished.

The first big change I need to make is taking more photos. I realised that using the same model on my cover and on my contents page with a different person would loose me marks and looks unprofessional. I will take more photos of different models and edit them into my magazine. I need at least 5 pictures to cover the ones I have already used.

Another fault I picked up on was that my front cover looks extremely bare, I need to add more features onto it to fill up face in order to make it look like an actual magazine.

Feedback questionnaire results

Magazine feedback questionnaire

Gender

Male                                                      Female

Age

_____________

Did you like the genre of music featured?

Yes                                                         No

Did you like my theme?

Yes                                                         No

Did you like my images?

Yes                                                         No

Would you buy my magazine?

Yes                                                         No

What is the most you’d pay for my magazine?

£1-2                       £2-3                       £3-4                       $4+

Which did you prefer?

Cover                    Contents             Article

What did you like about my cover?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What did you like about my article?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What did you like about my contents page?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What didn’t you like about my cover?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 What didn’t you like about my contents page?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What didn’t you like about my article?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Answer 7

Question 7

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

Answer 6

Question 6

What have you learned about new technologies from the process of creating this product?

Answer 5

Question 5

  How did you attract/address your audience?

Answer 4

Ideally my primary audience will be male or female between the ages of 14 and 20 that are interested in music, socialising, social networking, gigs and festivals. They wont have a huge amount of income at their disposal however the money they do have will be spend on things such as magazines, CD’s, downloads, gig/festival tickets, merchandise, travel and going out with friends.

However my secondary audience could include anybody older that happens to be interested in the music featured in my magazine. They may also enjoy listening to music but not hearing it live. They might rather spend time alone than with friends and spend their money on clothes and shopping than on things in my primary audience.  They may also be choosing to buy the magazine because of a certain feature or artists rather than a monthly buyer.

Question 4

What would be the audience for your media product?

Answer 3

I think the most likely company to publish my magazine would be IPC media. After completing my research I found that the only magazine in their brands remotely close to my genre of music was NME.

My magazine would be different to NME as it has a completely different audience. I aimed my magazine at teenagers between 14 and 20, although there is a magazine called TeenNow aimed at teenagers, my audience will appreciate different music and it is aimed at both genders.

I think producing my magazine would close the gap in the market as IPC currently have no rock/indie magazines aimed at such a young age group. There is not a lot of current competition for magazines of my kind so the company would profit from distributing my magazine. 

Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

Answer 2

I think my magazine represents an indie/rock youth subculture. It will be read by teenagers between the ages of 14 and 20 who enjoy the music and bands being featured, they will probably read it to get the latest news on their favourite artists or to stay in the loop on what’s going in the genre. They will read it with friends most likely or share it with their friends once they have finished. It represents these as I chose to use models in the same age range wearing clothes that my audience are likely to wear. I also targeted these through the style of music and bands I chose.

It also represents working class boys and girls, it is affordable and it is aimed at both genders to read with each other and share the gossip and news. It could also be read by people outside my target class however I chose to aim it at working class kids as most magazines now are either too expensive or uninteresting for them. I created a product that will be affordable and intriguing for both male and female and I think the content represents this.

I think my article is both inspirational and aspirational. It shows two teenagers finally making it big after a struggle with drugs and alcohol at such a young age, many of my readers will be able to relate to this and if they see their idols pulling through and doing well for themselves. I chose to write my article about young artists as it will be more relatable for my audience and it will be able to inspire them to do the same or give them someone to aspire to. It will be able to help young people facing the same problems pull through and give people not facing the same problems information and someone to find inspirational. It appeals to a wider audience as it will reach their fans, people going through problems and other people wanting to find out more, I think including a bad past in any article will reach a wider audience within the target range. It will also reach aspiring edm artists, if they see other people their age making it big through YouTube and Soundcloud it will hopefully inspire them to try and do the same, they will think they can also do it if there are people who have been through a lot who can do it.

Question 2

How does your media product represent social groups?

Answer 1

My front cover uses a lot of conventional features found in magazines that are already on the market. There are the obvious features such as a title, photo and features but there are also other features such as banners, smaller feature photos, barcodes, prices and issue numbers. It also follows a common colour scheme of many magazines. Red, black and white was chosen by my target audience and I chose to follow this in order to make it more appealing to my target audience and their age range. It also represents what I want my magazine to portray, the colours are usually associated with rock and indie music which is what is featured in my magazine so I intend for my audience to be able to look at it and know exactly what type of music is in it before they get close.

My contents page uses features such as titled introductions, feature listings, images, subscriptions and social media contacts. These are all found in every single magazine already on the market and I again followed my house theme through to this by sticking to red, white and black. I also have an added feature of a band index which is common in magazines such as NME, I chose to do this so my audience have a feature that is not found in every magazine however my target audience will probably already read NME therefore it is a feature they are used to and they know how to use effectively, it is also a feature that is simple enough for people that are not used to them to be able to use.

My article has conventional features such as the artist name, images, columns and a story. I think I have developed the idea of a two page spread by dedicating one side of my page to images of the band rather than spreading them out across the two pages, this makes it look neater and follows the conventions of my magazine. The images were put in line and are arranged which I think represents the story written on the opposite page as they are talking about finally getting their lives back in line and they’ve straightened themselves out. The story is similar to those found in other magazines; it talks about a band finally making it after years of struggle with drugs and alcohol which is common in rock magazines. The layout is similar to that of other magazines as it all arranged in columns under a bigger heading introducing the band.

I challenged the conventions of pre-existing magazines on my article by putting the band name above the images on the left hand side of the page rather than above the story on the right like most magazines do. I chose to do this as I felt it looked better and fitted better than it did when I originally put it on the right hand side. I don’t think this would have any effect on my reader and their enjoyment whilst reading a magazine as it doesn’t have impact on the story, just on the layout.

Question 1

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

Final Article

Final contents page

Final cover page

Article style model

 I chose this one as my style model as it has the same features I would like to have in my magazine. I would like to fill the left hand side of my double page spread with images of my artist(s). I would then like to have columns on the right hand side with a big title.

Contents page style model

Front Cover Style Model

Front Cover Photos

Photos im not using

Uses and Gratifications

Blumer and Katz (1974) suggested that people used media to satisfy their everyday needs of:
-Escape and diversion
-Surveillance and information
-Personal relationships
-Personal identity


Escape and Diversion
-Magazines and websites offer an escape from every day life
-It creates a gateway for involvement in artists and their stories
-They can focus more on the content of the magazine rather than the drama in their own lives]

Surveillance and Information
-Magazines provide enough information to know more or less everything going on in artists lives and what's going on in their lives.
-Readers are able to keep up to date with what is going on and what happens within the music industry.

Personal Relationships
-Target audience are able to talk to each other about what's going on in the magazine
-They can share opinions on what's going on
-Creates opportunity for social interaction

Mode of Address
-Language and images used are based on the understanding that the reader shares colloquial knowledge about what they re talking about
-Allows reader to relate to content of the magazine
-Language depends on the style of magazine

Interactivity
-The way magazines allow interaction between fans and the magazine and then the fans and the artists
-Websites and social networking sites add more opportunity for interactivity
-Websites offer technology that magazines cant offer such as videos, music and downloads
-Message boards and comment pages widen interactivity

Inspiration

I read a lot of music magazines at home and in my free time and i generally read things such as The Rolling Stone, NME, Kerrang and Q. I choose to read these because they are my style of music unlike Top of the Pops ect. I decided I was going to make a magazine that would fit the theme of these magazines and would be aimed at the same target audience. I will use colours that fit this market and will price my magazine reasonably to give it more leverage against similar magazines.

What i have left to do

I took a moment to look at all the work I had compared to what was left to do and made myself a list on what was left. I saw I had most things however there was a lot more detail I could go into in order to get higher marks.

Inspiration
Uses and gratifications
Interactivity
Photos not used
Front cover photos
Contents page photos
Article photos
Edited photos
Front cover style model
Contents page style model
Article style model
Final cover
Final contents
Final article
Evaluation

Cover flat plan

 

 

Article step by step

 I chose to use photoshop instead of InDesign as I am more familiar with the tools and features in order to produce a quality article. I used a double page spread.

 I added my bands title and four different images underneath. I chose the images I did to show different sides of their personalities to represent my article. I carried through my theme by adding my title in red and sticking to my font.

 I added my article and my article introduction. I put my questions in a different colour to make them stand out against the answers. I also decided to put it in columns to stick to regular conventions of a magazines.

I decided to fill up the free space at the end of my article with an added feature. Many magazines either have competitions, fact files, extra information or downloads. I decided to add a competition as it ties in more with the article than a fact file would. I also added their social network pages as it is the most common way of finding bands and artists these days.

Final article

The Rising of Galaxy

We speak to the Dubstep duo Galaxy on their latest single: The Rising. They tell us about drugs, alcohol, music, merchandise and tours. Get the exclusive inside scoop right here!

Hey guys, thanks for making us your first ever magazine interview! What made you interested in Dubstep?

Well you are our favourite magazine so we couldn’t have possibly went for anyone else haha! Well we’ve been friends since we were about 9 or 10 and we’ve always listened to heavy drum and bass music, we’ve collected almost all of the Ministry of Sound albums haha. Just the way you can create something completely amazing from spinning a disk or pressing a few buttons is incredible.

So you guys just turned 17 a few months ago, how does it feel being in this industry so young?

Its crazy, we’re fighting with artists twice our age with twice our experience so trying to find a sound that makes us different is hard. Playing gigs is probably the strangest, we play clubs and festivals that audiences have to be 18 to get into so that is truly crazy, we always have our parents on the side of the stage for moral support so its not too bad.

So why now? Why didn’t you two storm our charts earlier?

There’s never really been a market for Dubstep until now, we’ve been making YouTube videos for years so for the CEO of MOS records to contact us was pretty surreal.

 What made you agree to sign to the Ministry of Sound label?

Well all of our idols are signed to them, Example, DJ Fresh, Wretch 32 and Afrojack are all our inspiration and to be able to work with these guys is phenomenal. We’ve learned so much from all of them and the label looks after us so much, they took a chance on us when nobody else would and we couldn’t ask for anything better.

What made you decide on Galaxy as your duo name?

Well we see the galaxy of a huge place of endless possibilities and unexpected surprises, that’s what we want our fans to see us as, we don’t want people to expect the same every time from us, we want to be different.

What was the reason for your title of the The Rising?

Well with it being our first single it signifies how we came to fame, the ups and downs on our road to where we are now. We wanted to people to feel inspired by the way we put the music together and for the reason we’re here.

So what can we expect for your next single?

Well our next single is a lot heavier than The Rising. We chose to pick this track because it’s a completely different sound to our current single which will completely mix things up for the audience we are trying to reach.

What does the album have in store for us?

Well our album is called “Coming Up” and throughout the album it more or less the journey from the beginning of our music careers. We teamed up with some of the greatest producers around to create our sound; we made it so every song would be completely different. We want everyone to be surprised at each and every song.

Can we look forward to any collaborations in future?

We have at least three collabs on the album, we’re trying to plan a future single with Example or Miley Cryus to keep our image fresh and our sound different. We won’t ruin the surprise for any of our fans, but our album is due our May 10^th 2014.

Where did the inspiration for your music come from?

Well for the past three years we have been battling addictions to drugs and alcohol and only managed to over come these problems with the help of family, friends and our music. If you listen to the album from start to finish you should hopefully be able to hear our journey back to health. We start the album with deep bass and heavy tracks however the album ends on a more electronic sound combined with the bass of our darker days.

Do you hope to speak to fans through your music?

Yeah! Like we absolutely love our fans and if we never saw the positivity on our soundcloud through recovery we would never be where we are today. We have already had a huge amount of letters and gifts thanking us for helping them through everything and knowing that what we do helps people is unreal!

Can we expect a tour?

Absolutely! We kick off our UK tour in December 13 and tickets go on sale May 1^st, we’re hitting almost every city in the country which is extremely important to us as many fans miss out on tours because some bands only tour major cities, we wouldn’t want anyone to miss out. We have a Europe tour planned for 2015 and then eventually a world tour when we get around to it ha ha! We can’t wait!

Finally we’ve seen a few items on your website that will be going on tour with you guys, what can we expect from the whole merchandise range?

They’re fantastic! We have four different teeshirt designs in either white, grey or black and we have already sold a tonne of those online! There are wristbands, hats, posters, our EP’s and several hoodies. We spent at least three months working on the designs and trying to incorporate our sound into the merch with the help from several AMAZING local designers we finally came up with things we are extremely proud of and hope you guys love.

Thanks Guys!

 

So with a planned world tour, upcoming album and designer merchandise we can expect big things from this duo. Watch out Skrillex, there’s a new Dubstep duo on the block…

Front cover step by step

 I started by cropping out the background of my image. I used the blur tool to go around the outside of the images, this was to make my image look like more of a part of the background so it had smoother edges from where it had been rubbed out. I used the image/adjustments/curves tool to increase the brightness of my photo. I then used the clone tool to hide blemishes, dark circles and to fill parts of Jacobs eyebrows to make it look as professional as I could. I also added a bar code as it a common convention of a magazine.

I added a white background as I tried many different colours yet they didn't look right therefore I stuck to white, it also follows my magazine house theme. I added my masthead too. I chose to use red, white and black as it was the most common response from my questionnaires. I chose the font "impact" as I think it looked best for my magazine.  I put this in the top left hand side of my page as that is where most titles are found and it would fit in on a stand with other music magazines.

I added a banner in black and added "free posters inside" as it is a common convention and it took up space that would have otherwise been left blank. I added an example of a poster inside my magazine to appeal more to the audience.

 I added three subtitles to show what is in the inside of my magazine. I put this in red to stick to the house theme.

I finally added my main article title and added a subtitle in order to appeal more to my target audience. This is a common convention of most magazines therefore I put it in red to again follow my house theme.

Contents page flat plan

Photos I decided to use

 I like this photo as it is a natural photo. The facial expressions shown represent the easy going and unstructured flow of the article. I asked them to wear either black, white or both in order to try and stick to the house theme of my magazine. This helps them fit my magazine yet stand out at the same time. I asked Rebecca to stick to normal every day makeup as it looks more natural than if it was flamboyant, which is represented in my story.

 I like this photo as although it is posed it is also very casual. Their facial expressions are suitable for the easy going flow of my article. 

 I particularly like this photo as it is fun and completely unposed. It was taken mid dance and I believe it shows a different side to them as the other ones. I think i will use this photo on my article as it is inappropriate for my cover as Jacob isn't facing the camera and the shadowing/hair could be difficult to cut out therefore it will be easier to increase the contrasting to lighten the photo and use it with its background on my article.

Contents page step by step

 I kept the same background to keep the features throughout the magazine the same. I added red boxes for all of my titles to go into.

 I used NME as inspiration for my band index, I added this down the left hand side of my page so it isn't as bold. I also added a white box to put a screen shot of my front cover in  to advertise subscriptions.

I chose to put the sections of my magazine into the red boxes. I chose to make my font white so I could follow the house theme of my magazine, I needed to follow the same conventions of magazines already on the market.

I then added my photos. I chose to put a photo of my feature artists on to show which page they're on and then I chose two separate photos of models using different shots. I chose an up close photo of a model then a medium long shot of another to vary the photos I have. 

I added larger page numbers onto my images which is a common conventions of most magazines to show which are the features. I then added social network logos to the top of my page to reach out to a wider network.

I added all all of my article titles and page numbers under the subtitles around my page. I chose to keep the font white to stick to the house theme of my magazine. 

I added a subscription banner onto my page as this is a common convention of a magazine contents page. I stuck to the theme so I kept the white and red theme. 

First draft cover

I chose to use a grey background for my front cover as my target audience thought it would be the most appropriate for my background. I chose a black box to put my magazine title in because it will make my title stand out more.

 I chose to use a red title in "impact" font as I think is the most appropriate for my magazine genre and also makes it different from other magazine fonts, it couldn't be mistaken for something else.

 I decided I would also put "one for the road" underneath "ofr" to show what my magazine stood for, I chose this title as although it represents a drink, it is also a famous song.

 I positioned my models in the middle of my screen and infront of the title as it is still clear what the magazine title is and it brings more of the attention to the models. I chose to keep the black, white and red theme through their clothes and asked them to wear these colours. I think this works well as it still looks individual yet stands for my magazine.

 I then added my sub title in the same font and colour and positioned it just below the middle of my screen so it is the first thing looked at when the magazine is picked up.

 I then added the caption under the title and a bar code

 I added the issue number and price into the box with my title so it is still visible but isn't taking over the page.

 I noticed there were parts I hadn't rubbed out on my box but I couldn't find out which layer they were from so I used the paint brush to cover the marks.