Evaluation - Question 5 & 4

Contents pages are a key aspect of a music magazine as it tells the audience what will be in the magazine. Many buyers would decided if they were going to buy the magazine depending on the contents page, if the contents page doesn't contain a lot of information about what is in the magazine then people wont buy the magazine.

When designing my magazine, I thought it was key to show the audience that the magazine will be packed full of articles and competitions suitable for this genre. After doing some research and getting feedback I knew what fans of this genre would want to see on the contents page, with this information I created my contents page, the research and feedback completely changed my contents page as before this information it was very dull and boring but now I have the information it is full with detail.

As you can see I have kept the colour scheme of blue and red which runs throughout my magazine, also the grey background makes the writing stand out, which will attract the audience. Within my contents page there is information such as 'Upcoming gigs and concerts exclusive to Blitz!' and 'Blitz Festival 2013, BE THERE!'. Words such as exclusive and using exclamation marks attracts the audience as they will be drawn to that particular piece of information.

Also, by adding names of bands such as 'Insomnia' and 'Immersion', this will draw the fans of the particular bands into buying the magazines as they will want to see the 'band secrets', this again is attracting the target audience into buying the magazine.

Evaluation - Question 5 & 4

When taking my photography for my school magazine I purposely had the model looking directly at the camera, by doing this the audience will feel as if they are part of the magazine. This would attract the audience as having a famous singer looking directly down the camera would intrigue you into what will be in the magazine which will then lure you into buying the magazine.

As well as looking directly down the camera, the model has very Gothic make up on, this will address the target audience as within this genre this is what is expected for girls to look like, for example the use of dark make up and a pale face.

When creating a music magazine it is important to specifically address and attract the target audience as the audience are the people keeping the magazine going. By attracting the audience you are increasing the amount of sales you make, and selling your media product is key to any type of media.

Evaluation - Question 5 & 4

How did you attract/address your audience?
Who would be the audience for your media product?

The genre for my music magazine was Pop Rock, by having this as my genre the target audience is a lot wider as people who may not enjoy all rock may enjoy pop rock as it is a completely different style of music. However Pop Rock would still attract people who listen to 'heavier' rock.

When designing a music magazine, you always need to be thinking about the target audience and what will lure them into buying the magazine, as selling the magazine is the most important part. For example, the colour scheme of your magazine has to represent the genre of music you chose. Most heavy rock magazines would be very dark, however as my magazine is Pop Rock I have aspects of dark colouring but also have some brighter colours to highlight the pop side of the genre.

As you can see the border and masthead are black but the colours surrounding it are very bright colours, this representing the two sides of the genre.

Evaluation - Question 6C

When creating my music magazine I had to focus on my photography as on my school magazine my photography wasn't as good as it could be. To get my photography to a high level I had to use a camera, which highlights a use of technology when creating my music magazine. The camera played a big part in my magazine as photography is seen as a key aspect of any magazine. When taking my photos I had to carefully focus on the background and the light as by getting a plain background and good lighting the photography looks professional and effective. Below is two images of my final photography:

Evaluation - Question 6B

Throughout my music magazine, Paint was a key aspect to get my music magazine to where it was. For example cropping images so that they are suitable to go onto my music magazine. Also, every screen shot of my music magazine which has been placed on my blog has been print screened onto Paint and cropped so that it looks professional.

Without paint the screen shots of my music magazine would look like this:

However with the use of Paint I was able to make it looks a lot more professional by just showing the magazine:

Evaluation - Question 6A

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

Technology has played a big part in the process of constructing my music magazine, everything on my magazine is as a result of technology. I have used websites such as www.dafont.com to get all of my fonts. By using this website I have learnt that if you put effort into finding a font it can improve the way your magazine looks, rather than using the default fonts which you get on publisher. As you can see from the image below there are many options of different fonts which makes it easier to find the right font for the genre of your magazine.

Evaluation - Question 7D

When creating a music magazine it is important to get all the conventions of a magazine onto the front cover. One key aspect of a successful magazine would be the sell lines around the photo which lure the audience into buying the magazine.

Even though I have got sell lines on my school magazine, I think that the sell lines are not successful in luring the audience into buying the magazine, also the font they are in along with the colour do not make them stand out when they should stand out to the audience.

However, on my music magazine I carefully thought about what my sell lines could be as I thought my sell lines on my school magazine were unsuccessful. Also I positioned my sell lines in a different way on my music magazine as by putting them layered over the photo the audience would be looking at the sell lines as they are positioned close to the images.

I think my music magazine's sell lines were more successful as I put 'question and answer inside' which will automatically lure people into buying the magazine as they will want to see the questions asked and answers given. Also by putting the name of a band on the front cover, fans of that particular band (Vendetta) would automatically be drawn to the magazine as this certain band have a feature within the magazine.

Evaluation - Question 7C

On my school magazine, my front cover does not look professional as the layering isn't done as well as it should be, also the colour pallet is not suitable for the genre and the masthead is not as good as it could be. On my school magazine front cover I don't have an issue number or date which is key on a front cover.

My school magazine front cover looks professional in comparison to my school magazine, I think this is down to keeping the font on the front cover the same, having a suitable colour pallet for the genre and target audience and by not overloading the front cover and having things spaced out I think a professional look has been achieved. Also, on my music magazine I have got the conventional aspects of a magazine which is an issue number, date and price, which my school magazine does not have.

Evaluation - Question 7B

My contents page in my opinion was the weakest part of my school magazine as it thoroughly lacked in detail and didn't have any images on it, contents pages are a key part of magazines as they tell the audience what will be in the magazine.

When working on my music magazine I concentrated a lot on my contents page as I knew my contents page in my school magazine was not as good as it could of been. For my music magazine, I added two images and a lot more text, I done this as when looking at a music magazine the contents page always has a lot of writing and has to be detailed, so I thought it was important to show this aspect of my music magazine. It is also important for the target audience to know what is going to be in the magazine, for example articles, posters and competitions.

As you can see from the image of my contents page, in comparison to my contents page on my school magazine I had a lot more detail and the colour scheme stands out a lot more. I think that my progression of my contents page is an aspect that stands out when looking at my preliminary and final task.

Evaluation - Question 7A

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

In my school magazine, my photography I have on my front cover is blurred and out of focus, photography is a key concept of any magazine as in most cases the images take up a lot of space. The lighting on my school photos also makes the photo look unprofessional. Also, one of my photos which is of text books is very stretched, which again makes the photo look very blurry.

However, as my school magazine was a chance to get used to the style of magazine, the fact my photography wasn't as good as it could of been helped me to ensure that my photography for my music magazine was a lot better. For my music magazine I looked at the lighting and the background of my image to ensure the image looked as professional as it could. Overall I would say that my photography was one of the main aspects within my two magazines which improved the most.