Evaluation!

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

For my media project I was to create a Front Cover, Double Page Spread and Contents Page for a Music Magazine, which I called ‘Down’. My Magazine challenges the codes/forms and conventions of real media products – which I am quite happy about. I didn’t want my magazine to be like every other magazine out there, but then again I don’t want it to be too strikingly different that it wouldn’t make very good sales.

Firstly, with my front cover I conform to the typical codes and conventions of having a masthead, headline and strapline, I have an image, barcode, issue number and price. These are all the basic things that I do need for it to be recognisable as a magazine, hence why I conformed to them.
The main conventions I go against is quite obviously the fact that my masthead goes vertically down the page rather than horizontally across. The only other magazine that I have seen do this is ‘Zero Tolerance’. Like my magazine, ‘Zero Tolerance’ has an incredibly niche market – going against a convention like this makes my magazine more instantly recognisable to my niche audience of Generation Y – so this is why I went against this convention.
The other convention I go against is that I only have one headline and no coverlines. This is because I didn’t want any advertisements to ruin the image or over crowd my front page. As a solution to this, I was inspired by a magazine called ‘Metal Hammer’ to give my magazine packaging for my advertisements to go on. I have made a mock up of this and previously blogged about it in more detail.

Moving onto my contents page, I have conformed to the obvious features of having a headline, an editorial, issue date and number and evidentially a list of contents. Again, I kept these because ‘Down’ needs to be recognisable as a magazine, and the editorial is a nice personal touch to the magazine – also it showcases the kind of language and tone that is featured throughout the magazine.
The conventions I go against on my contents page are more noticeable and much more rare than on my front page – these include my two sections at the bottom ‘Live’ and ‘Down Gets Around’. I included these two features initially because I didn’t know what else to put in the empty space at the bottom of my page – I just put boxes there as a temporary layout – but then I grew to like the idea. By this time I had pictures on my computer of a gig I went that week called ‘BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards’ which I decided I wanted to put in my magazine. I obviously couldn’t use them in my double page spread as it did not relate to the interview, so I decided to make them a feature on my contents page, and one of the boxes in the bottom boxes seemed like the perfect place. I then decided to come up with a feature called ‘Down Gets Around’ which will be a weekly feature of any celebrities that we have spotted (I have again written about this in more detail in a previous blog).

Finally, my double page spread conforms to the typical headline and quotes feature, it’s pretty evident why I chose to go with these – it makes a double page spread more recognisable, lets the reader know what the article is about, and gives a little taster of the interview/article.
The conventions I go against are: no page numbers, lots of pictures apposed to a few large ones and no visible strapline. Although, I do have bold text introducing the article, it’s not that much bigger than the rest of the text which is typical of a double page spread – this is because I would have trouble fitting all my text on if I made it much bigger.
It is not completely rare for a double page spread not to have page numbers, I have seen quite a few magazines where they have not included page numbers on main features – I didn’t include them one, because I didn’t have enough space and two, because I didn’t think it was all that important to include them.
As you have probably noticed, I am a fan of having lots of images. There are many reasons for this – the main reasons are: simply, I liked the photographs and am proud of them, so I wanted to include them, also because personally, I find an article much more appealing if there are lots of eye-catching images and it’s not drowning in text. Although I did want a ‘meaty’ article so to speak that provided the readers with a good story, not meaningless gossip, I didn’t want it to be too heavily text based as personally, that would put me off.

Overall, I decided to go against many conventions because I wanted ‘Down’ to be different, and to be a representative for a different kind of magazine – a personal one that to me is based more solely on satisfying the reader rather than the producers, for example having packaging with lots of freebees, such as posters so that readers don’t have to ruin magazine trying to get posters out (explained in previous blog). After all, who is the magazine for?


How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I decided to make my magazine a representative of Generation Y, promoting the stereotype ‘Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll’. The people who fit this stereotype are typically rebellious, ‘dangerous’, bad, horny, chilled out rockers. Upon researching Generation Y, I came across an article ‘Generation Y: Love Them or Lose Them’ which quotes “Its members, born between 1982 and 1994, are known for their sense of entitlement, outspokenness, inability to take criticism, and technological sophistication.” Generation Y is basically made up of rebellious teenagers/ young adults wanting to be controversial and stand out against society.

My magazine represents this in many ways; firstly my front cover image is a photograph which I took myself of a man smoking – he is looking quite rebellious which is therefore backing up my criteria for Generation Y. To me he gives off the vibe ‘I don’t care what anyone thinks of me’ which is just the image I want to portray, it also links to the quote above that states the members of Generation Y like to have their own entitlement and be outspoken – they don’t care what anybody else thinks.
Secondly, the make-up my front man is wearing is very controversial – you don’t generally see a man walking around with this make-up on. It is therefore adding to the statement that the people in this social group really don’t care about what anyone else thinks, they just want to be themselves, and stand out.
The black eye make-up could also add to the ‘danger/bad’ aspect, as black eyeliner is usually associated with other social groups such as Goths, Metalheads, Emo’s etc which are all seen as rebellious, bad teens/ young adults. Although my front man ties in with features similar to those of Metalheads, Goths, Emo’s etc he does have a sense of his own style, again adding to the individuality criteria of Generation Y.


I researched some other subcultures to try to identify any similarities represented between Generation Y and these other subcultures, and perhaps conclude where some of Generation Y’s inspiration came from.

The Goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. Styles of dress within the subculture range from deathrock, punk, androgynous, Victorian, some Renaissance and Medieval style attire, or combinations of the above, most often with dark attire, make-up and hair. Generation Y was perhaps inspired by the dark attire and eye make-up, as Goth’s have been around a little longer than Generation Y, dating back to around the 1980s.

Fans of heavy metal music, aka Metalheads, have created their own subculture which encompasses more than just appreciation of the style of music. Fans affirm their membership in the subculture or scene by attending metal concerts, buying albums, growing their hair, and most recently, by contributing to metal websites. Members of Generation Y tend to have long hair and have a love for expressing their taste in music and genre by attending concerts, etc. Also, Heavy metal fans have created a "subculture of alienation" with its own standards for achieving authenticity within the group – this relates to Generation Y as their members want to be known for individuality and self entitlement – so this poses another similarity between these two subcultures.

Emo is a style of rock music typically characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics, which originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C., where it was known as "emotional hardcore" or "emocore". As the style was echoed by contemporary American punk rock bands, its sound and meaning shifted and changed, blending with pop punk and indie rock and encapsulated in the early 1990s – Generation Y’s main genres of music and style is rock/indie, which I intended to strongly portray within my magazine.
When it comes to style, today Emo’s are commonly tied to both music and fashion as well as the Emo subculture. Usually among teens, the term "emo" is stereotyped with wearing slim-fit jeans, sometimes in bright colors, and tight t-shirts (usually short-sleeved) which often bear the names of emo bands. Studded belts and black wristbands are common accessories in emo fashion. The only main similarity within fashion that crops up between Emo’s and Generation Y I believe is the heavy eye make-up and longer hair, which can also be linked to Metalheads.
Emo has been associated with a stereotype that includes being particularly emotional, sensitive, shy, introverted, or angst-ridden. It has also been associated with depression, self-injury, and suicide. This is relevant to my article within my magazine itself, as it is about a young male member of Generation Y talking about his struggles and manic depression, which also led to suicide attempts.

After researching these three main subcultures I have come to the conclusion that social groups tend to overlap each other and adopt certain traits and features, but then further adapting them to make them somewhat individual. I believe Generation Y takes a bit from each of these subcultures, moving them forward to make a subculture of its own.


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

I initially thought ‘IPC’ would be good for my type of magazine, as it distributes ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘NME’ which are of a similar genre to my magazine. When I thought about it more though, my magazine wouldn’t really fit in well – ‘NME’ and ‘Kerrang!’ are both weekly magazines, and I wanted ‘Down’ – my magazine – to be weekly as well. I didn’t think it would be good for sales if this distribution brought out yet another weekly magazine of the same sort of genre.
I then went on to research that was the distribution for ‘Metal Hammer’ and discovered it was a distribution called ‘Future’. There’s a gap in futures market, two of their main music magazines being ‘Metal Hammer’ and ‘Classic Rock’, my magazine would be a good metal ground between these two types of music – classic rock and metal – covering the softer rock/indie side of the music market. For these reasons I think ‘Future’ would be the ideal distribution for my magazine ‘Down’.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

As I have stated many times previously, the theme of my whole Music Magazine is Generation Y, so therefore the audience I am aiming to appeal to are the members of Generation Y themselves – they are the people I want to be buying my product as they are the only people who will really understand the full messages and feelings of my product. Also, the people featuring in my magazine are members of Generation Y themselves, so they are a big appeal for other members of their social group to read. They promote the indie style.

The main age range for my target Generation Y audience is related to the quote above – “members born between 1982 and 1994” – so around 16 to 28. I guess it depends on where you personally believe your youth begins and ends, but it is mainly aimed at teens and young adults. This is appropriate to the social group I am covering because their members fit within this age range.


How did you attract/address your audience?

The main method that I used to attract/address my audience was by appealing to their motto ‘Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll’, hence why my main cover image was of a young man smoking, appealing to the rebellion and drugs aspect. A man smoking can then go on to connote him smoking other things, and also quite often linked to drinking, which appeals to Generation Y and backs up most of their ways of life.

Throughout my magazine promotions of this particular motto crop up, with images of smoking, mentions of drugs and alcohol within the interview itself, and just in general giving off the ‘who gives a damn’ impression – the laid back, carefree rocker. The colour scheme itself ties in with this, as it is very basic – mainly blacks, whites and greys – which I think portrays the ‘laid back, care free’ aspect well as it is not too busy or frantic. This backs up the ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ aspect of this famous motto.

Another way in which my magazine promotes the ‘Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll’ motto is in quite a few of my images my front man is seen being kissed by two women, portraying him to be quite the ‘pimp’ so to speak, and adds to his somewhat sex appeal, therefore backing up the ‘Sex’ aspect of this motto. Also, the front man and the women are seen to be wearing bright red lipstick – not only is this an eye catchy colour that makes you stop and look, it also connotes ‘sex and passion’ as well as ‘danger’ – therefore it is promoting the ‘Sex’ aspect further, and also strengthening the motive that this man is ‘bad’, which could then further lead onto the ‘Drugs’ aspect as drugs can be a connotation of bad.


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

The main thing I have learnt throughout the process of making this Media Product is how to use Photoshop itself. I had never used this Image Manipulating Programme before, so it was all new and alien to me when I first started playing around with it. The only Image Manipulating Programme I had used before was basic Picasa 3 which gives you very few options on how to edit your image, such as adjusting the brightness and contrasts, changing the colours, retouching, red eye repair and cropping are the main features. This is probably because it is not most famously known as being an Image Manipulating Programme, more rather as being a programme in which to store and save your images.

After this project I am not professing to claim I am a ‘dab hand’ at Photoshop as the programme does still greatly confuse me on some levels and there is much, much more I could learn about it, but I believe I have learnt the basics which have enabled me to make a product I am quite proud of.
After I got my images, I uploaded them all onto the computer, edited them slightly in Picasa 3 which I have blogged about previously, and then went onto practising editing on Photoshop. I kept a copy of all my original images to refer back to. On my images I only ever did very basic edits, such as colouring in the background white using the paint tool, which again I have blogged about in more detail, and retouching any imperfections using the spot healing tool, as this was much more affective than Picasa 3’s basic retouch tool.
When it came to making my front cover itself on Photoshop, it was a lot simpler than I had imagined, but I still stuck to the basics. I added affects to my text such as ‘outer glow’, ‘inner shadow’ and ‘outer shadow’ until I got to what I thought was an affective result. I didn’t want it to be too busy though, which was another reason as to why I stuck to the basics.

Before this project I wouldn’t have even contemplated using Photoshop as it springs to mind at being difficult, but now that I have learnt the basic and had what I believe to be quite an affective result, I will be much more confident using this Programme in the future.

I then converted my work into Adobe InDesign and made it a PDF file. This enabled me to show All Printer Marks: Crop Marks, Bleed Marks, Registration Marks, Colour Bars and Page Information. Now that I have used InDesign to convert my image, I can see how much more professional it makes my final work look, and I will now consider using this for any construction I do in the future.

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

Considering my Preliminary Task was made completely in Publisher using very, very basic text boxes, placement tools etc, I believe I have progressed quite far. Firstly, I have learnt how to use Photoshop and come out having quite professional looking results. I believe also I have progressed majorly in the research aspect – looking at other magazines in much greater detail I have learnt popular codes and conventions, and how to back myself up if I have gone against them for any particular reason.

Looking back at my Preliminary Task itself I am quite shocked at the amount of progression I believe I have made. Whereas my Preliminary School Magazine looks like something a preschool student could put together, I believe my final Media Product Music Magazine could pass as looking quite professional. I don’t think it looks too tacky, and I can spot any errors I have made in the past and how to make them better, which for me is a major progression.

It looks better because I have learnt to use better programmes relatively well, to which I am proud. There is also now the knowledge I have of using Adobe InDesign, which I can now use in the future.