Evaluation Question 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of construcing this product?

- Without the use of computers, it would have been difficult for me to create the magazine as I would have to do it all by hand

- Without photoshop, I would not be able to create the magazine itself with as many graphic features, such as editing the photos and making the fonts look right.  Photoshop also made it easier to experiment.

- I made use of Facebook to send questionnares to my target audience.  Without this it would have been harder to see who exactly my target audience is and what kind of things they would want from the magazine.

- Blogger made it easier for me to write any written work regarding my product in a simple and easy-to-read  format.

- Digital cameras meant that I could get better photos with better lighting and background for my magazine.

Evaluation Question 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

- My magazine used a black and red colour scheme because it is conventional of magazines in the genre.

 

- Elements of fashion common in the music scene also showedup, as they draw in members of the subcultures.

- Some of the poses and expressions in the images are similar to those in other magazines of the same genre, making it conventional.

- Many of the conventions used are typical of the genre and would attract the reader.

- The fonts used were also black and red and eye-catching.

Evaluation Question 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

Earlier, I had messaged an online questionnare to 10 people on Facebook in order to gain audience feedback on my magazine.  From my results I can learn more about my target audience.

I found that most of the people liked the images best.  This suggests that they may like the use of costume and fashion shown in the images.  Given that they were willing to buy the magazine and therefore are into the music, it should come as no suprise that they liked the look of the fashion shown in the images.  I also found that people tended to like the red, white, and black colour scheme, probably again because of symbolism used by some of the artists found in the magazine.  The fact that all of the people were willing to buy the magazine shows that they might be interested in the bands listed, and so my magazine is aimed specifically towards fans of the music genres listed.  These might include Goths, Punks, Rivetheads, New Wavers, and New Romantics, though there are possibly some other people as well.  However, I will target my magazine specifically at these groups as I have a very specific target audience in mind.  I also found that most of the people were aged between 15-30.

Evaluation Question 3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I chose to look at Side-Line music magazine, and discovered that it was initially released in 1989 as a print publication, but in 2008 became online-only.  The magazine is published by the German label Celtic Circle Productions.  

From this link we can see that the magazine also included an attached CD compilation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side-Line

It was initially published by two university students who still own the magazine.  Like my magazine they cover similar genres, including Goth and Industrial.

http://www.side-line.com/

I think that my magazine should be a print magazine with an online version.  To persuade people to buy the magazine, I will probably choose to include an attached CD compilation with the issue.

Evaluation Question 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Both myself and the people on the magazine cover have the same facial expression.  It is neutral and rather plain looking.  The costumes are similar, asc both are wearing black clothes and black sunglasses.  This is a conventional feature and also reflects the types of fashion associated with the genre and music scene.  Fans might aspire to look like them as in most music subcultures it is common for types of fashion to be set by the bands themselves.  The colour scheme is mostly the same, using mostly black and white.  However, one notable difference between the two is that I have some red in my photo.  In both photos, the people are seen as wearing fashion common in the music genre, and it usually reflects the kinds of imagery used, as well as the way bands in that genre dressed when it first came about.

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

The title of the magazine ‘Corrosion’ is displayed at the top of the magazine front cover, which is what one would expect to find in a music magazine, so it can easily be identified when on a shelf full of magazines.  It needs to have a high level of visibility which the target audience can identify it by.  The actual title, ‘Corrosion’ itself, comes from the title of a Sisters of Mercy song called ‘This Corrosion’ which reflects the tone of this particular genre.  Part of the inspiration for this also came from reading the title of one of my inspirational texts.  The title of this particular magazine was ‘Dominion’, which is another song by the same band, and this inspired me to pursue a similar approach to choosing my title. 

With my images I made use of mise-en-scene associated with these types of magazines.  In most of the inspirational texts I analysed, I found that the photos on the front cover tended to be close ups of just the head and shoulders, rather than the full body.  I decided to do this in my own magazine, taking photos of myself which included just the head and shoulders.  The location was also important.  Particularly with the front cover image, the image was against a plain background, so that nothing in the background would distract the reader from the person in the photo and perhaps the kind of costume they were wearing.

I carefully considered costume for the photos, as typically bands and artists will have their own styles of clothing which they are famous for wearing.  This use of costume also reflects the genre of the magazine, and the fashion associated with the music.  Some of these are very iconic such as the black sunglasses, which were incidentally enough worn by the members of the band from which I took my magazine title.  With props I also used a plastic skull, which has connotations of the kind of horror imagery which is sometimes adopted by bands within the genre.

I also chose to portray myself as an artist, giving myself a name which could reflect the trend of artists within the genre sometimes taking new names for themselves.  This would make the magazine seem more conventional.

The title fonts were kept consistent throughout the whole magazine, just to show that all of the pages are from the same magazine.  The font is large and bold, which is very eye-catching to the reader.  The font style also somewhat resembles the style seen in some of my inspirational texts.  The colour used was a red to make it stand out against the image and the background.  In order to make the title slightly more interesting and to bring in more conventional colours, I also included some black shadow within the red text.  The use of black and red as a colour scheme is reflective of the genre, and can also be interpreted as having connotations of anarchy, which may be an ideology adopted by some bands.

With the written content, I used a few sell-lines to notify the reader as to what exactly will be in the magazine, and to make them curious and want to read on.  I listed some of the bands down the side on the front cover, which also gives the reader a general overview over what will be featured inside.  On the contents page, the bands were listed in alphabetical order.  This is because some of my inspirational texts also listed their bands in alphabetical order.  I incorporated the use of a quote below an image of the artist, which connects the two together and again gives a sort of general overview over what will be inside.  On the double page spread, I basically wrote an interview, which could be expected from a music magazine.

The layout of the magazine was based on some inspirational texts, and it was also made easy to read.  A coloured box would be shown wherever text would be found, which draws the reader’s eye over to that piece of text and also makes the text stand out clearly from the background.  On the front cover, the image was large and the text was on top of it.  However, on the inside of the magazine the images were smaller and kept within a frame.  This was mainly for practical purposes, in order to make the magazine readable as more space would be given to the text.  A large amount of text also has connotations of the information being in-depth and detailed.

In the contents page, all of the bands were listed along with page numbers where those bands would be found within the magazine.  This makes it easy for the reader to find a band they want to specifically read about from the list, and it also provides a list of all of the bands featured, as this would be too much information to put on the front cover.

Target audience and audience feedback

I have targeted my product at people involved in the Goth scene and who are therefore interested in the music.  I tried to make my magazine conventional in order to appeal to my target audience.  The age range would be a large one, ranging from teenagers to adults.  If I had to go specifically, I would say from about 13-60, but there would be exceptions to this.  However, age is not too important when talking about music magazines as theoretically anybody could listen to the music.  My audience would be listening to underground or non-mainstream music rather than mainstream music, and so this magazine would appeal to them as there won't be too many magazines focusing on this type of music and they would be looking specifically for this.  Because of the fact that they would want to be kept informed of everything in the music scene, they might be willing to pay slightly more than average for it.

To see what my target audience thought of the magazine, I decided to message people on Facebook with this questionnare I created myself:

1. What is your age range?
- Under 13
- 13-15
- 16-18
- 19-24
- 25-30
- 30-40
- 40-60
- 60+

2. How much would you be willing to pay for this magazine?
- 50p-£1.50
- £1.50-£.2.50
- £2.50-£3.50
- £3.50-£4.50
- £4.50-£5.50
- £5.50-£6.50

3. Which aspect of my magazine did you like the best?
- Font
- Images
- Colour scheme
- Other (please state)

4. Any improvements? (Please state)

5. What would you say is the best thing about the magazine? (Please state)

6. Would you buy this magazine?
- Yes
- No


The results were as follows (I received responses from 10 people):

1. What is your age range?
- Under 13 (0 people)
- 13-15 (2 people)
- 16-18 (3 people)
- 19-24 (3 people)
- 25-30 (2 people)
- 30-40 (0 people)
- 40-60 (0 people)
- 60+ (0 people)

2. How much would you be willing to pay for this magazine?
- 50p-£1.50 (0 people)
- £1.50-£.2.50 (1 person)
- £2.50-£3.50 (4 people)
- £3.50-£4.50 (2 people)
- £4.50-£5.50 (3 people)
- £5.50-£6.50 (0 people)

3. Which aspect of my magazine did you like the best?
- Font (2 people)
- Images (5 people)
- Colour scheme (3 people)
- Other (please state) (0 people)

4. Any improvements? (Please state)
- The font on the double page spread could be kept the same as the rest of the magazine
- The images could have been bigger

5. What would you say is the best thing about the magazine? (Please state)
- The images were conventional
- The style was unique
- It looked realistic

6. Would you buy this magazine?
- Yes (10 people)
- No (0 people)

I took their feedback and used it to improve my magazine by making the font on my double page spread the same, and making my images bigger.

Time Management (Deadline)

I had a December deadline, and my coursework had to be in before the Christmas holidays.  I also had A2 coursework as I was re-doing A/S at the same time, so I decided to concentrate on my A/S coursework first.

Planning

I intend my magazine to be a music magazine which is based around music from the following genres: Goth, Darkwave, Deathrock, Post-Punk, Industrial, New Wave, and Punk.  These genres can be connected in some way due to shared musical origins, which is why I chose to include them all together in one magazine.  For inspirational texts I used magazines like Dominion, which is a music magazine focusing on the same genres and targeted towards the same target audience.  I will try to use some conventions of the genre, such as the colour scheme, fashion shown in the photos, and fonts etc.

There were some things I decided to subvert in order to go against the typical conventions.  This included using a white background instead of a black one for the photos to stand out better, and also to appeal to the undergound ideology of nonconformity.

Flat Plan

This is my flat plan for my front cover, contents page, and double page spread.  The front cover incorporates some of the features from the inspirational texts.  The photo displays some of the fashion popular in the music scene, and features just the head and shoulders in a close up.  The font is very similar, and is also very bold and simple, in order to make it stand out.  Though in this case, I made it red because white wouldn't stand out enough and the reader's eyes wouldn't be drawn instantly to it.  With the contents, I put the photo on one side, and used the coloured box to write my text in.  I kept to the same colour scheme (red and black) and font, as this shows that it belongs to the same magazine.  And again with the double page spread, I placed the photo alongside the coloured boxes which contained the text.

My magazine

This is my magazine front cover, contents page, and double page spread.

Inspirational texts

Here are some inspiriational texts, which are all magazines from a similar genre to the one I wish to use:

These magazines all feature some conventions.  They all have very basic colours, usualy black, white and red. The fonts are usually white, bold, and rather plain-looking.  This makes them stand out well, especially against the black background.  The images are usually just of the head and shoulders, and are usually looking straight at the camera.  And they also display some sorts of fashion common in the music scene, which in turn creates a greater audience appeal.  I will incorporate some of these features into my own magazine.

These contents pages have an image to the side, sometimes with a quote from that band or artist to get the reader to want to read on with that story.  A coloured box at the side displays the band names with a page number next to it.  I think that this layout is easy to read and it gives a good overview of the bands in the magazine.  I will use these features in my own.

My double page spread will copy the same style as the contents.  It will have the images alongside the coloured boxes, and the boxes will have text in them.  The only difference is that the coloured boxes will be bigger and there will be more text.

My front cover image

Here is the image I will be using on my magazine front cover:

Original images

These are some possible original images for my music magazine:

Options

I have chosen  to do a music magazine.  It will be for Post-Punk, Goth, Darkwave, EBM, Industrial, and other related genres.  I will use a mostly black and red colour scheme, and will incorporate Gothic fonts and images to appeal to the target audience.