Evaluation-music magazine

My music magazine uses thirds and ‘Z’ eye movement to guide the eye of the reader. On my front cover, I have placed my header bar right at the top with the word ‘win’ in capital letters. This will catch the eye of the reader and cause the reader to continue to read the rest of the header bar which has competition prizes stated so will make the reader want to see inside the magazine and buy the magazine. Below my header bar I have placed my masthead, which will be the next thing that is seen by the reader. In front of my Masthead is the head of the model in my main image on my front cover and on either side of them are the cover lines. The cover lines on the right side will contain the artists name so that readers know exactly who I am talking about and are able to put a name to a face. This is how I have used thirds. I used ‘Z’ eye movement by placing my masthead across the top of the page, reader’s eyes will then move along it and go across to the first cover line, they will the go across the face of the main image and to the next cover line, this will continue until they meet the footer bar at the bottom of the page.

In my Contents page I have used ‘Z’ Eye movement in the sense that I have places aspect of my content page in certain places. What I did was that I placed the title at the top so that it is seen first, but I also placed my contents, by placing my editor’s note right below it so that it is seen right after the title because it is what is most likely to not be read on my contents page so I put it somewhere that it would be seen before other things. Below that is the ‘Features’ subheading which I have placed here so that it is seen after the editor’s note. I have placed the image of the front cover and the ‘News’ subheading on the right side of the page so that they are seen after the contents. Lastly I have placed the three images for competitions at the bottom to ensure that they are seen last so that readers remember them.

For my Double-page spread I have also used thirds to arrange my page and make it look clear, neat and easy to read. On the left page my article is split into three sections, each section is headed with a question which is in a different colour font than the rest of the text on my page. This is so that readers can look at each section and decide which one they want to read first, this gives the readers freedom because there is not specific order to read the article. I also have also used the ‘Z’ eye movement technique again. I used it by placing the header quote at the top left corner of the page in large text and in a different font. I have then placed my questions right beneath the quote. On the right page I have placed the tour dates at the edge of the page so that it is seen after the article is read as to not distract from the article. I have then placed a footer bar at the bottom of the page with information on how to get tickets to the tour so that it is seen after the tour dates are seen. I have then placed the website for the magazine at the bottom right corner of the page so that it is the last thing that is seen.

In my magazine females are represented, on my front cover I have an image of a female and in the image the model is wearing make-up which represents teenage girls because a stereotype for teenage girls is that they care a lot about make -up and the way they looks, shaving the model wear make-up upholds this stereotype. My model also has a fun and flirtatious face on which would draw the attention of males due to the male gaze. On my contents page I have another image of a female wearing headphones, in this image the model is wearing less make-up so looks more natural, this challenges the stereotype of females in media, which says that to be attractive they have to wear make-up to draw in the male gaze. The model is also fully covered in clothing which also challenges the stereotype of females because there is no part of her body that is exposed apart from her neck. On my double-page spread I have an image of a female smiling and having fun, this model is the same model used on my front cover so she is wearing the same clothes and make- up.

The type of media institution that would distribute my music magazine would be an independent institution because my magazine is new it would not have a lot if any followers so would have to be distributed independently. Because my magazine is new and I am an independent magazine, I would not have a lot of money to pay a conglomerate institution to distribute it for me. This is where digital distribution comes in handy because as an independent magazine with not a lot of money, an easy and cheap way for me to distribute my magazine would be through the Internet. If I were to put my magazine on the Internet for distribution it would cost less if nothing to do, which is convenient for more as an independent magazine with a low amount of money because I would not have to pay for it. It would also allow my magazine to reach global heights because the Internet is all over the world, people in different countries can also have access to my magazine. The Internet has things like social media sites, which could come in handy for me as I could distribute my magazine on them for free, and reach a wide audience. Social media is also useful for me because my target audience is young people such as teenagers, and teenagers are always on social media and make up the vast majority of social media users. I could also use the social media sites for advertisement and set up a website for my magazine where readers could subscribe to my magazine, which would make money for me.

The audience for my music magazine is a mass audience because Pop is a mainstream genre and which is why it is called ‘Pop’ which is short for ‘popular’. My audience would also be young people between the ages of 10-20 this is because this is the average age range of people that listen to pop music. Other audience members would be fans of pop artists, people who like entering competitions and people who enjoy going to concerts. Before the production of my magazine I researched my genre and put out a questionnaire to my audience on what they would like to see in my magazine. I asked 15 people and the results of my questionnaire were:

1.      Which title do you prefer?

·         All Pop 13%

·         My Pop 20%

·         Bubble Pop 67%

2.      Which colour scheme do you prefer?

·         Bright colours 53%

·         Dark colours 20%

·         Light colours 27%

3.      Where would you prefer bar-code to be?

·         Top left 14%

·         Top right 14%

·         Bottom left 36%

·         Bottom right 36%

4.      On the contents page, where would you prefer the contents

·         Right 43%

·         Left 50%

·         Centre 7%

5.      Where would you prefer the main image on the Double-page spread?

·         Centre 76%

·         Left side 12%

·         Right side 12%

6.      What would you prefer the double-page to be like?

·         An interview of a ‘fake’, new band 53%

·         An interview of a ‘fake’ existing band 47%

This information helped to plan for my images as well as plan how to set out my magazine. The results made things easier for me in production, because they are my target audience; I had an idea of what they would like and what would be good for my magazine and make it look like an actual pop magazine.

In my header bar I used the word ‘win’ to attract my audience. This is because the word ‘win’ suggests that there is a prize involved and would make readers want to read on to find out what prizes are on offer to win. In my music magazine I also made it seem like the artists were talking to the readers by using quotes that were addressed to the interviewer. I also used a rhetorical question in one of my cover lines because it addresses the reader directly. To attract male readers I used a female model due to the male gaze theory. I made the model wear make- up and a made her have a flirtatious look on her face so it looks like she is flirting with them. I have also used prizes such as boy band merchandise and freebies such as posters and make-up to attract the female audience. This is because of the stereotypes surrounding females, especially teenage girls, to do with boy bands and make up. On my contents page I have used 3 images of prizes to be won to attract the audience so that they can see what they can win. On my front cover I have also used  words such as ‘Backstage’ and ‘Exclusive’ to attract my audience because the word ‘exclusive’ gives the meaning that it is just for this magazines so they have to buy it to know, otherwise they will not find out anywhere else. The word ‘Backstage’ gives the meaning that the reader can go behind where they are normally allowed which gives a sense that they are getting to do something they are not usually allowed to do and that it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. On my double-page spread I have used a main quote to attract my audience; the main quote is used to allow the reader to know what the article is mainly about. The main quote used in my magazine is, “My solo career bombed, so a band seemed right.” This will draw in the attention of the reader to the article, because they would want to know the story around the quote which they would find out in the article.  On my double- page spread I have also used pull quotes in bubbles to attract the audience to the article, the pull quotes are used to highlight important and interesting things that are said in the article, the reader will see them before they read the article and want to know why the person has said this. In one of my pull quotes I have used the quote, “It was flattering but awkward at the same time.” I use this as a pull quote because the reader would want to know what was ‘awkward’ and ‘flattering’, because they will read my magazine for surveillance, and inter-personal relationships so will read the article so that they can be ‘in the know’ and be able to discuss it with other people.

Once I started producing my music magazine, I was using Photo shop but found it difficult to use because if  I had made mistakes or wanted to change something or move an object , i found that I was only allowed to undo once otherwise I had to delete what I had done and start all over again. I then decided to use In Design instead which I found easier  to use at first because I could undo more times than once and also I found that it was easier to place images in but found that I could not edit my images in it so I still had to use Photo shop to edit my images. I then began to find In Design annoying and difficult to use so I moved back to Photo shop because it was easier to edit and place photos in, I then learnt how to use photo shop properly and how to work around the difficulties of photo shop with practise.

From my preliminary task to my full production I have learnt to edit my images in Photo shop which is something I did not do for my preliminary task, because in my preliminary task I did not have a green screen. I used my phone camera to take my images and they were not planned, and I also edited my images in preview. Whilst in the full product I actually had a green screen, I used a better and more professional camera, I planned my images so was able to have props and make-up and I was also able to edit my images in Photo shop. I have also learnt how to use audience theory, uses and gratifications and forms and conventions effectively in my product because in my preliminary task I did not really use them the only thing I used was the ‘z’ eye movement technique. Throughout the production of my music magazine I changed many of things.  These include:

·         Making the text on my header bar larger

·         Integrating the text on my double page with my image

·         Making  the columns on my double page spread smaller- make the page look clearer

·         Changing the fonts on my front page to sans and sans serif fonts

·         Adding a by line on my double-page

·         Adding a web address underneath my masthead

·         Changing the image on my front cover- did not coincide with my double-page

·         Changing the side that the three images on my content page where- from the right side to the bottom

·         Changing the image on my double page- so that I could put it in the centre and have the pull quotes in her hand

·         I also had to retake some photos