Adam.Amini93-Media: 2010

This is an evaluation of my researching, planning and producing my Media product (the front cover, contents page and double page spread of a Music Magazine), the course of which is posted on my blog (http://adam-amini-media.blogspot.com). The blog shows my progress throughout the research, planning and production of the preliminary task (a College Magazine) and the main task (the Music Magazine). As part of the evaluation I will look back and state how I have improved and what I have learnt and made progress on throughout the course of the task.

There are many ways in which my Media product uses, develops and challenges the conventions of a music magazine. To get an idea of how I can do this, as part of my research I listed the conventions of Magazines, and more specifically, of a music magazine, so that I could understand and apply the conventions of music magazines. After listing the conventions I analysed existing Media texts (i.e. existing examples of front covers, contents pages and double page spreads,) discussing how they use and change conventions to create their desired effects (such as reaching out to the desired target audience).

From this research I learned how it would be best to utilise conventions (whether sticking to them or abandoning them). For example, my front cover in itself is very conventional. The masthead is bright red (red being a conventional colour of music magazines) and stands out well against the dark grey background. The picture of the model is conventional in the fact that it represents the model as confident (in his posture) and it is at a low angle to make him seem larger and more important. Also, the model’s head covers part of the masthead which is a music magazine convention. I utilised many conventions such as inclusion of a barcode (which is important from an institutional point of view) and cover lines on the left hand side (which as I found out in my research are very common in music magazines). There is a main cover line “Hyperbolic Dandyism” which abandons convention as the font is quite difficult to read, but it is part of the band’s ideology, so would be instantly recognisable to fans and being the object of the main cover line, it is the most famous musical act in the magazine (as is often the convention). The background of the front cover is representative of the magazine’s alternative ideology. There is a grey background, and a faded darker grey pattern making the page look like it has been smashed, or cracked. This gives the front page a ‘rougher’ look which compliments the alternative and ‘against-the-norm’ image of the magazine, (both visually and metaphorically).

The contents page, while containing many conventions, such as images and lists of articles with page numbers, is still quite unconventional and dynamic in nature, (implying the diversity of the range of music and content featured in the magazine, and which is a part of the ‘image’ and lifestyle of the target audience). The main image of the page, for example, is surrounded by a box and in the centre of the page, dividing it. This layout is quite unconventional for contents pages, yet striking, aesthetically pleasing and somewhat representative of the ideology of the magazine, [FREAK.] (i.e. something different which goes against the norm). The page incorporates the conventional (for music magazines) red/white/black colour scheme, with blue added in their to compliment the colour of the Blue Dawn logo and to make the page brighter and stand out more. In original draughts I had wanted to include yellow in the page (on the page numbers), but upon completion I had realised that the text didn’t stand out as much as it could, and make the page look somewhat cheap. The yellow also didn’t really suit the image of the magazine, being such a bright colour, so I decided to change the parts to red; furthering the conventional colour scheme and complimenting the image of the magazine.

The double page spread is a lot more conventional than the other two pages, yet uses the conventions in a way fitting to the magazine’s ideology. The headline is at the top left (which is very conventional and would be quite plain if it wasn’t for the font which compliments the image of ‘Enter Oblivion’. The main image shows the model posing as if brooding, which also fits his image of being a ‘deep’ person. The image of the musician himself, built up by the graphics in the top right of the page, the headline font in the article, and the pose and image of the model himself, gives across a very ‘anti-establishmentarian’ feel. This is because the fonts and design of the graphics in the top right corner give across a somewhat deep and harsh feeling, which go against the ‘norm’. This compliments the magazine’s image (as they are going against the norms of society,) and would please the audience as a lot of the readers will adopt the unconventional aspects to their lives (such as fashion sense and musical tastes,) to feel like they are rebelling against society and the norms it entails. The article contains a drop cap to draw the readers’ attention to the start of it, and then the font and size (Arial, and approximately size 11) are changed for something more fitting to the magazine conventions. The ideology is shown in the footer (the magazine logo is conventionally placed in the footer), which also includes the page numbers, and is once again very conventional for Music Magazines.

Due to the genre of the music in my magazine (mainly heavy rock and metal,) the social groups represented will naturally be those who fit the image associated with the genres of music (such as rockers, ‘Goths’, ‘Emos’, the musical genres of which make up part of the magazine’s alternative ideology, and the images of these subcultures also help make up the magazine’s image and design, such as the heavy use of black and red,) therefore I represented them as being quite stereotypical of the genres.

The models used on the double page spread and front cover both have black hair and are wearing black, which are very stereotypical of people who like/play rock music. The model on the front cover even has a lip piercing, which is also a stereotype of musicians in the genre. ‘Blue Dawn’ (in their picture on the contents page) are also depicted wearing darker colours, and the female model has a lip piercing and her general image is quite unconventional for society, and fitting for the people in the magazine.

The content of the magazine (as shown in the contents page) is also relative to teenagers, as it lists aspects of music fandom, such as going to concerts as a regular feature in the magazine. This shows how the magazine connotes that teenagers must have an interest in live music, so this fact is represented through the content of the magazine.

The Media Institutions which would distribute to my product would be relevant to the stereotypical consumers. It would for example, be alternative record labels and alternative fashion labels which would appeal to the audience. They would be interested because music is a large influence on peoples fashion senses (partly due to the influences of stereotypes on a person’s identity, so fashion labels whose clothes and items produced fit into stereotypes shown in the magazine could distribute to the magazine in the hope that the audience will like what they see, and could become potential customers in the future.

An example similar to this is the review of Skull Candy headphones, which would appeal to music lovers and in the company’s image are similar to the stereotypes in the magazine (i.e. use of dark colours, even the name ‘Skull Candy’ has gothic connotations). This would provide Skull Candy with an opportunity to gain custom from consumers of the magazine.

The audience for my media product are teenagers who like rock and alternative music, both male and female. This is because music magazines are mainly aimed at younger audiences, and the fact that there aren’t many successful alternative music magazines around means that the magazine could secure somewhat of a consumer market. As I found in my research, aspects of music magazines appeal to both male and female audiences (i.e. an attractive female on the front cover of ‘Kerrang!’ which I analysed attracts male’s, as they are interested in the attractive woman (making her the object of the ‘male gaze’ which in terms of media studies is when a text will focus on the parts of a woman found attractive by men, placing the viewers in the position of a heterosexual male which should, in the context of the magazine, draw the attention of heterosexual males), and females because the low angle of the shot show her as independent and confident and they would find this pleasing. This also conforms to the magazine ideology, as even in today’s ‘equal’ society, a lot of alternative music magazines are still male-orientated, so this goes against even the norms of alternative culture, making the magazine even more individualistic.

To attract my audience I used similar conventions to music magazines aimed at audiences like mine is aimed at. E.g. I used colour schemes consisting of white, black and striking, bright colours, (i.e. purple and red), which are similar to those used in the fashion senses of my audience. They are also quite unconventional in nature, and therefore would appeal to the rebellious side of the teenagers, furthering the anti-establishment – ‘against the norm’ side of the magazine’s ideology.

The content of the magazine itself is able to address the audience (such as sections about live music and also using bands which are popular amongst the audience such as ‘Paramore’). An example of this on the front cover is the ‘Free Badges’ advertisement. The icon itself is made from an image of a button badge, which are fashion accessories within the target audience. This image would attract them as they would recognise the familiarity of it, and then the promise of free badges would please them and the fact that they have the badges gives them a sense of social identity, which they would be pleased about due to the fact that it shows their ‘image’ which they would want.

From constructing this product, I have learnt a lot about technical aspects of photography (while photographing and planning photo shoots of the models), and I have also gained a lot of practical skill while making my media texts. I have experimented with different Photoshop effects such as changing the contrast and lighting on an image (the result of which is on the double page spread) and also experimenting and practising making more dynamic page layouts (such as that on the contents page).

I have also gained knowledge when regarding colour schemes and which colours, when placed on a text, compliment others and make the text aesthetically pleasing. I have also gained invaluable photo editing skills, which have helped me improve the look of photographs I have taken and change them to suit the purpose (such as the look of the image on the contents page).

I have learned about how incorporation of social networking and Web 2.0 websites, such as http://www.blogger.com can help and be incorporated into the research, planning and production of a media text which would be otherwise unrelated to such websites. I have also learned about how technological convergence (different technologies coming together,) can be of an advantage. For example I have used different software for the design and layout of the magazine and brought these together with photo editing software, for example, to complete the project and then posted the progress and results web-based blogging software.

Looking back at the preliminary task, I feel that I have improved greatly in my understanding of technical elements of production (shown by the increased quality of the more recent Media texts). I also feel that I have gained a better understanding of institutions and audience when thinking of the music magazines, which aided me in research (and partly was a result of it, through what I learnt from looking at other examples of media texts,) and also, due to my understanding of the factors, helped me make decisions such as which articles the institution should include to appeal to the desired audience.

Since the preliminary task, due to my increased understanding of Conventions of magazines and music magazines, my research was more intense, which helped in the long run as I had more knowledge with which to make the texts, and make them attract and relate with the audience like other media texts have.

I have also learnt to improve with the depth of work, as I have produced many more drafts than I did in the preliminary task, thus making the end result of a much higher quality, to the point that even the photographs, for example, are of a much higher quality than in my college magazine. I also paid more attention to the conventions, meaning that the end result was a lot better than it previously was.