Evaluation Questions

Making Of Contents Page, Difficulties and strategies

In the making and thinking of the Contents page, I wanted to keep it very consistent with my Front page allowing the reader to not lose interest and keep cohesion. Again with Photoshop I created another A4 canvas, and almost seperated it into two different columns of the contents page. The right side as you can see had the main features of the publication, with them being the upcoming ones in the opening pages of the magazine, but I also allowed the reader into an insight on who or what they were going to read about with an image depicting a person aligned with the story. These images to, with another filter, were changed to keep the black and white context and to allow the text to really stand out such as 'NEW MATERIAL' along with the subsidiary text giving a brief insight. The column was created by creating many layers for the backdrop of the text, along with manipulating the photos and using the font 'IMPACT' to for namesake give an impact.


The second column had the heading 'Delve Deeper Inside..' Again with the included masthead to give the punch, although with a correlating grey fading into black background using the gradient overlay tool. This column was made by using the rectangle tool to create a layer over the near side of the canvas, then using the gradient overlay to keep the colours very consistent. Using the same font in which I believe keeps further cohesion and simplicity I added further features with again brief insights to allow the reader to chose whether they want to continue with the content or move on.

Making of Front cover and the Difficulties and strategies used.

During the process of making the front cover for my music publication, I had a variety of ideas in which to portray the genre's of music that I was mostly focusing on. First of all I had my flat plan of the basic conventions of the magazine that I wanted to fulfil. So to start off I created an A4 sized canvas on photoshop and placed my Masthead on the page in the top left to give it its very own place on the publication, not mixed in with anything else. However I felt that the masthead deserved a slant to typify the Genre it is depicting.

Secondly the features I had previously planned I integrated into the publication. These followed in the colour scheme I had chosen of predominately red furthermore with the font selection, showing an urban but yet composed style. Although to complement the title of the features I felt that orange on the lure's underneath would really sell the features.

This was followed by choosing a strapline which I felt could just top it all. I believe I have done that with my 'R'n'B with a serving of grhyme'

Perhaps the biggest most forefront problem I had in really setting the bench mark for this front cover is that I wanted to have one whole image to really sell the magazine in terms of aspirations, emotions and genre to dominate the background as well as the front cover itself. I had selected an image which had a very autumn feel to it and although I believed it could fit into the magazine without any altercations. The colours didnt seem quite right. So I filtered the image using the Photoshop filter engine and selected 'Plaster' Which can be seen fig.4 of this post. However the balance of the lighting and the smoothness were way to heavy, not giving the image its effectiveness and power. So I tinkered with the lighting, balance and smoothness then found the right setting which I wanted as you can see. The lighting of the face and the definition of the hat( a cultural significance) gave it a great personality. Also with the backdrop of the image to an almost frosty treeline, although the tree's can not be seen from the normal image.

Furthermore i added the line for where the masthead would

be placed.The colour scheme of the image I wanted to be a solid black and white/grey to really give the image a cold but yet powerful story. The effects I used around the image and also upon it are shown as i used the Inner Glow and the Stroke to create the almost peppered red outline, along with the gradient overlay to give the background of the image the grey feel.

Front Page and Contents Page

Original Photography and Analysis

This photo I decided early on to be the photo to take up the front page. This was because it exploits a lot of aspirations, facial expressions and is a very positive image. Furthermore with this being the first issue of the magazine created during the autumn time, I decided to allow the late autumn sun and the golden and brown trees express that tremendously. 
Secondly the image itself I believe portrays the genre of the magazine as it shows a part of the fashion or culture with the Eskimo Hat and the Hoodie. But the main reason for the setting of this picture I believe is to tell one message and it can be seen just by looking into the image. It shows a young MC, looking into the future and really aspiring to become great and on top of the world, (Thus the height at which the photo has been taken at)

This photo, used in my contents page to depict an article, is about also another UK MC. However I feel that this image sends out a different message and purpose. The photo itself is very much focused on the person with the lighting purposely and strictly upon him, with the clouds and the background seemingly darkened, which hereby portrays the lingering stereotypes of the R'n'B and Grime scene. Which is littered with bright stars but also the very dark and infamous backgrounds. 

This photo is imitating the fun, joy and emotions set by R'n'B and Grime but also to just open peoples eyes up so they can see that not everybody is just a thug or hangs around on the streets, but actually can present themselves properly, thereby celebrating the Top 40 I have included. This photo again has the person in the center of the imagine attracting all attention.

Promotional Article Feedback.

For the upcoming publication of the music magazine we had to create a promotional feature article demonstrating persuasive writing skills and once again connecting with our target audience. In my article, the main feature of it was introducing and promoting an MC which has recently risen to prominence and given readers an insight into himself and his personality, but also a history into the Grime scene and his success to date.


The persuasive devices i decided to use mostly were statistics to really show the success and talent of the artist, this allows readers to understand about the underground success you can make before even becoming mainstream or making a renound name for yourself. Statistics such as 80,000 views from YouTube overnight and selling 20,000 records underground give the perfect backdrop for an artist coming from a very negatively stereotyped genre trying to come to light. Also relating back to similar artists which names are world wide now such as Tinchy Stryder, allows the reader to relate this new artist and create a vivid picture in their head, before listening to any of his new material. Furthermore the relation to these UK artists creates a brighter image for Grime as it has now produced many great names, with P Money looking to become one, mentioning these names adhears his material and name.


Secondly, The use of rhetorical questions that I have involved such as "Why is P Money getting a raucous of attention now?" gets the reader involved to ask themselves why the artist is and it stimulates the reader to put themselves into the artists shoes. Also getting references from other big UK names such as SB.TV where i claimed that he is the best that has featured on the channel upholds his growing presence in this article as it begins to grow on the reader, however despite the article mainly sticking to national success, it hints to international success very soon with the revealing of a new single coming out with an american artist and an album that is promising to go platinum. Also a short but powerful interview I also included to give the promotional piece a bit more of a personal feel so the reader can get to know the artist and see how real he was. The speech I used for the artist was very real and how an MC from London is likely to talk and this gives the realism of the words used and shows the reader of his genuine character, which sells him even more so.


The last paragraph of my article I believe is the most powerful and as I feel it had to reinforce his presence and sell him completely, if it hadn't already. The colloquialism of the paragraph firmly grips the reader as it sells what is to come from the artist, including the aforemented new single with B.o.B who has also recently shot into stardom, revealing that his track that I also promoted and analysed to give it professionalism and show his qualities, is going to be released on iTunes, the biggest downloading network. Furthermore to keep the realism installed and firmly instigate the articles target audience it again reveals that P Money is going to Wood Green in London to further promote his CD. To end off the article as powerfully I could, I used a variety of sentence structure. "Remember where you first recognised his face, his background and his face. Right here.

Masthead Creation and Analysis

During class we had come to the beginning of creating our publications, this was firstly done by drawing up 3 mastheads that we wanted to use, albeit with one maybe lacking in creativity. This was to finally pick out one that I felt would be right for the publication and to really convey the Target Audience and to make a point to the reader. To create these, once again I used Photoshop skills by manipulating layers and using blending options, however in comparison to other creations I had delved deeper into the realms of blending and using tools like gradient overlay and drop shadow.

The first masthead I created had a rather simplistic but yet subtly powerful look. The colours used of blue and pink are heavily integrated into the R'n'B scene, the colours also have a high amount of gender representation as the blue background hints at the male contingent which founded the genre although the pink hits out at the massive female talent of the R'n'B culture. The font used does not however really show a tint on the youthful impact on both genres as it seems very bold and hard hitting, it looks as if it would be more suited to a rock/punk more based publication. The Blue oval backdrop provides the main statement for male dominance of the two genres as it overshadows the pink.

For those reasons, in comparison with my second Masthead, it was already far down the pecking order. The second I created had a totally different aspect to it. The theme on this masthead was more based towards the UK and grime side of my publication as it instantly hits the youths who dominate the genre. The reasons I believe this is the perfect masthead for my publication are : 

• The font that imitates somebody doing graffiti or tagging, Associated with grime
• The colour of red, brown and black. Very affiliated with signature colours of artists
• It is smooth and not complicated, very clear to denote from it
• Practical

The creation of this particular masthead was not planned as much as the first one and was more taking individual thoughts and placing them together.

The third and final masthead I created is more challenging to the second as it competes with it in terms of design, typography although I believe it does not relate to the genres and does not attract the same kind of attention against the second. This masthead was a mix between the two preceding it as it has a similar type of colour scheme in the font, however the font is more urban, it does not hit the heights of my second as the colour of purple is more of a female colour, which is almost unheard of in the grime stage. 

However, the backdrop I believe does relate to both genres as it gives it the loving feeling that R'n'B brings and the positiveness of artists in the grime scene. 

Flat Planning For Publication and Target Audience Profile.

In class, we had created this Target Audience Profile, using Photoshop, to convey and show our intentions on who our target audience will be during the creation of our Music publication. To complete this task, I used simple Photoshop skills to change the canvas and rotate it 90 degrees and manipulated layers by adding various different images to create a picture of who I want the publication to get a reaction from. The images ranging from Football to social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and Msn also the great representatives of the urban scene, out layed a clear intention on who my target audience was.

The reason for the social networking sites, was aimed at the amount of young people who use these sites to know about everyday life, and to show their ideas. Also young people aspiring to make it into the current music scene will look up to members such like Tupac and Alicia Keys. There is also a hint of fashion with the trainers and 1xtra the main radio station in which Mc's get to show their material. The font that I used to detail the Target Audience Profile also reflected the youthful exuberant feelings brought to the community.

The flat plan that I and the class had created, was to create a clearer picture on the details of the publications. My flat plan was simple but I wanted to note down exactly who I am  targeting, why I am and how I am going to do this. I made it very clear that the Genre is going to be of a UK base with R'n'B and UK Hip Hop involved. The layout of the magazine would be in correlation with the Genre along with colours to represent them. 

Secondly I created a purpose and Intentions heading in which I wanted to denote exactly what I am going to give in the publication, These were :

• To allow new Artists to promote new material
• To reveal background into the specific music genre's
• To educate young people about the history and foundations of the urban scene.

This was also followed by identifying the gratifications that I wanted to fulfil, these were predominantly

• Diversion - Allowing the readers to divert from every day pressure by getting insight
• Surveillance - Introducing readers to new artists, and background info.
• Personal Identity - Allowing readers who want to emulate stars a chance to create their identity. 

Finally I looked at the Demographics and Psychographics involved in the process. My publication is aimed strictly at the London and sub-urbian area with an audience of 15-25 with aspiring audiences of 11-15 and 25-30, the gender would be mainly male although with  female digressions. Psychographics were a bit more trickier, however I wanted to engage people to succeed and to aspire to become something great.

Analysis Of Preliminary Task

During the production of the Preliminary task which I had previously drawn up a flat plan to create this Front Cover. The idea of the image used as the back drop for the cover was to create the friendly and intimate environment made by Acland Burghley School as the shot is in the 6th Form Common room, in which is the main domain for students, this is used to get a very personal and up close view of the school as I intended the magazine to be fully viable by students only. Furthermore I wanted the magazine to represent the period in which it was to be issued, during the winter months and I feel I have done this proficiently.  


The winter feeling that I wanted to install into the magazine is shown through the colour scheme I chose to use, of a blue and very cold icy feeling with purple and pink also integrated. The Masthead I decided to use, also links to the youth of the school with 'Skool' as this points out to exactly who the target audience is. Also this coincides with the prolonged  'uurgghh' sound to relate to the shivering that winter brings.  The colour and font used on the Masthead is where you can instantly begin to create the cold theme as the font, which was downloaded off Dafont is very frosty like. This is followed by the blue and purple mix to create a very frozen and isolated looking text. The masthead was created by using a drop shadow, Outer glow, Satin and bevel.


Secondly, the strapline 'The Coolllddestt Magazine out there' again reflects the cold theme with the pun of 'coldest'. Also the colour of a blue interim and baby blue rim, creates the mood that is often reflected from winter. The image of the boy used, is pictured wearing a scarf to again extract the cold from the period of which the image was taken, thus fully installing the theme amongst the target audience. However the unfamiliar mirage that is created around the head of the boy, is to give a sense of pressure, which comes with A-levels and the magazine helps to sort these headaches out by giving exam tips. Lastly the red rhetorical question used to point out the boy also imitates the feeling of anxiety and stress during study periods, in which everybody duly feels.


The use of different fonts also shows a vibrant diversity throughout the school in which is sure to be shown in the magazine, and although the colours are mainly associated to males, in which the school is male dominated with a 3:1 ratio, the magazine is still viable and accessible by both genders. Also the features such as teacher gossip, exam tips and quizzes are all something that the average college student want to know but don't normally have a regular way to express or gain access to this.

The contents page was something I had reviewed a lot less than the front cover as I get the feeling that in present times, especially in short publications, people rather just flick furiously to the page and not fuss with all the confusion of detailed contents pages, so continuing the theme of the front cover it keeps a cold, blue and purple theme with the titles of the contents contained in a blue backing which can be depicted as them frozen and always are going to be included in the publication. 

Masthead Research

During the process of creating this research into particular mastheads i constructed the following using Photoshop Cs3 to make the heading for the task. It was created by using multiple layers which included tools like, drop shadow, inner glow and satin. The font used was downloaded from DaFont which offers a variety of different fonts to download freely. The magazines who's mastheads i studied where Rap-Up in which the Masthead was very easy to connotate and denotate from, whereas the others such as Totp which was alot harder.

Furthermore the Mastheads of Kerrang and Mixmag were very similar with only pragmatic connotations although they and Rap-Up targeted very different audiences.

Uses and Gratifications!

The concept of 'Uses and Gratifications' is the idea that the media audience make an active use of what the different types of media offer. The audience, has a set of needs which the media meet in one form or another. These forms are either, Diversion, Surveillance, Personal and Personal Identity.

Diversion, is the first idea that relates to a form of escape and relief, or a release from the pressures of everyday life. This may either be a frustrating day at work or even a problematic relationship. The types of media that may provide this escape vary from just surfing Facebook to check up on your friends, to listening to radio or Youtube to create a relaxing atmosphere. The second is Surveillance which presents the idea that people want to know what is 'going on' in the world at the moment, this may be to fill in other friends or maybe just for self preservation. This is preferably done by either broadsheet newspapers, gossip magazines and of course T.V, however this is also done nowadays by the power of Facebook and sporting sites like Sky Sports.

The last of the concepts are Personal and Personal Identity. The personal aspect of the theory is that generally yourself or the consumers of media often compare their life with the scenarios or lifestyles of people they see in media, such as celebrities or real life stories, which can create a sense of realism. The last concept, being Personal Identity is the theory that media itself can help create a definitive perspective on ones view of the world and allow you to convey your own ideas and put them forth to even allow other people to create their opinions, thus allowing media, to flow from one another to influence others, for example if you are to see a hooded teenager, instantly you may feel insecure because of how they are portrayed in the press.

The analysis of the two magazine publications we studied in class, being NME and Top Of The Pops and any publication or media, will have target a specific concept in the uses and gratification theory, one more than the other to benefit the needs of their audience. NME in which was the first magazine I studied had a clear outline on which of the concepts they had focused on the most.


 This being Surveillance. The information and articles in the publication gave a clear indication that they wanted to allow their audience to know what was going on around the music world and preferably gigs or concerts as most of the adverts featured in the magazine were to do with concerts. NME also had a full A-Z guide of gigs which would appeal to the average gig attender. I believe that they focused least diversion and the personal aspects as the articles were very long and arduous and they did not really give a clear insight into the celebrities or characters interviewed. However, I believe they did pay attention to the Personal Identity part of the theory as the articles almost wanted another opinion or for the reader to think of their own. 


The second of the magazines analysed which was Top Of The Pops, also held a clear outline on which concepts they took more seriously. Being a magazine aimed a younger more specific target audience, it was very likely that they looked more deeply into Diversion and Personal aspects, although maintaining a surveillance theme throughout. As young teenage girls life may be strenuous at times and this magazine does exactly what it should do in providing an escape from everyday lives, giving an insight on other peoples lives. Which in turn leads to the personal aspect of the theory as many teenage girls like to relate themselves to a certain idol or a well known figure in the media world. Although the surveillance theory is not so hard hitting on this publication, it is still seen clearly as it is a gossip magazine, therefore it held many breaking stories about the private lives of celebrities or footballers, and allowed the audience to be filled in on what was going on with the big and most influential people of today. 

Content Analysis and Target Audience!

During class, we analysed the content of two very different magazines. These being NME and Top Of The Pops  This analysis consisted of finding out how many adverts were in the publication, what type of adverts were in the publication and also the amount of pages taken up by adverts, editorials, letter pages and full page articles. This was all conducted, to try and find out who the Target Audience was and how the magazines showed this through Demographics and Psychographics.

The first magazine I analysed was NME. This magazine, in context with the other magazine I analysed, Top Of The Pops, had a lot more substance and more reading involved. In terms of advertisements there was plenty to take from the publication. A full 47 advertisements were found from the front page to the back and these covered a range of topics such as gaming, music concerts, soundtracks and technology such as the iPad. These adverts covered, in total, around 7 pages of the magazine, about 3 full pages for music concerts and a 4 page spread for Halo Reach for Xbox.  Suprisingly however, there was no T.v listings and only gig guides. 

In terms of the actual topics of adverts itself, there was only 1 game advert, 6 music related adverts and 1 for the iPad. On the other hand, the more concrete features you find in almost every magazine was present in NME, however they were not in abundance. The editorial covered 2 pages, whereas the letter pages only covered half a page. The articles always covered a full page in which there were many.  The special features that were issued on the specific copy we analysed were the festival polls of Glastonbury and Reading and the free token for a free copy of the next issue, although these were limited, it shows a signal of intent of trying to bring in a certain type of audience. On my review of NME, I came to the conclusion that the Target Audience was of a more mature nature and anything between 15-40 as the nature of the articles and gimmicks are more than likely to be more appealing to this age group than to younger consumers.

The second publication I analysed was Top Of The Pops magazine and this was almost bare compared to NME. There were only 7 advertisements in total on the magazine and they had topics such as general healthcare, movies and music soundtracks. The special features in the magazine, in which there were more so than NME, such as stickers special interviews with JLS and Justin Bieber, also special prizes to win exclusive movie tickets. There was also no T.v listings and no small advertisements, hinting at maybe the audience this magazine is directed at. It was, statistically lacking in comparison to NME with no editorial column, 1 letter page and 6 full article pages.

Top Of The Pops magazine is very much fixated on the young female culture of today from ages between 8-13 which is a very powerful part of society. As the special features and gimmicks indicate that they are definitely looking to grab girls of this age to read their magazine, along with not much hard core articles unlike NME which would not interest girls of this age. In stark contrast, NME may be pushing towards a more male audience however many mature young women or women may read this as the genre of music it generally covers is listened to by the female public. The demographic scale of both these magazines are spread across the UK, with no specific area that the two magazines target, however there is areas of the country which uphold bigger influences of, for example, a rock or teenage girl culture.

Introduction!

A brief note about me, My name is Laurence Cox and I have a very deep interest in music such as R'n'B, Garage and Mo-town music, however this fluctuates between the 3 predominantly. This is where my inspiration for my magazine production will come from. 


This blog will include a culmination AS-Level Media  of the coverage of my own music magazine production. It will also include the preliminary tasks and market research that I have produced through the weeks. This inclined with analysis and criticism of my work, I believe will help me to conduct this task efficiently.


The main objective in media this year is to design a brand new magazine, which targets the following audience:

A teen audience between 12 and 15 years old or
An older teens audience between the ages of 16-19.
Aimed at a UK magazine audience

The magazine is to be sold on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis.

You will have to decide on:

• A title
• The genre(s) of your magazine
• Its style and form
• Magazine conventions-and comparisons to existing music magazine publications
• Create a brand identity/use of logo
• Its use of representation
• The language of the magazine article 
• Use of original and not found images
• Is it a regional or national publication
• Consider who is your target audience 

It is important that you have created an image for a new band/ artist. This artist/ band is whom you are promoting in your music magazine. The original images you are to take have to promote the image of your artist and the magazine article is promoting and publishing a new album/ single and the launch of the career of the musicians.







These two music videos of Common - The Light and Maxwell- Pretty Wings are the kind of inspiration that I am looking for in my project and the type of artist you are likely to see.