Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation question 7 from Rory Hayden

Evaluation Question 6

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

At the start of the construction of my magazine I created a blog to log my development through the project and show my progress with the pages I was developing. To make some of my posts more interesting and show a range of media understanding, I used applications on the internet like Prezi and SlideShare on my blog. I also used a series of photo editing and design software to create my magazine.

Firstly, I used a website called blogger to blog my project. At the start this website was new to me so had no experience using it and therefore did not know how to use it. My first post was a test where I learnt the basics of how to use blogger. As you look through my blog you’ll notice the progression with the techniques and confidence it took me to learn how to write a blog.

I used Prezi and SlideShare perhaps not as many times that I should have throughout my blog but they did help make my blog less boring. The two programs allowed me to present my work in a different form to usual which is good because plain text logs can get very tedious. The two programs made my work my interesting through the layouts and their interactive designs. 

Furthermore, I used Serif PhotoPlus. PhotoPlus is an image editing software which I used to help me make my masthead and edit all the images in my project. I had a basic knowledge of how and what you can do with the program as I used it during my GCSE graphic design course. Now looking back on my progression, I have learnt a lot more than I was capable of doing at the start of this course. I now would say I can use the software much more professionally than at the start. 

The main program I used for the making of my front cover, contents page and double page spread was Serif PagePlus. PagePlus is a deskstop publishing program that enables you to create professional looking pages. When I first used PagePlus I understood the program to an extent because even though I had not used it before, it was fairly similar to PhotoPlus. This gave me an advantage but I still had a lot to learn. I understand the software a lot better now that I have finished all my work with it and I believe that my work would be a lot better if I were to start again as in my first few pages I did not understand fully how to use the program to its full.

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation question 5 from Rory Hayden

Evaluation Question 4

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

As I have said before, the age of my target audience is roughly between 15 and 30. This range may seem a bit wide especially considering this age group is during the stage of the most developing a person will go through throughout their life. But I want my magazine to attract all youth which can range into the late 20s. I based my pricing around this as I believe £2.50 is inexpensive enough for a student and young adult to afford regularly. My target audience would most likely be slightly dominated by males but it would be aimed at both boys and girls. As my magazine is a rock magazine I am expecting my audience to be into rock. I can also imagining my audience being musical through playing instruments such as the electric guitar. As my audience are young, I expect them to follow rock artists and bands perhaps on social media or just through magazines. As my magazine ranges from indie rock to heavier rock, I cannot establish exactly the type of person who would read my magazine. This is because indie rock in particular is becoming even more popular amongst the A and B socio-economic groups. Those in my age group are still young and would be much more interested in festivals than any other age group. Festivals will be a good topic for my magazine to use because it will interest the readers and provides them with what they want to read.

Evalutation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation question 1 from Rory Hayden

Magazine Industry Challenges

FINAL FRONT COVER, DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD AND CONTENTS PAGE

Final Front Cover

This is my final front cover.

Final Contents Page

This is my final contents page. I have developed it a lot since my last development post as I decided my previous version did not follow the conventions of a magazine and had no structure. This version has many more articles and looks much more professional.

Final Double Page Spread

This is my final double page spread. To make it I took one photo and split it so that the 2 characters were in the same position but further away from each other. The article is an interview of the splitting band 'blind eye'.

Contents Page Photo Shoot

I took many photos for my contents page photo shoot, I am showing here the better photos. Some photos had to be discarded due to the photo going wrong. As this shoot was for my contents page, I will be able to use a few pictures rather than limiting myself to one. The picture to the left could be used as a large main article photo as it has the character from my double page spread. Also, this photo could be cropped to just show a tall portrait image of the character. 

The photo of the guitar on the right hand side      could be used as a competition advert as the lighting make the guitar look appealing to a reader. 

I intend to also use a photo of my character 'black widow' on his own so that I can advertise that as an article as well.I am thinking of using the photo of him leaning over the balcony as it looks as if he is deep in thought.

I will use the bottom left photo as it has an interesting story behind it as an article. This would be to portray it as a backstage article.

Development of Double Page Spread

This is my mock up double page spread as I am only half way through the development.

Double Page Spread Photo Shoot

These are the photos taken during my final photo shoot. This photo shoots purpose is for my double page spread which will be featuring 'Blind Eye' once again. All the photos have a basic hallway background but I decided it is irrelevant as I plan to cut out the background anyway. I just needed good lighting which is achieved through the skylight in this hallway.

I took a range of shots starring different angles and positions.

There were many more similar photos of each photo displayed here but I chose these as the final seven because they have no blur and portray what I wanted to image to look like. Whereas some photos didn't fit in my magazine conventions due to the models smiling or misunderstanding the shot. As much as I like the top right photo, I struggle to see how I would fit it into my double page spread so I will most likely have to not use it. I am thinking of having the members on either side of the page, both facing in on each other. Therefore I could use either both the middle photos to the sides or either one of the bottom corner pictures.

Double Page Spread Analysis

Potential Advertisements and Magazine Rate Cards

Companies who may want to Advertise in my Magazine

Beats would want to advertise in my magazine primarily because it is a music magazine. My magazine is aimed at youth and young adults who are more likely to buy Beats products. 

Fender would want to advertise in my magazine because my magazine is a rock magazine and they build electric guitars. Advertising in a music magazine like mine is much more effective than advertising in any other genre of music magazine.

The Reading and Leads festival always have many of the biggest current rock bands so advertising in a rock magazine is a key spot. Festivals are also generally for youth which also matches my target audience.

Spotify would want to advertise in my magazine because their company is a streaming service of music. Therefore, there is no where better to advertise than a music magazine.

Rate Cards

A rate card is a document that has information about a media outlet. The rate card presents the readership statistics and helps a magazine establish its target audience. Below is an example of a rate card from the magazine 'KERRANG!'

The rate card for my magazine is below. This is important information I need to know to give me ideas of what to advertise in the magazine and what my budget is. Most importantly it helps identify my target audience and focus on their needs.

Contents Page Further Development

This is one of my final drafts for the contents page. It continues the main article feature about the band 'Blind Eye'.

How Magazines make Money and the Structural Triangle

How Magazines make Money

Magazines do not actually make most of their profit on sales but rather through advertising. Magazines rely on advertising as one of their primary sources of money. Without advertising in magazines, they would not survive. Companies advertise their products in magazines that match their target audience because that is the kind of person that they want to see their magazine. This will result in more successful sales for the company. To keep up with technology, magazines now often make their issues available online for purchase and download. This opens the magazine to a new audience as many young people don't buy magazines any more.

The Structural Triangle

The three factors that create the business model for media are Advertisers, Circulation and Readership. The three factors rely on each other to produce a good magazine and earn profit. 

FINAL FRONT COVER

This is the final version of my front cover. I have edited it since I received my feedback.

CONTENTS PAGE DRAFT - INCOMPLETE

Front cover photo shoot selection

I took a series of photographs for my photo shoot. All the photos were taken indoors, in a school corridor with lighting from a high window.  Below are all the photos I took.

I chose not to use these photos because I felt that the expressions and the body positions were wrong and did not represent the idea for the story behind the article.

I chose this image for my front cover because it fitted my story perfectly. The facial expressions from both characters was exactly how I wanted them to be. Also by the boy looking directly at the camera it shows that he is still in the game and serious about what is going on. Whereas the girl looks sad and stares of into the side of the image cause she is upset about the circumstances and is leaving the band.

This final photo was taken at the end of my photo shoot and included someone who hadn't been in any other of the photos. At first I did not even think of adding this photo but now I have realised that I could use the middle boy as a secondary image. Therefore I cropped out the original characters and background and was left with a secondary image to put on my magazine front cover as another convention.

Audience Feedback

To gain audience feedback on my front cover so far, I filmed myself asking people questions to gain their feedback of my work. I showed the people I asked questions to, an image of my front cover on my computer screen so that they could see it in colour before I gave them a grayscale printed copy. This image below is the front cover at this point of my project. I aim to use the feedback I get to improve my front cover and develop new ideas.

Below is the video of the 3 people I interviewed.

From The answers I received I now know some ways to improve my work such as changing the blue bordered font at the bottom of the page. Although I am choosing to ignore the response about magazine price from interview 2 and interview 3. This is because these students do not study media and did not understand how many music magazines cost double the price of my magazine.