At the very beginning, before I even started to make my magazine product, I decided that i wanted to find a gap in the market that my magazine could fit into. I didn’t want to just make another copy of Q or Kerrang. I wanted my magazine to be original and unique. Therefore I researched what types of music magazines were already in the market. I found; pop magazines, indie magazines, instrument magazines etc . However I didn’t find anything that featured musical theatre. So I decided to combine my passion for the arts with my media coursework in order to create a magazine that would target a broad musical audience. However because my magazine was covering a completely new genre I decided I wanted to draw the audience in by using convetions that were typically used in a music magazine. However because I wanted my magazine to be unique I have changed certain aspects of my magazine as can be seen in the powerpoint below:
Q2 How does your media prodcut represnt stereotypes?
The main artists featured in my magazine are Your Girlfriends Nightmare. The girls are portrayed as being beautifully, talented, successful young woman who are very down to earth. The girls in my magazine challenege the "theatre nerd" steroetype. Most people believe that anyone who has a passion for the arts is either a complete diva who looks down their noses at everyone or a nerd who has no friends or social life what so ever. However in my magazine the girls are portayed as being normal everyday people who love what they do. It was very important for me to try and change people's view of people who enjoy the arts because just like the thinking that every rocker isn't automatically an alcoholic and drug addict, theatratical people aren't all snobs and nerds. As you can see in my powerpoint below there are many ways I challenged this view.
Q3 What kind of media institution would distribute your product?
The first thing I did when choosing which media institution my magazine would slot into was research the different media magazine institutions and what genre their magazines were based around. The first magazine I decided to look at was NME. NME is produced by IPC media, It is a music magazine that is distributed weekly, it is produced in the untied kingdom. I thought this might be a good institution to distribute my magazine because there magazine is just based on music, therefore my magazine would create any competetion for it because it is a completely different genre. However I think perhaps my magazine is a bit too different for IPC Media. The next institute I looked at was Bauer Media Group, they are responsible for the likes of Q magazine. Q magazine Is also an english music magazine, however Q is target at more mature readers. I think that my magazine could possibly fit in with this media group as they do the kind of style my magazine is based on, also because their magazine is entirely a music magazine, a music theatre magazine wouldn't cause their sales to drop. The final magazine institution I looked at was Rolling stone, published by Wenner Media LLC. Rolling stone is an american music magazine that is distributed every two weeks. I do think this magazine would be ideal, because unlike other music magazine such as Q and NME who are purely based on one genre and its all music. Rolling stone actually interviews and has pages dedicated to acting. Therefore I think it would be a perfect institution for my musical theatre magazine to slot into.
Q4 Who would your audience for your media product be?
Krescendo Is a magazine that is aimed at a more mature audience between the ages of 16 right the way upto possible late 20's. It is a magazine that was designed with a specific audience in mind. This being people who have a passion for the arts and performance. However it was also designed to incorporate all different styles of music, including artists like lady gaga. It is a magazine that gives people the opportunity to enjoy something their passionate about that no other magazine covers and that is Musical Theatre. I think my magazine is very versitile and because their are male's who enjoy musical theatre I think it could be aimed at both a female and male audience.
Q5 How did you attract address your audience?
My front cover is very striking as it has been designed with Sin City as it's inspiration. I honestly think it is the comic book effect my cover gives that will draw my audience in because it is so different and original to any other magazine cover. The colour scheme I have used of Red, Black and white is very effective I think because it doesn't over complicate the page it just gives it a hint of colour without making it to bright and ghastily. I also think my two models on the front cover will draw my audience in because they are very attractive and striking and because they look very fierce, this will have my audience wondering what the article featuring them is about. Another way I have influenced my audience is the way I have catelogued all of my features on my front cover. They are all clear and easy to read which will tell my readers exactly what is inside the magazine and will influence them to read it.
On my contents page I have used two different images as I know that visual things are more successful in drawing a readers attention than text. Therefore I have used images and then used big numbers to direct my readers to the correct page. I have also maintained my colour sceme of Red, White and Black on this page. I think to be honest this really made my page much easier to look at as the colours wern't too overpowering. Another way my contents page attracts my audience is the layout of my features. I have used Times New Roman as my font because it makes my text so much easier to read and understand. Also I have used a clear layout that underlines my features with a vibrant red line, therefore it is simple for my audience to distinguish what feature is on what page.
On my double page I have used a layout which enables me to have much more text, which I think will be really well recieved by my audience because my target audience are mature young adults who are articulate who will be more interested in the information my artists give about themseleves than having a huge image dominating one page. However I have also used two images that are both very striking one shows the girls to be completely in character, however the other image shows the girls to be just ordinary talented young women and I think the fun side that image shows will endear them to my audience. I have also used quotes to break up my text, I think this was a good technique to use because no matter how intelligent someone is, if their is mountains and mountains of text they are going to find the idea of reading all of that information daunting. Therefore in breaking the text up i have made the interview look less complicated and compact making the reading of it more appealing to my audience. I have also capatalised my interviewers text questions and eboldened the text, this will make it easier for my audience to distinguish what is a question and what is an answer.
Q6 What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Personally I have learnt a huge amount. I have found that some technologies are a lot easier and achieve much better results than others. For example I originally started editing my magazine and photos is paint shop pro. However after numerous attempts and failures to find and use the tools I needed in order to create my Sin City theme, I gave up and deicided to use Adobe Photoshop. I have to say the difference was huge, I was able to do things much quicker and to be honest the look I was left with looked much more professional than anything I had previously produced on paint shop pro. It was because of photoshop and toold such as filter and "wind effect" that I was able to create an effect that looked like real rain. I was extreamly impressed with Adobe Photoshop it made everything I wanted to do so much easier, Even the simple tast of editing my images and getting the brightness and vibrance perfect was easy because all of the tools I needed were there for me. I really enjoyed using photoshop I will admit there were times when I found things complicated and frustrating but I persevered and I think in the end photoshop enabled me to produce a really good professional looking music magazine.
Q7 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in progression from it to the full product?
Personally I feel I have learnt a huge amount. When I first made my preliminary I was very proud of what I has achieved, I used a picture of some of my collegues in college smiling cheesely. I used lot's of different fonts and colours on both my contents page and my front cover.
It was only really when I began doing my research that I realised professional magazines prefer to be much more subtle. I learnt that unlike my main image on my preliminary, professional magazines prefer to use a blank background and their model or artist is always wearing a particular expression, wheather that be; cynical, sexy, sinister, serious etc. I realised that all images are usually planned and styled so that the magazine gets exactly the look they wanted to create. I realised that unlike my preliminary magazine that just uses anyone for my main image, professional magazines look for models and artists that exude a particular attitude and look. They do this by carefully planning everything, for example; the costumes the model or artist wears, to the way they are standing, to the way they look physically.
I also discovered that professional magazines often only use 3 fonts and very minimal amounts of colours as too much colour and a range of different fonts can actually make the magazine harder to read and therefore stop a reader from buying the magazine. After discovering this I looked at my own preliminary and realised that my magazine had used a range of font and colours and was in fact very distracting and harder to read than professional magazines. I compared my bright purple contents page to a professional one made by Q and a decided that less was definitely more.
I also looked at how magazine such as Q had created such dramatic looking covers and discovered that unlike my preliminary magazine, that used one main image and then at least 5 other images, Q had one main image and the rest of its information was portrayed through there use of text. I decided that in order to get my Sin City theme to work I would also have to follow Q's example and find one striking image that would stand out without needing other images to attract a reader in. I also found that the background on a magazine is very important as most magazines use blank backgrounds. They do this because they don't want to detract from the main image and other features listed. In my preliminary I can definitely see how using a blank background would of made my magazine look much more professional, however in the long run in order to create my Sin City theme I wanted my background of New York to be just as striking as my main image therefore on that I disagree with other magazines; I think a striking background does work however it has to fit in with the models look and theme.
I have to say that from my preliminary to now I have learnt so much, whether it be how to use more complicated tools on photoshop such as the clone tool, the magic wand, the hue and saturation, the different filters I used to create my wind affect. Or discovering the main conventions magazines use and why they use them, or finally learning the best way to create the dramamtic Sin City theme I wanted. It was been a huge learning experience.
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