music magazine evaluation

1.In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

To understand more about the forms and conventions of the type of music magazine I planned to create I undertook some research into existing music magazines of the genre that I planned to target.

I created a mind map so that I could compile and look over the conventions that I could use or reject within my own magazine, I considered all aspects of the layout of the covers from headlines and fonts to colour schemes and photography.

After looking at music magazines that were acceptant of the grunge rock genre such as Kerrang! Magazine, NME and Rock Sound, I experimented with the different conventions that they used within their magazines. I noted that the colour schemes used by most of the rock magazines where dark yet bold, often using contrasts between red, yellow and black. I thought that this effectively reflected the stereotypical mood and atmosphere of rock music, making the audience understand what kind of magazine it is. I thought that this was important because I wanted my magazine to successfully target the audience that it is designed for: grunge rock fans. As a result I decided to use a similar colour scheme as well as incorporating some blues that contrasted with the other colours to indicate important articles.

From previous research I already understood the kind of photography conventions used in rock magazines and particularly grunge style photography. For my magazine shoot I decided to stick to using grunge style conventions, I made sure my backdrop wasn't too stylized, I also kept the clothing for the shoot fairly dark and simple to empathise with the attitudes of grunge rockers and fans to make the cover relatable to the target audience. As a result I think that this has made the products of the shoot successful, the photos are easily recognisable as those of the grunge style to an audience.

This is the link to my mind map: Online mind map

 

 

 

 

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

http://prezi.com/rkhwujoh0wt6/present/?auth_key=1y4oxls&follow=1gnw3r9j9uyt

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Media institutions is an established, often-profit based organisation, that deal in the creation and distribution of advertising,entertainment and information services.

I think the kind of publishers that would distribute my media product would be Bauer Media Group and IPC Media, this is because these two media institutions already publish rock music magazines Kerrang! NME and Uncut, this shows that they have an acceptance and understanding of the genre and would be supportive of producing a rock subgenre magazine.

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

http://mind42.com/mindmap/5d03f900-66ce-4074-bafe-755e64aa57c8?rel=url 

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

 



6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
http://prezi.com/fcq6wc2dawg9/untitled-prezi/?kw=view-fcq6wc2dawg9&rc=ref-38505427

7. Looking back at your preliminary task (college magazine) what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

 



From looking at my preliminary task I believe that I have learnt a lot more about magazines and the editing process of magazines than I did when I first started the project, my understanding of how to channel and target particular target audiences has also expanded.

At the beginning of the project I thought that I already had a significant understanding of the technology and ways in which magazines are produced but I now understand the complexities that are involved with the development of the final product.

When I created my preliminary task, my college magazine, I wasn’t happy with my outcome because I thought that it wasn’t professional looking which, in all reality, it wasn’t. However, I am pleased with my outcome for this project; I think that I have managed to create a professional looking magazine that would be recognised by an audience as a magazine for grunge and rock fans.

 

 

 

 

The front cover for the college magazine that I had created for the preliminary task was very bland with washed out colours, I tried to make the colour scheme relevant to the theme that I had chosen for the magazine (Christmas issue) but I felt that overall, the idea of using a seasonal theme was a bad idea. I struggled to find appropriate fonts for the magazine and ended up using fonts that looked unprofessional alongside the front cover photograph.

I thought that my contents page for my college magazine was also unsuccessful, mainly due to the use of colours in blocks that clashed with each other and the font. Having looked back at these once again I can now see how far I've come since starting my music magazine.

 

 

I think that I have learnt a lot about how to produce a professional magazine in relation to a target audience, I chose fonts and colour schemes that went well together yet contrasted each other in a way that drew a readers eye to the magazine. I also used much better quality photographs that had been stylised both on the shoot and in post editing to make them more professional and to fit the needs and requirements of the magazine, I learnt how to use software such as Adobe InDesign and Photoshop with successful outcomes which made my magazine appear suitable for my genre.

 

 













 

 

 

 

 

grunge magazine cover

This is my final edit of my grunge rock music magazine.
Overall I am quite pleased with the outcome, I managed to incorporate the codes and conventions of rock music magazines that I thought where successful and eye-catching, such as the colour schemes and layout of the headlines and sub headings.
I also thought that my use of fonts was successful in conveying the style and culture of grunge rock due to their overall edgy, roughly cut look.

magazine contents

This is my final edit for my music magazine contents page, although I like a lot of the aspects of the contents page I think that I could have incorporated more articles and features. I think that the fonts that I chose to use as well as the colour schemes where bold and interesting to look at, I also thought that the photographs that I used where appropriate for the magazine and related to the grunge theme.

double page spread

This is my edited double page spread, I decided to feature a quote within my photo so that a reader would be drawn into what the article contains and reads further.

 This is my double page spread, I decided to keep the text page quite minimal so that the photograph was the main feature of the article.

contents page research

Contents Page Research

 

To give me better ideas and inspiration for how to construct my music magazine's contents page I conducted some research into the contents pages of already existing music magazines who are acceptant of the grunge rock genre.

I focused mainly on the layout of Kerrang! Magazine's contents pages because I found them visually interesting and appealing, I liked how everything was easy to understand and the way that your eye is drawn to the major aspects within the contents page such as the features and posters.

I noticed that the codes and conventions within many of the rock magazines where to stylise their covers, articles and contents pages roughly and bodly, perhaps to reflect the ideology and stereotype that the rock genre as a whole is quite rough and rock'n'roll. One of the most obvious colour schemes that where frequently used in rock magazine covers and contents pages is red, black and yellow. I decided to try and use this colour scheme in my own magazine because it is successful within other rock magazines and is bold and interesting to look at.



 

 

my magazine photos

These are the photographs that I took for my music magazine, I've displayed both the original images and post edited images that I will use on the magazine.

I cloned out the radiator in the backdrop of the photographs using photoshop because I felt that it looked unprofessional and untidy in the images. I also added darker filters to the photo's to make them more "grunge" looking, for the shoot I made sure that everything I wore related to the genre, so nothing was overly stylised and clean cut. I chose to wear dark clothes and makeup to reflect the mood and atmosphere of the music.

Grunge Photography

Grunge photography

To get a better idea of what I would need to do to prepare for my magazine cover shoot, I researched grunge photography as well as looked at the photography of grunge bands used on their promotional posters and albums.

I noticed that the photography used in grunge style shoots was nearly always over-exposed, high key lighting with a grainy filter. These different factors made the photographs appear much edgier and tougher, suggesting that the people within the photos were just that. This also reflects the ideologies held by grunge fans and musicians, they didn't sugar coat things and make things prettier, they stripped everything down to the basics, exposing their beliefs and attitudes to viewers.

Band photography



A grunge style

A grunge style

A grunge way of dressing is pretty simplistic due to the attitudes of a "grunge" individual, clothing most commenly worn by fans and musicians would consist of flea market or thrift store items and typical outdoor clothing such as parkas and, most commonly, flannel shirts.

Recently, grunge fashion has come under the view of the media and fashion again, I will use these recent examples to give me ideas for what to use for my own grunge photoshoot for my magazine cover. I researched grunge fashion and models and these are some of the images that I thought reflected the Grunge style well:



Grunge rock, where it all started

Grunge Rock

In the process of creating a Grunge Rock magazine it only figures to do research into the history and beginnings of Grunge Rock.

We all know of grunge bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but not many know where the style of grunge bloomed from, this is where I began my research.

The most famous of the Grunge Rockers?

I strated my research online, first searching "Grunge", this is what I found:

Wikipedia: Grunge (sometimes referred to as Seattle-sound) is a subgenre of Alternative Rock that emerged during the mid 1980's in the American state of Washington.

Grunge rock is inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electic guitars and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics etc.

Many grunge musicians were noted for their unkempt appearances and rejection of theatrics.

I found that Grunge was very similar to Punk in the sense that both the music genres shared a raw sound, similar lyrical concerns and clothing style. The general feel of the Grunge culture is that of anarchy and youth rebellion, not stylishness or luxury suggested by other genres of music.

But this is not to say that grunge rock bands were lazy teenagers, grunge concerts were well known for being straightforward, high energy performances. They rejected the idea of high budget, complex performances of many other genres of music and stuck to a very simple, almost garage/backyard type of performance.

It is this attitude of grunge rockers that I want to show in my magazine through photography, fonts and coverlines. I believe that a grunge rock magazine will be very edgy yet not too stylised, a grunge rockers fundimental atmosphere is that they do not care for the complexities of social media and fashion. This is highly important for me to address because otherwise, I would be rejecting most beliefs of a grunge rocker, therefore not creating a grunge rock magazine.