Planning Images

Mood Board 1,2,3 and 4

Evaluation Question 7

From looking at my Preliminary task and my finished products, I think it is clear to see that my editing skills have improved. When I did my preliminary task, I really did not know how to use any of the tools in photoshop. Now I feel I am rather comfortable with identifying and using a lot of the tools in photoshop. I feel I have learnt a lot about the photography side go editing. While in the process of taking to photos for the magazine, I realised that things such as lighting and angles make a huge impact to what the photos look like. There were a fair few images I had to scrap because the lighting was off or the angle didn't work with the layout of my magazine. I feel I also have learnt a lot about the use of fonts on my magazine. While in the making of my finished products, I did spend a lot of time just going through fonts and seeing if they work with the style and genre of my magazine. I also learnt a lot about my chosen target audience through the amount of research I did in order to make my magazine both relatable and accurate. Overall, I feel I have learnt a lot about the entire media industry just through the construction of my magazine products.

Evaluation Question 6

The technology I used in the production of my magazine were actually rather basic. I took my initial photos with my iPhone 5 but none of these photos were used in my finished product, these were for the planning processes. The technology I used to construct the finished products was Adobe Photoshop on both a dell desktop and my own macbook. A lot of the technical things came from the tools I used in photoshop. One tool I used quite a lot while constructing my magazine was the fade and outline tool. This is what I used to get the white outline around the images that fades into the colours of the model. I also used the crop tool and the magic want tool in order to make the images appear a lot more smooth. I had a big advantage with the availability of websites like flip snack and survey monkey as I used these a lot in the making and also the posting of the products onto my blog.

Evaluation Question 6 (Images)

Evaluation Question 5

The point of sale for my magazine would most likely be online or in supermarkets such as Tesco, ASDA, and Lidl. The reason why I don't think it would be sold in book stores like W.H Smith is because those kinds of stores sell a lot of sophisticated and formal books and magazines whereas, my magazine is widely based on rebellion and is rather informal in terms of looks and language. The things that are most likely to grab the viewers eyes whilst they scan through the shelves is the big, bold masthead and the main cover lines, both made to stand out heavily by the colour of the background. I did not position the image on the cover so that it will be fully visible while on shelves as I felt it would be unnecessary as the masthead and cover lines already give a lot away about the magazine that the additional image wouldn't really be needed. The cover lines also use second person pronouns such as 'Your Guitar and YOU.' I did this to make the target audience, both, more involved in the magazine and also more intrigued to read this certain segment of the magazine. Another thing that can draw the audience towards my magazine is the offer for a free poster that will be visible whilst on shelves. This may increase the chances of sales for the magazine as the poster may be a thing of interest for a good amount of the target audience and, therefore, may push them to buy the magazine.
The language that is used in the content of the magazine, mainly the double page spread, I feel is widely appropriate for the target audience as there is a fair bit of slang terms used and, also, it is an interview with a rockstar so that will certainly be something that the target audience will be interested in. I decided to stick with the dark colours to keep the magazine consistent and also to keep it relatable to the target audience with the use of blacks and blues. There are also images throughout the magazine of the rockstar that this edition of the magazine is mainly focussed on. I did this because it can keep the audience interested in the star and also to remind them that the main focus of the magazine will be him.
The unique selling point for this magazine is the fact that the magazine will strictly be focused on Rock and Heavy metal, no other genres of music will be included so the sales of the magazine will be heavily reliant on hardcore heavy metal fans. Also each edition will have a strong focus on an in particular person or band but will also include stories about other artists and things to do with the genre.

Evaluation Question 4

This is along the lines of what a typical reader of my magazine would look like. Just from they way this person dresses, it would be clear to tell that she would be the kind of person who would listen to things like Rock and Heavy Metal music. It is clear because people who tend to listen to this kind of music are commonly stereotypes to wear a lot of black clothing with crazy hair and tattoo's, and even though it is a stereotype, these traits are very common throughout the Heavy metal fan base. I would image that people such as this person would potentially shop at places like Rebels Market, Tragic Beautiful and Heavy Red as these kinds of stores all specialise in dark, gothic clothing that is commonly found of heavy metal fans. From researching online and also from asking people both online and from an online survey, I managed to find out that the average life of a hardcore heavy metal fan is both repetitive and, to an extent, boring. Because my survey gained no responses, my results were based on the answers given by fellow college members and the results i gained proved to be rather reliable. From the people i gained my results from, i found out that a day would consist of things such as listening to heavy metal music in their room or in free time. I also found that all of the people i gained results from love things such as music festivals and parties; drinking plays a big part in a lot of metal fans lives. I also aced them what kinds of television shows do they watch and all of them stated that it is very rare that they watch television, they prefer to listen to music or play video games. Common favourites of video games among the metal fans I spoke to were games such as Resident Evil, Outlast and Brütal Legend, all of which being rather dark and consist of a lot of violence. Overall, I feel like this kind of person would be very interested in buying my magazine is I used the information i gained from my sources and tried to incorporate them into my magazine to make it, both, more relatable and also enjoyable for this kind of target audience.

Evaluation Question 3

I believe that my magazine would be most suited to be published by IPC Media company. The reason why I decided to go with a rather large music company is because I feel that the popularity of Rock and Heavy Metal music is heavily on the rise so I feel it would be rather appropriate for my rock magazine to be published by a serious music company. This company does not publish as many magazines as companies like Bauer which could be seen as a positive aspect for my magazine. Due to the fact that there are not as many magazines published by IPC, it could mean that my magazine could be seen as a more major one in the company as there is not as many magazines to compete with as opposed to the amount of magazines published by Bauer. It could also mean that my magazine would be able to get a lot more advertisement space inside the company as, again, there are not so many other magazines to fill the spots.
I do know that there are both advantages and disadvantages to having my magazine being published by a large company rather than doing self-publishing. An advantage is that you magazine is more likely to be very well known if you are with a already well known company. However if your magazine isn't considered as one of the best by the public/target audience, then your magazine can be easily removed from that company and will no longer be published by that big company. Whereas, if you choose to do self publishing and your magazine really takes off with the public, then both the magazine and the publishing company will become very popular and also will not have to compete with other magazines to make the front pages of the magazine company.
My magazine will have to rely on sales and advertisement to make profit as this kind of magazine isn't one that would be given away for free or posted through peoples letter boxes. This is because this magazine reaches out to a very specific target audience, so handing the magazine out to everyone would be both a waste of money and also a waste of time as not everyone will appreciate the magazine and will, most likely, throw it away. There are not many music magazines that are given away for free for the same reason, each music magazine has its own unique target audience.
I know that my magazine will not be very popular once the first edition is published to there would be only small amounts of advertisements at the start of the magazines existence. If the magazine sales are overestimated, it could lead to the magazine going bankrupt and being taken off shelves before it has a chance to take off.

Evaluation Question 2

In the making of my magazine products, the people I, overall, wanted to represent the most was young rebellious men aged between 18-30. Looking at my products now that they are finished, I genuinely feel like I have represented this specific group rather well.
The obvious way in which i have attempted to represent this community is through the music genre I have chosen for my magazine, this being Rock/Heavy Metal. A lot of todays rock music is heavily based around the idea of rebelling against society. They do this using the lyrics, clothing and the way the music sounds. I feel this perfectly represents the community I had in mind as a lot of listeners of this style of music do intact take a lot of inspiration form the music, whether its the music itself they are taking inspiration form the the band/artists who perform them. Another way I made an attempt to represent my chosen community in my magazine is the use of colours. Its easily recognisable to spot someone who potentially listens to heavy metal often by the clothes they wear. A lot of their items of clothing will be black, grey, dark blue e.t.c. So I took this into mind and utilised it in my magazine to make it a lot more relatable and representable towards my community by making the background of my cover and contents page grey and my double page spread a dark blue that fades into black. a lot of the visuals on all three of my finished products consist of a dark shade of colours. One thing I have also done is follow a few stereotypes that are commonly portrayed with the community I am trying to represent. One example of this is some of the language I have used on my magazine, more specifically in the interview on my double page spread. contained in the interview, there is a lot of slang used, all from the musician being interviewed. Another example is the images I decided to go with on my magazine. The images show a person who does intact fall under the community I wish to represent appearing somewhat emotionless, wearing tatty clothes. I did this so I could make another relation to the target audience as they may be able to relate to the model that was used.
The main image on my front cover can be easily compared to an image you might find on a magazine like 'Q' or 'NME' as both magazine try to focus on slightly similar fan bases. I did intact base the style of my image ( the camera angle, lighting and depth of focus ) on the design of some 'Q' magazines after doing a little research. I like the look of the image having a clear bright outline leading to the darkness of the clothing that the model is wearing. also the whole design, in my head, went well with the overall design of the magazine and also would be relatable for the target audience.

Evaluation Question 1

Finished Products

Survey Monkey Questionnaire Results