AS Media Studies.: March 2010

This is an evaluation of my music magazine. Before I created my music magazine I had to complete a preliminary task which was to create a college magazine using DTP (desktop publisher) and Photoshop. A medium close up shot was compulsory for the college magazine as was a masthead accompanied by text about the magazine. After I had completed my college magazine I was then given a new task which was to create a music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. The product had to come from my own ideas as original images and text had to be original. Using the skills I had achieved from completing my college magazine I began to produce my music magazine.

However, before starting my music magazine I had to research some music magazine such as Kerrang, Q and Smash hits. Whilst researching music magazines, I began to post front covers, contents pages and double page spreads throughout my blog and detonated them in order to discover the conventions of these parts of music magazines. When I had completed all my research I began to use the ideas collected from detonating music magazine and use them in my own magazine.

For my front cover I chose to use a large masthead which is compulsory in all magazines as the masthead states to the reader what the magazine is called. In some cases the magazines masthead refers to something within the music industry. For example my music magazine is called 'Backstage'. The reason I chose to call my music magazine Backstage was because it refers to the music industry and offers a "backstage" pass into the lives of modern day music artists. As all mastheads are placed in the top section of the front cover of music magazines, I decided not to break that convention and placed my masthead above my main image. When creating my masthead I replaced the 'A's in the word backstage and replaced them with stereos as the stereos refer to the music industry. Features like this are not common within music magazines however I decided to use this feature as it is different and edgy. I chose to have my logo within my name of my magazine. I transformed my A's in Backstage into stereos as they are iconography of music. My masthead is large and bold which is eye catching which all mastheads on front covers are in order to grab the readers attention and inform them about the magazine. I decided to have the masthead the biggest text on the front cover as the masthead needs to stand out in order to grab the readers attention. Having a large, bold masthead is another convention of music magazines. Whilst researching music magazines I also discovered that most of them included tag lines such as Q magazine. Q magazines tag line is "A different take on music". However, some magazines do not use taglines. I decided not to use a tag line on my front cover as the tagline offers added information towards to music magazine which I believe my does not need as 'Backstage' is straight to the point of the magazine, offering a backstage pass to fans of rock/metal music.

My music magazine headline refers to my main image, Tom Kay. The headline of my music magazine is "An exclusive interview with Tom Kay". Besides from the masthead, the headline is the dominant text on front covers are they are the main focus of the magazine. All music magazine headlines refer to the main image featured on the front cover, as does mine, which is a convention of music magazines. I used a website called dafont.com in order to change my writing into different styles. I used this website to edit my main story text, 'An exclusive interview with Tom Kay'. I chose to do this to make the text look different and edgy.

Another convention of music magazines I discovered was the use of a main image used on the front cover. The main image usually links with the headline featured on the front cover. My main image is a medium shot of Tom Kay with his Ibanez Jem guitar. Most main images used on music magazine front covers include the subject facing the front of the magazine to make it look as if the musician/band are looking out to the reader which makes them feel engaged. However, I chose to have Tom pose as if he's playing his guitar with him looking down at it in order to give the impression that he is concentrating on playing which makes him seem professional to the reader. I also used a fan in order to spread out his hair so that the image doesn't seem ordinary or boring. The use of the fan machine was intended to spread Tom's hair out which makes the main image of him seem like it is taking up most of the front cover, which traditional music magazine main images do. However, when taking the photo which would later be my main image, the background to the photo was blue as I took the photo in the blue room of the facilities provided for me during the time given to us to create my music magazine. Blue is not a convention of rock/metal music. All rock/metal music magazines I researched had red or black colours within them. After learning this, I used Photoshop in order to delete the background to my photo. Instead of leaving my background white, I created a gradient red and black page on Photoshop which I then inserted onto desktop publisher, stretched it out to fit the A4 page and made it my background to my magazine. I chose to use the colours red and black because they are a convention of the rock/metal genre.

All music magazines also contain sub-headings or cover lines which inform the reader what is included within the magazine. Traditional music magazines have their cover lines one side of the splash, however, some have the cover lines either side. I chose to have my cover lines on the left side of the splash so that they do not cross over onto my main image. My cover stories include "upcoming tours 2009, hottest albums 2008, free poster and top 10 bands of 2008". All of these cover stories refer to the music industry and similar stories are usually featured within a music magazine. In order to add more writing on my front cover and make it stand out I decided to use an flag image from clipboard on desktop publisher, filled it in black and wrote my sub-stories featured within the magazine in red and placed them on the flag image in order to make it stand out on the magazine, once again using the rock/metal convention colours of red and black.

My music magazine also contained a price, barcode and a dateline. I placed my date along the left side of my splash so that it is not interfering with my cover stories on the right hand side of my splash. There was an empty space in the right corner of my front cover. In order to fill this blank space I later placed the price for my music magazine there which is £3.50. Most magazines I researched on Google and in shops had many ranges of prices. I chose to have the price of my music magazine as £3.50 as it is not too expensive to put readers off buying the magazine but it also is not cheap to buy as my music magazine offers free give-aways such as posters. The music magazines I researched at home and on the internet were usually around £3. This would effect the audience in a positive way as the magazine isn’t too expensive for my target age group to buy.

After creating my front cover I began to create my contents page. Whilst researching front covers I also began to research contents pages. When researching contents pages I found out they also contain a masthead as does the front cover. When creating my masthead I used dafont.com in order to create the text to make it seem different and edgy instead of just typing the text using font from publisher. I made the text bold and black as black is a convention of rock/metal genre which is the genre my magazine represents. I decided to use a bold text in order to make the word ‘contents’ eye catching and clearly visible to the reader. After completing the masthead for my contents page I decided to create a banner for the text in order to make it stand out more. I did this by creating an A4 page on Photoshop, using the paint can tool to make the background red, save it, then uploaded it onto desktop publisher. I then shrank the background down so it would fit the top of the contents page and then placed the masthead above it. The use of the red banner underneath the masthead makes the masthead stand out more.

Another convention of music magazine contents pages I followed was splitting the articles featured within the music magazine into two sections: ‘Features’ and ‘Regulars’. Dividing the two sections enables to reader to clearly see what are the new features in that particular edition of the magazine and which and the regular features within the magazine. When adding text onto my contents page, I thought about what colour scheme I would use. I chose to keep the colours red and black and them colours are a convention of rock/metal music which is the genre my music magazine is based on. When researching contents pages, I found that most contents pages had the page numbers in bold and in a larger font than the text. I decided not to break this convention and made the page numbers on my contents page in a larger font, in bold and in red which helps grab the readers attention and makes them easy to see.

I also decided to add images to my contents page as all the contents pages I researched included images. I chose to have one image of Tom Kay which I later decided would be the poster featured within the magazine. In order to create the posters I had to upload an image onto Photoshop. I then used the rubber tool in order to get rid of the blue background.

After erasing the background I copied and pasted the Tom's name from dafont.com. The font I used was called 'angelic war'. I then saved the images as JPEG's in order to insert them onto my contents page on Microsoft publisher. The two other images I decided to use on my contents page were two pictures of guitars. I decided to use these pictures in order to fill up more space on my contents page. The images of the guitars also help the reader to relate to the type of music featured in backstage as the guitar is iconographic of rock music.

After finishing my contents page I began work on my double page spread. Double page spreads are based traditionally on the main article of the music magazine. When researching double page spreads I found out that there is a wide range of different types of double page spreads. Some double page spreads contain questions and answers in which an interviewer will ask questions to a musician/band and the musician/band will answer. These questions will relate to the topic that the main article is about e.g. new album. However, some main articles I researched only contained a masthead, main image and some text offering information about what the main article is about which would then lead onto another page which would then go on to give the reader information about the main article. I decided not to break these conventions and instead of using the question and answer double page spread, I decided to create a small article offering information about the main article which would then lead onto another article further on in the magazine about the main headline. I decided to have my masthead as ‘Best of British’. This refers to Tom Kay, one of Britain’s best upcoming stars. I used black text from dafont in order to create my masthead as I believe that it links well to what my article is about. I believe the font I used for my masthead gives the headline an edgy look which is important for magazines. I also followed the convention of double page spreads by adding an image of Tom Kay onto the double page spread. When adding my image onto my double page spread I decided to edit an image into the photo of Tom Kay. The image I chose was of a British flag. I uploaded the image of Tom Kay onto photo shop, made the image transparent and then placed the image of the British flag within the image. The use of the British flag within the image of Tom Kay helps link the image to the headline ‘Best of British’ and what the main article is based on, Tom Kay’s success in the music industry and his potential to be on of Britain’s brightest stars.

I believe that the audience for my music magazine would be predominantly males aged between 15 and 30. I believe this is a suitable target audience for my music magazine as my magazine is based on rock and metal music which a lot of teens and young adults listen to.

I have asked a student from Wyke college, Charlie Stathers, to evaluate my work and give his opinion on my music magazine.

“I really like the way he has presented his front cover because it shows a lot of colour which shows the audience that its not boring and dull. If I had to change anything about this I would make the bottom text a bit bigger on the front cover.”

“I like his contents page because it gives important information and the picture of the musician goes well with the guitars. The only thing I’d change about would be that it look a bit too plain and changes I’d make would include more colour.”

“Adam shows on the double page spread good Photoshop skills on the picture of Tom also he has placed the bold text in a very interesting positions”.

“I would buy this magazine because its very appealing towards me and I find it interesting to look at and also it makes me want to find out more about what’s inside.”

The language I used when making my preliminary task included simple language in order to make the text on the magazine easy to read and understand. A music magazine intended for young adults and late teens wouldn’t include complicated language as it may put the target audience off the magazine as it may be too complicated to read.

The aim behind my music magazine is to represent metal and rock music. I have done this by following the conventions behind the rock/metal music magazines I have researched prior to starting my preliminary task.

When creating my music magazine, I used all the skills I gained from when I created my college magazine. These skills including using Photoshop, using http://www.dafont.com/ and using Desktop publisher.

Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel that I have achieved a better understand of how magazines are created, a better understanding of how to use Photoshop and how to use my own skills in order to create a magazine. In order to sharpen up my skills on Photoshop, I would use more of my free time to practise using all the tools on it. I would of also have experimented more with text. Instead of just using http://www.dafont.com/ if I had chance to redo my preliminary task I would of experimented more with my text fonts.