Self evaluation- Question 1

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

My magazine, “NOISE” specialises in both grunge and indie music, which are two very different genres. I don’t know any other specialised music magazine which focuses on only those two genres. Therefore, I think NOISE challenges the idea that a music magazine has to be about one genre. However, I know magazines like NME and Q focus on popular music, so not grunge. Grunge was thought to have died out with Kurt Cobain, lead-singer and guitarist of Nirvana, back in 1994. However, it still is going strong today, which I know due to personal interest, with bands like Halestorm and also Soundgarden, who recently released an album. I don’t think either grunge or indie music gains enough coverage and there is definitely a gap in the market. I think that could be a development in terms of magazine conventions and I think NOISE could well be very popular amongst those who agree.

                I think those few magazines which do focus on my preferred genres, generally focus on males, to appeal to the “male” audience. I know, from my research, that only around 54% of the audience of “Kerrang!” are male, meaning the other 46% are female. I feel the female audience is being missed out and somewhat ignored. There are plenty of female “stars” within my chosen genres who could easily be represented, such as Lzzy Hale (Halestorm) and Courtney Love (Hole-widow of Kurt Cobain).

 
 My magazine focuses on women for both of the issues that my partner Alisha Evans and I created, with single females on the front cover. My edition quite literally only focuses on women, with the main focus being a fictional bassist, Belle Hayward, as the “youngest ever person in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”. I don’t think gender should necessarily define a grunge/indie music magazine, as it’s aimed at the age-group where it wouldn’t make a difference anyway, plus, it’s all about the music and nothing else.

                I think, overall, my magazine challenges the conventions of not just magazines, but how the world sees grunge and indie music, as being male-dominated genres. I think NOISE shows that women can be just as important in the eyes of the fans and also proves that not only men are interested. I personally know more females who enjoy those genres than I do males.

LINK TO MY PREZI FOR Q1

http://prezi.com/w5j1mwuzg80w/in-what-ways-does-your-media-product-use-develop-or-challenge-forms-and-conventions-of-real-media-products/

Self evaluation- Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I think the only real social group that my magazine represents are people who hate popular music. There is the problem in today’s culture, that radio and TV stations, and sometimes even magazines, focus only on the annoying world of pop-music, where there are no real role models for my generation. Many more people prefer grunge and indie music than others may realise. These are the people NOISE represents. What may be considered “noise” by some, is a masterpiece in music to others.
                However, I also feel it represents women as being powerful and independent. In my own issue of NOISE, there are only female stars. The front cover is of a friend, who I’ve represented as “Belle Hayward, legendary bassist”. The other two “stars” of my issue are also females, who I’ve named Eve Charming and Ray Jones. I think my magazine shows that not only men are interested in “heavier” genres of music, but women are too, and should be included within the genre itself. In the world of rock, it seems a taboo to include women, as they are not seen as appropriate to the genre, like men.

                I can’t think of any magazine which represents people according to their genre more than their gender. Kerrang, Q and NME usually focus, through images, on gender, men in trousers, women in skirts with ripped tights. Men are usually shown with more tattoos than women, which I personally know isn’t the case. Rockstars are renowned for tattoos, regardless of gender. Even if a woman did have a tattoo, they probably wouldn’t be shown in the article, as it’s “showing body”.
                An example of this would be an article in a recent issue of “Kerrang”, which features Lynz Way, the bassist of pop-punk band, Mindless Self Indulgence. She has a half sleeve tattoo on her left arm. Meaning her sleeve starts at the shoulder and finishes on the forearm, just under the elbow. It’s a relatively large tattoo to miss. When doing shows, she’d have them on display. She also has one on her right thigh and a few on her right forearm. In the image, she is shown wearing baggy pyjamas, which are mentioned in the article. However, the photographer could have asked her to role her sleeves up to show the tattoos.  

                Another example of this would be the special issue Kerrang released, which focused on musicians with tattoos. No female stars were interviewed for the issue. There is clearly segregation here.

               Focussing on women for the two issues we made, I think, would give the impression that it is a women’s magazine, which is not necessarily the case. It’s for both genders, aimed specifically at everyone with a taste for good music. NOISE differs to other magazines with the fact that it focuses on music, rather than gender.

                  So, overall, I think NOISE could appeal to quite literally anyone who is interested in the chosen genres.

Self evaluation- Question 3

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

I think IPC Media would be an ideal distributor for NOISE, as it would only have NME to contend with. NME itself is a very vague magazine in terms of a genre. It doesn’t specialise in one or two, it’s focused on just popular music. The kind of music that the audience of NOISE wouldn’t necessarily listen to voluntarily. Therefore, I don’t think the sales of NME would affect the sales of NOISE.

                I definitely think that there is a gap in the market nowadays for magazines which focus on either grunge or indie music. I think IPC Media would agree with me, as there aren’t any British magazines, or indeed, global magazines, I can think of, or find upon research, that focus solely on grunge and indie.

 

                I think if I were to choose, for example, Bauer Media, I’d have a problem. I don’t think they’d be as enthusiastic. With Kerrang to contend with, I don’t think many people would see a potential for NOISE at Bauer. They would associate the genres together and see too much of a similarity for the two magazines to coexist. However, to the people who actually listen to the music, know the genres and bands, and differences between, would see a difference. Seeing as Kerrang rarely deals with grunge, yet the mainstream alternative genre, the grunge and indie genres are missing out on coverage, which could be achieved with another magazine. Like NOISE.

Self evaluation- Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

From my research, I found out that my ideal audience would be mainly males, in between the ages of 15 and 20, which is generally the same audience as “Kerrang!”. I did, however, find a problem with this. That being that the people who remember grunge music from when it was popular, are maybe the same people who love it now, are going to be older than 20. As grunge music appeared in the late 80’s and early 90’s, not many 15 year olds are going to remember the beginning.
            As I’ve said, I think there is a gap in the market and I think fans of both indie and grunge music would agree with me. While many people think that grunge has died out, I can guarantee it hasn’t. Bands didn’t just stop making music because Nirvana did. People associate the end of grunge with being the end of Nirvana.
           I think, overall, the people who have noticed the gap in the market for grunge and indie magazines would be interested in NOISE, as would anyone who was interested in reading about the star on the cover. Ideally, I think the audience of NOISE magazine would be the young people who seem to be forgotten in terms of music.

Self evaluation- Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

The title of the magazine may seem all too familiar with fans of my focused genres. As the two genres I have specialised my magazine on, grunge and indie, are not necessarily mainstream at the moment, unlike the annoying and repetitive pop-music, which is why fans of grunge and indie may be familiar with the word “noise”. There really seems to be no option, in terms of magazines for people who hate mainstream music, but prefer older and less 9-year-old-girl’s-playlist-style music. It’s almost as if enjoying other genres is a taboo amongst younger people, as we are constantly bombarded with modern music that is currently both overplayed and overrated.

                Obvious things, like using a “well-known” (fictional) superstar on the cover, for all to see can persuade a potential audience to at least pick the magazine up. Using celebrities that people will know is a must for attracting an audience. People associate certain celebrities with certain genres, so for example, if Marilyn Manson was on the cover of a magazine, you’d automatically know the genre as heavy metal.

                I took the information I had gathered upon my research into mind when creating NOISE. For example, the main colour-scheme of NOISE is black, white and red. The colours of the magazine change upon every issue, however, to differentiate the issues from each-other. For example, in my issue of NOISE, the colour scheme is black, white, red and purple. Alisha’s is just black, white and red. The audience sees the colour scheme as being black, white and red and automatically assumes it to be a NOISE magazine.

                I stated in my target audience research conclusion that, “it is important to include gig info, interviews and upcoming bands in my magazine, to suit everyone's interests”, which I have done. The interviews are there to spark interest and persuade people to pick up the magazine.

LINK TO MY PREZI ON QUESTION FIVE
http://prezi.com/dtmq2-kg-f9u/including-the-reader/

Self evaluation- Question 6

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

I’ve learnt how to actually use the Mac computers, just as I have learnt how to use cameras and Adobe efficiently and appropriately.

                The Mac computers can be quite temperamental, but using them properly and efficiently also requires a sense of logic. I learnt, the hard way, that it is so important not only to save documents to a memory stick, but also to the Mac itself, as the number of times I have not had my memory stick on my person, and have been unable to locate the file on the Mac, is incredible. And devastating. Keeping memory sticks in mind, I think it’s also important to eject the memory stick via the Mac before manually removing it, as not removing it properly can corrupt the files on the memory stick. I think it’s also important to save the file to your personal area on the Mac, and not to the Mac itself, as if the Mac you usually use is being used, the file could be found on another computer. There’s less limitations when saving to memory sticks and your own personal area on the Mac.

                In terms of Adobe, I’ve learnt what is and isn’t possible to create on Photoshop. For example, I’ve learned how to alter pictures almost professionally, “fixing” red eyes and blotchy skin. I’ve learnt that pictures, such as covers, contents pages and double-page-spreads-images with a lot of detail, need to be created on Adobe using layers. Using layers makes creating those detailed images so much easier, as with them, you can move, alter, delete and add features separately. Without, it would be very difficult to alter the image once it was created. Without the layers, also, the computer would assume the image to be a “background” and once it has been saved, it would be very difficult/impossible to change. Even if the document was saved as a “psd”, it wouldn’t allow change, just like a “jpeg”.

                From creating my final task, I learnt that different angles can be used on cameras to give an image of power, superiority and status. I also learnt that every camera is different, and the most expensive cameras don’t necessarily give the best quality photos, it all depends on the photographer, location, mise en scene and model.

                Lastly, I learnt that uploading information to the blog as soon as it is done is very important, as the computer you saved your work to may crash and stop working, then you have a problem. I saved my work to Microsoft Word on my own personal computer, then when I came to upload it to the blog, Word had crashed overnight and was not allowing me to open my files. As I hadn’t saved my work to my memory stick either, foolishly putting all trust into Word, I couldn’t upload my work to the blog until the day after trying. I have learnt, the hard way, to save work to the memory stick, upload straight away and never to trust Microsoft Word.

LINK TO MY PREZI ON QUESTION SIX
http://prezi.com/he0hvlysab5g/what-have-you-learnt-about-technologies-from-the-process-of/

Self evaluation- Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Since creating my preliminary task, I feel I have learned a great deal about magazines. For example, I now know that everything that you can see in a magazine is carefully designed and well thought-through. The furniture of a magazine is crafted very cleverly and masterfully in order to create a wider audience and sell as many copies as possible. Even the page-number in the bottom corner of the page is designed and carefully considered. Will it be big? Bold? Clearly visible? Where on the page? Everything has to match the genre of the magazine. If, for example, “Kerrang!”’s masthead was pink with bunny ears, it would look completely out of place and would risk the number of sales for the alternative rock/grunge magazine.

                I have learnt how to make an image, such as a front cover, look more professional, and less like it has been created on Microsoft Word.  The difference is quite incredible, I think, when you consider the small amount of time between the creation of each task.

When I began my A-level media course, I knew literally nothing about magazines. I had a very vague knowledge of what had to be included, for example, the barcode, social network links, colour-schemes and fonts. I now know that everything has to link together. Considering, in my "BRAINSTORM" cover, there is a sign with "GCSE" in the background, which is no good for a sixth-form magazine. The audience have already done their GCSEs. I do, however, think that the font is appropriate, being very studious and official-looking, linking very well to school life.