Institutions

Evaluation

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

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature, music, or information — the activity of making information available to general public. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers, meaning: originators and developers of content also provide media to deliver and display the content for the same. Also, the word publisher can refer to the individual who leads a publishing company or imprint or to a person who owns a magazine. I have looked at many magazine publisher companies; to see what ones I think would publish my music magazine. I will choose a company that does not publish a magazine like mine which means they are more likely to choose my magazine to publish.

A company that may be willing to publish my magazine would be Bauer media, as it doesn’t  not publish a magazine like mine, and it would be a good opening for them to make a profit and to also rival existing music magazines, such as NME and Q. However Bauer publish Kerrang, which is another music magazine; however my magazine is about a different genre and targets a different audience. It would also allow Bauer to open up many opportunities to create other magazines like mine.

Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group; Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Publishes Kerrang magazine

Representation

Evaluation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In the design and thought process of making my magazine i had to tackle the problem of what social group and audience that i would be aiming for to be reading my mag. So I looked at other magazines to help decided what to do and found that i wouldn't like to narrow my audience down too much. I wanted to have quite a wide age range that my magazine would satisfy as well as it being made for both sexes.

My media product represents people from 14-30 and people who enjoy going out to parties and music festivals. I suppose the main way of describing my audience would be teenagers and young adults who enjoy going out and having fun and have an interest in music. 

In my magazine I tried to depict the indie/rock genre, one way it represents particular social groups is that of the text it features. The text is non-formal and the language used is modern and easy to read, which I think the readers will like because they don’t want to work there brain too much.

I believe my magazine does touch on subjects that the social group my magazine represents will like, as I do advertise the band in the main article. Of course the band is a non-existing one, but however it does advertise the band and their album. It also features a couple of item review pages such as film and games, however these pages were not too be made, but to add to the contents page because that’s what the consumer wants

Overall i think there isn't a specific social group for my magazine because anyone could read it, it just depends on if you like the music.

forms and conventions

Evaluation

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

By deconstructing media, for example analysing a music magazine, you would look for conventions. Conventions are very important in media productions because it notice's what structure has been used before. A convention can also be described as a common denotation. Music magazines with different genre have specific conventions. Some magazines have more conventions than other due to genre and structure. Genre describes what audience is being targeted while producing a magazine. Genre is similar to a stereotype- they both want to express their lifestyle. My magazine has an Indie/Rock genre. This genre is conventional for a magazine because it is basic in expressing its content. Take for instance NME uses many conventions but is always differing between them, for example NME’s cover with Carl Barat is very basic and has typical conventions like large headlines that connote awareness which is good for target audiences. It does its job in sucking viewers in and making them attached to the magazine. Also an objective image of the person the main content is about and the iconic NME title at the top.

Most cover pages are expected to have Masthead at the top of the page. Cover lines around the page. The main cover line somewhere visible, the placement of this text depends on the background image/colour. A main image that often takes up all of the background and lastly a bar code.

All these conventions have a particular placement on the cover to either make them stand out, or to make other conventions stand out. For example the bar code is usually hidden in one of the bottom corners of the page because it is not exactly important and it spoils the look of images.

It is not only cover pages which have conventions, contents pages and double page spreads also have aspects which have particular placements; of course these conventions may differ depending on the magazine style, audience and depending on the article.

 Most double page spreads are expected to have kickers at the start of the article to interest the reader and to help them find out if they actually want to read the article if it interests them. Article titles are usually based at the top of the page(s) in large font that interests the reader and draws their attention. Drop caps at the beginning of the first paragraph of the article, drop caps look nice; they help to improve the aesthetics of the article. Gutters (large enough to be able to read paragraphs without problems) Pull quotes placed somewhere in the text to draw attention to the most interesting parts of the article. Captions linked to images to help the reader understand what is going on and why things in the pictures are happening. Main image to draw the reader’s attention and to allow readers of that genre to find out what this article is about if they recognise the person in the photo. Perhaps bonus text or images to interest the reader or to advertise other, big articles or magazines (this usually happens with magazines who are owned by big publishing companies who new to boost the popularity of a different magazine.)

My final cover features all the conventions of a real magazine cover page. The purpose of the cover page is to make a magazine stand out from those displayed around it so the key to its success is a really strong image of someone the audience recognises and likes. Cover pages also need a strong masthead. Other conventional details include a cover story, usually in large text, cover lines to promote the magazine's contents, a bar code and dateline. Some also include additional features.

Venue double page spread

Venue contents page

Venue front cover

Original images