EVALUATION

For my project I had to create a music magazine front cover, double page spread and a contents page based on a genre of my choice. However before I started the main music magazine project, I produced a college magazine front cover and contents page as this would help me familiarise myself with the tools on Photoshop to aid me in the production of my final piece.

The music genre I decided to focus on was heavy metal, as the magazines belonging to this genre had a mystifying feel to them and greatly stood out to catch the eye of potential audiences- compared to other magazines which belonged to different genres. The first thing I had to do was to analyse 2 existing magazine covers of the same genre and then analyse a double page spread along with a contents page.

The first magazine cover which I decided to analyse was the cover of the heavy metal magazine; Metal Hammer.
To ensure that I thoroughly analysed the front cover, I chose main areas to work around which consisted of the font, colour, title, the target market, and images that were used (including their placement on the page).
I also compared this magazines front cover to the front cover of the magazine Kerrang which led me into producing a fusion of the 2 magazines to create my own magazine; Mad Metal. I adapted ideas from both the magazines front covers to ensure that they appeal to my target audience. To make sure that my magazine definitely appeals to my target market, I conducted a questionnaire which consisted of 7 questions- this enabled me to have a clear understanding of what things appeal to the potential customers.

Having analysed 2 front covers, a double page spread, and a contents page of existing magazines, expanding my knowledge of the genre and noticing the codes and conventions of a metal magazine, I started drawing out a paper draft of how I would like my magazine's front cover to look like.
Whilst creating a paper draft of my front cover, I tried to expand on the existing magazines characteristics to ensure my final piece would be successful.
I felt that I did this task well and managed my time efficiently to ensure I had enough time for my next task, which was to do a computer draft of my front cover.
As I had used the Photoshop program previously I was more confident in producing my front cover and adding more effects, and therefore I used my paper draft as a guideline of how to produce the computer draft. The computer draft consisted of images and texts in the correct colour however the images were taken off the internet and instead of inserting all the images, I inserted text saying “image” so that I knew where the placement of each image was supposed to be.
Also in my draft I inserted the typical features such as the barcode, price and respective issue date alongside the design of the logo of the magazine.
In order to give the magazine a metal effect I researched the internet thoroughly and downloaded the iron maiden font from http://www.fontfinder.ws/7982/Iron-Maiden.html, as i felt this font best portrayed the genre of music.
I then typed up my title in the font, inserted it at the top of the page and made the layer bigger so that it stands out and can be easily read.

Having produced my computer draft of the magazine cover, I opened the file and started adding further information and effects. I understood that third party images could not be used in magazines, so therefore I used a digital camera to take photographs. Having analysed the stereotypical metal artists and understanding that they wear make up, I picked an appropriate candidate and applied a white base to his face, as this is what some metal artists do. As I had already visualised in my head what I would like my artist to look like, I applied black eye make up and red lipstick to make the face stand out; this task took me around an hour which I felt was a good management of my time as I have never used make up in my life!

After finishing the make up, I placed the candidate against a white background as it would contrast with the black clothing and make it easier to edit and crop using Photoshop. I then took many medium close-up shots, as I knew that the task consisted of creating a contents page and an article as well as the front cover, and images would be needed for many activities. To produce my final cover, I uploaded the images from the camera to Photoshop and replaced the existing third party images with the images that I took. I wanted to create the effect of many artists on one page however I chose just one artist and cropped many pictures as I felt this would challenge the codes and conventions and make it stand out. I felt I created this effectively as it still maintains some characteristics of a metal music magazine.
I then added the background choosing to use a silver colour as I felt this best represented Metal itself. To make the colour look more like a physical piece of metal, I changed the tone of the silver from dark to light whixh created a more realistic effect.

Next, I added the top banner of the front cover. I felt that using an image of an axe would deliver a semiotic code, to the target audience, of death and this stereotypically represents the culture behind the background of metal music. For those who are not familiar with metal music, I felt that the names of the bands I created alongside the imagery would construct a behavioural ideology of metal artists.

At the bottom of the page I used images of flames as I felt this best portrayed the name of the band ‘Burnt Alive’. I felt that having ‘exclusive interview’ layered on top of the image of the flames would lure in fascinated potential audiences and appeal to them so that the magazine can demonstrate an up-to-date representation of metal music in our media and society.

In order to make the page stand out some more, I added film reel just below the main images of the band which further illustrated the one man metal band, I felt that this would also signify to the audience that an exclusive photo shoot was taken for the magazine and make the potential reader more likely to purchase the magazine.

I feel that my media product uses the forms and conventions of real media products as I have adapted the main aspects and added them to my work. For example, I noticed that some characteristics of a real metal music magazine consist of a barcode, images of a violent nature, artists with heavy make-up, loud music and a lot of energy. I tried to portray these aspects in my work and I also feel I have developed the conventions, as my front cover allows the text and images to be seen clearly and catch the eye of potential customers. When compared with the real media product; metal hammer, my music magazine front cover is much easier to understand, and I feel I have given my magazine a 3 dimensional aspect due to the images I have layered on top of each other. I also feel that I have fused both Kerrang and metal hammer in my work which would target a much larger audience and bring in business from all metal music lovers. I feel that my music magazine represents the orthodox metal lovers very well. This is due to the vast amount of preliminary research I carried out in order to ensure my target market is engaged with the product. The fusion of both Kerrang and Metal Hammer ensures that the magazine will be a success, I adapted the main characteristics of metal artists such as the make up and dress code (predominantly black). I also used the body language used by metal artists and fans such as the Satan hands, in my work represented as the main artist; Burnt Alive uses this sign to represent Satan in the world of metal music. I have represented the social groups associated with Metal music stereotypically and I have not made any particular representation to ethnic backgrounds as I wanted to group all the metal music lovers together regardless of other factors such as race. The representation consists of usual metal artist's activities such as wearing heavy make up. I also understand that metal music also influences suicide in some cases and I feel that the Satan sign represents this ideology. My magazine consists of real issues and typical metal language which would appeal to all metal music lovers.

The main audience for my music magazine would be metal music lovers of all nationalities above the age of 14 due to the mildly explicit content in the interview. I have taken into account that some 14 year olds would not agree with the language used, and personally, I feel that young people are being exposed to explicit language in this day and age more than ever before.
However, to still ensure that a large target audience remains engaged, I used asterisks to replace letters in some mildly explicit words, i.e. S**T. This avoids disputes over vile language exposure. The music magazine would attract both sexes as the magazine includes the singer ‘Burnt Alive’ who is portrayed as being a 'ladies man'. However, bands such as ‘Black Blood’ would appeal mainly to men due to their forward thinking female nature.
The target audience will also have a fairly steady income as I understand the price is not relatively cheap. Nevertheless, this portrays the quality of the magazine itself and its content which I therefore think will not sway a 'real' metal music fans decision in purchasing the media product.
I also feel that I have met my target audiences needs and expectations as my product gives them a clear insight on up to date information in the world of metal music. I feel I did this well by the actual content of the magazine, such as the text, and ensured that the target market is lured in by the colours and images, which I think are very appealing and compliment the representation of metal music lovers by using black and red colours.

I addressed my target audience by using my preliminary research which consisted of a target market questionnaire (primary research) alongside internet research (desk research). I used my questionnaire to find out about various different aspects of a music magazine that appealed to my target audience and then used this information in the production of my own product. From this research, I found out that the target market is attracted to red and black colours and prefers the name ‘Mad Metal’ for their music magazine along with various other characteristics such as font style and the articles in the magazine.
After producing a magazine with these aspects, I kept developing it to ensure my audience wouldn’t be able to walk past the magazine without being drawn to it and reading the articles. I feel my final piece of work reflects all the preliminary research I conducted in order to fulfil the expectations of metal music lovers.

When I first started my school magazine, I had no experience in using an apple operating system, let alone Adobe Photoshop as a production program. I feel that the preliminary task enabled me to become more familiar with the program and learn how to use all the tools. Even though I found it extremely difficult to adapt to the program at first, I managed to utilise the skills I gained from the experience of creating the school magazine and adapted these skills in the production of my final piece. As I further stretched my knowledge of the program through producing drafts I started to become more engaged with how real production companies have to research their target, market and discover their interests in order to ensure that their magazine appeals to their audience. I have learnt many different things through the progression of the coursework such as the nature of metal music lovers along with the lovers of rock music. Having looked at Kerrang, I started to understand the symbolism of the Satan hands and started to reflect this in my front cover as I felt this represented the target audience well. Through the progression, I also feel I have learnt how to work independently to progress through a certain task from the research. right up until the production of my product. I feel I have shown all that I have learnt through the progression of the coursework in my final piece; a music magazine.

From the process of constructing the product, I have learnt many things about technology, mostly to do with computers.
Firstly I learnt about the digital camera and how lighting affects the way the image is taken. I learnt about different camera functions, such as macro where it changes the focus on the camera for very close objects to show detail. I also learnt about how to upload pictures onto an apple operating system and how to import them into a program such as Adobe Photoshop. Having imported the pictures, I also learnt about the different tools available such as cropping and smudging to make the image look more realistic as well as sharpening tools to enhance the look of the image. The use of layers to produce a product was also new to me, however I now understand all the technical operations a magazine editor must go through to produce an article or design for a front cover. I have also learnt that technology has come very far from how it was decades ago; The use of digital cameras, for example, has greatly increased, allowing better images to be produced due to the capability of being able to synchronise the device with a computer and use a compatible program to achieve greater results by using photo editing software.

Future Publishing is a media institution that is the largest publisher of guitar magazines in the world and the biggest music-making publisher in the US and UK.
It has published magazines such as Guitar World, Revolver and Metal Hammer which are all very successful magazines.
Bauer Media is another instituion which owns more than eighty influential media brands spanning a wide range of interests, including Heat, Kerrang magazines and Kerrang radio station along with its television channel.
Having looked at both of the mentioned institutions, I feel that Future Publishing would be most likely to distribute my media product. Even though my product is a fusion between Kerrang and Metal Hammer I feel that the distributors of Metal hammer will be the best firm for my magazine as my magazine is slightly swayed towards the layout of Metal Hammer, as I feel this magazine influenced me more in the creation of my product. Having looked at the background of Future publishing, I feel that the institution would have a lot of experience in how to ensure the magazine is a favourite for all metal music lovers.
The instituion also specialises in website design and has designed the websites of popular music magazines such as http://www.musicradar.com/ and http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/I. I feel that the firm will ensure my product is a huge success to music lovers who enjoy an online presence, which could also further result in the magazine selling songs via their website which will increase its popularity and expand Mad Metal.

PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN

IMPROVED FRONT COVER

I TOOK INTO CONSIDERATION THE FEEDBACK I WAS GIVEN, THEREFORE I ADDED AN ISSUE NUMBER TO THE MAGAZINE FRONT COVER

IMPROVED DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

Above is a further improvement from the magazine double page spread i produced below,the page numbers now correspond with the correct page stated on the contents page.

I acted upon the comments i received and removed the images behind the text 'BURNT ALIVE' at the top of the page. i hope this appeals more towards my target audience.