Researching the Market Place

I am going to research two magazines for the task. These being Kerrang! a well-known rock magazine owned by the publishing company Bauer. And the second, Big Cheese. This is an independent punk, metal, rock magazine.


KERRANG!
The first magazine I have chosen to research is Kerrang! the more famous of the two. The target audience is aimed at 16-25 year old males and females who have a key interest in rock music. The price is £2.20 and is published monthly. This is a very reasonable amount for a monthly magazine, therefore more people would buy it.
The general issue size lies between 60 and 70 pages. This may vary month to month. In every issue, there is regular content. In Kerrang! this is titled FEEDBACK, NEWS, WIN!, LIVE REVIEWS, FEATURES, ALBUMS, GIG GUIDE and K! QUIZ. Although in each issue, FEATURES is part of the regular content, it is very different every month. This can range from having interviews with bands and artists, columns and stories.

BIG CHEESE
The second magazine I have chosen to research is Big Cheese, the more independent magazine. The target audience is aimed at 16-28 year old males and females who have a key interest in punk, metal and rock music. The price is £3.90 and is published monthly. Compared to other magazines of the same (or similar) genre, this is quite an expensive price for a magazine. However, it is justified as the magazine is independent and needs to make more money to publish.
The general issue size lies between 100 and 110 pages. This may vary month to month. In every issue, there is regular content. In Big Cheese, this is titled THE FRONTLINE, MUSICIANS' CORNER, LEGENDS, ROOTS BLOODY ROOTS, BLAST, LIVE, DO IT, CHECKOUT, GRIND, GROOVE, NOISE NOISE NOISE and GRANDE FROMAGE. It also contains features which are very different every month. This can range from having interviews with bands and artists, columns and stories.

Inital Ideas

THE TYPE OF MUSIC MAGAZINE I AM GOING TO PRODUCE
I am planning to produce a punk rock magazine. Reasons why I chose this is because I am a fan of this genre of music and know quite a lot about it.

THE TARGET AUDIENCE
I will aim the magazine at males and females aged 16-26 who have a keen interest in punk rock music.

Evaluation of School Magazine

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

     My media product contains many aspects of real media products. For example, the front cover design contains the title of the magazine, a bar code, cover lines, sub-lines, a main image as the background, issue date and number and price. It also follows many conventions of real media products. One of these being the way the magazine title it spread across the entire width of the page. I used a simple colour scheme on my products to prevent them from looking tacky and unprofessional. On my contents page, I separated features and regulars into two sections to make it easier for the reader to identify what they were looking for.

     An example of the way my product challenges the forms and conventions of a real magazine is that I have not used a sub-line with my main cover line and it does not contain any buzzwords. This, in a way, would reduce the sales of my product as there is nothing that would stand out to the reader to make them want to read on. Also, the font I have used for the magazine name is very easy to be copied as I have not used a unique font style. This is also another negative for my product as it could be easily copied and it's not very recognisable. On my contents page, I did not credit the photography for the front which also links to the copyright issues. Any person could state that they took the picture and claim it was their work.

HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

   For my product, I used Photoshop and Quark XPress. These are both new technologies which I used to build the front cover design and contents page. I used a digital camera to capture all of the images used for my product. This was then uploaded to the computer and inserted onto either Photoshop or Quark XPress. On these two programmes, you can manipulate the shape and size of the image, insert text and fill backgrounds to create a design.

WHAT ARE THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF BOTH THE PRODUCT AND YOUR USE OF NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES?

     As this was the first time I had used both of these programmes, I found it difficult to get used to at first. Although, once I had been using it for a while, it got easier. However, a weakness I had in using it was estimating the actual size certain parts of the design would be. For example, the positioning statement I used was much too big in contrast to all of the other aspects of the design. Also, on the contents page, the image of the front cover of the magazine was as well, much too big.

    Another weakness was my ability in using the camera. I had never used the camera before and found it difficult to adjust to. This made some of the images blurred and out of focus. However, I believe my knowledge in the camera angles was strong so I knew what kind of pictures I had to take.

    On a whole, I think my product looks professional, besides the blurred images and the fact that everything wasn't in proportion. The colour scheme I used was simple, modern and professional, meaning my product did not look tacky and overdone. Although, I think if I was to do it again, I would use brighter colours to appeal to my target audience of 13-16 years more. As well as this, I think my cover lines and sub-lines were quite intriguing and did not make the article obvious. This would make the reader want to read on. The fact that I used a puff on the magazine would also help in the sales of the product as it is a free gift and would be very useful for a pupil of a high school sitting their exams.

Production of School Magazine Contents Page

Here, I am about to insert an image box so that I can insert an image from a file onto my contents page.

Above shows 'import picture' highlighted. This is to select my chosen image on the page.

This shows me highlighting the text tool button to insert the text I want on the page.

Production of School Magazine Front Cover

Here, I am about to drag the image I will be using as the background into the new project window.

This displays me about to click the drawing tool to draw out the box for the positioning statement of the front cover.

Here, I am highlighting the text tool as I am about to insert the main cover line of the page.

Again, I am highlighting the text tool as I am going to a smaller cover line.

This screen grab displays me about to click the text tool again. This is for me to insert the final sub-line to the smaller cover lines.

Here, I am about to drag the image of the bar code onto my front cover design.

Final Images for School Magazine

I have not changed this image from the original.

This image has been cropped so that a piece of paper on the ground which was not supposed to be in the actual photograph, is not in sight. It has also been cropped to fit to the column on the page. The image has been captured in long shot.

The image of the school uniform has been zoomed into more to display it in more details. Also it has been cropped to fit to a specific size. It has changed from a long shot to a medium long shot.

I have also zoomed into this image more to enhance the mood of the photograph. I cropped it to adjust the size. The image still remains in mid-shot.

I cropped this image as it was too long and did not fit into the style of my contents page. The image is now in medium long shot rather than long shot.

Photographs for School Magazine

Medium close up of a pupil using direct address.

Long shot of pupil using direct address.

Long shot of school uniform.

Mid-shot of pupil at a table.

Long shot of pupil with results.