Our Production

Our production final

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Representation of Social Groups

During this project we constructed a representation of both solo artists and groups. However what they have in common is that they are all performers and possibly role models.

In our magazines we have tried to represent our artists as being perfect and glamorous. We have done this through the copy by saying that the target audience will look up and aspire to the artist in the magazine by styling them in fashionable clothing and using are journalism skills to portray the acts in a positive light.

For example, we represented the artist Seth Moore positively. We constructed this preferred meaning by presenting him as famous, but 'real' as his background is the same as the audience so he relates to them positively. Also he is represented postively through the mise-en-scene of the photo on the double page spread as his costume is very stylish and links to the target audience as they are clothes that would be worn by the readers themselves. The photo of Seth Moore on the front cover shows him positively as it suggests he is devoted to his work as he is playing his guitar.

Another artist we represented positively was Vince Flynn. We constructed this preferred meaning through the mise-en-scene. For example his costume which represents him being stylish which makes him fit into the genre of music we cover in our magazine. The copy portrayed him positively as it shows he has raw talent because he had fans before he was famous. For example, "already had positive feedback from fans".

Audience Feedback

To get feedback for our magazine we decided to use a focus group. We thought this would be a good idea as we would be able to get direct information from a group of people whereas if a questionnaire was handed round they would not be able to tell us what they really thought about the magazine and instead only be able to tick boxes or write short answers.

Results
- Front Covers

"The font used is very attractive and the use of red to make the letters bold makes the covers stand out."
-Female, Aged 17

"The layout of the information around the image looks like a real magazine."
-Male, Aged 17

"I like the free gift offer and the way boxes are used to catch the reader's attention."
-Male, Aged 16


- Contents'
"I like the editors note as the language is powerful and relates to the audience."
- Male, Aged 17

"The strong photography makes the page look professional"
- Female, Aged 17

"I like the different headlines used, the stories sound interesting and i feel the interaction between the audience and the magazine. I also like the cover stories boxes used as they are a good feature."
- Female, Aged 17


- Double Pages

"I like how the continuity is kept within each magazine with the placement of writing on the page."
-Male, Aged 16

"The photography in the double pages is strong and they look like replications of current music magazines"
- Male, Aged 17

"The writing keeps the reader interested and is written in a way which would interest the target audience."
- Male, Aged 17


Own Comments
Overall we were really happy with the feedback we recieved as it was positive and they were part of our target audience which gave us an idea of what others would think in that age group.
However we were aware that as people knew it was our final magazine for our coursework the people were more flattering and gave us compliments for our work.

Distribution

The final idea for our magazine is how we would distribute it to the target audience. We decided that we would distribute our magazine in the same ways which the leading magazine publishing company IPC Media targets their audiences.

1)Conventional Distribution
This has been the most popular form of media for over 100 years and will be the main form our magazine will be distributed in. Our magazines will be transported by vehicles to major stockists like WHSmiths, Newsagents and many supermarkets.


2) New Technology
As our target audience are young and are more likely to use technology on a daily basis a website version of our magazine has been set up http://www.Entitynow.com for them to keep more regular contact with the magazine as well as the regular once a month issues.
For students who read our magazine and are on-the-go or do not have access to a computer a 'Entitymobile' is a great alternative for their handset which gives them the latest news updates.
During our casestudy into Cosmpolitan we were aware that they sent emails to their readers who had subscribed to the website, we have decided to do something similar with daily updates of the lastest acts performing, were to see them and any other music related news which can't be missed.

3)Subscriptions

Some readers may choose to have their magazines arriving to them through the post. We would offer this service although it may not be cost effective compared to the website and more modern technologies.

Following, Developing or Challenging Forms and Conventions

Each issue of our magazine is analysed in close detail below. We considered carefully how our magazine 'Entity' would fit into the existing magazine market. By creating a new title, we wanted to follow the major conventions of a music magazine because the audience will feel familiar with the magazine layout and form.

Conventional features we adopted include:
Front Covers - Masthead, Large dominant image, Coverlines, Graphics, barcode/ price/ date
Contents Page - Editorial column, numerical order of pages, grouping of stories, graphics refering to the front cover, large page numbers on top of images


The one area we developed from existing music magazines was our double page spreads. These are more stylish and artistic than most of the examples in 'Uncut', 'Kerang' and 'Q'. We designed pages where the photograph dominated the double page layout. This meant that the quality of our images had to be excellent to carry a double page spread.

Frankie's Evaluation Of Front Cover

The artist on the front cover of my magazine has a pose in which he is facing straight ahead, symbolising that he is confident and serious about his career. I knew the colour scheme for our magazine and wanted to incorporate that on to my artist when I done the shoot. I knew that I was only having one image so I had to make sure that the pose and styling of the artist was enough to catch the readers eye. When taking the photos the lighting was not perfect so I had to edit the photographs after so that they looked right for the cover and looked more effective. To make the photo look more professional for the magazine I cut the artist out from the original photograph. The copy next to the artist is in a different style to the rest of text on the cover, I decided to do this as it stood out from the rest of the magazine and made it obvious that he was important in this months issue.

The copy on the front cover targets our audience and represents them as I concentrated on naming acts which are popular and well liked which will draw our audience in as that is the type of music they want to read about. The bottom of the magazine has a rough summary of what is included in the magazine and I wrote 'WIN' in capitals because as our audience is young they want to feel engaged to our magazine and by having competitions they can enter they will feel that they are taking part in what the magazine has to offer.

I represent the magazine as being successful and being the first to have the latest news to keep our audience up to date with what is going on in the music world. By stating 'First EVER interview' it creates the idea that my magazine is popular and bands prefer to be interviewed with us rather than other music magazines, which represents our magazine positively as our audience will want to buy the magazine as they will think if we have the first interviews with bands, we must have other interesting information and that it will be worth purchasing to read.

The cover line for my artist is 'Recreating Music'. I think this relates to the target audience of my magazine as they are the young generation which has a reputation for being different and also recreating themselves to have a different image so they are portrayed differently from old stereotypes, Which is what my artist is doing with his music.

I used the audience theory to provide Uses and Gratifications in my magazine:
Inform and Educate - A quote on my front cover explains how a band don't believe things are the same as they used to be, this is later explained in an interview which would inform the audience of the bands views and make them aware of their points.
The top 20 albums of the year so far allow my audience to be educated into what is popular and worth listening too according to my magazine.

Entertainment - The number of bands I have on my front cover represent interviews and reviews inside my magazine which provide my audience with a range of texts to entertain them.

I also used the theory of style: Utopian Solutions by making my audience free of boredom by giving them excitement from the artist interviews and photographs my magazine provides.
To get rid of their confusion about what music they should be listening to we give them the top bands we think should be listened too which makes their choices clearer, offering them clarity.

On the front cover the conventions of a typical music magazine are followed similarity. To keep the magazine looking bold and attractive I stuck to a common colour used for all types of magazines which is red. By combining this with an uppercase masthead which was aligned to take up the entire top part of the page I kept to the conventions of the magazines I had previously looked at in the Radial Analysis.
A dominant image was key in making the magazine look more eye-catching as it is the first thing the target audience would see and to have a photograph that presents the artist and the magazine well will help to attract buyers.
I was able to price my magazine as I looked at magazines before making my own and used their examples to help find one that was reasonable and that people would be willing to pay. I then put the price next to the barcode, keeping the conventions of all the music magazines I have looked at.

Evalation of front cover

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Frankie's Evaluation Of Contents Page

When creating my contents page I wanted to keep the conventions that music magazines I looked at had which was to group information and place it in Regulars and Features boxes which was set out for the reader to understand. I was inspired by a the style of the Kerrang magazine and Q in which they were clearly set out yet kept the house style and found this looked effective.

Whilst analysing magazines I became aware that lots of articles about gigs and upcoming acts made the majority of their contents and so I decided to keep with this idea and include these types of articles with information on similar events.
I deliberated on a few different ideas for the photography which was going to be placed on the contents and decided after trying out different styles that one single photograph, if taken correctly and then edited to look more professional, would achieve an effective outcome. I then used this photo as part of a feature and wrote about the artists contribution to the magazine which was part of the layout presentation.

I represented the month's issue positively by including bands and upcoming events that I know are popular with the target audience and would interest readers. A number of different bands are included in the features column as the bands we interview vary each month. Due to the fact the acts that are covered change every month it gives the audience the suspense of finding out who will be included in the next issue and give them something to look forward too. The acts I included in the magazine fit all different eras of our genre music so that there is a variety of old to new acts which create the music they love. Creating a radial analysis of current music magazines allowed me to identify all the different styles used to make their features stand out, so I stuck to the conventions of Kerrang and Q again by including a couple of sentences underneath each story representing them all in a informal way so that the readers feel more comfortable reading about what the magazine includes and at the same time gaining a summary of the interesting points the stories contain.
I also used the information I gained from the radial analysis to make sure that I hit the correct target audience. 'Enlist the Playlist' encapsulates the idea that we have a young audience who are familiar with technology and use mp3s like iPods which include music playlists.

'Glastonbury Festival' is a perfect example of targeting the magazines audience as it is a festival which is mainly made up of youthful people who love music, the same people who read our magazine and want to find out the latest news for Glastonbury, in which thousands will be attending in the summer months. This stories also provides an inadequacy and solution from Richard Dyer's theory of Utopian Solutions; boredom is solved by introducing excitement into the lives of the reader, which is exactly what the weekend festival would bring to someone who is bored of their ordinary day to day way of living.

'Top 20 Albums of 2010' is another form of Utopian Solutions by providing clarity to those who are confused about what music they should be listening to in order to keep up to date.
Blumier and Katz Uses and Gratifications is used in my contents page to offer escape of the audiences 'daily grind' and to instead, learn about the lives of music stars and the world they live in with their fame.
'Entity News' informs and educates the readers of Entity magazine by updating them on the latest news going on in the music world which involves gigs, artist collaborations and all other information related to act promotions and releases.

Evalation of contents page

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