I have created an original magazine cover,

Heather Tulloch 03.03.09 Critical Evaluation Heather Tulloch I have created an original magazine cover, contents page and double page spread of a music magazine which challenges forms and conventions of the traditional music magazine. I have taken an unconventional and artier approach to my magazine cover as I thought that it would look more interesting and attractive to the readers that I would like to attract with my magazine ­ alternative and arty people. I have distorted the main image on my front cover as the celebrity on the front is well known and although the photograph is pixelated and I have cut it into different sections, it is still recognisable. The main sells that I have used are the names of bands and singers, I have the main sells along the left side of the magazine parallel to the spine of the magazine as I thought that it would make the people pick up the magazine from the shelf as they want to have a better look at the main sells.

I haven’t used the conventional way of presenting the lead article as I have rotated the text so it is parallel to the main sells and so that it is not overlapping the lead image. I have done this so that it ties in with the main sells and because I have chosen a plain text and it isn’t bold and it looked a bit out of place and lost on the page when I tried it the conventional way around. I tried a lot of different mastheads for my magazine and decided on this one in the end as I think it fit in very well with my distorted house style and it looks as though it is frayed. The slogo on my front cover uses the conventional forms and conventions of a real media product by the way that it is paced next to the masthead and the tone of the sentence. The slogo reinforces the house style and attitude of the magazine, and is used on a lot of mainstream magazines like ‘Kerrang’ that have the slogo “life is loud”. The slogo for ‘Kerrang’ reinforces the representation of rock music being loud and anti­authoritarian.

My contents page ties in with the conventional media magazine with the house style. I have repeated the same colour palette ­ pink black and white – in the contents page and I have also used the pixelated background shading that I had used on the front cover. I have carried on the house style in the contents page also with the same text, which I use throughout the magazine. My contents page also challenges the formal conventions in the way the page numbers and contents have been placed around a large number ‘9’ in pink instead of the standard form of a magazine, I was experimenting with it because I thought I would carry on with the idea of challenging the usual forms and conventions as I enjoy experimenting with different styles. In my double page spread I used the same house style that I have used throughout and instead of using a photograph I traced the photograph that I wanted to use and scanned it into the computer which I pixelated to tie in with the house style. I decided to draw the photograph because I liked the idea that I used for my front cover where although the picture is distorted, because the person is so famous she is instantly recognisable.

In my music magazine I have represented my artist as funny, stylish and original. I have given her this image because the people that I think would read my magazine will be stylish, art school types and because my magazine is for the independent music scene I think that it is important that the artist is original, otherwise she would not be a suited artist for the magazine. I have used the photographs in this style as

Heather Tulloch 03.03.09 Critical Evaluation they are original and I have decided to dress the artist in quite a quirky and modern style, which I think is very important to the representation of the artist and the magazine as it is important to target particular social groups. The photographs look quite fun and I think I have created a good impression of my artist as I think people can relate to her fun personality and stylish clothes and aspire to be her. I have used the pull quote “I don’t want to be rolling out of clubs with my baps out” as the market research that I did showed that most of my magazines audience are female, I think it is very important to portray females in a good light. The pull quote shows that she respects herself and I think this is important as the readers will value this and not have a low opinion of her. The other pull quote that I have used states “I used to play my music to the class and they’d make fake appreciation faces, they probably thought I belonged in a loony bin” this pull quote creates the impression that she isn’t phased by what anybody thinks of her and I think a lot of people will be interested in this as a lot of young girls are very aware of their social status and how they look to other people instead of being themselves. I think that if a successful artist has made a living for themselves for being weird and not bowing down to peer pressure then it is very inspirational for young girls.

The interview on my double page spread is full of laughter and random questions and replies, I have tried to emphasise my artist’s happy­go­lucky nature as laughter is very important. By including wacky language and phrases in my interview, along with lots of laughter, I feel that I have represented her in a good light although there are hints that she is not all squeaky clean as I have included her swearing and smoking. I think it is important to show that she isn’t completely perfect and happy all the time because it makes the artist more relatable to the readers as she seems more realistic and human. I have shown the readers of my magazine the actual personality of my artist by using witty and non - critical journalis m which I think is important, as it shows that she isn’t completely perfect and happy all the time because it makes the artist more relatable to the readers as she seems more realistic and human.

When researching into what kind of media institution would distribute my magazine I came across IPC who publish magazines NME, Marie Claire and various hair, sports and TV guide magazines. I would not like IPC to publish my magazine as it publishes a lot of mainstream magazines and they all follow the conventional approach, whereas my magazine is more arty and unconventional. One of the magazines that has inspired my magazine is BLAG magazine and on researching the publishers of that magazine I have found out that the way that they have described their magazine as going against the conventions and publishing it from a completely different angle “Not run of the mill, not cookie - cutter and not follow - the - leader,” I think that their approach to magazine publishing is very fresh and original and this is why their magazine has inspired me. BLAG magazine is run by twins Sally and Sarah Edwards who between them have had over twenty years in the music indust ry, I would like to have somebo dy with a lot of experience publish my magazine.

I have decided that I would like to have an online magazine as my audience research shows that they mostly download their music, and

Heather Tulloch 03.03.09 Critical Evaluation 94% of them have online networking sites. I think that the market for online magazines is growing and if most of my audience are interactive and hardly ever buy music magazines I need to do something to sell my magazine and by making it accessible to the internet users I think it will be a good way to promote my magazine.

The reader of my magazine is a young female aged between 17 and 19.

She spends about £10 to £20 on music each month mostly from online stores and hardly ever from shops and she listens mostly to RnB music and listens to kiss radio. She rarely goes to gigs and enjoys going onto networking sites bebo and facebook. Please see the questionn aire results in my art book for evidence.

I have learnt a lot about using Photosho p CS3 and digital camera skills during this project and it has also helped out a lot not just in media but in my other subjects also. In my photogra p hy lessons I have applied a lot of the skills that I have learned in media to my projects for my photogra p hy projects which has helped me a lot in achieving good marks in more than one subject. I have used skills like magnetic lasso, pixelating images, using the scanner to transfer images, changing the tone and levels to create a more even colour. I think I have progresse d a lot from when I first started on my preliminary task, especially with time manage me n t as in the preliminary task I rushed a lot and the end quality of my magazine contents page and front cover was not as good as I would have liked it to be, or that I was capable of. I think by spending time out of lessons working on my magazine it has helped me to manage my time so it wasn’t a huge rush when the deadline came.

I have learned about the importance of research into what the reader is intereste d in, and I think it is the key piece of informa tion in having a successful magazine. It gives you a good sense of how to put your magazine together and what to include in the content s page because you know what your audience likes and what will make them buy the magazine and if the contents page was full of irrelevant information then they wouldn’t be intereste d. It also helps you get a sense of how importa nt the reader is to the success of your magazine as if it wasn’t for the audience being happy with what your magazine has to offer then nobody would be interested in buying it. I am happy with my magazine cover and think that I have learned a lot in the ways that magazines are published, the conventional and un - conventional types of magazines that there are, how importan t the represent a tion of the artist is and how to manage my time effectively to produce a magazine cover, content s page and double page spread that I am proud of.

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