Question 4

Question 3

Question 3 Evaluation

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Question 2

Question 2 evaluation

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Quark Xpress

Adobe Photoshop

Question 4 & 5

Who would be the audience for my media product?
How did you attract and address your audience? [video answer]

The audience for my media product are young people - late teens and early twenties, are interested in classical and/or classical crossover music but have never read or experienced much of that genre before.
The psychographic profile of my audience member would be a young person, possibly still at college or university with an interest in classical music. So there lifestage would either be flying/flown the nest or still quite comfortable at home with Mum and Dad.
The demographic profile of my audience is quite varied apart from really the age range. But gender, class, race is left completely wide open.
The ways in which I created my magazine to appeal to my audience was to make it challenge ideals about classical music and what kind of person would enjoy it but also to stay within some boundaries i.e. keep the pretty girls on the cover.

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full project?

I think during the preliminary task I learned basically how magazines were supposed to be produced and the different things you had to consider when making one. Also I learned what looks professional and what doesn't, how to use a camera properly and definitely how planning and preparation is key - although we pretty much winged it for the preliminary project, just going with whatever ideas came to us at the time.

I think my knowledge and skills about the magazine industry has greatly improved and my creative skills for coming up with an idea for a music magazine have been influenced by what I've been learning in class. However, the technology did limit me in what I could do, only because I didn't really have a clue as to how to use it effectively. I think if I'd have spent more time on the preliminary project getting stuck in with Photoshop and Quark Xpress, I wouldn't have had any issues when it came to the actual coursework.

I will honestly admit that my organisation of time has been shocking, but I think I've just about pulled it off! My magazine seemed so simple to create in my head, but going back to the technology - it just took me twice as long to do everything everyone else seemed to grasp instantly.

However, I'm quite pleased with my photographic skills as my front cover girl for Crescendo looks amazing, as I tried a couple of different shots and frames to get the final profile/portrait shot just right. The background wasn't necessarily what I would have chosen, but my time management wasn't brilliant so myself and the model ended up going out in the rain taking photographs of her in the woods - thinking a naturalism theme would work just as well!

Learning about the conventions of magazines has been really useful as before this project I would have never known what a screamer or a masthead was, let alone create on and talk about them!

Finally, I think the biggest thing I've learned from undertaking this project is that creating a magazine is alot of hard work and it hasn't been easy, but it has been alot of fun.

Question 6: What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The Equipment: DSLR camera - Nikon D60
The Software: Adobe Photoshop and Quark Xpress

The new technology that I have used while creating my magazine has enabled me to achieve this task by giving me the right tools to create a magazine that looks professional and maybe something that I or my audience might want to read. I would describe it was cutting and pasting different images and texts in my mind and putting them onto an A4 piece of paper, but alot more tricky and alot more technical than that!

I do think that this technology does mean that even amateurs can produce a magazine, as long as they know how to really work the software and the equipment. It can be reasonably professional if you get the gist of everything, but if your a whizz with the camera or a complete Photoshop geek - you can honestly produce something that people would mistake as being professional.

Blogging did help me plan what I wanted my magazine to look like, but it didnt help me learn how to use the software any better. I really did struggle with the software, as it took me so long to do the simplest of things. I did look at a tutorial on Youtube about Photoshop and that helped me a little and I got the basic idea in the end, but Quark Xpress was a complete nightmare for me!

The Evaluation - Question One: In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media?

Firstly, to review the objective I had for my magazine was to create a classical crossover magazine for young people to experience popular classical crossover music.

In comparison with Crescendo, to be honest my magazine could look at a lot more professional compared to the likes of Music and Classic FM but I think the similarities are the way my magazine looks. The front cover has for example the usual conventions of a classical magazine - the glamorous musician, the natural and picturesque background and the serif masthead. However, I wanted my media product to challenge the conventions of the higher-arche classical magazines such as Gramophone. Crescendo is a lot more light hearted and fun than the serious and very traditional classical magazines that are around at the moment, and its also designed to be approachable and easy to read for young people who want to or have recently discovered classical crossover music and want to learn more. Its also meant to be purely for entertainment purposes rather than factual information about the genre of music.

Draft Magazine

Front cover hasnt changed

New Contents Page and Double Page Spread

Production Log: Work So Far

Production Log

I have started to make my magazine by firstly, taking photo's for my front cover and contents page.

I've also thought of a name Crescendo and found a font which looks appropriate for my classical crossover magazine.

I've also started to create my front cover with my favourite photo of my model - its a working progress.

Photo shoot plan

People - My friend Sophie Poduval

Location: the woods outside college - kind of nature inspired.

Props: An instrument of some kind... guitar or violin maybe..?

Time line

Weekend 22 - 24th January: MUST take millions of photographs for magazine, including front cover, contents page and everything else!!!



Deadline for photos: Monday 25th jan!! (only got a few photos, will take the camera out again this weekend)



Week beginning: 25th Jan - Start sketching

Friday 29th - by this time I will have made good progress with my sketching and will have put on it my blog.

By Friday 5th Feb - EVERYTHING WILL BE DONE! :D

Final Mood Board

Audience Research: Results

To get my results I posted my mood board on Facebook and people to comment on it, asking them questions like what colours work together? Would you assiociate classical music with this?

Emma Harrison
I would associate classical music with this kind of image. Mostly upper class people would buy this magazine, or people who are just interested in this genre of music. In your magazine you should write about new artists in this genre, but also old songs that readers would also be interested in. :)

Sarah Oliver
1. i would associate this with either classical music, or a dinnertime entertainment selection (romantic).2. posh, upperclasss, sofisticated people who listen to classical/romantic music.3.i think that in your magazine you should do some articles, on newcoming but also the idols and inspirations of new people. perhaps on young/old and focus on onee? :)

Alex Redmond
1. Mainstream commercialised classical music - they sexed them up to appeal to a younger audience.2. 20-40 year old women who are ignorant to non-mainstream classical music. Aspirers and traditionalists.3. Fonts, how the photographs are taken (they've sexed them up!).

Steph Hilton-Turvey
You can tell straight away that the genre is classical due to the particular images chosen. I imagine the type of person to buy this magazine would be quite well-off, maybe a slightly older age range of 20 and above? Mainly upperclass people would be interested int his genre. You could maybe chose a big star, like a really famous operatic singer, ... See Moreand write about what they're up to at the moment, maybe interview. Or maybe write about/interview a musician who was like a child prodigy and see how they're getting on etc. That's the kind of thing I'm thinking.

Audience Profile

My magazine is going to be a classical music magazine so my audience is going to be a little different to say, Kerrang magazine.
At first, I've been a little sterotypical with my generalisation of my audience for this magazine, basically thinking that classical music listeners were over the age of 40 and no lower.
However, looking more at Classic FM website and there magazines, I've come to realise that classical music listeners have quite a large age range, from early 30's (possibly late 20's) to the more older generation.
From the language and images used in the magazine and on the website, I can establish that my audience is going to be a little different, as I want my magazine to appeal to the more classical crossover type music rather than the traditional stuff.
The current classical music magazines tend to stick with the traditional music like Handel for example, my magazine will be about classical crossover vocalists and instrumentalists.

So I would like my magazine to be more like Classic FM in a crossover sense and less like a more serious magazine like Gramophone for example.

I've also included a picture of what my target audience would look like:

Distribution

There is a bit of difference between major and independent distribution strategies of magazines in the UK. Major companies like Frontline are defiantly more mainstream by selling and distributing loads of its partner’s titles. Frontlines partners are BBC, Bauer and Haymarket and they sell and distribute their magazines for them. These magazines (or products) will be things like Heat and TV Quick. Its distribution strategy is by selling the magazines to large retailers like Tesco and Sainsbury’s but there aren’t any other platforms to access like the brand like the internet. Also there audience is very mainstream, magazines they sell and distribute like Kerrang focus on a mainstream genre of music and this will affect there production strategy by selling to big stores.
The independent distribution is a lot different where as their strategy is selling to a few specialists’ shops rather than Morrison’s and a few people working in an office than a larger corporation.

BBC Music: Detailed Research

BBC Music is a little different to Classic FM’s magazine, but not all that different.
The layout is pretty much exactly the same, the font is quite italic and traditional and the colour scheme is the same red, black and white. However, the red on the front cover is different as it’s more of a scarlet red than a pinkie red like Classic FM.
Another recurring trend with these classical magazines is using young attractive women on the cover. I think that they do this to add glamour and style to classical music and to give it a wider appeal to a wider audience. Young girls will aspire to be as successful and talented as these women which I think is a good thing.
I seem to notice that a lot of violinists appear in these magazines, and I think it’s down to the instrument they play. Violin is a very difficult instrument to play and anyone successful in doing so will be recognised. This has already given me an idea for the cover of my magazine, somebody posing with a violin so looking at these magazines has been useful.

Finished detailed research

Detailed Magazine Research

Classic FM doesn’t have a wider appeal than for example NME. The music played on their radio station, would appeal to an older generation of the public in my opinion. I could be completely wrong however; there might be hundreds of teenagers listening to it. But they wouldn’t be telling their mates.
The magazine itself is quite…posh? Sophisticated? I don’t really know the right words to describe it. Looking at the layout it is very streamlined and clean-cut. The articles are pretty much all the same; they all look at classical music – new and old, there a lot of reviews of albums and composers. Plus, a regular feature is interviews with classical stars provide new interest for the reader.
I do think this magazine is dominated by young, attractive women such as Myleene Klass who often appear on the cover, and for this particular issue are actually guest editor. Also on the cover pictures they are always smiling, whereas on a rock magazine for example, the artists or models are scowling and looking moody.I should mention the colour scheme which is a classic look of red, black and white print. The red however, isn’t a scarlet red but a kind of pinky red which is quite gentle.