Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Use of Generic Conventions in my Product

In Sound fields I have tried to use as many forms and conventions of existing music magazines as possible. In common with all music magazines, Sound fields includes interviews with musicians, reviews and industry news; there are also competitions, links to its own website and listings, all found in magazines such as Q, Mojo, NME, Kerrang, Classic Rock.

I have adopted a house style of font and layout used throughout my magazine, including on the front cover. My font is 'aristra', used on the cover page for both masthead and cover lines, the contents page throughout and the titles and pull quotes on article pages. This gives the magazine structure and consistency.

Sound fields uses the conventional music magazine colours throughout of red, black and white. Many rock magazines seem to use these colours (Q, NME). This makes it recognisable as a music magazine but it is mainly because the colours are bold and striking that I chose them. It is a convention that most magazines have a recognisable and consistent colour scheme of some sort, even if it isn't red, black or white. I used these colours on my masthead, throughout the contents page and on my articles.

The cover of the magazine follows many conventions; the image is strong and in semi close-up, the masthead is easily identifiable, cover lines are legible from a distance, there is an emphasis on the left hand side of the cover for display reasons, a puff is used to offer something to the readers (the chance to win something for a competition) and strong links are formed for the contents page. A tagline is used underneath the masthead and it includes a barcode, price and date

The contents page echoes the cover in the use of a masthead, a convention in all magazines (not just music), the contents are clearly laid out, more images are used to entice the reader, along with intriguing pull quotes from the main stories and the layout is conventional; with text on the left hand third and images filling the rest of the page. Everything from the front cover is referenced on the contents page; the competition is echoed again, both these things are conventions.

The double page spread echoes the colour scheme and repeats the masthead format for its title. The conventions it uses are use of a sub-title (exclusive...) and an introduction to the article, along with credits of the interviewer and the photographer. Use of an almost full page image on the right hand side with just a pull quote and the main text on the left page with an additional small image follows conventional layout for a double page feature. It is conventional to repeat the cover image in the article as I have done. It is a convention of most magazines that interviews are accompanied by a close up image of the celebrity's face and I have included that feature.

I have used language typical of the music magazines I researched; informal but well structured and tried to make the content interesting, relevant and appealing to my target market.

Challenging conventions

My product breaks new ground because it is based on a genre that no other magazine has covered, festivals and live music. It also challenges other conventions of rock magazines on the market today by featuring a newcomer on the front cover. This would not be unusual for Sound fields as many artists/bands have a huge live following before they gain commercial success. I would expect my target market to recognise and be keen to learn more about newly emerging bands.

My magazine has a sense of hybrid identity, where there is a genre and a sub genre. The main genre in my magazine is music and the sub genre is live music.


Influences


My choice of colours is influenced strongly by Q magazine's instantly masthead and colour scheme. I have tried to make this my own but the similarities can be seen below.

The colour on Q's magazine is actually red, despite appearing orange.

         

As you can see, I used the influence of the three picture layout from the far right magazine. From the magazine in the centre, I used the coloured bands and stripe across the top to separate the text and from both I used the left third column layout to display my contents.

I took my influence of using the smaller figure on the left page from this edition of Mojo, where Thom Yorke seems to be pushing away the stereo equipment. I also took the idea of repeating the cover image on my article page from Q's Take That article below.

  

Promoting my product

When I went to the BFI on Wednesday 2nd March, there was a talk from a Eran Creevy, who came to talk about his new film"Shifty". He talked about promoting and distributing low budget films. The distributer analyses the target audience and the distribution method is chosen to fit with the target audience's lifestyle. This has made me think about the distribution of my magazine and where and how it could be promoted.

A target audience of festival goers is wide ranging, from young Financial Times reading stockbrokers for whom festival is an escape, through teenagers for whom it is a neccesity to families who have been going for years and now take their kids.

My main audience is young adults, and as they are more likely to be regular internet browsers, this would seem to be a sensible place to promote the magazine. Being a niche market, festival websites are probably the place where most of my target audience would visit at some stage, so I should promote my magazine through festival websites, with links through Facebook and Twitter.

For the first year, it would be worth giving out free copies at a festival to then move up for sponsorship. Q magazine produce the Glastonbury Daily - a newspaper style handout summarising the previous day's and forthcoming events. This promotes Q magazine very successfully.

My aim would be to cover the main global festivals (Benicassim, Coachella, Snowbombing etc.) but my aim would be to distribute my magazine nationally within the UK. The main focus therefore would be British festivals and gigs. Advertising would be done nationally both online and in other ways (at festivals etc.).

Marketing my product

I have found a niche market for my product as there are no specific magazines about festivals or gigs, despite the fact that live music is a rapidly increasing market. The number of music festivals has doubled in the last five years and existing festivals have massively increased in size, despite rising ticket prices:

Glastonbury festival opened in 1970 with an attendance of 1,500 people and a price of £1 including free milk. At the start of the millenium (2000), Glastonbury sold 105,000 tickets at a price of £87. In 2010, 177,500 tickets sold in 2 hours at a price of £185. This shows that festivals are growth industry and that this is very bizzare considering it is a market where many people are reluctant to pay for music and piracy is rife.

This is very suprising that people are still desperate to get tickets for such an expensive festival despite the current economic climate.

75,000 people attended Reading festival in 2009 with the same number at the sister festival Leeds. Ticket prices were similar to Glastonbury's, £180 for the weekend, and these festivals are mainly attended by young people and teenagers.

Reading festival opened in 1971, a year after Glastonbury at a cost of £2 for the weekend.

Over the next few years the popularity of outdoor festivals increased, and Reading grew until it had outgrown the festival site by 1998. The organisers solved this problem by opening up another venue in Leeds, with same acts playing different nights at each venue. Both festivals now sell out very quickly.

The internet has been fundamental in this growth with online ticket sales being the accepted way to buy a festival ticket and huge build up online prior to the tickets going on sale has helped them sell out in hours.

People follow the festivals on Facebook, twitter and the festival's official and unofficial websites to get information about the bands that will be playing festival dates etc. It is an indication of the success of festivals as a concept that most sell out within hours before the official lineup has been released. Marketing and promotion of most festivals is done online and by word of mouth though some, especially the smaller ones, advertise themselves in music magazines and papers.

Part of the excitement has become guessing which bands will actually perform, some people bet on the predicted lineup. There is also alot of online gossip on this matter. Whilst the internet has persistently helped the consistent growth of festivals and gigs of all types, people are still keen to experience music live. A festival ticket has become a must-have commodity, festivals are seen as cool, fun and an escape from everyday life. Some people regard festivals as a holiday now. This is a growing, not dying niche market, and there is no paper magazine that covers this topic.

The website (http://www.efestivals.co.uk/) is the nearest online equivalent to a festivals magazine but is just a listing of information about all forthcoming festivals and some that have past.

I believe that a monthly magazine (12 issues per year) would sell many copies as its target audience have proved they are willing to pay for live music and the content of the magazine would be exactly that.

Part of the magazine's brief would be to list forthcoming festivals and gigs, (like TIMEOUT) lineups, ticket release dates, etc. The magazine would include articles on festival life (camping, food, equipment needed, what to expect at overseas festivals, travel etc) and articles on current bands.

Advertising revenue will come from festival organisers or promoters and related industries such as camping shops (millets advertise tents etc. in NME in the festival season!). The magazine would run throughout the year as there are festivals and gigs in the UK and overseas all year round.

In quiet periods such as the autumn, there would be reviews of the summer's festivals, and build up to the festive gigs like Winter Wonderland (December, organised by radio station XFM).

In summary, I feel that I can justify using traditional print as my medium because of the content of my magazine.

Evaluation questions

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

My contents page final ammendments

I switched the two lower pictures because the flags picture stood out well enough on its own and the picture of Littleboylost needed some vibrancy.

My contents page finished

I am continuing the house trend by echoing the masthead layout used on the front cover. I also echoed the masthead itself but in a much smaller proportion. I also liked the musical note used on the front cover so I thought it would be good to double them on the contents page.

I believe that the 'bleed' on the right side of the page where the star goes over the printing edges as defined by the rest of the page looks better than if it was brought in, it seems to bring the page together, it also pulls the eye to the edge of the page and makes the reader want to turn the page and read on.

I also believe that this would not be a problem because it does not lie on the path of the 'Z' pattern that the eye follows on the page.

I used all articles mentioned on cover page and three images relevant to articles.

My original images:

Although it was not front cover material, I believe that the first front cover image could be used somewhere in my magazine so i thought that using it on the front page was the best idea.



Analysis of contents pages

My contents page plan

I have decided that on the basis of the my front cover, my contents page should contain 12 page references. I also have three original images to use on my contents as well.

My Final Double page spread

I made some final changes to my double page spread; I added a page number connecting the article with my contents and altered the text that surrounds my pull quote to make space for it.

Double Page spread (2)

I added another image and pull quote as it connects the two separate pages and fits the Z perspective giving an eye appeal.

I used an image of my shades to support the pull quote in the article.

My Double Page spread

I copied the masthead format from the front cover and used the red, white and black colour scheme. I used the bold red stripe at the top and the black stripe underneath. I also used a scaled down image, repeated from the front cover to emphasise continuity.

I used an image of the main figure with only half of his face showing which works well as it reflects the title. It puts across the idea that he is shy and backs up the whole article.

I wanted the text to run around the figure as it looks professional and this seems to be a convention in magazines.

I chose red to make the pull quotes stand out and also included a link to a download.

Considered doing a question and answer layout for my article because I wanted it to be an interview but after reading articles in other music magazines, I realised that most interviews were reported by the interviewer and I preffered this style. I tried to chose language appropriate to my audience and keep the speech as realistic as possible. I credited the photographer and interviewer at the top of the article as this gives it more credibility.

Double Page spread image ideas

I have decided to do my feature as if it is an in-depth interview with a young musician who's stage persona is very different to his personal life. The cover image shows him in his festival gear but I want to use images to show there is another side to him.

I am thinking of titles like The other side of Will Jones or Will Jones Uncovered and wanted an image to show this. These images show the artist without his stage clothes in simple white, half facing and half hiding his face from the audience. I think these work well and plan to develop these, probably for my double page spread. They will need some work with photoshop to eliminate the background but the shots are framed so that text could be put on the brick area.

Double page analysis Mojo

Double page analysis NME

Double page analysis Q

To understand what is included in double page spreads, I have analysed articles from three magazines south that i can get a feel for what i want to include in my own.

My front cover (final ammendments)

From audience feedback, I found out that my 's' symbol was too messy and not striking enough. I changed the effects on the letter in photoshop and echoed it again on the contents page. There were also some elements of text that needed aligning.

2nd attempt at front cover



I believe that my first main image was too cluttery (the branches from the trees), meaning that my text would not be easy to read. I was at an advantage with this photo because I could crop the white background out of the image of the person performing and merge it with a suitable background.

1. Background - I chose to use an orange/red/yellow type background found in photoshop, I think that this suits the cover as it looks like the figure is performing in front of a crowd and stage lights. The colours are also sunset colours and as this is an outdoor festivals magazine, it would also look like the sun setting over the concert.

2. I kept the star puff from my previous attempt because I thought that worked.

3. I kept the basic format of the cover lines, the left aligning at the left hand side and right aligning at the right hand side made my magazine look proffesional.

4. I changed my masthead because it was too plain on the first attempt - I had feedback saying it was too dull and needed jazzing up. I looked at other magazine mastheads and most of them are in the top left third for maximum shelf sale. I decided that this was a much better idea and that my masthead needed a much more striking layout. I tried featuring my title in a musical note shape (in previous blog post) to make it distinctive but I tried this on the page and it wouldn't work in larger form. I decided that the feature that would make my masthead distinct would be effects on the letter 'S'. I experimented with layering effects to find the most suitable look for the masthead and gold emphasis on the 'S' would attract the viewer to buy the magazine.

5. I added a black stripe underneath the masthead to make it distinctive.

6. I changed the format of my headline, I didn't think the writing on the board looked striking enough and the white writing was not distinctive enough. I used a similar effect on the writing as the 'S' on the masthead.

I think this looks much more proffessional than my first work.

 

I used photoshop on my main image to crop out the background surrounding the figure. Here are the results

I used a photograph taken at a previous festival and edited the image so that I could use the crowd in my cover.



Background ideas

http://www.cleanest-homes.com/

I found a website with a very vibrant background and as my front cover is very vibrant, I was thinking of using this as an inspiration for my double page spread.

The evolution of my front cover!

After feedback on my masthead/title combination, ("bland", "Needs jazzing up", "Too straight") I have decided to experiment with some new ideas and have come up with the above which I like alot!! I need to work out how to enclose the masthead, colour schemes etc.

This has made rethink the whole layout of my cover, including my main image. The more magazines I have looked at, the inspiration and ideas i have got. I have asked a fellow student who is a talented photographer to take some new shots. As my double page spread article is going to be called "The two faces of Will Jones", I thought it would be good to present myself as a confident outgoing performer who is revealed in the interview to be very shy.

The advantage of a pose like this is that the text can be easily positioned around the raised arm and still look striking. I have got a few sample images so I have an idea of what to use for the real thing.



Covers - Research

"Nowhere in a magazine is the interaction of words and pictures more important than on the front cover."

"It has to sell the general concept of the publication as well as to reflect, through its design, the intellectual level of the content."

"It is the magazine's face... like a person's face, it is the primary indicator of a personality."

All from chapter 13, Magazine Design, by Tim Holmes in 'The Magazines Handbook', by Jenny McKay

Cover page in progress



1. Masthead - I chose to use a red mastboard with white lettering because of influence of other music magazines, ie. NME & Q.

2. Main Image - used as my background layer, an enhanced version of the original image.

3. House style font, the font used my cover lines is in white because I tried many colours but this was the only colour that showed up properly on all areas of the background image.

4. Puff (in the shape of a star) - I tried to use other shapes but the text would not fit in.

- I chose to use blue text in the star because it shows well.

5. I enclosed my next image in a shape I used in photoshop, I chose to use it because it looks like a stage and to define the image. Without it, it would not stand out with my main image.

Analysis of Q Special Edition Magazine front cover

Analysis of Mojo Magazine front cover

Analysis of Q Magazine front cover

Analysis of NME Magazine front cover

Playing With PhotoShop (part 2)

I have not used photshop much before so i have spent some time experimenting with the features to see what looks best.

I believe that the image I originally took was a little dull and would not draw in the reader (it did not have the glossy, punchy effect that other magazines have). To attract attention, glossy magazines need to be bright and catch the eye. I have looked at a number of magazines and found that the main photos have had many enhancements on colour and lighting (The grass is greener, the sky is bluer!)

As seen in the background this edition of Q, the colours have been bleached from the foreground and the clouds have been layered and enhanced only to show grey.

http://covers.q4music.com/Item.aspx?pageNo=6117&year=2009

This first image is my original cover.

This is the same image but with enhancements on lighting and saturation.

I enhanced Saturartion to 73% which brought vibrance into the image. I tested the light levels and decided to only enhance them to 10%, because if they were any higher, the picture would pixilate.

As I want my main image to look psychedelic (supporting the idea of my cover), i tried putting some of the effects to the highest levels (Saturation up to 63%, Hue up to 90%)



Main pictures (re-shoot)

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2

I think that these two pictures work in the way I want, allowing space in the right places, enough room for the masthead and other cover graphics down the sides. Although the first image is fine and would give very good space for graphics, it is not striking enough.

The second picture was taken to get a change of perspective. Although there are some features that need to be cropped out (tree branch and photographers hand), I think that this image is striking enough to be my main image.

There has also been some feedback on my photos that unfortunately might not meet the headline that i had planned ('Psychedelic icon set to headline Guildfest'), the feedback was that the figure in the picture did not look psychedelic enough or old enough to be making a comeback. This made me re-think the whole proccess and realise how important it is to think through all aspects of the cover before starting on it.

The current main images

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3

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10

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12

13

These are the images that have currently been taken for the front cover of my magazine. I think that all of the images taken are very creative, have been well constructed and are overall a very good success. However, I believe natural light was poor on this day, and because of this I have decided to repeat the session on a brighter day.

Personally, my favourite photo is the 3rd because it does not contain any unecessary background that any of the other images do and it has my preffered pose.

I have also realised that the masthead would clash with the person's head, meaning that my masthead would have to cover the whole width of the magazine. This is not what I want so when i retake the photographs, i will work bearing in mind that i need more space at the top of my image.