Evaluation - Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Bauer Media:

Pros -

Based in Europe, the same as my magazine and its target audience based on my research.

Has 300 magazines which means that they know what they are doing when it comes to distributing my magazine.

Cons -

Kerrang magazine is a part of Bauer Media and this would cause problems due to my and Kerrang's target audience is very similar.

Mojo is another rock magazine that is a part of Bauer Media, however its target audience is a lot older so that would not be a problem.

The content in my magazine is similar to others that Bauer Media distributes therefore making it not unique and original.

Time Inc.:

Pros -

Is very popular with Americas with half of Americans reading a magazine from Time Inc each month.

Has not got as many rock magazines in its company which means that my magazine would feel unique in the company.

Cons -

Based in America which isn't ideal as my magazine is based in Britain and Europe.

For my magazine, Paradox, I would want to have Time Inc. as the publishing company for my music magazine.

Both of the companies have good things about them however I have chosen Time Inc. as my magazine is a rock magazine and the main issue with Bauer Media is that they have other magazines that are similar to mine, which would cause too many unnecessary rivalry and readership loss within the same company that would not be healthy for any of the magazines involved within Bauer.

Although Time Inc. is not based in Europe it would still have an influence over UK magazines and publishers which would mean that my magazine could be a success. Time Inc. do only publish magazines which means that my magazine could not become as successful as Kerrang for example as they both use TV and radio stations that are linked to the magazine making them very accessible for the reader.

My magazine would benefit from Time Inc. being American as it would open up a different market to distribute to and this attention from the American market would help improve my magazine and create a fan base that would rival Kerrang.

Evaluation - Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?     

I chose to make my magazine represent young male artists who are usually in the rock genre and the stereotypes that occur in the genre as a whole.

For example some people believe that in rock music there are no meaningful lyrics and this is mainly due to them not being able to understand the artist however the genre as a whole has created some of the most meaningful lyrics in all of music. One of the most famous bands of all time, Queen, was a part of the rock genre and their huge success during the 70s was partly due to their lyrics. "My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies, fairy tales of yesterday will grow but never die. I can fly my friends" has an impactful and meaningful tone to it and this goes against the stereotypes of the genre. In my article my feature artist talks about his biggest song 'new world' that has lyrics that people can connect to therefore making him not a part of the stereotype.

People also believe that all young male artists do not care about their fans and that they only care about the money that they make. I wanted to show people that this wasn't true by having my artist seem kind and considerate and not doing it for the money. Due to the time that we live in it is very difficult to make people seem normal when everything is online but in order to do this I wrote about his childhood and the problems he had there in order for him to seem like just an ordinary person who happens to make music. People also believe that people who listen to rock are also anti - social and this goes with the artist included and this was another stereotype I wanted to stop.

Evaluation - Question 1

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

My music magazine was intended to use and incorporate current as well as previous conventions in order for the magazine to be recognisable as the genre that I chose.

Conventions from real media products:

Kerrang's use of an interesting masthead design was an inspiration for me as I attempted to create a similar design that was still unique for the magazine.

Billboard may not be in the rock genre but I liked the simplicity of the magazine and so did my target audience during the pre - production stage of the development of my music magazine therefore I created the magazine with that in mind.

Kerrang's artists are usually wearing casual clothes in order to get the audience to better attach themselves with the featured artists, and as my feature artist was an up and coming star he would need that attachment with his audience, therefore meaning that he would also be wearing a more casual outfit.

Conventions that I challenged:

The main convention that I challenged is that rock magazines have to have a lot of content packed closely together like this:

However as I preferred the Billboard approach to the style and simplicity I therefore tried to create a rock magazine that was simplistic and easy to read.

Another convention that I challenged was the artist and the age that the artist was. In most magazines the featured artist is an adult between usually over the age of 25 and this portrays a sense of maturity in their actions and what they say however my artists are between the ages of 18 and 25 so this is a convention that I am challenging.

Double Page Spread

Contents Page

Front Cover

Development of Pages

Front Cover:
This is the development that the front cover went through:

 

This is the final front cover:

 

 

Contents Pages:

This is the development that the Content Page went through:

 

This is the final Content Page:

 

 

 

Double Page Spread:

This is the development of the double page spread:

 

The final double page spread: