EVALUATION

In what ways does your media product

use, develop or challenge forms or
conventions of real media products?
My magazine, Amplified, was
inspired mostly by the simple
colour scheme, house style and
layout of Mojo, Uncut and
Classic Rock. I found that
each of these magazines had
very similar conventions such
as including one main story
surrounding only the edges
with puffs of additional
article information such as
“PLUS! The View, Tori Amos….”
etc. Each magazine has a laid
back, slightly roughed up
style, though Classic Rock
seems to appeal more to a
younger demographic than
UNCUT and MOJO as it’s layout
is less structured and the
font of the Masthead is
slightly more smooth than
that on Mojo magazine.
How does your media product
represent particular social
groups?
•I want my magazine to mainly
represent the revolutionary
generation of Rock and Roll, The
‘Legends’, identifiable by 35-50
year olds; the people who were
•I there
have .aimed to also combine this
with the evolution of rock into
what it’s become
today. Appealing to a younger
audience
of around 18-25 year olds. This
is
included in the form of an
interview
with a young aspiring punk
band, revealing
their inspirations
•I imagine and would
my magazine
aspirationsattract
in the an
music
audience
industry throughout the
ranging from 18revolution
-25s and
and today35
. -50’s and would appeal
mainly to men, though it
may appeal to many women
too.
 What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and why?
I am confident that IPC Media, Future
Publishing or Bauer Media would be a
suitable distributors for my magazine,
AMPLIFIED, as they each distribute one of
my inspirational magazines such as Uncut,
Mojo and Classic Rock.
Future Publishing distribute
the larger range of music
magazines of the three
institutions, but it is Bauer
Media and IPC Media which
distribute the few most
popular and successful ones,
such as Q, NME, Mojo, Uncut and
Bauer
KerrangMedia
!. and IPC Media
distribute a diverse range of
magazines of different genres, a
select few in each category, each
successful in their areas of
focus. Therefore I would choose
either of these two companies to
distribute my product as I imagine
they would be companies which
could distribute my own magazine
 Who would be you magazine’s
audience?

As the content of my magazine

includes old and new Rock, my
audience would be in the age ranges
of 18-25 and 35-50. I have chosen two
target audiences as the new artists
would be those who were inspired by
the older ones. I feel that this My colour scheme of red, black
collaboration of the old and the new and white could appeal to both
could be hugely successful. My genders as they are gender
content choices would be quite neutral, though I would say
specialized in the Rock and Roll era, males are more the focus for
musicians who contributed and audience when considering the
inspired the revolution and combination of simple neat text
evolution of Rock and Roll. Therefore with fairly masculine, destroyed
my target audience would consist Headline fonts consistent
mainly of 35-50 year olds as there throughout my magazine. I
were the generation who experienced imagine that my audience would
the Rock and Roll Revolution. My mainly consist of laid back
intention to also attract a younger “oldies” who would enjoy
audience, would be for the purpose to listening to quality Rock,
educate and inspire the new possibly the owner or collector
generation of rock musicians; which of a few pieces of rock
specifies that the younger audience memorabilia or instruments (such
 audience profile
My audience would consist of either social or independent individuals
with a strong interest in the evolutionary period of Rock (the 60s),
and possibly a musician themselves or aspiring to be. Also individuals
strongly influenced by Rock revolutionaries such as “Led Zeppelin”,
“Jimi Hendrix” and “The Beatles” etc.

GENDER Majority male (some TV CHANNELS Music channels

Females) such as: Mtv, Viva, 4 Music,
AGE 25-50 Classic Rock. For entertainment
WORK STATUS Retired/ : Five *, Dave, BBC 1/THREE, E4,
Student/ Young professionals Paramount Comedy
COMMON INTERESTS FILMS / PROGRAMMES Dark
Festivals/gigs, Music, playing Comedy, “Rockumentaries”,
an instrument Horror, Action/Thriller,
PREFERRED MUSIC GENRE Crime Drama
Rock n’ Roll, Classic Rock, Prog
Rock
RADIO STATIONS AceRadio,
AMPED FM, Radio Mojo, The Volt,
X FM
 Blumler and katz
Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory is made up of 4 main
areas: Information , Personal Identity , Integration and Social
Interaction and Entertainment .
Out of these four areas I feel my magazine could potentially fulfil each
of them for my target audience, which would be a strong attraction for my
magazine. Although the main areas fulfilled by the contents of my magazine
would be Entertainment and Information .

Maslow ’ s hierarchy of needs

My magazine would come under the 4th
tier, Esteem, of Maslow’s Hierarchy
of Needs as it is not completely
necessary for survival but is a
significant influence of the way we
model ourselves to our interests
and surroundings, such as the
influence of musicians and music
styles on each persons view of the
world around them. It also
significantly affects the way we
behave and interact with one
another physically and socially;
therefore this could also place my
 Purpose and Demographics
I feel that each choice I made concerning the codes and conventions
of my magazine suitably fit with my chosen demographic. Without the
first generation of musci there would not be a present generation to
emerge from it. I also feel that, as Blumlerand Katz’s Uses and
Gratifications Theory suggests, people have a need to be educated and
informed. Therefore my magazine’s purpose, to educate about the
beginnings of Rock and the legends who pioneered the revolution, is
attractive to my chosen demographic who would have seen these Rock
icons as major inspiration of the time. An additional purpose to my
magazine is to inspire a younger demographic , consisting of aspiring
musicians and enthusiasts, to contribute and feed the evolution of the
revolutionary
Fashion genreinfluenced
was hugely further. by revolutionary music styles such as
Vivienne Westwood during the Punk movement. Recently these iconc
styles have been re-emerging through today’s fashion culture. And as
music and fashion have always tended to go hand in hand, I feel this
has inspired a newfound interest amongst the younger generation to
learn about the origins of the revolutionary music styles. This was my
primary reason for combining the two seemingly opposite demographics,
as they are now possess similar music tastes and interests.
The Primary purpose of my magazine is to entertain and inform,
therefore my use of language is fairly simple and does not
include much terminology, though some slang is present in my
interview, as the artist interviewed was of a younger age.
 Preparation/proposal
The first decision I made about my magazine was the genre as this would determine
the suitability of the magazine’s name. My choice of Revolutionary rock inspired
the name “Amplified” as it reflected the rebellion of the genre and how the whole
point of Rock was, and still is, to be loud and obnoxious. My choice of wording was
done to match the theme of slang and music terminology to influence music magazine
names, such as Uncut, meaning an unedited take of an artists recording, and Mojo,
being slang for an aura-like mood created by the music; like these, my magazine
name makes reference to the time it represents.

I propose to make a music magazine specialising in the genre of revolutionary

rock. This magazine will be aimed at a predominantly male audience, though many
females may also be interested by its contents, ranging from the ages 18-25 and 35-
50. This chsentarget audience will possibly be students, will small disposable
income, senior professionals, perhaps close to retirement. Amplified is aimed to
appeal to an audience inspired by the pioneers of rock and the revolution, also a
younger people curious to learn of Rock’s birthplace.

This magazine will be sold Internationally only in America, Canada and the UK as
even though this genre influenced a global generation, changing the music industry
forever, to translate the contents into several languages would cause a
significant drop in the profits of the magazine. I feel it is important to spread
the stories of such an influential time around the world as it affected the world.

The price of my magazine was an very important concept to consider as most

magazines of this genre or similar charge prices ranging form £3.50 to £6. To make
my magazine more appealing to my audience I chase to charge £4.50, a comfortable
middle ground.
FINAL FRONT COVER
 I have given my
Analysis of front cover
masthead a drop Black and white
shadow so as to image accentuates
allow it to stand the “classic”
out more style of the rock
effectively. genre. This is
the main focal
point.. The angle
The font of my at which it is
masthead is made to taken is a slight
look like a mark low angle looking
made by a slightly up at the model.
cracked and worn This gives them a
“Top Secret” sense of higher
military stamp. This status and power.
ties in with the
revolutionary
concept of my genre.
have put only the
Headline in whit e so
as to make it stand
out amongst the other USP – draws
titles. reader in and
encourages them
to purchase.
FINAL CONTENTS PAGE
 Analysis of contents page
Dateline,
vital to Like my main
inclusion of inspirational
issue number magazine, Uncut, my
and date. cover story is not
the focus of my
contents page,
rather an additional
story takes the
Regulars are a spotlight. This is
common feature the story which I
amongst most have included as my
magazines, double page spread.
therefore an
essential addition
to my magazine.

Reviews are an
Red used to important section
emphasise page in a music
numbers and bold magazine as it
font emphasising allows the reader
sectional
headings. to gain advice on
new music/ films.
FINAL DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
 Analysis of Double page spread
The pull
quotes give Tour poster
Article title, “Fresh included at
Meat…” oddly worded a hint to
the reader end of
therefore draws the interview
curious reader in. as to what
the article promoting
is about. band’s debut
tour.

Red used for

questions to
emphasis the
change in
speaker.

Bright image
lights up
Page number the page and
and issue date stands out
– essential against the
to realism of contrasting
final product. black
adjacent
page.
ADVERT – TOUR POSTER
I added this in
addition to the
previous pages
of my magazine
as it could fill
the space on the
inside of the
front cover
adjacent to the
contents page.
This is a common
placing for
adverts in this
particular style
of music
magazine
therefore this
would be
affective.
 What have you learnt from the
process of constructing this product?
The main thing I have learnt during the production of this project is
that the process of producing printed text of such standards as we are
expected takes an incredible amount of focus on detail. Even the absence
of the smallest detail, such as the page number, immediately destroys the
realism of the work. The styling of a magazine is one of the most
important aspects of its creation I feel, as the house style can
determine whether a magazine becomes memorable or iconic. I also had to
consider where there were gaps in the market and how well my magazine
could sell, my main influence for this style and genre choice, to accent
to sudden craze in revolutionary fashion, inspired by the very genre I
had chosen. After researching plenty of samples and determining essential
conventions and stylistic ones, I went onto experimenting with photoshop,
and how to edit photos accordingly to fit in with my house style, this
part of my project took the most meticulous work as I knew my images had
to appear to be of a professional standard. The importance of the
quality of the final images included in the magazine can determine
between the final appearance looking professional or unprofessional,
therefore a good camera is essential to achieve this project to a
professional standard. I expected this project to be quite difficult and
to take very detailed work to be presented at a professional standard. A
lot of hard work is necessary to create such a complex media text and a
lack of this would be blatant almost instantaneously.