Research and Planning: Naming The Magazine

While researching music magazines that stand out to me, I couldn't help but notice the names of the magazines and the companies were mostly selected in to sort of a same semantic field. An example of this is that some of the magazines have three letters within their names. 'NME' is one of the more popular kind of magazine names which contains no more than three letters. On the other hand their is magazines which is an actual word, and not just three words shortened down in to their initials. The main one I noticed is the name 'Kerrang'. To me, I believe that the full words look more attractive than the initials. This is because they take up more room along the header of the page. This is an advantage because more effects can be used to make the title stand out a lot more.

As well as this, from what I have seen from the 'NME' magazines, the title doesn't look anything special as it looks too short. It also isn't as catchy as what it should probably be. Where as longer titles enable more effects to be used, and looks really catchy.

The reason why I decided to call the magazine 'TrendLines' is because I wanted to relate the title to a popular song in order to make it catchy to the audience. After naming it TrendLines, it is pretty obvious that it takes after the recent chart topper Blurred Lines. I believe that the name of the magazine also matches what some of the magazine is about. This is because part of the magazine is to do with the charts and the latest trends. This can relate to the title of my magazine. This explains one of the main reasons why I chose the title. I also wanted to be slightly different to some of the more professional magazines when referring back to the name of my magazine.

Due to the name of the magazine slightly being taken from a very popular song, it is obvious that I want the audience to be attracted to the magazine. It also shows the genre of the magazine within the title. This is because the song 'Blurred Lines' is related to the charts and pop music. However this is one of few genres within the magazine. I am planning to use indie bands which are made up as well. This will make the magazine a little more interesting as indie music is getting more and more mainstream.

Evaluation Question Two.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents social groups in all types of ways. The main way in which my product attempts to represent particular social groups is by having a different genres of music. For example, my magazine includes information mainly about an indie band called 'The Wall Breakers' but also includes names such as Drake and Kanye West within the front cover of the magazine. This puts the rap aspect in to the magazine. Because of this, the indie and rap folk will enjoy the magazine as it includes their type of music bands and artists. When they see the names of the musicians included on the cover, they will want to buy the magazine. It represents different social groups in different ways. If there was a group of friends who were in to indie music, then they would enjoy the magazine, and once they see the names on the front of the magazine, they would want to buy it.

As well as this, the front cover contains a member of the main band with mask on. The audience will want to know what the situation is regarding the image. As well as this, the fans of the band will want to find out what the situation is all about. Additionally, the magazine is aimed at the years 17 to 25, ranging from males and females. Because the range of the age is between around 17-25 years old, it opens up a massive variation of a target audience and therefore allows a much wider approach on to the audience for both rap and indie music. With the colours being used, and with the mask being used, it represents a notorious manner as such. This is because the mask used can mean a whole bunch of things, including bad representations. Within the double page spread of the magazine, I went in to detail about the mask situation, explaining a variety of ways in which the mask could have been used as well as giving examples. This opens up a massive range of possibilities and allows the audience to think for themselves.

With the type of music being used are both rap and indie, it allows a massive variety of music taste. The social groups of these two genres of music will usually be teens, maybe young adults. They can also be seen as a trendy topic of music. The main reason why the two genres of music might be for teens is down to the fact that it is very stereotypical that teens like either one or the other when it comes to rap and indie. On the double page spread, I have mainly focused on the mask situation regarding one of the made up indie bands. This is because I feel as though that would attract even more of an audience from most social groups, whether they are indie or not. As well as this, it refers back to the front cover, and explains it a lot more to the audience, which they would appreciate. Adding on to this, I have used a picture of the person behind the mask revealing his face with the mask beside him. This shows the audience what hey wanted to see and one of the main reasons on why they brought the magazine. I feel as though the front cover is a persuasive front cover as it makes the reader want to buy the magazine to know further information about the certain situation. I believe I have used the situation smartly in this case.

Evaluation Question One.

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

There are many ways in which my product can challenge those within the media. One of the ways is how the whole magazine is laid out, including the fonts. Throughout the process of the magazine in which I created, I aimed to slightly duplicate a magazine in which I had found on the internet. Because of this, I had a layout in which I could aim for. Due to the magazine in which I found, it gave me a clear idea of what a professional magazine looks like and therefore gave me tips throughout the creation of my own product. With the help of the magazine I had found, not only did the layout inspire me to use a similar style, but also the colours used. I thought it looked really attractive and therefore gave me the idea to use similar colours in order to make mine look just as attractive.

My product also includes just three colours. This is because of the three colour rule in which I had found in my research before I started on the magazine. When researching the three colour rule, it became very clear to me that it was a great idea to employ it on my magazine creation. When researching a lot of other music magazines, I could clearly see that the more attractive magazines had only been involved with a maximum of four colours. Where as the magazines with more colours looked slightly over-coloured and unattractive. Throughout my research, I also found that the three colours used in magazines were slightly bright, with the exception of maybe one colour. The more common colours i had found through the research were White, black and red. The way in which my magazine challenges those within the media regarding the colour is that I have used the three colour rule, and included the colours white, black and yellow.

The way in which I use other products within the media is to inspire my product. A prime example was my research in to the double page spread before I had started developing it. After plenty of research in to different double page spreads, I had come across a few brilliant ones that stood out massively and which I could use to aim for and make it just as attractive. The more attractive ones were the more professional ones and so therefore was the double page spreads that I attempted to make my product look like slightly. I also took a copy of a front cover which I really like and stood out to me. I used that front cover to stay on track with. I took ideas from the front cover and employed them in to my own product to make my magazine cover a lot more attractive. I developed the ideas from the front cover on to my very own product, and developed them a lot more for them to fit in perfectly with the rest of my magazine.