Final products

Preliminary task final products-

Main task final products-

Evaluation

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

Here I have a comparison between professional products and my own, using 'NME' as my example (overlay).

-The colour scheme of my magazine is very similar to that of NME's as they have used red, white and black as their main colours which I have also used. I felt that these colours were conventionl for an indie magazine and so chose to include them. Also, the colours for (for example, red) proved to be popular with my audience though my audience research.

-The masthead is also situated to the left of the front cover on my own magazine (as it also is in NME) I decided to do this as, for all magazines, the title is either centred or to the left, and the music magazine genre seemed to use the left more. For example, NME, Kerrang and Mojo.

-I have used a puff ( buzzword-'Plus: gig guide') as does NME as shown above.

-My main image goes against conventions of a music magazine as I have used the original image as the background (the brick wall) and I have not edited this in any way. Whereas the main image on the front cover for NME above has been placed onto a plain background (maybe using a lasso tool)

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

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

I think that IPC media would be a good distributor for my magazine as it publishes NME magazine, which is probabaly the closest magazine to mine. Therefore, they would have experience with my magazine genre and audiences' age etc.

4. Who would be the audience for my media product?

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

6. What have you learnt from technologies in the process of constructing this product?

Note: After considering my front cover design, I have decided to remove the image of the monkey and the guitar that was included in this video as I think it trivialises what is, in the main, a stylish front cover.

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

Double page spread article

They’re already on the ‘ones to watch’ list for music publication giant ‘Classic Rock’ magazine, have an adoring fan base and with the average age of the band being just 16, it’s no wonder that Hippys on the Hill are in it to the end. Bassist Sean Mcminn-Davies tells AMP’S Elise Grundy more...

You’d think it would be hard- balancing A-levels and GCSEs with a semi-professional music career. That’s not to mention that social life that every teenager has to have.

But with an average of only 5 years experience within the band, ‘Hippys on the hill’ make it look easy. And what, we ask bassist Sean, is their recipe to success? ‘Don’t give up, never give up’. Now, if this was any ‘scraped from the fresh crop of dolls’ girl group we’d have to assume that this was management speaking; however all of the lads seem very genuine, even more so Sean, who has remained grounded throughout the highs and lows ‘we hardly ever have arguments within the band, and if we do, it’s usually about stupid little things or slight creative differences.’ This would be enough to split some bands up, however Sean insists that ‘there’s nothing that can’t be worked out between us’. It’s this genuine camaraderie between the band’s members that makes ‘Hippys on the hill’ stand out.

Another thing that makes them stand out beyond many other local bands would be their energetic live show; ‘we tend to concentrate on our live show above anything else and make that our priority, we just try to make it as entertaining as possible’ explains Sean. And that’s exactly what they do. Wise words from such a young lad, however Sean has proved to be smart when it comes to the bands career and has also admitted on many occasions that he doesn’t take any of their success for granted, and has insisted that to keep themselves grounded, the band just take everyday as it comes.

And everyday definitely holds a new accomplishment for the prog-rock quartet; ‘We’re definitely extremely proud of what we have achieved in such a short space of time’. I’ll say, headlining 02 academies just 2 years after forming sounds good to me. However, Sean tells Amp that the band don’t measure their achievement by the number of prestigious gigs or fans, but by how the band members themselves have grown and improved ‘I’m very proud of what the band have achieved, but I’m even prouder of my fellow band mates.

It may very well be this friendship that keeps the band so tight, as when we cheekily broached the subject of conflict within the band, Sean calmly replied that there never is any conflict or arguments within the band and that they are all extremely close. Without actually meeting Sean or seeing how the band are together, you would be forgiven for thinking that this was, again, just something management have thrown in there. But there is no faking the genuine friendship that the band has together. ‘Any arguments that we do have are always really small and easily settled; usually just creative differences’. So, we know that sometimes things must get a bit rough for them, not necessarily because they’re constantly at each others throats, but because music is a hard ‘bizz to be in, especially at such a young age. However, Sean tells us that it’s the friendship within the band that keeps them all going at times like that and how they can get through most things with the knowledge that ‘there’s gonna’ be good times around the

corner’.

Well we know for certain that there’s always going to be something around the corner for the guys with Sean’s motto; ‘Don’t give up, never give up’.

So we asked Sean what was next for Hippys on the Hill ‘We’re going to London to record and then we’re also going on a tour of the 02 Academies around the country’.

Not bad, not bad at all. And one thing’s for certain; Hippys on the Hill are definitely one to keep your eye on…

Dps edited images

Front cover edited images

Front cover images (originals)

Contents Final screengrab