AS media Evaluation
1. 1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?
Starting with my front cover, I
followed most of the conventions of a teen music magazine.
The masthead is partly hidden by
the singers head, a technique frequently used within well known and easily
recognizable magazines as the logo doesn't have to be fully shown for readers
to know which magazine it is. Though my magazine is obviously not well known I
decided to follow the convention as it displayed skill and made the cover look
overall more professional and interesting to readers. Also the image I used is
a direct address mid body shot, with my model in a open and welcoming pose unlike some music magazines where the model is made to look intimidating like in my examples.
Examples of music magazine front covers
My front cover
All of my pages follow the
convention of have a consistent colour scheme with more important information
being in certain colours and larger fonts. I choice the basic black and white
with bright blue as it gave it a more mature than over colourful children’s
magazines but not as didn't make it look as formal as most adult music magazines.
I decided not to over crowd my
magazine cover with puffs, extra shapes and strips unlike most music magazines
as it gave a cleaner, not cluttered look.
An example of an overcrowded music magazine front cover
In my contents used a cut out technique
with my main image, a technique used in the majority of music magazines. I
decided that this made the contents page look more interesting and gave it more
shape. Going against most contents pages I only used one image instead of a
main image along with smaller images; I felt that it gave a slicker layout than
having too many images on the page like most magazines do.
Examples of other music magazine contents pages. The top shows a cut out main image whilst the bottom shows a contents page over crowded with images
My contents page
Lastly on my double page spread I
used a large direct address image on the left hand side of the
spread, which is the regular layout used within music magazines. I chose to write my
article in a informal style profile layout instead of a basic question and
answer interview. Unconventionally I did not use a stand first with a small
introduction to my singer at below my headline and before my article but
instead went straight into my interview incorporating a few lines on
introducing my singer, I did this as I felt a stand first would take up a lot
of space and felt the article flowed better this way.
Examples of music magazine double page spreads both feature a Q&A style article
My double page spread
2. How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
As I have chosen to aim my
magazine at the target audience of 18-30 year olds I have tried to strike the
balance of appeal to gain interest from everyone in the wide age span. By using a 21 year
old singer I have appealed to the younger audience as they are more
inclined to have an interest in and relate better to a person close to their
own age, whilst not losing the interest of an older mid twenties audience who
would not be interested in anyone teenage and therefore too young. By using a
female singer I have appealed to the female audience who might respond well and
be inspired by a successful woman and by
making her look slightly alluring and attractive I have made the magazine
appeal to the majority of the male market. Also by not being genre themed my
magazine can appeal to generic music lovers and not just those of a specific
music genre.
3.What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
As I want my magazine to be
distributed and sold at the various college campuses as well as around the town
centre and local shops I did not look to far into extremely big worldwide
magazine distributors such as IPC Media or WWMD (Worldwide Media Distribution)
as they would not be interested in a local magazine aimed at a small area, and
it would be a waste of funding on such a small project. Instead when
deliberating over possible media institutions I looked into regional magazines
such as essexlifemag and essexcentralmagazine to see what distributing companies they run with. Though the latter used two
companies that specialised in leaflets or short-run publications the former is
distributed by archant.
Archant is a privately owned media company, the fifth largest regional
newspaper publishing company in the UK publishing both regional and local lifestyle magazines. I
think that Archant might be interested in my magazine as it would be a local
publication and they do not already publish a music magazine, so it would be a
new area for them to expand into.
All the magazines and newspapers in the image above are produced by Archant
14. Who would be the audience for your media
product?
The audience for my magazine
would be both genders aged between 18-30 years old. The reason for this is my
chosen method of distribution would be through selling within the different
campuses that SEC own as well as in local shops and businesses in and around
the town centre and this age group is the most likely to buy it. It would not
just appeal to students but to everyone interested in music and want to know what’s
going on in Southend. I have made my magazine gender neutral to appeal to both
genders as well as well as fairly priced so not to put of the student audience who don't have as much disposable income.
15. How did you attract/address your audience?
As I have written in my previous
answers I attracted my audience in a few different ways. Firstly I haven’t made
my magazine genre specific meaning lovers of all different genres of music
would read it instead of appealing to only one group. Secondly, my magazines
colour scheme and overall look is not gender specific as to attract those of
both sexes, though I have used a female model I believe that this would only
boost my magazines appeal as girls could relate and feel inspired by a
successful female whilst most males would find her attractive and want to learn more
about her. Thirdly I have used a model that appeals to everyone in my target audience;
being 21 she is close enough to all their ages to be relatable. Lastly, I have
done the same with my overall design, making it look modern to appeal to the
younger people but not to bold and bright that it puts off the older audience.
Furthermore I make it clear on the front cover that I have multiple articles on
a range of subjects within music, this attracts the readers interest and makes
them want to buy it. Also I have priced my magazine fairly to appeal to those without a lot of money to spend, as a high price would put of a lot of students and teens.
16.What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?
Before starting my preliminary task I
had very little experience using Photoshop and no knowledge of Indesign. Within
a short period of time before starting said product I was shown and mastered
the basics of both programmes. Over the course of the preliminary task I
developed more skills and learnt more techniques I could use within my
projects, including how to create the effect of the celebrity’s image
overlapping the title, how to properly resize and move images without
stretching them and ways of removing blemishes and marks from images without distorting them. These
techniques I was then able to use in my final project of the music magazine.
Moreover I have learnt how to set up and use
blogger to create this blog in order to post this evaluation, before doing so I had no understanding about how to create or run a blog.
Overall I have learnt a large
amount about different technologies and programme’s in order to create my
magazines and have developed many new skills to be able to make my magazines
pages to the best of my ability.
17.Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From starting the preliminary
task to completing my final task I have learnt the importance of research into already existing products and conventions of the magazine you are
producing and into the target audience and how much your target audience affects
the way in which you design your magazine, to maximize appeal.
Futhermore I have learnt that it
is important to sketch out your product before starting it to make the process
of actually creating it easier and to plan out deadlines for getting parts of
your products competed on time and to the best quality possible. Also having
sketches helps when taking the pictures needed for your magazine as you know
exactly what shots you want, get the pictures taken faster and give clearer
instructions to you models which is gives off a much more professional attitude than not being sure of
what you want them to do and wasting their time. Being organised overall with deadlines, sketches and
the organisation and use of folder back up methods such as a USB is also extremely
important.
Moreover my knowledge and skill
using the programmes Photoshop and Indesign has improved considerably. After
having no experience beforehand I learnt the basics in order to complete my
preliminary task and have developed my skills and techniques to make my final
magazine even better.
Lastly, I have learnt that there
are a lot of decisions you have to make whilst designing and creating a
magazine and though you may have an original idea and set sketches you may have
to make changes because something doesn’t work or there is a better way of
doing something.
