Evaluation: Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Since creating my school magazine as my preliminary task I feel that my knowledge of using Photoshop has increased to a level where I feel comfortable using it. For example I now know how to select parts of photos using the selection tool in order to cut things out. For example any images where I have used a separate background. I also feel that my photography skills have improved. The first time around I found it harder to take pictures while thinking about the mise-en-scene however with practice I feel that my photography dramatically improved during my main task. I also feel that I am now able to manage my time much more efficiently and able to prioritise which work needs to be done first. I feel that I would now be able to produce a production schedule which would allow me to follow week by week tasks and complete the work within a shorter amount of time. Overall my understanding of the software has improved throughout this coursework I now feel that I have produced a professional looking magazine using these software’s.

Above are both the cover and contents of my preliminary task and my main task. I feel that the difference is clearly visible as to which is which, and I am happy with how my work has changed from my initial out come to my final product.

Evaluation:Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Below is a list of the different program's and equipment that I used in order to create, edit and present my product. Overall I have learnt a lot about technology throughout this project. Before creating my magazine I'd never used Slide share, Photobucket, Flickr, Blogger or many of these media softwares. However I now feel comfortable using the cutting tool, which I used to edit round my downloaded fonts and some images on my magazine such as my logo. I now feel that I am able to use the technologies to the best of my ability and that I am able to be more adventurous with the way in which I actually use each tool. I look forward to developing these new skills in the future.

Evaluation: Q5: How did you attract/address your audience?

I addressed my target audience whilst creating my actual product to ensure I was covering all area’s that they would like to be in a new rock music magazine. I have carried out numerous questionnaires to get feedback for my magazine. I also created a post questionnaire to see what I could have improved on, this was not only a good way to find out what people thought about my magazine but also to help me in the future. I attracted my audience by using images that they felt they could relate to and I also used colours such as 'red' to grab their attention. This was important as when the magazine is on the shop shelf surrounded by similar products it is vital that my magazine would stand out over the rest. I also ensued that I placed my masthead at the top of my magazine so that it was easily visible to my target audience.

I have also addressed my target audience in other ways such as the use of props, costume and colour this not only allows me to clearly show my genre and identify much target audience but it also attracts my audience as they can relate to the images they can see. For example on my cover the clothing is typical of a rock artist and therefore follows conventions of a music magazine. I have also created my models makeup to be typical of a model found on a music magazine such as NME or Kerrang.

The colour also helps to attract my target audience I have used the colour ‘red’ over black and white this create a nice effect that allows the red to stand out without being over powering. It was important that my cover stood out as typically the consumer would pick up the most aesthetically pleasing magazine on the shelf. I also used superlatives on my magazine. Superlatives are signs or symbols that attract the consumer to the magazine, for example 'NEW' or ‘DON’T MISS’ these immediately make the magazine look interesting. 

Evaluation: Q4: Who would be the audience for your media prodcut?

Whilst creating my actual product I was following the conventions of a typical rock magazine and basing my target audience around the age of sixteen plus. I tried to allow my target audience to be both male and female. Although the images used in my magazine are of females I feel that this is still appropriate as, females can relate to the images and males are attracted to the images shown. I have tried to ensure the style and language used throughout my product is neither feminine nor masculine. My typical target audience would be those who enjoy going to gigs and festivals such as ‘download’ and ‘V’ they would like listening to music on the go using things such as an ipod. They would mainly spend free time with friends out and about and spend most of their spare money on music and band T-shirt’s. I had to ensure that my magazine appealed to my target audience as a whole although the age band of my target audience is fairly small the likes and dislikes between these age groups can vary. Typically the lower end of my target audience would spend the day at school/college and then in their spare time, enjoy using their computer/laptop to listen to music and communicate through social networking sites such as facebook or myspace. However towards the end of my target audience age range the teenagers may be or likely to actually attend gigs and concerts as they can now afford to. I therefore ensured that I included different features to suit each ages needs. For example I included free posters of bands within my magazine, this would mainly appeal to the lower age as they would be more likely to hang such posters on their bedroom walls. I also included an up and coming gig line up in my magazine for the upper end of my audience as this would be useful to them. Below is some example images of my target audience.

Evaluation: Q3: What kind of media institution might distibute your media product and why?

My product would be distributed as a hard copy and would be available to purchase from supermarkets, newsagents and record stores. My product would be sold in a record store as they tend have a wide variety of products like mine. This is also a prime area for my target audience. However so that I am not restricting my product to much I would also sell my product in some supermarkets such as Tesco. This for most is a fairly accessible shop to purchase from. This also matches my cover price. My cover price being £2.50 is reasonable when purchased from shops such as this. I would also create a ‘BAND’ website where my consumers could find out when the next issue will be released and what the content will be. By creating this page it will create more awareness’ of my magazine and appeal to a wider market, therefore increasing my profit.  I think that IPC Media would be good to distribute my media product as they are very successful with distributing magazines such as NME. When researching into institutions I came across this rather impressive statement on the ipc website.  ‘IPC Media produces over 60 iconic media brands, with print alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men – almost 26 million UK adults – while our websites collectively reach over 20 million users every month.’ I therefore think this will be good to use as my magazine is similar to NME however our target audiences are different and there would therefore be the necessary gap in the market for my product. 

Evaluation: Q2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Before creating my magazine I had decoded that my target audience would be age between sixteen to nineteen. Typically they would tend to listen to music whenever possible whether it be while out and about or at home relaxing. As my magazine follows the rock/indie genre the average reader would most likely attend concerts such as 'Reading' and 'V' and be interested not only in signed artists but up an coming artists and unsigned bands. I would need to take into consideration the amount of money that my average reader would have when deciding on the cost of my magazine.

When thinking about my creating my magazine I decided to look at an existing rock star. From my own knowledge I knew of a female rock singer called 'Taylor Momsen' I decided to take pictures that resemble her style. When choosing my models I thought carefully about how I wanted to take my images. The images that I actually took were of a friend of mine. The reason that I decided to use her was because I felt that she was photogenic and could take relatively similar photographs as Taylor Momsen. I tried to create an image that my target audience could relate to, I therefore thought about the social stigma attached to the 'rock' genre. This tends to be edgy and out there, so when taking my photographs I decided it would be a good idea to dress my model in this style. I did this using fur, leather and denim clothing. I felt this would be a good idea as the target audience I am aiming my product on would also be the type of teenagers that would dress this way and have their own identity. In the pictures above is an example of this, one the left is Taylor Momsen and on the right is my model. I have also made sure that my outcome represents particular social groups by looking at one specific genre of music. However although my genre of music is rock I have manipulated this so that my target audience will range from fans of rock, indie and even heavy metal. The reason I did this was to ensure that my target audience was specific enough to create my magazine to meet their needs yet at the same time not narrowing it down too much so that my profit margin would be too small. I did this by using dark colours such as black and grey within my magazine, the reason I did this is because these are the colours generally associated with this social group of rock fans. This will therefore attract the right audience to magazine near enough straight away. The style of writing I have followed is also conventional as this is a key part of the magazine. My genre can easily be identified by the font and style of writing used throughout my magazine. If I had followed an unconventional style of writing for example if my writing was too formal, this would overall put me at a disadvantage as my target audience would not purchase my product, and the amount of consumers would deteriorate having a detrimental effect on my business.

Evaluation

Evaluation: Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms 

and conventions of a

For my media I have created a music magazine that consists of a front cover, contents page and a features article. As I had chosen the genre of 'rock' I looked at other music magazines of the same genre and listed the conventions. This allowed me to follow these conventions and base my own magazine around them. My media outcome both develops and challenges the conventions a real rock music magazine. I did this by paying attention to detail. However I have also challenged some of these conventions by looking at magazines of another genre an incorporating those conventions into my magazine. Overall my outcome follows most of the rock conventions however when creating this final outcome I went against these conventions and used some unconventional ideas to play around with and see how they worked. I have tried to make it clear what conventions I have or haven’t followed throughout my work. For example typically a rock magazine would have minimal colour and be overall very dark and plain. I have incorporated this in some aspects of my work; however I have also gone against this in a sense. My front cover is generally lighter than one you would expect to see from a rock magazine. The reason I have done this is to attract a slightly wider market with the use of colour, in the other hand I am still managing to tare\t my original audience as I have only used red, grey, white and black on my cover. I have continued this colour theme across my contents and features article to ensure that the continuity if the magazine is persistent. I was careful doing this as I did not want the pages to look to similar, I therefore used different shades of these colours on each page. I decided to name my magazine 'BAND' as this pretty much sums up the content of my magazine. I liked this name as it was short and very easy to remember.

From my research I have noticed that many big name music magazines have also got short title names, for example NME, MOJO and Q magazine. This again follows the conventions. The font that I have used was one that I downloaded from an online website called 'Dafont' I feel that the font I have used fits the appearance and vibe that I would like to give to my target audience. The effect of the font is bold, edgy and looks wore. I feel that this meets the general conception of a rock music magazine. The typical rock magazine contents is full up. I have incorporated this into my work and used various pictures and text to fill the page however I have also gone against this and used brighter colours on my contents page, which is unconventional for this genre. The background for example is white 5thius is very unusual for a rock magazine as they tend to be black white text layered on top. The overall layout of my magazine is also very similar to the one of a genuine rock magazine I felt that this was essential. The reason for this is my target audience would be familiar with this layout and find it easier to understand. The actual image on my cover is fairly unconventional in the sense that although my model looks to be a rock singer, the photograph itself is taken in a particular poise that some may see as a fashion style. My image is of one female alone, which in itself is not conventional. Many magazines feature an image of one person 0on the cove, however rock/music magazine have a tendency to feature bands on their covers. The reason I have gone against this is to ensure my cover is not too over powering and 'in the face' I felt that the image I have used not only meets my genre and appeals to my target audience but also allows me to add more text onto my cover as the subject does not take up the whole frame. My features article is most conventional as it follows the layout of a genuine music magazine and the style of writing also is the same. This is vital as my readers will need to be able to relate to the story.