EvaluationAS Media

Ravi Jagpal

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?Uses the same

colour of red black and white throughout the whole front cover

Eye contact, will attract readersHas pull quotes

from the artist

Variation between size and text on cover lines

Large masthead, that has been stretched

Different sizes in cover lines show importance of articles

Strong image to show importance of article

Masthead design is bold as inspired by VIBE

Barcode

Pull Quote

Main image is larger than the conventional magazine in order to make it unique

Same colour theme throughout the whole front cover

A small number of cover line to keep focus of the image and the main cover lines

Full bleed image

Main articles at the top of the page to show importance

Body posture of the artist is very relaxed and natural, this is in order to portray the image that the story on the artist is going to be very personal ad not formal

His body is tilted to one side in order to attract customers attention to the main article

The word contents is broken up into three parts to give it a unique view

Eye contact is given again which is unusual for a contents page as models on this page tent to be posing in a un traditional manner

Again the simple layout and design is kept, this is not conventional as most magazines have quite complex designs

Same colour theme as front cover

Large Z that stands for zoned

Only some articles listed on the contents , as this is what well known magazines do, this in turn will give that impression that my magazine is already popular and well established.

Size variation in regards to importance of articles.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

To have a large range of readers I have tried to represent different age and ethnical backgrounds. To try and accomplish this I have used two different models both of different race to represent different ethnicities. Also I have used models that are the same age as my target audience (16-21 year olds). The models are dressed in the same attire that would be expected to be seen on 16-21 and of artist that they may follow, he also seems to be very relaxed but with a firm expression on his face this gives the impression that he has an interesting story behind him, this then gives the reader the initiative to keep on reading s the article may relate to the. This makes my magazine more representative. The text I have used is very simple and clear which will allow my readers to understand the articles very easily. My magazine is targeting college and university students. I would classify my magazine as C2 and D as my readers would most likely be students who have part time jobs. I think the mise-en-scene of the image of the front cover photo defiantly represents my target social group.

 

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why

I researched two types of magazines publishers. Bauer and IPC. Both produce some well known magazines. IPC produce a lot of different types of magazines such as sports, music and fashion. Their age range is normally for people in their twenties. And they try to target both male and females. Bauer are similar to IPC in that they both produce a range of different types of magazines. They published magazines such as Q, HEAT and Kerran. They also try to appeal to both genders. I think IPC would be a suitable publisher as it generally targets both male and female reader which is what my magazine sets out to do. Also it has a website that allows readers to follow magazines online, this would increase the amount of readers for the magazine as my target audience are mostly students who do spend a large amount of time online. Finally I think IPC would be appropriate publisher as it sells it magazines all over the UK giving my magazine a huge distribution channels and a large amount of potential customers.

 

Who would be the audience for your media product? 

My target audience would be 16-21 year olds, who music tastes include R ‘n’ B , Dubstep and Hip-Hop genres of music. I have chosen to aim my magazine towards both males and females in order to create a larger audience for my magazine to be distributed across. I did this by having ‘good looking’ male models so that it would appeal towards females, and as the models were all male it would appeal to males as well as the articles would be something they could relate too. These articles that my audience could relate to would have modern day problems and stoires that affect their lives. I would also have adverts for things such as adverts for clothes from shops such as JD ,Top-shop, Next as these shops target audience are similar to mine. Also i would make sure all articles are about music that appeals to my target audience.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I used a number of different type of techniques in order to attract my audience, firstly I uses different font sizes and colours that are not typically associated with magazines to draw my audience’s attention, this will attract their curiosity and make them want see what type of magazine it is. Secondly the model had direct eye contact with the camera which gives the reader a personal attraction to the magazine. Also the model is dressed in a way that is of the target audience, this would give the audience something to relate to, he is wearing things such as chinos, hoddies, and suspender that are currently in fashion. I made sure the cloths the models wore were bright so they would ‘pop’ of the black background making the magazine even more attractive for the audience. I have kept the same colour theme throughout the whole magazine that is red white and black, this allows the reader to get use to the magazine and feel commutable when reading it because they are familiar to it. Also the colours are very distinct so it would be very noticeable on any magazine stand. The text on the cover is very intriguing and very simple, this will make the audience want to read the articles inside. The masthead on the front cover is very unique as it has a image behind it which is not very conventional, this again will bring people to the magazine. For my contents page i used a different model to the one i used for my front cover so that my magazine does not get repetitive. I again made sure he was wearing bright colour clothes, so that it would stand out against the background. The model also seems to be a very strong character, this may suggest that the articles may be about him, and because his posture is so powerful it shows that he must be a very serious person in the music industry, this may encourage the audience to keep on reading.

 

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

When creating my magazine I used a number of different types of software some of them I have used in the past but some were new to me such as Photoshop and inDesign. I developed new skills that allowed to edit and add effects to photos and create a my magazine.

In order to take good quality photographs I had to learn how to position my models and how to use a camera correctly. To become good at this I took some practise photographs beforehand so when the time came to take my real ones I knew what I was doing. By doing this i learnt some key techniques such as making sure the model has eye contact with the camera, and ensuring that their attire is fitting for the magazine. After I had chosen the photographs that I wanted to use, I had to edit them on Photoshop, this initially was very hard as I have never used the programme before but after watching ‘YouTube’ tutorials my skills began to excel and I managed to edit my photos and use them in my magazine.

As many other things in this process using a blog was new me, but after spending a lot of time on the word press, I began to understand how to operate it to do such task as uploading photos, creating menu’s and new post and editing the design of my page.

Finally I used Microsoft Word in order to make sure I had no spelling or punctuation mistakes in my blog or my magazine.

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

Looking back at my preliminary task I can see that I have learnt many new skills such as how to operate new software such as inDesign and Photoshop. After developing skills in these programmes the quality of my magazine has increased as i have successfully managed to edit and add effects to photos. When I compare my preliminary task to my final one I can see a massive difference of quality in my magazine not just in the photos used but also in the colours and the layout of the magazine. An example of a change in quality is between my contents pages, were in my preliminary task had no real colour scheme or no real page structure, But on my final contents page i kept a constant colour theme that is the same for the rest of my magazine, also I laid out the text in a professional format. During this process my knowledge into how a music magazine is produced and made has increased, this is because of all the background research I have done. I have also developed an understanding on how to take professional looking photos that give my magazine a sense of realism, that my preliminary task was lacking. Looking at my actual magazine I can see that it does in fact look like a magazine that could be distributed on a large scale as it follows traditional trends but does keep its own individualism by having such things as black backgrounds on the articles but having the text laid out it in a tradition al way, i feel by including little things like this that are different from the norm it will set apart my magazine to those that are similar to it. Overall I think my magazine making and my overall all creative abilities have come a long way.