Evaluation

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

Conventions used:

Masthead-Just like real media products I knew I had to create a unique and bold masthead. I researched into mastheads and found that the most simple yet effective mastheads were ones such as ‘Q’ Magazine, which in fact my masthead was based on. Here you will find more in depth research into mastheads- http://nicolemanleymedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/masthead-ideas.html

Font-The font I used is called ‘Perpetua’. I looked for a common theme in fonts and seen that the most sophisticated fonts were the ones often used. The font I chose stood out which is what I wanted and was used throughout my magazine.

Layout-Just like real media products my magazine layout consists of a masthead, headline, lure, left third and barcode.

They are all placed in the usual locations which show I’ve followed the conventions of a real media product.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?My media product represents various social groups especially rock fans aged between 13-30. This means my magazine’s majority audience is the younger buyers of the public, events such as gigs and concerts are advertised throughout my magazine and are usually being aimed at the younger members who attend them. The images I used also reflect a younger image, for example the images of Emily look closely like images of young pop stars such as Taylor Swift. I like the images displaying the instruments in them as this is a good way of expressing what sort of music the magazine contains.

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

When talking about the media institutions which could distribute my media product. After some research I found out that Bauer distributes Q Magazine which my whole magazine is slightly based on. Bauer distributes lots of well known magazines which would be good for my magazine as the more publicity it receives the more sales I will make.

Bauer distributes 38 million magazines a week worldwide, therefore I could get my magazine distributed worldwide and create lots of attention for it in the meantime. Stores which I would like to sell my magazine in, such as corner shops, supermarkets, garages etc. will not hesitate to take it as stock after hearing it is being distributed by Bauer.IPC Media Ltd is a consumer magazine and digital

publisher in the United Kingdom. It widely features in weekly UK pop/rock music which makes me feel it is perfect for my magazine. Rock is my music genre of choice meaning IPC fits well.

Out of both media institutions I think I would prefer Bauer as it successfully distributed Q Magazine which is what my magazine strives to be like.

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

The audience of my magazine is varied with some specifics. You must enjoy reading around the genre of rock music and the news and concert dates that go with it. Gender is not specific as there is no sexism found throughout my magazine. The image on the front is female but could attract both fans who are girls and boys as the magazine focuses on more of the music rather than life of celebrity.

The age of my audience would be from 13-30, this is because young music fans and lovers of rock music will enjoy the magazine as well as late 20’s to 30’s.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?I developed my magazine so that my audience would straight away be attracted to my product and know exactly what they’re going to get from buying it. The image on my front cover was adjusted to black and white so that my colourful masthead stands out, making it easy to spot my product. My main headline reads ‘EMILY HAYES THE COMEBACK OF THE CENTURY’, this straight away leads you to believe that the main article inside will be all about a young, fresh celebrity making her huge comeback.

I added sub headings which let the reader know that inside are ‘dates not to miss’, this entices the buyers to buy and read more in depth and what the apparently should not miss. The images I used were purposely of a young model, very pretty and fresh, just what my audience want to read more about.

6. What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?Blogger – Everything that I researched, created or evaluated was collected together and put onto a blog I made in order to practically store all work. This will make it easier for my work to be marked and seen in order of how I want it to be seen. I enjoyed using blogger as it makes all my work look neat and organized for the markers.

Photoshop – Helped me create my front cover, contents page and double page spread publications easily. Adjusting the colours and sizes of shapes became simple using this technology. My experience of using Photoshop has largely increased and my skills have improved. I will be more confident in using this program more often.

BarcodesInc – I only used barcodes Inc. once throughout my project as a barcode needed to be placed on my front cover. It was simple to use and extremely efficient.

Slide share – This site helped me put together my various power point's such as this one, and add them to my blog to make it look very neat and presentable. The site was easy to use as all you did was upload a document and create slides.

Google chrome – The internet played a very important role in my project as all the research was conducted through the internet. Without my research I would have never have known what to base my magazine on. Many of the programs such as barcodes Inc., blogger and slide share were provided to me through the internet meaning the internet was essential to me.

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

My skills in Photoshop have largely increased due to the amount of time spent making all my publications.

My research has become much more developed as I had to gather much more in order to get a clear view of what my magazine must entail.

Clear drafts can be established as I specifically drew the first, then created a second, resulting in that being altered and becoming my final draft.

My layout became more professional as I can now understand the conventions of a magazine. For example, I included the masthead, lure, left third etc. all correctly.