Evaluation

Who would be the audience for your Media product?

The audience for my music magazine would cover both males and females, primarily aged between 16 and 24 years, i do realise after audience feedback however, that the main models are female, yet this is only by chance and every other issue probably wouldnt include this. Although i wouldnt just focus on this target audience as it could be for any age group that enjoys the sort of music my magazine promotes. The language used isn't too formal, complex or has any profanities so would appeal to most and also a younger audience. The price is £3.50, i realise that for my audience which because of the age range would contain mostly students, this could be quite expensive but my magazine is a monthly issue so this hopefuly wouldnt be a problem.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I used a variety of techniques to make my magazine appeal to my target audience. I used colours and font styles which made my product look professional and eye catching to attract more of an audience. The content for my magazine was based on some of the interests of my group of friends who fit into my target audience group, i asked them questions such as "ideally what bands would you like to see in a magazine of your choice?" and "what giveaways/competetions and advertisements would you like in said magazine?" The result of my magazine reflects their answers, so hopefully reflects the interests and ideas of my target audeince. Another technique which I used to attract my audience was to give short, vague descriptions of the articles on the contents page so as to encourage them to read on and find out more. I also put a subscription offer on the contents page with a saving of 33% to encourage the consumers so buy more. I kept the language informal and easy going so the articles wasn't to hard to take in. I used alot of imagery also to make it more eye catching.

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

I have learnt many new skills in creating my magazine by using many different prgrams on the computer, I now know all the elements of publisher wish overall allowed me to design my magazine much more creatively and effectively especially with the double page spread. Also i have learnt much more on Adobe photoshop which will help me create more effects in the future and i will be more confident doing so. By learning the different conventions on the magazines i now know what i have to do in order to create them effectively and what program to use to do so.

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

I think i have progressed and improved greatly from when i produced my preliminary task, i feel i have become more confident in using the different programs and techniques to create a good music magazine. Also i believe my knowledge of magazine conventions has broaded, i also became more creative in making my magazine, i have experimented with a variety of different shots, angles and frames when taking my photgraphs and the language i used is more suitable and effective for a magazine. I dont think i was very creative and spent as much time on the preliminary task so i dont believe it was as good as my music magazine, but still gave me practice in creating magazines.



In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Before beginning creating my media product obviously i had to do a lot of research about music magazines, i bought some and also found examples on the Internet, both on google and by looking on the music magazine sites such as the NME site and Q. I tried to research music magazines that were of the genre of the type of magazine i wanted to create. I think in my opinion and also audience feedback my magazine would be classed as a hybrid as it has many conventions of different types of genre of magazines. I think this is a positive thign as it means my magazine is more open to a wider audience range. In all my contents page, double page spread and front cover i tried to include many concepts of music magazines whilst also twisting a few. For my front cover i decided to have the entire background as one image as i think this is very effective and more appealing to the eye, this convention is used in many magazines and i think looks better than lots of other images put together. I went against usual conventions in two ways, the first by keeping the text on the cover to the bare minimum as i think it looks more effective this way and secondly by putting my masthead on the right hand side with the fate and magazine website underneath, i feel it looks better this way although i realise i may not sell as well as the consumer may not be able to see the name of the magazine clearly if it were stacked in a shop. For my contents page i put the textual information on the right hand side and an image on the left like i had seen in previous magazines. also below the image i had put in an editors note, which doesn't always come up in music magazines but thought it would be fitting in mine. I have sectioned my two types of contents off into "features" and "every month" making it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for and also giving a more personal feel to the magazine with the every month section, letting the audience become familiar with it. Finally in my double page spread i had to look at many different music magazines and double page spread to find which styles, layouts and conventions i liked the most to use for my magazine. i decided to go for a half image, half text which seems to be the theme running throughout my magazine. It has many conventions such as a strap line with the page number on, a drop cap which directs the reader to the begining of the article and also a pull quote which attracts the reader more without them having to read then entire article. My magazine follows the same ideology throughout by using similar photographs and colour scheme.


How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product represents the younger people of society, particulary the invidual alternative side who are interested in that genre of music as the mise en scene represents this by including appropriate attire that the models are wearing etc. It appeals to both music listeners and makers alike as the content gives them aspiration to make music because of the artists telling their story of struggle and then achienvement. Also the music line up that the magazine features will attract the social group i am aiming it at. The composition of my magazine gives the feeling of care free, enjoyable music making by the positioning of the models, setting etc. i created this effect in hopes this will reach my audience and inspire them