In the evaluation the following questions must be answered:
· In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
· How does your media product represent particular social groups?
· What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
· Who would be the audience for your media product?
· How did you attract/address your audience?
· What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
· Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Question: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Front cover - My front cover all started with research of different magazines from different genres how ever all where well known and sell well, i chose to take different genres at it gives me a range to decide which suits my personality best, after i chose the genre i started to look into more detail about how the titles of that well known magazine also took a deep look into the pictures, camera angles shadows, lighting and any other techniques they have used to edit the image best for the magazine. The research plays a big part into my final design as without inspiration from other magazines i would not have created what i have. Also in the research i found some Dos and Donts which helped me a lot, for example never have too much writing! i used a lot of these common noticeable dos and donts very handy through out the construction design and creation of my magazine cover. A very common feature of magazines that i stumbled upon in research is that there is a lot of colour coordination going on between pictures and the text, have also noticed that some fonts have been based to match with the picture as well. The colours also where eye catching, as in they would stick in your mind like a bright light. this is good as it leaves a image in the audiences mind which is a form of advertising. I also took great look into the background used in magazines as it really makes a difference when making your own, i found that they either used dull colours to make the text and picture stand out or white, i think white is used a lot as anything looks bold and powerful on a background of white.
When it came to finding features that attracted the audience i only had my opinion which could make the decision bias, how ever as i took the sample of popular magazines i know that my opinion is not alone as these magazines are national.
My research also found that a lot of magazines use the same sort of size font for most things, i chose to accept that this is a popular feature to the public and target audience and therefore decided to use this idea in my own magazine cover, My image being the largest thing on the page with the artist looking directly into the camera causes a lot of emotional information as eye to eye contact between humans is unique. The placement for the mast head, headings and picture are all pretty standard to, i also chose to follow the crowd on this one how ever i do not have as many headings as the typical magazine does as my page filler is the picture. another feature in which makes a huge impact on audiences is the way space is used and place, every one knows that not every part of the magazine has to be covered with something. So the way space is used is one of the most important things when designing a cover. i used my white background as a advantage, as i have gone for a clean look the large amounts of space that are left suit the surroundings. I had to rearrange some things in the creation of my front cover because the space was drawing too much attention to the viewer and made the thing as a whole look like it was done very poorly. Also tried several different images before coming to the one i used in the final front cover this was because of the space issue, the size and shape of the picture was causing too much space and making it noticeable.
Contents Page - When researching my contents page i tried to use a variety of magazines just like i did with my front cover, i chose to do this again for my contents as it prove very effective and easy way to notice some things that not every one would notice, i could notice different things because i was comparing magazines to find out which one appealed to me and my "target audience" most. Following this i took note of the detail that i would like to use in my magazine such as page lay out, amount of writing /pictures that is on the page. Also the background i took extra notice for i was mostly looking to see if it matched the front cover or if it was using a different theme, in my magazine i have chosen to link the contents page to the front cover by a usage of pictures and colour schemes. I also used 2 things that not many magazines use - i have a boarder around the left hand side of my front cover, i used this on the contents page as well which helped me keep proportions and ratios about font and image size, also on the contents page i chose to include the title at the bottom left, this was not only to fill space but to advertise the logo of the magazine. The detail about contents pages i also noticed a lot of magazines put where a mast head would normally go "contents page" - even though most readers would already know that this was the contents page! I think that this started because one magazine used it as a type of fashion and its taken from there, i think that because its popular is why I'm using it in my magazine, also i think it looks good and suits the clean feel I'm trying to create, As for the background i am not using one on the contents page either, i think that the white background look is nice and adds a nice feel to contents as a whole.
as for the placement of pictures i chose to have small pictures for the contents to leave me room for text, although i had more than one picture! in the research i did i found that magazines tend to have one larger picture and base the text around the shape of that picture, My text is still based around the pictures but they are much smaller and have a lot less amount of impact as a big one. In the research i found that the font and text varied for different genres, A music magazine based on rap and hip hop i found that the font was more italic and looked a lot smarted where as a contents page i analyzed which was based upon rock and heavy metal music used a messier lay out, i chose to keep a smart clean looking lay out, this ties in with my boarder that lays down the left hand side, it keeps everything organized for me and lets me play around with different lay outs to see which suits best. I later looked into the title placement and found that the title/ masthead "contents" is always located at the top in every magazine that i analyzed, i also used this in my final design and decided to use the masthead at the top of the page, the word "contents" on my design is also tied into the red black and white theme that i have been using, gives a nice feel and looks more professional that if i used more than a certain amount of colours as for a sell line on my contents page i dont have one, i kept it to a minimum with it going strait into the page numbers with a little inside information on what is on the page.
Double Page Article -The research that i did of double page articles i found that no two articles are the same, so i had to look closely to find what factors some articles from the same genre magazine shared. The main one i found is that most articles are question and answer, i think this is used because it makes the people think they are actually talking to interviewee, i have chosen to use this method instead of any other methods such as information about the artist, or a bibliography style double page spread. as i mentioned i think this method is extremely useful when joined with a picture that is looking at the camera as it makes the audience/reader feel like they are being spoken to directly from the artist, also this method is really easy to apply to more than one fan base as more than one question can be asked and answered without taking up much of the page.
The lay out of the articles i found through research is all different, the titles changes place on every article but i found a majority of them had the title across the top or top left, i also found that not all articles had titles some had quotes or phrases the artist famously said as the introduction / title. I personally chose to have a smallish title in the top left followed by a quote that the interviewee of my article said, i chose both as it gave me more to talk about in the question and answers. They also both draw attention, making people want to read on, over all i think that using both may have its advantages how ever it may also have its disadvantages for example it may come across as too much, or a waste of space. The font of the text is just a bold easy to read standard font, i chose to use this because it is very easy for the audience to read and doesn't seem to be too putting off at first glance, The colour of the text matches the theme of the whole magazine, the questions are in a bold red which matches the mast head of the magazine and the answers are in a black font, slightly smaller than the question which i think makes people automatically read the question before jumping to the answer. Over all i think this works really well as the background is white and the text contrasts which makes it noticeable and isn't too much to take in at once. In the research i found that every article had one or two pictures of the artist they where interviewing on the double page spread, it usually involved one big picture and then one smaller picture, i think this is used because it gives a nice interactive feel to the interview, in my magazine i have chosen to include two pictures of the artist, one big and one small. I think including a picture of the artist looking into the camera gives the interactive eye contact and in the second picture hell be busy or in the middle of performing, i think that its good to include the audience in the moment to make them want to be there, or even find out information about what happened causing them to read on. The placement of the pictures is everything in the articles it can really finish of a good article nicely, where i have placed mine is where i think they suit best, on the right hand side of the right hand page and the bottom right of the left hand page, i think this will suit the lay out of the questions and because the pictures are edited with a smooth finish it will suit it all very well and wont take too much space. As like my front cover and contents the double page spread has the same boarder but this time its on both sides, although i reflected it horizontally so there is nothing in the middle, it also makes the page look one, The same colour scheme also applies for everything on the page which links it to the front cover and contents page, i think that the colour scheme works well through the magazine as it lets the audience know what is related to what without having to think about it. The use of space in the double page spreads I found was always a well used factor. a majority of the space was taken up by writing and the rest of gaps is filled with images so its quite easily filled.
Question: How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product is representing the late teens up to adults as applies to all in that field, it applies to teens as the images i have used are of a teenager from my school, i chose to you some one this age as it allows me to play on the fact that a lot of magazines like to pick up on the "up coming artists" as it widens the target audience, it also gives the effect and thought that "if he can do it at that age why cant we?" which inspires a lot of young people into becoming artists which is what this magazine is about, it also helps the sales with the magazine if people are inspired by its contents. Another thing about using a younger person is that they tend to be the fashion setters for every one else, the older audience want to act young and the younger audience want to act old, puts the teenagers in the middle which is what i picked up on when taking my pictures, i used a stylish clothed artist which attracts a wide range of audience that might not just be for the music but for the clothes as well, I'm not stereotyping in this post I'm just showing what a majority of the target audience is about. My media product represents gender by applying to both females and males, it achieves this by having factors in which both are attracted to, for example i have used a stylish male rapper as my artist to interview, this attracts the females as hes attractive and they love his music, all rappers have a huge female fan base. He also attracts the males as his music for starters is a lot about what they might be experiencing and his fashion sense might inspire them to dress in different ways, he also speaks a lot about being who you are and not someone else. over all i think that having a large target audience is good because it will increase the popularity of the magazine. The stance in which the artist is presented in the photographs gives a strong images in which a lot of people will try to copy in hope to become what the artist has. The sexuality of my magazine design is open to all, nothing discriminates any form of sexuality, i have done this to ensure that the target audience is quite wide and doesn't create a hate fan base in which could cause problems for the magazine.
My magazine represents social class by appealing to more than one class, this is achieved by having celebrities that the lower class want to be like and then teaching the lower class how to be like the upper class. Also as the interview lets the audience into the artists life it gives the effect that they actually know the artist and part of his life, This makes every one who isn't in the upper class feel better about who they are. Over all i think that appealing to more than one type of social class is important as it makes people feel one instead of discriminating a particular class. If i could change one thing about how i represent social class it would be to maybe include a article from another class other than the celebrity to show how they deal with life and to influence other people. Regional identity is shown because my artist is British how ever he is world famous which gives effect that his actions represent the country, this can work well if his actions are good but if they are bad they can reflect on the country in a bad way.
My media product represents ethnicity by no discriminating any one type of person, this is proven by appealing to every one in one go. It makes every one feel equal which is what i want to achieve. How ever my images only consist of one ethnic group, it is the of the same person but maybe if i wanted to improve somethings i should of included more than one ethnic group. My target audience fits with the ethnic group that i have picked better than any one else as they are the same and stereotypically enjoy this music. Overall i think that if i was to improve this i would apply to many ethnic groups how ever i have only chosen to do one, This makes things easier when creating my magazine and allows me to make a theme for it as a whole.
Question: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
i have looked into three different media groups,
http://www.ipcmedia.com/, http://www.condenast.com/ and http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/. First of all i looked into IPC media, i found that there is room for them to take on my magazine as they dont currently have any music magazines that they promote, How ever if i was to go through this company many doubts enter my head as they have no experience into the distributions, advertising and promoting music magazines so have no idea about how the target audience act. for the current reason i will not be using this company to promote my magazine as i think that i need a company with more experience and knowing in what to do. This is mostly due to the fact they focus on different areas, such as Gardening magazines and Photography magazines.
The media group i looked at was Condenast, I found that once again there is room for my magazine on the market how ever the magazines they currently distribute are all glamour magazines about life style with a few exceptions, These magazines all have glamorous styles and apply to the middle and upper class mostly, there fore i will not be using condenast for my magazine as they are clearly not looking into music magazines, i know this because every magazine they distribute is about life style, culture and food. Not only would they not be interested in my magazine but i dont think they have any experience into distributing music magazines which is why i wont be using them. The only way they will take my magazine on is if they changed there style and where looking for something new, open a new market of magazine which applies for the music industry.
Finally i looked at Bauer media group, This group have a much larger range in the magazines the distribute they range from Match football magazine to some music magazines, The company have a space for my genre of music magazine as there currently is none that they are distributing, i think that the company have experience into the distribution of music magazines because they already have some that they distribute, this makes the company apply more for what i am after. As they have experience and have a space in the market i think that they are my best bet into taking on a new music magazine, i think this is the best possible solution out of the three because they know what they are doing and have a hole in the market, There is no reason other than lack of quality that they would turn this magazine down. Also if they took my magazine on there is no other competition in the media groups that i have analysed which means that it would be easier to sell compared to if there was competition.
Question:
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience of my magazine is from the ages of 15+ i have left the age open because every one is different and music applies to different people. The youngest age is limited as some artists use strong language, gestures and actions in which the younger population should not be aloud to see as they are influenced more easily. The artists that are included in the magazine are all of the age 16+ which means they apply to this age range as well, this also ties into the fact that they do things that the younger generation wont experience for years. a way in which i capture the attention of audiences is by including the top artists of the time, this includes a large age range from 16+, i include the top artists because it helps with the popularity of the magazine and also gives it a status symbol if people see a famous well known artist on the front cover. Another way in which i use images to capture the attention of the audience is by including sections which show the up coming artists, this gives the audience a topic in which they are intrigued. Most readers will buy the magazine because they are influenced by the iconic figure that is used to advertise the magazine all this put together will attract the target audience to the magazine.
Question:How did you attract/address your audience?
To attract audiences to the magazine i used several methods, i found in research that popular magazines use common methods to attract the audience, such as on the front cover it doest normally state what type of magazine and genre is specifies in but normally includes a picture of a famous artist / scene for that type of genre, i picked up on this and chose to include a artist instead of bluntly telling the audience what was happening. Its not just the picture that attracts the audience its the names and cover lines that are included on the front cover, for example if i mention a big name and give a little information about whats inside the magazine it will make people who are specifically interested into that person want to read on to find out whats caused a magazine to notice and use this person as a story. Its good for the artist as well including them on the page as it promotes the artists music free of charge, this also makes the artist more popular and can help with their music career however if what ever he is promoting is not good it can have a very bad effect because a lot of people no know about it and would not be easy for the artists to recover. Another way in which i attracted the audience is by using colour schemes and certain fonts, i found in the research that a lot of magazines use bright colours the contrast to the background, this makes it noticeable to the eye. I picked up on this and chose to use it as a style for my magazine, the colours i use leave a image in the audiences mind which is a form of advertising the magazine as they remember what they saw. it also makes the magazine recognisable because it uses a standard title and colour scheme to attract the audience. Another method i used to attract the audience is by using certain fonts, fonts that apply to the target audience, for example i have used fonts that look neat but are not too much and do not resemble other magazines such as a classical music magazine which would use italic fonts because that's what its target audience likes. A catchy font will also leave a unforgettable impression on the audience. Over all i think that the methods mentioned are a good method of attracting the target audience, i think that the most powerful one is pictures because if the artist is looking at the camera if gives the effect that he is looking directly at the audience, calling out to them.
Question:What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Computer skills - i found that when constructing this product it requires some skill in many areas, computer skills was one of the main skills required, This is because once a image had been taken it requires editing too make it suit the magazine, The programs we used for editing included fireworks and publisher, we used these programs as they are simple to use but have some very effective tools which can help with editing. I had some skill on the computer before i started constructing this product, this is because i have used a computer my whole life, for someone that hasn't used a computer before this could be a challenging task, this is because you need more than the basic understanding to achieve the required editing and outcome. This product helped me understand computers a little bit more which will help me later on.
Camera skills - I have used a camera my whole life too so when it came to using a camera for media i found that it was too much of a task, This helped with the time that i spent taking pictures for my product. The cameras we used where digital and very simple to use, it makes the whole process of taking pictures that little bit more quicker, Over all i found that using a camera was not a challenge as it was just a click and go but if i ever did get any problems there was always a teacher /classmates around to help me
Program skills - My programme and software using skills where above normal when it came to using fireworks as i have been using it at home for years, it made editing the image very easy and pain free task, how ever i do not use publisher that ofter so there was some pain trying to figure out what tool to use at what stage, i found that being patient and not rushing your work helps a lot when editing and constructing a product. the construction of this product has improved my skills in fireworks further as i have found knew ways in which i can edit images.
Editing skills - The editing software that was used was fireworks and publisher, these programs are made by two different companies and do different things, i found that using fireworks to edit the picture was easier than publisher and using publisher to construct the page was easier, i found using publisher to construct the page was easy as it was very easy to place things on the page freely without hassle. Fireworks was easier to edit the picture as you can select certain parts of the picture to edit and change the colour, certain effects which no other programs can do can be added through fireworks which is what i used on my front cover. Overall i like the two programs we used as they are not to complicated, how ever i have been using fireworks for a long time so its was too much hassle for me.
Blogging Skills - this project was the first time i had ever created and written a blog, it took some time for me to get used to it but after that its actually really easy to blog. We are using blogs as it is accessible any where and is easy to change, update and rearrange things we have already done, i learnt to blog with help of the teacher and fellow class mates which helped me when i got stuck, over all i think that blogger is a very good website and easy to use.
Question: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
when we started the preliminary task i found that i didnt know much about music magazines, after some heavy analysis and working with music magazines for quite some time i have begun to understand what makes them sell and what factors to use. For example, A well advertised bold, contrasting to the background title really helps when coming to the magazine cover. but you couldnt use this same effect on the contents page, its to distracting, In my product i included a big bold title that stands out from the background and is very easy to read with a simple font. i also noticed that fonts and pictures are very important as if you look at my preliminary task i was not able to construct a effective front cover as well as i could now, this is because working with all these magazines has improved my understanding by a lot and increasing my knowlage about music magazines. Another factor which has improved since the preliminary is my ability to cominicate what i think about my product, being honest and saying what you think really helps when it comes to writing up about your product. Over all the preliminary task has helped me noticed somethings that have now helped me to improve my product and without doing the preliminary i would not have noticed.
