Evaluation draft

In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge form and conventions of real magazines? (Basically comparison to other magazines)Case studies, existing magazines
think about the conventions, what the typical like style and features are? (Masterhead, picture, colour scheme) so your magazine could use conventions or challenge them.
Think about the cover, content and double page spread.

My music magazine doesn’t challenge other form and conventions of real magazines as I have tried to do similar ones to the real music magazines, because I find them more appealing, and this reflected on my work as I thought that my music magazine would appeal to my genre and my target audience.

Compared to the real magazines my magazine is quite similar and I haven’t really challenged the conventions, I may have challenged then slightly where I have a long shot and not a medium long shot, other than that my magazine is not challenging the conventions.  I have decided to stick with the conventions as I wanted my magazine to look professional, I also wanted to make sure that I showed more importance to the model hence why I put the masterhead behind the model. If I was to challenge the conventions my magazine would not look as professional as I would like it to look and also by me not challenging the conventions it would appeal more to my target audience which is teenager between the ages of fifteen to twenty-five, this target audience in my opinion is the most hardest to get correct as their style is always changing, so keeping up with the trend can be very difficult, so not challenging the conventions was the safest option.

With the content and double page spread I have done the same by not challenging the conventions because as the front cover I wanted my content page and double page spread to also look as professional as I could make them.  I may have challenged the convention by having two contents pages as most R&B music magazines don’t have two pages, I decided to have two pages as I wanted to have pictures of artists that will be featured in the magazine, I think this gives the readers a better picture of who will be in the magazine rather than them having to read the names of the people that will be featured in the magazine, also because of my target audience teenagers would prefer to see pictures and less text. I have tried to make my music magazine as appealing as possible for my target audience, I have done this by looking at other R&B music magazines and getting some of the ideas from there as they are done professionally and they also sell millions every day. If for example I was not to follow the conventions and have just  text on the content page I think my music magazine would not look like a music magazine as I would personally choose a magazine with more pictures and less text, so this is the main reason why I didn’t challenge the conventions.

For my double page spread I may have challenged the conventions by having more than one picture as magazines would have just one picture on the left hand side as readers tend to look at that side of the page first, my double page spread is not following the rule of thirds as the audience look to the left hand side of the double page spread, I have chosen to put the text and a few images suggesting that the text is more important. I have also decided to do a question and answer as this is a way of finding out more about the artist. There is not a large amount of text used for this article which will appeal to a younger audience as younger generations don’t like to read large amounts of text, this goes well with my target audience as it’s the younger generation.

How does your media product represent social groups?
On the cover have you represented social groups? E.g. young model on the cover, if it’s just female, explain why. How does it show it in the language? E.g. one off for females only
age
gender
clothing
language
target audience
genre of music

On the front cover of the magazine there is a young model which shows that the magazine is aiming towards the younger generation. The gender that would mostly buy this magazine would be both male and female. However because there is a female on the front cover people may suggest that this magazine may be aimed at young women or teenage girls, this is not the case as you would also find men would also buy magazines that have women/teenage girls on the front cover, it may also be a possibility that men may buy these magazines more.

The clothing the model is wearing on the front cover is stylish and it’s also in trend which shows the model is keeping up with the fashion and teenagers like this fact because they can relate to it, because they can relate to artists means that the artist inspires them which is a good thing because it shows that the target audience is correct and also the genre of the magazine is also correct. If these things were not correct the music magazine would be interpreted in the wrong way, this is why I have made sure that I have done enough research and planning to make sure that my magazine shows that it is targeting a specific audience, I have done this by the way I have laid my text and also by the way I have chosen my model to look as I believe these are the main things that people look for when they decide which magazine they would like to purchase.

The genre of my music magazine is R&B, because this type of genre is popular amongst the younger generation, it can be more difficult to design a music magazine that is different to the other music magazine but also very similar to other music magazines in terms of the layout and also what the model looks like. I have tried to make my magazine look stylish and modern by using colours that stand out and also fit the genre of the music magazine, doing this I had to look at other music magazines to see how they would use colours and I realised that they had a colours scheme throughout the magazine which made the magazine look tidy and organised. This is one of the things that I also tried to follow and I think my colour scheme goes really well with the R&B genre.

What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?
New target audience, find a publisher.

The kind of media institution that might distribute my magazine will be the distributers of R&B magazines, as I believe that my magazine will suit their type of genre.
Bauer media will be the publisher for my magazine. Bauer magazine started back in 1953 and it’s a well known publisher and has published very successful magazines including Q, Kerrang and even closer. Those magazines are similar to my music magazine genre wise, layout or even the artist that were used. So it will be suitable for Bauer media to publish my magazine as well as it all relates.

The kind of distribution method I would use is the most common way of putting physical copies in various popular retail shop, for example WHSmith and newsagents. This is so that I reach all of my target audiences as most people who buy magazines still go to these particular shops to buy a music magazine. I would also put copies of my music magazine online as most of my target audience are always surfing the internet to find things and it is also the best way to increase a customer base, by doing this would also make sure that I keep up with the competition.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
Why? Is it because of the pictures or the language?

The target audience of my magazine is between the ages of 16 – 25. This age is suitable for the genre of music I have chosen which is the R&B genre, because this target audience is the age that mostly listens to this type of music genre. This age group will be gained to every part of my magazine because it is done specifically for them so they would enjoy and would want to pursue it.

  

How did you attract your audience and address your audience?
Attract: use of language, models, colour-layout, genre + style
Address: language used, show you thought about target audience + what they would want
usp
start off with the audience feedback from proposal later comment did you manage to attract them  in the way you wanted to?

Magazine proposal audience feedback

Some of the feedback I got was that my Masterhead was good however they suggested that I should design a font to make it stand out a bit more, they also pointed out that my colour scheme of black, red and white was a good choice because they do stand out. One other point they mentioned was that I need to make sure that the On Top of the Rest that is on top of the abbreviation of OTR needs to stand out a bit more as it seems lost within the OTR.

The audience also mentioned that my content page structure was good and it matched to context of the magazine however they felt that the content was too plain and it wasn’t detailed enough so therefore I need to consider changing the layout of my content page, I need to consider adding more pictures in different locations in order to show my photography skills and show that I have done enough planning to make sure my magazine comes out the way I planned.   

The double page spread layout was good and the colour scheme matched the magazine and they also thought that the OTR in the background would be a good idea as it is the abbreviation of the magazines name. For example the colours of the letters will be black and red (OTR) to make the magazine look different from the other magazines.

Overall the feedback was good but they mentioned a lot of things that need to be improved or changed which helped me think of new ideas in terms of layout and what I’m going to include in the magazine, It also gave me new ideas of where my location is going to be, for my double page spread I thought of going to the airport and taking a picture of my artist coming out of the airport which would represent the fact that it is a new artist.

The way I have tried to attract my audience is by having a young model on my front cover to make sure that it appeals to the younger generation, also I have tried to use less formal language as he younger generation don’t really read formal magazines, so I have tried making sure that the language I have used s appropriate for my target audience, I have looked at other music magazines and their style of writing is similar to mine as they have also used a specific kind of language to fit the genre of the music magazine, The language I used also attracted audience because it was humorous, engaging and also interesting this would attract my audience group because they will understand the language because it fits their age group. This will make it easier for them to understand and would want to buy my magazine. The layout of my music magazine is really important as I think that the layout makes the magazine and if the layout is not good it will have an impact on the overall magazine, so I have made sure that the layout of my magazine applies to the genre of the magazine throughout. 

The colours I have chosen for my magazine I think really stand out and attract the audience’s attention especially the younger generation, also from previous feedback I have received they have said that the colour scheme I have used is good and it is bound to catch the audience’s attention.

 The model that I used for my cover page was a teenage girl, and the reasons that I used her because she is suitable for that age group as it attracts my target audience of 16 – 25.

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What have you learnt about technology?
InDesign
Photoshop
blogger
Prezzi
survey monkey
camera/studio

Through the process of contrasting my magazine I had to use software’s such as in design and Photoshop, the high quality SLR camera and how to use the studio and its equipment. Most of these I have never used and was all very hard for me at first.

When I first had to use these it was for my student magazine and I was playing about with it trying to get used it and how to use it. My student magazine was me getting used to it all.

When contrasting my music magazine I had a little idea of what I was doing and as I was getting used to using all these different types of technology I began to feel more confident with it all. In design was the most I struggled while creating my student magazine and for my music magazine I felt more confident while using it and I knew what to use in the right way to create a professional realistic looking magazine. I also got more familiar on how to add text and pictures to make my music magazine look more realistic.

Photoshop was also software that I felt confident using after my student magazine. When I was contrasting my music magazine I now know how to edit my pictures correctly, how to add things like texts and even overlapping other pictures of so on. So Photoshop again was something I felt comfortable using after my student magazine.

Using camera and the studio was a fun challenge because it was very fun and interesting atmosphere to be in and capturing the pictures that I needed for my magazine. It was hard getting used to the camera because it was high quality and I hadn’t used one before. I had to make sure I was holding it right and taking the pictures correctly in order for my picture to come out looking professional and good quality.

Overall I do feel very confident and comfortable using the technologies that I have used to construct my magazine. I will be able to use it more comfortable and confidently next time I use it because I have used it a lot and know the right way of doing all of it.

In the process of constructing the magazine, I have learned new Photoshop and In Design skills. Although not  familiar with Photoshop I found it much easier to use, however InDesign is a completely new program and getting used to it was very challenging it was a very interesting experience, mainly because I had to work with something new and therefore it felt less monotone or repetitive. Other technologies used were prezi and survey monkey, which are very new to me. It was both fun and helpful in using them, as it not only gives a more professional feel to my blog, but it also provided a challenge in learning how to use them efficiently. While taking the photographs, I also learnt how to use studio equipment, which not only helped me understanding the process of a real magazine but also provided me with a great insight towards aspects that are not usually visible: communicating with the models, making them stay in interesting poses that are relevant to the genre, learning how to handle the equipment properly and using the time efficiently.

  

Looking at your preliminary task and your final media product?
How have you progressed
what a real magazine looks like
How to layout – fonts, colours 

I have learnt how to use the software’s to create a magazine and how to use that software’s correctly in order to create a realistic looking magazine. So from my student magazine to my actual music magazine I have improved a lot.

Using the software’s correctly I know how to create the right realistic layout for my magazine. The layout from my student magazine to my music magazine has a visible improvement because I know the right way to use the technology. I also looked at real music magazine to see the way actual layouts look, which also helped me in the construction of my magazine.

My colour scheme of my magazine has also improved because I looked at numerous amount of magazines to see how they done it. And I saw that they only use couple colours to attract the audience more and look my engaging and interesting. So you can see the improvement as for my student magazine there was loads of colours which looked unprofessional, whereas for my music magazine there was only couple colours which made my magazine look much more professional and realistic, which will engages the audience because it will catch their eyes.