AS Media Foundation Portfolio Evaluation

By Adam Higgs

Here is my evaluation for my heavy metal magazine cover, contents and double page spread.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of

real media products?

Front Cover Similarities

Barcode, Date and Price

Bold and eye catching masthead to catch the audience’s eye

Main Image obeying rule of thirds as this will maximise the photos exposure

Footer to show other features of magazine

Sell lines to attract reader to other stories

For the next few slides you will see similarities of my front cover, contents and article and ways in which I have observed conventions, You will also see the differences of my cover, contents

and article and see how I have developed and changed conventions

Front Cover Differences

Unlike Kerrang my magazine has no flashers, headers and just a few sell lines to create a more quality and less tabloid magazine which is what

my audience wanted

My image is black and white to make the magazine seem darker to reflect the heavy metal genre

No Header so my masthead can be bigger, bold and more dynamic

Contents Similarities

Magazine masthead used for continuity

Date and website to give reader useful information

Contents laid out neatly into sections to make it easy for people to find what they want

Dominant Image will attract the audience’s attention and make them want to read the story

Contents Differences

I have used more pictures and given them an attractive and informal Polaroid effect

Instead of a review box I have used an editors note to help show the heavy metal genre of my magazine

I have used more pictures to fill up the page and to maximise my appeal to audiences

Article Similarities• Dominant image takes up most of the right page

• Question and answer format for the interview with the fonts making this stand out

•Page numbers lets reader know where they are or where to find something

• Pull out quote used to attract readers into reading the whole article

Article Differences• My image is black and white to reflect my heavy metal genre

• I used the words exclusive to make the magazine look more attractive by showing that the interview is exclusive

• I have a title for my article as I believe that an eye catching title is needed as well as a pull out quote

How does your media represent particular social groups?

• Heavy Metal is a darker, louder form of rock

• Heavy Metal artists normally have long hair and black, dark and emoish clothes such as jeans, chains and leather jackets

• Heavy Metal normally appeals to a younger audience who will be more rebellious, usually males although females can be heavy metal fans. The emo culture are big followers of heavy metal

I have tried to follow this social group stereotype as closely as I could for my magazine, although it was difficult in college to accurately replicate the heavy metal fashion I followed the fashion as much as I could by using sunglasses to reflect a dark and rebellious mood which I also did by not getting them to smile to show attitude. I also found someone with a black leather jacket to use in my contents as leather jackets are very dark and heavy metal. Overall although the artists don’t truly look like heavy metal stars I believe I have accurately replicated the heavy metal mood

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and

why?• Bauer media has extensive knowledge in the music industry in both TV and print as they own magazines and TV channels such as Q magazine and 4 Music.

• They also own Kerrang magazine, a heavy metal magazine, so they will have personal experience to pass on to my heavy metal magazine

• They publish all around the world and have a 1.79 billion turnover

• They also publish women’s magazines meaning my magazine may become attractive to women even though the magazine would be traditionally only attractive to men

• Other than women magazines they also produce TV magazines so they definitely have a wide range of magazines they produced meaning they are experienced in many sectors

http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/

Who would the audience be for your media product?

I have decided to follow and challenge the conventions of a heavy metal audience. So I would want ideally a young independently minded audience aged around 15-25. My magazine would probably appeal to men more as heavy metal appeals mainly to men, but I would be quite happy to attract women to the genre. The same can be said for ethnicity as heavy metal mainly appeals to whites but it would be great to attract a more ethnically diverse audience. This is why I have used a woman and an ethnic male in my contents. I would like my magazine to appeal to all socio economic groups, however I believe my magazine may appeal more to the lower groups as heavy metal is not really music that many upper and middle classes enjoy.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Dark but striking colour scheme to relate to heavy metal target audience

Bold Masthead will catch people’s eyes especially heavy metal fans with the bold red text

Reasonable Price so all the socio economic groups will be able to afford the magazine

Well known heavy metal stars featured which should attract heavy metal target audience

Eye catching black and white image against a dark and metallic background to attract target audience and generally catch people’s eye on the magazine shelvesEye catching cover line

to grab someone's attention especially heavy metal fans with the bold red text with black drop shadow

Rebellious sell line would appeal to heavy metal target audience as it represents what they stand for

My audience wanted an informal, but not tabloid heavy metal magazine that uses dark and contrasting colours to reflect the heavy metal mood. Here is how I have achieved what the audience have wanted

Audience Feedback

Magazine Strengths

Colour Scheme

Contrasting Colours

Language

Magazine Weaknesses

Images

Font

Manipulation of Images

All 5 people asked rate this magazine overall as good. Other options were Excellent, Very Good, Satisfactory and Poor.

For the Front Cover which looks at impact, images and manipulation, use of sell lines and language, appropriateness for target audience and professionalism answers ranged from excellent through to ok. Most replies rated most of these features as good.

For the contents which look at the similar things like the front cover. Most replies rate most of the features as good.

For Articles which look at similar things to the cover and contents. Most replies rate most of the features as good.

What have you learnt from the technologies from the process of

constructing this product?Using Photoshop to manipulate my images and design my front cover

Using Indesign to design my article and

contents

Using Scribd to upload work onto my blog

Using digital cameras to take and upload my images

Using Blogger to upload my work

Using Slideshare to upload work onto my blog

Using Photoshop

As you can see I have used Photoshop to manipulate my images, for example in this I have resized the image and I made my image black and white to relate to the dark heavy metal genre, I also believe it makes my background look better making it seem more metallic.

Placing and sizing my image

The Finished Product

Using Indesign

Using Indesign I added a Polaroid effect to my pictures and added drop shadow to make the pictures look different and eye catching. To add a little more rebelliousness the pictures are tilted. For consistency I made a black, grey and white background for my contents, similar to my front cover. I also used Indesign to add the text to my contents and it also was easy to lay everything out on the page

Adding TextPlacing image and initial laying out of contents

Polaroid Effect and Drop Shadow

Looking back at the Preliminary, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression to the full product?

Overall in the progression to my full product I feel that I have learnt:

• To use a consistent colour scheme throughout

• Manipulating my images better on Photoshop, such as making some black and white

• Using better and more appropriate fonts

• Using Drop Shadow more and more effectively

Preliminary TaskMain Task

The End