Evaluation

Main Task – Media

Sarah – Louise Hurley

Personal Response

Personally I think that my main task went much better than my preliminary task did, I sometimes struggled with the deadlines that I set myself but I used my spare time in order to catch up on the work that I had failed to complete. I believe that I have shown all of my work from start to finish by using research, design and also preproduction powerpoints in order to find out things about magazines and also to keep track of where I was at on the production and so that way my production was much faster and better laid out. I am happy with my result and personally like my magazine as it is different to normal magazines.

Audience Response

My audience have said that it does tie in with the alternative genre through the use of colours and also that it is clear, easy to read and that it contains many conventions of a magazine. It is also easy on their eyes and they did also say that it looked like a magazine that would sell.

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

I have used the common positioning of my masthead on the top left in order to use the convention of a real media product. I have done this so if it was on a shelf in a shop, people would recognise it and be able to find it much quicker. I chose the masthead ‘instance’ because the magazine itself is unique whereas instance means a single occurrence so it goes against itself, sort of like an oxymoron, therefore making it a little bit more unique. I think that I have challenged some conventions through the use of only featuring one article on the front then a small box at the bottom in order to tell the audience a bit about the content, instead of there being a lot of different features on the front cover with the main feature. This also makes the cover easier to read and it also much easier on my audiences eyes due to the negative space used on the page. On my contents page, I have used a normal title of contents and then I have added some pictures at the bottom and the page numbers with the article names with a short and brief introduction about the article itself, this has used some conventions of real media products but also I used negative space again in order to keep it easy for my readers eyes. I also didn’t add too much text because I didn’t want it to be long and boring . My double page spread uses a three column layout with a title on the left hand page at a slight angle, a small and brief introduction the artist themselves, a drop cap at the beginning of the article and then an image of the artist in which takes up the whole right hand page, this again has used negative space as well as some conventions of real media products.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents particular social groups through the use of its diversity. Alternative music has a broadened audience and therefore it will attract more people to my magazine due to the fact of it being alternative. This will encourage a wider range of an audience because alternative music allows for people to have a range of liked genres, my product will also attract to young people because it will start off online and with an apple and android app allowing them to get it on their phones and computers as well as tablets because the use of technology is forever increasing and therefore more young people have got access to it and will therefore use it.

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

For my publisher I would most likely use IPC

Media as they are one of the UK’s leading media

institution. I would also chose them because

they are always looking for smaller scale

magazines to join in order to fill the spaces that

need filling. Due to their success there would also

be more advertisement options available to me due

to the fact that they are well known and successful.

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

The audience of my media product would be teenagers and young adults from the ages 13 to 21. I also see the majority of them being male. I have chosen to aim my magazine at this specific target audience because I know what it is like being a teenager and not knowing fully what your favourite genre of music is and there will always be the alternative genre and I also really enjoy finding new artists who I can recommend to my friends to listen to if they are any good, as do most teenagers. It would also aim at this target audience because it is a monthly magazine and is really cheap for teenagers at £2.50.

5. How did you attract / address your audience?

I addressed my product to my audience by using a genre of music in which pretty much everyone can enjoy, I have given them a chance to discover new artists before their friends and broaden their range of music that they can listen to. I have also used young people in my magazine in order to entice my audience to be able to interact with the magazine through the use of young artists (like themselves) that it features. I also use well known bands that I know are popular within the news and on various social networking sites among teenagers in order to feature them as well to broaden my audience even more.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I used Photoshop in order to create my front page, my contents page and to edit all of my photos. I learnt a range of new tools such as opacity tool, magic wand, image filters, layers and cropping. For my double page spread, I used Indesign, I learnt a lot of different skills from this such as how to create a box to put text or images in it, how to insert place holder text, how to make the text go from one text box to the other, how to add drop caps, how to insert a image from my documents and also how to shape things around text, although I did not use this in my final product. To upload my work I have used wordpress as it is a social media platform that is set up as a blog, therefore it is easy to use and great for showing my work as I went along. Overall I have learnt that there are a lot of new skills and tools that I need to learn in order to make a successful end product, therefore I need to put extra time in to practise these skills in order to perfect them to the best of my ability.

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

From my preliminary task, I have learnt that I had to put in extra time to perfect my skills on the various software that I used and also to learn new skills. I also learnt a little bit more about time management skills and also to research a lot more in order to get a greater understanding of what I was making. I also learnt that it does take time and some trial and error in order to make things just right so just keep going over things and don’t just give up because it is frustrating.