My Media Magazine Evaluation

My Media Magazine EvaluationGeorgia IonThis is my media evaluation. 1Question one.In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?Front cover conventions!

Star modelMy magazineFor my front cover I have used we love pop music magazine for my star model. I have used some of the conventions that we love pop has used. This pop magazine is very popular and successful in the industry. Although when planning my front cover I decided to use just one star model but when getting started I decided to use these three different front covers from the same company. I used aspects from each front cover and adhered to these conventions.

3Use a short memorable title.

My magazineStar modelThe first convention of a pop magazines front cover is the short memorable title. I chose replay as mine. At first I was just going to have the name replay in the two different colours orange and purple but then when creating my front page for my draft I noticed that adding a small triangle behind the title will make it look like a play button. In my eyes this worked successfully. I chose the name Replay as I wanted it to be short but also memorable so I wanted a word which was already known by everyone.

4Use a large dominant icon.

My iconStar models iconThe next convention sort of links in with the last, this is to use a large dominant icon making clear the title of the magazine. For this I have used the play button. I think that this has worked successfully as it allows the title to stand. It falls over my models head a little bit but this is acceptable, as I have noticed in my star model.5The price

Star modelMy magazineThe next convention is the price. My star magazine has added the price at the bottom of the page for all of the three front covers. The price is next to the barcode either landscape or portrait. I have added mine just left of the barcode so that I am still adhering to this convention but changing it a little bit to make it unique.

6My Models face

Star modelMy magazineThe next convention I am talking about is the subject face. The subject face needs to be easily and clearly seen and also with eye contact. My model that i have used for my front cover is my friend Lauren. I asked Lauren to stand directly looking into the camera with a plain top on. I wanted her to be wearing a clear plain top to ensure that it doesnt take over the text. By this I mean that since my text goes over the body of Lauren I need to ensure that it can be easily read.

7Bright colour scheme

My magazineStar modelAnother convention is the magazine should contain a bright colour scheme and the model should wear bright clothing. Although my star model has a coloured top on it is still plain. I did not do this and I chose grey for my models clothing. I did this so that the text would stand out. I wanted all of my models to be wearing similar coloured clothing but different styles. I wanted to do this so I have different types of fashion for my audience to relate to. For my colour scheme I chose to use black purple and orange. My reason for this Is because of my target markets feedback.

8Different small images around the front cover.

The next convention is to use different small images around the front cover. I have done this three times with another three of my models. I have done this to not only meet in with the conventions but this is similar to my star model. All of my models are wearing grey or black. I have done this to ensure that their clothing do not take over the contents although this does not show that they are fun or pop singers it ensures that all of the singers are different styled. 9One big dominant image.

The next convention is to use one dominant image of a model that is going to be on the double page spread. In this case I have chosen my model Lauren. Lauren is also in my double page spread. The double page spread is an interview where we have asked Lauren questions about her life in the spot life. I have used the same model for my front cover as this shows that when the audience picks up the magazine they already know that there is a full page about her in the magazine.

10Teasing contents

My magazineStar modelOne of the conventions I had found was to have teasing contents on the front page to ensure that they are persuaded to look inside. On the front cover I have added a few different sentences to provide content information for the reader. This will allow them to know whats inside without even opening the page.

11Competitions or free gifts.

My magazineStar modelAnother was to add competitions or free gifts to engage the audience. On the front page I have added a small amount of information about this summers T IN THE PARK festival. This is the chance to win free tickets to the festival. This will also encourage the reader to buy the magazine. Since my target market is for teenager I thought that having a summer festival would be a great way for them to engage in the magazine.

12Conventions of a contents page

My magazineStar model13Big title

My magazineStar modelThe first convention which I had come across was the page title at the top of the page with a date or an issue number. As you can see I have added a big title which says what we love. I have said what we love so that the audience feel like part of it and they can engage with our contents. For my star model for my contents page i used a few different star models and took aspects out of each. I did this as I could not decide which one I like the most. This worked out well for me as I was able to create my own layout and not have it to similar to others existing.14Continuous colour scheme.

My magazineStar modelAnother was to add quotes from articles to my contents page. I have not done this although neither have my star models. I wanted to ensure that I had nearly all of the conventions but also to ensure that it is quite similar to others existing. I have added a contents page to ensure that my audience knew where to look if they were looking for specific page.

15Page numbers

My magazineStar modelsAnother convention was to use page numbers to locate the articles and the different pages. I have done this and also ensured that the page numbers are bold and coloured.16Double page spread

My magazineStar modelIn my double page spread I used my star model quite a lot. I used it for many different aspects as I had chosen this specific star model to use the different conventions.

17Same model as front cover

Front coverDouble page spreadThe first convention that I looked at was that the double page spread will feature a well-known artist that may have been my main focus on the front cover. I have done this and the main model I used for my front cover is the one I used on my double page spread. I did this so that the two pages met and that it was pretty clear it was from the same magazine.

18The title or quote

Another was that the title will stand out from the page and the image. I have used a font which I have previously downloaded of Da font this is a website which provides lots of different fonts for us to download. This font was called tiny air balloons and it was 127 pt. This was a good font for me to use as the heart in the text above the letter I fits in with the small image of Lauren I have used between the questions.

19Question twoHow does your media product represent particular social groups?Age/ genderMy target market age is teenagers and my gender is unisex although it may seem to be more In my magazine I have represented mainly teenage girls. I didnt want my models to look to old as I wanted the audience to be able to relate to them. I think I have achieved this through hair and makeup. Although my model has a little make up on she doesnt have too much on so she looks quite natural. I want my audience to feel like they dont need to change in order to be like these models, for example weight or their looks. Although my aim was for my magazine to be unisex it is also a little bit gender specific. I want both genders to feel like they can read my magazine if they want to. This is why I have chosen the colour scheme purple black and orange. These colours are used by both genders. This is also why I have not used pink or blue. It may edge towards the female side a little because of the images. Although yes I have added a little amount of information about males in my magazine I have not done so on my front cover or double page spread, just my contents page. I have not added any images of boys on my front cover as at the moment looking through my target market research not many boys liked the idea of this magazine. I have ensured that at least one page contains stuff that boys can relate to. I have added girls who look kind and approachable so that the audience can relate to them.21Ethnic minority groups.My magazine is aimed without any cultural bias although I only have white people in my magazine this is only because I thought these types of girls would be more interested in my magazine.My magazine is aimed generally without any cultural bias. Anyone who wants to read my magazine is welcome to. Although all of my images are of white British females the contents meets a wider example. By this I mean that the audience can relate to the images and fashion.22SexualityMy magazine allows both sexuality's homosexual and heterosexual but because my age range is for teenagers, 12 year olds could be reading my magazine so I didnt want to add anything about sexuality in my contents.Although my magazine is aimed more generally at people of all sexual orientations. I do not have anything about either of these in my magazine because of my age range. There may be 12 year old girls reading my magazine and I did not want to add an age limit on it because of the contents.

23Class and statusAccepting all class and status.My magazine accepts all types of class and status. I have different types of language in my magazine depending on my contents. I have done this to ensure that my magazine is accepted by different class and status to ensure my audience is varied.

24Question ThreeWhat kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?I am going to talk about two distributors and I will then think of which one I think would be best to distribute my magazine.

25Seymour and Front Line.Seymour is owned by the Frontline. Seymour is one of the largest distributors of the UK magazines internationally because it exports magazines to over 90 countries.

Front lines primary function is to manage the end to end magazine distribution of around 160 titles from the printer to the stores.Seymour is a 100% owned by the frontline group. Seymour is one of the largest distributors of the UK magazines internationally because it exports magazines to over 90 countries. Front lines primary function is to manage the end to end magazine distribution of 160 titles from the printer to the stores. Front line work with magazines like top of the pops, girl talk and also kerrang.

26My decision Front line!Since Front line work with magazines like top of the pops and girl talk. I would choose front line as I know other magazines which mine is very similar to have became popular and professional with the help of front line and their distributing skills.

27Question fourWho would be the audience for your media product?

As I have previously mentioned my magazines target audience are teenagers, either gender. I have a feeling that more girls that boys would read my magazine because of my target market feedback.28Question fiveHow did you attract/address your audience?

http://georgiaions.blogspot.co.uk/

Here I am going to be linking my product to my audience. My magazine is appropriate for my target audience as I ensured it had all aspects that they were looking for. When handing my survey out to my target audience I found out what they actually wanted In the magazine. When finishing my rough cut I handed my rough cut to my teachers and asked for feedback. 29Feedback front cover

Front coverFor my front cover I got lots of feedback. One thing I was going to be improving is my model.

My models are just standing looking at the camera. I made sure that on my photo for my final magazine that my models are actually doing something. Since my magazine is about the UK top 40 including pop. I made sure that they look like they are having fun.

30Feedback for my contents page

Final magazineFirst draftContents page.For my contents page at first I thought it was really good but when looking at it next to my double page spread and my front cover I realise that there is lots of improvements that could of been made. I made a few mistakes which I didn't actually realise until I was doing my improvements with my teacher. I planned to start again with my contents page and change the images.

31Feedback for my double page spread

First draftFinal magazineDouble page spread.There were also many improvements on my double page spread. I used all of these improvements as I think they will really help me improve my page. One of the improvements was to make my model actually do something, the same as my front cover.

32Attract and address my audience

Although I have just been talking about my feedback from my teachers I am now going to talk about my feedback from my target audience. I created a survey on survey monkey. At first I didnt know what to do but once I had played around a little I got the hang of it. I asked my target audience 11 questions but I am only going to talk about a few today. I asked my target audience their age and gender before starting the survey. I asked them this to make a note of the type of people who filled out my survey. One question I asked was which colour scheme would most be appealing to you, orange pink and yellow, red green and blue or purple yellow and orange. Most of my target market chose purple yellow and orange. Although they chose this when trying this colour scheme out it didnt look very successful so I took the yellow out and replaced it with black or white. Asking my target market these questions from the survey helped me to get a feel of what my target market wanted and how I was going to give it to them within my magazine.

I definitely think that my images will attract my target audience. I think this as the girls on my front cover are made to be quite similar to the girls in my target market; they all vary between different styles for different types of girls in the audience. In some ways I have changed the formality of my language in order for it to suit my target audience. Because my target audience is for teenage girls it could be twelve year old girls reading my magazine and if I was using very developed and complex words they may not understand and this may put them off my magazine.

33Target market.

Question sixWhat have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?For the creation of my magazine I used different softwares on the computer and different tools within this.35Adobe software

I used adobe Photoshop and adobe InDesign. I used in design to actually create my magazine and I used photo shop to edit the images.36Tools I have used within Photoshop.

Photoshop actually gives us three variations of lasso to work with. I used the lasso tool and the magnetic lasso tool to separate the background from the image. This is a quick and easy way of cutting out the background but also it is neat. If I wanted to keep the background on another layer I would click the mask button and then click control and I to invert it. I then used the quick selection and the magic wand tool to select specific parts of the image. I have also used the spot healing brush tool and also the healing brush tool to make sure that the models skin has no blemishes. I used the brush tool with the black and white mask. 37Camera

ZoomFocusI have also learnt about the camera which we were able to use within the creation of my document. I used a Nikon camera and I had to learn how to use the technical elements such as the shutter speed and also the exposure. After initial difficulty I learnt how essential these technical elements were throughout the course. When working this out I had to then frame my shots. I had to include and exclude different elements as appropriate. 38Focus and zoom

Out of focusIn focusThe things I used most on the camera were the zoom and the focus. The focus is on the front of the camera. You turn the focus lenses to make sure that the image was going to be in focus. I wanted all of my images to be in focus as I think it is important that my images look professional.

39BloggerUsing blogger was difficult at first.

http://georgiaions.blogspot.co.uk/Another website i had to get used to was blogger. Blogger is a website which allows you to create your own blog for your audience. At first I struggled with this as I didnt really know what was where on the website, after a few blogs I got the hang of it and was able to change my blog when I wanted. At first I thought it was difficult as I had not yet used this website before, I had to learn how to create a blog and also how to edit the blogs once I had posted them. After getting used to this website I was able to blog as much as possible to show people my steps in the creation of my magazines.

40Question SevenLooking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final product?

41Preliminary task

Looking back at my preliminary task I have realised a great amount of aspects which I have improved on. As you can see I have here is my first task. The task was to create a school magazine for parents and students. I created a front cover and also a contents page. I had to meet conventions of other school magazines so that it fits in and looked successful. This allowed me to learn the different tools and practice different skills before creating my task.

42First draft.

This is my first draft. I think that from my preliminary task I have improved with my skills. I have learnt different skills and also I have learnt how to manage my time better. This is because when having to meet the deadline I needed to plan what I was going to do on which days to ensure I had it complete in time. For my school magazine I did not manage my time very well and there was aspects I had to miss out in order to complete it on time. For my music magazine I had learnt that I needed to be prepared with my time and equipment in order to finish on time.43Final magazine