Evaluation

Evaluation

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

I think that my music magazine follows the conventions of a music magazine, my main inspiration when producing my magazine was Qmag, as we both has the same target audience and genre. In my research I compared and analysed all kinds of music magazines, with a range of target audiences and genres, the purpose of this was so that I understood the generic conventions of each genre, and what each target audience would be attracted too, having done this it pointed out the main things that I needed to include in my magazine, and what things my target audience would be attracted too, for example my target audience would be attracted to young recent artists, therefore I constructed my models to look like pop-starts, so that they would find my magazine appealing. I also understood that this mainstream audience that I was aiming towards, for my pop magazine, would be attracted to more simple page layouts, as a representation of their calmer personalities, unlike rock audiences who would be attracted to a more jumbled layout, therefore I used calm page layouts with images and writing, with calm fonts with a structured layout. I also made my logo red, as this is something that was quite popular in pop magazines, as the color is bright and stands out, for the left side of the page, that people see first.

How does your media product represent a particular social group?

My magazine represents a particular social group of being a general mainstream audience, this is because a lot of people prefer pop music that is played a lot on the TV and radio, artists that are well know and well established, I represented this audience because I used normal looking models, that look like typical artists that you see on the TV, I constructed them too look like this, having in mind artists like Ellie Golding and Katy Perry, that fit into the pop category. I used things like the guitar on the front page as iconography of pop, and music, to make sure that it could be identified as a pop music magazine. I also used the double page spread to emphasis the mainstream audience, this was something that the audience could relate too, being an 'ordinary' person like the story. I have also put in the content page about festivals, which are also very popular with the younger generation, this emphasizes the target audience. 

What kind of magazine distributor may produce you media product?

In my research I looked at a few magazine distributors, this helped me because it gave me an idea or who to go to do produce my  product. Narrowing it down, I think the best company to go with was Bauer, this is because they are Eurpoe's number one privately owned publishing groups, it offers 300 magazines already, and distributes to 15 countries, meaning that my magazine could be a global hit. Bauer is also responsible for the popular magazine FHM, this means that my magazine may be able to be established and get a reputation like this one. I think this magazine would sell well in big supermarkets, such as Tesco, Asda and Morrison's, because they are big supermarkets that are popular with all kinds of people.

Who would be the target audience for your product?

The target audience for my magazine would be for teenagers and and young adults, and have the interest in current hits and artists, which are featured heavily in my magazine, I got this information from my questionnaire from my primary research. I think that my magazine would appeal to both sexes this is because according to Laura Mulvey's theory, women like to gaze at other women, as inspiration for what they think they should look like, and men like to look at females as they see them as sex objects. In my magazine, I have lots of female models, meaning they they can be seen as a selling point to men and women. 

How did you address your audience?

I addressed my audience by using young attractive models, I constructed them by using make-up and props that would appeal to the younger generation, for example the heavy dark make-up and the guitar. I have also done the cover story of a young girl being the victim of bulling and talking about her uni life which is something young people can relate to, meaning that they will be interested in it. Also the uses of the strap lines for the music concerts are something that young people would appeal to. 

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of making this product?

I made my magazine on Photoshop, this was a challenge understanding the software but once I completed the cover page I started understanding it more. The main things I learnt was to cut out the backgrounds and to put filters on the images. I looked up YouTube tutorials to learn to do certain stuff like add and remove layers. I think using Photoshop was a good choice as it is a good programme and I could do anything i wanted as the technology is so advanced. I also learnt about camera shots and what ones are best to use for each purpose, like shown in my research page, so when I was going the double page spread I knew that the photos had to be close up shots to show direct mode of address and to make it seem more personal, but it also needed to have character and be interesting. 

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

Looking back at my preliminary task, I think I have learnt a lot, doing the research really helped me as I gained knowledge about different music magazines and the conventions of each genre, this helped me construct and plan my own. Also learning about all the magazine distributors were good, as it meant that I has knowledge of what one would be best suited for my magazine. Learning about all the different camera shots was helpful as it meant that each page connects to the audience in a different way, by the shot type. I have also gained knowledge on Photoshop which I never had before, this will help me if I ever need to do anything like this again.