AS Media production

Evaluation

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

conventions of real media products? • On the whole I feel that I have followed the conventions of similar magazines of this type.

• On the front cover I have used a main photograph to give the potential consumer an idea of what they will be buying and also to attract them to it, this is done conventionally with most magazines.

• The layout of my magazine cover, the contents page, and the double page spread are similar to other magazines because I have placed along the bottom of the front cover showing three posters, magazine companies often use this ploy of offering free gifts and posters in a puff so that the consumer will be more enticed into purchasing the product. The text running up alongside the main photograph is used in many music magazines such as Kerrang, NME and Q.

• The contents page is structured in a similar way to most other music magazines with pictures covering a large part of the page, a message encouraging subscription along the bottom, a list of contents clearly written down the right hand side, and a small paragraph from the editor talking about what will be in the next issue. The reason why I structured it like this and similar to many other magazines is that it makes good clear reading.

• On the double page spread I have also followed convention in page structure by using a large photo with a title in the corner and narrow columns of writing. I have highlighted the interview questions in red so that they stand out.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• The genre of music featured in my magazine is mainly indie rock which on the whole, is played for young middle class males and females, I therefore feel that this is the social group which it represents.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media and why?

• My product would be distributed through shops or mail order because those are the only channels available for this particular product. People would be able to order this magazine through their local newsagents or buy it off the shelf. Alternatively, you could make a subscription by phone or online.

Who would be the audience for your media

• The audience for my magazine would be young middle class males or females as these are the people who normally listen to the type of music represented within the magazine.

How did you attract/address your audience

• The audience for the magazine would attracted by good advertising online, on the radio, on the t.v. channels and on the billboards.

• They would also be enticed into buying the magazine by promotions or free gifts, one of their favourite musicians being mentioned on the front cover or if their favourite musician was in the main photo, the colours and fonts I feels also have an effect on the reader because if you put font in times new roman on the front cover in black and white no one would be interested.

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

• I have learnt how to use many tools in the photo manipulation software I used which was photoshop. The magnetic lasso is used to cut around the photo more accurately than cropping, I also used the rectangular tool to move words and fonts around the page into the layout I wanted, and downloaded new fonts to create the contemporary look I wanted for the magazine.

• It was a steep learning curve for me because I had never used photoshop before this piece of coursework and here is the end product.

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

the full product?• Primarily the main difference was the use of photoshop in my main piece

whereas I used publisher in my preliminary task.

• In my main piece I used more alternative colours rather than just two, one for the background and one for the text. Also I learnt how to use a certain colour scheme to suit the mood, genre, or season of the magazine. I learnt how to use a more detailed layout for my magazine in the main task, nethertheless I feel that my preliminary task had the right structure it is just quite bare in comparison to my main task.

I feel that the contents page was also very bare in the preliminary task with not many varying colours and not many pictures, however people are expected to pay for the music magazine so it would have to look attractive, whereas the school magazine is free so they will be looking at the most cost effective way to make the magazine.

What do others say about your media product?

• Many people liked the production, however people who had used photoshop many times before felt that the main photo on the front cover could have been edited slightly better and also that there could have been a better choice of font. However overall it had a good reception.