Magazine Evaluation

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

My magazine uses typical forms and conventions by using certain themes, layouts and typical technical codes.This is a comparison between my magazine ‘IND’ and ‘NME’. ‘NME’ was my main style model which I style my magazine similarly to. I made sure the Masthead stood out and was bold, I positioned the masthead at the top left like NME. I also made a colour scheme after deciding to have my masthead black and blue, I then continued to use this colour on the front page and throughout the magazine such as the content page and the double page spread, which you can see on NME they used red and white. I also positioned my coverlines down the right side of the cover which is very similar to NME. I also used typical conventions of a magazine on the front cover such as including the barcode, date and price.

The barcode is used in shops for selling. I also include a plug which is what NME also used,These are reasons for the reader to read/buy the magazine. By using words such as ‘Exclusive’ it makes the reader feel involved in the magazine. For the photograph on the front cover I took a photo of a band member wearing typical ‘indie’ clothes, and made sure he made direct eye contact with the camera, which is what most magazines I have researched Do. The font I used for the title was called ‘SKY FALL’

Contents and Double Page SpreadSimilar features for content page:- Font size and layout: I used little subheadings and then had a

explanation of what the story is about for example I would have ‘JENNIFER PINCHBECK’ and then underneath in smaller font would show its an interview, which is similar to what Q Magazine did.

- Where it says ‘IND CONTENTS’ I put the text in a banner along the top which is what Q Magazine did, and used the same colour as the masthead on the front cover.

- I also included the issue number, the date and the URL address in the banner part where it says ‘IND CONTENTS’ which is what Q Magazine also did.

- I included another small like banner to say ‘Features’ of the magazine which is also what Q Magazine did on this content page.

- I used little banners on the photographs to include captions.

Double Page Spread similar features to NME:- I made the name of the band stand out by having it

highlighted in the house colour of the magazine which is blue, which is what NME also did, and also had it slightly overlapping on to the photograph.

- The main image on the double page spread I made it so it came over the centre of the pages so it made the text look less.

- Used blue throughout the double page spread.

- Caption on the photograph with a small like banner on the back of it, to make the text stand out.

- Typical Convention- using page numbers.

I used many technical codes which were similar to many magazines that I had research over all. By using similar camera angles, mise-en-scene, layout (Style,Colour Scheme etc.) For my front cover I felt using the main singer of a band was important as I noticed in my research most front covers only included one main band member which was normally the singer, such as Q and NME. The image I used for the front cover was a midshot with the model looking directly into the camera as shown to the left, for mise-en-scene I just used a plain background to make editing easy and then gives me more colours that I would be able to use. For costume I dressed him in casual black clothes which had a indie rock look.

For my content and double page spread I used these 3 images, the 2 on the left are the ones I used for the content page and the one on the right was one I used on the double page spread. I used 2 images on the content page so that there was more imagery as in my audience research people answered they would rather see more imagery than text in a magazine.

For the double page spread I used a large mid shot of the whole band. I made the image come slightly over the centre of the page. For this image I again got the models to look directly into the camera. For the costume I had them wearing casual stereotypical indie/rock clothes such as denim and shirts or just plain tshirts.

Photography on Pages.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups how do you represent them?

I represent the ‘indie’ genre of the magazine with the choice of style and models used. My magazine is dominated by white middle class males, In my magazine research indie/rock genre magazines stereotypically use white British male. The indie genre is usually middle class so I showed this in the magazine. I represented the gender of male by only using male models, by only using males it shows masculinity in the magazine, which this is shown in what the models are wearing, they’re tattoo's, they’re piercings and also the colour scheme I used in the text.

Tattoo's fashion

piercingsI used a blue and black colour scheme in my magazine which are masculine colours.For the behaviour of the representation the models show a lot of confidence, being young they come across as very fun, you can see this in they’re facial expressions by smiling and being confident and also in the content of the article being an interview you can see they are very excited about there future plans and just stories they tell you.I Showed stereotypical conventions to represent genre in this magazine by the mise-en-scene that I used. The costume I used was fashionable and had an Indie/Rock look about it.

3)What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

The publisher I would like to publish my magazine is IPC media. IPC media is known for publishing a very popular magazine ‘NME’ . This magazine was my mains style model for this project where I gained many ideas from. Even though that IPC media would already be publishing a similar magazine, they wouldn’t be losing any money if they published IND as the money would be going straight to the publisher. However it will create competition between NME and IND.Also, by going to IPC Media, IPC will already have a good experience working with the indie market, and will be able to target the right audience. It also has a well established distribution network.

4)Who would be the audience for your media product?I made this archetypal reader after the results I got from my survey I showed items and some text of what my ideal reader would be interested in. The audience would be interested in INDIE/Rock music, My survey had the top age of 13-18 so I decided 17 was the best age to aim my magazine at, which is similar to the age group of NME magazine. Also the most read music magazine I got from my survey was NME, which was why I styled the magazine in similar style as NME.Also I based the price on the most popular voted price on my survey which was £3-4 so I put it as 3.99 also People said that they like to see more imagery rather than text so I tried to include larger if not more images.

5)How did you attract/address our audience?

I attracted my audience in different ways depending on what was shown on the front cover. I used buzz words such as ‘Exclusive’ which makes the reader feel involved in the Magazine also ‘New Issue’ would drag the reader in as its new and will have new stories inIt. Also I used coverlines which showed oppurtunity to win free tickets to a popular band Which indie/rock fans would be interested in, so people especially interested in thatCertain band would immediately be interested to buy it. Also considering my audience areVery interested in images which stand out if not more imagery. So the main image Stands out a lot and the way the model has eye contact to look directly at the reader, alsoThe model I used suits this as he has a very different style with his piercings and hair style, also his fashion sense may appeal to some. And on the content page I used two images to suit the audience who like more imagery. On the double page spread I used a large image to make the text look less. The other way I attracted my audience was the colours I used and the font. The font I used on my front cover was ‘SKYFALL DONE’ and ‘Bebos Neue’ these fonts really stood out and are clear to read and fit in with the bold picture on the front cover. The use of colour I used as well which was black and blue which are exciting colours which stand out.

6)What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?

Throughout my project I have used various different technologies. Including software and hardware. The software that I used included Photoshop, Internet, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Dafont, Wordpress.The hardware I used included A camera which was a Cannon, SD cards, Memory Sticks, Computer/Laptop,Lighting.

From some of these software/hardware uses I have gained new skills towards the technology during this project. Photoshop was one that I gained new skills towards, with the special effects I used such as the colour balance to give that blue effect I had in my magazine. Dafont was a new software to me that I had never used before, I think this software was very helpful towards my magazine as there was such a huge range of texts that I could chose from and use in my magazine. I used word just for my style sheet to explore the different colours that I could use. Wordpress was the blog I used to upload my work on. Wordpress (www.wordpress.com)was one that I really struggled with as it was a brand new feature for me to use, I found it hard getting all posts in the right order etc but I have developed a new skill with this blogger.

For the hardware I used a camera which was a cannon with a compatible lens. I used SD cards to transfer and save images taken from my camera, I used memory sticks to store my word also.

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

• This college magazine was my first attempt at making a magazine using photoshop. It isn’t as successful as my final product which was because I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about magazine designs and how to structure/style it to the audiences needs. Also at this stage in the project my photoshop skills at constructing a magazine were little but developed when I was making the final piece.

• This shows my final piece of the magazine, its a lot more confident and shows how much my skills in photoshop and knowledge of the magazine industry have developed. My photography skills have also improved from the first magazine I did, I am pleased with the outcome. If there was anything I would have done differently I would have organised my time more and planned out things more such as my photography planning. But I have developed new skills using photoshop and learnt a lot about the magazine industry, I have also gained new skills in researching.

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