Media Evaluation

Lyndsey Price

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challengeforms and conventions of real media products?

In my magazine research I found that there are re-occuring codes and conventions that magazine stick to in order to make their media product successful.

The masthead with contains a bold and clear magazine title. Taglines and promotions can also be found here as its one of the first places the eyes look when browsing for a magazine.

A bright and bold title for the feature artist featured in the magazine. Often with an image fitted to the whole of the front cover, manipulated (so that image overlays the magazine title) and situated with thought for audience representation. E.g. In this issue its clear to see that Hayley is a leader of the band because of the way she is positioned in front of the other band members.

The rule of thirds (a grid made with two vertical lines and two horizontal lines which are equally spaced) is also often used to keep the magazine looking neat and professional, which is quiet obviously what attracts an audience as NME is a very successful music magazine.

The Guttenberg diagram is also a conventional layout technique magazines seem to follow. Information is often seen in the Primary Optical Area (Green Circle) and the barcode is often found in the Terminal Area (Red Circle)

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challengeforms and conventions of real media products?

The front cover of my magazine follows the Guttenberg diagram as there is information in both the terminal and primary optical area of the magazine. Which is a common code and convention for successful magazine layouts.

I also decided to follow the rule of thirds as I personally think that is makes the layout of my magazine pages more neat and makes the whole magazine seem more professional.

The colour scheme and layout came from a front cover from a Nirvana feature by NME-I found that the colours they used and the way the images were manipulated worked really well, so decided to follow a similar route in my own way. I found that by adding a darker background and two lighter colours is easier to see text and works better.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The genre of my magazine is Punk/Grunge music which is quite a niche genre of music as not a lot of people seem to listen to it, which makes my magazine niche. Also, the magazine is targeted at people who would feel the type of music they prefer is often forgot about due to the lack of fans- so the magazine is trying to revive the genres. The audience that the magazine targets is around 16-25 year olds due to the ages of the bands. Both genders are technically targeted by the magazine but stereotypically the dark colour scheme would target a male audience. For the image I planned the sort of look I wanted for the model by planning at outfit and how to style the models hair etc. For example, The leather jacket portrays heavier music compared to more mainstream music such as pop because of the connotations of the jacket. (Heavy Metal, Bikers, Punk etc) The ribcage t-shirt also suggests the type of music the model would be into because of the same reason. I also edited the image colour to a more sepia look to fit with the grunge theme of the magazine. The way the model dismisses the camera to look in another direction suggests a sort of attitude which Punk music stereotypically has, The expression of the model and the tagline “I was scared of messing it all up for all of us” also suggests a negativity and leaves the audience wanting to know what happens next with the band, would it be good or bad.

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

Who would be the audience for your media product?

For my magazine I aimed making it towards the age range of 13-25 years of age due to the fact the bands in the magazine are mainly bands that were formed in the 90’s or 80’s. The images and text is more of a younger generation also. Ideally the gender the magazine is aimed at is both female and male, because music is something both genders can enjoy. However, the colours are darker than most magazines leading audiences to stereotypically think that the magazine is for a male audience. Sexuality and Ethnicity are also the same as gender, it doesn't really matter what sexuality you are, gender or ethnicity because music can be enjoyed by all and so can this magazine.

How did you attract / address your audience?

For my magazine I used several images for the front cover, contents and feature article. I made sure the model in my photo was the same age as my target/secondary audience so that they can relate and aspire to be like her. Individuals who prefer music found in my magazine can often feel as though they cant relate to people who like more mainstream music- having someone they can relate to music and style wise is a positive feature for my magazine. The clothing of the model is also worn to support the genre of music she performs. For example, a leather jacket is stereotypically known as something a person into rock and roll music would wear. Her T-shirt- a skeleton’s ribcage has also the same description. Much of the audience may dress or want to dress that way, know that the model on the front of my magazine has the audience might feel more comfortable in wearing similar things in front of more mainstream audiences. The body language of the model is care-free and proud of what she and her band has accomplished- supporting the idea that the audience will aspire to be a positive figure just like the model in the magazine. The body language also supports the genre of music as punk rock typically has an attitude of not caring, violence etc.

In this shot, I chose the model to be in front of a wall, covered in mesh and spikes etc. To promote the punk/grunge feel of the whole character, magazine and genre of music.

The clothing worn and body language supports the genre of music.

I chose to shoot the images for my magazine in black and white as I think this is unconventional and is something different to other magazines. I also think it works well with the colour scheme and the genre of music.

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

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