Media project Evaluation

Tom Sleightholme

Question 1: How do you feel you have progressed from the preliminary task to the

final product?Overall, from my progression from the York college magazine to Pulse, through the continued use of software I learnt many skills to make the pictures I took look more professional, as well as the general presentation of the magazine.

All in all, looking at the Front cover for my college magazine and my final magazine, I think that the latter is a lot more aesthetically pleasing, as well as this the fonts and layout have obviously been more meticulously chosen and edited, making for a more professional look, so all in all I believe I have made very good progress throughout the project.

Question 2: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products- I think on my front cover I have gone

for the quite simplistic style seen with a magazine such as K mag but it also goes against the conventions of other (more well known) music magazines such as Mixmag that tend to be cluttered and more ‘in your face’

- The colour scheme seen on this magazine I think is more suited to, for example a rock music magazine such as NME (white red and black). I wanted to go against normal conventions for electronic music magazines so as to set my magazine apart in the market

- For my cover image, I chose a young guy (around the age of the readership I'm targeting) so as to relate to the audience, I've also included him wearing headphones to go with the normal conventions of DJ’s.

- I also took influence from K mag in particular for the ‘Plus:’ section of my front cover as it is simple and nearly the only thing on the front cover

- Finally, I used a bold title font on my front cover as seen in many different music magazines, so I think this goes with the conventions of needing an eye-catching headline.

- Barcode conforms to the normal conventions of magazines, gives it authenticity and is a legal requirement.

Question 2: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media productsIn my contents I went with a convention I noticed in mixmag for the title, with the contents and magazine title being included along the top of the page, this is a convention upheld in a few of the magazines I studied. I also included the date (as seen in the mixmag contents across the top) Also seen in mixmag, I used a colour different to the main text (red instead of white) to highlight different points and to make the page more aesthetically pleasing. In mixmag we see this used with the yellow highlights rather than red.

My contents is dominated by one main picture (a continuation of the theme of my front cover as it includes the same person) and then has 2 sub pictures to go with it, I think this is effective and goes again with a convention taken directly from mixmag as it means the

page is not too cluttered with text. On the pictures also I've decided to use numbers to link the picture too an article in the magazine, and this convention is seen in many of the

magazines I’ve looked at.

I have included a website address as the bottom of the contents (and would most likely include it throughout the magazine) this gives the mag authenticity and is a convention used throughout every genre of music magazine and most magazines in general.

Question 2: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions

of real media products

The main focus of my D.P.S is the picture that spans both pages. I think this challenges the usual convention seen in music magazines of having one half of the D.P.S as a picture and one half as an article.

I pulled out a quote from the main body of text and included it elsewhere on the page, I saw this convention used in quite a few different magazines I studied and I think it is quite a commonly used convention. A convention I saw used in some of the magazines I studied was the use of a limited colour palette, sticking to only a few colours for the whole page , I stuck with this convention when looking at my D.P.S as i only utilised a blue, black and white

Question 3: How do you attract/address your audience

On my Front cover, I specifically used a male, around the age of the readership my magazine would be looking to attract. I think this would attract the audience I'm looking for as it is mostly male and aged between 18-25. As well as this, the inclusion of my model wearing headphones I think again specifically attracts my audience as they can immediately recognise and relate with the cover the first time they see it.

I noticed on many magazines they are branded, with a slogan or something to remember on the front cover. I think this gives the magazine something for people to identify and remember in relation to the magazine, making them more likely to return and buy it again. As well as this, as I believe my potential readership will be young and affluent they are likely to go for ‘independent’ magazines that might be high quality and specialised.

Including on my front cover, activities such as festivals that the musically orientated readership will be interested in is a good way of attracting readers as if they see a review, for example of something they like they are highly likely to want to read about it . The same concept applies with sub headings such as ‘MUST SEE ARTISTS OF 2013’ as this gives the article a point of common interest, as my readership is likely to always want to be in the loop with new tunes.

Finally, I think I have gone against common conventions when it comes to the colour scheme of my front cover, the convention being that a cluttered bright front cover, especially with dance music fans can attract more readers. I have gone the opposite way and gone for a limited colour pallet, as I believe it is still striking and my audience will be attracted to a more ‘stylish’ looking magazine.

Question 3: How do you attract/address your audience

On my contents only, I decided to include a simple logo. I noticed that most magazines do not have a logo, only a title in what might be a magazine specific font. So I thought the logo adds more interest to the page and generally gives the magazine a quality feel, meaning its bound to attract more readers.

As a continuing theme from my front cover I included the same model in both main pictures. This again helps my audience to relate to the story as he is roughly from the age and class demographic I'm aiming at.

I used a common convention seen in magazines ‘buzz words’ in my contents as a way of attracting readers to certain story's in the magazines, ones that may be of great interest, meaning that the reader is more likely to buy the mag.

Including articles on how to make music as well as just about the music itself means from the audience I am looking at more peoples tastes are catered for, increasing the span of interest and therefore hopefully increasing the amount of people buying it.

I've included a website link on this page, this means the target market who are largely centred around computers, mobiles and the media can be more involved in the magazine that just reading it. Many magazines I studied used a website to effectively communicate with their readers.

Question 3: How do you attract/address your audience

I have utilised a limited colour pallet on my double page spread which goes with common conventions I saw in other music magazines, I think it makes the page look quite high quality and goes against the usual conventions seen in magazines, although there were a few exceptions. As well as this I have decided to included a picture across the whole double page spread, a convention I did not see used in many magazines, but i personally was attracted to this d.p.s which inspired my own.

As with the other pictures in my magazine in my double page spread I decided to use a male model in the age range, gender and ethnicity I was aiming for. This meant that it was obviously going to attract my audience effectively

I have included in the picture for this double page spread a mixing desk, directly relating to my audiences interests.

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product? Reader profile:

Age: 16-25Gender: Mostly male* Income bracket: Although my readership may be young and not earning not much money, they tend to be drawn from A B and C bracket income households who may have enough disposable income to buy the magazine.

Likes: Partying, Drinking, clothes, shoes, technology, festivals

Info: The readership for my magazine are going to be heavily musically orientated, whether it is making music, listening too it or buying it. This is represented mainly by for example the speakers, decks, and pictures of festivals, all of which would play a large part in advertising in my magazine.

As well as being musically orientated, technology now plays a large part in my readership’s interests, for example people are a lot more attached to their phones and laptops and more set on getting the latest models, etc. than 10 years ago, this links in again with music, with software packages now being readily available for anyone to try and make electronic music.

*: From my audience research I found out that electronic music is mainly dominated by Males, so my magazine is catered towards that specifically (e.g. with the use of male models etc.

Question 4: What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?

Many media institutions exist today all producing an array of different magazines, whether they are musical or not, some of these institutions include:

Development hell ltd.: Producers of magazines such as Mixmag ( of which I have based some of the ideas of my magazine on) and The Word.

http://www.developmenthell.co.uk/

Bauer Publishing: Producers of magazines such as Kerrang! And ID magazine as well as many others.

http://www.bauerpublishing.com/

Time Inc. is one of the worlds largest publishing institutions, publishing magazines such an Entertainment weekly and Time mag.

http://www.timeinc.com/home/

Future PLC produces mainstream magazines such as Total Guitar and Total gamer.

http://www.futureplc.com/

Mama & Company are an independent publishing group who also run music festivals such as Global gathering and music label Godskitchen. http://www.developmenthell.co.uk/

Which publishing companies would I choose to publish my magazine?

Which publisher and why? (Next slide)

Question 4: What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?

Mama & Company: As my first choice for an institution that I want to produce my magazine, MAMA seems to fit perfectly for many reasons, as a company they currently only produce one magazine, ‘The Fly’ which is primarily an indie magazine not focusing on the electronic genre of music, this primarily could mean that for MAMA there is a Niche in the market that they are missing out on when not producing a wider span of genre’s of magazines.

As well as MAMA having a clear Gap in the market they could delve into, behind them they already have the expertise that comes with being the brand partners behind Dance music festival Global gathering and Trance Label Godskitchen, this also means they also have a potential market to introduce the magazine into, as they could sell it at Global to get the word out .

- From the one existing magazine that is in Mama’s portfolio you can see my style would fit perfectly into there way of doing things as both front covers are quite minimal and both use a limited colour pallet for effect.

- MAMA & COMPANY- Expertise in the Music industry

(festivals venues + magazines) - Main Brands: THE FLY (magazine) ,

Global Gathering (festival) The JAZZ café (venue), Love box festival, Godskitchen (music label)

- MAMA runs many live music venues such as the Institute in Birmingham. I think my product would fit in with the scene that comes with these venues and again the expertise in the music industry can be an important factor in marketing my product.

Brand partnerships

- MAMA has affiliated itself in brand partnerships with major companies such as Topman, Xbox, HTC, WKD and Bacardi, all of these brands fit in with the hobbies of my target market and so the branding expertise can be specifically targeted.

Question 6: what did you learn about technology from the process of constructing

this product? During my whole project I used different pieces of software (some more than others) to complete the given tasks, these included…

• Photoshop • Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel

• Blogger• Survey Monkey

I also used a combination of hardware to complete some tasks, such as…

• Canon 550d SLR camera• Computer

- During this project I used blogger for the first time, I learnt how to utilise tools such as the tool to organise my blog and I also learnt the basics of how to set up my own blog. -I had never used

Photoshop before I started this project and I learnt about many useful tools throughout the process of making the magazine. Some of these tools included the ‘photo filter’ which I used on my D.P.S to create the ‘blue filter’ effect.

- I needed to use many font files in this project and learnt how to download and apply fonts using (www.dafont.com) and I learnt how to make them useable in Photoshop using

For the title of my magazine I layered the ‘PULSE’ text and changed the opacity of the duplicated layer to give the shadowed effect.

Question 6: what did you learn about technology from the process of constructing

this product? - Could you have completed your project

without the use of technology? Obviously the project was nearly

all based around different technologies whether it was hardware or software. So no I don’t think it could have been completed without them. Without the use of software such as Photoshop the quality of my final magazine would have been affected greatly. And similarly without the use of, for example the Canon 550dSLR as the quality of my pictures would have also been affected.

- Which pieces of technology could you have done and not done without?

I could have done without some of the technology I used, for example the SLR camera and Photoshop, but these would have meant the quality of a lot of the work would have been affected, as I said in the last question without the use of high quality software and hardware the quality of the final work would have been lessened.

- Positives and negatives of using different technologies?

The positives were that I managed to produce a high quality product by combining all the different technologies that I had to use together. But in contrast the things I used were often quite complicated, for example Photoshop took a while to get the hang of using it for the first time.

Question 7: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Gender: Throughout my magazine It is nearly all male orientated, both in the actors I have used and in the artists that I have included. So I think Men are much more heavily represented and more important to my magazine. Looking back at my preliminary research it is clear that for the genre of music I have made the magazine for, the audience is predominantly male and so I have targeted my magazine this way. Drum and Bass, Dubstep and other forms of electronic music are all stereotypically dominated by men and my preliminary research confirmed this.

Age: The age range of my magazine, from the media packs I looked at relating to my genre (s) and my preliminary research is around 16-25. So from this is chose actors to be in the pictures from my magazine that were both in the middle of this range (19-20) so I felt they represented a good cross section of my audience.

The stereotypes around men I think are generally catered for in this magazine, but only really through the fact that male actors have been Included, and with the music comes the stereotype of men anyway, meaning my magazine specifically caters to that gender.

Class: In my magazine I have not included a range of different classes I have only included one. This would be the middle/upper class that I am aiming for with this magazine, as my audience would usually have enough disposable income (or their parents will) to be able to buy a magazine in the price bracket of mine, as well as having enough money to spend on the latest fashions, festivals etc.

This representation I believe is quite comparable to the class I was going for in the first place, the A, B and C bracket household incomes. These classes stereotypically have enough money to spend on nice things, new clothes, mobile phones etc. as well as magazines and I believe the price and quality of my magazine is high but this is catering for the specific social class.

Ethnicity: In my magazine I have only included one ethnicity, which is white European. I believe my audience reflects this monocultural approach as they are seen as being mostly white males, 16-25.