Evaluation

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

 I have used many of the conventions that I found in the research that I carried out at the start of the project and from this I decided to incorporate them in my design. When carrying out my research, I found that Mast heads, Sell lines, Main images, cover lines and other conventions such as the bar code were used by current magazines.

Front Cover

Mast Head - When I began researching magazines about the mast head that was used, I found that they kept the basic format for a mast head. This was either across the top or in the top left corner of the page. This was because people are trained to look at the top left corner of the page, so by following this wouldn't look stupid to the trained eye. Because of this, I decided that when I was creating the magazine, I would keep with what those researched, included. This was due to the fact that I thought that it fitted into the niche of the market that was aiming for. I also thought that if it was to be changed, then this wouldn't look as good and have the same effect that I wanted.

Sell Line - As I was researching, I found that not all of the magazines included one. I took it upon myself to include it because I thought that it would help the magazine be more recognisable than one that didn't have one. From this, I then looked at where they were positioned on the page. The result I found was that the sell line was either above the mast head, below or at the bottom of the page. From this information that I gathered, I thought that it would be a good idea to place it underneath the mast head going from the top left to the right of the page as I said before, the untrained eye instinctively looks there first.

Main Image - During the research that I did, I found that the main image was the main focus of the front cover as that was the selling point of the magazine. I began to notice that the main image of the person would stand out of the page and sometimes be on top of the mast head, and have the cover lines built in around it or over it. I thought that these techniques were effective and I decided to include them as I liked the way that the image stood out so I wanted to replicate this onto my design of the front cover. I also found out that the image was by far the largest thing on the page so decided that I should include this as these were magazines that were clearly successful out in the real world.

Cover Lines - I found from doing my research that there was a number of different cover lines that were used on each magazine. All of them had at least 5 on there which gave me an idea of how many I should include on my own. The way they were laid out on the page was quite different as well. Some of the front covers had the cover lines positioned over the image, separate from the image and incorporated into the image. All of these I thought were good ways of placing the cover lines on the page. Because of this, there was no other way that the cover lines could really be placed on the page because they were all pretty much used on the cover that I looked at. The size of the cover lines as well also differed according to their importance. I found this out especially when looking at Vibes magazine as they had the cover line that linked to the main image and the main story written in the largest font.

Contents Page

Images - When I studied some contents pages that are used in the real world, I found that they all included images on the page. Each of them used different numbers of images which made it clear to me that it was down to personal choice. The majority of them had one image which linked to the front cover and the main story that was used. This image was the largest thing on the page to make it come out. I decided to challenge this because I thought that by having an image of someone who is on the cover page, contents page and the double page spread, would seem a bit too much. Because of this, I decided to use different images of different people which would help show the audience what else was to come in the magazine.

Colour Scheme - When looking at the colour scheme that was used in the contents page. I realised that nearly all of the magazines that I looked at had the same colour from the cover page incorporated onto the contents page. I thought that this was a good technique to use as I thought that it would give the magazine an identity that would make it recognisable. I also liked the fact that it created a house style and for this reason, I decided to use this when I created mine.

Name of Magazine - Whilst looking through the variety of contents pages that I looked through, I saw that some of the magazines included their own name. I came to the conclusion that it came down to personal choice whether to include the name of the magazine here. For this reason I decided against including it on my contents as I thought that there wouldn't be a need to have a name on two consecutive pages.

Headlines -  When looking at the headlines for the magazine, I found out that they were included to help break u p the page. They were written in a larger font and were sometimes in a different colour. I thought that the use of this technique was a good feature to include in my magazine and would help improve the layout and quality of the page. For this reason I decided to include this in my magazine.

Layout - From looking at my research, I have decided to make the layout of my magazine quite central. Although I found from my research that the our eyes look from the top left and around, I have decided that if it was placed in the centre of the page slightly to the right, as I think that  it would make it stand out more. I found that some of the magazines I looked at tended to have the majority of their information down the right hand side of the page. So I decided to use this but develop it slightly so that it had a mix of what I wanted and what the market was doing.

Double Page Spread

Main Image - When I did my research into current working practice, I was made aware that the majority of magazines did have one image that took up the vast majority of one page. I thought that this was a good technique but when I asked my target audience how many images they thought I should include on my DPS, they stated that they thought that more than 3 images would be too much. For this reason I decided to challenge the idea of one and include 2 images on my page as I thought that it was a good compromise to what the current market was putting out and what my target audience wanted. 

Colour Scheme - From my research I found that some of the magazines continued to include a colour scheme right through the magazine. I thought that this was good at creating a house style so decided to include this on my DPS and created an identity to the magazine. Style of Font - On the DPS's that I looked at, there was a mixture of styles that were used. Some of them included both Serif and Sans Serif font in the articles that they produced, and others used either Serif or Sans. I came to the conclusion that it was down to personal preference and decided to include just Sans serif as this appealed to the target audience I was locking for. Also the fact that my target audience stated that they wanted to see a Sans Serif font used.

Layout - From my research I found out that the majority of the magazines had the main article on the right side of the page. The majority of them also had the images placed on the opposite page or in between different columns of text used. I thought that this technique was good because it helped break it up. So from this I decided to develop this slightly and put in a small passage of text in a large font in between the columns of text as I thought that this would give it a more professional feel.

Columns - From looking at the research I did, I found that all of the magazines used columns. Although they used columns they all didn't necessarily use the same number of them. From this I then used the concept of columns in my work to help it look both well laid out and professional.

With regard to the font that I have used, I decided to keep with just one font that ran continuously throughout the entire magazine as opposed to having numerous styles. I thought this was slightly different to what some of the real products that I analysed included as I noticed that they tended to use more than one font to distinguish different features of a magazine. However, I decided to change this so that it was colour that showed off a feature in the magazine, as my decision to include a house style that ran through the magazine constantly. By doing this it would allow the magazine to be recognisable for this as well as the other features that were included within it.

With regard to the layout of the entire magazine, I have decided to use a conventional format. This was because I thought that the audience would feel more comfortable to see a layout that they are used to seeing. However on the contents page, I have tried to alter this somewhat so that it doesn't fully conform with the conventional format. I want to give this magazine a subtle identity whilst still including a conventional layout. Here I have went against what some magazines do, by placing the feature to the magazine across the bottom of the page as opposed to having it down the left hand side. I think that this would indeed be noticeable even though it is only a relatively minor change.

When it comes to colours, I have decided to go against the conventional colour scheme that is used. I have moved away from the traditional use of black font and a white background to something slightly different which adds a more warming effect to the magazine. The light grey background which is normally a dull colour, mixed together with the light blue and pink contrast each other and not only promote both males and females but brighten up every page that they are included on. I think that these colours have been developed to match with the slightly unconventional and upcoming style of music that the genre of music that the magazine is based on.

                                                                                              

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I think that the product I have created has represented many different types of social groups. Here I am going to say how I have included these aspects and why I haven't chosen to use any.

Age - I have represented age in my magazine in the use of the images. This is because when I have taken the images, they have complied with the brief as they have been taken of students. This therefore allows my target audience to see people who are their age on the magazine and would encourage them to go and buy it. I have represented age positively in the magazine as it shows that people who are in their late teens can be good and are not all parts of the negative stereotype that they are surrounded by thanks to the media. As these people are replicating people of an older age it makes them seem much more mature which is something that again is quite positive.

Gender - I have represented both males and females in my magazine as I wanted to make it clear to the target audience that the magazine can be bought by both sexes. I have used more male images than female images to help attract the female audience as it will draw their attention. But I have used the genre of R&B to help draw in the male audience as it is generally more listened to by men than women. By using both males and females means that I am not being sexist in my magazine which means that I am representing them both.

Social Class - I have decided to use more upper class people as this generally occurs in the music industry. However, as I have included different ethnicity's, it has allowed me to show many things. For example, traditionally it is black people who are in a working class background, and by including a black person on the front cover as somebody who is upper class, helps me show how people can be socially mobile and move up the class ladder and get achieved status.  

Ethnicity - I have represented different kinds of ethnicity in the making of my magazine. I have represented African Caribbeans, Pakistanis, English and Indian. This was done by taking photos of people who come from these different ethnicity's. As I have included these, it means that I can not be seen as racist as I have incorporated such a wide range of backgrounds.

Regional Identity - I have chosen to not represent regional identity in my magazine. I could have used this in my article but as my article was based on an American, I found it quite difficult to do, so I decided against doing.

Physical dis/ability  - When I was doing this section, I only just realised that I hadn't included somebody who suffered from a disability. I chose to use able people as opposed to disabled people because generally in the music industry, it is the more able people who are well known, and I was cautious as to not include a disabled person as I didn't want to be a part of tokenism (including a disabled person for the sake of it.

                                                                                              

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

I think that my product would be best suited to be distributed by EMAP. This is a company that is widely known in Britain in the publishing market and I would be specifically targeting the EMAP Metro, a subsidiary of EMAP. I have decided to do this because they currently distribute music magazines such as Q, Mojo and mixmag which are seen as quite big in the British industry. Although Q and Mojo are more associated with Rock music, and mixmag is more associated with the dance music, there is a gap in the market that my magazine would fit into. I think that the target audiences that the three magazines aim for is similar to mine which would mean that including Platinum, they would be able to target a market that they currently don't have at the minute, which would generate them more revenue than they already do.

I could also get an institution that currently distributes the genre of music that I have included in my magazine, but this would most probably be rejected. This would be because they would already have this genre of music covered so by distributing another magazine of the same genre, wouldn't generate the amount of money than a new genre would.

                                                       

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I think that my magazine is representative of the working/middle class social class. This is because the type of music that is included in the magazine is that of Hip Hop and R&B. I think that this genre of music is more likely to be listened to by this social group rather than upper class who are stereotypically more likely to listen to classical music.

With regard to gender that the magazine has been created for, I have tried to create a magazine that is neutral to both these sexes. This is because if I was to create a magazine that was more likely to be for one sex, it would limit the sales opportunity and the amount of money that I would be get if it wasn't and could be perceived as being sexist. Another reason why I have decided to make this magazine for both males and females is because of the fact that magazines such as Vibe are normally male dominated which means that there is was an opportunity to create a magazine that would fit both sexes. So by creating a neutral magazine, I have created a magazine that can generate the most profit but be seen as the least discriminative.

The type of audience that I am trying to try grasp is the more musically orientated audience. This is because when I did my target audience research, I asked people who generally preferred more of the R&B and Rap style of music. As this is the genre that I have chosen, I think that it matches with exactly the type of audience that I was creating the magazine for. 

                                                        

How did you attract/address your audience?

I tried to attract my audience by using musicians that I thought they would be comfortable and familiar with. I thought that this would have been a good thing to use because it would allow the audience to recognise an act which would make them be more inclined to buy the magazine than if it wasn't used. I also tried to attract both sexes of the audience by going both feminine and masculine colours. I thought that this wouldn't single out males or females which would result in both of them buying the magazine than if it was created more towards one gender. The colours that I used were also quite bright, so that would mean that they would stand out on the shelf and attract the audience. 

On the front cover I thought that the text would need to be quite large as it would be this page which would sell the magazine. If the text was small, the potential customers would be less likely to read it as they would probably be put off by the size. So because of this, I thought that the larger the font, the more eye catching it will be. I also used the image in the front cover to attract the audience as the larger and clearer it is, the more likely it will be draw in the audience. 

                                                                                                     

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

As I have went throughout the course, I have tended to use specific programmes such as the Internet, Fireworks, Microsoft Word, Publisher and Excel. All of these programmes I was familiar with so I therefore learnt little from using them as I already had enough background knowledge on them.

As I was going through the research, I have used Internet sites such as google to find pictures of different kinds of magazine covers, contents and double page spreads so that I could analyse them and get a feel for what I had to include. When it came to editing pictures, I used a website called 'pic-nic' to edit the pictures. Prior to doing this project I had no knowledge of this website and I found it very helpful in changing pictures that I had taken that were slightly dark, to what they were actually meant to look like. I also used Excel to create the graphs that I created when it came to the target audience research. I used my own knowledge to see create these. 

Whilst creating my magazine, I have learnt more about some of the programs that I was already familiar with. Whilst I was editing my images from all 3 areas of the contents page, I was able to become a familiar with Fireworks which has helped me in my other subjects. This is because I now have the knowledge that is needed to get only the parts of an image I desire.

 I have furthered my knowledge of working with cameras and transferring data onto the computer as I have gone through the project. This was a type of technology that was crucial in helping me create the product that it did. This occurred when I went from taking the actual photos, and taking the photos off them digitally by using a card reader, followed by saving them on the computer. This has resulted in me reinforcing the knowledge that I had.  

With regard to the use of computers, I have only really learnt about Fireworks. When I have used word processing software such as Microsoft Word and Publisher, I haven't furthered my knowledge on them, as I used what I was already aware of to create it. I think that the most important technology that was at my disposal was of course the computers. This is because without this, I would never have been able to create a product that looked like the one which I did. I think that it was down to computing that made my product looked as if it was created with a hint of professionalism.  

However, I have learnt how to use Blogger on the Internet from which I have created my blog. Before the creation of the product and the preliminary task, I had never experienced this feature and new nothing about it. But since using this, I have become aware of how to use it and now think that I am capable of teaching others about how to use it. Using the computers and especially the Internet based programme Blogger, was the only type of technology that was used in the evaluation stage.

                                                                                     

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

From doing the preliminary task, I have learnt many things. At the start of the project, I had no idea what the correct terminology was for all of the different parts of the magazine. For example I thought that the mast head was actually called the name of the magazine. I had no idea of what the sell line and cover lines and other conventions included, but from doing the preliminary task, allowed me the opportunity to take in this information and be able to recognise them when it came to the real thing.

From doing the preliminary task, it also gave me the opportunity to try out my editing skills of images. This gave me the chance to learn what tools did what and what they did to the image. I also found out how to get rid of parts of the image that I didn't want to include and how to change the colour of them. From learning this, it meant that I could incorporate these elements into my actual product.

I also learnt how to draft my product effectively. In the prelim, I had to draft out the front cover and the contents page and then analyse them. This showed me exactly what needed to be done in the real thing as it meant that I was aware of how much detail needed to be put into them. Also, from doing the analysis of the draft, it meant that I was conscience of what level of analysis needed to be done in the real thing. This meant that all that I needed to do was replicate the same level of detail and it would be of the same quality as the preliminary task.

From doing the preliminary task, I learnt that I have the capability to create something that looks good. From doing this, it gave me the confidence to go onto the real product and believe in myself that I could create something that I think is of a good standard. From being able to construct a magazine together, I think that this helped me when it came to the real product because it gave me the framework and structure that I needed to copy, to create a similar product.

I have also learnt how important analysis is in helping get the best possible level and mark. I am definitely going to include what I have done in this subject and implement it into other subjects that I study.