Evaluation Questions

For ‘Chords’Magazine

Rachel Corrigan

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?My cover USES the conventions of a real magazine because :

There is a large masthead

There is a strap line

I have included a puff in the sweet spot

My cover lines are appropriate and relevant to my target audience, using artists that are in the charts

I have included a free gift (posters)

The main article is easy to see on the cover

I have included a gutter

I have stuck to a colour scheme of red, white, black and blue

Clear that it is a music magazine due to the guitar

There is a barcode, date and issue number on the magazine

My cover CHALLENGES the conventions of a real magazine because:

- I have slanted the ‘free posters’ text slightly which wouldn’t normally happen on a music magazine

- I have only used one font, usually there would be two or three. For example, on the front of this Kerrang! Magazine, there at lease three fonts

My cover DEVELOPS the conventions of a realmusic magazine because-I have used the word ‘chords’ and made it visualby my model holding theguitar, relating to theword ‘chords’

My contents USES the conventions of a real music magazine because:

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

It has been split into categories to it is easy to find what you want to read

Title is large at the top of the page

It has ‘features’ and ‘in every issue’ which are typical titles of a music magazine

It is clear which articles are the features due to the highlighting

There is a montage of images

The page numbers are over the images so readers can get to the page easily

The cover story image has ‘cover story’ written on it

There is continuity between the contents and cover- same colour scheme and font

Institutional detail (website) is included

My contents CHALLENGES the conventions of a real magazine because:

- I have used one of the same images for the free posters in the montage of images which would not normally happen.

-There may normally be editors notes which my contents does not have. For example, in the Kerrang! Magazine below, there are editors

- I have used a montage of images, whereas there might normally be one main picture and smaller mages around it like this example from ‘Q’ magazine:

Main, large image

Smaller image

notes at the top of the page

My contents develops the conventions of a real magazine because:- I have continuity of design- colour and style but also the photo of the model on the front cover is in the contents holding the guitar, highlighting the fact that she is the main feature

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

One main image and text on other page

My double page spread USES the conventions of a real magazine because :

There is an image to break up the text

The title goes across the two pages

There is a by-line

There is detail about the artist that the feature article is on- when the CD is out

There is a large quotation from the interview on the main image

There is continuity of design from the cover and contents- same colour scheme and font

It has page numbers

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

My double page spread CHALLANGES the conventions of a real magazine because :

There are smaller images used as well as the main

The guitar overlaps to the next page

There are no quotations from the article which might normally occur in an interview

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents middle class, white girls because all the images are of Caucasian musicians.

I think it represents them well because the model on the cover looks confidant but not intimidating and she is dressed age appropriately and not too over the top.

The images on the contents page are of people smiling and laughing, sending out positive images.

In the pictures on the double page spread she looks happy and approachable which was the effect I was going for.

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

I think it could be either Bauer or Mama.

It could be Bauer because:-They have bigger funds and so the magazine has more chance of success-They already own ‘Kerrang!’ showing the successfulness of their magazines-Synergy could be used to advertise my magazine in ‘Kerrang!’ to help promote it

It could be Mama because:-Mama owns ‘The Fly’ which supports up and coming bands which is appropriate for my cover- a new guitarist-Magazines like ‘The Fly’ may be more helpful in promoting new bands unlike ‘Kerrang!’ who need big bands to sell copies

- Although my magazine is aimed at sixth form students, it would not be appropriate to sell in a school because it wouldn’t be making that much money and if it is owned by Bauer it would be unlikely to be sold in a school.

- If the magazine was owned by Bauer then it would be sold in supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury and maybe WHSmith because these shops would get a lot of people going in and buying magazines.

Who would be the audience for your media product?-My target audience for my magazine was sixth form girls and a bit older, so girls aged between 16-18/20. - During the making of my front cover, I made a questionnaire to get audience feedback to get a better idea of what people thought of my magazine. Here is the questionnaire that I gave out:

• What age group do you think this magazine is aimed at?10- 12 13- 15 16-18 18+

• What gender do you think this magazine is aimed at?Girls Boys

• Do you like the look of this cover? What do you like?YES +reason NO +reason

• Do you think the cover looks professional? If so, why? If not, why?YES +reason NO +reason

• Do you think the cover image is effective for a music magazine? YES NO

• Would you pick up this magazine from the newsstand? If so, why? If not, why?YES +reason NO +reason

How did you attract/address your audience?

I put a chance to win something in the sweet spot which readers will see first, making them want to win whatever it is that is on offer

Asking questions entices the reader

The ‘free posters’ is in a different font, one that stands out more so it is more eye-catching and drawing readers in to want the free posters and buy the magazine

The ‘exclusive’ shows that readers won’t get information about this artist anywhere else and so they need to buy the magazine to see what it is all about

The clothes the model is wearing are simple, everyday wear and age appropriate which won’t intimidate readers, but maybe make them feel that she is more relatable to them

The language I have used is informal with a friendly tone

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

I have learned how to use Photoshop and I am now more confident when using it. For example:- Cropping images and adding text over them- Editing the photos that I added, e.g. Getting rid of red-eye and editing colour- Adding different text effects and putting text at different angles- Including shapes- e.g. For my puff on the cover

However there were some things I did struggle with on Photoshop. For example:-Putting the image over the masthead on the cover- Trying to move things because of the layers

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

I have learned that a magazine cover must include certain things to make it look more professional. For example, a puff, gutter and strap line

There must be institutional detail included in the magazine which I did not include in my preliminary task but did in the music magazine e.g. Including a website

Preliminary Task Final Product

I feel that I have been able to use colours and text more effectively in my final product because everything is easy to read and the colours work well with the neutral background rather than the busy scene for my preliminary task

Also, buy putting a puff in the sweet-spot it draws attention quickly and stands out more on the front page rather than just having writing like in my preliminary task

The masthead on my final product looks more professional as the model is in front of the masthead rather than the masthead covering her head