EVALUATIONKellie Nee

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Masthead:‘The Ark’ is the name of my music magazine. The masthead is included at the top of the page like most magazines. I decided to position it to the left so that the image could be seen clearly. Some magazines choose to overlap the picture and the magazine but with my colour scheme, this wouldn’t of worked as well. I decided to make my masthead black as this fitted in with my colour scheme and allowed the text to stand out and be seen.

Cover Lines:I decided to add three cover lines on my front cover to show some thing's that were featured in the magazine. Most magazines have these featured on their front cover to try and persuade people to buy their magazine and let them know what is included in the articles and interviews. I have also chosen to keep them all one colour, because it allows them to connect together and when I was looking at other examples, I think this worked well.

Quote:I decided to include a quote from my main article because it is a quote from the celebrity that is featured in the interview and it may persuade people to want to read the full interview. I also chose to place the text in front of the main picture because this is something I have seen in other music magazines which has worked successfully.

Picture:I included a large image on my front cover of the main celebrity featured in the interview. Most magazines include a large picture on their front cover of the person featured in the main article. This person is usually a well known celebrity which will persuade people to buy the magazine. The main picture is placed as the background and everything is placed on top of the layer as this is a common convention in music magazines. I also chose to position the model to the right so that the information can be placed next to her and can be seen clearly.

My Front cover

Example of a front cover

Plug:I chose to add a plug to my front cover because this was a common feature that was included on front cover of magazines. I decided that this would work well because it adds colour to my front cover and I stands out as well. The plug on the example front cover is also in a different colour which allows it to stand out, I think this effect works well.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

My contents page

Example of a contents page

Contents Title:I added this title to the top of my page to let the readers know which page they are reading. A title for the contents is included in most magazines to show some kind of order in the magazine and to keep the pages structured. This helps to keep the magazines professional and organised. I also decided to choose black as the text colour because it fits in with my colour scheme and allows the text to stand out. Plug:

On my magazine contents page, I decided to add two plugs because it lets the readers know some of the things featured in the magazines. I decided to link the plugs to the pictures on the page so that it was easy to locate. A plug is a common convention in a magazine and this is especially common for the genre of magazines which I have been looking at.

Magazine title:Most magazines include the name of their magazine on the contents page because this is a common feature. I chose to place this in the top corner because from research, I found out that this was one of the best places to put it because it works well and helps to keep the page organised.

Text:The text on my contents page includes all the information of what is included in the magazine. It gives the readers the page numbers so that they can find certain articles or interviews. I chose to put the page numbers in bold so that these stood out more than the text. Every magazine includes a contents page. The majority of contents pages include images that are featured in the magazine as well as text.

Images:I added 6 pictures to my contents page of images that are included in my magazine. Most contents pages in magazines include a selection of pictures to show the readers what is featured. The images vary in size and also include the page numbers so that they are easy to locate in the magazine. This helps the page to be organised. I also decided to keep my images all the same shape because I think this also allowed the page to look structured and organised.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

My double page spread

Example of a double page spread

Main picture:I decided to add a main picture which took up one side of A4 because I thought that this allowed it to stand out and this would work because this is the main article. I chose a medium long shot for this image because I thought this helped to fill the page. A lot of magazines use this technique because it allows the page to look organised and will persuade the reader to read the article.

Pull Quote:I decided to add a pull quote to my double page spread because this is a common convention which I saw in current magazines. I think that it works well and allows the text to be broken up. The pull quote may also be used as a technique to persuade the readers to read the full article.

Text:The main selection of text included on my page is my main article. Most articles include a main article or feature and these are usually advertised on the front cover. I chose to split the text into three columns because I thought that this worked well when looking at other current magazines. The text is in black which allows it to stand out against the background and fit in with my colour scheme.

Pictures:I chose to add three images on the second page but these images are much smaller. The images used are from the same shoot which was specifically done for the magazine. This is something that I have noticed when looking at other magazines, including the example on the right. I decided to place them at the bottom of the page because it separates them from the text and allows the page to be structured.

Header:I added a header to show the celebrities name and I added a coloured background to the title to allow it to stand out. From the example that I looked at, they also chose to use the celebrities name as the title. This is a common technique used in magazines as it keeps the page structured and is easy for the readers to follow.

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

Gender: Most of my images featured in my magazines are mainly female based. This is because the genre of music which I have looked at are often female based. The females in my images are represented as girls who like to look after their appearance and wear stylish clothes. They are also seen as very confident in the images as well, which is well known for females rather than males. There is also a clear division between boys and girls in my images. The girls are seen posing in each picture but the boys are seen playing instruments and the images aren't set up. This is because girls are usually seen to take images a lot more than boys, and this is especially specific for teenagers.

Age: All of my images featured in my magazine include young teens. In most current magazines it is mainly the younger generation that is featured on the front cover of magazines or featured in the articles. It is also mainly the younger generation that buy these types of magazines as well. The younger people are represented in my magazine as stylish, people who look after their appearance and confident. This is a typical representation of younger teens. They also care about friendships as well, as this is a common theme that can be seen in my images on my contents page as well. A lot of my images include groups of teenagers, which helps show this representation.

Ethnicity: The chosen genre of my music for my magazine is mainly dominated by white people. The genres I chose were pop and Indie so this is why I decided that all the people featured in my images are white as this would be something you would typically see in this type of magazine and also something that would be common to see in the genres of music which I chose. Also, due to the conditions of production and the location where I live, I don’t know a lot of black people and therefore, it wasn’t a conscious idea to not include different types of ethnicity.

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

Class: The majority of the people within my images are mainly middle class. This is because it reflects the genres of my music magazine, Pop and Indie. These music genres are usually associated with mainly middle class people, so I thought that it was important to show these types of people within my music magazine.

Genre: The genres of music associated with my magazine are pop and indie. The people featured in my magazine represent these music genres because, they are all wearing stylish clothes which is a well known feature which pop stars would wear. The female's in my magazine all have their makeup done nicely and take care of their appearance, this would also be something that you would see within the pop and indie music industry. A lot of students look up to people within the music industry and these include a lot of the younger generation, therefore, I have included mostly younger people within the pictures in my music magazine.

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

‘Hello, we are Egmont and we’re here to encourage more and more children to enjoy the sheer pleasure of reading. That aim drives everything we do, whether it’s books, magazines or digital media and it has made us the UK’s leading children’s publisher, for babies through to teens.’

‘Quality is our No.1 objective. Every month we reach multi-million highly educated people and over 1.3 million active subscribers. People read our content across 50 websites, 34 magazines and over 70 brands.’

‘Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group, Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations.’

I have looked at three different publishing companies that I could choose for my music magazine. I have looked at each of the companies websites and researched what other brands they publish and work with. Egmont works with a lot of pop magazines, Immediate also works with a lot of pop magazines and Bauer works with a variety of different magazines and music companies that offer a range of music genres. Therefore, I think that Bauer would be best for my magazine as it looks at a variety of music genres that fit in with my magazine.

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

‘Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group, Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations.’ (Bauer Website)

I decided to choose Bauer as the company that would publish my magazine because I think that they have a small gap within their company which would fit my magazine. They publish some music magazine, for example, Q, but I think they would benefit from a magazine that includes pop and indie music. I think that this company offers magazines that only focus on one specific music genre and I don’t have a music magazine at the moment that included the two genres of pop and indie in one music magazine which I decided to include in my music magazine. I also decided to choose this publishing company because they have some experience in the type of music featured in my magazine because they work with companies like Kiss and 4 music. These companies play and advertise the type of music which would be featured in my magazine, therefore, this would be beneficial as they have some experience working with this type of music. Overall, I think that my magazine would be suitable for this publishing company as there is a gap in their market for my magazine and also they have some knowledge which would benefit my magazine as well.

WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT? The target age for my music magazine are

mainly students, 16-20 years old. The majority of my readers will be female and I decided to make the price £3 as this is a suitable price for students to pay monthly. The two genres of music which will be included in my magazine are pop and indie. The readers of my magazine are typical teenagers who have part time jobs and enjoy spending time with their friends on weekends. My readers also like using social media and are up-to-date with technology. They also like going to festivals and seeing their favourite artists at their concerts. I think that my target audience would be interested in my music magazine because I have thought about the design of my magazine and what is included so that they would be interested in the look and the content. I included information about festivals, clothing, interviews and a lot of information about current music.

HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

I wanted to make sure that my music magazine was suitable for my target audience and included everything that they wanted to see in a music magazine. When planning my magazine, I looked back at my surveys and interviews, and made sure that I was including the right things for the target audience. Some of the things which I included were…

Lots of images: I decided to include a lot of images in my music magazine because it makes the pages look more interesting and it is something that would appeal to my target audience because they want to see what is included in the magazine and want to see what they are reading about. The images that I have included show who is featured in my magazine and show some pictures from events.

Colour scheme: I decided to create a colour scheme of Blue, White and Black. I thought that this was a simple but effective scheme that would appeal to my readers. I decided to choose Blue as the main colour because my readers are young teenagers, so I chose a colour that is bright and vibrant that would make the pages look very interesting. I thought that choosing black and white for the other two colours within my scheme would work well because this allows the main colour of blue to stand out and the scheme would be easily recognisable for the magazine.

Information about events: When I carried out my research, I found out that one of the things that people most liked about music magazines, was finding out about past and future events. When I was designing my contents page and flat plan, I made sure that I included events pages in the magazine and I also decided to include a picture from a local event. I thought that this would appeal to my audience because it is something that they like in current magazines and my target audience are mainly students, so they would be wanting to know of any events to attend.

HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

Interviews: Another one of the things that I found out that people liked the most in music magazines were interviews. I included a main interview on my double page spread and several smaller interviews throughout the magazine because I knew that this is what my target audience would want and therefore, the magazine would appeal to them. I decided to interview well known people in my music magazine because this is what people look for and this is something that they would enjoy reading I also found out that most current music magazines, feature their main celebrity interview as the front cover as well. This is a common technique which persuades readers to buy magazines. I decided to do this because Interviews was the aspect that my target audience liked the most, therefore I thought that this would be suitable.

Suitable Price: When I did my research on current music magazines, I looked at all the different prices and when magazines were published. I also asked a question in my survey about prices of music magazines and what they thought would be suitable. I found out that the most popular price which people would pay is £2-£3. I decided to go with £3 for my magazine because it would be published once a month and my target audience were mainly students, so I wanted to make the price reasonable so they could purchase the magazine every month without worrying about cost issues. The grade which would be the majority of my readers in the National Readership Survey would be grade B as this is the working class section and would fit the category for my readers.

Entertainment: When I evaluated the results of my survey, I found out that people mostly like the entertainment that is included within the music magazines and this is something they would expect to see a lot of in the magazines. Therefore, when I was completing my planning I made sure that I included a lot of entertainment within my magazine, I thought about this when writing my cover lines on my front cover, information about the pages on my contents page, my main article for my double page spread and all the information on my flat plan. I decided to include a variety of entertainment in my magazine, including interviews, events, competitions and lots of celebrity information. I also included quite a lot of females within my magazine because the majority of my readers are female, and they look for role models within magazine and this is something that persuades them to buy a magazine.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

I have learnt a lot about technology in the process of making my music magazine. For example, in the all the different stages of my process, I used a variety of websites or programmes to help me with my research and planning. I have also learnt that it is important to back up my work all of the time and remember to constantly save it. Sometimes when you are working on something, the computer may shut off, or freeze, therefore it may not save your work. Backing up is important because you may loose a memory stick or forget where you saved your files. This can help you keep on progress with your work. Another thing which I learned through this process is that all technology is easily joined up. For example, I took my images on a digital camera, then uploaded them to the computer, edited them on Photoshop and uploaded them to my blog. This is very useful when doing these projects because it makes the uploading easier and quicker.

Survey Monkey- We used survey monkey to set up a questionnaire for people to fill out online, so that we could gather information about what people like and dislike about magazines and also begin to collect data research. We started by setting up an account on survey monkey and then we planned and constructed our survey on the website. After we had finished we got given a link which we could send to people or add to our social media, so that people could fill them out. The answers were then collected and finalised on the website. The advantages of survey monkey are that it collects all the results and answers for you so that it is easy to evaluate. The disadvantages are that the link that it gave me for people to access my survey, didn't work for some people and they found it hard to locate.

Blogger- We all set up a blogger account through Google so that we had our own page where we could post all our work so that it could be marked. Using blogger allowed us to keep track of our progress and keep all of our work in the right order. The advantages of blogger are that it is really easy to upload my files and you can customise your blog to make it your own. I didn't really find any disadvantages with blogger because everything was easy to do and easy to understand.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

Photography- As part of the planning stage, we had to plan our photos which we were going to take for our magazine. We had to plan, costume, camera shots, location, sets, lighting, etc. This was important for keeping us organised and allowed us to plan our front cover, contents page and double page spread. We needed a minimum of four photos which we had to take ourselves. I also used a digital camera to take my images for my magazine. I had used a camera before in my other course for photography but I was able to develop my understanding further on taking set up images in a studio.

InDesign- I used InDesign to make my final double page spread. I added my pictures which I had taken and I also wrote and article on word and added this text in as well for my main interview. The advantages of InDesign are that it was very easy to add all of my pictures and text onto the layout and I could easily change them to how I wanted it to look. The disadvantages of using InDesign were that I found it difficult to locate certain tools that I wanted to use. For example, I wanted to make an edit to my text and I found it hard to find the tool which I was looking for. The difference between using InDesign and Photoshop was that it was a lot simpler on InDesign because the content I needed to include was very simple and everything was already edited already. So I found this easier to use but Photoshop was slightly more complicated because I had to edit the photos and also make my front cover and contents page without any layout to start with.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

Audio Recording- For the research for our own music magazines, we needed to construct an interview so that we could begin to make a reader profile and understand what the readers would like best. I decided to use an audio recorder for my interviews as I thought that this was an easy way to get all of the answers which I needed. I planned out a series of questions and recorded the answers from a few of my friends. I then used Adobe Premier to edit the recording and put it all together on my blog. Although Premier was a video editing programme, I decided to use this for my audio recording because I thought that this was easy to import my files into and I found it very simple to use for what I was intended to do. The advantages of audio recording is that it is an easy way to record answers for my research and all the answers are in one file. The disadvantages of audio recording is that it may be difficult to upload to the computer sometimes and the sound may not have been as successful as you had hoped.

Photoshop- I used Photoshop a lot throughout the process, I used it for the planning stage and the construction stage. I planned out my front cover, contents page and double page spread on Photoshop and I also made the final outcomes on Photoshop as well. I learned a lot of techniques while making my music magazine and I also developed some skills as well. The advantages of Photoshop are that there are a lot of tools and edits that you can do to make your work look professional and organised. You can edit your photos to look more professional if you needed to. The disadvantages of Photoshop is that it can be quite confusing to use if you have never used it before as there are a lot of things to remember.

LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

Research and planning:

One of the main things I have learnt in the process of making my music magazine, is learning different techniques on various programmes. For example, Photoshop, InDesign, Premier. On Photoshop I have learnt how to crop images, select areas of an image, adjust the image, edit particular areas of an image, add in text that I have downloaded. Through this process I have been able to develop my organisational skills. I had to research a lot at the start of the process so that I could begin to plan my own work. For example, I researched current music magazines and I have learnt a lot more about them and the amount of people that read them. I have also learnt about what people like in music magazines and what people want to see more of. This has been done through survey monkey. The research was an important part of the process and I think that I have learnt a lot about magazines in further depth, for example, marketing and publishing. I have also learnt a lot through the planning stage of the process. I had to be very independent and plan what I was going to do each week. We had to think about every aspect of the magazine and work out if everything that we wanted to do, was achievable. For example, taking our own photos. We had to find a location to take our photos at, think about costume, camera shots and we had to find models who were suitable for the look of our magazine. I have been able to develop many skills when doing my own planning as I have been a lot more independent and had to make all of my own decisions about what I wanted to do.

Move ToolRectangular Marquee Tool

Quick Selection ToolCrop Tool

Healing Brush Tool

Eraser ToolGradient Tool

Text Tool

Shape Tool

Zoom Tool

Colours

I also used some of the adjustment tools on Photoshop, for example, Brightness and Contrast. This was to help refine my images and make them look more professional. There was a variety of tools to use to help make my images look suitable for my magazine.