Evaluation

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

real media products?Front cover Contents page

• For my magazine to follow the typical conventions of a magazine, I researched several magazines and analysed them in order to see the construction of a magazine such as where the masthead is placed, use of main images, sub stories and cover lines. I also took into consider the genre, as things are often layed out in different ways to suit the genre of the magazine. Some front covers are quite simplistic but can give off so much information, however there could be front covers with loads of information on the front but its too cluttered ruining the main image and making it to difficult to read. As well as looking at genre we looked at classes and genders of the target audiences. I had to consider this when constructing my college magazine making it targeted at students, and using things that will relate to the college and student life. For my college magazine I think both my front cover and contents follow the conventions of a magazine as I have inluded a masthead, main image, sub stories, barcode and cover lines are all included.

This is a standard student magazine in which influenced my college magazine.

Music Magazine• When researching music magazines the conventions are still the same as any other

magazine, they follow the usual rule of a masthead, main image was always placed in the same place etc. However I furthered my research from more music magazines before playing around with layouts for my front cover contents page and double page spread

I really liked this double page from nme magazine. I liked the simplicity of it , how most of the double page was taken up from the image, then there was the article down the right handside. I also like the colours and lines on the page, they tie in well with the background creating quite a moody feel for the photo.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My college magazine represents particular social groups, mainly being students. This is due to the fact the articles within the magazine all relate to the college in some way or another, such as ofsted reports, new courses available etc.However the magazine may attract college staff and other workers around college, so they are up to date with the latest news around the college.It could also be targeted at high school kids in there last year at high school before moving on to college. It can be used as a ‘taster’ to attract them to some of the things our college entices.

From looking at my contents page, you can immediately see that it is aimed at students aged 16+ this is because the usual age of joining college is 16. I was able to attract my audience further by use of quite exciting pictures and stories to accompany them. For example there an article on the students photography gallery. I have also advertised new facilities within the college which could be of major interest to people that enjoy media related subjects.

There is also a competition to our local Oscars night to win tickets for free entrance and VIP seats. Again its related to a college event.

My music magazine represents a social group based on there musical interests this time. Meaning the appeal will only be to those who like the genre of music I have chosen to make my magazine on. Although this cuts down a lot of the target audience it can still be made to appeal to others and draw them in. I have done this again by adding a quiz to win tickets to another festival which has many different genres of music so this in some ways balances it out. The main genre of my magazine is ‘indie’. This is expressed through the fonts I have used and also the colour scheme. My target audience would be between the ages of 15+. I think people of all ages above 15 would be interested in my magazine as it has a mixture of mainstream artists as well as a few not so well known. Again I think my magazine can appeal to both genders. My colour schemes are neutral so it doesn’t favour a male or female vibe. However the artist on the front is female, but this again can attract males and females.

I think the media institutions that would distribute my magazine would be less known music magazines. Although I have main stream bands within my articles I still feel that due to a lot of the up and coming artists within my magazine it wouldn’t be taken on by a mainstream business such as NME.

I was able to attract and address my audience through the solid colours I have used in my writing, their quite striking and make you want to read on. Also there is elements of male gaze. This is due to the fact I have used a female artist, and this could attract males between the ages of 16-19.

Including the section about winning free tickets to a festival is another very common and typical convention of magazines. When things are offered for Free it definitely pulls the reader in.

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

• Overall I have learnt that there is a lot of effort needed to make a magazine. So much time and effort goes into them, and it isn't as easy as it looks. Even though you have the programs to make the products, it’s a skill in itself to put the piece together. You need to have knowledge of these programs in order to produce a quality final piece. Throughout this project I have further enhanced my knowledge of each of these programs which shows when you compare my college magazine to my music one. I did my college magazine on Microsoft word and paint, using standard tools such as copy and paste to put them together. After building up my knowledge of other programs such as Photoshop , quarkxpress and publisher I was able to enhance my music magazine in order to give it a more professional feel. I liked how I could use different filters for my pictures and more advanced tools. For my music magazine’s contents page, I used a range of tools such as cropping images down, font adjustments and Polaroid filters.

I created my own background for my contents pages using picnik for the effects.

Experimenting with different programs

Experimenting with picnik.

Experimenting with double page spreads on quarkxpress.

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

• Looking back from the preliminary task we were given, I think I have learnt quite a lot. Originally I thought the project was quite a straight forward one, however it wasn’t till further on in the project I seen how much work was actually needed to be put in, to create a presentable magazine. There is so much precision involved within each magazine. Taking the images are the easier tasks, its when you actually being constructing the magazine from them, is when you realise they may not work or suit the style of your magazine. It always helps to edit your images as you may need to crop them, or change the contrast in order to fit the colours of the magazine. All of these factors need to be taken into consideration when designing a magazine. Throughout the project my front cover contents and double page were all changed quite frequently as other magazines may have influenced me to alter mine is someway. The texts I used for my magazines came from Dafont.com. There was a wide selection of fonts to choose from, and I think the ones I chose have really enhanced the look of my magazines. You can definitely see the difference in skill between my college magazine and my music magazine. Obviously due to being more knowledgeable and familiar with the programs I could enhance my music magazine making it clear and standing out. It definitely pulls the reader in. where as my college magazine is quite basic and standard. My final project in my opinion has turned out really well for each my college mag and music one. Im pleased with both and I'm happy with the contrast between the two as it clearly shows the change in ability between each magazine.