Evaluation

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

i took on board the typical aspects of a music magazine, such as what appears on a front cover, contents page or a double page spread. On an average front cover we have: the name of the magazine, barcode and price, headline to suit the image providing the background and taglines on there somewhere. i have used all of these feaures, but developed them in my own way to make my magazine more original and to challenge the common status quo of how a music magazine should look. on my front cover, i have the magazine logo in the top left hand corner which is a contrast to such mainstream magazines like Kerrang! or Q. i also have the price and barcode in the top right hand corner rather than toward the bottom of the page. i kept the tag lines in a normal place, at the bottom of the page. i also used the idea of shapes to hold a tag line, i have used a circle to hold mine. i made some basic templates for different styles of layout and posted them on my blog, i chose the one that people preferred. for my original cover shot, i held a photoshoot in a local pub out of college time. i used Matt Hayes as a model and took pictures of him acting normally in a pub. however, when i edited the picture, using GIMP, where i had edited showed rather obviously. so, i held a second shoot using Tom Nicol as my model and portrayed him as a DJ. i released a number of images and asked for feedback on the preferred image.

a typical contents page will have one or maybe two columns stating what is in that particular issue. these columns will have a page number and a brief summary of the article on that page. i used this system but also added the title of the article too, this is also used in Q. they may include pictures to do with some of the more featured articles. it may have a dedicated column for the exclusive articles of that issue. i took a leaf out of Q by having two columns, one for the 'regular' articles and one for the 'exclusive' articles. however, rather than using a double page spread for my contents like Q, i used just a single page, but i kept the two different columns. i also used two pictures from the more important articles to show what to expect in the issue. i also did another set of templates for my contents page and chose the most popular one. the images i used in my contents page are from both shoots, one of Matt and one of Tom, i didn't edit these much, only tweaking the contrast and brightness.

a normal double page spread consists of a main body of text accomanied by pictures spread across two pages. this can consist of anything from an interview to a review. i looked at what double spread pages Q were producing; they were producing 8 or 9 page main articles, so that wasn't practical. however, they produce double page reviews for anticipated releases, incorporating a small interview and a large section for pictures. i favoured this idea and developed it myself, using it as one of my templates that i released for feedback. they chose that as their favourite and i used that, slightly tweaking the layout. i used another feature from Q, where they select their favourite rack and give their opinion, i used this but summarised them instead. i textually analysed the main articles in Q, where they have the bigger budget shoots, so i could use the style of images i'd seen in the bigger budget shoots, yet put them with a review. another feature of an article that i used was to use captions on photos to add a comedic element.

the images i selected from the selection i had posted were mainly due to audience feedback, there was a combination of suggestions so, taking another tip from Q, i used a style i had analysed in the main articles, where they would have a collection of images put together in a kind of collage motif, so i had four images together from the same shoot.

2)How does your media product represent particular social groups?
my magazine represents teenagers and people in their early twenties, it also represents the music fan of a wider range, someone who likes pop, indie, rock, electronic and dance music. this magazine hasn't got a totally specific audience. it represents my reader as trendy, fashionable, but at the same time, intelligent and intellectual. this is shown by the ratio of text to images; i have a large amount of text, but still leaving some space for my images. this is where my analysis of Q and it's representation comes into play, Q doesn't have a particualr audience, it interviews music that is popular from all genres; hence why i have both a dubstep DJ and an indie rockstar, two completely different genres but because of the magazine they're in, it's acceptable. when i sent out my questionnaire the most popular genres were rock, indie and pop. i have used quite casual language to represent its audience, this is not a broadsheet newpaper, it's a laidback music magazine that's meant to be fun to read. my audience is also represented by my images that i have used, the image of Tom posing as a DJ shows my ideal audience: trendy, in-the-know, almost vain.

3)What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
the Bauer Media Group are Q's publishers, they, or sumthing like it, would be my ideal publishers as they also produce Kerrang!. however, even though BMG holds Q and Kerrang!, if they owned my magazine, they wouldn't need it, what with Q being the biggest selling magazine in the UK. also, IPC media, who publish NME, are a large publisher also, and even though NME stands up to Kerrang!, they haven't a glossy music magazine which would be an ideal space for my magazine. my magazine may have a lot of conventions that Q offers, however my magazine includes some sub genres, like dubstep, which would attract a bigger audience. also, my magazine branches into popular artists in further genres than Q, or kerrang or NME, mine branches into dance, electronica and drum and bass.

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

my target audience is 15 - 26 year olds, people who have £4 to spend on a magazine. these are people who like popular music, yet also enjoy some of the more alternative or lesser known genres. people who enjoy music, it is part of their day to day lifestyle. a quite fashionable person, someone who prides themselves in their appearance and how it reflects to other people.

5)How did you attract/address your audience?

my front cover was my main way of attracting my audience. the image of Tom as "Nicol" shows my target audience perfectly; how he is dressed and how he looks in that photo is who i'm aiming for. i used that as a kind of "looking into a mirror" technique, so they would walk passed, notice something familiar and think "oh, this looks like it's aimed for my social group, i'll buy this!" the way i have Jayne leaning on him shows also my female audience. this done by both the accessories and the clothes they are wearing, this is a blatent giveaway to someone's social circle. i also used a colour scheme that contrasted the background image, where Tom and Jayne have a sort of black and white colour scheme, i opted for a crimson and pale yellow which my feedback tells me works well with the image.

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

i used Microsoft Publisher to form my templates and to arrange and form my drafts. i used GIMP to edit my pictures in any way that i needed to, like taking out an awkwardly placed painting behind Matt's head that i was told in my feedback of the image it was out of place. i used Paint to create the album artwork and i used a nikon 6MP digital camera tot ake my images and a FLIP video camcorder to record the responses of some people. i learnt how to use the FLIP camcorders, as i hadn't used one before, i also learnt how to use the editing software of GIMP.

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

my main areas that ive developed in is making my product look professional, trying to make it look liek you could and would find it on the shelf. it is quite a challenge and i still don't think it is up to that standard, however i reckon i've done the best job i can. i have also learned a lot about using different software and programmes such as GIMP and Publisher. i've also learned a lot about thew technical sight of magazine production; target audiences etc.