EVALUATION ONE
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product uses the layout of a typical music magazine. I have looked at many music magazines for my research in the hope that this will develop my skills when producing my own product. I looked at magazines like KERRANG!, thinking that my magazine would be based on a very rocky style of music. I also looked at magazines like ROCK SOUND to develop my research. After we were told to do our first photo shoot with our models, I took on a very different approach to the style of music that I initially wanted. The photo’s I took turned out to be more innocent, kind of like a new born artist wanting to win the hearts of her fans. My model is my sister, Mollie. After taking this first shot, I decided to edit my research and look at the sort of
This picture to the left is the one I chose for my front cover. My female model research showed me that to achieve that innocent look, I have to work with the eyes of the model. Luckily, my model’s eyes are big, and the way she is looking up suggests innocence. I like to think that the picture on the front of my magazine challenges the likes of other photos because of the innocent look. Through my research, the general style of the model that I found was quite intense in that their eyes were always rather smouldering, contrasting greatly to my model’s. Here is a picture of Avril Lavigne as to show the difference:
I wanted a light background for my front cover
to go along with the idea of that innocence that I’m trying to capture and I think it really works well because I was then able to use dark colours on top of that. The colours I have used for the font are GREEN BLACK GREY and PINK and this colour will be carried on through my contents page and my double page spread.
CONTENTS
I based the layout of my contents on one of the contents pages that I found during my research. It is a contents page from the magazine KERRANG and I got most of my inspiration from it:
As you can see I have taken the idea of using a bar on the side of the page to display what is to be expected in the magazine. By making 'THIS WEEK' in big bold letters, it draws the attention of the reader. Like the one above, my contents page uses big numbers to indicate what page all the features are on. It makes the features easier to find and much more easier for the reader to read. The bar at the bottom of the page was of my own creation, and I took it from my front cover but switched it from the top to the bottom. I thought that in doing this it would be in keeping with the colour scheme and the general layout of both my front cover and contents page. The text used is also used on the front page, showing the continuity of my work. The picture is very similar to that of the magazine that I have based my contents page on. I think it works well, especially because the darkness of the picture contrasts against the light background whilst also complimenting the blackness of the sidebar. The bar on the side of the page is clear and easy to read, and my research is relfected in the magazine above which also uses a side bar to display the page numbers, etc.
DOUBLE-PAGE SPREAD
My double page spread is more similar to the front page rather than the contents page. Again, the colours are all continuous from the other pages. The layout is quite similar to that of a KERRANG magazine that I researched, although the colours are very different, I took the idea of having one big picture and three little pictures at the bottom. Originally, I was going to make an extra A4 page to fit in all of my interview with 'IVA MARTIN', but i managed to squish it all on in the end. I found that it looked better when it was busier and it looked a little odd going on to another page. I have used green in the writing parts that are the most important/that I want to be seen. I think that the green is eye-catching and draws attention to these parts. The red of the ukulele in the picture is also eye-catching, contrasting to the full grey of the other parts.
The man research that I used was this magazine:
As you can see, my research shows the three pictures at the bottom and a big picture at the top, used as a main photograph. I have taken this idea because I thought it looked busy but interesting. The title is not entirely similar to mine because I wanted more of my interview to be shown on this page, unlike this example magazine which only shows a small amount of the interview. On my double-page spread, the caption 'I used to be so shy' is there because it is part of the interview. I found that on a lot of magazines, they use a quote from the interview to gain interest at first. For example:
This shows a quote from the interview, making the reader more intrigued to read on.
EVALUATION 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I put together a questionnaire to ask my friend about my media product and how they think it relates to people and if so, what type of people.
1) What sort of audience do you think this product is aimed at?
-I think it's aimed at our age group, maybe around 14 to mid 20's? I say this because of the way it is set out and the colours it uses. Also because the model is quite young. I think that teens are interested in young musical talents because they can relate to their age.
2)What sort of 'clique' do you imagine would read this magazine?
-I think it's got quite a wide audience among teens because of the variety of bands mentioned. But I also thinik that it applies to people who are into pop/indie music because teens especially are interested in new music and what people can bring to the music industry.
3)How do you think this media product targets this audience you have mentioned?
-I think because the model is so young in her years that it appeals more to teenagers. The type of poses used are rather innocent, highlighting the youth of the model. I think that this makes it more appealing to a younger audience. If it were quite sensual/more intense poses, I think it would be aimed at a more mature audience.
4)Do you think your product is aimed at a particular religion?
-I don't think so because as I said before it can be aimed at any young person. I think the type of music (which is indie/pop) makes it more of an unreligious magazine but at the same time there is nothing within the product that shouldn't appeal to a religious person, just because it is not particularly religious, it does not mean that they would not read it. As for a particular religion, I don't think there is any specific religion.
5)Lastly, do you think this product portrays youth effectively?
-As i have said before, I think that because the model is young, this really helps to portray youth. The magazine portrays young people and also casts quite a good light on them too because of the innocence that is made through the pictures and the interview from 'Iva Martin'.
To finish, here is a picture of my target audience:
To finish, here is a picture of my target audience:
EVALUATION 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media and why?
A lot of music magazines published are distributed by 'Bauer' consumer media. My magazine holds the kind of information that magazines of this publisher also hold. Here are some magazines published by Bauer:
These two magazines, KERRANG and Q are two examples of magazines published by Bauer.
The Q magazine is not as busy as the Kerrang one or my own front cover from my 'PULSE' magazine.
STATISTICS
Bauer is a large publishing company based in Hamburg in Germany. The company has distributed 282 magazines worldwide. The two main music magazines that Bauer have distributed have been shown already: Kerrang and Q magazine.
Having researched Bauer publisher, it has come to my attention that my title of 'PULSE' would fall quite well into the music magazines that Bauer has produced. This is because Kerrang and Q are well known, superior music magazines and I believe that my 'PULSE' magazine could also fit quite well into this description. Bauer is known world-wide and I should hope for a well-known, well-respected and superior magazine publisher to distribute my magazine. As well as distributing Kerrang and Q, Bauer also owns many music channels on the television. I think that through this kind of distribution, my magazine could be more popular due to the increasing success of Bauer consumer media.
EVALUATION 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
EVALUATION 5
How do you attract/address your audience?
Being targeted at teenagers from around 14 to mid twenties and more towards women than men, I would say that my magazine comes across more feminine and innocent. I like to think I have achieved this by using a variety of pictures and colours that link together, an interesting interview on my main model and layouts which appeal more to young girls interested in music.
Front Cover:
These two clips from my front cover are to show how I have tried to address my target audience. By mentioning Reading and Leeds festival, it is bound to catch the attention of any young person because this is the sort of thing they are interested in. Thousands of young people buy their Reading tickets a year, even buying early bird tickets so that they can set up camp before everyone else. By showing what is to come on the front page, the reader is excited to know what is in store once they turn the pages. I believe i have addressed my audience through use of colours (the green which can be seen in the picture to the left) and also by mentioning another popular band that people may be interested in.
The photograph of my model would attract female readers because of her inspirational music and amazing life considering she is only 16, but would also attract male readers due to the sex appeal.
Contents Page:
One of the features used on my contents page that appeals to my audience is the bar on the right of the page. This bar allows the reader to easily read what is to be expected in the magazine, using colour that can be found on the front cover and the double page spread. I found when researching contents pages that they mention not just upcoming gigs, etc, but personal things going on in the lives of music artists. This seems to interest people and I thought I would add a lot of this because young people (especially young women!) are known for their love of gossip. The picture used on my contents page is a little different to the ones on my front cover and DPS. The photo used was from my first photoshoot in which I went for a more rocky, skater girl look on my model. The photo on my contents page is still innocent looking, but it is more sincere than the other ones, appealing more to the more mature readers of my audience (the twenty year olds). DPS:
These two features of my DPS that I have picked out both appeal to my audience in different ways. The caption 'I used to be so shy' appeals to a youthful audience because many young people are shy and unconfident. I think this quote will relate to young people and hopefully inspire them to be as Iva Martin is. The three pictures at the bottom of my double page spread each carry a different prop. Especially the 'peace out' sign appeals to my audience because of the whole 'hippy' thing which seems to be quite popular at the moment fashion-wise.
EVALUATION 6
EVALUATION 7
Looking back at your Preliminary Task, what have you learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In the preliminary task, I was completely new to designing magazines and photoshopping photographs. I've found that I really needed that preliminary task to help me get to grips with photoshop, indesign, etc. Although I buy and read magazines, I never really thought about all the features that go into them. In my preliminary I found that I rushed it quite a lot in order to meet the deadline. I think this rush is reflected in my work for the preliminary. I also believe that my research was not as thorough in the preliminary as it is in my main music magazine task.
As I moved into creating and developing my music products, I found that I was blogging more and more. I realised that in blogging, it actually helped me to look back and realise what looks best, what doesn't work and what I could do to improve/whether my work equated with my research. I believe my researching skills have become more efficient because I am now more able to narrow my research down to what I specifically want for my magazine. One of the things I found annoying in the development of my products was that I couldn't find certain fonts in the computer programmes I was using. I settled for the best ones I could find. In my preliminary, my research was not specific enough, therefore my preliminary product, it does not entirely relate to the research. In researching music magazines I have learnt quite a lot about how editors convey a certain style/genre of music through the fonts, photographs and layout of the magazine.
I have become much more confident using computer softwares such as photoshop and blogger since the start of the year and I think that this has helped a lot to develop my main products. In using photoshop to design my products, I have learnt new ways of laying out the features on the page, using text, placing photographs, etc. Throughout the course of the year I have developed my skills not just in ICT but also in photography, being able to capture the best photographs in the best light and figuring out what poses and props work best. I think there is a development in my photos from the first shot I ever took in the preliminary task. I used different angles also for my music magazine photographs and I think the preliminary task set me up to be more ambitious with my photos. I tried using props and that worked very well.
Overall, I think my preliminary task built my skills up for the main music products. I was much more eager to experiment and try new things, adapting parts of my product here and there. These skills that I have acquired in my development of my final products are skills that I am unlikely to forget and I will put them to use in any future products that I design and make.
