Music Magazine Evaluation
In what ways does your media product, use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When I began this product, I ensured I researched different types of magazines that were the same genre as the magazine I wanted to create. For example I looked at: Q magazine, mix mag and Acoustic. I also analysed the language used for example my main style model Q magazine used puns, colloquial language, rhetorical questions and ellipsis. The colour scheme was extremely important for my magazine as most magazines have at least four different colours for example: red, white, black and grey. This is the colour scheme I used which is also the colour scheme Q magazine uses. I used this as it looked good and appealed to my target audience, as my feedback from my peers agreed that it looked professional and appealing. Also I varied the font styles and sizes to again make my magazine fit the criteria and follow the codes and conventions. I included headlines, captions and a barcode in my magazine to make it look professional. The photography was the part I found the hardest when making the magazine. I wanted pictures that captured emotion as in Q magazine the artists used always have a facial expression to identify there mood.
Also cropping and resizing the photo was difficult, because as soon as you let go of the shift key it stretches making the picture look obscure.
Here is Q magazine my style m
od
el and my magazine CTRL on the right.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine is aimed at teenagers. Usually the artists used in my magazine are the ages between 20 to 30. I believe this is because teenagers stereotypically think being older is ‘cooler’ because they are free to do more for example drinking and smoking etc. Also I have made my magazine unisex to do this I included both male and female artists so that it appealed to both genders. Because both genders have been included my magazine is very broad and appeals to people of all sexual orientations. Again in my magazine I have mentioned a variety of different artists from different backgrounds both African American artists such as Beyonce and Caucasian artists such as Amy Winehouse.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
My magazine would be distributed by the TV and internet as usually magazines are advertised on the TV or via the internet. A company who would distribute this magazine would be: WWMD (World Wide Magazine Distributer) This is an institution that focuses on niche marketing like magazines. It distributes the product my creating slogans and names to put directly on the magazine to attract the demographics attention so they know what they are reading at a glance. I would distribute my magazine nationally as I think the language used with all the puns and sarcasm is more entertaining for England as stereotypically we are very sarcastic.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
My magazine is aimed at teenagers of both genders and all sexualities. My magazine will be aimed at the more outgoing teenagers who are interested in popular artists such as Beyonce and Lady Gaga.
How did you attract / address your audience?
I have included specific elements on my contents page, double page and front cover to attract my demographic for example I have included popular artists on both my front cover and contents page and I have included new interesting stories such as: ‘Katy Perry Goes Bananas’. Usually the reader will be attracted immediately by the stories plugged for example my questionnaire proved that interviews with artists was the most popular feature to see in a magazine. I have used short sentences, rhetorical questions and humour in the interview on my double page spread as teenagers are usually pulled in by something exciting and funny which is what I have captured. Also my feedback was mainly about my layout being interesting for example a comment was made about my contents page saying the layout out and colour scheme were good.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt many new skills from using cameras to creating a blog and using adobe photoshop for example I have learned how to edit and rotate and cut out images on photoshop, this is what I learnt from my preliminary task to help me get used to the software. Now I am able to use different more efficient tools such as the clone stamp to get rid of red patches and spots. The clone stamp enabled me to make my image look more ‘picture perfect’. Also using layers is essential for making a magazine to create a professional look. Also when I used the camera I had to decide on the light which I decided on natural lighting as it is harder to get a more natural looking picture with artificial lighting. Also it can make the image look either to light and have white patches on the picture. But I did use the flash too enhance one of my photos as I took it later in the day when the natural light was too dark. Also I have used mid shots and long mid shots to create a variety of images in my magazine.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
After creating my preliminary task I realised that I have to put a lot more time in as I thought photoshop was a lot more straight forward than it is for example there are many tools that are time consuming for example when cutting out a photo to get a soft edge you need to use the eraser which takes a lot of time. It also helped me get used to the software for example now I know better skills and more complicated tools to use such as: the clone stamp, different effects, lasso cut out tool and more.
Below is a picture of my preliminary task:
