Media Evaluation

Question OneIn what ways does your media product

use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My magazine uses almost all of the traditional conventions of magazines.

On the next few pages I have labelled the elements of my magazine compared to professional magazines.

The only way that I have challenged the conventions is through my masthead contrasting with the colour scheme of the rest of the magazine.

Conventions

Minimalist Backdrop

Quote

Barcode

Main Image

Feature Articles

Heading

Masthead

Sticker

Polaroid

Tric Conventions

Masthead

Minimalist Backdrop

Quote

Barcode

Main Image

Feature Articles

Heading

Masthead

Sticker

Polaroid

Bottom Bar

Conventions

Masthead

Article Intro

‘Plus’

Live Image

Feature Articles

Headline

Masthead

Issue Information

PhotoCredits

Bank Index

Date

Subscription Bar

Tric Conventions

Masthead

Article Intro

Quote

Live Image

Feature Articles

Studio Shots

Masthead

News

PhotoCredits

Bank Index

Date

Subscription Bar

Editors Note

Conventions

Tagline

Quote

Unjustified Text

Large Main

Image

Basic Colours

Track Reviews

Recording Studio Shots

Two Coloured Headline

Tric Conventions

Time Line

ThumbnailAlbumCovers

Quotes

Two ColourHeadline

Large Main Image

Unjustified Text

Basic Colour Scheme

Question TwoHow does your media product represent particular

social groups?

The people represented in my magazine are all male.That is a very important factor attention needs to be drawn to.This could suggest that the majority of the readers of my magazine would be more inclined to prefer to have a male cover artist on my magazine. There are two reasons for this, aspiration and sex appeal. The male readers look to the males in this magazine as role models and examples of success and one factor that could influence female readers is sex appeal. Although this is only one possible reason.

My cover artist is a prime example of the idealised male rock look, the unkempt hair and beard suggests an untidiness, a trait that comes with a carefree lifestyle like that of a rock star. I believe that this is an accurate representation of some of the readers of this magazine as well as a large proportion of the popular artists that readers are currently familiar with.

This photo shows a group of lads that are sporting relatively serious looks without smiles, which isn’t uncommon for this sort of magazine.

Although their looks would seem too out of place in an R’n’B magazine, they have an indie look that is somewhat similar to that of the Arctic Monkeys, which is a very popular look. Their dark clothes and stern looks make them look strong and secure which works well as they want to seem firm and professional.

Yet these guys seem to be acting beyond their years and finding a different image. The younger audiences generally get a more fun and accessible vibe from artists of a similar age, though this is partially lost because this look can appeal to a wider range, so they are not restricting themselves.

Question ThreeWhat kind of media product institution might

distribute your media product and why?

Magazine Statistics

After searching through many differentdistributors in the UK including Emap, IPC, BBCMagazines, Future Publishing and BristolMagazines. I feel that ICP would be best suitedto my magazine as this company is thedistributor of "NME". IPC is also one of thebiggest magazine distributors in the UK. Itclaims to reach approximately 27million UKadults.

It also has a website which is veryuseful and allows people to buy thecurrent issue of their magazineover the internet. The othermagazine distributers offer asimilar package although thereadership is lower in some ofthem and the majority of themagazines that the othercompanies distribute also cater todifferent genres including fashionand gossip magazines.

How Magazines Make Money

A large readership can be a huge contributor to the decision of which institution should distribute your magazine as it is directly proportional to the profit made.

Each year, in order to asses the amount of money that the institutions can charge advertisers for space in their magazine, they must calculate the readership. The higher the readership, the higher the prices, they are essentially paying for the number of people that are estimated to be seeing that issue and therefore seeing their product.

The institutions also have to be clever in which companies can advertise which products. They have to be the sort of product that would be attractive to the audiences otherwise a reputation can change.

Question FourWho would be the audience for your media product?

These are pictures of my target audience. These are all very similar but are all from separate gigs,Arctic Monkeys, Oasis and Kasabian. These are the kinds of acts that my magazine would coverand the majority of these people are males and around 20 years old.

Kasabian Arctic Monkeys

Oasis

Although, this is an unfair way of showing my target audience as these photos are taken at gigsand they demand a very physical presence to keep up, but this is still a relatively accuratedescription of what my magazine to be, music enthusiasts, the right genre of music and of theright age group.

Project Phoenix Summary Background Listeners (39% of the 16-45 population) Background listeners are not as passionate about music as most. Music is the backdrop to

their day rather than the main focus. They enjoy having music on, and listening to an iPod or the radio a lot. Background listeners are more likely to be female. Songs are more important than albums and they don’t go to concerts

The Headliners (20% of the 16-45 population) Headliners like music, but are no more passionate about it than the average person of the

same age. The music they’re into has a lot to do with what’s hot at the moment. Headliners are more likely to be male and the group is slightly skewed towards the under-30s. They are more likely than other segments to place emphasis on whether the artist is well known or whether they think the artist is cool - Fame and celebrity are important factors to them.

Track Hunters (24% of the 16-45 population) Track Hunters like discovering new bands, but are probably not the first person to find out

about new artists. They are slightly more likely to be female. The Track Hunter doesn’t buy into celebrity culture and fads – they think the albums are as important as the songs. They think music is best enjoyed live, and when they go to a gig it’s to see a band they’ve heard good reviews about.

Pace-setters (17% of the 16-45 population) Pacesetters see themselves as being interested in different things to the mainstream and

as having a true passion for music. A male skewed group who talk to friends about music a lot. Whilst the Pacesetter group includes people who have an obsessive interest in music, it‘s fairly diverse but not all members are that extreme – what they all have in common though is a deep rooted passion for music.

My magazine is mainly targeted at Pacesetters as some of the content is dedicated to discovering new bands and the sheer amount of music content will cater to their wants. But the other groups will also enjoy our content.

Background Listeners – There is a large amount of advice on the best music to listen to rather than making them find it themselves.

The Headliners – There are elements of glamorising some of the celebrities which will attract the headliners.

Track Hunters – There are a lot of emphasis on the albums as well the songs, and the reviews section will also appeal to the track hunters.

For my target audience I wanted to identify what a typical reader of my magazine likes and does in their spare time to cater to their needs.

The girl has long hair and black clothing, which is stereotypical of some teenagers interested in this genre of music as are males who wear the checked shirts and have long unkempt hair.

From these are pictures of the sorts of people that would buy this magazine. They look as though they would shop at popular and trendy shops like Topman and River Island. So that is the sort of clothes that I had my models wear and the types of advertisers that I would allow to sell their products.

Another important factor of the stereotype is that these people are musicians and if they play then the appeal can be created through uniting the audience through music in other ways than the artists in the magazine.

Question FiveHow did you attract/address your audience?

This is a copy of my front cover.I have labelled on these photos the different techniques that I have used to attract the audiences.

These are copies of my contents and double page spread.

I feel that the techniques that I have used have attractedmy young and aspiring audiences.

Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

Question SixWhat have you learnt about technologies from the

process of constructing this product?

During the creation on my magazine I used Adobe Photoshop, a program that I was new to and it was a steep learning curve, though I feel that I have used it to a good standard that has made my work look relatively professional.

I was also new to Blogger which was easy to us and I found it very useful. It is a service which made it much easier to display my progress.

I think I would have struggled in my research and planning section of my project if I didn’t have the use of the internet, it enabled me to find past issues of magazines as well as copious amounts of existing magazine statistics

The Nikon SLR allowed me to take high quality photos for my magazine, when playing with the settings it can be a complex piece of kit so it required some practice of how to use it efficiently

Dafont allowed me to search through thousands of fonts to find one that suited the purpose that I wanted to achieve, so overall, it helped me to create the magazine I wanted to.

Facebook was invaluable when it came to getting feedback for my work, which allowed me to improve my work based on the views of my potential readers.

A combination of Slideshare and Powerpoint allowed me to post powerpointpresentations onto my blog which let me show the progression of my work in a different format.

Question SevenLooking back at your preliminary task (the school

magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

In my preliminary work I found that I used toomany different fonts and too many shades ofthe same colour. To combat this problem Ipicked three colours which were all obviouslydifferent from each other and used the droppertool to make sure they were the same eachtime they were used. Although, I feel that thecolour scheme worked so I just made a moreclear-cut selection of red, white and black.

After looking back and comparing mypreliminary work to my final work, I found thatthat my pages looked too empty of content. Idecided to take influences from real magazinesand this helped me to fill my pages and stopthem looking simplistic and made them busierand more interesting. For example I decided toput sticker effects on my cover as seen in manyof the leading magazines.

I asked people for feedback on my magazine. Here is a film of one of the small interviews.