WRITTEN eVALUATION
Qu1) - In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The title/masthead of my music magazine is MFT; this stands for ‘Music For Today’. I would say that NME’s masthead had a big influence on my own. NME had a red masthead with a black & white outline. I found in my research that most of the mainstream music magazines had either a red masthead or a black masthead. I would say my title/masthead is conventional as it is similar to NME looks wise, and it is red with a black out line (it uses the conventional colours of a music magazine masthead). The font I used for my masthead was Poplar Std. I used this font as it was bold and chunky; this would make it stand out to my audience. Most music magazines have bold mastheads that stand out, as I found in my research, which is why I have chosen to do it so I would follow conventions. My images and photographs were the main part of my music magazine (MFT), as they draw in the audience’s eye, and usually relate to the text. The location for my main photo shoots, for my front cover and double page spread were very simple and effective. I used a photography studio. My research showed me that many mainstream music magazines use a photography studio, so I found it quite conventional. The photography studio gives a photograph a clean white background; this helps a lot as the audience would focus on the model, plus I can add text on the photo without making it too busy. The lighting was also great as they have big lights on stands that I could use (I could also adjust the light to my own brightness which helped a lot). Having the photography studio close to me made it easier to organise and meet up with my model. The photograph I used for my double page spread was made to look fun; I did this so it would reflect the singer/model I was trying to represent. I used a close up of my models face for this, so the audience feel like she is there looking into the readers eyes (to make it personal to the reader). The photograph I used for my front cover was more straight/normal as I wanted the audience to take my music magazine seriously. I used a mid shot for my front cover so the audience can see her clearly. My research showed me that most photographs on front covers are more serious and are mid shots, so I went along with the conventions. I edited both the front cover and the double page spread photographs in Photoshop to make them look more professional and real. I edited lipstick on both photos (red for the front cover, pink for the double page spread) so I could link the colours with the text. On my contents page I added 7 photographs. They were all part of the contents, and I placed numbers on the images themselves (to refer to the article). One of these photographs is small (iPhone 4), but it is still my own. I had to take it for the competition as I didn’t want to steal one of the internet, and then claim it as my own. The others have been taken in various locations, for example, Pack and Prime Lane, King James Woods (both located in Henley-on-Thames). I chose these locations as of the light; they all had a good source of light. If I was inside taking a picture then I made sure that there was a window so I could use it to my advantage. A good use of strong light helps define the faces of all my models. I edited the contents page images buy making the colours brighter so they all stand out individually and as a whole. I would say these images are conventional as I have made some fun and some more serious (depends on the article); for example, I have chosen to make my model Phill laugh as the article is fun facts about him (e.g. “I’ve eaten cat food!”). I used varied shots for these images just like in NME, Mid shot, Long shot, etc. I am happy with the photographs I have chosen to display in my magazine as they all fit in to the style. The costume for my main model Alexandra (Amelia) was very simple. She is going to be wearing a blue dress with a fashionable pattern on it, burgundy Vans (well known branded shoes) which are very popular with teens and young adults at the moment, some black tights which have a sexy stocking effect on them, and last but not least, a fashionable headband with flowers on it. This outfit works wonders on my model. I have left skin showing to make it seem sexual, as everyone knows sex sells. Many magazines featuring women on the front tend to make them look sexy with their pose, and their costume/props. The outfit works well with the singer/artist (Amelia) I am trying to convey. The costume makes her look sexy to some and cute to others, it works both ways. This will attract the audience to my music magazine (MFT), and also attract them to buy it. I have used many people in my magazine. I have tried to make it appeal to both genders by having men and women. I have used 5 females and 2 males. They are all young just like in a mainstream music magazine, as they have the latest artists/bands that are fairly young, so I would say that they are conventional. I have also chosen some people with a different ethnicity. My beautiful model Alexandra is Filipino and my other beautiful model Leoni is half Jamaican; this would help make my magazine appeal to a broader audience (more people). In my research I found that music magazines have people with ethnicities, so I found it conventional within mainstream music magazines. My male model Lee was born in Liverpool and moved to reading, people who live near by to artist/bands can often relate to them. The font choices I made for my magazine were mainly bold, and in a way I wanted the font to reflect my magazine (wanted my magazine to be bold and to stand out). The fonts I have used are used throughout my front cover, contents page, and double page spread; this is conventional. All the fonts I used were, Impact, Trebuchet MS, Poplar Std, Tahoma, Springtime, MV Boli, Century Gothic, Franklin Gothic Medium, Minion Pro, and Mono Type Corsiva. All of these fonts all tie together and look good together; I have used them all throughout my music magazine (MFT). All of the fonts I needed were already on my laptop; the only font I did download was Springtime. I downloaded it from DaFont.com which is a website full of different fonts. I wanted the font to have a bold impact so it would stand out more than others in a magazine rack. I tried to keep the style the same throughout the magazine by making some of the font sizes the same and making it all look similar so it would all link together. I would say the style of language I have used is quite colloquial and chatty. I have used word like ‘you’ and ‘we’ which is known as synthetic personalisation. This makes the text more personal to each and every reader. If you don’t know, synthetic personalisation is the process of addressing a mass audience (though everyone is individual) by using inclusive language. On the double page spread I have made it seem like I am talking to the audience while interviewing Amelia, giving the audience the feeling that they are involved. I used quite a few of exclamation marks to draw the audience in. I wasn’t influenced by my music magazine research in the way that I write; it is just the way I like to write. Some other music magazines may have a similar writing style, but not the same. My music magazine (MFT) is a mainstream music magazine, so it is solely based on fresh new hits and songs from different bands and artists. I have used the conventional colours of a mainstream music magazine, red, black, and white. This was to reflect the genre of my magazine. I have used a mixture of bands and artists, which is conventional, as I found in my research magazines don’t just have solo artist’s they have a range. There are many things that the magazine has that reflect the genre; this includes the bands/artists, colour, the layout, construction, mise en scene, props, use of language, and many more. The mise en scene reflects the genre as the text is quite chatty. All of these things reflect the genre. I believe my front cover turned out quite well, my feedback seemed great. I have tried to balance the text and image so they are the same proportion. This is conventional to mainstream music magazines, as I found in my research. I have chosen to make it conventional as I don’t want it to be too over powering or too little. I also prefer to have an equal balance and I wasn’t afraid to leave space. The barcode at the bottom with the issue number and price in is conventional to many magazines, not just music magazines, (wouldn’t want mine to be the odd one out). Linking the text to the image is also very conventional, for example some of the text on the front page is red, and this links to the models red lips. Blender (mainstream music magazine) is very conventional, and I have tried to make my music magazine follow the same conventions. In my research of Blender magazines front cover, they have used the same idea to relate the pink text to Katy Parry’s pink/blue shorts, bra and lipstick. My contents page has turned out good. I really like the page numbers/reference on the images. On this page I believe I have balanced the text with the images, but I might have more images than text. This is against conventions, as usually the contents page of a music magazine would be mainly text. I have chosen to go against conventions and have lots of images as I like the design layout, sort of like tiles, it all fits nicely together. It would also appeal to my target audience. I think that images make things more interesting and fun. In my research, the music magazine contents page with the most images is Billboard. But I think my layout is more like NME and Q Magazine. I love my double page spread. It’s very conventional and is similar to my research into mainstream music magazine double page spreads. I love the way the text goes around the model. I think that there is a balanced proportion between text and the image as they both take up the same amount of space. I have placed the image over both pages which is also very conventional and just like the double page spread done by NME (in my research) about Florence Welch. I chose to have the image over both pages as in my audience research I found that most people would rather have it over two pages, and so did I as I think it looks much better over them both. The drop capital is conventional, 4 out of the 5 music magazine double page spreads had a drop capital. I really like them and I chose to do mine in a different font just like real magazines. I’ve added my magazine name (MFT) at the bottom, just like Q and NME did to theirs. The pull quote is a conventional. I have chosen to do a pull quote as it is conventional and from my audience research I found out that it is what my audience wants. I really like the pull quote and it links with the models lips, the title and the drop capital; they are all the same colour, pink-purple-mix. I am happy with my Front cover, double page spread, and contents page; they have all worked well together. Overall, I think my magazine would fit out there in today’s market. I have mainly followed the conventions but sometimes I have gone against them. I followed the conventions to fit into today’s market and make my magazine look as real as I possibly could. I went against conventions a couple of times as i didn’t want my magazine to look like the others. My magazine would fit into today’s market, but look like no other. When I followed the conventions it was to satisfy my audience expectations, when I went against them I was trying to give the audience something different. Qu2) – How does your media product represent particular social groups? My music magazine (MFT) would mainly attract my target audience which is about 16-24 year old males and females. It would also attract people who are interested in mainstream music. When I did my research into finding my ‘tribe’ my results were ‘townie’. A townie is someone who has their weekends set in stone – trip to the shops in town, buy yourself something nice, head to the bar with friends, have a laugh, maybe go to a club. They don’t really listen to any indie music and are usually quite fashionable. They love to trend, and like all mainstream music. So I would personally say that I have tried to create a magazine for my own social group. I have represented this particular social group through many different ways in my magazine. The text I have used is quite chatty and formal at the same time. I haven’t used big words in my magazine, just in case some people in my target audience don’t understand what it means, and it might make them feel stupid and a bit left out (then they might never buy the magazine again). The clothes represent my social group as all of my models are wearing fashionable outfits, and my particular social group is fashionable. I think that in a way my location of the photography studio represents them, as people use them for fashion shoots, which could relate to them on the fashion level of my music magazine. The poses of my models are quite bold and confident, the camera angles also help to show this; this relates to my social group and is also the attitude I am trying to convey. In nearly all of my pictures I have got the model to look into the camera, this helps the audience/social group relate to them, and in a way, represent them. Taking all of this into consideration, I would say that my social group is represented in the same way as NME and a few other mainstream music magazines with a similar social group. Overall I believe I have represented my particular social group quite well. |
Qu3) – What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
In my research I did into media/magazine institutions I found that they are all very different. I looked at Bauer Media, EMAP (East Midland Allied Press), and IPC Media (International Publishing Corporation). They all own well known magazines that have been very successful, these include NME, Kerrang, Q, and many more. I would put my music magazine into IPC Media. This is because they own NME, and my mainstream music magazine is similar to it. I would say that there is a gap in the market for my music magazine, as NME has a wide audience but mainly 20 year olds and above, an mine is more for the younger generation 16-25 year olds. I believe there is a gap in the market for my kind of magazine, as I found that IPC Media don’t have any other music magazines that fit into my target audience. IPC Media do have a lot of experience in selling magazines; they are the UK’s leading consumer magazine publisher, which produces over 60 iconic media brands. My magazine would defiantly not be distributed by EMAP. They don’t really have any experience distributing my kind of magazine, so they wouldn’t be a good option to choose. The only positive if I were to go with EMAP is that they have a big gap in the market, which would be a lovely space for my magazine; but I think I shall stay with the safe option, IPC Media. Qu4) – Who would be the audience for your media product? The core buyer of my music magazine (MFT) was based on a questionnaire. I made a questionnaire to find information about my audience, around 30 people answered it. I found out that they like mainstream music, and many current artists and bands (e.g. Rhiana). Most people who answered the questionnaire were between the ages of 15-21 and were mainly male. I also found out that that a big 31% of people would buy NME out of the 6 options given. This all helped me decide on my audience. My audience is 16 – 25 year old male and female, who are interested in mainstream music and current artists and bands. The results of FindYourTribe also helped me to define my audience. My result was Townie. Townie’s are fashionable, on trend, and love mainstream music. They would shop on the high street in shops like Topman, Topshop, H&M, for the latest fashion must have. They would use iTunes to download all their songs, and would like the best of everything. I would say that it’s not important for them to buy things first as they like to trend, so they would wear the latest fashion and listen to the latest songs with other people. The psychographic profile that my audience would fit into is mainly a Mainstreamer; this is someone who is in search of security, belonging, and routine. I would also say that some might be under Explorer, which is someone desiring discovery, challenges, and even new experiences. I have used the Mainstreamer to my advantage with a competition of the most wanted phone, iPhone 4. My target audience for my magazine fit into the E category of the Socio-economic group as most of them would be unemployed as they would be at college. As my target audience goes up to the ages of 25, some might even be in category A or B of the socio-economic group. Qu5) – How did you attract your audience? I attracted my target audience in many different ways, from the font, to the images. I wanted to make my magazine seem friendly, so I used chatty and colloquial language to attract the audience. I also used a lot of synthetic personalisation which is words like ‘you’ and ‘we’, to make it seem inclusive and personal to each and every reader; I believe this is a great way to attract my target audience. All of the fonts I used were all bold and/or bright so that they would stand out and look great. I had a variety of images that I used, and in almost all of them I got my model to look into the camera to create a connection between model and the audience; this may also attract them to buy my magazine (MFT). I made the masthead of my magazine stand out with a vibrant red so it would be attractive. I placed a black outline around my masthead to make it stand out even more. In my research I looked at many different layouts from successful music magazines so I could decide on my own layout for my magazine. The layout is a key part of attracting my target audience. I didn’t want it to be all jumbled up and to look a mess, so I arranged it carefully. I believe my contents page is a great example for this, as it took time to arrange all of the images and text to fit together like tiles. Having an arranged and tidy layout would help attract my target audience, if it was messy and all over the place then my magazine wouldn’t be that attractive. On the contents page and front cover I made a competition. When doing my research I found that most people look for freebies when buying a music magazine and the competition is free; this was a great way to attract my target audience as I have provided what they look for when buying a music magazine. I also referred to the bands and artists on the contents page to attract my target audience. When I got my audience feedback for all my pages, I took it all on board and tried to make it suite them all. My feedback helped me a lot as it showed me what individuals think about my magazine. I could then use this to attract my target audience. I targeted males and females for this magazine as I wanted my magazine to be mixed gender so I would have a bigger audience. I did this with the colour scheme (red, black, white, pink) for each page, and also who I featured in the magazine. My audience questionnaire was to help me to find out more about my target audience, and to feature things in the magazine that they wanted to see. The questions include, what do you look for in a music magazine, what do you like on a double page spread. This helped me decide on what my target audience would like to see in my own music magazine. As my target audience feedback was nearly all positive then I know that I have successfully targeted my audience and that they would be attracted to buy my music magazine. Qu6) – What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Technologies I have used throughout the making of this product have all helped me a lot; with out them I don’t know how I would have made it. I used PowerPoint, Photoshop, InDesign, Slideshare, DaFont, Word, Excel, Weebly, Facebook, Web 2.0/Internet, Digital SLR camera, and many more. I used PowerPoint for my research into magazines and media institutions. I also used it to create my magazine flat plan, photo shoot story board, and to show my screen prints for my front cover, contents page, And double page spread. PowerPoint was very useful as it allowed me to display images and text together on a blank background. I didn’t learn anything from this software as I have used it many times before for all sorts of things. Photoshop was great. I edited all of my images with it. I cropped them and adjusted the brightness, contrast, and saturation. In Photoshop I also used the Brush Tool and changed the mode to Overlay, and the opacity to about 50 percent then chose the desired colour; this was the way I made it look like my model Alexandra was wearing lipstick. I used the same Brush Tool in Photoshop, but this time I changed the mode to Colour Burn, and the opacity to 15 percent; this is what I used to make my images look clearer and darker. I also used the Lasso Tool to select my model Alexandra without the background. I didn’t really learn much from Photoshop as I use it regularly for my AS Photography. I used DaFont to get my font ‘Springtime’. To get the font I first had to go online to dafont.com, and then I found my desired font and downloaded it. I have never used DaFont before so it was a new experience. I used InDesign the most, as I constructed my whole product on it. I used all-sorts of things on InDesign. These include, Type Tool (used to write text), Eyedropper Tool (to select colours and font), Drop Shadow (to cast a shadow under the desired object), Ellipse Tool (to draw circles), Rectangle Tool (to draw rectangles), Colour (change the colour on the selected object), Stroke (give the desired object an outline). I have never used InDesign before, so during a lesson our lecturer showed the whole class how to use it as we were all new to it. I enjoyed using InDesign as its very fun software to use as there is so much you can do. I used Slideshare online to upload PowerPoint’s to my website. It was fairly easy to use and after uploading I could just embed it into my website. I had never used it before, but I didn’t need any help as it was easy to use. I used Word to write up things before I placed them into my website. I also used it along with Excel to create my graphs and charts for the results of my audience questionnaire. They were both easy software to use as I had used them previously to make graphs. I used Facebook to share my questionnaire by sending out a link to my website, this way I know who completed it and it was easier to decide my target audience. I also used it to chat with some of my models to arrange times and dates to meet up. I used my mobile phone for exactly the same; texting my models to arrange times and dates. I used my Digital SLR Camera to take all of my photographs that I used for my magazine. It was helpful to have such a great camera as all my images great quality. I used Weebly as my website creator. It’s simple to use and is a good way to display all of my work. I can embed videos and PowerPoint’s; I can add pictures and text, all I need. I had never used Weebly before, it was so easy to use and I didn’t need any help to use it. I used the internet quite a bit. I used it in my research when I was finding other mainstream music magazines, used it for finding my ‘tribe’, research into magazine institutions, Facebook, Slideshare, and lots more. It was great to use and easy to use. I have used many different technologies to help me, and I feel they have all made me show my progression and creativity through using them. Qu7) – Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product. Overall, I feel that I have learnt a lot more in my progression from the preliminary task to the full product. I found that I have improved at using many different types of software and technologies, which have help me be more creative. InDesign was the main software I used, at first I didn’t understand it, but now I understand how to do almost anything. I used many more techniques that I did in my preliminary task, for example Drop Shadow. As I did an audience questionnaire to find my target audience, it has been a lot easier to make decisions knowing who they are and what they look for in a music magazine. Collecting feedback has also helped me progress into making it more suitable for my target audience. I now understand the conventions of music magazines better, and I found it easier to create a magazine knowing what they were. Knowing the conventions helped me to apply them in order to make my magazine more professional looking. I have learnt how to take better photographs in different locations, as I do AS Photography. I used different angles and locations for a better looking product. The main things I took into consideration were the lighting and surrounding. I made sure that if I were indoors then there was a window with a use of strong light coming through so I could make my photos as natural as possible. I never took any care in the lighting when I did my preliminary task, but the images look so much better in my final magazine. I have learnt the more you take into consideration (e.g. Mise en scene) the more straight forward it is to edit the images and incorporate them into my magazine. I believe I have developed my evaluation skills quite a lot throughout. I have developed them by reflecting and evaluating my own product, and also by providing other people feedback on their product (peer assessments). All in all, I am happy with the way that I have progressed from start to finish, improving techniques and developing ideas. This has been great. If I were to do this all again, I don’t think I would want to change anything as I am happy with it all. |