Evaluation

1. Evaluation

2. 1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? • The contents page should be bright and colourful to entice the reader. • On these pages the images tend to dominate the text as the images are used with the page numbers to direct the reader to the page. • The main advertisement of the magazine is on the front cover. This is because it represents the whole of the magazine, they should be colourful and interesting to make it eyecatching. • The colours used should reflect the genre of music chosen and the target audience. • All magazines whether music, fashion or lifestyle follow the same rules. They can either be monthly ‘glossies’ or cheaper weakly magazines. They have an image, colour scheme and name that all fit the content and the target audience. • Most magazines have a title, and a slogan these create a brand image and make it instantly recognizable for the audience. • There is normally one main cover star either in a close up or medium shot. • The leading caption usually dominates and links with the cover star.

3. My magazine: • I decided to create a magazine for 16-18 year olds. • I made my magazine different from other magazines as I made it a lot more soft and quiet which I think appeals as it is refreshing and new for a teenage magazine. • To keep my magazine interesting to my target market I kept typical teenage elements like fashion and well known celebrities but I also wanted to keep it very country so involved festivals and more indie style band as well.

4. Subheadings: The next adaptation I made to my page was lining up my subheadings so that they were all perfectly in line down the page with each other. Not only this but I also changed how close together the text was when i started a new line as I found before everything was too spacious and looked more like a poster than a magazine cover. Specifically this subheading I wanted to make the word exclusive stand out so that it would draw the readers attention. I chose white because I wanted it to stand out from the best colour but still look natural. Main Image: The image I chose I took on the school field against a tree, I thought that this was good idea but my magazine is quite soft and naturally looking so the environment I chose suited it well. I also thought having a guitar would show what style of music the magazine is about and also adds an indie folk feel to it. I also got my model to wear soft casual looking close to suit my colour scheme but still keep her looking on trend to keep my magazine and model stylish. Title-Pulse: I changed the title of my magazine, in my first draft there was a different font. I changed it because I felt like it was a really thin font and didn’t stand out like a title should. The title should be one of the main features and should be clear enough to read, I also think that my new title matches the simple style of my magazine. I placed my model in front of part of the tile, I did this because as she is the main feature and point of the magazine she needs to stand out as well and I found that when the tile was over the top it looked really over powering. I also think that having the image of the model in front ties it together rather than everything being really flat and 2D. Country Roots: The title ‘country roots’ originally didn’t stand out at all as it was black and just blended it into the background so that it wasn’t very readable, I decided that it need something more than just matching all the other subheading and I wanted a colour that would again tie it all together.I decided to test and try out picking colours from my images and seeing if any of them work. I tried picking many from the naturistic background such as the grass the, tree etc.; I also tried the colour of the models jumper but it was to matching with everything else. Finally i tried the colour from the guitar and I thought it worked really well, It was difficult to get the exact colour from the guitar so that was the best colour I could get after looking and trying out different shades. Once I had my desired shade I changed to opacity of it to make it slightly transparent. I thought this worked well because I found that having it as a block colour was to strong and over powering Concert dates: I chose this glowing outline for the text because it helped it stand out as I found that the black blended and got lost in the background too much. I also like it because it reminds me of stage lights and flashing concert lights so I thought it fitted nicely. Barcode: I put in a barcode as all magazines have bar codes. Even though my magazine isn't real I thought it would be a good little detail to add in.

5. Subtext: The subtext is there to be a starting paragraph to my magazine to explain what this page is all about as I didn't want to jump right in with asking questions. I feel liked it looks a little cramped around everything else unfortunately but I found it had to fit in but be big enough to stand out and be obvious that it is the main paragraph. Again the text I used is there to create a laid back look but I wanted it to stand out a little more than the rest as it is quite important as it is the starting paragraph. Tile: The title of My magazine is a quote from what she says in the context. I looked up other double page spreads and a lot of the had done this so I thought it was a good idea. The font I chose is supposed to look handwritten as I like the laid back effect it has on the magazine. Main Image: I chose this image out of all the ones I took because I thought it was very pretty and natural looking and in this image she is also smiling so it adds a sense of kindness to the spread and also looks soft. This image is also good because it is similar to my front cover image which helps tie the magazine together. I also liked this image because she is outdoors which once again sticks to the natural looking theme which I why I like the fact she is surrounded by grass and the is sat on a tree which has a good effect. I also like it because the clothing that I chose for her matches my blue colour scheme so again ties things together without adding to much blue. Double page spread Country roots: This is supposed to be sort of like a stamps. It is there to subtlety draw the reader attention to it . Again this is something I saw on other magazines when doing my research. I chose these colour as I felt that the fitted my natural looking colour scheme. The word country roots is in a brown natural looking colour as I feel it adds to the natural theme. The colour has been taken from the colour of the guitar so that it helps tie everything together. Emily: I decided to put Emily's faintly in the background as I thought it added a modern side to the magazine and also helped fill out the page and not make it look so basic. I chose the blue colour because it matches my colour scheme but I didn’t want it to stand out to much which is why I didn’t choose a bold statement colour instead. By changing the opacity I found this helped too make it blend in and look subtle. Capital letter: I found again through research that larger letters at the start of the text was also another common thing in magazines I thought it added a nice effect and makes a good starting point for the text. Background image: The background image I chose I really like, I feel it fits the theme perfectly. I decided to change the opacity and make it lighter to keep it soft and natural looking. I also wanted to keep it light so that you could clearly see the text over the top and also make sure that Emily name would show up as the opacity for her name is also very light so I didn’t want it to get lost amongst the background. Twitter/Facebook: Through looking up magazines I found that self advertising was common. A lot of magazines had the celebrities Facebook and twitter. I thought this would also help to show that I have considered all the little details to a magazine and also keeps it modern and up to date.

6. F • I • N • A • L • R • E • S • U • L • T

7. 2.How does your media product represent particular social groups? My magazine represents the modern stereotype teenager. My magazine represents their modern interests and trends that teenagers represent nowadays! I am comparing this to teenagers in perhaps the 70s…

8. The modern Teenager… • Many of these stereotypes come from influences such as TV or magazines. • It can also come from things like music videos which can sometimes negatively represent a type of social group. E.g. punks being represented as rebellious and drunks. • I have given my magazine a low key version of the modern teenage stereotype to keep indie and folk music appearing more current with todays modern choice of music. This is shown through… Cultural opportunities: Teenagers nowadays get to have more opportunities they have more options towards travelling, moving etc. During these experiences they get to experience different cultures and different styles of music compared to the past meaning they are more open to different styles of music. Technology: As well as cultural opportunities teenagers today also have more ways to access music! They have the internet e.g. YouTube they have iTunes to download on to their iPods or phones, TV e.g. music channels as well as having access to listen to the radio on the TV as well! As well as having previous devices such as radio and mp3s. Music tastes: music tastes have also changed over time again which can link to cultural opportunities as well as technology. Not only has music tastes changed and varied but it also effects social groups as it defines them, quite often you find that different friendship groups have different tastes in music and so that helps to define them as people and what kind of people they are! • -clothing- fashionable, trendy, what most teenagers are wearing • -colour-keeping the colours light and soft to relate to the style of music chosen for my magazine • -Location- soft environment, natural, outdoors, British weather to keep it country. • -attitude- happy, pleasant, gentle, soft

9. 3.What kind of media institute might distribute your media product and why? • What is an institution?- an institution is a company that disperses a media product for audience and consumption. • What does a media institute do?- provides ideas for your media product and can also help fund it. • The media institute I have chosen is IPC… WHY I CHOSE THIS INSTITUTE… • I have chosen this media institute because it has sold successful music magazines such as ‘NME’ and ‘Uncut’. It has sold successfully many magazines of all kind. • As it has sold magazines of most kind from music magazines to country magazines to gossip magazines I thought that they would be a good institute to distribute my magazine as they have had a lot of experience. • I also think that my magazine would be a new and refreshing genre for them to sell and because it is unique may be a big hit as it would be something new for the public to read. • Also by choosing a successful institute to distribute my magazine it gives it a high chance of being popular and interesting for the consumers.

10. 4.Who would be the audience for your media product? • When creating our media piece we looked at different themes and also what would appeal to different age groups. • Examples of different magazines for different age groups… 5-7 year olds 11-14 year olds 16-21 year olds 35+ year olds

11. My magazine… • The audience for my magazine would primarily be targeted at females but the music and festival side to my magazine may appeal to males as well. • My magazine would largely appeal to women because it has fashion related topics a small section related to the hottest new boy bands and also quizzes, which I personally think would all appeal more the females in most cases. • Another thing that makes my magazine appeal more to female teenagers is the colour scheme as it is soft and slightly feminine as well as their being a female model on the front cover which may have a small influence on the consumers! • Because of the age of my target market the magazine has to be affordable and so I would price mine at around £2.00-£2.50 where as some magazines can be £3-£4. • I think the main aim of my magazine would be to attract a target audience who have real appreciation to music because often a target audience is chosen by appearance and the aim is to look past this and actually appreciate and enjoy the style of music instead!

12. 5.How did you attract/address your audience? • To attract my target market I wanted to make my magazine eye-catching. To do this I wanted to add eye-catching sub heading so that the consumer would be attracted to what's to be read inside. • I wanted to keep it fresh and not to over crowded as I find sometimes to much colour and graphology can look to overwhelming! I wanted to keep it clear and obvious on which parts I wanted to be eye-catching and grab the readers attention. • I wanted to make sure my title stood out so I made it a large and thick font. This then keeps it as a well know title as its appearance is easy to remember and recognise. • I wanted the genre of music to link well with the style of music I had chosen so I wanted to keep it natural and country looking and fresh so not to over powering and full.

13. 6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? • Throughout the creation of my music magazine I have learnt many skills and learnt a great deal about technology. • Throughout making my product I have been blogging everything I have done. • To make my magazine I have used a number of different technologies aside from a computer… Digital camera Adobe Photoshop Experimented with In Design (ID) Wordpress- blog Microsoft word powerpoint

14. Digital camera… • This was used to provide the pictures for my magazine which proved be really helpful as I was able to take some high quality pictures for my magazine. • Due to the large space on the camera I was able to take a lot of pictures meaning I had more options when It came to choosing my 4 main images. • The fact that I could see all the pictures was also helpful as I could see whether the pictures were any good and worth keeping or not. • With this camera I learnt a number of things, not just how to use it but effects as well.

15. Photoshop… • Photoshop is an image manipulation program that’s allows me to edit images I had taken. • It was extremely useful in the development of my magazine as it allowed me to make small adaptations that made a lot of difference. • For example my model was originally behind my master head but because of photo shop I was able to cut perfectly around it and place It in front, this pulled my magazine together and made it look more professional and put together!

16. This is my original title and image! Using Photoshop I was able to mess around with different fonts and choose which one was right and best suited my magazine. Not only that but as you can see I was able to cut around my model and place it in front of my new title! This was the result from cutting around the model and placing her in front of my new title. I much preferred the look of this as it looked much tidier and all fitted well and tied it together.

17. Microsoft word • Microsoft word has allowed me to prepare the written feature for my double page spread and to also draft my blog posts to ensure they make sense!

18. PowerPoint… • PowerPoint has proved extremely useful during my evaluation, as shown by the fact they’re being used for this answer. • I've learnt these help to make the pages more interesting not only because more pictures can easily be included but also because people have to interact with the slide to read more and are therefore more engaged.

19. Throughout the process of creating my media product i gained the ability to use many different technologies. The tools i used most were the computers, Adobe Photoshop and wordpress which I used to blog all my work. • Photoshop was the main technology i worked with over the creation process of my media product. This program was hard to use and get used to at the start and was very stressful throughout the whole process but without it the creation of my media product wouldn't have been possible. All the possibilities that Photoshop opened up to the creation of my magazine such as: the ability to edit my photos, add text and vital information and create my whole magazine! Overall the Photoshop tool came in extremely useful in the construction of my media product and was the most handy tool we were provided with. • We got to work with many other tools whilst constructing our product; cameras, InDesign and Prezi. ( as al listed previously). The use of cameras was huge in the production of my media product. The digital images i captured using the cameras we were provided with were the primary attributes of my magazine. The use of InDesign was a small part of my product as I didn’t end up using it to create my double page spread in the end but I did experiment with it a little. • I have definitely both learnt a lot about technologies from the process of constructing this product, especially how much patience is needed when using certain technologies that don’t always work the way I want them to!

20. 7.Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? • Looking back at my preliminary task I feel my knowledge of using technology particularly Photoshop has expanded. Before the task I had no prior knowledge of using the computer programs. I have learnt where most tools on Photoshop are and have learnt more techniques throughout the process. • I have also learned about things such as camera shots and angles to help improve my photography skills as that was a weak point of mine during the making of my magazine but I feel I improved quite a lot. • One of the most important things I have learnt is how to make my work look professional and how to make it appeal to my target market. • The largest improvement I feel I have made is my editing skills, I really struggled with Photoshop at the start but I gained confidence with it and eventually felt more confident with my editing of my photos.