Megan Summers Foundation Portfolio

Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products? My magazine follows the conventions of rock magazines such as Kerrang and NME.Through my product research I found that these magazines generally use:

-A colour scheme of black, white and a bright colour, (blue) This allows for certain words and sections of the magazine to be easily noticeable and stand out.-Bar code, date and price on the front cover In the bottom right hand corner to make it look authentic.-Journalistic words like ‘exclusive!’ and ‘win!’ To generate interest in the magazine and the stories inside-Image using a direct mode of address Used to simulate interaction between the people in the image and each individual reader.-Bold, loud masthead The masthead is usually bold and large to catch the attention of the reader. The name of the magazine has connotations with music so to make the genre of the magazine obvious.-Cover lines are another convention which I used as they generate interest in the magazine.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

-My media product represents the age group and my target audience of 15-25 year olds through:

-the bright, bold colours used-the use of informal language-the information and the type of artists included in the magazine-the images are of people from this age group.These are things which I found out I should include in my magazine from the research I got back from the questionnaires which I sent out to this age group.From the people I asked, 100% agreed that the images and artists I used represented both the genre and the age group.

-My magazine represents both genders because there is a mixture of female/male bands and singers.-The colours aren't linked specifically to any gender. -The rock genre of my magazine influenced the bright and bold colours against the black background.-The colours which the models wear in the images in the magazine are plain black and white and this can be linked to the simplicity of the rock/indie genre.

-My magazine also represents this age group through the price, it is low enough for students to afford.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The publishing company I would like to distribute my magazine would be Bauer Publishing. They publish magazines such as Closer and Grazia but they also publish a music magazine of the same genre as mine, Kerrang, so they would have experience with selling this genre of magazine but this is the only magazine of this genre which they sell so there is room in the market for another. The company is large and has a big influence and would have the power to advertise and sell the magazine to a large market.They sell over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations which would help while advertising the magazine.

I would like my magazine to be sold in large music shops such as HMV but also in smaller organisations which only sell music from the rock genre.They can also be sold in newsagents and other small shops which are easily accessible to my target audience.

Who will be the audience for your media product

The colours I used on the front cover of magazine and throughout are different on every page to widen the demographic of the audience.

The target audience is neither males or females and the colours I have used don’t target a particular gender, this is because I found out from my questionnaires that both male and females regularly buy magazines.

However the target audience I did decide to focus on was people who enjoyed rock/indie magazines as I found out from my market research that magazines like Kerrang and NME which deal with these genres are the ones that people tend to buy.

Also, when I asked which genre of music people prefer to listen to, thesewere the genres people responded most about.

I have decided to make my age group for my target audience 15-25 yearolds as this was the age group which bought magazines the most, listened to rock/indie music, and paid for the magazines with eitherpart time or full time jobs.

My magazine will be sold once every month, as everyone I asked said they would prefer to buy a magazine which has a issue out every week.The words used aren’t big or complicated and it makes themagazine less formal so it appeals to the target audience.

How did you attract/address your audienceI attracted my audience through the artists/bands that I advertised being in the magazine on the front page, I chose bands/concerts and festivals which were popular with my target audience.

I advertised an offer in the bottom corner of my magazine to give the audience a reason to buy the magazine.

From looking and analysing other magazines I found that it was important to make the faces of the main image clear, and for the people in the image to be facing the camera as a direct mode of address to include the audience so I made sure I did this in all the images in my magazine.

I made the masthead of the magazine bold and bigger than any other text on the front cover because this is the first thing which attracts an audience to a magazine. It also contrasts with the background to make it stand out even more.

There is also a header at the top of the front cover to inform the audience of who else is featured in the magazine.

I used the same house style throughout the magazine, with the masthead being used on the contents page as well as the front cover, it is also mentioned in the double page spread article. The black and white stayed throughout the magazine but I changed the bright colour from blue to red and then to green to keep the magazine interesting.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Using a blog was helpful in making sure all my research and planning was in one place which made it easier and simpler to create my actual magazine whilst remembering all the information I needed to include in it.

From using digital cameras to take the images I used for my magazine, I learned that lighting and angles are important in making a photograph look real and professional. It also helped with understanding how important the background of an image is in making it seem realistic and having it fit in with the genre and age group I wanted my magazine to appeal to.

I used slideshare which was useful for storing and presenting my work easily.

For my research into distributing companies and for finding out about things such as house style, the Guttenberg principle and sans serif fonts the internet and websites such as Wikipedia and Google were useful in getting the information which I could apply to my product.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? • When I first created my ancillary magazine I didn’t know how to use all the features of

Photoshop which caused the magazine to look unrealistic. Whilst making my final product I have learned how to use layers, editing techniques such as contrast/brightness and filters such as lens correction. These helped to progress my preliminary task to the more professional looking magazine which I have created for my final product.

• I have learnt that following normal magazine conventions makes the magazine look more realistic, however subverting from these conventions is sometimes necessary to make the magazine stand out and look unique.

• From looking at my preliminary task I realised that I needed to make the fonts on my final magazine blend in with the rest of the cover so that it looks more realistic. The fonts I used on the front cover of my ancillary magazine were different each time and this made the magazine unattractive so I made sure I used the same font throughout on my final magazine. The editing technique I used on my ancillary magazine made it look too plain and simple. In contrast to my ancillary magazine, my final product uses the same 3 colours throughout the page whereas my ancillary magazine didn’t stick to a certain colour scheme and this made it appear to be unprofessional.

Through what I have learned, I feel I have improved the factors of my ancillary magazine which made it look fake and boring, to make my final magazine appear to be more realistic and like something you would see in a shop.