EvaluationBy Ellen Denis

In what ways does your media product develop or challenge forms and conventions of the media product?

My media products use the most common conventions such as the masthead, cover lines, main image; these are conventions that are the most common and nearly always on magazine covers. Other conventions I did use was a pull quote to give a small insight into the magazine article and the artist. I made my main image slightly over the masthead. I did this as most magazines can have the main image over the masthead and the target audience will still, know the brand of the magazines I looked at did this. Most house magazines I looked at had the background of the front cover a plain background so the main image is prominent, so what I did for my magazine I made a small gradient of two colours and left it as that. I did this to so that the magazine was able to look like other music magazines but is still able to have read the cover lines on the front cover and make the main image more prominent. I challenged gender stereotypes in my magazine as my magazine features a female house artists, as well as a male artist. As house music is a male dominated genre It is different to have a female artist in the magazine, this challenges gender stereotypes.

Front cover

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is meant to target and represent 15-30 year olds who are interested in house music, however it does represent and aim at both genders as my front cover has a male artist on the cover and my double page spread has a female music artist on it. This helps my magazine be able to focus and interest a large range of people. Some of my cover lines focus on the younger portion of my target audience like “win a holiday to Ibiza” or “concerts and festivals” this is because most young people want to have independence and go to concerts and holidays with their friends instead of family and younger people want to save money so winning a free holiday is ideal for them. Whereas some of my cover lines focus more on the songs and the artist which is normally what the older people in my target range would be more interested in. My magazine may also aim and represent a fairly modern, young people as the clothing on the main image of my artist on the front cover is modern, fashionable and a current trend for young males. It also aims at young ‘pre-teens’ females who are growing up and adventuring into different music genres which links with the story of my artist, Kinsley on my double page spread; she transitions from pop music artist in house artist.

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

Magazine publishers like Bauer Media may possibly distribute my magazine as they have a vast range of different magazine genres from women’s magazines to car magazine and music magazines etc. I would like to think that my magazine would be able to be distributed by a publisher like Bauer Media, as most of those magazines are aimed at people who are more mature and slightly older and I think my target audience of 15-30 year olds would be able to fit into this category and would be a different genre of a music magazine.Other institutions such as shops like HMV which is a music shop. HMV could distribute my magazine as they sell all genres of music, but they also sell other items like music magazines and my house magazine could fit in well with the music around in a shop like HMV.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience is 15-30 year olds who are interested in house music however it is aimed at both genders this is because my front cover, has a male artist on the front and my double page spread has a female house artist on. This shows diversity between genders and as house music is a male dominated music genre it is something different as a female artist is featured in the music magazine. I feel that my music magazine also aims at ‘pre-teens’ girls as the story of my character on the double page spread shows how she has grown and become mature which can help relate to females as, ‘pre-teens’ are trying to find that maturity.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I tried to feature items in the magazine that can relate to my target audience like concerts and festivals, holidays, music etc. this can relate to my target audience at a level as most people in that range want to go on holiday, have independence and enjoy their life this is why I made my cover lines have information and items that can relate to the ‘party life.’ I have put females and Males in my magazine this is to be able to attract both genders to my magazine. The story of having a female artist (Kinsley) who has transitioned from a pop artist to house also attracts girls who are growing up and maturing this is because they are able to explore into different genres of music like house and this gives girls who have matured and grown and have explored into house music the ability to relate to someone who has gone through the same thing.

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

I have learnt how to use programs like photoshop this is because I have never used it before. It has a vast range of different tools to help make my music magazine.I have used word Publisher which had tools to help remove the background on pictures and other tools such as colour correction which was able to brighten or darken pictures, this helped me when making the main image’s suitable for the front cover and double page spread. I had made clear plans about what I wanted finished first and roughly when I wanted it done for, this was so I could make sure I had everything in order so I could move on to the next thing I wanted to do. By using these programs it did help to slightly speed up the process of making the images look good.

Example of using publisher background remover

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?I feel that I am able to use different technologies like photoshop, as before when I made my preliminary task I didn’t use programmes like photoshop or tools on Publisher like colour correct or background remover this made my preliminary task look simple and didn’t have much detail. Using these tools have developed my music magazine and make it look better than my preliminary task.When looking back I feel like my preliminary task looks basic and quite childish where as now I have learnt different conventions, theories (such as Propp’s Theory or The male gaze) and the styles other music magazines use which has helped my own music magazine. I believe that my music magazine has developed more and looks better than my Preliminary task. Looking back at my preliminary task It has a limited amount of cover lines, which I have improved on my music magazine to have more cover lines to make the magazine look more interested.

Preliminary task

Front cover music magazine