Evaluation

For my AS level media coursework me and my partner created two issues of a music magazine we decided to call “Encore”. We both worked on the design of the issues but created each issue separately; I created Issue # 1. In this evaluation I need to answer questions on certain aspects of my music magazine below. I have done this evaluation separately from my partner Charlie Dymond.

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

I think that our music magazine defiantly challenges some forms and conventions of real music magazines, it does this by focusing on a few different music genres, which we found is different from most music magazines because they usually focus on one type of music genre. We did this because we felt that there would be a gap in the market for this type of music magazine as we would like to see a music magazine that writes more broadly about music and not about specific genres. We have stuck too many of the typical conventions of music magazines though, the cover page is based n design conventions and we have used the idea of a photo shoot on the front cover as the base idea for the cover itself. We then used this photo, and based the text, including the heading and sub headings around it. It seems that we have used the norm for most music magazines of our genre, although we feel that the colours and black and white effect on the photo are different when comparing them to these magazines. We felt this would be effective to attract our target audience as well as being visually attractive to everybody.

We also decided to keep away from the convention of a normal Question and Answer interview and I decided to interweave my interview questions and answers into the article so that the language flowed through out. The interview is very laid back and a lot like the interviews written in Q magazine. I also tried to use the artistic filters that you can add to photos in photo shop to break the convention of a normal photo shoot; I made it different and I feel this is more interesting and again visually appealing.

Although I have changed some of the conventions for my magazine issue, I have also stuck with other conventions used when making a music magazine, I have decided to release the magazine monthly, and I think a lot of the magazines that aim for the same social group as our magazine do the same. By having the magazine as a monthly released magazine, I think that there would be enough time to make the magazine to a high quality within the month so that is aims at this higher social class.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our music magazine presents and aims at the social groups between C1 and A. It is a better quality magazine released monthly and I think that this helps represent and aim at these higher social groups. It represents these groups because it is more expensive, due to its higher production quality, I think it would be only these social groups that could afford our music magazine every month. It also is written by men for men, and mostly about men. I think this would attract a male audience and represents their interests in music. My audience is from around the ages 15 to 30 and I think the style of music and magazine style would attract these ages of audience and not an older audience. I also think it would be too mature for a younger audience and they would not be interested in its wordy articles.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
A large magazine distribution company would probably distribute my magazine. It is aimed to be sold first nationally and then if it did well, internationally.



How did you attract/address your audience?

We intended to attract our target audience, by making a magazine that was generally very visually appealing but with detailed content as well. I think we achieved this by making the cover a very glossy and appealing front to our magazine and this would attract any kind of reader.



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

Constructing this project and media magazine, I discovered lots about technologies in the process. Using Microsoft Publisher, I found that this was insufficient software to create a music magazine; it didn’t have enough features and I wasn’t able to create a project that I felt was made to a high enough standard. We decided to use Adobe Photoshop to create the magazine; a photo editing software in which you can create documents and even save them as JPEGS. I didn’t know a lot about Photoshop before I started this media projects and had to learn how to use the software to my full advantage. I learned how to cut around the edge of photos and use photo filters to create effects of photos. The best thing I learned using this technology in the process of constructing this product was how to layer images and text effectively. I found that layering these carefully would lead to a professional looking magazine. I have also learned that without technologies as advanced as these, it would be hard to create a magazine that was of such a high standard.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I felt that from my preliminary task, I learned that I needed to use more sophisticated computer software such as Photoshop, after attempting to use Microsoft Publisher to start with. I also learned that editing and cutting my photos so that they would fit onto a page in high quality, onto a background would be more effective and better from a visual aspect; it would be more appealing to an audience. I also felt that after i made my preliminary task I needed to fill the page more with sub headings.

I think that my magazine was how I imagined it, and I achieved what I set out to do, and that was to make a visually appealing music magazine that crossed over many different music genres.