AS Media Foundation Portfolio Evaluation

Danielle Bridge

*I haven’t finished my final products yet*

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

There are many conventions and aspects of my music magazine that are similar to those of an existing magazine, however there are also some challenged to the typical conventions. On my front cover, I used the Guttenberg principle, which is very common in real media products, as this is very importing when it comes to attracting an audience. I also chose the name ‘Amplified’ because it reflects the genre of rock, as it represents a guitar amp. This could be compared to ‘Kerrang!’ magazine as that is onomatopoeia (sounding like a guitar).

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my music magazine would be around 14 to 26, similar to that of Kerrang. I believe that as my magazine is based around the alternative/rock genre, that it would target more of a male audience as these genres are stereotyped as a more masculine genre, however, it can also attract a female audience too. In my market research, the first question I asked people was ‘what genre of music do you listen to?’ Eight out of the ten people that I asked said they liked to listen to rock music. So, this is why I decided to base my magazine around the rock genre, as I felt this would gain a larger audience.

HAVEN’T DONE FOCUS GROUP YET

How did you attract/address your audience?

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

During the process of constructing this media product, I have learnt many new things from using a wide range of technology that I was unfamiliar with. I have used many different technologies during the making of this magazine such as: Digital cameras, Adobe Photoshop, Slideshare and Eblogger. I have took a wide range of images using a digital camera, and I tried to use many different techniques whilst doing this, such as using the rule of thirds and changing the ISO and aperture on the camera, to produce the best photos that I could. I have also gained knowledge on how to use Eblogger, as this is where I have been uploading all of my coursework to. In order to upload word documents, I had to upload them to Slideshare before hand, and then copy the embedded onto Eblogger. Before I begun uploading my coursework, I had never used these technologies, however, now I am confident in using these websites.

RULE OF THIRDS

Whilst using Adobe Photoshop, I have learnt many new techniques and I now know how to use tools such as ‘magic wand’, ‘clone tool’ and editing the brightness and contrast of my images. I used a range of different fonts, images and shapes on my magazine layouts, which really developed my knowledge when it comes to using Photoshop, as I now know how to insert and edit things easily.

Brightness and Contrast

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