Evaluation

Part 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

• My media product uses the conventions of a real media product as I have gave a website for the magazine, a Twitter account, a Facebook page and a YouTube channel. I have used Kerrang as my style model so I have used the typical conventions of a rock magazine such as the colour scheme, certain fonts and the images I have used represent rock music as I have an action shot of Liam playing the guitar on my front cover. I used Liam as my model due to the fact he has dark hair and has the indie/rock style which is ideal for my magazine genre.

Part 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• My media product represents particular social groups as I used quite informal language and things such as exclamation marks which will make it easier for certain social groups to relate. Also by the clothes my model is wearing and the style of hair etc represents what kind of social group it is aimed at. The age of my model is a teenager which would attract other teenagers and young adults. The house style of my magazine is dark which would attract certain people as it is clear what genre it is. As my model is positioned in a certain way holding the guitar this also implies what kind of magazine it is.

Part 3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

• I think that IPC would be a good choice for an institution for my magazine to be distributed. This is because other magazines that they do are popular. NME is one of the magazines they publish, this is a very popular magazine, and it is very well-known. It is also quite similar to the genre of magazine that I have produced so it would also have a similar target audience. The institution also distributes Look magazine, this is well-know too, however this is a fashion magazine rather than a music one. I think this would be a good media institution as there magazines are popular so it would mean that mine would have a better response as it would be coming from a trusted institution.

Part 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

• The audience for my media product would be teenagers and young adults who like indie and rock music. It is aimed at young adults as the article, front cover and contents page all have models in that age group. It is all about music, so people who are very interested in music and not just the celebrity life.

Part 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

• I attracted my audience by things such as the house style and the images used; it is made clear what kind of magazine it is which will attract certain people. The age of the models will also attract people of the same age. I also filmed my friend who would be someone from the target audience to see what she liked and disliked about the magazine, this meant that I had an opinion from the type of person who would buy the magazine and I was able to change what was not appealing.

Part 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of creating this product?

• Whilst doing my media magazine I have used a few different types of technologies such as the computer, digital camera, Photoshop, internet, blogspot, Microsoft word and Powerpoint. The camera was of great importance as it had a large memory so I could take a lot of photos and wait until I seen them full size on the computer before I could choose which would look the best. Photoshop also played a major role in producing my magazine as it meant I could edit the photos that I had taken and crop them to the right size so I didn’t need to erase all the backround. Also, the internet had a great impact to my work as I could look at style models constantly whilst producing my magazine. I could also see the typical conventions of the rock genre. The internet also allowed me to make a blog, this is where I would show all my progress and what I have changed, I posted things as the pictures I was planning to use etc. Microsoft Word has allowed me to plan written work such as my feature article before I transferred it to Photoshop. Finally, Powerpoint has been very useful as I could evaluate different magazines and use tools to annotate them, I could then put this on my blog.

Part 7-Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression in it from the final product?

• Looking at my preliminary task I can see that my use of Photoshop has improved, I use more of the tools available rather than just the ones that are needed, this gives my magazine a more authentic look. I used blending options a lot in my final piece whereas in my preliminary task I didn’t use it at all. Also, in my final piece I had a clearer idea of the typical conventions for the genre of my magazine as I done more research and used style models use as Kerrang.