G321: AS Media Studies: Evaluation

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G321: AS Media Studies

http://michaelmcgrathasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/


Evaluation

• 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media Products?

• 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?• 3. what kind of media institutions might distribute your product and

why?• 4. who would be the audience for your media product?• 5. How did you attract/address your audience?• 6. What have you learned about technologies form the process of

constructing the product?• 7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you

have learned in the progression from it to the full product?• 8. How successful do you feel your end product is in fulfilling the

task? How well does it fit the brief?



My Final Piece



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

One of which is an upper-left third. This feature is used to allow readers to find/recognise their favourite magazines when they are stacked on the shelf. This upper third is on the left as people in the western world read from left to right.

Another convention that present on my magazine is a URL. Most magazines include some sort of URL to keep relevant with the every growing online world. I have differentiated my URL by placing it above my Masthead.

Another convention I have used is a Skyline. Many music magazines use skylines to advertise posters, tickets, etc., instead of writing "free posters" I have simply put names of artists, and on the contents page each artist that is mentioned in the skyline is listed with posters.

Another Convention I have used is a barcode. All magazine have a barcode, which is accompanied with a Price and date line. I have ensured I have used a price with my barcode to show who I am aiming my magazine at – 16-21 year olds.

My magazine incorporates many generic codes and conventions of music magazines.


http://michaelmcgrathasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/as-cwk-final-piece.html


2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My target market was 16-21 year olds, with a mixture of male and female. Because of this, my magazine had to represent a teenage social group.

I think my magazine was successful in representing this particular social group, this is because I was able to create a bold tone using photography, on my double page spread, my cover starts are positioned central on the spread, an use direct address to draw the eyes of my reader – in an almost “look at me” sense. I think this represents 16-21 year olds because they tend to like to stand out over everyone else.

Due to the price - £4.50 –my magazine will be aimed at a low-to-mid class audience, because of this, I will sell my magazine in local supermarkets.

Because alt-rock is a genre of no race, my magazine will be aimed at all races



3. what kind of media institutions might distribute your product and why?

A distribution company is a company that acts as a middle man between the content producer (in this case, the magazine producer) and retailers who sell to the content consumer (whoever purchases the magazine).

Bauer Media Group are an international distributer of media products, based in Peterborough, UK. Currently, they work with ~177 brands across the world across different media types (including magazine, radio, digital and TV).

Bauer Media Group may distribute my magazine. Currently they distribute Kerrang, MOJO, and Q – all different genres of music. And so my magazine may benefit from the experience of a well established distributer. Furthermore, because Bauer have international ties, they will have strong connections with many people in the industry, something that may open up the chance of expanding into different countries in the future.

Bauer work with many brands (magazines) that are highly successful and are seen in many local super markets across the UK, something that may give my magazine the reach it needs to meet its audience.


http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands-magazine


4. who would be the audience for your media product?

As mentioned previously, my target audience are 16-21 year old, alt-rock fans made up of a mixture of male and female.

Similar Magazines include:



5. How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract and address my audience, I used a red and black colour scheme, I believe that red stands out the most above any other colour and draws the reader’s eye.

On my contents page, I have included an exclusive – “Win 2 VIP tickets to download festival!”. I have done this to attract my target market as they will not have this chance very often, and so may be more encouraged to purchase the magazine.

I have carefully selected my photographs to include a large amount of “attitude” as this will attract my target market due to the “I don’t care” attitude of 16-21 year olds.

I have used formal language, however I have used contractions, this is because if I was to use informal language, my magazine would look and sound unprofessional – something that may take away from the overall feeling of my magazine.

My Masthead is a custom masthead, created using 3 elements – “O” (Times New Roman), “utre” (Agency FB) and the arrow, created using the shape and line tools in PagePlus.


http://michaelmcgrathasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/drafting-and-planning-photographs.html

http://michaelmcgrathasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/drafting-and-planning-masthead-design.html


6. What have you learned about technologies form the process of constructing the product? (Advantages of software used)

PagePlus Paint.net Publisher

Advantages • Easy to understand

• Snapping made positioning easy, no guessing.

• Can export to PDF – useful for handing in final piece.

• Previous knowledge about the software made it easy for me to use and to get the result I needed.

• Can save as different file types.

• Good for grouping objects, creating larger entities from smaller ones.

• Familiar software, no earning curve.

• Can save as JPEG



6. What have you learned about technologies form the process of constructing the product? (Disadvantages of software used)

PagePlus Paint.net Publisher

Disadvantages • Cut out studio was inaccurate at best

• Sometimes slow/laggy to use once there was a large amount of entities within my document –required constant restarts.

• Very basic functionality,

• Limited brushes,• Once you had

deselected something, it was impossible to move without destroying anything underneath it.

• Lack of creative tools, means switching between software is needed.



6. What have you learned about technologies form the process of constructing the product? (Photographic Choices)

When I took my photographs, I had an idea of what I wanted to capture, during my research I had came across a photograph of Nirvana [a], and immediately took inspiration.

As you can see above, I managed to take most of the elements from the photograph of Nirvana and change them around to suit my cover stars. I feel that this pose, at this height and angle, creates a sense of dominance over the rest of my Double Page Spread

DPS Photograph[a]



6. What have you learned about technologies form the process of constructing the product?

I found blogger a really easy to grasp and get used to using, it was simple and intuitive but was also a really powerful blogging tool. It was extremely convenient to write, schedule and upload blogposts with as little as a 5 minuet talk explaining how to use it.

I was able to access my blog’s dashboard from school and home, and so was always available (with internet access). It was also handy not having to carry a folder around to hold my coursework and it was easy to submit work to my teacher.

One thing that bothered me about blogger, was how there was no way to change the language from English (US) to English (UK) – which meant that words, such as “colour” were highlighted as incorrect due to the American spelling “color”. Furthermore, when typing directly into the blog editor, letters at the beginning of sentences and “I”’s did not auto-capitalise – something that irritated me a little. However, there was a simple work around –Microsoft Word.



7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

The difference in quality between my preliminary task and final piece is a huge one. I now know a lot more about how photography affects the overall tone of my magazine, and how to create effective cover lines.On my preliminary, I still really like my masthead – however I now realise that my cover star and cover lines look poor at best. Furthermore, my contents page of my preliminary takes up 2 pages, yet only fills about one.

Overall, I feel that my final piece is a drastic improvement – and it is clear to see that I have gained a large amount of skill since September.



8. How successful do you feel your end product is in fulfilling the task? How well does it fit the brief?

Personally, I am extremely happy with how my magazine turned out, especially when compared to my preliminary task. I believe that my magazine fit the brief well and includes everything that it needs to.

Throughout the design process, I followed most of the codes and conventions expected from a music magazine, however I did challenge some of them too, for example, many alt-rock magazines feature only males on the front cover, where as I featured only females.

Through conducting research into similar products and through conducting a questionnaire, I was able to discover what appeals to 16-21 year olds.

Over all, I believe that my magazine looks professional and would pass as a genuine music magazine.


G321: AS Media Studies: Evaluation

Education

Transcript of G321: AS Media Studies: Evaluation