G321 MEDIA STUDIESEVALUATION

AS Media Studies, Alexandra Jonczyk

QUESTIONS1. 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 institution might distribute your media 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 learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt 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?

1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA

PRODUCTS?My media product, the magazine uses several conventions of a music magazine. I have chosen my magazine to be under the genre of rock, therefore my conventions had to match the conventions of my magazine. In my research of similar product s I have focused on magazines such as Kerrang and Rock Sound, focusing on the codes and conventions applied throughout the front cover, contents page and double page spread. Here is an example of one of my research into similar products on Kerrang magazine.

On the front cover I have included conventions such as:• Left third, which is vital for the selling of the magazine on shop shelves where the whole

magazine is not visible. The left third contains the recognizable ‘SMASH!’ masthead, so that the reader’s attention will be brought to the magazine amongst other magazines.

• Masthead, which is distinctive at the top of the page. The masthead is important as it is the visual branding of the magazine. The font which I have chosen for the masthead, Ambulance Shotgun , I believe is quite unique. In my research I have found that rock music magazines such as Kerrang have mastheads made of fonts that stand out and scream for attentions, such as Kerrang, where the masthead is the largest feature on the page, and the font is very unique to resemble the loud nature of the magazine. I wanted my masthead to also resemble the loud nature of a music magazine, therefore the bold font Ambulance Shotgun fit my criteria of a font which can catch attentions of the audience as well as fit the genre of a rock magazine. Furthermore, the onomatopoeia ‘SMASH’ resembles the loud noise of a guitar smashing, which contributes to the rock genre of the magazine and is similar to ‘Kerrang’ which resembles the sound of a guitar.

• The main cover line, supported by anchorage text also contributes to the conventions of a real music magazine. I have chosen the logo of ‘Age Of Revolution’ to appear on the front cover as it will be recognisable to their fans and readers. ‘Their incredible journey’ aims to hook the reader, as they will want to find out more about the ‘journey’ and what it is. Anchorage text ‘It’s time to start a revolution’ will give the reader insight into the content of the interview, interesting them and persuading them to buy the magazine in order to read on. This is all highlighted in yellow, in order to make it stand out against other cover lines. The main cover line takes up at least ½ of the page, making it clear to the reader that it is the most significant feature of the magazine.

• I have included a selling line, which is a motto of a magazine which aims to tell the reader what the intention of the magazine is. The selling line of Smash magazine is ‘your favourite music magazine’ which is effective as it includes direct address to the reader, making the audience feel more involved in the magazine.

• As well as these main conventions, I have included cover lines which give the reader an insight into more of the features in the magazine. More of these can be seen on the contents page.

My magazine was inspired by my research where I have found many magazines which gave me inspiration.

This front cover of Q magazine inspired me to use a guitar in the photographs for my magazine. I liked the idea of having a guitar in the pictures as the guitar contributes to the rock genre of the magazines. It also contributes to the name of my magazine, ‘Smash’ which resembles the smashing of a guitar.

‘Kerrang’ gave me inspiration for the name of my magazine as I wanted something that can resemble the loudness of rock music. Therefore, as Kerrang resembles the sound of guitars, I have chosen ‘smash’ as it has loud connotations and resembles the sound of smashing guitars.

This Kerrang contents page influenced me as I liked the idea of the headings, and then the list of the contents underneath them. I have applied this concept to my magazine as I think the contents page looks more organised with the headings and articles are easier to find. I have analyzed this issue of Kerrang here.

This contents page gave me the idea of my cover star carrying a guitar upside down, as it seems edgy and relevant to the heavier music the band creates.

2.HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

My magazine aims for represent the social group of teenagers who are interested in rock music and rock music magazines.

The social group of my magazine usually wears dark clothing and dark make up. Therefore, my cover star represents this social group as she is wearing darker clothing, dark makeup and is carrying an electric guitar which resembles the rock theme of the magazine. The social group of teenagers who like rock music can relate to the cover star and feel more included in the magazine, seeing that it is a community of people who dress alike.

Here are the pictures of the cover star’s make up and the prop (guitar) she is using. I have explained why darker makeup will be effective and how the guitar will contribute to build up the rock theme of the magazine. The use of the guitar also creates symbiosis as it is seen all the way throughout the magazine.

Front cover

Double page spread

prop Contents page

3.WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

I have created my magazine to be in the image of Kerrang and Rock Sound magazines. These magazines are major music magazines which have a large audience of 15 to 24 year olds. Kerrang magazine is distributed by Bauer Media Group. Rock sound is distributed by Patrick Napier. Therefore, as these two magazines have been used as inspiration and have had an influence on the outcome of my final piece, I would expect my product, music magazine, to be distrubuted by a major/mainstream distribution/publishing company, such as Bauer which can reach my magazine to large amounts of people.

Earlier on in the year I have completed a layout task which helped me see the difference in neiche market and mainstream market magazines. I was given 5 magazine covers with no convention on them, with attatched information, telling me if the market is neiche or major and the kind of magazine which it is. This task was useful as it taught me the conventions applied to major/neiche market magazines. I could then use these conventions in order to create my own mainstream market magazine. Here is the layout task.

Therefore, I have chosen Bauer Media Group to distribute my magazine. This is because they are a global company with more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio stations, which means that they can reach the magazine to a very large amount of people. This means that it will reach a large majority of my target audience. Bauer also distributed Kerrang, which is a big inspiration for my own magazine.

4.WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?In order to establish an audience for my magazine I have done multiple research such as market research on the internet as well as surveys and questionnaires.

First of all, I decided that I wanted Kerrang to be an inspiration for my magazine. Therefore, I researched the target audience of kerrang: Kerrang target audience research. This research told me that the audience of Kerrang magazine are young people of ages 15-24, therefore if I wanted my magazine to be successful it had to target teenagers and young adults in this age range. Kerrang is a highly successful rock music magazine, which is popular amongst this age group, therefore it gave me guidance to the audience of my magazine which is a large market rock music magazine.

I have then researched the target audience of Rock Sound magazine which is again a very popular music magazine: Rock Sound target audience research. From this research I have found out that rock sound has the same target audience as kerrang: 15 to 24 year olds. This told me that it is vital that my magazine meets the criteria of this target audience. In order to reach this target audience i had to focus on the codes and convention of Kerrang and Rock Sound as these gave me guidance as to who should be my target audience.

Afterwards, I have created a survey monkey in order to ask people of my age and around my age questions about music magazines. The results of this survey have told me what my target audience expects out of a rock music magazine. This is useful as I can apply the needs of my target audience into my magazine in order to satisfy my audience, which will make the magazine sellable. I have received 10 responses, and I have analyzed each question in order to see what my audience would like to see in a music magazine: Survey monkey analysis.

All the target research have helped me find out what my target audience expects. My target audience will be 15 to 24 year olds, as other main rock music magazine such as Kerrang and Rock Sound, who target young people and music which young people enjoy.

5.HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?In my magazine I have addressed and attracted my audience in multiple ways.

In my selling line I have used direct address, ‘your’ so that the audience feels more involved in the magazine.

The cover star is making direct eye contact with the reader which makes the audience feel more engaged. Direct eye contact can make the reader feel like the cover star is talking directly to them which makes them feel more involved.

The use of the puff attracts the audience as they feel persuaded to buy the magazine in order to win tickets. This is also visible on the contents page where the reader can find out more.

I have also attracted my audience by the relatable costume of the cover star. My audience are 15-24 years olds who are interested in rock music. Most people in this age group dress in darker clothing. Therefore, the cover star is relating to the target audience and addressing them as it shows that the magazine is made for them

6.WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THE PRODUCT?

technology strengths weaknesses Creative process

Blogger Simple to use, creating blog posts is quick and easy

You can’t upload PDF files onto blogger, and PowerPoints have to be uploaded from different

Blogger was very useful when creating my product as it enabled me to share all my work, thoughts and plans to one place. It enabled me to look at the development of my product through the various posts created.

Page plus It is easy to use, has several tools to use when creating the magazine so you can create several features. The side by side view of pages helps you to see cohesion. Work can be saved to multiple flies such as jpeg and PDF.

Getting to know how to use it can be quite confusing. Sometimes saving to PDF makes the image have a worse quality and the background is sometimes removing when saving to PDF.

Page plus was the most useful when creating my magazine as it enabled me to create a professional looking magazine. It has the tools which enabled me to design the magazine in a way that real magazines are.

Paint.net Very easy to understand and to use. Layers enable easy manipulation of different parts of your work. Text is easy to apply and a range of colours is available

If you want to cut out a picture it can turn out not very accurate. Doesn’t have a very big range of fonts.

Paint.net was only useful in some areas, such as cropping out the cross sign from the masthead to use throughout the masthead in order to create cohesion. I tried to crop out a picture but it turned out to be very inaccurate, Photoshop is a better option for this.

Publisher Easy to use, good for creating drafts and plans for the three elements you have to create

Limited range of fonts and colours. Cutting out images is complicated

Publisher was only useful when creating rough drafts, like this draft of my contents page. It doesn’t have enough tools like page plus in order to create a magazine on it.

7.LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

From the preliminary task up to the final product a lot of improvement can be seen. This improvement is in layout, typography and the colours used. In the progression from the preliminary task to the final product I have learnt various codes and conventions, including how and where they can be applied, I learnt to use software such as PagePlus and Paint.net which helped me create my magazine as well as choosing the right typography and layout. In the progress leading up to creating the final product we have done activities such as the ‘remake remodel’ task: Remake Remodel which helped me understand how to apply conventions and choosing the right font, colours and applying an effective layout. I feel that the final product is much more professional as I knew about different conventions and had much more practice from tasks. Another task that we did to practice before the final product was a practice magazine in PagePlus which was much more independent as unlike the remake remodel task which had to be based off a different magazine.

8.HOW SUCCESSFUL DO YOU FEEL YOUR END PRODUCT IS IN FULFILLING THE TASK? HOW WELL DOES IT FIT THE BRIEF?

I feel that my end product is successful in fulfilling the task. It is a rock music magazine who meets the needs of it’s target audience of 15 to 24 year olds. I have made it to be in the image of Kerrang and Rock sound magazines. I feel that it is successful as it follows the codes and conventions used in rock magazines. Using the right conventions is important as it enables the magazine to fit the brief of a rock magazine. Using the wrong conventions and not applying it in the right way might make the magazine look less professional. I think it fits the brief as it has element of a music magazine. The article is also a Q&A on the double page spread which are usually seen in rock magazines, this way fans can have answers to questions they want answered. Therefore, I think that my magazine fits the brief very well as it has the components of a real rock music magazine.