Written Evaluation

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

Front CoverMy front cover uses many forms and conventions of real media products. Firstly, I have included a masthead for my magazine. The name of my magazine is “INFAMOUS”. It was inspired by other magazines, such as VIBE and Rap UP.. ‘INFAMOUS’ is short, snappy and easy to remember, and so would probably be easy to sell. The font of my masthead is “urban city”. I chose this font because it was clear and easy to read by all users, whilst also having a very urban look which relates well to the music associated. The blocks inside the words have connotations of gritty, raw, humble music. It would appeal to my target audience of boys/teens/men aged between 15 and 35 years.

The strap line for my magazine is located above the mast head, in a yellow and white font. This attracts a lot of attention, and once read, would persuade users to purchase the magazine, as it includes the artists included in the magazine. The strap line for this magazine reads “RICK ROSS, MEEK MILL, TREY SONGZ, DRAKE TYGA” This makes users feel that they are getting their moneys worth as there are many high profile names on the front, and so if they want a magazine of this music genre, and top quality artists this is the only one for them.

Another form and convention that I have used are cover lines, kickers and explanatory text. The main cover line reads “A.Stacks”, and is the name of the model in the main image. The font I used for this was a straight, easy-to-read font, which looks bold and brash. Also, because of the rigidness, it looks very masculine, which is good because the model is male. The font colour of this text is yellow, which stands out extremely well. It is also a very bright colour, which shows that ‘A.stacks’ is a very confident and unique. The explanatory text is located underneath this cover line, and describes what the magazine is doing with ‘A.stacks’s.

I have chosen to only use several kickers on my magazine, as I want there to

be a variety of things that attract customers. I positioned these kickers on both sides of A.stacks. The font colours are yellow and white, which contrasts well with the black background, making it stand out well. The explanatory text tells readers that this is A.stacks’ world exclusive interview. I feel that I could have, however, filled out the space above A.stacks shoulders more, either with images or more text. Most standard magazines have about six kickers and coverlines, and I only have 5, which is enough. Here, I have therefore gone with the standard convention of real media products.

ContentsOn my contents page, I have not used many standard conventions. I have included page numbers and given a description of what each page featured will have. This means that it is easier for users to decide what they want to read and easily locate it within the magazine. I have developed the standard form of page number by making the numbers for images bigger. This is sometimes done in other magazines, yet they are not normally this big. I also changed the colour, which goes against standard conventions.

Double Page SpreadMy double page spread uses many forms and conventions of standard double page spreads. Firstly, I have taken a photo of ‘A.stacks’, and positioned it on the right. This is because this image would attract much more attention, and so by placing it on the right page, users will see it first and would then want to read the article. The model in the photo is straight faced, which tells the audience how serious he is about what he is saying, and how serious he is about his music. The black and white makes the image look professional, which makes helps the magazines look. Lastly, I have positioned a second image of a.stacks, a smaller one on the first page, with the text going around

him, this improves the look of the double page spread.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Front CoverMy front cover targets males of quite a wide age range, probably from the years 15-35. The model on the front is a teenager of 16 years, and so she would appeal to this sort of age group. His relaxed facial expression is extremely stereotypical and strongly represents boys of this age. The language used is extremely exclusive, and would appeal to everyone who likes the artists that are being promoted. Also the way the man is dressed in very casual clothes helps the audience to feel like they relate to the artist more. This is more typical of those middle class who follow the artist and although they do not have the same budget, the fact that they are wearing the same clothes shows that they were in the same social group. The actions he is showing may represent the stereotypical middle to lower class citizen. He does not look particularly classy or well done up. Someone looking at my magazine and trying to derive an oppositional reading would look at my magazine pages and criticize them for showing the sort of rapper who promotes music of a violent nature.

ContentsThe contents page appeals to a wide range of people. There is an image of two old-looking teenagers, to appeal to the age group of 15-35 years. There is

the pose of Jordan which is quite ‘pouty’, and goes against the general theme of the magazine so far. The effect of this is that it would catch the attention a little more of people who are not expecting it. This will appeal to a wider range of people who prefer a diverse theme. This would probably be outside of the target audience and would represent social groups not intentionally targeted. Another way in which I have attempted to appeal to different social groups is in the binary opposition of the props that the two figures are wearing; one is wearing a shirt and tie which would appeal to the upper/middle classes who have more of a disposable income, possibly increasing the number of people who are able to pay for other features in the magazine.

On the other hand you have a rapper in a tracksuit. This would probably represent the lower classed audience who would dress the same/similar, this would relate to the lower income they would be perceived to have and as a result they would buy clothes less because of style and more because of practicality. In addition to this, the colors he is wearing are the same color scheme as the contents page. The colors used are black and red, appealing to more of a masculine audience.

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

Various major music distributors would probably publish this magazine, this would be because the music genre is quite mainstream and I would expect a large number of youths who listen to Rap/R&B music to buy the magazine. The magazines publisher would probably own many different magazines, which includes other genres of music magazines. These would be all very different to my magazine, meaning that there is a place in the market for something new and exciting. Also, these music magazines they own range from £2.20-£4.30, meaning that my £2.60 would probably attract more attention and be quite popular. In addition to this I would hope to offer more

than similar magazines in the same field, thus making my music magazine stand out as better value for money.

Also because the Rap/ R&B music industry is perceived to be quite an extravagant industry, I would want my music magazine to be an accurate reflection of this. By this I mean, typically rappers like to show off what they own, from expensive jewellery to flashy cars. I would aim for my music magazine to be very lavishly decorated, to make the magazine seem more prestige.

This is made easier by the colour scheme I have chosen to employ. The shade and the font of the writing almost resemble gold, the types of jewellery worn by artists in this genre. This would help to sell the magazine subconsciously as it would be appealing to people without them knowing.

Who would be the audience for your media product?The audience of this magazine is males from the ages of 15 to 35 years. This is clear by the use of a male for the main cover image and double page spread, and the average age of him, which is 16 years. This would enable more of the population to feel as though they directly relate to the magazine. The font for the main cover line is extremely rigid and straight, and would not appeal to females. I would have gained more of a female following had I chosen a more neutral female friendly font, however the colour I have selected for the front cover is quite neutral so at first glance could possibly appeal to females.

How did you attract/address your audience?Front CoverMy front cover attracts quite a lot of attention from users. This is mainly due to my magazine house colours of white and yellow. These colours are both bright and when put together; they blend well, therefore attracting a lot of attention from passersby. What also attracts attention is the medium shot of 'A.stacks', and his strong eye contact with the readers. In regards to the way users are addressed, on the front cover the language is not too formal. It is in

between being formal enough for older Rap listeners to enjoy the magazine, whilst being informal enough for the younger listeners to still feel that they can read the magazine and still feel personal attachment to it. ContentsAttention is attracted to this contents page mainly by the colours. Red contrasts well against the black background, which attracts attention. Also, the main image of the two artists, because of the size of them, attracts a lot of attention from the audience. Their poses are quite provocative and they make direct contact with the reader. Another thing that is quite attractive is the diamond watch on the wrist of the lower artist. It shows the kind of material goods rappers possess. This could provoke the desires of the readers to also be wealthy and able to afford such accessories. Also, with lavish accessories such as the watch it enables audiences to talk about it to their friends,

Double Page SpreadWhat mainly attracts attention my double page spread is the image and heading. The image is extremely high quality, and takes up most of the right page. This instantly attracts attention from the user. The heading is in a large size, and the font is extremely unique. This attracts attention, as it is not a standard font that people will recognise, making them look twice. Lastly, the strong pose of A.Stacks on the left swearing; this shows is nonchalant side, as he is shown as care-free. The colours are opposites; white text on black background. This is so that the words can be read easily, and contrasts well against the background.

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

I have learnt many techniques whilst making my magazine. The technique that I felt most useful was the magnetic lasso tool on Adobe Photoshop. This tool allowed me to highlight sections of images and delete the background, which came in extremely handy for my front cover when I needed to delete the background of my photo. For example, I used this tool to delete the words on A.Stacks watch. This helped me to add a touch of professionalism to my magazine and made it seem less tacky and less amatuer.

In addition to the photoshop skills I gained i also improved my knowledge of online websites such as Slideshare, Blogger and Dafont.

Slideshare is an online website that allows its users to create powerpoints about certain topic areas and display them online for others to view. It was particularly useful to me as it allowed me to transfer documents from Microsoft Word to Blogger without losing the format.

Blogger is an online web-based blogging website. It allows users to create and publish online blogs amongst themselves. This was particularly useful to me as it allowed me to upload much of my project and share it directly with my teacher.

Dafont is another online website. It allows its users to develop and upload many different fonts for people to download.

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

I feel that the main thing I have learnt is that it is extremely useful to produce drafts. In my preliminary task, I did not create many drafts, and so my final product probably wasn't as good as it could have been. However, in this project, I made sure that I created at least two drafts of each document, so that it could be an extremely successful final product.

Another lesson I learnt was the importance of research and planning in the construction of a project such as this. Questionnaires and other forms of research were especially valuable to me as my peers that I was researching were members of my target audience.

I did however face minor problems in regards to photo taking. I found when I tried to produce my pages that the range of photos that I took was quite limited. This meant that I was not able to construct very effective and professional looking pieces at first. However with my main task I learnt to take a variety of photos with my model trying to be as creative as he can with his poses.

In regards to location for the preliminary task, the locations I chose were very limited; I was restricted to school based backgrounds, whereas for my final product I was able to access more consistent backgrounds.

Evaluate how successful your product is with your target audience (using audience feedback)

To conclude my evaluation, I feel that my project was quite successful. Based on audience feedback I feel that my magazine pages came out very easy to read for the audience and were generally a success. However I would say that my front cover was stronger than my other two pages and achieved and was more successful what I hoped for. I think once compared to the picture that gave me inspiration, it does bear a strong resemblance. I would base my

success on the research I have done which allowed me to create a magazine that both challenged and conformed to the different media conventions.