Evaluation

Evaluation

• 1.
  Evaluation Of my mediaproduct
• 2.
  In what ways doesyour media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?  My media product uses similar conventions of a music magazine, with my own added style. I chose different elements and styles from different magazines to create and individual design for my magazine, which links in with the genre of indie music. I used Q magazine for the basis of my design as the colour scheme was effective and it was visually pleasing to the audience. In addition, using Q magazine worked favourably for me as many elements of music are touched upon in the magazine. I did research into magazine images and found that a mid-shot or a profile was the most effective image I could have used. I used the traditional style of a music magazine, however, as it would have appealed to a wide audience as the professionalism would have made it more likely to be sold to my target market. I did not challenge many codes or conventions of music magazines with my own design as it would look more realistic if it looked like every other music magazine, however I took elements from several magazines, mainly Q, to create my final design and to make it look slightly different.
• 3.
  How does your media product represent particular socialgroups?  My magazines represents women very positively, as the model shown in the front cover of the magazine is covered up and not sexualised, in addition, there is no sexualisation in my magazine. In fact, it has a very gender-neutral view on people in the magazine.Young people are represented positively in my music magazine, as it is aimed at a younger audience and possibly an older audience, so their fear of youth’s is diminished. Music from different generations are touched upon in my magazine as relatively modern music and older music is referred to, mainly to attract an older audience and to make the younger readers more aware of the music that out-dates them. Only young people are shown in my magazine, which may prevent the older audience from relating to the stories within.
• 4.
  What kind of media institution might distribute yourmedia product and why?  Whilst creating my magazine, I considered which magazine institution would consider publishing it for commercial retail.The Bauer Media Group specializes in the publication of music magazines, such as the popular magazines 'Q‘, Kerrang and MOJO.This would be appropriate for my magazine as the Bauer Media Group could be able to sell my magazine to a smaller, yet dedicated, audience. Another media company that would be likely to publish my magazine would be IPC media as it already published NME magazine and Guitar and Bass, and it would be likely to publish my magazine as it would hit a different market of people and would be likely to make a profit. A way of distributing my magazine would be through retail or perhaps online as the audience would be more technologically advanced.There is likeliness of distribution through subscription with my magazine, as people would be likely to start collecting and to continue collecting my magazine.
• 5.
  What have you learned about technologies fromthe process of constructing this product?  Camera – I have learned how to take an effective photograph, how to focus the camera and the position of model to imitate the style of a music magazine. I also learned that the context and the background of the photograph is also important as it should reflect the genre and tone of the magazine.The relevance of how the model looks and how it links in with the entire genre of the magazine.  Photoshop – the use of Photoshop and the subsequent skills I have gained from using this were editing photographs, adding text and creating an overall professional music magazine cover.This vastly improved the quality of my magazine as it made it look more professional. As well as photo editing, the fonts and over all design of my magazine was improved which developed the authenticity of 'OFFBEAT' to make it look like a true, professional magazine.  Blogger –The use of Blogger helped with the development of my skills in my media project as it allowed me to show my development and show off my ideas and thoughts in a public form of media.  Slideshare -The use of Slideshare to show the production of my product and the subsequent development of such was entirely helpful in my AS media project. It helped my show my work on a different media platform and helped me develop ideas and skills as well as show pictures for further detail in
• 6.
  Who would be theaudience for your media product?  My media product is aimed at people who are interested in indie music, or people going against the mainstream charts. It could also be aimed at people with a passion for music, like other musicians who look for their idols and things that inspire them. Usually, music magazines are aimed at young people who use them to read about good music and about their idols, further sparking interest in the individual and alternative genres. I have also used a ‘scan bar’ so the magazine can be access via technology, making it appropriate for the younger generation who amy not want to buy a physical copy of the magazine as they may find it more useful on a technological device. However, as I have mentioned the Sex Pistols in my magazine it can be aimed at older people who remember them, or people who would like to learn more about a band which isn't as well remembered. The general public would also be the audience as they would be coming across my product in any retail shop willing to sell my product, so I could not make it offensive or in anyway controversial, which may have rose its popularity and market consumption.
• 7.
  Looking back at your preliminary task,what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?  I have developed substantial skills and techniques on Photoshop, such as how to edit my front cover, contents page and double page spread and add further details to the magazine, and I have learned how to edit photos effectively to show professionalism, in addition the quality of my photographs have vastly improved which helped the development of my magazine.. I have also uses other magazines for a basis for my design and final product of my magazine. Research on different music magazines such as Q, NME and Rolling Stone aided the development of 'OFFBEAT' and the analysis on them has helped me develop my magazine greatly from my preliminary task. My knowledge of different media platforms such as Slideshare has improved, which allowed me to show my magazine at different stages of development and add a different media platform to my Blogger account.
• 8.
  How did you attract/address youraudience?  I attracted my audience with the professionalism of my magazine, which would have made it more likely for the customer to buy it. Furthermore, I attracted my audience by making everything on my media magazine cover visually appealing and easily accessible to the human eye. I used an appealing colour scheme and followed the social conventions of a professional music magazine. I attracted my audience by using information about bands and using words such as ‘exclusive’, the implication being that the story read in the magazine cannot be read anywhere else.The model I used for my front cover and as the main focus for my double page spread was attractive yet relatable which would attract people of both genders of the audience to my magazine. I also did research on the target market by posting a questionnaire onto my blog, in an attempt to get information on what music genre and elements of a magazine to focus on whilst creating my magazine.