Magazine Evaluation

Magazine Evaluation

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  Magazine Evaluation 1. Inwhat ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? The ways inwhichmy magazine hasincorporatedthe aspectof a magazine isthatI have usedthe correct conventionsthat appearona magazine suchas the masthead, whichis usedas the title of the magazine toinform the readerthe brand name of the magazine.The mastheadformy magazine iscalledAsymmetryRock Forexample the brandname of my magazine iscalledAsymmetryRock, the coverimage isalsoa mainconventionfora magazine asusesa image of a bandor artistwhichis goingto be the subjectof topicinthe magazine andthe coverline isused almostlike asub- headingthatgoeswiththe cover image to give the readermore infoaboutthe mainstoryof the magazine.Ihave alsoused puffs,whichare little bitsof informationthatcanbe usedto promote an advertisementin the magazine. Ifeel like Ihave developedthe conventionsof a magazine, asI understand whattheyare and howtheyare usedina magazine inorderto approach the reader and more importantlyIhave beenable toportraythese conventionsinmyveryownmagazine and developtheseconventionsfurthertomake themappropriate tomy genre of magazine. I alsofeel like Ihave metthe expectationsof areal publishedmagazine asIhad includedall of the conventionsthatneededtobe includedinamagazine andIhave also gone intogreat detail withthe storythatI have writtenformy double page spread asI wantedthe texttobe very eastread and notmake it to hard forthemto read because of mytarget audience andy magazine will be readingthatthe readerwill dointheirleisure time. Byusingthe magazine conventionsitdoeshelpme specifywhatgenre mymagazine is,whichIdecideditwouldbe a rock genre magazine asit isa genre of musicthat I like andI feltthatI wouldbe the most comfortable creatingamagazine aboutthisgenre of musicas I generallylistentothisgenre of magazine. Igot mostof myinspirationandinfluence fromthe Kerrangmagazine, whichis a real mediatextthat isaimedandmy targetaudience anditis a rock genre magazine.AlsoI myself buythismagazine soIknow the layoutand the conventionsthatare usedinthis specificgenre of magazine. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? I wouldpersonallysaythatmy magazine represents teenagers(13-19) whoare into genre rock music,mymagazine can be for any gender andanyrace livinginthe Unitedkingdom, but lookingatthe final designof mymagazine IthinkthatI wouldbe more likelytoappeal to teenage boysnotteenage girls, thiscanbe seenasstereotypical aspeoplemayassociated teenage boyswiththisgenre of musicastheymay be seenasmore dominantasthere are more male rock bandssuch as GreenDay, MalloryKnox andYou Me At Six thenthere ae female rockbands. Thisdoeslinkinwithmytargetaudience asI didwant to aimmy magazine atteenage boysthangirlsbut,what I have noticedthroughoutmyresearchis that girlsdo buyrock magazine thatmay notbe aimedatthem, such as Kerrangthat has a unisex audience,soIdo not see the reasonwhyteenage girlsshouldnotbuymymagazine.
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  3. What kindof media institution might distribute your media product? I didsome researchintodifferentpublishinghousesandIfoundthat theyBauerMedia Companyisthe publishinghousethatIwould like topublishmymagazine as theyalready publishKerrangmagazine aswell asthe Kerrangradioand the TV programme. Thismakes me feel confidentthattheywouldbe able toadvertise mymagazine tothe appropriate target audience asmymagazine hasthe same target audience astheir veryown Kerrang magazine.The BauerMediaCompanyhave differenttargetaudiencesthattheyaimat throughthe differentmagazinestheypublish, whichmakesthem verysuccessful,asthey have magazine aimedatteenagers,women,menandpeoplewithhobbies, thismake thema very well known publishingcompany andisa veryinternationalinstitution astheyhasa very wide range of audiences. The yearly revenue forthe Kerrangmagazine thatthe Bauer Mediasell Iwould estimate thattheygetaround£114.40. For my magazine Iwouldlike to charge £2.50 for my magazine asI thinkthat thisisa fair amountof moneyto payas many people willbe able toaffordtopay for mymagazine,Iwas alsothinkaboutaddingina subscriptionwere theywouldpay£15 and receive afree issue of mymagazine eachweek for a yearas a wayto achieve more moneyforthe companyandmy magazine, butalsoa wayto attract more people tomymagazine. SoI wouldestimate thatmyrevenue thatI wouldgetinmy firstyearof mymagazine beingpublishedbasedonthe magazine along withoutthe subscriptionswouldbe £130. I wouldlike mymagazine tobe available in differentplatforms,asitwill helppublicisemymagazine tothe restof the people andhelp buildthe reputationof AsymmetryRock,eventuallyIwouldlike mymagazinetobe able to be downloadtothe app store so that people onthe gocan still readthe magazine 4. Who would be the audience for your media product? I knewbefore Ievenstarted tocreate my magazine thatI wanteditto be aimedat teenagersasitis a veryeasyaudience toaimat as I am a teenage myselfandIam essentially aimingat myown age group.So I had to make sure that the featuresthatI usedinmy magazine hadto linktomy targetaudience.The presentational layoutof mymagazine hasa very informal layout,inordertomake the readerfeel thattheyare readinga magazine nota newspaper.Tohelpme create mymagazine Iusedthe Kerrangmagazine whichappealsto the same target audience asmymagazine andmost of its readersare teenagersand therefore Ican use theirfeaturesandtheir presentational layoutandapplyitina similarway to my magazine toensure thatitaims andmeetsthe expectationsof myaudience.To maintainmyaudiences interestI will include newstorieseachweek withdifferentbands in the rock genre inhope my audience are fansof the bandsthat include inmymagazine each weekandthey wouldenjoyreadinganarticle aboutthemIwill alsotyto include asmany differentbandsasI can intomy magazine eachweek inordertomaintainthe readers interestthroughoutthe magazine.
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  5. How doyou attract/address the audience? The particularfeatures thatwouldattract the audience are theymastheadasit isthe first thingthat the readerwill lookat,alongwiththe coverimage as itshowsthe image of the bandthat are goingto be the mainfocusof the magazine.Aswell asthe mastheadandthe coverimage the readerwill alsolookatthe coverline andthe otherstoriesthatare include inthe magazine,tosee if theywouldbe interestedintoreadingthe storiesthemselves. The picturesthatI have usedinthe double page spreadare relevanttothe story inorder to make it appeal tothe readerand to show that I know how to use the conventional features of a magazine.If the picturesweren’trelatedtothe storythenitwouldn’t appeal the target audience anditwouldlookasif I did nothow to use the featuresthatare required ina magazine. The coloursthatI have usedfor the cover page are verydark colours,which the readermay findveryoff puttingastheyare verydark coloursand the readermay not be able to readthe textthat is onthe coverpage and theymayalso thinkthatthe magazine is not aimedatthem.In orderto improve mymagazine IthinkthatI woulduse slightlybrighter coloursthat wouldappeal tomytarget audience.Throughoutmycontentspage andmy double page spreadIhave usedthe same coloursall the way throughto make my magazine lookconsistentandthiswouldvisuallyplease the reader. Iwasalsogivensome audience feedbackformymagazine,Igenerallygotgoodproductive feedbackformymagazine however, andI didsome negative feedbackformymagazine sayingthatthe backgroundwas to dark and thattheywere findingithardto readthe text. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of construction the product? The camera that I used to take my photos was a Nikon and itwas very good at givingme very high quality images that I could use for my magazine however, the only thing that I could count as a weakness for the Nikon camera is thatI had to find a setting which would allowme to take pictures in a concert atmosphere, different settings reacted differently to the atmosphere that I was in. The photography process ran smoothly and there were no major problems that I faced at the photo shoot as everything pretty much ran accordingto plan.The desktop software that I found very easy to use when editing my pictures was Adobe Photoshop as it had the tools that I would need in order to professionally editmy magazine images. There were tools that I found useful to edit with such as the lasso tool which allowed me to go around the image to remove the background so that I could use it for my cover page, contents page or my double page spread. Adobe InDesign was very useful when I was constructingmy media text into my magazine as I could set the text out in columns and copy and paste my text into these columns and it made the text look neater and professional,also I could position my pictures on page and have the text wrap around the pictureto make it look more likea magazine. Adobe Photoshop, however I found much harder to use than InDesign but itwas very useful to help me edit my photos to make them look as professional aspossible,the main tools I used in photo shop were the lasso tool – which I have mentioned, the text tool so I could add text to my pages and the shapetool which helped me add shapes so I so I could add puffs to my cover page by usingthese tools helped me create my magazine successfully.
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  7. Looking backat your preliminary task, what do you fell that you havelearnt in the progressionfrom it to the full product? The firststage was my research and planning,this is where I looked at different genres of magazines and music to decide which magazine would be the best suitfor me. Then I looked at the different conventions of a magazinein order for me to use these in my own magazine and to know where they go and what they are used for. The followingpartof the research and planningwas to create flat plans which,helped me plan my page out so that I knew when itcame to the final production I knew where everything was going to be on the page. I also created a call sheetthat told the models for my photo shootand me where I needed to be at what time and with the equipment that was needed, this was to show that I am good at planningand that my call sheetmade it very easy to do the photo shoot as everyone arrived atthe photo set on time. The skills thatI haveshown in my prelimare very basic and itwas very limited as I was still gettingto grips with Adobe Photoshop as I had not used it before. By the time I had created my final version of my magazineI had defiantly shown a lot more variety in my skillsasI was ableto develop my flatplans and mock up’s that I had created and use them to create a professional magazineusingPhoto shop and InDesign. In the future I feel that I could use all the equipment again such as the DSLR cameras which were very easy to useand produced good high quality pictures.Also I feel that I would be able to use Adobe Photo shop and InDesign as I have had the practiceand the experience to know what to do next time. I feel very successful and happy with my final productas I fell that I have performed at the best of my skills and I haveproduced a really well done professional magazine.