Media EvaluationBy Alex Rodway
In what way does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?MastheadMain ImageCover LinesMain Cover lineImages, varied shotsLayoutText and language usedRule of thirds, balance, 	Guttenberg Diagram?
Using real conventions?Firstly, my product uses similar conventions to regular magazines that you would see in and around the market. My first intentions were to make the first look 	from the customer a good one. A good first impression never hurts, as that is what could either make or break your magazine.1st Plan for a front coverAs an example:If you take this front cover for example. At first glance, you may think that it’s just your average front cover, but then when you look again you realise that the front cover is screaming words at you. On the name of the magazine, it says ‘THE LOUD ISSUE!’ in big, bold capital letters and the word ‘AAARRRGH!’ which is just a word you would scream-y word in general.
Even more...After even more extensive research, I came across more covers in which I used some similar methods as previously mentioned. Some images:
Basically...The front cover with no picture or main Coverline. I had to adopt what made these front covers shine and attract lots of attention, and try to apply it to my own product.
Developing on real media productsI have my basic layout, but I have to try and develop on top of what real magazines have.An idea I had once.Diagram done in Paint.
ImagesTo sell a product, a good front cover image always helps. The one thing that catches your attention is always an image on the front cover and therefore, I needed a good front cover image to make my magazine sell.
Creating my own magazineCreating my own magazine was difficult, and possibly the most difficult part being just starting off. I had to take everything I had learnt from before into account and then try to take a house style from a professional magazine that I liked and I thought that it would suit my audience, and develop on that.
Challenging other magazinesBigger is better. That’s what any and every company believe in. So, I have to get ahead of the “Competition” by making bigger and better products.How to make things better?Who is the “Competition”?“Competition” could mean anyone who is among the same lines as me; making music magazines that wish to sell.I’m trying to come out with a good product in the end, and at the same time I am (mentally) trying to challenge other magazine producers out there.Vs.
Moving on...Attention grabbing front covers is the key to selling magazines, so to make a magazine that sells, I need to put a LOT of effort into the overall layout.You probably wouldn’tbuy this magazine.
Which one?
How does my media products represent particular social groups?Social groups:AgeSocial/working classGenderCertain taste in musicMore experience with certain musicPersonally, I can’t imaginethis old chap rocking out to abit of Aerosmith, or dancing away in a night club.
Social GroupsThere are many different social groups that the media has to target, so they have to base their work around their specific social group.
Social groups for my productMy product sells itself to more of an audience who is into a rock background. Mostly anything in this area of music is welcome, and I am also trying to draw more people in to liking this from other genres of music.
AgeAge isn’t a big problem for the major majority of the music industry, as people aren’t really judged on their taste for music with age. Although, some music magazines try to stretch to a certain age group with imagery or colours.
Age for my productAge doesn’t apply too much for my product as in other magazines may. Obviously, my magazine wouldn’t be suitable for older people and young children, but all of the in between is welcomed, if they choose to be.Nobody eversaid it was againstthe law for youngpeople to readmagazines madefor an olderaudience.
GenderGender can be singled out in media, as most magazine producers base their research and final products around either gender. A lot of the time, you will see magazines with models on the front who represent a certain gender.
Gender for my productMy product doesn’t single out any genders due to the fact that I have learnt that the area of music I am working with tends to not revolve around a certain gender, and anyone is able to enjoy it.
Certain taste in music/more experience with certain music Obviously, most magazines stretch to an audience who like a certain type of music; otherwise, it would actually be quite strange to have lots of different genres all wrapped up into one magazine as it wouldn’t really make too much sense.
Certain taste in music/more experience with certain music with my productMy magazine would be based on one genre of music, due to the fact that it makes for a better magazine and a better business plan.
Who would be the audience for my media product?My audience (personally) could be anyone who actually wants to purchase my media product.
But...But, my main target audience would have to be anyone who likes rock music or any related genres. For my magazine, it would have to be people around their teen years who are into rock music, or something similar.
Specific audienceSo the audience my magazine targets is very specific, but again, anyone is able to pick up the magazine if they choose to.
How did I attract/address my audience?Focus group findings came in quite handy when finding out how to attract an audience. Not only that, but the questionnaire helped a lot too as both provided a good enough overview to my target audience.
Focus groupIn the focus group, I got together with a few more people in a similar peer group, and gathered information on specific areas in which I could base my product house style.
Focus group continuedPeople in the focus group seemed to be carefree and not too bothered what was on a magazine, so as long as it appealed to them.Ap-pealing, get it?QuestionnaireThe questionnaire, in retrospect, was made to help me continue my research beyond the focus group to an area outside of the classroom.
Questionnaire continuedThe questionnaire helped me develop into much more depth with my key audience. I then knew what attracted them to a music magazine and how I could put this into my own product.
Questionnaire
What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?There were several different technologies I used in this project to help me make my product better than I initially thought I could.The prime examples were: ‘Adobe Photoshop’ (Editing)‘dafont.com’ (Fancy font styles)‘www.blogger.com’ (Blogging)
Adobe™ Photoshop CS3I used this program for my editing my creating my product, as it is possibly the greatest program for image editing. I was able to create my product for scratch by using this program and I have got the hang of using it really well.
Also…Adobe's range of editing software and programs. The  logo is located in the middle, and ‘Photoshop’ in the bottom left corner.Adobe™ have also made a trademark in the world wide web as the greatest editing program available anywhere. Not only can you edit images, you can edit videos and just about everything else using a variety of Adobe programs.
DaFont™‘DaFont’ is a website that was used by me to obtain fonts for my headlines and header of my magazine. It helped extremely well when creating my product.All made by using ‘DaFont’
BloggingFor blogging, I used a website that is called ‘Blogger™’. ‘Blogger’ helped me post my product on a personal blog that let the exam board and anyone else on the internet, and they could view and give feedback on how they feel about it.
Looking back at my preliminary task, what do I feel I have learnt in the progression from I to the full product?At first, my skills in media weren’t all that great, as I was given an ancillary project to do where I had to create a magazine for college to inform students about what is going on in and around college. It was only a front cover and a contents page only, and the contents page was only half done, as all characters on the page were replaced with ‘X’s.
The Ancillary project
Overall improvementFrom all that I have learnt along the way in media, I feel as though I have learnt upon past mistakes and I am able to create an adequate product which people may read/view. I am personally impressed with my own progress, as I thought I’d never get this far at first. And what do you know? I actually did.
Final project
Thanks for listening!I hope you enjoyed the PowerPoint and I hope you do well in your presentations too.
Media evaluation
Media evaluation
Media evaluation

Media evaluation

  • 1.
  • 2.
    In what waydoes my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?MastheadMain ImageCover LinesMain Cover lineImages, varied shotsLayoutText and language usedRule of thirds, balance, Guttenberg Diagram?
  • 3.
    Using real conventions?Firstly,my product uses similar conventions to regular magazines that you would see in and around the market. My first intentions were to make the first look from the customer a good one. A good first impression never hurts, as that is what could either make or break your magazine.1st Plan for a front coverAs an example:If you take this front cover for example. At first glance, you may think that it’s just your average front cover, but then when you look again you realise that the front cover is screaming words at you. On the name of the magazine, it says ‘THE LOUD ISSUE!’ in big, bold capital letters and the word ‘AAARRRGH!’ which is just a word you would scream-y word in general.
  • 4.
    Even more...After evenmore extensive research, I came across more covers in which I used some similar methods as previously mentioned. Some images:
  • 5.
    Basically...The front coverwith no picture or main Coverline. I had to adopt what made these front covers shine and attract lots of attention, and try to apply it to my own product.
  • 6.
    Developing on realmedia productsI have my basic layout, but I have to try and develop on top of what real magazines have.An idea I had once.Diagram done in Paint.
  • 7.
    ImagesTo sell aproduct, a good front cover image always helps. The one thing that catches your attention is always an image on the front cover and therefore, I needed a good front cover image to make my magazine sell.
  • 8.
    Creating my ownmagazineCreating my own magazine was difficult, and possibly the most difficult part being just starting off. I had to take everything I had learnt from before into account and then try to take a house style from a professional magazine that I liked and I thought that it would suit my audience, and develop on that.
  • 9.
    Challenging other magazinesBiggeris better. That’s what any and every company believe in. So, I have to get ahead of the “Competition” by making bigger and better products.How to make things better?Who is the “Competition”?“Competition” could mean anyone who is among the same lines as me; making music magazines that wish to sell.I’m trying to come out with a good product in the end, and at the same time I am (mentally) trying to challenge other magazine producers out there.Vs.
  • 10.
    Moving on...Attention grabbingfront covers is the key to selling magazines, so to make a magazine that sells, I need to put a LOT of effort into the overall layout.You probably wouldn’tbuy this magazine.
  • 11.
  • 12.
    How does mymedia products represent particular social groups?Social groups:AgeSocial/working classGenderCertain taste in musicMore experience with certain musicPersonally, I can’t imaginethis old chap rocking out to abit of Aerosmith, or dancing away in a night club.
  • 13.
    Social GroupsThere aremany different social groups that the media has to target, so they have to base their work around their specific social group.
  • 14.
    Social groups formy productMy product sells itself to more of an audience who is into a rock background. Mostly anything in this area of music is welcome, and I am also trying to draw more people in to liking this from other genres of music.
  • 15.
    AgeAge isn’t abig problem for the major majority of the music industry, as people aren’t really judged on their taste for music with age. Although, some music magazines try to stretch to a certain age group with imagery or colours.
  • 16.
    Age for myproductAge doesn’t apply too much for my product as in other magazines may. Obviously, my magazine wouldn’t be suitable for older people and young children, but all of the in between is welcomed, if they choose to be.Nobody eversaid it was againstthe law for youngpeople to readmagazines madefor an olderaudience.
  • 17.
    GenderGender can besingled out in media, as most magazine producers base their research and final products around either gender. A lot of the time, you will see magazines with models on the front who represent a certain gender.
  • 18.
    Gender for myproductMy product doesn’t single out any genders due to the fact that I have learnt that the area of music I am working with tends to not revolve around a certain gender, and anyone is able to enjoy it.
  • 19.
    Certain taste inmusic/more experience with certain music Obviously, most magazines stretch to an audience who like a certain type of music; otherwise, it would actually be quite strange to have lots of different genres all wrapped up into one magazine as it wouldn’t really make too much sense.
  • 20.
    Certain taste inmusic/more experience with certain music with my productMy magazine would be based on one genre of music, due to the fact that it makes for a better magazine and a better business plan.
  • 21.
    Who would bethe audience for my media product?My audience (personally) could be anyone who actually wants to purchase my media product.
  • 22.
    But...But, my maintarget audience would have to be anyone who likes rock music or any related genres. For my magazine, it would have to be people around their teen years who are into rock music, or something similar.
  • 23.
    Specific audienceSo theaudience my magazine targets is very specific, but again, anyone is able to pick up the magazine if they choose to.
  • 24.
    How did Iattract/address my audience?Focus group findings came in quite handy when finding out how to attract an audience. Not only that, but the questionnaire helped a lot too as both provided a good enough overview to my target audience.
  • 25.
    Focus groupIn thefocus group, I got together with a few more people in a similar peer group, and gathered information on specific areas in which I could base my product house style.
  • 26.
    Focus group continuedPeoplein the focus group seemed to be carefree and not too bothered what was on a magazine, so as long as it appealed to them.Ap-pealing, get it?QuestionnaireThe questionnaire, in retrospect, was made to help me continue my research beyond the focus group to an area outside of the classroom.
  • 27.
    Questionnaire continuedThe questionnairehelped me develop into much more depth with my key audience. I then knew what attracted them to a music magazine and how I could put this into my own product.
  • 28.
  • 29.
    What have Ilearnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?There were several different technologies I used in this project to help me make my product better than I initially thought I could.The prime examples were: ‘Adobe Photoshop’ (Editing)‘dafont.com’ (Fancy font styles)‘www.blogger.com’ (Blogging)
  • 30.
    Adobe™ Photoshop CS3Iused this program for my editing my creating my product, as it is possibly the greatest program for image editing. I was able to create my product for scratch by using this program and I have got the hang of using it really well.
  • 31.
    Also…Adobe's range ofediting software and programs. The logo is located in the middle, and ‘Photoshop’ in the bottom left corner.Adobe™ have also made a trademark in the world wide web as the greatest editing program available anywhere. Not only can you edit images, you can edit videos and just about everything else using a variety of Adobe programs.
  • 32.
    DaFont™‘DaFont’ is awebsite that was used by me to obtain fonts for my headlines and header of my magazine. It helped extremely well when creating my product.All made by using ‘DaFont’
  • 33.
    BloggingFor blogging, Iused a website that is called ‘Blogger™’. ‘Blogger’ helped me post my product on a personal blog that let the exam board and anyone else on the internet, and they could view and give feedback on how they feel about it.
  • 34.
    Looking back atmy preliminary task, what do I feel I have learnt in the progression from I to the full product?At first, my skills in media weren’t all that great, as I was given an ancillary project to do where I had to create a magazine for college to inform students about what is going on in and around college. It was only a front cover and a contents page only, and the contents page was only half done, as all characters on the page were replaced with ‘X’s.
  • 35.
  • 36.
    Overall improvementFrom allthat I have learnt along the way in media, I feel as though I have learnt upon past mistakes and I am able to create an adequate product which people may read/view. I am personally impressed with my own progress, as I thought I’d never get this far at first. And what do you know? I actually did.
  • 37.
  • 38.
    Thanks for listening!Ihope you enjoyed the PowerPoint and I hope you do well in your presentations too.

Editor's Notes

  • #4 This is about my first notes in Media; where I research some professional magazines and try to adopt what they use into my own ideas. Guttenberg diagram, the left third, etc., etc. I took a look at some more professional magazines to try and seewhat tactics they possessed which they used to attract people’s attention.
  • #5 I am dwelling on themain factors of the magazine, including the picture, the band and anything else that sells the magazine. I think that this front cover screams at the reader because of all the language used being of extremely loud words.
  • #6 There are a lot of different methods in which the covers show what stood out, which I used in my product overall.
  • #8 Take into effect what I had to realise what real magazines already have, and explain what I did to develop upon those values in the magazines I found that’d already been done.
  • #9 Talk about images in this slide. Describe how I took the simplicity of the magazine, and used that to develop my own ideas.
  • #10 Speak about what I worried about, such as my audiences viewpoints on the overall verdict, if the image was right, and the fact that I had to start all over at one point because my images weren’t good at first.
  • #11 Explain what is meant by bigger is better. Develop on top of older products and products that achieved greatly.
  • #12 Speak about what the general term of competition means and what I hope to achieve by the end of this product
  • #13 Link back to previous points, such as using and developing on other magazines, but don’t dwell too much on this point. “Walk into a shop, and what would you pick up first?” On the next slide.
  • #14 Q: Time, effort, professional studio and an extremely famous and well known band in quite a nice image to link in with the catchphrase about them, plus more features explained inside, so people would definitely buy it.Rolling Music: Not too much time put into the picture as it looks like it was done in his/her bedroom, name and font style stolen from ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine, text overlaps, not very interesting main title, sentence structure and case of text is awful, the date also too large and gets cut off at the end. Talk about pricing too; hard to see but is extremely pricey at £10.50, nobody would buy it.Rolling Stone: Made at the time when Barack Obama just became president of the United States of America, no text describing anything on the inside, but it’s the fact that Obama is on the cover at the time the magazine was released that the cover doesn’t need text, as people would just be completely interested and hooked regardless. Mysterious too; a kind of ‘buy to find out more’ moments.FADER magazine: Similar to ‘Rolling Stone’, but isn’t as well drawn out. If you are to introduce some new talent into the market, you need to at least have some text from already known artists to grab people’s attention, as nobody would pick up the magazine otherwise.This is a little question of which one someone would pick if they were to walk into a shop.
  • #15 I need to explain each of the above points in not much detail, but enough so people know what is going on.
  • #16 ‘NME’ is quite a strange choice when it comes to social groups. ‘NME’ doesn’t target specific audiences, just generally music lover and anyone who is into the world of music specifically. Although, you could argue that it target almost everyone due to the fact that the magazine doesn’t revolve around specifically music, but the lives of bands and musicians as well. Not everyone will buy the magazine, but it stretches out to a wider variety of social groups than other magazine producers such as ‘Kerrang’ and ‘VIBE’
  • #17 My product bases itself around an audience who are more into rock than any other type/genre of music. In this area, there are types of music like Metal, Heavy, Aerosmith, Epic, etc. But, my product is also on the lookout to attempt to sell itself to more of a wide range audience, as I am always trying to convert people to change to this genre of music and to see it differently than what they may currently view it as.
  • #18 Age doesn’t really apply to this part of the media as, let’s say, maybe the film industry. But, some people may feel targeted by a certain range of music due to social effects that may occur in their lives such as peer pressure and intimidation from other people. This could end up, ultimately, swaying their opinion and maybe narrowing my available audience.
  • #19 My product hasn’t got a particular targeted age group, and so any aged person can feel free to pick this up. From a more personal experience, I know that most younger people don’t develop a proper taste for music until they hit their teen years, and then they end up finding a music style that they personally like. But, this can be changed by peer pressure and most things that were mentioned earlier.
  • #20 I have noticed, especially with the newer end of music, that most magazines based themselves around one particular gender, and that the way to selling the product to the correct key audience depends all on character models and text used, which includes style and font of text, colour and how aggressive the language used may be.
  • #21 Focus group findings helped me here, as when I discussed this area of music with the rest of the focus group, both males and females came out and said what they were into and what they were going to base their magazines on. Altogether, there isn’t a particular preferred gender that I am looking for with my product.
  • #22 If you found a magazine with several different kinds of music inside of it, it wouldn’t be the greatest reading material ever, as the majority of people would only read one section of the magazine; if they were to even buy the magazine in the first place, because most people would buy a magazine based purely on the genre of music they prefer.
  • #23 You have to take into consideration that many different kinds of music are classified by different values. One of these values is colour. Colour can be the difference between attracting the correct audience, and not selling a thing. You wouldn’t really represent a rock magazine with pink and pretty ‘rainbow’ colours, or a pop magazine with a bloody and dark colour.
  • #25 I’ve found out that the people in my focus group revolve around a more of an experienced fanbase, which means I can use more a language/text that communicates with the audience.
  • #26 I have mentioned age before, but age can also matter when targeting a specific audience, as the majority of old people wouldn’t be into rock music, and the younger generation would probably be all about the new ‘techno’ style music. But if anyone would want to come and pick up the magazine, they are able to do so as there isn’t a law against it or anything of a similar sort.
  • #30 The more people I could ask, the more accurate my research would be.