AS Media Studies- Coursework Evaluation

Bethany Dobson

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

The ways that my media product/my magazine front cover uses conventions of real media products is by including the main features that are usually situated on the front cover. Underneath shows the matching conventions features from my final front cover and an existing front cover that I have previously analysed.

Masthead: For my magazine I have used a quick, catchy masthead, it is very similar to the existing magazine shown below on the right. The masthead name reflects the aim of the business, they would like the name to “echo” everywhere around the county, country or in fact world, this suggests that members of the public will be acknowledged of this magazine through “word of mouth”.

Headline: Just like the existing magazine on the left, I have included on my magazine front cover the “celebrity’s” name (who is also captured for the main image) for the headline, followed with, “Exclusive Interview” which not only encourages the regular customers of “Echo” magazine but also encourages the fans of “Scarlett Rose” to see a first ever interview that has never been covered by any other magazine. I made sure my headline was a large size, in order to allow “passers by” or could be possible fans to be able to see what the magazine offers from a distance.

Main Image: Both images overtake the masthead texts. This shows that both companies are confident enough that there magazine is popular and successful so that customers will already know who they are through the familiar consistent look the magazine follows out every week.

Pug: To avoid the magazine looking “bare” and to also encourage a wider range of audience through persuasive techniques such as money vouchers and exclusive “Win A Trip” holidays. This could attract customers of the specific businesses/retailers who would want to use it next time they would like to purchase a product from them and also attract a person who would like a break so they would take a chance to win a holiday.

Masthead

Main Image

Pug

Headline

(1.)

Main Image

Title

ContentsList

Additional

Images

The ways that my media product/my magazine contents uses conventions of real media products is by including the main features that are usually situated on the front cover. Underneath shows the matching conventions features from my final front cover and an existing front cover that I have previously analysed.

Title: The difference between the existing contents page on the right doesn’t include the title, “Contents” and secondly the text of the contents has been rearranged on my final contents page in order to make it unique and to help it stand out with its unconventional ways.

Main Image: On my contents page I have made clear which image is classed as the main image, and which images follow as the additional images. The main image is set as transparent to avoid it becoming the main focus due to the contents information needing to be the main part on the page. This is very similar to the set out of the contents page on the right which concludes this feature of the contents page is conventional.

Contents List:Both contents list’s are placed on either edge of the page followed with the images spaced around on the other side. Each listings has used a heading in order to section each lot of text out.

(1).Double Page SpreadUnconventional features:• Title (Scarlett Rose) spreading across both pages.• Sub Title being a rhetorical question.• Background including faded large images.• Border of images.

• The text is sectioned off “Fortune”, “Lifestyle”, “Love Life”, including questions and answers,

which makes both pages become more like a real interview.• Colour co-ordinated, texts matches certain images

Conventional features:• Title• Introduction• Interviewing• Images• Enlarged quotes, which are used in order to keep the audience reading until they find that

specific effective maybe even shocking quote.

2.How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The title of my magazine is quick and catchy, the idea of this is so that the young audience’s can be grabbed straight away to then buy the product.

The sort of people my magazine can engage to are females aged from 16-25 this chosen age was decided by the front cover image with a model aged ranging the same and also through a survey which I carried out, this will be shown on slide 6. The class of the magazine can be decided by anyone from the indication received off the price range and also the pug (advertisement). The pug portrays a £5.00 off voucher which everyone is usually after. This concludes the class to be all of them (lower class, working class and upper class).

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

Local Newspaper shopsMagazine CompaniesGive away for freeAdvertisement in papersAdvertisement through internet bannersDirect MailTelevision AdvertisementsText MessagesChain Mail through social networks

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product will be females ranging from the ages of 16-25, to find this out I carried out a survey in order to decide upon a suitable age range. In the following survey I used the question ,

Are you likely to buy a R n’B magazine once a week pricing 2.50?

Below are the percentage results and on the right shows a pie chart also with the results.

16-25 : 30%

26-37 : 27%

38-54 : 22%

55% : 21%

16-25

26-37

38-54

55+

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract/ address my audience I used bright colours and effective simple vocabulary for the front cover . Whilst creating my magazine my main focus on appearance was mainly the front cover. As a possible customer, walking past a magazine stand you need something to catch the eye, Through plenty of research I have discovered the way to attract an audience is a bright colours and an attractive front cover. My aim for the front cover was to offer the best features of the magazine right on a plate (on the front cover). This reassures the audience that the magazine has the best of everything, from Exclusive Interviews to “Win A Trip Holidays” and that the inside is a professional and as great as the front cover,

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of

constructing this product?I have learnt and understood how to use blogger. Using blogger is a form

of tracking information posted on a certain page. It started with simple sets which then I was able to adapt by increasing my posts on the site by including images, videos and presentations. I have also developed skills with fireworks, originally I had no idea how to add effect to text, however through experimenting (trial and error) I have now learnt different effects and can use for text in order to boost its attractiveness and boldness. On the next slide is a small diagram of images showing my freshly learnt skill.

I have also learnt how to publically share videos and presentations through a internet program called, Slide Share. Slide share offers people to register wit them to then be able to publically publish files onto the internet to then be able to access to it through Blogger, rather then the fuss of saving each Power Point page as a image to then upload each individual slide onto blogger. Slide Share helps to saves time and makes the process of uploading files to Blogger much simpler and a lot easier.

Here I type out a word and then move the mouse down to “Effects” and then click on any of the selected effects which I would like to use.

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

Comparing my Preliminary task Blogspot with my Music Magazine Blogspot it most definitely shows my skills have adapted and improved due to my work looking more effective and attractive. My skills have increased with ideas, ways of editing text and images and making the appearance of my work look more sophisticated and professional. The adaption shows on the next 4 slides, Preliminary Task as (1). And with the music magazine as (2).

Preliminary: Front CoverIn the Preliminary, I used a very limited amount of images and hardly any text on my school magazines front cover. These features are the most important and highly compulsory for a front page in order to catch the eye of a possible buyer and to make them want to buy such an attractive looking product. When a front page offers a poor appearance, then the upcoming customer will simply place it back on the shelf. In order to improve this front cover I needed to add more images and make the main image more effective and also to place out the text in more effective positions. However a positive towards this page is the use of bright colours (which consists with the Biddulph High School logo) and finally it boosts the attractiveness and also catches the eye of many customers.

Music Magazine: Front Cover

In my Music Magazine I have used just one image just like my Preliminary task, however this image used has been edited to black and white and also the background has been cropped out. I created this in order so that the headlines could stand out around the image, however with the size of the main image it still keeps it being more important, acting as the main story that the magazine includes. A different feature I have included advertisement, firstly this boosts the images by avoiding the page looking empty and secondly can attract a wider audience with special offers, vouchers and free holidays.

Preliminary: Contents PageIn the Preliminary, I used a very limited amount of images and hardly any text. These features are the most important and highly compulsory for keeping the audience engaged and wanting to buy the product. When a contents page offers a poor appearance, then the upcoming customer will soon return the magazine or just simply place it back on the shelf. In order to improve this contents page I needed to add more images around the text and also to add more text, offering more pages for the magazine due to a regular magazine offering an average of up to 150 pages. However a positive towards this page is the use of bright colours, it boosts the attractiveness and also catches the eye of many customers.

Music Magazine: Contents Page

In my music magazine contents page I have included more text as well as including a wider range of pages in the magazine, this has helped to make the contents page look more filled out and also to attract the audience for the amount of features and stories the magazine offers. Also I have made the text “contents” look more effective my setting the word out with the “CO” placed above the “NTEN” followed by “TS” placed underneath, this forms a square which is something very original for this magazine. Finally another improvement to the my Preliminary magazine, I have a added more images and published them in a different way by printing them around a frame.