Media Product Evaluation

By Scott Tinnion

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

• In making my magazine I tried to make sure I followed certain media magazine conventions and also broke some of the conventions; I believed this will help my magazine stand out from other media products and give it a sense of uniqueness. In my front cover I have followed the route of the eye convention because I have placed certain features of my magazine on the route, for example the two blocks of cover lines and part of the pug; this would help in emphasising the key parts on the page because the reader’s eye will be automatically drawn towards them. This is an example of me following media conventions in making my magazine. An example of me developing media conventions would be in the form of my various colours over the page, although many other music magazines use different colours I have decided to use them on specific key words which is fairly uncommon in magazines today; an example of this would be the 3 colours used to advertise my main article, I use yellow with added boldness to emphasise ‘JSHW’, white for ‘SPEAKS’ and ‘A Grime Time’ and finally I used red to emphasise the word ‘Exclusive', (shown in screenshot in next side) this would enlighten the readers further that my magazine is the only one to offer this interview. On my front cover I have also not followed conventions, an example of this is my masthead, I have placed the masthead behind a partially transparent text box to give it more emphasis on the page (shown in screenshot on next page), and this is not normally done on front cover’s so this is an example of me challenging media conventions. In my contents page I have also used, developed and challenged certain media magazine conventions; firstly I have followed the convention to include an editor’s note in the contents page, I did this because I believe it helps in building a relationship between reader and editor, it makes them more inclined to read your magazine than anybody else’s.

Continued …• An example of me developing magazine conventions would be the text box

in the middle of the page, even though many magazines do have extra text advertising their main article, my text box is similar to my masthead an is slightly transparent, this develops magazine conventions and also had the effect of emphasising my main article even more. An example of me challenging conventions would be my use of two pictures of ‘JSHW’, many other magazines only choose to use one picture to advertise their main article and possibly another picture to advertise less important articles; I believe my use of two pictures is more beneficial than advertising less important articles because the main article is the thing that initially draws in readers in the first place. In my double page spread I have followed the media convention of using a large picture of the interviewee to try and give the reader a sense of familiarity with the interviewee, in my case it is ‘JSHW’. (shown in screenshot on next slide) An example of me developing conventions would be my use of a quote from ‘JSHW’, usually magazines use a pull quote from the actual interview but I have decided to use a quote not used in the interview; I have done this to give the reader a further sense of familiarity with ‘JSHW’.

Use of picture covering one side of a double page spread. Matches my convention used in my double page spread

Continued…• On my front cover I have also not followed conventions, an example of this is my

masthead, I have placed the masthead behind a partially transparent text box to give it more emphasis on the page, and this is not normally done on front cover’s so this is an example of me challenging media conventions. In my contents page I have also used, developed and challenged certain media magazine conventions; firstly I have followed the convention to include an editor’s note in the contents page, I did this because I believe it helps in building a relationship between reader and editor, it makes them more inclined to read your magazine than anybody else’s. An example of me developing magazine conventions would be the text box in the middle of the page, even though many magazines do have extra text advertising their main article, my text box is similar to my masthead an is slightly transparent, this develops magazine conventions and also had the effect of emphasising my main article even more. An example of me challenging conventions would be my use of two pictures of ‘JSHW’, many other magazines only choose to use one picture to advertise their main article and possibly another picture to advertise less important articles; I believe my use of two pictures is more beneficial than advertising less important articles because the main article is the thing that initially draws in readers in the first place. In my double page spread I have followed the media convention of using a large picture of the interviewee to try and give the reader a sense of familiarity with the interviewee, in my case it is ‘JSHW’.

Continued…

• An example of me developing conventions would be my use of a quote from ‘JSHW’, usually magazines use a pull quote from the actual interview but I have decided to use a quote not used in the interview; I have done this to give the reader a further sense of familiarity with ‘JSHW’.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• I will now looking at how my magazine would represent particular social groups; I would say that my magazine would mainly represent the younger generation of people because of the types of topics used and my use of language in those topics. I would say that my magazine represents youths similar to the way that they are seen through their stereotype, it shows them to wear the clothes usually associated with youths, e.g. flat cap and high-top shoes. I would also say that the things ‘JSHW’ is holding on the front cover also points towards the representation being quite typical of youths today, this is because the keyboard, telly and headphones are things typically associated with youths today shown in screenshot on next slide). My use of language in the interview for the double page spread also goes along with the stereotype of youths today; for example ‘JSHW’s’ constant use of words like ‘rare’, ‘blud’ and ‘init’ place upon him the stereotypical representation of what youths are today.

The fact that ‘JSHW’ is holding a keyboard whilst sitting on a telly and with headphones on his head points to the fact I have tired to appeal to my target audience (youth) whilst taking and editing this picture. This picture is featured on the front cover which I believe would help in catching my target audiences eye and increasing the readership of my magazine.

What kind of media institution might

distribute your media product and why? • I will now look into what type of media institution

would distribute my product and why. The sort of institution I believe would distribute my product would be institutions such as Time Inc; this company is part of the major media conglomerate Time Warner. I believe this institution would distribute my product because they have previously been involved in the distribution of Vibe magazine, and this magazine is very similar to the one I have produced so I feel it would be in the interests of Time Inc to distribute my product.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• The specific target audience I would wish to attract with my product would be youngsters aged between 14-21 who are interested in the music genre, grime. This target audience is clear when you consider the type of language used in the interview with ‘JSHW’ on my double page spread. (language shown in screenshot on following page)

Language used signals my intentions to appeal to a youthful specific target audience. Examples of this language

How did you attract/address your audience?

• I will now talk about how I attracted this specific target audience. On the front cover I attracted my target audience by firstly using the word ‘grime’ in the masthead; this would instantly attract my target audience because this is the type of music they are interested in. The main article would also attract my target audience; this is because ‘JSHW’ is a big grime artist and would instantly interest my target audience. The pug offering the competition to see ‘Example’ would also interest the target audience because he is also a well known grime artist (shown in screenshot on next page). The cover lines advertising grime related topics would also interest my target audience. On my contents page I have managed to attract my target audience by listing grime related topics as my articles; this would attract the audience because all the topics are associated with youngsters and grime music. Also on my contents page I have addressed my audience in a very informal way which helps to build up the relationship between editor and reader.

Continued …• The extra pictures of ‘JSHW’ would also help to further

attract my target audience to the magazine. On my double page spread I have attracted my target audience by emphasising the ‘exclusive’ in the title of the page; this tells to the audience that this interview will not be found anywhere else. I have also tried to use appropriate language in the interview which would appeal to my audience, for example the use of words like ‘blud’ and ‘init’ clearly are aimed at a younger audience, like the one I’m trying to attract. I would also say that the nature of some of the questions would attract my specific target audience also, for example the question about ‘JSHW’s’ love life is a very personal one and this is the sort of thing which usually draws in readers.

What have you learnt about technologies from

the process of constructing this product? • During the production of my magazine I have used various

technologies, one of these includes Microsoft publisher, during the use of this I found out how to enhance certain words so they make more impact on the page, an example of this is the word ‘JSHW’ on the front cover. During the production I have also learnt how to crop and properly resize images so they will normal on the page, I did this with the front cover picture as well as the top right hand corner picture on the contents page. I have also learnt how to make text boxes become more transparent; I used this for the masthead on the front cover and also the text box in the middle of the contents page, this has the effect of making something stand out more on a page. I have also learnt how to create and manage a blog whilst producing my magazine; this was necessary because this is the way I will show my work to the examiners. (shown in screenshot on next page)

This home page on my blog site has allowed me to edit existing posts whilst also allowing me to create new posts. It can also allow me to group my posts into specific sections as to make things clearer to the examiner, for example I have a group specific to posts for research and planning. I believe this will overall make my blog look more organised and ultimately make it easier for the examiner marking my work.

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

• I will now discuss what I have learnt from the production of my preliminary right up to my final production, my music magazine. I believe through my productions I have learnt to make my finished products look more professional; an example of this is the effective cropping and resizing of pictures to make them look suitable on the page. Another example would be the editor’s note I have included in my contents page, this helps in making my magazine look quite realistic because having an editor’s note follows the general conventions of a music magazine. I believe I have also learnt new skills in relation to making things stand out on the page better; for example in my preliminary task I didn’t use that many different colours on a page, but on my front cover for instance I have used various different colours to make certain words stand out, an example of this is the green and blue used for the cover lines in the bottom left hand corner.

Continued ….• Another example of me progressing from my preliminary task is that

I believe I now have more imagination when creating a media product, this is shown with the catchy quote used alongside the picture of ‘JSHW’. Another area where I think I have improved on is my use of appropriate language, In my preliminary task I feel I did not always use appropriate language but I believe I have corrected this, with the double page spread interview being an example of the correction, this is because the language I have used in the interview goes along with what a young grime artist stereotypically would sound like. To summarise I would say that I have generally improved from my preliminary task because I have gained more knowledge on media techniques in general through analysing similar products and by producing thorough drafts from which I could expand my ideas and finally create my finished product.