Media evaluationnnn

Media EvaluationBy Parishti Perumal

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

I chose the name ‘Headline’ because it can represent any type of genre of music. I didn’t want my magazine to relate to only one type of genre. By doing this it appeals to more people, so my magazine would be widespread. I designed my masthead like this because it makes it different to other magazines. Designing it like this makes it more edgy and effective to the targeted audience. However my masthead does challenge codes and conventions significantly, as the headline stands out and also the font type is very edgy and current- so it can relate to many fields of music- this is what I was intending to do. Most magazines have a specific genre that they relate to so my magazine does go against the usual codes- this adds uniqueness to my magazine and the font type which makes it different to most magazines.

Costume- The clothing that I wanted my model to wear was casual, edgy and contemporary clothing. This would be able to show a bit of her character and the style of music genre they are.Lighting- I photographed my main image during the day- I used my wallpaper as the background as it is different but stylish. I used Photoshop to change the colour lighting and to make more effects on it so it looks more appealing and like a magazine cover. It also makes it clearer. Setting- The setting for the main image was in my living room- I thought that the wallpaper suited the theme. Poses- I took a variety of different pictures to see which ones are more effective. I chose this picture as she is looking straight into the camera, which makes it more eye-catching. I also chose this one because images like this are often seen in a music magazine- this shows the similarities. Makeup- The makeup that I put around her eyes was very dark eye-shadow- this shows her genre of music and also gives us a hint of her character. Facial Expressions- Her facial expressions and body language show her to have a bit of attitude- this relate and refers to her genre of music.


For the masthead- I used a tattoo font called ‘matter’. I used a bold and black font because it makes it stand out more. I also used a white glow around it to separate it from the main image, it also makes it edgy. The masthead follows the codes and conventions because it, like other magazine, is bold and big. I thought that the font was unique as I haven’t really seen any magazine with this type of font. The picture of the headphones that I added to the masthead makes it even more different however it makes it look more appealing. The font that I used for the sub- headings was ‘comic sands’- I thought by using this font it would make it connect with the magazine effectively and still attract the audience. I used the colours purple and blue because it matches her shirt- so it wouldn’t look to busy and unattractive. Blue, purple and black were my house-colours.

In my double page spread I began it with a overview of the band. This has conventions of a magazine as many magazines do this so their audience would get more information and have a better understanding; I wanted to make my article like a real magazine article. The questions that I asked the band allowed themselves to open up and advertise their music. As it is a new band, this is what I wanted as it was a good introduction to them. E.g.- Explain what influences the music you write? The language within the double page spread is fairly informal, as throughout my magazine the language has always been like that. It also makes it more appealing to the audience as they feel like they are talking to a friend. This also follows the conventions of some music magazines e.g. Kerrang. The way that I have written the editor's note is very chatty and friendly- it invites the audience in more. This makes my magazine more effective- it also makes it conventional.


The music genre for my magazine is a mix bag- the masthead that I used ‘Headline’ relates to any type of genre of music. The genre of the band is mainly indie/rock. However in my contents you can see the different genres- from Pop to R ‘n’ B. The colour scheme that I have used fits the main story feature, this makes it look more appealing and also less busy. The colours; blue, purple and black are very simple colours however they represent the character of my main article. This is also shows the convention of other magazines as they also use the ‘rule of 3’- this makes it look more simple and attractive. On my front cover, it shows you that there are ‘2 free posters’- this follows the convention of a real magazine, as many music magazines give-away free posters.

The layout of my magazine is very conventional, and similar to many other music magazines. An example of this in my contents page , where I have designed it in columns, so it is easy to read and also I have separated the features into ‘features’ and ‘regular features’- this way people can identify what is normally in the magazine. In my double page spread- I have used columns to show the interview- this shows conventions of a real magazine as this is how they usually design it.

On my front cover I have designed it to portray a real magazine e.g. the way she is posing. Also along the bottom I have put a puff- this shows any extra information- that the audience may want to know. Also my masthead it situated at the top of the page and it very bold and along the bottom it has a barcode.


My contents page follows the conventions of a normal music magazine as it has the features in my magazine in columns- It also has an editors note, most music magazines have editors notes as they tell us a little about the magazine- it also makes it look more professional. I have also used a picture of myself to make it look skilled and friendly- so they audience knows who’s talking to them.

The images within the contents are eye-catching and also relate to the primary and secondary features in the magazine. This way the reader can make a judgement for themselves- it also gives them more information about the features. This will appeal to my audience because they will be attracted to the images and what it is represented by. Also the friendliness from my magazine makes it more effective and likeable.

How does your media product represent social groups?

When we were asked to create our music magazine , the images that I wanted to create was more attitude as well as friendliness. I wanted my magazine to relate to everyone- that way it would be more widespread and popular. I found that when I was taking the shots the more simple ones were ideal for what I wanted- the makeup that I put on my model added more to the image by making it look more edgy and stylish . The images that I decided to use in my magazine shows ‘The Trinity’ to be independent, young and diverse. It shows her to be an inspiration to everyone . It also shows a fresh face in the music industry. The photograph from Cosmo and Latina directly show what I wanted my images to look like. The facial expressions are quite similar as well as the body language. It shows the different sides to her character. I focused more on the makeup and setting of my photo’s. The costume wasn’t as important because I wanted to show true features.

How does your media product represent social groups?

The idea that I had for my magazine was for the audience to relate and like the musicians within it. When I was doing my research I noticed in magazines that they would have a variety of different images of to show the diversity within the character. This way they were able to get to know the band/artist. By showing more character they were will be more likable and people will want to read about them- they get to know their personality more and relate ton them. The social groups that I wanted to represent was independent, ambitious and friendly people. I think that through my variety of media I was able to achieve this. I chose to have different facial expressions and body language to show her personality. The photo’s of Selena Gomez are similar to my photo’s because I wanted my character to speak to all different ages as well as show her personality clearly- I wanted to show my artist as a role model. The images of my artist show her to be musically talented, mysterious, shy and fun. This is what I wanted my magazine to be about.

What kind of Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?

I think that ICP Media, Bauer Media Group and Development Hell Ltd would distribute my magazine because my magazine is a mixture of different genres so it would relate to their customers and audience. The masthead of my magazine, Headline, this shows the diversity of my magazine and the different information within it. The main genres of my magazine is rock pop/rock/indie and pop- all these magazine institutions sell these types of magazine.

ICP Media

These institutions are the three main magazine institutions in the UK. ICP Media sells over 350 million copies a year. Bauer Media Group are a German publishing group, based in Hamburg,- it was founded in 1875 by the Bauer Family. Development Hell Ltd was launched in 2003 and currently publishes three magazines including Mixmag.

Development Hell Ltd Bauer Media Group

How did you attract/address your audience?Big Bold TitleAttracts them to the magazine, they cannot miss it. The white glow makes it stand out even more.

An attitude pose, makes the reader feel interested- they want to know more about the primary lead.

Puff- Gives the reader/audience more information about what is to come in the magazine- interests them- they get something from it

Bold headings, bright colours- attracts the reader to it. Gives the reader some sense of information.

More secondary leads- it addresses the audience what more is to come in the magazine.

More information (secondary leads)- addressing the audience. Follows house style- then the odd red, to show something special. The odd colour- catches the readers attention.

“Live Life Loud”- The logo name, is catchy and remember able- someone walking by would notice it- it adds more of an effective.

Price and latest edition- customers wouldn’t want the old editions- some maybe collecting them.

The Features in my magazine. Primary and secondary features; From the front cover- all the way through it is following the house style, so it doesn’t look busy and unprofessional. I wanted to keep my contents quite simple because my cover was busy- I didn’t want to make it look overcrowded.

Bold font- shows the importance. This attracts and also it addresses the audience because they can see everything that is in the magazine- If they want to read something, they can just flick through it and its there,

Editors Note. Warm and welcoming tone. Makes the reader feel comfortable and also they know who they are talking to because I have used a pictures of myself- Draws them in!

Leading feature- shows the importance compared to the rest of the features. Warm and friendly image- welcoming the audience to read on. Attracts them to the magazine.

Bold heading, the reader will now that it is the contents page- it is informing them and addressing them.

The title of the magazine has to be in the contents, just to add more of an effect- addresses the audience that, that’s who they are talking to and reading about.

Different pictures, to shows her personality- as a reader we will get to know her really well.

Quotation

Another quotation- feel like you know her and are talking to her

Talking to her- can relate to her- attracts the audience as we get to find out a lot about her.

Questions from me to Cara.

I chose to design my double page like this- because I thought that it would be more edgy and different.

I liked this type of font because I thought that it was unique and that it was quite professional

Technologies Used…

Used to draft text before uploading to blogger.

I used my laptop to create my magazine and to save all my important documents for this task.

Print screened most of my work to save more and also so that it could upload to blogger easily.

Took the pictures for my rough drawings.

Saved classwork and homework to it, easy access to whenever I needed to do my work.

My Finepix camera- used to take all my photo’s and video’s.


PowerPoint- were I created my slides before uploading it to Slideshare then to blogger.

Fireworks- were I created my magazine (front cover, contents and double page spread)

Publisher- Align/spread text.

Photoshop- Edit photo’s .

Picnik- Edit photo’s .

Dafont- got ideas for different types of fonts to use.


Blogger- where I posted everything to do with my magazine- e.g. research and planning.

Slideshare- Used when I need to upload my PowerPoint presentations to blogger.

Overall I have learnt different things from each of these technologies. Before, I had never used or come across; blogger, Slideshare or Picnik. When beginning the task I was a little nervous about using these technologies but now I am confident as I am able to use them all.

Preliminary Task…

Everything is matching the house style

More attitude compared to a school magazine. She’s wearing a lot more makeup- makes her character stand out more.

More edgy and stylish compared to a school magazine- it can be more out there.

More of a childish font- suited for a school magazine.

Has more of an edge to it, much more trendy.- fits with the targeted audience.

Plain and basic font more the main cover feature.

Plain and simple- doesn’t have any uniqueness.

Bold and colourful- eye-catching to the reader- more unique.

More cheerful and bright. More appropriate.

Bright and upbeat. Less bright and more zoning in on one thing

Preliminary Task…

A lot more in the contents- more features means more to read- attracts the audience

To similar pictures- makes it look boring.

Colours are too matchy- makes it look to alike and uninteresting.

Not enough page numbers- shows that there is little features in the magazine.

The same people in each of the pictures- not varied enough.

Large bold texts

Basic font- doesn’t have any individuality to it- looks simple and basic. Less black space

Not to busy- doesn’t make it look overcrowded

Variation in fonts- makes it look more interesting and eye-catching

Editors note- more friendly and magazine like. Makes the audience/reader feel welcome.

Picture on the main feature- shows the importance.

Preliminary Task…

All in all, I have really enjoyed doing the preliminary task and the music magazine task. Although, I found the music magazine task to be more enjoyable. This is because I felt that by doing a music magazine- I could be more out there, by doing a school magazine you are more restricted as you can only say certain things in school magazines. I think that I got a lot of practice on how to design a magazine from the preliminary task, as I was able to make mistakes and learned from them. This allowed me to create a good music magazine.

Improvements…

Some of my improvements could have been;

- Adding more pictures/text to the contents to make it look more like a real magazine contents page.

- I could have enlarged the text more, so it could be more readable.

- I could have also made the editors note more central instead of aligned so it would look more effective.

- I think that my contents page let me is probably the least professional as it has quite a few blank spaces- I put more on my front cover which I could have put in my contents.

Documents

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