Foundation Production Evaluation

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

real media products?• I feel that I have used some of the traditional forms of a media product in my

magazines. I think I have addressed traditional media ways of styling my magazine for different audiences, for example, quite plain and easy to read for my school magazine but a lot of design for my music magazine to fit my genre.

• I also feel I have used a similar technique in my music magazine as that of a real magazine by the way I used my pictures on my double page spread by putting pictures behind the text which can be seen in many different magazines.

• I do not feel that I have challenged real media products very much. I think that I researched my type of magazine and produced a similar design and format to make it seem authentic.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• I think my school magazine represents a school community as apposed to a social group although I tried to address social groups within the school, for example, sports people and performing arts people.

• My music magazine very much represented a social group within music. It was for people who liked alternative rock and people who like this genre of music would be able to read my magazine and perhaps enjoy it whereas other groups within music may not.

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

• I think my school magazine would be sold primarily in the school but also perhaps at local events to raise awareness of the school.

• I see my music magazine possibly being sold in supermarkets but as it is a sub-genre of a mainstream music genre then maybe it would be sold more in a newsagents where there is more choice. Also I think it could be advertised as a mail order magazine in a more popular music magazine.

What would be the audience for your media product?

• For my school magazine I tried to incorporate the whole school as my audience rather than targeting a specific group. However, I carried out a magazine before I started so I could gain information about what people wanted so I met what the majority wanted.

• With my music product I aimed it at one specific genre instead of music in general. I aimed my product at the rock genre so I tried to design my magazine like real rock magazines do to reach out to my genre. I tried to keep my design very similar to a real magazine in order for it to look authentic and real to my target audience.

How did you attract/address your audience?

• With my school magazine, I firstly addressed my audience by carrying out a questionnaire to gain information on what they would like to see. The next stage was to put that into a magazine a create a design that would appeal to the whole school rather than one specific genre which, again, I tried to achieve by asking students how the would like the design to be.

• For my music magazine I tried to attract my audience by using similar techniques of real magazines. I think I used good headlines on my front page and good imagery that looked liked a real magazine. I also tried to write my double page spread in a way that my audience would understand and tried to be short but interesting.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of contributing the product?

• I have learnt how to design an effective magazine using a programme I was not familiar with. I have also learnt different techniques of how to address my audience and use my design so that it is specific to my audience and trying to make it seem as real as possible.

• I have also learnt how to improve my use of technology by trying out different camera angles and different types of lighting. Also, editing the pictures I took was a new thing for me so it was interesting learning how to do that.

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

• I feel that my second task was a great improvement on my first one. I think that I researched my second one more and tried to make it seem as authentic as possible whereas my first one was done without really thinking about my design properly.

• In my second task, I thought more about my audience and what to include in my magazine. This involved researching more on the internet and reading magazines specific to my genre.