EVALUATIONBy Kirsty Allen.

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Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

SIMILARITIES IN FRONT COVERS

Both of the magazines have the main images looking straight at the camera. This is sticking to the conventions of a magazine front cover by making eye contact with the reader.

Both of the magazines have a colour theme of reds, gold, white and black writing. In both of the magazines, the font is bold throughout.

They both have a header. Headers are used to help sell the magazine.

The barcodes on both of the magazines are to the side of the magazine.

There’s a variation of font and size in both magazines. This makes the magazines look more excited, and less dull. I have done this to make it look like a real magazine.

DIFFERENCES IN FRONT COVERSIn my magazine my image is central and in Q magazine the image is more to the right because I want my image to stand out and by dominant on the page

I have a footer on my magazine, where as Q magazine doesn’t, because I wanted to include more information onto my front page without cluttering it.In Q magazine the colours gold and white are used more then mine.

In my magazine I have displayed the website address on my front cover and Q hasn’t, as I wanted to make my audience aware of how they can get involved with the magazine in different ways.

The main image of the Q magazine takes up the majority of the page.

The masthead on the Q magazine has a red background to it, and mine is just plain. I chose not to have a background because the black font contrasts the white background.

Q uses flashers on its magazine, mine doesn’t have any. I didn’t use any of I didn’t want to make my page look cluttered.

SIMILARITIES IN CONTENTS PAGESBoth magazines have their logos at the top of the magazines. This is because it’s the first place the reader will look, magazines do this to remind the reader of the magazine they are reading.

The date and issue number are both placed in the top right hand corner in both magazines. This is because it is one of the first places the readers will look.

Both of the magazines have boxes around the headings and white writing inside the boxes. Then underneath that, the page number and heading have a short paragraph describing what each section is about. This separates each heading, making it easier for my audience to read.

Both of the magazines have a white background, and both of the colour schemes are red, white and black.

Both magazines have capital letters as the headings. This makes the headers stand out.

Both have information by the photographs telling the readers what it is and where to find it in the magazine. This gives the readers more information.

DIFFERENCES IN CONTENTS PAGESQ magazine only had one main image and a small one underneath, and in my magazines there’s two smaller images. I chose to have 2 images instead of 1 because I didn’t want just one photo to dominate my page. Also because if my readers look at my contents page they only have to look at my photos instead of reading in the ‘features or news’.

In my magazine I have my mast head going down the left hand side of my magazine, Q’s masthead goes along the top. I done this because I found it looked different, and makes the page look spread out instead of cluttered.

I abbreviated ‘January’ to ‘Jan’ in magazine, Q hasn’t abbreviated and kept it as ‘October’. I chose to do this because it gives a informal approach to my audience, making it more friendly.

My images are at a canted angle. Q’s images are very square and straight on. This makes my magazine look more exciting and gives the idea of ‘chaos’.

I have a subscription section at the bottom of my page. I have done this to try and attract my readers to keep buying the magazine by offering them deals.

SIMILARITIES IN DOUBLE PAGE SPREADS

Both magazines have a little title illustrating what the is on the page. E.g. Q – ‘lady GAGA’ and my magazine has ‘TWIST INTERVIEW’. This helps the readers understand what is on the page without having to read it, if they are just flicking through the magazine.

Both of the magazines had only one images on their double page spread. This is because my interview is only about one band, so I felt it would be unnecessary to add more images, and just one of the band was sufficient enough.

The magazines both have the page number and title of the magazine at the bottom right hand of the page. This helps the readers to find the pages they are looking for and to keep reminding them of the magazine they are reading.

DIFFERENCES IN DOUBLE PAGE SPREADS

In Q magazine they chose to have a black and white photo where I had a coloured/slightly sepia effect. I chose to have sepia effect as it gives a warm feeling to my audience.

My magazine has a pull quote above my image and information at the bottom of the page telling the reader who's in the photo graph and a page number. Q magazine had nothing but the photograph on the page. My image is on the right page and Q’s is on the left.I have a pull quote in the middle of my article and the questions are a different colour to the answers. Q has 2 drops caps in their article and the colour is the same throughout.

The people in my image are smiling and look happy but in the Q magazine the photograph is looking serious. I have made my photograph look as if the people in it are happy and having fun, and there’s nothing serious about them.

R&B/hip-hop artists are stereotyped and associated with wearing hats or hoodies over their heads and quite serious looking, they have confidence and attitude.My photos can represent a social group as they represent the R&B/hip-hop culture, they are wearing the latest trends in fashion, they have their own unique styles and there’s a variation of ethnicity.Women in the R&B genre are well dressed, good looking and up to date with fashion. I have made the people in my images dress the way they have because I found that it gave them their own identities and styles. I chose these photos because they had similarities to professional images.I challenged the stereotype of having people in hoodies as afro Caribbean by using a White British person in my photo.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My image

My image

My image

Professional imageProfessional image

Professional image

IPC media produces over 85 different media brands. Their brands collectively reach 20 million users each month. They publish a wide range of magazines which suit everyone.

This would be good for IPC as my magazine as IPC has a good reputation, they have been publishing magazines for many years so this makes them reliable. They are also a very successful publisher group.

My magazine would be distributed in shops, festivals, gigs and specific music shops like HMV.

IPC Medias leading music magazine is NME. So I believe they should distribute my magazine as it is similar to mine. Although NME is ‘indie’ and my magazine is R&B, I believe that IPC will help my magazine reach the correct target audience and even help to widen it.

Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

For my product I have chosen to challenge the conventions of R&B/hip-hop audience.

I have chose to aim my magazine towards a wider range of different ethnic background. Not only to Afro-Caribbean, which is normally stereotyped for people who enjoy this music.

I want to aim my magazine to both genders who have a interest in R&B music. I have used images of both women and men to attract both genders. The age group which I would like the audience for my magazine to be would is between 16-24.

Q4. Who would the audience be for your media product?

Stereotypical R&B fans..

Initial target research of what people wanted in my magazine.

I done this because I wanted to make my magazine to appeal to my target audience. So by asking people who enjoy the genre ‘R&B’, it allowed me to understand what they’d want and enjoy in my magazine. It gave me new ideas.

Name; Ollie Collins Aged;17 Ethnicity; White British Occupation; Student Favourite colour; Blue Favourite artists; Drake, Ed

Sheeran, Wiz Khalifa, Eminem, Rihanna, Rizzle Kicks

Interests; Socializing, music, Likes to be up to date with

fashion. Wears vans, converse, tracksuits, body warmers and skinny jeans. Likes the makes Ralph Lauren, Converse, Adidas and Nike.

Name; Georgie Pitt Aged;17 Ethnicity; White British Occupation; Student Favourite colour; Pink Favourite artists; Beyoncé,

Emeli Sandé, Rihanna, Nickie Minaj, Jason Derulo, Bruno Mars.

Interests; Socializing, music, spending time with family, cooking.

Wears leather jackets and skinny jeans. Cares a lot about her appearance and listens to music every day.

I attracted my audience by adding eye catching sell lines E.g. ‘exclusive’ ‘must have’.

I added pull quotes on my front cover, contents and double page spread, which is also eye catching.

My header ‘the UKs brand new R&B music magazine would address the audience by telling them the genre and also the word ‘new’ would attract the.

My magazine is designed to attract mainly middle class people, so by adding ‘first issue only £2’, this would attract them to buy it.

I addressed my audience by using simple language making it easy for my audience to read.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I chose to have a range of ethnicities in my magazine making a wider range for my target audience.

I kept the images in my magazine to people aged between 16-25, as this is the target audience I was aiming for, this would attract my target audience as similar aged people will be reading about people there own age.

I attracted my audience by using well known artists which they will be familiar with.

I added a subscription at the bottom of my page. This will attract my audience because it tells the audience they will save money.

I chose to have a sepia effect on my double page spread as it gives a warm feeling towards the audience.

The name of the band is in big capital letters dominating the page, this will catch the readers attention.

To attract my audience I added quotes from the band, with advice to the readers.

I attracted the audience by adding ‘Rhythmix’s’ twitter, and addressed the audience by telling them to follow ‘us’ meaning the band.

As R&B originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the ‘R&B’ is often used to describe a style of African American music. A lot of R&B artists are black as they originate from this tradition.

So I decided to have my front cover image to represent African Americans. This is what R&B is stereotyped as so this would attract the audience.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

Strengths

Colour scheme

Manipulation of images

Good choice of sell lines

Language

Weaknesses

Lots of white wasted space

Front cover plain background

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Overall how would you rate this magazine?

I made my contents page and double page spread on InDesign. I learnt the features of InDesign.

Using a camera I was able to take high quality photographs for my magazine. I learnt angles and type of shot.

Using Photoshop I made my front cover for my magazine. I was able to manipulate my original images until I was satisfied with how they looked. I learnt the different ways you could manipulate images.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I used Slideshare to upload my work onto my blog.

I used Scribd to upload my work onto my blog.

I used blogger to upload my work.

Stages of Development

I opened my image in Adobe Photoshop and then made it bigger so I could see what I was working with.

Because I didn’t want the background of the image, I clicked on the forth box on the left hand side. This allows you to select everything around your image to delete what you don’t want.

Here you can see the section around my image that I deleted.

I carried on and deleted the whole of the background, just keeping the main image in the middle.

I then made my image bigger again, as I wanted a medium close up.

This was my original image.

Using Photoshop.

Here I edited the contract and the curves to make my image stand out more.

Then I started to add text onto my front cover. I made my masthead on www.dafont.com

Here it shows me editing the font on my page, to make it look like it had a shadow – this makes it easier for my readers to read.

Here I added my barcode and my header.

I added most of my sell lines, footer, date and issue number.

I placed 2 boxes to start with on my contents page. Then coloured them in black and red, as these colours match the front cover.

Then I added my masthead ‘contents’ down the left hand side in the red column. I reused the masthead ‘twist’ off the front cover and placed it on my contents page. Then added the date and issue number.

I added my boxes with headings in and added 2 photographs. Then tilted them and added a shadow behind them. I also added my front cover to offer a subscription for the readers.

I finished off my ‘subscription’ box, by adding a website and telephone number. I finished adding my text and added subheadings underneath the headings to explain to the readers what’s on each page.

Using InDesign

These were my manipulated images.

These are my original images for my contents page

To manipulate my images I edited the curve levels , this changed the contrast and brightness of my images, making them brighter.

Using Photoshop

THIS IS MY ORIGINAL IMAGE FOR MY DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD. AND USING PHOTOSHOP I MANIPULATED MY IMAGE GIVING IT A ‘SEPIA’ EFFECT AND DELETING THE BACKGROUND

I started off by adding my image to the double page spread. Then I added a black box on the top of the page. I add ‘twist interview’. As the magazine is called twist and it’s an interview.

I added the band name, and explained underneath what the interview is about. I also added a quote from the interview to attract the audience.

I started to add more text and another quote in the middle of my article.

I finished off by adding the page numbers in the bottom right hand corner of each page. I used the same font and box colour as I did on my contents page. I also wrote underneath my photograph the name of each member of the band.

Using InDesign.

Preliminary task

Full productI feel that I have learnt:

•How to manipulate my photographs better using Photoshop

•How to use the drop shadow to make my magazine look effective

•To use a consistent colour scheme throughout my magazine

•To use a consistent font throughout my magazine

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

Front pages. I made my final product image more sophisticated then my preliminary image. I done this by thinking about the mise-en-scene, so instead of using someone holding a book looking happy in my college magazine, I chose to have the person in my final product to keep there hood up and have a serious looking face.

I have used better language in my sell lines, and added more information to my readers.

I used better images, by using different angle shots.

I learnt how to manipulate my images and text, so I adjusted the contrasts and added shadows on my final product, making my magazine look more professional.

Preliminary task Full product

Contents pages.

On my preliminary magazine, the page has a lot of empty space, so I decided to add more text and boxes in my final product to fill the page up.

I added more information in my headings and subheadings. I gained more information by looking at similar magazines, this helped me decide on what to include in my magazine.

I chose my mise-en differently by using images to represent my genre. E.g. I used people with hoods and serious faces instead of people smiling reading books.

I manipulated my images in my final product.

Full productPreliminary task

Double page spread.I have expanded my knowledge by making a double page spread, instead of just making a front cover and contents page.

I linked the colours throughout the pages.

I added the right amount of text which is similar to other magazines.

I manipulated my images by using Photoshop.