Laura McLellan

AS Media Studies – Coursework Evaluation

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

real media product? My magazine doesn’t have a typical layout. The main image was central and

was the main attraction. Instead of the articles surrounding the image like they usually do, they were aligned down one side. My main image is of a female model, who is sitting on some steps. The image is taken from a lower angle shot, therefore it links with the masthead “Step Up”.

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

• My media product represents particular social groups due to the type of music it is. The age range for my product ranges. Its mainly targeted at teenagers. The magazine is a rap magazine, therefore it can relate to certain social groups. These consist of people who are big fans of rap music such as; Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Drake, J Cole, Jay Z, Kanye West act.

Who would be the audience for your media product.

• The audience for my media product is mainly females aged between 14-25 years who enjoy rap music. This is because the majority of the pictures/articles are of women or about things that women can relate to more. For example

Main image – female. This is another way to attract a female audience.

All articles – female images.

The colour schemes are more feminine than masculine, this is because the magazine is aimed at females more than it

is males.

How did you attract/address you audience?

To advertise my article; websites, posters, give free issues to begin with, newspapers and internet banners.

What aspects of your front cover attract your audience? The main image may attract the audience as it stands out. As well as this, the other images down the side may get the audiences attention as they could be interested in the stories or the artists.

How have your products been written/constructed to address your audience?

My products have been written/constructed to address my audience in many ways. Firstly it is a ‘girl rap’ magazine, so with a girl artist on the front cover, it attracts a certain audience.

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

• I Have been taught how to use blogger. Using blogger is a form of tracking information posted on a certain page. I had to upload my work, which included, two mocks of my magazine (covers, contents pages and double page spreads.) I also had to upload my research, which consisted of magazine analysis’. To upload things that were on a PowerPoint presentation, I had to upload it via slide share first. Then I could upload it to blogger. However if I had the image saved in images I could just upload it straight to blogger. I had to upload my finished work to blogger, regularly and keep my blog up to date. I have also been taught to use fireworks. This means my product had more chance of looking good than if i wasn’t very familiar with fireworks.

Looking Back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned?

• Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I have improved with my colour schemes as they are now more harmonious. My product also has the technique of simplicity, where as in my preliminary task, the magazines were quite over facing and were very busy. My product also looks more professional as the images were more planned and not taken within the school. They were taken in locations in which I wanted them to be taken and the artist was dressed in different clothes other than a school uniform. During my preliminary I learned how to use fireworks. Therefore when doing my final product I had more technology knowledge and was more comfortable with using fireworks, so it worked well for my actual product.