Friday 10 December 2010
Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The conventions of a student magazine include a picture on the front cover; it should usually be a mid-close up and relate to what the magazine is about as well as catch the target audiences’ eye. Also a bold and catchy masthead is needed to identify the magazine and attract the target audience it should be the biggest text on the page so that the readers automatically know that it is the masthead and get a general idea of what the magazine is about. Cover lines summarises the most interesting articles of the magazine and persuade the audience to buy and read the rest. In an audience questionnaire that I did most people said that they would be willing to pay around £1-£1.50 for a magazine that was issued monthly, the price should be bold and colourful but not too big so that it dominates the page. The website link advertises the magazine and for example in my magazine there is an advice page so a website allows for the readers to get in touch. The strapline advertises the competitions and activities in the magazine which appeals to the target audience and the banner promotes the most interesting article in the magazine therefore should be bold and stand out for example the banner on my magazine is white with black text this makes the writing easier to read and more eye catching. The colour scheme depends on your target audience because my target audience is college students it needs to be reasonably colourful but using too much colour may make it look tacky or difficult to read which might put people off from reading the magazine, this is why I kept my colour scheme fairly minimal with some colour (blue and purple) to attract the readers eye to particular cover lines, straplines and the price. A typical contents page needs to include page references to the articles included in the magazine it also needs images that relate to the articles this is because people are more likely to look at the pictures this then makes them want to read the article and buy the magazine. Some contents pages also include a small advertisement; however my contents page only contains the page references and the pictures. Overall I have included all of the conventions of a real magazine and haven’t challenged or developed any of these conventions.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine is for college students. The image I have used on the cover is one of Emily stood in a phone box holding the phone up to her ear this is because generally people consider teenagers to be on the phone all the time. Also it is light and fun and I think that this would catch people’s eye. On the contents page I have used pictures of Emily eating a slice of pizza because this relates to one of the articles I have mentioned “The student diet – what it is really doing to our bodies.” And a picture of Emily and myself sitting in the middle of the road because this relates to the road safety article mentioned, all of the pictures are bright and not taken too seriously which offers a lighter side to a serious topic. I have not represented my student audience too stereotypically as I have not used any pictures of students getting drunk and being rebellious, yet some stereotype is used for example where Emily is eating a piece of pizza implying that our diet is bad. My picture to text ratio is fairly equal I do have a big image on the cover but I have quite a bit of text to match it and on the contents page half of it is taken up by page references (text) and the other half by images.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
My magazine will be sold either in a newsagent where college students are most likely to visit to buy their lunch or the college itself as my magazine offers not only helpful advice but also reviews of the latest music and films. It also has an advice page which I think will help many students who are not coping with college that well and do not wish to see a counsellor. Also my magazine can be distributed around high schools to the year 11s to give them an idea of what coming up to college is all about.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my student magazine is college students from the age of 16-18, both male and female some issues and articles may be aimed more toward a certain gender but in general my magazine is aimed at both. Specifically those who wish to go to university as university advice is included in my magazine but also students that are coming up from high school and wish to gain a bit more knowledge about college life. Also I think that my magazine would be aimed at a middle class audience because they are the type of class most likely to come to a public college.
How did you attract/address your audience?
In my magazine I not only included information that college students needed to know but also music and film reviews to draw the audience in. Also I have included competitions and games on my front cover. The language used is quite chatty for example I used “Gossip, photos and news about the previous and upcoming bash.” This will attract people as those who didn’t go to the bash will want to know what happened and also students can relate to the chatty tone therefore don’t feel overwhelmed or bored by it.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have used Publisher to make my magazine, a blog for market research and a camera to take the photos on my magazine. I have learnt how to import files and create my own blog. I have also learnt hoe to navigate through a blog to look at other peoples pages and it has been a good way to gather audience feedback and ideas.
Wednesday 8 December 2010
Friday 3 December 2010
More Title Page Ideas
Do you prefer my title page having more colour? Do you dislike the colour or would you like it to be a different colour instead? Please comment and help me out :) Thank you!!!
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