Evaluation

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

The conventions of a music magazine are: masthead, strapline, coverlines, barcode and price, website, date, pictures and captions. My magazine includes all of these conventions, but whereas most music magazines uses bright reds and yellows e.g. Kerrang! Or Q magazine, my magazine has a sepia effect because Unplugged focuses on acoustic music I thought that this colour scheme worked best. Also most of the music magazines I have looked at only have one or two images on their double page spread whereas I used one main image and three little ones.      

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is aimed at teenagers who are into indie, rock, folk or acoustic music. By the colour scheme I have used it instantly gives the reader the impression that it is going to be an acoustic magazine, the sepia effect makes it look more natural whereas a rock magazine for example would include reds and a pop magazine would be brighter. Also because Hannah is holding an acoustic guitar and the pictures were taken on a farm this also gives the impression that the music is natural and acoustic. She is also sat down with the guitar showing that she is relaxed; this makes us feel as if the music is calm.  

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

I think that Bauer would distribute my magazine because it is different than most of the music magazines that they publish. The distribute magazines such as Q and Kerrang! The genres of both of these magazines are rock, alternative, metal whereas my magazine is indie, folk and acoustic music therefore I think that my magazine will be something different and new for Bauer to distribute; this will widen their audience base further. Because my magazine is very different and there are not many magazines published that are like it, there is a gap in the market and if Bauer are the only big institution that distribute an acoustic, indie, and folk magazine than the group of people that are interested in this type of music will obviously choose this magazine over any others.    

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my music magazine is going to be teenagers between the ages of 15-18; my magazine is gender neutral so both male and female teenagers will read it. They will still be in full time education so they will be receiving the money spent on the magazine from their parents although some might have part time jobs. My target audience will be middle class as they will be able to afford going to concerts and festivals regularly and they will probably either be in a band or play an instrument or love listening to a range of different music styles.    

How did you attract/address your audience?

It is nearing summer which means festival season, which is why I included festival review and upcoming festivals because my magazine is aimed at teenagers that are regular festival goers this will appeal to them and make them want to buy the magazine. Also on my strapline I have advertised competitions and games which will appeal to my teenage audience. My magazine prices at £3.00 so it is affordable to all teenagers which would make them want to buy it more because it is at such a reasonable price. Who is on the front cover is also considered when buying a magazine and because my cover picture is of Hannah, who is the same age as the target audience, this appeals more to my audience because they can relate to who is on the front cover. Also when posting my idea of the sepia effect I received comments saying that they really liked the effect that I had used. Also one of my coverlines asks for the audience to vote for their favourite rock god, this is getting them involved in the magazine.       

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

I have used publisher to construct my magazine for the most part, but I have also used paint, gimp and Microsoft Office Picture Manager to edit some of my photos. Also gimp was used to partially construct my front cover whereas I used publisher for my contents page and double page spread. I took all of my photos on a digital camera and at the beginning of constructing my magazine I had no idea how to use Gimp but now I know how to use it fairly well.

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

I think I have learnt a lot in the process of making my music magazine and that it has improved and looks more professional compared to my student magazine. I have learnt to put text in the form of coverlines on my magazine without using a block colour or boxes around it; I have used fonts from dafont.com which has improved the look of my magazine. I think that by using boxes behind the text on my student magazine it made it look childish and unprofessional and the fonts were basic whereas now I have used a variety of different fonts and have learnt how to position the text so it can still be read without having to have a box behind it. In my student magazine the Masthead was overlapping the image behind with a solid colour text box whereas this Masthead reveals the picture behind. The reason as to why my music magazine looks so much better is because I discovered that there was a background eraser tool on publisher which could get rid of solid colours behind text and because I used Gimp therefore I had a lot more options as to what I could do.