Evaluation question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression of it to the full project? In my preliminary work I found that my pages looked too simplistic and empty. I also found that I used too many different fonts and too many shades of the same colour. To combat this problem I Picked three colours which were all obviously different from each other and used the dropper tool to make sure they were the same each time they were used. I also used real magazines as inspiration and this helped me to fill my pages and stop them looking simplistic and made them busier and more interesting. I also picked one main font and stuck to it throughout my magazine. I asked people for feedback on my magazine. Here is a film of one of the small interviews.

Evaluation question 6

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

During the creation on my magazine I used photoshop and publisher mainly. I had used photoshop before and so I found that easy to work and the tools all easy to find and use. I had rarely used publisher before and so that was the hardest thing for me to use. For more on how I used the technologies see the non-evaluation part of
my blog.

Evaluation question 5

How did you attract and address your target audience?

Evaluation question 4

Who would be the target audience for your media product?






This is a picture of my target audince. It is a picture I took at an "Example" gig. "Example" is a mainstream/indie singing act. The gig took place at an Student venue and so the audince was in the range of 16-23, both male and femal this is my target audience.

I asked 30 students from my college some general questions about themselves just to get an idea about them and their lives. The pie charts show the results.

Evaluation question 3

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


I found that "IPC" is one of the biggest U.K magazine distributors. It claims to reach approximately 27million U.K adults. This company is the distributor of "NME". This company offers a subscription service for all its magazines and also sells the current issue online on its website. Other distributors include;Emap, Condenast and Natmags. These however distribute more fashion and gossip magazines.

Magazines make money in three ways.
1. Single copy sales This is when someone goes to a shop and buys a magazine.
Problems/benifits This makes very little money and costs the most money. The costs include; magazine production, transport of the magazine to the shop and commission to the shop.
2. Subscription This involves the delivery of a magazine to a person every issue.
Problems/benifits This means that profit is made every month and the magazine distributors have a persons home address so advertising is easier to people they know are already a target audience.
3. Advertising Advertising in magazines turns over a huge amount of money, obviously depending on the magazine and the type of add but it can reach the multi- thousands. This times the amount of adverts creates huge turnover.
Problems/benifits You have to prove to the person advertising that there advert would be worthwhile putting in your magazine and your target audience put be specified so that they know whether their advert is reaching the right people.

Evaluation question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I think the first two are both bold strong images. There poses are both leant forward and they both have strong facial expressions. The two people are both wearing Jewellery. Lily Alens clothing fit in better to the colour scheme of her magazine whereas my model stands out away from it. Lily Allen has nothing at all near her face and my model has her hands posed near or on her face. My model is wearing striking bright make-up whereas Lily Allen is wearing little make-up and looks white and washed out. They both have messy hair. I think the two amages are relitively similar. I think they both create an indie look and give attitude to the magazine.

The image on the right of the second one is out of Kerrang magazine. Also it someone singing I feel it was probably still taken in a studio whereas my picture of chipmunk was taken live. My picture has a red tint and the other picture is in black and white. They are both singing and are in strong poses. They are both wearing simple clothes and T-shirts.

Evaluation question one

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

I used the front cover of an "NME" magazine as a guideline for my magazine layout. I liked how there was a large picture, a main headline, and then lots of little news stories scattered in circles and shapes. I also used a similar colour scheme but added more yellow. I agin used "NME" for my contents page as it was a clear contents page with lots of information given I felt it worked well and was clear and tidy. I added an editors note and boxed things off a bit more. I used the kerrang double page spread slightly asa guide but as the other two were based on "NME" I felt I needed to use the double page spread less as a guide and do it more just how it felt it needed to be I just tried to keep it tidy and colour co-ordinated.

Evaluation question one

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Music Genre and how your magazine suggests it.

The genre of my magazine is mainstream/indie, the sort of audience that "NME" would attract. I think my model shows quite clearly the genre as she has an indie look. When looking at magazines like "Vibe" you immeadiately know that the magazine is of a R&B genre because of the model. Also I have a band index down the side of the contents page. This would suggest the genre as it shows the bands in the magazine this agin is an idea I got from "NME". The stories and artists included in the magazine would also show a buyer what genre the magazine was.

Evaluation question one

In what way does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - Written content

I kept all my written content to one side in a specified box an idea I found in many magazines but the example here is one from Kerrang. I used an adjaceny pairs format for my writing a technique I found in alot of magazines. I felt it was easier to read an article writen like this. The content itself s based on questions about the stars music but also about personal aspects of her life as in alot of music magazines, people read to find out about musicians personally I found most music magazines used this mixture when interviewing stars.

Evaluation question one

In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - Title and Font style


The universal font i have used throughout my magazine is "Headline". I felt this was a strong bold font and it worked really well. After my preliminary work I learnt to use one uniform font for most of the wording to prevent my work from looking messy. Any small writing was done in arial this agin created a clean look to magazine. Whilst looking at a copy of "NME" I noticed the use of some lettering that almost looked like newspaper I decided to completely use this idea and created some lettering which looked like newspaper on photoshop. For small headlines I used a different font to draw attention to it. I felt the font "DJ Gross" also looked like speech. I also used alot of strokes to add emphasis. The magazine Vibe uses alot of plain clear lettering.

Evaluation question one

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

I told my model to dress quite dark and casual. This is because I wanted her face to really stand out and not her clothing. I made her make up quite bright and striking and made her her big and backcombed. I chose to use the glasses as a prop as they are a 'fad' at the minute and also they add interest to the picture. Whilst looking at other magazines I found that props are kept to a minimum so I chose to use the glasses as I felt they are quite subtle.

Evaluation question one

I what ways does your media product use, develop or challange forms and conventions of real media products? - The mise-en-scene of images.



I decided to take my images all in a studio with very little refernece to music in them. I used a striking model to give the effect that she was a music artist. Again alot of mainstream music magazines do this and i feel that it is done so that people who are non musical but who still like listening to music are still attracted to the magazine. In my research I found that it is mainly specified music magazines who use instruments in pictures.

Evaluation question one

I what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - The title



The idea for my title came from NME. I decided to use the idea of three letters standing for something as it creates a bold noticable titles which can easily be transferred into a logo and I feel that on a shelf it would be particularly noticable. I used the bold red colour again for the purpose of standing out. This is something alot of magazines do to attract buyers.