Evaluation

1: In What Ways Does Your Media

Product Use, Develop or Challenge
Forms and Conventions of Real
Media Products?
 Masthead-
For the masthead of my magazine cover I used an ordinary font
from Microsoft Word; ‘Gill Sana Ultra Bold Condensed’.
Looking at ‘NME’ magazine, they also use a clear bold font with no
background, leaving the text to stand alone. I used this for inspiration
for my cover by having clear capitalised text.
 

I kept the colour of my magazine white to make it stand out on my

background and to keep it simple like the ‘Q’ in ‘Q Magazine’.
Mise en Scene
For my music magazine I wanted to focus the costume on the
inspiration I had when thinking about having both a male and
female audience in relation to N-Dubz. The models I had
followed the same dress code as the stars with the famous hat
Dappy styles and the shades that Fazer wears and then the
jewellery worn by Tulisa.

•To help with my genre of RnB I used a brick wall

background and made the artists stand out by editing
the image so that they stood out in colour and were
much brighter then the darker brick wall behind
them. I used the same style with a brick wall in my Brick
contents page to follow on the scheme but left the walls
background white on my double page spread to keep
it simple so the focus was on the interview and
images.
•Their makeup was simple but the posture of my actors throughout
the magazine displayed a much more playful, attitude style to show
they had character. I wanted to show what they really were like.
Only in the front cover image were they really looking at the
audience, I did this so that they would address the audience straight
away and encourage them to look further into it.
I used a studio style background in my double page spread so
that the audience can see what it is like compared to a posed picture
on the front.
Written Content-
In my contents page I followed the conventions of a normal magazine by
having an editor’s note featured. I used more formal language for this so that it
is clear and easy for the reader to follow. I wrote it making sure I included what
would be in this month’s edition and finished with ‘until next month!...’ hoping
that the audience would buy it again.

This is the editors

note from the Q
Magazine edition I
used when
analysing a music
magazine.

On my double page spread I was much more informal throughout the interview
and wrote in the language of the stars being questioned. I did this so that my
artists can be seen for who they really are and appeal to my youth audience. I
did an introduction for my audience so they knew what was to be expected and
to set the scene, making them feel part of it.
 Music Genre-
The genre of music I wanted to look at was heavily focused on RnB because it was a popular
option when I completed my questionnaire. I wanted to focus the magazine on both male
and female so the inspiration I had was ‘N-Dubz’ so I found my band by picking props and
models that resembled the three members of the band. I think I have fitted in well with the
genre because the band well represents it and the secondary stories inside are all based
around the RnB theme and artists along with my colours and the brick background I chose to
Layout-
use on the front and inside, that gives it a much more effective house style.
• For my front cover I only wanted to have the main lead
on it because having anything else I thought might take
the shine off the main feature in my magazine. This said,
I only used one which was linked to the primary lead,
meaning when you first look at the magazine the eye is
drawn to the members of ‘2 Plus 1’
•For my contents page, I kept it simple with only an image that
again linked to the main story from the front cover, which is the
months featured article. The only other images were the two free
posters to draw the audience in. All the information I included
where in set out boxes next to each other which gave it a clear
indication of what was what as I headed both boxes with
‘Interviews’ and ‘Inside Monthly’.

•My double page spread I wanted to make it as visual as possible so I

included ten small images and a larger image at the side. I included
quotes and made sure my important headings were in red. My
interview was set out in two columns next to each other like my
contents page and the questions were in purple, following my colour
scheme so that it stood out who was asking the questions and who
was answering.
2: How Does Your Media
Product Represent Particular
Social Groups?
 As you can see from the images above, my magazine is similar to that of social
groups on the covers of magazines from ‘Q’. They share the same facial expressions to
that of my models and especially from the Russell Brand edition of ‘Q’, the way he is
postured and the way he is holding his hand is similar to that of Jack on my front cover.
The lighting when you look more closely at my magazine on the blog, you will see that
the lighting is brighter around the main artists and the background is darker, much like
this ‘Q’ cover whereby they seem to be brighter like they have a spot light on them.
Overall these elements form a type of RnB, largely attitude based social group. They
represent a type of different social group in their actions and faces rather than standing
completely normal and out of character, they are very much in character.
 
3: What Kind of Media Institution Might
Distribute Your Media Product and Why?
 I think that a media institution that might distribute my magazine
would be a company such as ‘Bauer Media’. This is because they tend
to aim their audience around similar ages to what mine is targeted at.
They own magazine’s such as ‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang’ and the radio station
‘Kiss’ therefore are well known by the world of media and these
magazines are for the younger audiences; the youth much like mine.
They have experience in running a brand with over 80 influential
brand names covering a diverse range of interests and engaging 19
million consumers every week, so therefore would be able to
successfully get ‘Playlist’ into the media world.
Another distributer that would be useful is Holborn Publishing
Group (IPC) because they had a magazine known as ‘Number 1’
that was based on more pop music like my magazine genre which
includes pop along with RnB and was aimed at 13-19 year olds
much like my target audience of the teenager stage.
4: Who Would Be The Audience For
Your Media Product?
 The headphones
she is wearing
imply she is a big
music fan.

My readers as you can see from the image are teenagers who are also
students. Their types of music include pop and RnB and they tend to
listen to bands such as N-Dubz, Tinie Tempah, Drake, Lady Gaga and
more. The bold colouring of the font on the front would attract them and
then inside the mix of bold colours being purple and red with white
stand out. They tend to buy CD’s and posters of their preferred artists
and would attend a few concerts a year. With my magazine there are
interviews which they would look for in a magazine and free posters
included that they would normally buy.
5: How Did You Attract/Address
Your Audience?
 Front Cover Clear, bold font with
the play button for
the ‘a’ gives it an
effective catch

Snappy catch line

Lighting brighter for main

artists and brick wall shows
the genre more

The characters are

showing more attitude,
appeals to target audience

Bold colouring,
stands out on page

Tells us who else in the

Snappy catchline magazine, which are popular
artists at the moment
Contents The competition may attract my
audience especially as the prize is to
win a day with an artist

Another image of my primary lead

giving away a little more on the
band
The monthly features give the
audience lots of things to look at
and do, being youth’s they like to
be entertained

Special features such as interviews

with chart artists makes the reader
want to find out more

A poster for both male and

female audience plus they are
free
Double Page Action images so
my audience isn’t
bored by posed
images but may
relate to the fun
side of the band

Interview
written exactly
how the band
spoke to the
interviewer,
meaning my
youths can
understand them
easily

Quotes from
the band stand
Gives readers a chance to know
out so can read
general things they want to know
these first
about the band they might relate to
Audience Feedback

Video above
presentation
A few boys were also asked but were not filmed. They liked the magazine
as a whole but thought that different colours could have been used; maybe
an alternative to purple which they saw as more feminine. Also the way the
double page was laid out, the interview dominated most of the page.

Improvements
•From the video of the three girls the critisms were the text on the front cover
could be aligned all down one side and on the double page spread the name of
the ‘2Plus1’ could have been a bit bigger to give real effect.
•From the boys, maybe chose a different colour rather than purple and arranged
the double page better so that the images were more dominant than the text.

Text made less

Aligned text
dominant
down side
6: What Have You Learnt About
Technologies From The Process
of Constructing This Product?
 This is the laptop that
constructed alot of my
magazine on. The main
thing I used was the
computer’s at school but all
the planning, gaining my
pictures and evaluating
was done on this.

I used my Epson
camera to gather all my
images on, which some
I then went on to edit
using the website
Picnik.

I used a memory stick that helped me

transfer the work I had completed to do
with my magazine at home’ like my
images to transfer to the school
computer to put into my magazine.
 My magazine was completed
using Macromedia Fireworks.
Here I was able to add on
effects, shapes and form my
magazine.

Slideshare was used to upload my

PowerPoint slides I had made onto
which then allowed me to put them
onto my blog.

Picnik is the website I used to

edit pictures for my magazine. I
used it mainly for making
images brighter and clearer.
 This is Windows Live
Movie Maker, where I
edited my videos.

Blogger is what everything

I have done with my media
coursework is placed on.
All my planning and
presenting was done on
here.

From the technologies I have shown above, I have learnt alot about
many of them. Before starting media I didn’t know what Blogger
or Slideshare was and I wasn't sure about how to use Fireworks or
Movie Maker. I now feel I can use this again in the future without
any problems which may help with a future career path.
7:Looking Back At Your Preliminary
Task, What Do You Feel You Have
Learnt In The Progression From It To
Full Product?
By looking at both of these, I have learnt alot about using the technology of
Fireworks and editing of pictures. For example my music magazine image has
a brighter focus on the artists whereas they are much darker in my school
magazine. I have spent more time looking at real magazine and doing research
for my music magazine; whereby there is an issue number, barcode and price.
You can see how much I have learnt from the difference in these contents pages. I have made my
music magazine much more complex and especially in the images I have learnt how to use the
tool to quickly cut around things. For example the background has been taken away from the
band in my music magazine but the images in my school magazine still have their backgrounds
which are irrelevant. In both the contents and front cover I have learnt how to get a better
shadow and glow to make a greater effect and they have much more complexity unlike the
school magazine that I did at the start of my media course which is more simply and plain.