AS Media Foundation Portfolio Evaluation

Oliver

Mitchell

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products? Front Cover.

Mast-Head

Main Image

Pull Quote

Footer

Barcode/Date/Issue

Similarities

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products? Front Cover.

Differences

NME gives images of the of artists as opposed to just naming them.

NME does no really show the background so it does not draw attention away from the main image.

NME has a clearer masthead that can be consistent through out all future magazines whereas mine may have to change because with certain images it will not be very clear.

NME include more sell lines. By doing this it advertises more about the articles inside and gives more description as to what they will be like.

Similarities

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products? Contents Page.

Both magazines contain a featured column on the left third of the page.

They both have a main image showing the article in the right third.

They have a clear contents title with the magazines name below / next to it.

Both magazines have sued the same rule of third sections for their images and contents.

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products? Contents Page.

Differences

Q has included a review section whereas I have used the space to show images of other artists that will be featured in the magazine.

I added a little memo from the editor thanking the reader, but Q included an “every month”, proposing the articles that will be included every month and won’t change

Q magazine have also included a date inside the contents page. This also lets the reader know that it is the most recent edition.

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products? Article Page.

Similarities

Differences

Both magazines have included the article section on the right page. This is so it does not cover any of the image and you can clearly see who it is.

Both magazines have pulled a quote from the article / interview to make it seem more interesting.

On my magazine I have included the artists name in the left third. This lets readers know that they are on the right page for the article they want to read.

My magazine has included page number at the bottom of the page. This makes it a lot easy for the reader to find the page with the article on,

My magazine has used a background where the artist looks more at home whereas Q have used one which looks unnatural to make the artists seem more attractive and of a high stature,

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Indie Music is a genre of alternative rock. It is extremely diverse with lots of sub-genres including Indie-pop, Grunge and Lo-fi amongst others. It originated in the UK and USA around the mid-eighties. Lately, indie music has lots of associations from trends, appearance and being relaxed.

Now a days, the stereotypical social group for the genre would be working class Caucasian’s between the ages of 15 – 22, mostly males. They are recognised for having a wide-fashion sense ranging from snap-backs, polo shirts, shirts, sweaters, chinos, crosses and sneakers.

I decided to challenge this particular social group as it expands even more and creates more sub-cultures.

I have done this so my magazine can represent a variety of social groups instead of just one main target audience.

I have represented a number of social groups by –

-Gender

-Latest Trends

-Being individual

-Having confidence

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

IPC media produces over 60 iconic media brands.

Throughout the UK two thirds of females and 42% males read print alone. (26 million UK adults).

The websites IPC media incorporate have 20 million views each month.

They produce a wide collection of media, which suits everyone’s needs not just focusing on one social group.

They already distribute highly known magazine NME. This shows that they have a lot of experience and knowledge in the music industry.

By publishing my magazine through IPC, it would be a good opportunity and it would be respected as it is being approved by IPC.

"IPC" media stands for International Publishing Corporation Media. They are associated with a wide range of of magazines varying from gardening to television, sailing to firearms, photography to music.

Who would the audience be for your media product?General Background Information

Name: Hayden Atkins

Age: 16

Ethnicity: White British

Lives Solihull

Music Interests

Hayden listens to music on a regular basis. He will often listen to music from YouTube as background music. He does not buy/download music as he doesn’t feel the need, but he still likes listening to it.

Favourite Artists

Blink-182, The Kooks, Bombay Bicycle club.

Likes

Football, Reading, Parties, Journalism.

Dislikes

RnB music, Villa, Reality TV, Brussels Sprouts.

General Background Information

Name: Harriet Castle

Age: 18

Ethnicity: White British

Lives Solihull

Music Interests

Harriet loves music. She tries to listen to it on a daily basis before and after work. She will often buy music and attends concerts whenever possible. She also enjoys festivals such as Reading.

Favourite Artists

The Wombats, The Kooks, A Day To Remember

Likes

Reading, Relaxing, Pancakes, Parties

Dislikes

Chavs, Peanuts, School, Drama

Who would the audience be for your media product?General Background Information

Name: Annie Thomas

Age: 17

Ethnicity: White British

Lives Solihull

Music Interests

Annie loves listening to music. She will regularly attend concerts and downloads a lot of her music. She also synchronises her music to her IPod so she can listen to music wherever she goes.

Favourite Artists

The Kooks, Example, Los Campesinos!

Likes

Scooters, Geography, Relaxing, Sunday Roast.

Dislikes

Walking, Dyed hair, Heavy Metal, Computers.

General Background Information

Name: Toby Railton

Age: 17

Ethnicity: White British

Lives Solihull

Music Interests

Toby occasionally listens to music, he is not a big fan but he appreciates that it is helpful and often listens to music to relieve stress after a long day.

Favourite Artists

Bloodhound Gang, AC/DC, Arctic Monkeys

Likes

Economics, Xbox, Movies, Walking his dog.

Dislikes

Geometry, Chavs, Decorating, Ovens

How did you attract/address your audience?

New And Upcoming News being Detailed to let them know what is going on.

Main dominant image with clothing that relates to the audience and its latest trends.

From my questionnaire, I noticed that the majority of people said they would pay between £2-£3. Therefore, I made my magazine £1.50, which is lower than what they said they would pay and so they would more likely buy my magazine.

Top artists in that genre that my readers would be familiar with and enjoy.

Celebrity gossip.

Showing new and upcoming artists that are going to be big.

I included a main header in large bold letters, to make it stand out, appealing to the audience by becoming obvious.

Audience Feedback

Over-all my audience feedback was very good.

The strengths of magazine were:

Cover Page

Article Page

Colour Scheme

The weaknesses of magazine were:

Contents Page

Lack of Text

Quality of Text

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

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

Adobe PhotoShop enabled me to create my magazine front cover. It was extremely effective and allowed me to edit all of my photographs to create an effective and realistic magazine.

It was incredibly easy to use and it was easy to get the hang of it. For example using the polygonal lasso tool allowed me to select certain items that I wanted to edit, leaving the rest of the rest of the image original.

Using Adobe InDesign, I created both my contents page and my double page article. In design is simple to Photoshop. However, InDesign allows you to layout all of your work as if it were the actual magazine. It is slightly harder to use than PhotoShop, but it was still useful and helped a lot.

I used blogger to keep track of all my coursework. I uploaded all of the work I did, and all of the research leading up to the completed work. Working my way through the task booklet, I uploaded a piece of work every time I completed one of the tasks. This was extremely helpful and motivating as I was able to see how much work I had done and what was being completed.

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

I used Microsoft word quite a lot throughout the course.

I used it to type all of my research so I could spell check the work and ensure that it was all up to standard and made sense.

Microsoft Powerpoint was also an extremely useful tool. I was able to write up research information and upload it in to blogger.

The reason Powerpoint was so useful is because it made my blogger file appear more interesting as opposed to having lots of information just written up.

I used internet explorer to help with everything. I used it to find ideas for my magazine, to find new fonts, to help research.

I was able to use internet explorer as my main research base, and got most of my research from it. It also allowed me to use blogger to upload all of my work.

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

Preliminary Task Final Product

Since my preliminary task, I have improved my skills using photoShop. I have also learned how to effectively use InDesign to create a professional look.

By looking at other magazine's I was able to create a cover and contents page and improve my final product from this.

From PhotoShop I have learnt how to add effects to my magazine such as changing the levels to make certain images brighter or darker.

I used InDesign to develop all of my work together so I could see what it would look like as a final piece, all together.

I have also improved my manipulation skills. This allowed me to change aspects of an image leaving the rest of the image the same, not being altered.