evaluation

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

The layout of my front cover develops the forms and conventions, as the layout is much like other magazines that I researched before constructing my own. The eye flow of my magazine is top right corner to bottom left corner. I did this by putting my logo in the top left corner so it will be the first thing someone looking at the magazine will see. I then placed stories that will be inside the magazine on the left. My main image is of an music artist who has a new album coming out. I placed her as my splash image on my front cover of my magazine.

The layout of my contents page develops the forms and conventions, as the layout is much like other magazine content pages that I researched before constructing my own. The eye flow of my contents page is like others, where all of the information about what is inside is on the right hand side of the page with the images on the top half of the page. then placed stories that will be inside the magazine on the left. My main image is of the artist that is featured on the front cover of my magazine that I photoshoped to be filled with a floral pattern to show that the artist has a warm and loving personality.

The layout of my double page spread develops the forms and conventions, as the layout is much like other double page spreads that I have researched before constructing my own. The eyeflow of my double page spread is like others where all information and text is situated on one side of the page whilst the main image of the artist that the article is about is situated on the other side of the double page spread.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents indie rock magazine so therefore it would appear to people who like this genre of my magazines. I made my main subject of my front cover of my magazine from a young generation (22 years old) so this would attracts the younger generations rather than if I had an old person on my front cover 15-25 year olds would not buy the magazine.I did this by making my front cover of an indie rock artist that has just released a new album. This should represent this genre of music as she is wearing the fashion that Indi rockers wear.i.e. black clothing and leather jackets.My contents page of my magazine represents . Indi rockers asAlthough you cannot see what my models costume is you can see That she is wearing sun glasses on top of her head, this is popular For Indi rockers to wear. It is also a close up, so you can clearly seethat my model is young, this represents the kind of people that I want to read my magazine.My double page spread represents Indi rockers as I used a guitar as a prop and made my model stand outside of a run down shed to make it look trendy. This is common with Indi rockers as they seem to be in areas where people wouldn’t want to be, i.e. a run down shed. I also made my model dress like an Indi rocker and act like one by playing the guitar in a hard core way. It looks like my model is having fun which is was I wanted. This is because it will attract readers if they see that she is in a positive mood.

• Uncut would distribute my magazine as the layout is very similar to ‘uncut’ magazine who is distributed by ‘IPC’. I based my first drafts on research that I gathered from ‘uncut’ magazine. I like the way how on the double page spread they use one large image over two pages rather than one A4 image and a blank background for the other. Also the main image on the double page spreads look vintage and by we reducing the opacity, it makes my image look vintage as well; so my double page spread fits in with their theme.

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

My contents page was inspired by the research that I did on ‘Q’ magazine. I liked how they had a close up image of an artist and the writing to the side of it. I think that because my contents page has a similar layout, ‘Q’ magazines distributors institution may want to distribute my magazine.

Editions freeway may also like to distribute my magazine because they distribute ‘rock sound’ magazine and my front cover is has a similar layout to ‘rock sounds.’ Although I did not use a close up image for my front cover as many of ‘rock sound’ magazines have, I used a main image with the same style of character. I also liked all of the information to the side of the image rather than on top and central.

4) who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my music magazine is 15-24 year olds who are interested in Indi rock music. I got this from data that I gathered through my questionnaire. Readers should enjoy

Reading articles, and should be into music. They should be from both genders and know about the different artists from the genre ‘Indi rock’Readers would know that this magazine is aimed at them because I have used a young model on the front cover. Also I have used a neutral font so it will not be labelled as masculine or feminine.

I attracted my readers to my magazine by trying to relate to my target audience. I know that my target audience age is from a younger generation so I tried to appeal to them by putting a young attractive girl on the front. I believe that my front cover is the most important part of attracting my audience as this is the first thing they will see and decide if they want to read it or not.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

Secondly I put things in my magazine that I know will attract to the reader by focusing on their interests. For example I know that they like Indi rock music as this is why they want to buy my magazine, so I put in a lot of Indi rock stars i.e. Charmaine, and write an article about her. I also know that majority of readers want to read an interview, so I advertised that there was an interview on the front cover

I also stated on my contents page that there was a free album of the top 10 Indi rock hits of last year. This would attract readers as they would want to know what were the top hits and they would want a free CD. I also incorporated a quiz for the readers to find out what Indi rocker they were, this would attract my readers as they would want to know what Indi rocker they are.

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

Photoshop- I have learnt a lot about Photoshop throughout this project and have developed my skills immensely. I can now change an image by changing the colour, effect, size/angle, fixing imperfections, cropping or adding the images to the current image. This technology helped me create my front cover, contents page and double page spread with ease.

Blogger- Blogger was an easy was to upload the different stages of my development. I have learnt how to make a blog edit my blog by changing the background and title. I have also learnt how to edit a blog after it has be uploaded and adding in images or videos. I also learnt how to insert a hyperlink to another page i.e. slide share.

Survey monkey- I used survey monkey to create my questionnaire, it was simple and easy to do as it had all of the instructions there. Next time I use this website I will be able to make a questionnaire fast and easily thanks to my practice developing my skills during this task. ( this can be found on my blog http://christinapericcos.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/analysis-of-questionnaire.html )

Microsoft PowerPoint- I have developed my skills in PowerPoint by constantly using it to create presentations. I have not learnt anything new however I have become for fluent with making PowerPoints so I am able to make them faster and look nicer.

Barcode generator- I used the website barcode generator to create a unique barcode for my magazine. It was easy to use and quick. I learnt how to make a barcode in under 5 minutes. I got to choose the shape/ design of the barcode and enter in my own numbers. This can be found on my blog ( http://christinapericcos.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/barcode.html )

I also used Excel to create the pie charts to show my questionnaire analysis. I Learnt how to change the amount that the pie chart was showing and percentages. This canbe found on my blogg (http://christinapericcos.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/analysis-of-questionnaire.html )

• Looking back through my preliminary task I can see clear improvement in the development of my magazine. I have developed my skills with Photoshop so making my final product more attractive and of higher quality. Through my preliminary tasks I have learnt how to use Photoshop effectively and efficiently.

• Taking my photos – there is also a clear improvement with my photos as you can see that I have taken more care in presenting the different camera angles and functions, making my photos of a higher quality.

• My preliminary tasks were very simple and not complex, however after I developed my skills I was able to take more risks in my development to come to a better outcome.

• Without my preliminary tasks I believe that my final product would not be as good as it is now. I was able to practice my skills and develop them further using the preliminary tasks.

7) Looking back at your preliminary tasks what do you feel you have learnt from the progression of it to the full product?