Oli Searle

Media Evaluatio

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In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?My magazine ‘Mainstream’ follows the typical

conventions of an Indie genre magazine. It includes various reviews on recent performances and exclusive interviews with new ‘up and coming’ stars.

It contains a range of rather dark colours which are complimented well with the brighter colours for text.

The font styles I used to support this colour scheme were stereotypically ‘retro’ and original.

The composition of my images also help to add to the indie genre, as the artists look carefree, also the various poses help to bring across the indie feel.

For example the main image on my front cover is a lone guitarist, it looks very much like an action shot, but the clothes and his body language suggest a relaxed feel to his playing.

My magazine is very similar to these three, as I’ve tried to use the dark colours and contrast with the lighter colours like in NME, bright red on the darker black.

Also I’ve kept the image typical to the genre but with only a single artist holding an instrument like in Kerrang! Where they have the lone guitarist as the main image.

I’ve tried to keep the font style original but also clear, like on the cover of Q where they’ve used a variety of fonts but they’re all clear and seem to go well together

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is aimed at teenage males, this seemed like a logical route to go down, as many of the conventional magazines I looked at had more of a male theme to them.

Also the teenagers are more likely to want to pick up a magazine a read it on the move as it tends to be more informal than a newspaper. NME and Q have

used the female on their front covers to help draw in the male readers, as they’ll want to know more about the attractive young females on the front of the magazines

I included an image of a young aspiring artist on the front of mine to act as inspiration to the males but also as an incentive for female teenagers to want to buy it to read about the male.

Imag

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These are the various images used. They help to entice the teenage audience as they include the young lads, performing and posing with various instruments.

The composition of each photo was well planned so they stayed true to the genre and they would fit the style of the magazine suitably.

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

After looking into various magazines and who produce them, and comparing them with my magazine. I’d think either the Bauer Media Group as they already distribute very successful music magazines of Indie genre Q Magazine and also Kerrang!

I think my magazine would fit in well with these magazines as they have similar conventions

For example Mainstream has the same sort of layout as Q magazine, with the coverlines placed around the main image, that fills the center of the front cover.

Who would be the audience for your media product? My magazine

‘Mainstream’ is aimed at a variety of different target audiences. As I have tried to make it appeal to both genders, specifically of around 15 to 19 year olds. Mainly because, from my surveys, they are more likely to go out and buy a magazine and read it than someone of a much older age.

Stereotypical teenagers that I would aim my magazine at.

How

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Well from my audience research, I was able to get a basic idea of what sort of things to include, layout to use, and colours and fonts to include.

For example I was able to find out from my focus group that the colours I used were good, as they said it was ‘easy to see’ the coverlines.

Also the fonts I used were ‘exciting’ and has a ‘bubbly’ feel to it, so they worked well with the colour scheme to make an overall attractive appear for the magazine.

However, they all agreed that the magazine was more of an indie-rock theme to it due to the appearance being more masculine with the darkness of the font and colours.

The mass of ‘bubbly, exciting’ coverlines adds to the appeal of the magazine

The on the double page spread the text was ‘easy to see’ and the colour scheme was ‘effective’

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?Throughout the production of ‘Mainstream’ I

have used a variety of technology to aid me, like digital cameras, video camera, paint and Microsoft publisher.

I was able to develop my skills by using new technologies like Microsoft publisher, I was able to get a better understanding of how best to film and capture images by using the digital and video cameras. Also I was able to use my knowledge of paint to help me increase the quality of the images and suit them to the genre.

Digital Camera & Video CameraI used the digital camera to take the photo’s for

my magazine, I was able to experiment with them, by taking various shots at different angles and zoom.

I used a video camera to film my focus group for my evaluation. They were able to give me constructive feedback with out me having to write down key points or for them to be limited by a questionnaire. I was able to film them for around 8 minutes and they were able to provide various criticisms and improvements that I was able to take down in video format for future reference.

Paint & PublisherMy editing software was paint, purely because

photoshop was too confusing for me. This limited me in some ways, however I feel did the best I could with the software I had available. The photo’s therefore had to be perfect and in need of only slight adjustments.

Finally, my key piece of technology were Microsoft Publisher as without this my magazine would not have been able to be put together easily, and it would not have come out as being quite effective as it has. I had no previous experience with publisher before however after practicing with the preliminary task, I feel that my skills had improved vastly and this benefitted me in the main production.

Technology

I used paint to editing the original images. Adding effects was done in publisher but various photo edits were administered in paint.

Publisher was the main tool I used, as this was where I created the magazine. I was able to put the text, images, layout and everything together to create the final piece.

What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from your preliminary product to the full product?I feel that I have improved massively since my preliminary task,

as it was my first experience with publisher and I wasn’t very good. However my main task I’ve been able to use the skills picked up for the preliminary task to aid me in the production of my magazine.

I feel that the overall appearance of the magazine looks a lot more professional, as before it was too ordered and plain whereas now its scattered, interesting and a lot more appealing to a younger audience.

Also I looked into the colour scheme a lot more, as my preliminary task the colours were quite plain and simple, I only really used blue, just changed the tone, so it looked too plain and simple. Whereas in my final task I tried to use darker colours but then have the bright vibrant colours over the top to make them stand out more to the audience.

Progression from Preliminary to Final Product

The difference in texts and images

Preliminary Task

Finished Music Magazine

Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread