Draft Evaluation

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

The music magazine that I created – Amplified typically follows the conventions of real magazines. Firstly my masthead is big and bold which is typical of many magazines and also both of my case studies – Kerrang and NME. Additionally my masthead is towards the left of the page so it is similar to my case study NME. The photography of the cover page is a medium shot and is towards the right of the page leaving more space on the left for cover lines. This challenges the typical media cover page conventions of magazines as the cover star is normally centred, also the cover star is not in a studio but outside. There are cover lines and pull quotes on my front cover which are seen on real magazines such as NME. I have also added the barcode, price, issue number and date which are again typical magazine conventions. I have used a three colour scheme of black, red, white which is a real magazine feature.
The Contents page carries on with the three colour scheme and so uses this magazine convention like in NME. I have used columns and page numbers which are also found in Kerrang and NME. I used similar sub headings from both Kerrang and NME like features and regulars.
The DPS has pull quotes which is a typical magazine convention and is very large too. I have added social media of the cover star which challenges the typical magazine conventions of NME and Kerrang. However I have still kept to the three colour scheme which is another magazine convention.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social groups for my magazine are both male and female but mostly male readers aged 16-30. They live all over the globe but mostly in English speaking countries like UK, USA, Australia. Furthermore, they are of all backgrounds and social groups. The music that they like is a mixture of all types of rock which is shown on the front cover and DPS where the cover star is holding and playing the guitar similar to indie rock. This shows that I have reinforced the indie rock stereotype.  Overall it’s a positive representation of rock and the cover star.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for amplified will be both males and females aged 16 – 30. The majority of the audience would be males 55% and females 45%. The average age of the reader would be 22. In terms of ethnicity all ethnicities will read this magazine and all social classes would read it. The musical tastes that the reader would have are generally rock with sub genres like indie rock and/alternative rock. Looking at the kerrang press pack that I researched it task two I feel that this would be the audience that would buy Amplified.

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

I have considered both using Bauer media and Time Inc UK as my publisher. I decided to go for Time Inc UK, primarily because Bauer Media already publish a very popular rock magazine Kerrang and the world’s largest UK magazine MOJO Although Time Inc UK produce NME they don’t publish an all rock magazine like Amplified as I said in my music magazine proposal. Also Time Inc creates content for multiple platforms, across print, online, mobile, tablets and experiences and reaches over 130 million consumers worldwide monthly.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience by having a particular colour scheme – three colour scheme of black, red white. The audience said that “your colour scheme is good”, “and it stands out”. This is similar to my case study NME, which has the same colour scheme. I added social media to the DPS and contents page so the audience can access the magazine elsewhere as well as the cover star. The audience said “I liked the fact that you added the cover stars social media names”  The audience are of a young age who interact a lot with social media so I felt it was write to ad this feature in my magazine.

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

I have used a variety of technologies to create my music magazine. I have used Photoshop to create my cover page of my magazine. I have learned to use the magic lasso tool efficiently in order to remove an image from its background. I also learned to use different outline and text feature to make my text look more attractive. In my contents page and DPS I learnt to align and use columns successfully. Also I learned to create layers for separate things in my magazine. As well as learning new software, I learned to use the Nikon D700 to take my pictures in the studio and outdoors. I learnt to change the shutter speed to produce the best image

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

There were 3 key development points that were from my preliminary task. Firstly I had to use a variety of images instead of similar images – in my preliminary task it was a person reading. I feel I have progressed from this by having different types of images in a variety of locations. For example my cover page is outdoors in front of a brick wall, whereas the DPS photo is taken in the photo studio. Another development point was to use a proper three colour scheme throughout my magazine. This would have made my magazine look more professional. I feel I have progressed through this development task as I have used a three colour scheme, of black, red, white. This makes my magazine more dynamic and fresh improving the finished product of the magazine. The last development point was to change the contents page background from white to something else. Although I haven’t change the background from white I have added more things to the contents page like more images so the contents page looks slicker and so I didn’t have to change the background. Lastly I changed the contents page two to pages which allowed me to add more features to the magazine such as competitions.