over the next week I am planning my evaluation questions and writing them up to help me in my final evaluation to put it all together i will use many different forms of ict in my evaluation to make it more interesting.Here is what i managed to put together
-In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The mise en scene and props and
clothing that I set the people in for taking pictures was thought up as I was
aiming it highly towards my audience and genre of the magazine. Images are one
of the main things that will attract the audience to the magazine so I needed
to make sure they fitted the genre and audience correctly. The girl on the
front cover of my magazine presents the typical image of the genre of my
magazine as she has long wavy hair which is mostly pointed to indie fashion,
also the prop the guitar is included in many indie songs and are mostly
associated with the indie genre of music, As this image is the most vital and
important one as it is on the front cover it needs to stand out to the audience
and encourage them to read into it more. The cover lines on my front cover also
include a live image of Labrinth which points more towards the pop genre of my
magazine and will grab the reader’s attention alot I feel, because he is a very
well known and popular artist who is very successful. The boy on the top left
of my page also points towards the genre of indie music, as of the clothes he
is wearing and the props included which are headphones clearly point to it
being a music magazine so it is very easy for the audience to see that it is
for music. I feel that my magazine is similar in some ways to other music
magazines because there is lots of cover lines included on the front cover and
some of them are set out in the same way that other front cover magazine images
are, for example the big masthead at the top for the name of my magazine
is very clear and easy to read. I thought the lighting of the image contrasted
very well with the rest of the front cover as there are bright text and fonts
included so it contrasted very well. I feel that the background of my
image is clear and set out correctly because if the background was busy and
unclear then it wouldn’t be clear as to what the main focus of the magazine is
and what other stories can be included inside the magazine. However I also feel
that my magazine is different to others as it doesn’t have as much cover lines
and images included and is clearly set out. Similar to most magazines my name
is just one word so it is easy to remember and keeps stuck in the readers mind,
I decided to put my masthead in the centre of the page as I thought it fitted
better with my main image and I could make it appear bigger, this differs
however from such magazines like Q which I researched in my RMA.I thought that
my masthead went very well with the house style as I chose a light grey for my
magazine name I thought it reflected the softness and vintageness of my
magazine and the genre of the magazine which is indie relates very well to
the colouring that I chose and reflects vintage in itself. For my contents page
my main article on the front cover is again featured as the main article in my magazine,
some magazines don’t tend to do this but others mostly do like Q and NME.I I
included images of the articles that are the main focus of the magazine, and
then included the others at the side with text and information. The miser en
scene and how they are dressed again relates strongly to the audience and
genre of the magazine and the audience of the magazine are most likely to
appear to wear these clothes. Again with the girl in the middle wearing
headphones clearly shows that it is a music magazine. Throughout my magazine I
used different styles and colourings of text; however I made sure that they
kept within the same house style as to make my magazine seem more professional.
Real music magazines do this because they are professional and know what is
best for the magazine to sell to the audience they are aiming it at. However
some magazines do have the same font running throughout to show the house style
and that it is all the same and clear to read. For my double page spread I had
to think carefully about the language I used and what I chose to talk about
with the main artist savannah hall, I included a pull quote of the text at the
bottom of the page to show it is professional and also a drop cap at the
beginning of the text, most magazines do this for example NME, Q etc. My
language was quite informal and I had to choose specific subjects and
topics to write about the artist the 17+ year old females would find
interesting.
2. Who would the audience be for
your media product and how did you attract/address your audience?
For my media product I aimed my
audience at mostly teens of age 16 and above to up to the 19 or 20 age range, I
thought that my magazine would be more towards the female gender as there were
many artists in there that I think females would be more interested in, However
males may be interested in some of the artists. Also another reason why I think
my magazine was more for females is because of the house style and colouring of
my magazine with mostly pink and purples and a vintage feel towards it ,
generally it will mostly attract a female audience that are interested in those
colours. My main article also featured a female artist which can also influence
the female audience as she would probably be better known in the female gender
and they are most likely to favour her music over the male gender. The models
that I chose to feature in my magazine were typical looking for the genre of
the magazine and the genre of the audience that I think would be the typical
people to read the magazine, of the indie/pop style. I made sure the models on
the contents, double page spread and front cover fitted the image of the genre
very well by putting them in appropriate clothing that would fit the thoughts
of the audience as to what they think they should be wearing, the front cover
of the girl holding the guitar supports the genre of the music well and many
indie artists tend to play the guitar also by her clothing it shows she is very
indie, as she has a hat on a parka jacket and jeans also the model on the
contents page has a patterned shirt on which also fits the indie genre as it is
seen as unique and different from other genres the mood board that I included
in the planning of my magazine also featured clothes like this and as the
models (the main girl in the magazine)
hair is long and wavy – this also supports the genre as typically indie style
girls are assumed to have long wavy hair and appear unique from others – so
generally my magazine reinforces the stereotype of indie girls and boys their
appearance and how they dress. I thought I kept this well throughout the
magazine as I included the main featured artist throughout wearing different
clothing etc so she fitted well into the genre of the magazine. I chose a genre
of music that I like to listen to so I could try and fit it into my age range
and genre of music. On my contents I included some information a little summary
of what some of the articles are about to help the audience know and to
encourage them to read on and be more interested in what they are reading
about, I also included some more images of different artists including my main
featured one so that there was more of a variety of them included within my magazine.
Also I included a feature in my contents page where the magazine comes with
free delivery- this will entice the audience to buy more as they will be
getting it cheaper and it also seems professional and as though the magazine is
popular.
3. How do you know you’ve
attracted the audience?
Throughout
my magazine I had to think how I could keep attracting the audience to read it
and keep including them within the magazine.
On
my front cover I made sure that my masthead was bigger and clearer than any
other font on the page and placed it at the top so it was very visible to the
audience and caught their attention. The model on my front cover fitted the
image of a indie/pop artist very well with the clothing she wears and her
appearance, also the musical instrument of a guitar being included also gives
off that it is a music magazine and is linked to the genre of indie my magazine
has. With her also looking directly at the camera helps link to the audience
directly and as though she is looking at them with direct eye contact. With the
big text under the main featured artist I included little things about her that
are included in the magazine to encourage the audience to read on and make It
seem more interesting, also including some well known artists and a well known
popular festival (reading festival) of the indie and pop genre it is likely
that people of this genre will be interested. From my audience feedback I asked
mainly females of the age range that I aimed my magazine at and they said the
colouring blended in very well and was very eye appealing for their sort of age
range and gender. This helped me because I knew what sort of style my magazine
needed and the colouring it needed to appeal to the audience and then I
followed this style throughout my magazine. And on my double page spread I made
all the changes of what my audience thought on which I should change , this way
I know this attracted them more as they thought of what I should change and I
did this.
My
ideal viewer would be someone of about 17 or 18 years of age who looked like
the typical ‘indie’ female. They would be interested in both pop and indie
music and be a bit different and unique to other people and their style.
6.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
process from it to your finished product?
I
feel I have learnt a lot along the process of creating my magazine from using
new technologies, creating the magazine, editing images, using new software,
presenting the product, putting in diary entries etc.The two mastheads of the
magazine are both very different to each other. The backgrounds and type of
images I used were also very different, in my prelim the background was normal
and not thought about also the angle wasn’t very good and image was very
pixelated, whereas in my magazine the backgrounds were thought up well and the
images were clear and visible to see, also I had time to think about the models
I would feature to fit with my magazine. The colouring also changed as I had
the same house style running throughout which made it seem very realistic and
professional.
