7 evaluation questions

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

Title - Following forms and conventions I made my title big and bold in order to stand out.

Colours - I also had to look at the colours carefully so as they mixed together better and I found out that yellow and white went together well with the background because it made it stand out more against it.

Contents page - I also set the contents page out as a real life magazine by setting it out in columns and putting page numbers next to the titles etc.

Main double page spread - I also edited pictures using Photoshop, and made my magazine using InDesign which followed how real magazine companies make and produce magazines.

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

I think that my media product represents a more upper class audience, who are mainly women. The reason for this being that the front cover is fairly elegant and I think that the fact a lot of women spend time outdoors, and because the picture is outside, it looks quite like a country magazine and this may attract to women more than men. I think that the model looks very fashionable, and someone who likes to keep up with the latest trends etc.

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

A production company is a company responsible for the development and physical production of new media, performing arts, film, radio or a television programme. The company may also be directly responsible for the raising of funding for the production or may do through an intermediary.

A distributor is a device in the ignition system of an internal combustion engine that routes high voltage from the ignition coil to the spark plugs in the correct firing order.

I would want a large media industry to distribute my media product because then it would be popular with people and more people would be able to see it. I think a company such as IPC media would be a good company to distribute my product because they are the second largest UK consumer publisher with 22% of the market. They are also in the lead with women's weekly magazines and as my magazine is aimed at women this would be very helpful to advertise my product.

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

Kelly is a 24 year old graduate who has an interest in country music, as well as wanting to hear about the latest concerts and news etc. Kelly’s look is quite plain and simple but also stylish and feminine at the same time.

Kelly comes from a well educated family, however her main focus is on music, as she loves to perform at her local bar and talent shows. One day she hopes to become a star. Her favourite music is country; however she also enjoys Indie and Pop music.

Along with music, she also likes going to gigs to get inspiration, and also listen to the competition. She also enjoys reading and watching shows such as X factor.

I think that Kelly would enjoy reading this magazine because she is an ordinary teenager who is into the latest fashion and music. I think this would also be a good magazine for her because it introduces upcoming artists just like her.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

In order to attract the audience I had to get lots of audience research, in order to understand how to make my magazine eye catching. After getting my research and viewing the comments people had said, I managed to take this into account and make sure my magazine was attracting to the eye and included articles on fairly recent news. Also in a lot of the feedback I got, it said that it was good because I used bold colours and text, and this helped the magazine to be more eye catching and would stand out better in a shop.

Comments I got included:

• Page is set out well as it is clear
• Good idea to put the page numbers on the photos
• The boldness attracts the reader to the page
• I find your magazine name is really affective as it is short and its font catches your attention

In order to attract my audience I had to make sure that firstly my front cover was eye catching and the main picture drew them in. Most people buy magazines because of what is on the front cover and therefore that was the most important part of my project. I used a fairly simple yet elegant looking picture and I also followed this onto the text by using quite an old fashioned style of writing. I also decided to advertise a competition on the front because this usually attracts the audience’s attention as well.

I also had to make sure I came up with a good main story. I decided on the London Fashion Week because this is a huge event that happens every year with lots of celebrities attending it, and it gets lots of coverage. The fact that the article was also on an ‘upcoming’ artist may attract people because it gives other young artists the confidence to try and go further with their own musical talents.

I also used a title that had two different meanings. ‘Here’ as in the fashion is here, and ‘Here’ also meaning ‘hear’ as in hear the music. I think as it’s a simple and short title this also makes the magazine stand out.

I tried to match the colours by matching the yellow writing with the colours in the background etc. I think this made it look more deliberate and professional looking, rather than using lots of different colours all over the place. I also used the same fonts on the front cover, making some of them bolder and putting shadows on them to make the writing stand out more.

Furthermore the articles I have written about on the front cover are fairly up to date and therefore may interest readers more, and as they are famous people, it may attract the audience’s attention.

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

Firstly I have learnt a lot about Mac computers during this project. I used the Macs when putting together my project and also writing up the article and editing pictures etc. I learnt how to find different programs and also how to transfer files through ‘Adobe Bridge’ etc.

I also used Photoshop a lot to edit my pictures after taking them. I had never used this programme before and learnt a lot e.g. how to use the spot healing tool on the model and how to make their eyes brighter etc.

I also used Google and Youtube while researching ideas for my magazine, such as pictures of models/celebrities so I got a rough idea of what I wanted on the front cover. I also looked at some Youtube tutorials to help me use Photoshop and also to get the best shots of my model.

I also used InDesign a lot because this is where I put together my double page spread and contents page. I leant some skills on this programme too which will probably help me in the future with other projects etc.

I also used the SLR camera to take all of my shots for my main project.

Lastly I used Blogspot to document all of my work and post my planning and research etc.

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

For my preliminary task I had to create a school magazine front cover, and also a contents page. This helped us feel comfortable with using programs such as Photoshop etc and also helped us improve our photography skills before doing our actual project.

I took lots of different shots for my preliminary task, including pictures inside, and also pictures outside using natural light. Doing this helped me get an idea of what look I wanted to achieve for my final project. Also when editing my preliminary task photo’s I was able to pick up a lot of skills that I then used to help me with my main project.

Looking back at my preliminary task, it helped me to use the SLR camera properly before going out and doing my main project. It also helped me decide which angles were best to use and which types of shots e.g. I found that I didn’t like using close up shots because I preferred being able to see the whole person including some background.

Overall I think having to do a preliminary task before my main task was very helpful because it allowed me time to gain more knowledge and skills of certain programmes, instead of just having to go out there and learn it all for myself straight away. I also think that because I did the preliminary task, it meant that the outcome of my final task was a lot better.

My own evaluation

Preliminary:

Starting with the front cover of my preliminary, I think I produced a fairly good quality piece of work. I like the colours used on the front cover, and I also like the font style as it is bold and eye-catching. In addition, I like the white space at the top of the page, because it makes it look more creative, although I have left too much space between the title of the magazine and the writing which says ‘Your weekly school magazine’. However the picture, when resized, did go a bit miss-shaped because I didn’t keep to the original constriction of the image. Therefore if I were to do it again, I would make sure I resized my picture correctly.

Overall I am quite disappointed with the contents page. I didn’t give myself enough time to make it look more professional. If I were to start the contents page again, I would add some more writing and also more pictures. I would also change the colour scheme to make it stand out more as it looks quite plain.

Main:

Starting with the front cover, I am quite proud with the work I produced. I think the picture, and the setting is high-quality so it makes it look more professional and quite high-class.

I matched the writing colour to the background picture so it made it all fit together better. Some writing was in a golden yellow colour to match the building in the background. This colour also fitted very well because I wanted it to feel like a spring/summer magazine. I then used the colour white again because it stood out from the background better and matched her dress. I also like the font style I used as she looks quite aristocratic in the picture, and I think the fonts used reflect this.

I think if I were to redo my front cover, I would have her standing differently though. Because I don’t like the way she’s standing upright with her hands in front of her. I would also change the white circle, advertising something to win, since it just looks like it has been placed there without any thought going into it.

When designing my contents page I didn’t want it to look plain so I used different colours on the background. I chose pink because it matched the colours on the models dress on the front cover and double page spread. I then chose the light grey as it matched quite well with the light pink. I wanted to use quite bold font to make the topics stand out. I also only chose to have 3 pictures on my contents page because I didn’t want to overcrowd it.
I quite like my contents page, but I would have liked to add more pictures to it, and take out some of the writing because although it doesn’t look overcrowded, I think there is too much writing on it which makes it a little tedious.

Next, I completed my double page spread. Once again I am pleased with the picture I captured to use on one side of the double page spread. However there are a few problems I have with it, now I’ve looked back at it. I think it would look better if I had used a different setting/different outfit, because she is wearing the same as on the front cover, and she is also outside in both. The pose wasn’t how I wanted it either. It was a dull day, and therefore not very nice for being outside, so I didn’t manage to try for a long period of time to capture the picture I wanted.
Nevertheless I am very pleased with the double page spread. I am happy with the layout I have used, and the different fonts. I think the only things I would change, would be the red shape with writing in it, because it didn’t give the effect I was hoping it would. I would also add something at the bottom because there is quite a lot of yellow space not filled.

Main project

Preliminary contents page

Preliminary front cover

This is my preliminary work, which was to design a school magazine front cover.

Audience research online

Questions:

1) What attracts you to the front cover of a magazine?

2) What type of music are you into?

3) How often do you read magazines?

4) Why do you read magazines?

Answer 1:

1) Pictures of celebrities and bold colours

2) Anything really but mostly bands such as Coldplay and Kings on Leon

3) Not very often, maybe once every 2/3 months

4) I like reading about new artists and seeing upcoming gigs

Answer 2:

1) Bright colours and a big colourful picture to catch the audiences attention.

2) Indi bands such as Forever The Sickest Kids and We the Kings etc.

3) About once a month

4) Nothing better to do, it passes the time

Answer 3:

1) Well known bands and freebies

2) RnB and Hip-Hop etc

3) Abut once a week

4) To read agony aunt articles and read gossip on the celebs

Evaluation:

After looking over what people have said above, I think it would be a good idea to include bold text/colourful writing on my front cover so as to attract attention and make people want to pick it up and read it. From the answers I also found that most people like indi music and fashion combined so I decided to do an article on an upcoming indi/dance artist who is also a model.  

Mood board

Main Project Planning

Main project:

It was harder to choose a topic for my real project as there was so much I could have done it on. I made a list again to choose topics and this included things such as:

A new marriage for ex WAG
Chipmunk’s success
Latest line-up for gig
Music star injured

However I wanted to write about something interesting, not just the latest celebrity gossip, and that is why I chose my article to be on upcoming artist’s success. I wasn’t sure about what to write about, so I decided to make it into an interview asking questions about her career and what the future holds.

List of questions I chose:

At what age did you start singing?
How did you find out about the competition?
Do you have any role models?
Have you entered any other competitions before?
How will this affect your future?
What genre of music do you prefer?
Where do you hope to e in 10 years?
Did anyone inspire you to become a singer?


The hardest part was taking pictures. I tried lots of different pictures because I couldn’t decide what genre of music she sang. I eventually decided she was a pop artist, but as most magazines are on singers in the charts, I said in my article she was into country music, and therefore I decided to make her look as though she were a country singer.

This is where I came up with the idea of having her outside on the front cover and double page spread. It also made a really pretty scene as it was bright. I chose that specific dress as it added to the brightness and made her stand out more because it was colourful.

I also decided to use a wide shot of her, as the background made the picture look better, and I thought it looked better than having a medium close up or close up, which is what most magazines use nowadays.

I matched the writing colour to the background picture so it made it all fit together better. Some writing was in a golden yellow colour to match the bit of building in the background. This colour also fitted very well because I wanted it to feel like a spring/summer magazine. I then used the colour white again because it stood out from the background better and matched her dress.

I used that certain font style because she looks quite elegant in the picture and aristocratic in the picture.

When designing my contents page I didn’t want it to look plain so I used different colours on the background. I chose pink because it matched the colours on the models dress on the front cover and double page spread. I then chose the light grey as it matched quite well with the light pink. I wanted to use quite bold font to make the topics stand out. I also only chose to have 3 pictures on my contents page because I didn’t want to overcrowd it. However I did rotate them and put them behind/in front of each other to make it look more artistic so they didn’t look they were just placed there without any thought going into them.

I left choosing a name for my magazine to the end. I wanted something that would make it seem like a music and fashion magazine put together. As the magazine was based on music, I had to come up with a name that mainly symbolised that. When looking at magazine names though, I preferred the fashion magazine names to the music ones such as OK and Vogue.

Here is a list of some names I came up with:

Crunk
Rhythm
Megaphone
Fuel
Hip-hop
Hear
Here


I eventually decided on the name Here. I liked this name because it was here and hear combined. As it had fashion elements in it, it meant the fashion news in ‘here’. And as it was a music magazine it was as if saying, ‘hear’ the music.

Magazine research

I like this magazine cover as it's very simple. I like the way that all the writing is white and the same font because it makes it more established. The picture is also very simple, but it looks interesting. I also like the style of writing used for the title 'Vogue' and it looks very sophisticated which suits the target audience of women aged about 16-early 40's.

Magazine research

In contrast to the music magazine, NME, I think this magazine is very different. I like the choice of colours used as they all match and fit well together, however the way the writing is all different sizes, and mostly quite big, it makes the magazine look a bit too crowded. I also don't really like how there are lots of images on the front because it looks a bit too busy and it is hard to focus on just one thing. However most people don't tend to actually read what is on the front cover half of the time, which is good because it still is able to capture the audiences attention as it's so bold.

Magazine research

I think this magazine cover is really well thought and planned out. I like the use of colour in this one, its bold and captures your attention. It is also good how it says you get a free CD because that will make people want to buy it if they get something free with it. Even thought the magazine heading is quite small it still stands out just enough. I think its very clever how they also have to writing in the middle saying 'LOVE MUSIC HATE RACISM'. This is good because the people in the background relate to tis as they are mixing from different ethnic backgrounds. I also like the way that on the side it looks as if part of the page has been ripped out, it makes it look more interesting. Although the cover is very simple and there isn't actually much on it, it looks busy, but in a good way, and I think it works well at getting attention and standing out on the shelf.

You can see from looking at this front cover that the cover lines are mostly on the left, and for most of the cover, they have used the same font. It also shows a group of teenage boys mixing together from different ethnic backgrounds. You also see that in bold at the top, and again further down, it says you get a free CD with it. Lastly on the right hand side its made to look like art of a page has been ripped out.

Pitch for magazine at the moment

My magazine is a music magazine which incorporates fashion into it as well. It is mainly aimed at girls aged 16-25 who have an interest in the music business, but moslty who just want to keep up with the latest trends and mainstream music.

Ideas of styles:

Rihanna

Pixie Lott

Lady Gaga

Kesha

Jennifer Hudson

Beyonce

Esmee Denters

Main cover will be of a girl in a big house doing a fashion shoot kind of thing, main article inside maybe on the girl having won a competition to perform her new song at the start of London Fashion week.

Or how she's a new RnB artist who has recently been found and signed.

Props:

Guitar

Microphone

Style of clothes:

Jacket

Going out dresses

Oversized top, jeggings and heels

Backgrounds used in shots:

Garden scene

Scene in games room by pool table

An old fashion room

In a sitting room by a fireplace using low key lighting

Preliminary Planning

Preliminary:

School is all about, the ability to do well, so as to be able to carry on and go into further education. This is why I decided to base it on the topic of what to do after school. I chose it to be about travelling after school as many people think this is a good idea if they are not sure whether to go to University or not.

I chose that specific picture as it was a picture I took from a school trip, and with the badge he is wearing, it is clear he is on some sort of trip. Although I was told it would have been better to choose a picture that filled the whole front cover, I quite liked it when mine left a white gap at the top, because I have only seen one magazine which does this, and it’s quite original and different.

I decided to go for the colour white and black for my smaller topic headings, as they match the title. I also used black and white because these colours showed up better on my picture, unlike other colours I chose such as green and purple.

For the contents page I decided to keep with the same colour scheme, except add red to make it stand out a bit more. I also kept with the same topic line, which was about University, because I used a picture with someone wearing a top from University. I also added a picture which is a picture of a pool, looking over to the mountains, and I decided to use this picture for the topic, successful school trips. I made it go across the whole of the bottom of the page to make it look like there was more on the page, and also to make it stand out more.

I came up with the smaller topics by making a list and then choosing the best things. This is the list I made, with the ones I chose in bold.

New head teacher
New school cafe
Revision tips
Good ofsted report
Girls rugby team
New school equipment
Arts and Crafts fair
Exam results
Getting ready for university
School trips

Preliminary planning

• Get pictures for the front cover
• Do a mock up of my page layout
• Research other school magazines
• Edit pictures
• Do my final layout and add pictures to the magazine.
• Do the contents page

Action Plan

Sunday 24th Jan - Research other music magazines

Tues 26th - Friday 29th - Get audience research

Saturday 30th - Plan main layout of my magazine and do a mock up of what I will include in the double page spread and front cover

Tuesday 1st Feb - Make a final decision on the design/content of my magazine

Friday 5th  - Friday 12th - Start designing the layout of my front cover

Saturday 6th - Saturday 13th - Get pictures for my magazine

Tuesday 16th - Sunday 21st - Finish my front cover

Tuesday 23rd - Tuesday 9th March - Start and finish the main double page spread

Tuesday 9th March - Tuesday 16th - Check both the front cover and double page spread and make final alterations

Tuesdya 16th - Tuesday 30th - Put everything together and make sure everything is to my highest possible ability

Planning my magazine

Planning:

• Research other magazines
• Research target audience and write who my target audience is
• Plan what to put on my front cover
• Start taking pictures for my magazine
• Mock up of magazine cover
• Mock up of double page spread

Audience research:

My target audience is girls aged 16-25 from the B social class, meaning that they will mostly be middle class.

Research

Bang: April 2003 launch that marked a departure from Future's usual formula and markets (though does have 2 magazines for guitarists). A monthly music title in small-A4 format that went straight up against established titles from Emap and IPC, as well as Development Hell's recent launch Word. Closed in January 2004.

My first impression on this magazine is that it looks like its for boys, aged 15-25. The magazine title is very bold and bright red so this helps to make it stand out. The images are also quite good because they are spaced out which gives it a better layout. However I think I would have chosen to put the barcode at the bottom and not at the side, and I think the colours should may be be different colours. I don't really like the way they use different fonts and colours because it makes it look a bit messy.

Characters

Jerry Maguire

Works for a Sports Management International company.

He seems a bit bigheaded

He seems to like being the centre of attention because he really get it.

He is quite important but never gets to be seen, he's always behind the scenes.

Lester

Works for media management

Lives with his wife and daughter who don't like him very much, or pay much attention to him.

He obviously doesn't like his life very much as he says he will be dead in less than a year and his life is already over.

House/life looks perfect but inside its not at all.

Jason is an 13 year old boy from Newcastle. He lives in a council house with his mum and has an older brother who has moved out to live with his friends. Jason's mum doesn't really seem to notice him and doesn't care about his education and 5 months ago he was kicked out of his school for not attending classes. For the past 2 years his mum has been on and off with guys, but finely he thought his mum had settled down and decided to have a break from men and life was good when Jason took up a dance class. He had made some great new friends and really thought this could be an opening for him at last, that was until his mum dropped the bombshell that she had met someone else and they were moving away.

Audience research methods

I will put a survey/questionnaire on a networking site, e.g. Facebook, for people to answer questions.

I will also do an interview, on my friends and people in my age range.

Seeing as my magazine is on fashion and music I should probably ask more girls than boys to get a better idea of how to make the magazine better.

Audience research

Mainly for guys.

Early 20 to early 40's.

Josh is a 23 year old student studying music and events management at university and works part time in a recording studio. He is middle class in the classification of B. He is interested in the history of music and wants to delve deeper into the music industry.

National Readership Survey (JICNAR)

Classification	Description
A	Upper middle class
B	Middle class
C1	Lower middle class
C2	Skilled working class
D	Working class
E	Subsistence

The audience I am aiming at is fairly middle class people interested in music and fashion. It would probably be more for late teen girls. Not necessarily interested in the media business but wanting to keep up with news from the music industry and hear the latest gossip.

Audience research:

I could interview people.

I could give a survey out and get people to answer questions.

Recording of response.

Vox-pop.

Interview questions:

What type of magazines do you read?

Do you like to read about celeb gossip?

What makes a magazine good?

As an interviewer I don't think I rose to the challenge very well. I think it would be better if I could engage more and ask better qualitative questions and if I actually had a structure set out.

Brainstorming ideas for portfolio

What do I want to achieve?

Better design skills

Learn how to use all the different programme's/software

Get more experience for the future

Alone or in a pair?

I would rather work in a pair because you will both know things, and the other person may know something you don't which would help a lot of the final piece. But then again it would be good to work alone to show how good you are, and not you and your partner.

Comment?

It is a very good design layout and quite professional looking. It shows understanding with the programmes used to reach your full potential. However the pictures could merge together more to fit better and you could have used bolder colours to make it stand out more.

I think after reading over both options given, I would prefer to do the print. I think it would be more interesting that the video option and I would learn the skills I actually wanted to learn. I also quite like photography and as all images have to be our own, this would be interesting to do.

Mark: Level: Level 3: 40/60

Overall I think it is a very good piece and there is a good use of different camera shots and the construction of the piece is quite strong although it was fairly confusing.

Group 2: