Evaluation

Evaluation

Abbie Fowler

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

My final front cover uses conventions which may have been repeated from real media products to make my front cover look realistic. In my front cover I repeated some conventions from mixmag’s original front cover, this was done as some of mixmag’s conventions looked suitable to repeat for my front cover, it also helped that my magazine was based on the same place as mixmag’s magazine ‘Ibiza’. The conventions that were repeated were the positioning of the mast head, this is because it stands out

clearly, and the readers would easily be able to tell that it is the name of the magazine. Also, elements like the main image, the puff promotion, and the strapline are very similar as they do not take up too much room or do not ruin the ‘look’ of the magazine. In my front cover Photoshop helped me to create the main effect of the page, by being able to save the colours that I want in ‘Swatches’ to be able to keep a consistent colour scheme throughout all of my tasks.

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

My magazine ‘repeats’ (Steve Neale) codes and conventions from mixmag magazine as mixmag magazine has a nice layout as putting more of the important information at the top of the page and leaving the less important information to the bottom of the page.

There are examples of some ‘difference’, however, in terms of the forms and conventions in my own media product for example I made more clear of certain things within this page, I made more clear that stories were on the left hand side with sections to show which bit is what within the page. I made it more clear by adding pictures so people can see the more interesting bits within the page. In my contents page codes and conventions were repeated from Mixmag’s contents page to help create the effect of the Dance genre in my magazine. Being able to duplicate things like the page number to keep it consistent throughout all of my pages.

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

The interview across the 2 pages, repeats (Steve Neale) codes and conventions by having a specific ‘box’ layout, which makes things clearer for the readers to understand and not get the writing confused within the images. Although the colour is not consistent throughout the 2 page interview of mixmag, my magazine has still taken the idea of having it as a ‘dark’ magazine with the bright colours of text to enhance the appeal of it being more like ‘festivals’ as they are based around bright colours. My double page spread had to have a lot of changes as it had to have the conventions of a music magazine, at first my images where all in the center of my page but after doing some more research I realised it was the worst layout for my genre to reflect upon however tis then meant a complete change around in the whole plan of the layout which I was going to do which then obviously caused a delay in my work as all my text was placed around the double pages using the pen tool. Other than this the rest of the double page then worked out to be very successful in the layout, the way it looks, colours, text and images.

How does your media product represent particular social groups

The denotation of representation is to act or speak on behalf of someone, but in this context it means whether or not I have material in magazine that is appealing to all types of social groups within society. If my magazine does appeal to all of the social groups within society , it would be an economical success since the larger the target audience the greater the amount of consumers who would buy the magazine. However for my own magazine I think it would only suit a few social groups such as ‘Indies’ and ‘Ravers’ since it mainly only has Clubbing music features which is quite popular as I found out from the questionnaire, so would mainly be appealing to these groups. The ‘E’ category of the socio-economic needs table relates to magazine as this is because they have jobs that require a lot of manual work, that can be repetitive so my magazine could act as a diversion (Katz) from their normal day life so they could focus on something other then their own lives. In addition the majority of Group D would be students and teenagers who may buy my magazine because as said, before these ‘Indie’ will often look for Dance music, because it is very modern and will help them become ‘social climbers’ and want to go to festivals when they are older (Maslow) in the metaphorical ladder that is popularity. This means that this would appeal to my magazine profile because of the way I created it. The magazine, across the 4 pages, helps to represent my social group as the price of my magazine is cheap which makes it more easier and affordable to buy. For example; the use of colours across my pages, are more appealing towards the audience to fit the genre of my magazine.

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

From the research that was completed pre-production, I would envisage that ‘DMC publishing’ would publish my magazine ‘Clubland’ because it has published magazines that are similar to ‘Clubland’ and the genre of the magazines before, therefore it would be interested in publishing mine. The similarities of my magazine ‘Clubland’ to ‘MixMag’ also ‘signifies’ (De Saussure) that the genre of my magazine will appeal to this publisher as this is the kind of magazine that they’re looking to publish, considering as they already have published one which is ‘Mixmag’.

Who would be the audience for your media product and why?

Katz’ Uses and Gratifications theory According to Katz’ Uses and Gratification theory the readers can escape their mind and be able to relate to the magazine, by either relating to the magazine – ‘personal identification’, the reader can build a close bond with the star on the cover – ‘personal relationship’, the readers can learn something from reading the magazine – ‘inform and educate’ or ‘diversion’ – where the reader can immerse themselves in the life of the artist.

Hartley’s seven subjectivitiesAccording to Hartley’s seven subjectivities focus’ on the different types of people. This could be anything like; Age, Gender, Class, Self-image, Nationality, Family and ethnicity. For example; my gender focus is on any gender, and my age is based around young adults or older teenagers.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needsAccording to Maslow's hierarchy of needs people fit into different categories depending on what type of person they are. For example; Social climbers, Explores, Survivors and caregivers. My target audience would fall into being survivors as they would like to keep up to date with the ‘clubbing’ culture and all the important dates.

How did you attract/address your audience

In order to attract the intended audience of older teenagers/young adults I decided to use different codes and conventions which would especially appeal to my target audience and represented them in a particular way which would enhance to audience to be attracted to this. Also I decided to have quite a lot of Unique Selling Points that are easy to see, because from my results (From questionnaire) I found out that USP’s and promotions are a huge appeal to the audience and is often the reason they will pick a magazine up and take interest in it.As well as thinking about the USP of the magazine I also thought about the language used within the magazine and how to make it as effective as possible. For example; using exciting language like ‘Exclusive’, ’Win’ and ‘Free’ which helps attract the reader in wanting to read more and help the readers to believe that they will gain something from reading this magazine. The inclusion of codes and conventions such as the main image and main headline helped to appeal to the target audience because it helps them to realise what the magazine genre is and gives it some star appeal which would make them want to read it more due to the fact it has a famous DJ being interviewed and is the main part of the magazine.

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

The denotation of the software used to construct the media product entitled ‘clubland’ was to be able to get the magazine to look its full potential and the best it can be using Photoshop. In order for this product to look fit for purpose and appeal to the target audience, I decided to create the main picture’s effect on Photoshop using the tool ‘hue and saturation’ this helped me achieve my desired look for this magazine by adding a professional look on my main images. Also it gave me the ability to use fonts of my choice ( being able to access www.dafont.com and download my chosen font into Photoshop to gain my desired look) and to place them in different ways to suit my preference. I had minimum knowledge of Photoshop before I started this project however I have now learnt how to appropriately make use of layers, how to use the pen tool and how to change the opacity- this was especially important because I used this for my background in my main page for the main image, which is where I also used ‘hue and saturation’. Photoshop then became really helpful because using tools such as the ‘eye’ tool I could try different pictures with the same layout and see how even the final product would look easily while being able to change it back to normal very quickly. This was especially useful because I had made some changes towards many different pictures within my front cover, contents page and double page spread and made it easier to assess my options throughout these. In conclusion, I have learnt to effectively alter images so that they are conventional as well as learning the art of making the text fit around the images while at the same time being clear.

Photography planning – front cover

In order to make my pictures successful, I had to make sure the planning was done in good time and was structured in a professional way, to make sure they turn out the best they can be, when it comes to the day of actually taking the pictures to reduce less problems or more unlikely for anything to go wrong. I chose Simon for my main picture and the main person who will be focused on throughout my magazine production, as when I researched other images on other magazines with the same genre as mine they all had that ‘star appeal’ on a beach with appealing tanned bodies, or either at festivals. This is why Simon was a good choice as he represented this nicely.

I needed costumes to make Simon look like he fits in within the ‘clubbing’/ ‘festival’ life. For example; wearing beach clothes and accessories like sunglasses to fit the purpose of the genre of my magazine

Photography planning - contents

I chose the shot type of a mid-shot of another well known person on my contents page to give it more ‘star appeal’, This had to be represented in the same way as the front cover but with different costumes, to show how there is more than one setting, like beaches, festivals, in order for it to appeal to a wider range of audience. This is similar to other magazines by giving it a wider range of possibilities which could be in throughout the magazine. I had to ensure that the quality of the pictures was repeated throughout the magazine to maintain the professional look throughout the whole magazine. I integrated text and imagery together by making the text fit in nicely around the images and making the text colour go well with the background colour.

Photography planning - interview

I took the pictures which are represented within the double page to show the audience what that person (Simon) goes through on his daily life and what they can do if they go to the same places, so it promotes not only the magazine but the different festivals around the world. I had to ensure the layout was ‘repeated’ from other magazines in order to achieve the professional look, and for the page to make clear sense to the readers on what they are willing to read. I integrated text and imagery together by using the ‘pen’ tool to make the text fit nicely around or above my images that are used and making sure my text didn't’t clash with the background or the image colours, so by making the text or even the initials stand out.

Analysing my front coverStrapline

Masthead

Puff / competition promotion

Main image

Main headline

Cover stories

Barcode / Price / Date / Social networking sites

Web address

Analysing my contents page

Editorial

Page number

Signature

Contents

Smaller images to support the story

Sections

Social network

Analysing my double page spread interview

Page numbers

Web address

Masthead

Name of person being interviewed

Brief introduction

Magazine responsibilities

Questions and answers

Images

Quotes

Ending paragraph

Audience feedback

Original Questionnaire - Feedback from the Questionnaire -Most of the 10 people I asked for my questionnaire all agreed that the pictures were the main strengths of my front cover, my contents page, and my double page spread. This helps me to know that if I was to change anything in the future I would not change the pictures as they are the main bits which make the magazine stand out.There was not many weaknesses other than the contents page which was to change the layout of the bottom half of the page to make it look more professional as the other elements of the page look professional and then it goes off the ‘professional’ look towards the end of the page.Nearly everyone agrees that my magazine mostly relates to Q magazine even though it’s a different genre magazine.

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

Looking back at my Preliminary task, I feel that having completed that task fully and learning about the different demands of the production process, that I have learnt what was required and a lot more for the main tasks. This helped me realise everything I needed to do and in what order I needed to finish things in. by completing my Preliminary tasks step-by-step it helped me to be able to structure my main tasks in the same way to make it an easier process for myself, this also helped my ability to alter different conventions to reflect the magazine of my choice and how it has increased after a lot of research and being able to do some “trial and error”. I have learnt the importance of fonts, how if they are not readable from a certain distance or clear the magazine will gain no profit since the magazine’s cover lines need to be easily visible.

There is evidence of progression that I feel particularly demonstrates how I met the demands of the production process, for example; making sure I included all of the codes and conventions within my main tasks, which meets the demands as that is an important process of the production and finally making sure I meet deadlines!