Evaluation

In my magazine I tried to fit conventions to prevent the risk of my magazine being unexpected due to it being unusual but at the same time challenged these conventions by pushing them to there boundaries.The colours I used in terms of my genre were conventional in there vibrant bright appearance and there clashing yet charming way. However I didn’t just keep the colours separate to the images I tired to compliment both together but through editing and block colours. The wide use of colours on the spectrum allowed me to cater for all my target audience in term of both sexes and the broad range of Indie fans. This theme of colour I conventionally kept throughout my magazine so in this way I didn’t challenge this convention however because of the wide colour spectrum I did use it gave me a lot of versatility to use different colours which made each aspects of the project individual yet complimented and maintained the Indie theme throughout. I believe that the colour scheme also is very identifiable to my target audience as well as being attractive as a piece of publication to attract purchase.The main fonts I used through out my magazine is

This font I used for my mastheads the reason I chose this font in the first place to present to my target audience is because it very much fits with the Indie linear and symmetrical use of lines and linear colours and the difference and edge Indie fashion and music has which in this aspect I remained with the conventions as I believe it would be hard to defy these for such as vital part of a magazine and such things as a magazine can make or break a magazine.Courier newThis font I used as the main body for writing as again its simplicity and type writing like appearance mirrors the Indie them and allowed me to be more eccentric and versatile in my use of colour and in the photography and imagery I used without the magazine becoming over bearing. Also it prevented the bright colours clashing with a fancy style of writing and remains readable on most colours. So in terms of this I again stuck with the conventions but still made my own stamp on this aspect as the main body of writing determines the success of a magazine because if you can not read a magazine my target audience wouldn’t purchases the magazine however good the content was.

ImagesWith my images I used such inspirations mainly the Klaxons because I believe they are the panicle of Indie culture in term of music and Fashion. I also wanted to use both natural and indoor back ground because a background can tell a story and using natural environments and colours really does this and I hope this is shown throughout my photography.Ideas· Block colours through editing – this was used predominately on my front cover of my magazine because the colours in the clothes I used were the main feature and I wanted the images to stand out and the background to enable things to be added.· Cartoon effect applied- I tried to use this effect but unfortunately it didn't fit in with my final project but it was useful to use and explore · Conventional indie fashion- I believe I achieved this aim throughout my final project and as I showed the panicle part of the fashion which is unconventional but I exploited this and used it to its advantages forming a team visually, which in terms of indie fashion I bought together the male and female side together which worked at my advantage in terms of challenging the conventions.· Unusual setting but not over bearing-I don't believe this is the case in terms of my settings as they tell a story or let the band do this visually its self, in terms of the outdoor and indoor scenes as the natural environment is subtle and simple colours and the indoor scenes allowed the poses and group to speak for them selves.

Layout out ConventionsTitle run across the top of the pageColours unconventional as usually block colour for titleBanner running across top/bottom of the page with band names and contentA few images of content storiesFeature bands name across the main image which dominates page as a wholeUnconventional· Lots of space left on double page spread and a few images· 1 side double page spread taken up by an image of subject· information is segregated by colour· Title explains exactly content· Imagery simply presented with border but content subsides this.

ConclusionOverall I think the conventions i challenged and the conventions I kept the same benefited my product to make it a success because if I had challenged or pushed the boundaries any further I think my product could have potentially become unsuccessful .So in terms of photography i kept the right things conventional and challenged the simple aspects as i did the same with the layout.

My media product I decided to represent the social group r culture of Indie the reason I chose to focus on a particular social group is because these magazines from my research of covers and magazines generally are more successful and mixed genre magazines aren’t as popular because they have small amounts of information for each social group where as a specific genre magazine includes the information that is of interest.I decided to represent Indie music and fashion in some aspects because it is a popular trend of modern times and the music is growing in popularity and success. As well as this I also find the bright colours used attractive and give versatile dress and which is represented through music. Also the look is very individual and the eccentric theme gives versatility in colour, images and layout to challenge conventions. But the most of all the reason I chose to represent this social group is because when I conducted a survey with my target audience young students ranging from 15-18 it was deemed the most popular music genre and as the success of a media product is determined by its target audience and because I had an interest in the social group I was fun and exciting exploring the genre and social group more in depth

I believe the media in terms of magazines such as the clash due to it exploring into the Indie theme and incorporating fashion and originality, so they might distribute my media product because as it caters for the wide Indie target audience of the age 14-20 and both sexes and challenges conventions such as imagery and colours which has not yet been explored. This is very important as this increases the market for success as well as this it enables the media intuition to have a lot of individuality and enables them to explore different images, colours and type faces. Also clash is the only similar magazine on the market so there is a place in the media for a product such as mine and I think my media product unlike Clash and such appeals to a younger wider audience.My product also because it contains no inappropriate language or imagery could be present and sold in any retailers from paper shops to such large transnational corporations as HMV. Also it would be easy and wise to publicises my magazine via a website as it would increase interest and also publicises it on social networking sights as the majority of my target audience use this area so would increase profit and success. This also links to why my product should be realised, large target audience of both sexes from 14-20, it contains no langue or imagery which is inappropriate, there is a wide area for publicity from TNC to the internet which also links together with the creation of merchandise such as posters and alternate media such as a spin off music channel etc.The mise-on-scene or visual style of my media product varies from the front page, content and double page spread. However throughout it conveys the theme of Indie music, fashion and culture. The way I did this was threw my media product I kept the colour scheme vibrant and bright in the clothing in term of the polo shirts which are conventional. I then contrasted this with rough and simple backgrounds such as the outdoors scenes as the on the gate and the grass as Indie is very simplistic, original and utilises origin and the natural rugged environment, which makes this theme very relatable for my target audience. My media products overall mise-on-scene worked well as the vibrant colour mixed with simplicity gave a unique image why at the same time being identifiable and allowing the bright colour to stand out but without being to over bearing.

The genre of my media product is the key to my target audience, Indie. Due to indie culture, music and fashion being on such a wide spectrum believe I have utilised the differences within Indie to bring it all together to create a product suitable for both sexes due to my wide range of colours, a wide age group as Indie cloths are suitable for many age groups introducing the demand for the music. However I am focussed on the group 15-20 because these are the most important audience as they are more accessible for publicity on such things a social network sites, the interest in gigs, as well as their purchasing of music is of the largest percentage and because there is a whole in the industry of a media product such as indiefix focussed on this age group and genre was it has a larger success rate expected as there will be no competition.The closed media product which is most similar to my media product is Clash as it incorporates some of the ideas I have used such as colour, however this has a diverse genre of indie/rock and is appealing generally to a older age group such as 20-30 which I believe is a smaller target audience in terms of a magazine. Also publicity is limited as social networking sites are less popular. However it was good to use as an example as it helped me with positioning and layout and understanding what a target audience wants from an Indie genre, so in this respect it was very valuable and has quiet a good success rate.

As I have said in previous questions my target audience is 15-20 year olds and both sexes which give me a large target audience who are easily accessible on the internet and in terms of publicity. The reason my target audience is so big is due to the large audience of the specific genre. Also due to the wide range of colours which is incorporated in Indie music and fashion enabled me to cater for both sexes again increasing my target audience appeal.I believe, that there is not just one individual aspect of my product which attracts my audience as every part of my product offers something different from the indie theme for example front cover uses simplicity, mixed with the vibrant colours and a image with a simple white background, however with my contents I used a more busy aspect, by having a lot of images even though still unified and then cartoon images fro a background and with my double page spread used one image as the background due to the background being outdoors they could be used as a surface to write on and again used the simple approach of text colour and left a lot of empty space as the background prevented the need to fill the space for it to being attractive. On the other hand throughout my product I did keep some things the same such as the main typeface, colours, borders because there has to be continuity for identity and so that the product is consistent, as if you challenge conventions to far your product can become unsuccessful.In terms of camera shots I kept to the convention of not using shots such as point of view shots as they aren’t effective as in a magazine the artist in the image can be the deciding point for someone to purchase a magazine. However because of the individuality with the Indie genre promotes, I used a variety of shots from long shots for the front cover image to get in the full body of the group as well as enabling to me to explore different poses making the front cover so to pull the reader’s attention straight to the image as they are my unique selling point. I again used an establishing shot outdoors for the background in my double page spread as it acted as a good base for my text and meant that all the areas didn’t have to be filled with text so it was simple but effective. However with the contents page I used high angle shots to give the image an edge and interest, I used low angle shots on the tractor to show significance of the band and then three shot for the group which again was used as the positioning acted as the interest in the ...

shot and finally an establishing shot for the band on the gate to incorporate the environment as this links in with the genre and to get a group shot.Due to my variation in shots and the variety of poses used it interreges the reader to purchase the magazine as it provides something for everyone and difference in every aspect and the text gets stories are straight to the point so isn’t daunting. Also the bright colours are attractive and interesting why at the same time simple to first attract the audience to target audience and the fashion as well as the music are relatable and achievable in today and promotes nothing bad which makes it even more appealing in for the target audience and is affordable.

Looking back on my progress from my preliminary project, I feel I have improved in various ways in the stages of production, such as planning stage (research to organising photo shoot), specific genre (from the school magazine to a music magazine).I believe, in terms of the planning stage I took a more organised approach of organising when to do my photo shoot so that I had time to edit and progress the images to researching poses for my models to recreate so they were effective and kept in with the Indie genre. Even though I think I took too long on the planning stage in terms of creating my mock ups even though I didn’t create a lot of mock ups the ones I did were well planned and thought through to explore every spectrum of the indie culture and music. Part way through, my research I found that the internet was my best source however had limited examples of indie front covers, double page spreads and contents. So I began to look in more depth into specific bands and there photo shoots which helped me in many ways such as the clothing to wear, colours to use, backgrounds to use, the poses they use I then evaluated all these to see how they fitted with the genre such as the ‘Klaxons’. This was most properly the most useful lesson I learnt as before in my preliminary project I relied on stereotypes to create my product. Also due to this it also enabled me to explore more camera angles as I understood their effect on an audience and what angle conveyed the Indie theme. This leads to my specific shot types have varied as in my preliminary project we were restricted to mid-shots. As I explored in more depth the Indie theme I found that varied and spontaneous camera angles worked best and complimented the neon colour scheme, so this enabled me to explore different effective shots which give variation and interest to my project, where as with my preliminary project I was very conventional with the camera angles I used such as mid shots and three people shots as the genre restricted this but the Indie genre enabled me to be more daring and risky. From my preliminary project, I also believe I have become more confident with the camera, which enabled me to take risks in challenging conventions and has in some aspects created some good imagery. Overall I believe my final product complied with the tasks original aims as it I believe complies and utilizes the Indie genre why at the same time remaining unique. Also my photography also complies with the generics of Indie culture and music why again being challenging and the graphic I created also works well with my photography.