Evaluation

Aaron Barlow

AS Media Studies Coursework

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

products?• My front cover, contents page and

double page is not very typical and is quite unconventional

• This is due to the layouts being different to that of generic music magazine pages (mainly the contents page as the contents titles are bolded and separated by strips of tartan), The fonts are also unique in that no other magazine has ever used them before (the main headline fonts are from dafont.com). The colour scheme of my magazine pages however generally are conventional to my punky genre (being mainly comprised of colours mixed to form a tartan scheme). Also on my contents page I have used camera shots not generally seen on common magazines (long shots and tilted medium close ups).

How does your media product represent particular social

groups?• The images of my magazine are only of teenage female individuals, thus creating an immediate audience of females aged 13+. However the colour scheme chosen tries to wean off that stereotype by including unisex colours such as black, white, red, green and yellow while also including some generically single sex colours such as purple and blue, the arrangement of these colours and objects within the pages also suggest my genre of punk (tartan, Union Jack flag etc.). My magazine would suggest that the audience would generally be into the more alternative side of music as opposed to the generalised Mainstream genres. It could probably be mostly compared to magazines such as NME for it’s unique style and fonts.

What kind of Media Institution might distribute your media

product and why?• Digital Publishing- This would be an effective way of

selling my product as this would mean people purchasing it off the internet which nowadays many people do, this is generally because it is easier and has no chance of becoming damaged (via download). Also this will open up more opportunities for other magazines as only 17% are published online.

• Free- Another possibility of “selling” my magazine would be to give the first issue for free at retail stores to increase the popularity and publicity which may also encourage potential customers to buy the next issue.

• Online- Social networking sites could also be used to advertise the website to potential customers within the site. This is effective as many millions of people are signed onto social networking sites such as facebook, twitter, youtube and myspace.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• The actual audience for my magazine would be teenagers (aged 13+) of either gender (though my layout, style and articles might suggest otherwise) whom tend to be inclined to like alternative/punk music whom also will most likely be loyal to the magazine and buy it regularly as the price will be quite low, thus making publicity with the audience.

How did I attract/address my audience?

• I will attract my audience by advertising in all the local places that my target audience will generally locate themselves such as shops, cafés, colleges etc. A major way of attraction would also be internet advertisement as many of my target audience browse the internet thus making it easier to become popular. Also leaflets/posters would make the magazine more well known in the local area of sale.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of

constructing this product?• While doing my magazine I have learned some new

skills in using specific technologies.Such as using the internet site “Blogger” to post my individual pieces of coursework to be marked and modulated. Doing this helped me learn more about the art of blogging and how to post my work online. I also learnt how to use a program called “Macromedia Fireworks” to edit my pieces of coursework to an adequate level of completion. The pictures in my coursework were taken using a digital camera of my own and were edited using either “Fireworks” or “Photoshop”

FireworksPhotoshopBlogger

Looking Back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have

learnt in the progression from it to the full product?• Technology- During my preliminary task I learnt how to use

different programs such as Photoshop, Blogger, Slideshare and also have developed my skills of editing with Fireworks.

• Authentic Magazine- To make an authentic looking magazine I had to use a variety of features that are normally included in actual existing magazines. Such as offers, special features and the type of articles that are in magazines.

• Conventions of a magazine- I researched the colours fonts and layouts generalised with rock/punk magazine close to my genre and found out that they include usually unique fonts, over the top colours and can sometimes be laid out like organised chaos.

• How to attract and target an audience- To attract my audience of (trying to be) both genders of generally ages 13+ whom are interested in the punky alternative genre I used colours generally to represent unisexuality and an image scheme of generic punk fashion (tartan/ union jack).