Evaluation

Evaluation

Amy Hallahan

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

The barcode, issue number, date and price

are conventions that must appear

on every magazine.

I have a footer at the bottom of my cover to show a little more of what can be found

inside the magazine.

I have used a pull quote on the cover to

entice readers

I have placed my cover lines along the left hand side

in the typical style of a

magazine.

The main image has an effect on it, and is

set along the right third.

The masthead on Kerrang! Is also big and bold, and also works to stand out

and show that it is a rock music magazine.

The masthead Is big and bold to

stand out and to reinforce the idea

of rock music being loud.

Kerrang! uses A header, which is

something I didn’t. I didn’t think it would fit very well into the

cover of mine.

The main image is set along the right third, and takes up most of the cover, as mine also does.

Standard barcode, date and issue

number.

On this cover, another image has been used on

the side, which I had originally planned to do. I didn’t as I experimented, but none of the images seemed to fit in place.

The cover lines can be found at the bottom of this

cover, with the main feature standing out in bold 3d

letters.

The footer contains lots of names of bands, where mine only has 3.

My main image is a posed

photograph of the band, and is such that you can see that you can see the style of music

they play – this may be because of the way they

dress or the looks on their faces.

In Kerrang! There is a footer to promote the

fact that you can subscribe to the mag. I didn’t do this as I would have had to create more

covers to promote the advert.

The other image I used is of another artist, mid guitar playing. It has a

different feel to the main image, but there is no clear cut definition to

rock music, which is the sort of idea I

was aiming for.

The names of the bands involved are big and bold to help draw the attention

of the audience. Underneath them is a page

reference, meaning that readers can look at the picture of the band they

like, and immediately see what page they feature on.

I have used an unusual way of

listing the pages, justifying them on the right instead of

the left, and having the

numbers bold and hugging the

words, rather than there be some sort

of order.

As well as the contents of the mag, I have listed the posters that

are included, to show readers early on what can be found.

The logo and the date are big as to stand out.

The main image is of an artist mid gig, which

like mine, helps to prove what music they

play.

There are 3 other images present in Kerrang! Which

seems to be one of their traits within a contents page. I only used one to

save space.

Kerrang! Have included a letter from the editor on their contents

page which I didn’t do. This again was due to space issues

The content of the magazine in

Kerrang! Follows a more conventional approach of right justification and

straight order when it comes to the

numbers.

The name of the page in Kerrang! Is also big and bold.

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

real media products?

I decided to use question and

answer format for my article, as interviews

with the artists always seem to

be more popular when it comes to the

audience.

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

real media products?The main image takes up most

of the second page, emphasising the importance of the person

within the picture.

I used a pull quote in the middle of the page to draw the reader in and to entice them to

read the article.

I have put a statement here to give some

extra information to

the reader

The name of the band is the

biggest text on the page in order

to show the reader who it is about, and to

attract those who like the band.

The questions appear in red to help them stand out against the

background and in comparison

with the answers.

The title of the page is also a pull quote, and appears in two colours to help it

stand out.

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

real media products?

This spread has a border around the edges. The border itself is like lights which has connotations of concerts and stardom. The fact the border disappears

behind the image is important as it tells us that the image is more significant.

The page number appears small in the

corners.

The subheading, also in two

colours, tells the reader who the interview is with and which

band they come from.

The main image is of the main

singer within a band, and

he is stood in a way with portrays

attitude. The tattoos also

connote rebellion,

which then links in to the genre of the magazine.

There is a caption in the bottom left hand corner

of the image.

The title of the page is only

small, but has details of a

website present.

The questions in the interview

have been highlighted in

white, and they appear bigger

than the answers, and also in capital

letters.

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

To start, there is no real stereotype to my magazine as the only image is the main one of Megan.

The clothes she was wearing were black, and she was wearing a band t-shirt under her jacket. The black and the name of the band both let the audience know she is linked to rock music, along side the shoulder length dyed hair.

THE magazine is aimed at teenagers predominately, males and females equally, although it could appeal to those slightly older. The use for the teenager on the front helps to show who it is aimed at.

The gender is not really specific as I would like my magazine to appeal to both genders on a near equal basis. I only used basic colours on my cover for this reason, as well as the black and red linking to rock.

I used a rocky font throughout the whole magazine so that the genre would be immediately known. I also placed the masthead and pull quote on a slight angle to symbolise that rock does not follow the usual conventions of society.

Talking of society, my magazine is not particularly aimed at any social class, as it is open for anybody to read. Although, saying this, not many upper class people are going to want to read a rock music magazine – So due to that, I suppose my magazine will mainly be aimed at middle class citizens, and maybe some working class.

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

The Best publisher for my magazine would be bauer as they already publish some magazines of the same genre, two of the main ones being Kerrang! and Q.

Bauer are good as they target young adults and teenagers which is similar to what I am aiming for.

Obviously we don’t shut out the older readers, as sometimes there would be a feature in the magazines about a band from times gone by… for example Queen or bon jovi from the ages.

Bauer are a huge publisher firm, but they only do these two rock music magazines… the rest is other kinds of music, plus film and gossip magazines.

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

Rock magazines usually seem to appeal to males slightly more than they do to women, but nothing really more than a 60:40 basis.

The main age group for a rock magazine, such as Kerrang! seems to be teenagers – those between the ages of 16 and 19.

The genre appeals to any ethnicity. There are no boundaries as to who reads the magazines, or who listens to the music, although it seems to be predominately white brits / americans who take more of an interest.

Interests would include playing instruments and attending gigs.

Why they listen to Rock…Most rockers listen to this genre because they like the messages that the songs send across, and the passion that is put into the lyrics. Rock music is a good way of releasing your angers and frustrations, as well as passing over messages of love and hope.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I have tried to cater for all of the above within my magazine by including features about many different bands who will appeal to different ages and genders. I have also used a neutral colour scheme and images.

The language I used was informal and simple so as to ensure the audience included as big a range of people as possible.

I tried to construct the interview in a way that teenagers would enjoy reading, the questions and pull quotes containing language that would appeal most to those of my target audience.

I also tried to use bands throughout most of it that were of a similar age to my target audience so as to attract them into reading due to there being almost no age difference.

(such as paramore, pictured right)

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the processof constructing this product?

1) First of all, I used the text tool to create the masthead for my magazine. I then used the

text effects to change the shape and size of the writing. Then I added a red stroke to

the outside of the text in order to help make it stand out.

2) Next, I added the image that was to appear on the front cover. To make the image then seem a little more ‘rocky’ to tie in with my chosen genre, I added an effect which made the image look a bit

cartoony and rough cut.

4) After that, I then added the next cover line, this one having a red

stroke, linking back to the masthead and working to keep

some consistency present.

3) Then I added the main cover line to the cover, advertising the main

feature/band of the magazine. I put a white stroke around the text to help it

stand out, especially when it disappears into the image near the

end. The writing below the larger copy just gives more information as to what

can be found within the magazine.

5) Then I added a red bar along the bottom to act as the

background to the footer. I chose to do it red to go with the

strokes of the writing and masthead, and to help it look

more ‘rocky’.

7) After that, I decided to add a pull quote to the cover in order to help entice the reader into buying the magazine to read

the interview within. I made this white so that I could place it on the main image and still read it.

8) Then I had to add a barcode to the bottom as typical magazine convention.

6) I added another cover line above the others to help

advertise more things that would appear within the

magazine. This one I added a black stroke to, as the writing

was red, and the black helps it to stand out against the

background.

9) In order to make the magazine even more

conventional, I added an issue number, date and price above

the barcode.

11) Penultimately, I used the triangle tool to create a red

triangle in the top right corner of my magazine cover.

12)Upon this I added the text ‘rated 2011’s best’. A review such as this would help to encourage customers into

buying my magazine.

10) I then added the writing to the footer, which consists of

names of the bands featured in the magazine.

2) To the side of the logo I added the title ‘contents’.

1) First of all, I inserted the logo of my magazine into the top left

of the contents page.

3) Next, I put a red box with the date in it underneath.

4) I inserted the main image that was to appear on the page at the bottom in the centre. It is a picture used to try and draw

the readers eye because of the colours and the pose featured.

5) Above the main image, I inserted another, this one

smaller. Shows there is more than one thing within the

magazine worth looking at.

6) To the right of the logo and title, I composed a list of bands

whose poster would appear within the magazine, According

to my questionnaire results, posters are popular.

7)Then, in the top right corner, is the contents of the

magazine, but with no page numbers just yet. The words ‘C#’ and ‘Plus’ are in bold to

show their importance.

9) After that, I added The title of one of the bands, and the

page number that corresponds to their feature. I also added a

small caption of the photo above this.

10) Then I added the title of the band that goes with the other picture, and the page number

of importance/

8) This is where the page numbers come into it. In order

to make them look better and to stand out more, I made them thick red with a black stroke around them. I then inserted them into the program and placed them where needed

next to the contents.

2) Then I inserted the main image to the second page, and added a slight glow around the edge in order to help it stand

out from the black background.

3) The next thing I did was write the opening paragraph for

my interview. The paragraph includes a drop cap at the start

to draw attention to the beginning.

1) The first step was to insert page numbers in the bottom

corners of the pages.

5) After that, I constructed the actual article (which was an

interview). I placed this into 2 columns and carried it on so

that it would fit nicely onto the second page.

6) Then I added the title on the side of the page, and rotated it

so that it ran downwards. Under that I added a

subheading letting the reader know who is being spoken to

and which band they are from.

4) Next I simply added the by-line to the top of the page.

8) After that, I added a pull quote next to the main image which should help draw in the

reader’s attention. I aim for this by using a quote that seems

interesting.

9) The last thing I did was add another pull quote, but this one was in red instead of white, and I placed it in the middle of the

article by wrapping the text around it.

7) The next thing I did was to add another paragraph at the

end which contains information about the bands next big

performance.

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

At the time of creating my preliminary task, I didn’t know very well how to use Photoshop or in design.

Proof of this is the background on the cover of my magazines. For the cover I made for my preliminary task, I wanted to cut out the background, but I didn’t know how to do this. For the main task, I was a little more confident, and so I played around with the tools, and found a way to do this. Without the busy background, the cover lines could be seen and read a lot more easily.

I think the overall look of the magazine has improved too, with the cover lines, the pull quotes and the masthead looking a lot more professional on my main task than it looks on the preliminary one. On the most recent one, I also included a footer, which was something I did not do on the first one.