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 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 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.

How does your media product represent particular social groups

The denotation of representation is the ‘E’ category of the socio-economic needs table. Within this section it relates to; unemployed, students, pensioners and casual workers, but mainly relates to students within this category. This is because my genre of my magazine is targeted towards -17-24 year olds. 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 differentcodes 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. 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.

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. There is evidence od 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.