MG evaluation

Evaluation

Chris PassMicrosoft fireworks 2004 7.0

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

This is a conventional feature of my magazine as I have identified this on a couple of established music magazines such as the one above.

This is another conventional feature as I have put backgrounds around my sub stories because this makes them easier to read and I have seen this in an established magazine (the one above)

This is another conventional feature as I have put the main story and headline in front of the image as it stands out and this is seen in many established magazines such as the one on the right hand side of the page.

I have used green as a background and a major text colour because it was chosen for me in my research however the colour links to techno as you can see in these images below.

These pictures show there is a lot green in techno culture so it also links in.

The other colours I have used (red/white) are used because I want to link the magazine to britishness so I have used red and white however replaced the blue with green.

After experimenting I found that these colours also go well with green and I have had positive feedback for it.

As for the layout design I have used a basic layout design with a masthead above, a main picture with the main headline on front as well as sub stories at the side at added bonus’ at the bottom as well as a barcode (see slide before for evidence).

The photo is conventional in the sense of its location on the page and I also found that most front cover images don’t smile but rather have an emotionless face.

See in images below.

Unconventional Features

One of the unconventional features is the slogan beneath the masthead; most magazines don’t have anything like this.

Its good to have this slogan because it makes it easy for the reader to see that it is a techno magazine.

Another unconventional feature is the red background around the sub stories, however this is in other (established) magazines however the backgrounds don't go behind the main image but rather in front of the image so this is a unconventional feature. An example of this is in the established magazine below.

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

My media product suggests that the social group represented (young techno fans) are laid back. The image on the front cover suggests this. In the image I took I tried to make it appear as relaxed and laid back and also giving the impression that they don't care because I thought this is what the stereotype of a techno fan is like.

Another thing that suggests something about the social group is the bad writing through the magazine.

Here is an example of some of the bad writing. I have written propa’ instead of proper.

Here is another example of the bad writing I have used. The bad writing suggests the social group is lazy so therefore chilled and laid back.

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

I would imagine my media product would be given away free in shops because the magazine only has a niche market so this would be a good way to try to expand and because it could get sponsored and have advertisements from techno artists, clubs and possibly established techno magazines. The magazine would of probably got more money from adverts anyway so it still keeps the main profit income and potentially increases popularity with it being free and then they can charge the sponsors more because their advertisements are getting out to more people.

I would imagine that it would be music shops where the magazine is given away because there are not any shops where you would expect someone who listens to techno to go to.

MusicMags

MusicMags is an American company for distributing your music magazine and claims to generate 3.5 times more revenue. They have their own music rack in 14,000 music shops in the US.

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

The (target) audience is young techno fans in Britain who age from around 16 to mid-twenties because this is the age when young adults go clubbing therefore this is the ideal age to target.

I feel that young adults are relaxed, laid back and generally don’t care so my front cover image portrays this stereotype.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

The front cover image is the first thing that attracts my audience because they see that this magazine is for their age group.

Another thing attracting my audience is that the magazine is very green which is a popular colour in techno.

I have attracted my audience in Britain by giving it away free in shops in Britain there I have got the location right. My magazine also has some pro British features like the mentioning of britishness through it as well as the large green union jack background on the double page spread.

I have written my product in an informal manner in a deliberate way to address my audience as I would expect a bunch of 18 year olds to write and talk informally.

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

I have learnt how to use Blogger which I used to communicate and share my work. I worked with Fireworks improved my editing skills on the program as I had to crop, move, import and create things while making my products.

I have also learned how to work properly with images; I had to concentrate on the light, misc-en-scene while getting these images. I also had to crop and edit these images with fireworks

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

I used the same program (Fireworks) however this time I had to use different tools to make my work, this time I had to find out how to crop the images and slightly edit them in colour.

I had to look at a wider range of magazines when I made my layout designs but in the preliminary I only looked at a couple of magazines. So from doing these different products I have learned that every magazine requires a different sort of layout design as the layout design for a music magazine is very different from a college magazine.

I have also learnt how to target and attract my target audience using the colours, images and language. The colour green is popular in techno so that was a good colour to use for a techno magazine and the image attracts the target audience because the image is of the age of the target audience. The language I used also communicated to the audience when I used lazy spelling mistakes throughout the magazine.