Media Evaluation

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


The media product I have produced is a music magazine. I have used many conventions of a real music magazine, such as the full bleed front cover of a magazine, the contents page containing a preview of the content that lies ahead in the magazine and a featured article, double page spread on a music icon.
To develop the product I have produced, I used a full bleed picture for the front page so that nothing else is on the front cover. This is a typical form of some magazines so that we can see what the main feature of this magazine will be and it also gives a stylish effect.
I have challenged a typical form of a magazine by creating a simple title and not a particularly creative front page. I have done this because I think it makes the front cover look more attractive to the target audiences. As it is a rock magazine a big picture along with a simple title makes the whole theme of being a rockstar a lot more relaxed and cool.

How does your product represent particular social groups?


The product that I have produced represents the rock theme. It targets social groups that look up to people such as rockstars. In the product I’ve mainly tried to concentrate on one central figure. This is a person who follows the typical conventions of the rock and roll lifestyle and some people look up to this figure and want to live their life in the same way. Alot people see rockstars as their idols, so i followed this social group as i think it would appeal to a wide variety of audiences.

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

A company named 'Future' is a media institution that would be a suitable publisher that might distribute my product as they seem to be reliable as they publish around 170 magazines. They say they target special interest magazines. A rock magazine such as mine i think would suit them as a lot of people in the world have a big interest in rock and roll, as throughout the years it has grown dramtically. This is why i believe that this media institution would distribute my product.

Who would be the audience for your product?

The target audience i am trying to aim for is the youth of today but also the older generation as they are the ones who grew up with the real rock and roll era. The older generation who have lived through the times when rock was big, want to keep interest in the rock culutre so therefore they want to keep up to date with the new rock of today via the magazine product i have produced. The youth who are interested in rock would enjoy reading about rockstars as although they werent alive during the time when rock and roll was at it's peak, they find it interesting and want to know more about that culture. It also makes them want to become more like these rockstars.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience mainly through large photographs. Using big full bleed photographs i believe are key when attracting people. The front cover is the main element when attracting people as it is the first thing people will look at when they see the magazine. I used a black and white picture, with colour writing as i believe they suit eachother perfectly.
It addresses the audience with a simple quote on the front cover, which obviously has something to do with the rockstar on the front of the magazine. Although it is a simple quote, it engages the audiences mind as they want to know what it means, so therefore they want to read on in the magazine.

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

I have used various technologies in creating my product. I first used digital camera technology which enables me to take my photographs of the icons on my magazine. This then let me import these photos starigh to the computer where i can then edit them. I then used adobe photoshop cs4 as it has various features that let me edit the photo. I could crop the photo to concetrate on one charachter instead of a group of them, i turned the photo in to black and white, to make it look more stylish. It then also let me put text on to the photo which helped me create my title. I could use various fonts, colours and sizes. Then to create my double page spread i used adobe indesign cs4 which has many of the same features as photoshop but makes it a lot easier to create a double page article. I have learnt from these technologies that we can now to so much more with photos and manipulate them so easiely. If we dont want something there it doesn't have to be there. This is good because we can then get the perfect picture but it is also bad because sometimes we are not getting the correct representation of our idols.

Looking back over the year, what do you think you have learnt in the progression from the preliminary task to the full product?

I have become much more skilled when it comes to using software such as photoshop. The full product which was the magazine was a lot more challenging than the preliminary task as i had to use different technologies and softwares. I also had to take many pictures to find the perfect one. I have learnt that it is much harder than i first thought to put together a magazine and the amount of effort it must take to produce things such as magazines and newspapers all the time. I have learnt how to analyse the typical conventions of a magazine and incorporate them in to my product whilst being able to also put some individuality in to it at the same time.