Evaluation of main task

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

My magazine uses conventions in the way that it has a distinctive house style, with the pink black and grey colour scheme, and the distinctive house background. It looks like the magazine belongs together. Also most music magazines are of the rock scene, and i stuck to that as i am a fan of that style of music, and i know their is a very wide fan space for this genre. The language used is generally conventional, although in some parts it differs, like the way sarcasm and humour is used, and the few swearwords used. The main titles and other pages i thought of using (pages in my contents) are also fairly conventional, as most magazines have a main features, news, and regulars spot, and music magazines tend to have live reviews and album reviews, which i have included in my product. I have also clearly put an editors note, and practically every magazine does this. The images i have used are fairly conventional, and the same sort of style is definately used in other magazines of the same genre. My colour scheme is quite different and unconventional, as instead of cutting out the band members i blurred some of the background and i used the whole image. This is rather different to what magazines tend to do. They either cut the band out or shoot the photo against a white backdrop. I think this has worked quite well and ties in nicely with the colour scheme. My layouts have been quite conventional as i have stuck to using quite a neat look, with simple fonts. I believe my magazine has enough conventions to be considered a real magazine, but the way i have arranged it all makes it a bit different to other magazines and therefore it keeps its distinct style.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My Media product represents particular groups by the style of music it uses, and you can tell what sort of social group its from as the main picture is of a band that represents the pop/rock culture. My magazine is for late teens/20 year old's, and that is shown through the language used in the main interview and on the contents and cover. From my audience feedback it seems they agree with me in that my magazine does represent late teenagers and fans of pop-rock music.

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

http://www.ipcmedia.com/brands/ i think this may publish my magazine as it does quite a variety of magazines, and a fair few of them seem to be a bit like mine.

• Who would be the audience for your media product?

My audience is music fans of the pop-rock music scene, and i think mostly late teens and people in their 20's of both genders. I feel like at first i started off with quite a widespread idea of who my target audience was going to be, and as my project developed the target audience has became more and more specific.

• How did you attract/address your audience?

I designed my magazine to entice my target audience into the magazine. i did this by using an appealing colour scheme, and i used language that was recognisable to the target audience, as shown more clearly in the DPS. I also made sure the bands i used were of the right music scene and they were attractive to the readers. I gave it a neat layout and mostly used simple fonts on my cover. For my contents i used the band actual band fonts to attract fans of those bands. The humour used in my DPS is generally used and associated with magazines of my genre and it is quite

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I have learnt that my magazine is atttractive to look at and it would go down well in stores. I learnt that audience feedback is crucial to make changes that are suited to the audience and so i can make my magazine as attracttive and appealing as possible. I have learnt that my product seems pretty realistic and that really pleased me.

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

I thought i had a large understanding of Photoshop, Publisher and Fireworks from my GCSE work. Turns out i was pretty wrong. i have learnt how to use Blogger as to be honest i didn't have a clue how to work it beforehand. I also learned how to use fireworks more in depth and have now gotten used to the software. Also I learnt how Photoshop works, as i didn't know how to use it before at all. And obviously it is crucial to know how to use these programmes as they are the most important part of the task as they are used to actually create my product. I have a friend who is quite advanced in the manipulating of images, so she showed me how to work all the pragrammes i needed in my task.

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

I feel that i have learnt a lot whilst going through the tasks. My knowledge of how media products are made is now much wider than it was in my preliminary task. i expected it to be quite easy but it turns out that it is rather difficult. I learnt that i need to think through my decisions more before i act on that and totally mess it up. Ive definitely learnt more about how to edit and manipulate images and how to make them look great on pages. I also learnt that having a mess about to start with is okay, as you can find out some interesting things, and use them whilst creating your magazine. I also think i learnt how to lay things out more effectively, as i created a rather clear neat layout.

Preliminary Task - Final Creation

I started creating my final cover design on Macromedia Fireworks. I designed my mast head first, using two colours: white and purple. I planned on using a rather simple bold font, and stuck to that decision and used a stencil font, which is quit related to schools. Although the font was good I thought that it looked rather plain just on its own , with a white 'Wor' and purple 'Monkey' so i decided something else was needed. I experimented with two seperate fonts and decided this wouldnt work, then i sudenly had a brainwave: I could shadow the words with the other colour used. so i would shadow the white with the purple and shadow the purple with the white. I tested this and decided this was what was needed and so i used it. I also added a small introduuctory like sentance 'Monkseaton High Schools Own Magazine', just so that it wasnt as bare along the side. It suggests that this magazine is unique and different to other magazines out. I used a different shade of purple in this, but still stuck to my colour scheme. I had took a student in front of a colourful painting in the school, and incorperated that into my colour scheme. The colourful background also matches the red school shirt that the student is wearing.I tried out a few different poses, but decided to stick to what i had originally wanted to use, the student standing with a stuffed animal monkey on her head. I placed the photo to the right of the mast head. I wanted my model to look friendly and inviting to the public eye and target audience. So I put her in front of the colourful background and made her smile, which is a rather simple, yet effective pose. Also i made her look to the right, and not directly at the camera. She looks like she is having fun and the monkey on her head is related to the name of the magazine, and the school, as monkey is short for Monkseation. I then went on to write my coverlines. I used a variety of chunky styled fonts, as i feel chunky fonts are more youthful and the younger generation (teenagers) will like them. I also used some simple sentances that would be interesting for all yeargroups. I then tried a variety of putples, and realised that all the different shades looked good in certain positions as the background caused some to be unreadable. So i decided to use a variety of purples, going from the darkest at the top to the lightest. But this still didnt solve the problem of some writing being unseen a little, so i decided to use a black shadow so all the words could be seen. I then added my bar code to finish my magazine.

Preliminary Task - Developed Draft

After gathering the results of my questionnaire, i made a developede draft of my final cover that was based on the questionnaire reaults. I created it using the same programme i intend on using in my actual final cover. I used fonts similar, or the same to those I plan on using; the more bolded fonts. I created a representation of my student, Using the same sort of idea i had for the pose, with a monkey on her hear and standing at a medium close up photo. But even though i have a vague idea of what pose to use, i know that i will need to organise it more when i do my actual photoshoot for the main task. I decided to put the mast head down the side of the page and i think this works effectively. I also decided to use some coverlines. I may change them when it comes to creating the cover, but i'll stick to the main theme, around the school. Also i may add some more, and change the sizes of them.