AS MediaEvaluation of School

MagazineBy Louise Manotam

2013

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

real media products?These are the types of codes and conventions that are used in real media products: Masthead Menu Pugs Secondary

Lead Sidebar Splash Spread Stand first Lure

Subheading/’Strapline’

Tag Box out By-line Caption Credits Crosshead Exclusive Feature Headline Kicker Lead story Main image

This is an example of a real media product that uses these conventions

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?My media product is

a school magazine, and I have been able to use most of the codes and conventions that are used in real media products.Here are a few examples of what conventions I had used:

Masthead - in which I had made quite large in order to stand out to the readers.

Pugs – I placed a barcode and the school on the bottom corners of the cover page as I needed the readers to see what school the magazine belonged to and also for financial issues.

Lead Story/Splash - I had made sure that the lead story had a similar size content as the masthead. This is so that the attention from the readers is not only fixated to the masthead.

Secondary Lead - ‘How not to fall asleep in class’ is made in a more smaller font than the lead story but big enough for the audience to see that it’s one of the main articles in the magazine.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?Main image - The main image

that I used is in relation to the lead story of the magazine: in this case it’s related to art hence the image of a painting as the main cover image.

Features - The stories that are on either side of the magazine give the reader an insight of what is inside the magazine that may draw some interest.

As you can see I haven’t used very many conventions due to the size of my content and also I don’t want to make my cover page too clustered with information and images.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?Main image - The main image

that I used is in relation to the secondary story instead of the lead story as I had wanted the audience to not only think about the lead story but also the secondary story.

Menu - As this is a contents page is does give the reader an insight of what’s inside the magazine but it’s more in-depth with the information that’s featured inside.

Here’s some examples of conventions that I had included in my contents page:

Lure - Some of the article titles that are featured in the magazine are rhetorical questions in order for the reader to be able to ‘connect’ with the magazine in a personal way as I want this magazine to be academic and personal to each reader.

Pug/Side image - I had added an image in the bottom right corner of the contents page as image is one of the first few things that an individual sees when they open up a new page in a magazine therefore I want this picture

- in the relation to one of the articles - to be noticeable.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product is mainly aimed at students aged 16+ who attend Regent High school. The way in which I presented this is by including articles that would related to the students whether it academically or personally.

One example of aspects that related to the social group that I’m aimed at is one main article in my school magazine is about keep concentrated in class.

This article includes tips and points on how to keep concentrated in class and also ways in which to revise.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media

product and why?WWMD (WorldWide Magazine Distribution) “Serve over 5000 outlets

with magazines every month. With titles to complement all of Britain’s 200,000 niche and specialist retailers unique service and range offering, our main clients include music stores, gaming stores, garden centres, vintners, chandlers, model shops and equestrian centres.”

Seymour “Seymour is the largest

distributor of UK magazines internationally, exporting magazines to over 90 countries.”

The reason as to why I think these two companies would distribute my school magazine is because they are not genre-specific and as my school magazine is ‘different’ it should make a success.

Who would be the audience for your media products?

As my media product is a school magazine my audience for my media product is aimed at students aged 16+ (ie, sixth form students) from Regent High School.This is because my school magazine has content that is relevant to students in college/sixth form for instance, “University on your mind?” and “Worried about sex?”

My media product is not gender specific as it’s aimed at students in general.If I had done my school magazine different, I would have made it more ‘parent-friendly’ and also perhaps aimed at teachers too.The way in which I would do this is that I would include parent’s evening and after-school clubs that parent’s could become a part of. And as for the teachers I would include different ways to make lesson’s more ‘fun’ in a sense for certain subjects that are mainly literate-based.In that way my school magazine would have been more efficient for others but as I wanted my magazine to be academic and personal at the same time I had chosen a specific age group in order to make it easier to produce articles that I know will be of interest to the audience.

How did you attract / address your audience?

I had placed images in the magazine that related to the articles as well as make the magazine more ‘student friendly’.

I have written the content in a rhetorical manner in order for the readers to ‘connect’ with the content.

The articles itself attracts the audience as it has relations to the audience’s academic life and personal life. Articles such as ‘Worried about sex?’ and ‘University on your mind?’ are examples of this.

The colour scheme that I have used for this school magazine relates to the colours of the school logo and also it’s quite a vibrant and vivid colour therefore it makes the magazine seem more interesting and fun.

The layout of the magazine is specifically done in order for the audience to be able to easily read the content as well as it makes the magazine look more appealing if the content is not clustered up.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of

constructing this product?Throughout making my school magazines I have used different software's, such as: Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 - This

software I used in order for my media product to be formed and completed. I had used most of the tools that came equip with the software and had used them to my best potential.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 – For anything that I wanted to present in a easier form was made through this software.

Blogger (via Google) – I posted all of my updates of how I made my school magazine and the thought processes of it.

Out of all these different technologies that I had used throughout of processing of constructing this school magazine I had learnt so many new ways in order to make media products at their best potential.

What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from your preliminary task to the full

product?As I had made many steps from my preliminary task in order to make the my full product (school magazine), I have learnt so much in order that will help me with future coursework/projects and also gives me more of an in-depth knowledge of IT and how to plan and create a product and make sure that the plans that I had made were good-enough guide lines for the full product to look complete.

Learning new techniques and styles in this preliminary task is very useful and I’m great full to have been given the chance to do so.I’m looking forward to the future tasks that will be given to me and now I will legitimately be able to plan without a struggle. For instance, if I was to make a music video about romance and ‘break-ups’ then I will first have to plan on my target audience and then gradually plan from then on.