Media Studies EvaluationLauren Cudworth

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

products?

Conventions of music magazines...

Masthead – This has to fit the content of the magazine and appeals to the audience.

A leading caption which dominates the page and tells about the main feature article.

Direct address is used to grab the reader’s attention and draw them

into the magazine.

Text grabs are used in the feature article to get the reader’s attention when flicking through the

magazine.

“I never thought I would be this famous...”

A colour scheme is used within a magazine to make it recognisable to the reader and give it a ‘house style.’

In the feature article, one large image is used to dominate the page and grab the reader’s attention.

My magazine...

• The genre of my magazine is chart music.• The target audience for my magazine was fourteen to eighteen year olds

males and females.• The unique selling point for my magazine was that it was not just sticking

to one specific genre. As it is a chart music magazine, I thought it would be good to cover lots of different genres, so that I could target a wider audience meaning more profit for the magazine. It would not just be telling the audience about music that they are into, it would allow them to learn about other types of music that they don’t know as much about.

I wanted to make my magazine different from other magazines on the market:

Analysing my Magazine Cover - How does it conform to the conventions of a music magazine.

I used a strapline at the top of my front cover and subheadings on the front page to give the audience an idea of what else is in the magazine. The use of names of famous artists such as Lady Gaga should draw their interest.

The bright green stands out and will grab the reader’s attention. The use of direct address also grabs the reader’s attention.

Using journalese such as EXCLUSIVE on my front cover, make the reader desire the product. Words such as these make the reader feel that they have to read it because it is exclusive!

The reader finally needs to take action and buy the magazine. The magazine needs to be recognisable. It should have a house style, which in this case would be the colours, black and green used on the front cover. I also included a logo, which will be recognisable to the target audience so that they can buy the magazine again.

Attention Interest Desire Action

They both use a main caption

Comparing my magazine to a professional magazine cover...

They both use a barcode and price

They use subheadings to advertise other stories. in the magazine

They use direct address.

They both stick to a particular colour scheme – Yellow for Billboard magazine, Green for Volume magazine.

Contents Page...I used the logo again on the contents page because it gives the magazine a house style, and a bran image. This makes the magazine recognisable and makes regular buyers likely.

The photograph I used on the contents page looks fun and relaxed. As my target audience are teenagers I think they will relate to this image.

Using the word ‘exclusive’ means that the contents not only informs the reader, but it also draws the reader’s interest into the rest of the magazine.

I used an editor’s note on my content’s page to hopefully get the reader excited about the rest of the magazine, making them more interested. The language used in this note is familiar: ‘Hi guys.’ It is as if the audience is being spoken to by a member of their peers, which will make them warm to the editor and the magazine.

Rather than just titling the page ‘contents’ I used the title ‘This month’ to make the magazine more interesting. It also clearly shows the reader that it is a monthly magazine, in case they are a first time buyer.

I set out the page list clearly so that the audience can search for what they want to read first easily.

Double page feature...I have used an interesting heading to attract the reader to the article.

I have used one main image which dominates the page. This is a very casual relaxed image which my target audience will be able to identify with as they are teenagers.

I added this image to my page at the last minute, and I don’t think it fits that well with the article. I think the image is a bit too relaxed and not eye catching enough, I don’t think the image appeals to the target audience.

I used text grabs to get the attention of the reader as they are flicking through the magazine. They include interesting bits of the text to make the reader want the read the article. I think I should have used more text grabs throughout the page rather than just two.

I used an introduction to set the article off and give the artist a bit of background. I think I could have elaborated a little bit more and talked about what he had been up to in his break from the music business.

The article is laid out in columns, so it is clear and easy to read.

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

My magazine represents music stars, or more specifically older music stars that have been around for quite a while. The younger generation are interested in them, but their parents may have been into them in the past as well!

Examples of these are:

Jon Bon Jovi Take That

How is this social group represented?

Gary Barlow, shown in the picture below, is a typical example of an older music star. He is 39 years old.

He is shown as looking respectable, wearing a shirt. This shows how he is older, more mature and would not wear things that are typical of a younger music star such as hoodies and jeans.

Gary Barlow is married with three children, showing the side of him that is a ‘family man.’

However, he is still fashionable, and will still appeal to a younger audience. This is what I wanted to aim for when making my character for magazine because it means that there is a wider audience, so more profit!

As the model is attractive to a female audience this means they are likely to notice the front cover and want to buy the magazine.

The star appeals to the target audience for a number of reasons...

The fact that the star is supposed to be older means that he can be a role model for a younger audience. Seen as wise and something to aspire to as in the interview we see that he has achieved a lot in his life (music hits, a family...)

He is still dressed young looking, Wearing a hoodie and combats. The fact that he still seems young and cool will attract the younger audience.

He is being silly and pulling poses which attracts the younger audience as he will seem fun.

Represented as holding a guitar, A lot of young people aspire to be able to play a musical instrument so it will again attract this audience and make them look up to him.

The representation of masculinity on this star appeals to male and female audience’s for different reasons. He appeals to women because he is an established star, seems young and cool which will attract females as well as the fact that he is a family man.He appeals to male audience’s because he is a famous musician and many young men see this as cool. Yet he shows a sensitive side and says how life isn’t all about getting wasted anymore. This is something for young males to look up to.

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

EMAP – East Midland Allied PressEMAP are a British Media production company. They used to produce Smash Hits magazine, which is similar to mine. This could make them a good institution to produce my magazine. Here is a link to the EMAP website. EMAP's Website...

However, EMAP dropped Smash Hits magazine in 2005 after 28 years, when the circulation figures dropped due to readers using the internet as their entertainment, rather than reading magazines.

IPC IPC have produced magazines such as NME, so I know that they would be interested and have experience in producing music magazines. However, from my research into their company, I cannot find any evidence that they have ever produced a chart music magazine. Here is a link to the IPC website from which I did my research. IPC’s website...

This might not be a negative thing because it would mean that my magazine would be completely unique to their company. Overall, I have decided that IPC would be a good institution to produce my music magazine.

When considering what media institution might distribute my magazine, I had to research different media institutions and look into what magazines they had produced before. I had to think about if I should choose and institution which had produced magazines like mine before, because this would mean they might be interested in my magazine. I also had to think about whether I should choose an institution that had never produced a magazine like mine before, because this would mean my magazine would be completely unique to this institution.

4) What would be the audience for your media product?

- I originally said in my reader profile that my target audience would be teenagers aged between around fourteen to eighteen.- Throughout the making of my magazine, I have changed my mind. I think my magazine targets both males and females ages between about seventeen and twenty-one.

-I think to stick to my original target age group I should - have used a younger artist, made the colours more fun- and bright, and not included pages like ‘Best Festivals’ - which fourteen year olds probably wouldn’t be interested in!

This is an image of a typical member of my original target audience.

-I changed my target age group because I wanted to make my magazine unique, and I also thought that older teenagers would be more likely to be interested and buy a music magazine than younger teenagers.- There would not be a particular race that would enjoy my magazine.- The socio-economic status of my target audience will be group C1, lower

middle class, and upwards because it is likely to be parents money that buy the magazines for their children. I think it will be C1 and above because they are likely to will have spare money to purchase magazines. Students are also very likely to buy the magazine. These people are in group E. I had to consider this when choosing a price for my magazine!

- Secondary audience’s for my magazine - may be parents that pick up their children’smagazines which may be lying around the house.

Audience Feedback

I gave a questionnaire to ten people who were in my target audience, to see what they thought of my magazine. Here is the questionnaire that I gave them.

Here are some examples of the responses I got to my questionnaire. I think overall the feedback that I gained is positive. The audience picked up on the fact that it was a chart music magazine. They thought that the front cover was genuine. I think one negative point I picked up on from the responses were that the photos should have stood out more and also the contents page should have been more exciting to make the reader want to read on the rest of the magazine. Also one of my respondents said that the photos look slightly unprofessional so if I could improve it, I would make them look more genuine.

 This is a graph to show the response the the question about what makes the magazine look proffessional. This shows different elements that were positive about the magazine.

PicturesInterviewContents Page

This pie chart shows the response about what makes the magazine look unprofessional. If I was to do the magazine again I would improve on these things.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?-I thought the title ‘VOLUME’ would attract the audience because it would be directly associated with music. It is simple and straight to the point.-In the main image on the front cover, I used direct address to draw the reader in. I dressed the model in relaxed clothes (hoodie, combats) because I felt that teenagers would be able to relate to this.I used a guitar in the main image as people reading this magazine would be interested in music as it is a music magazine, and I felt that this prop would draw in their interest. -One of the storylines on the cover is about music festivals, which I felt would draw in the interest of my target audience as they are the most likely people to be interested in music festivals. I included the story about Lady Gaga being a geek at school because teenagers who are reading this magazine might be going through this kind of think in their lives, and could relate to it.

In my audience feedback, many of the respondents said that the front cover looks professional. One quote is that the logo makes the front cover look really genuine and fits in well with the title.

-The language in the editor’s letter is relaxed, which the target audience can relate to. It talks excitingly about the main feature in the article, which would wet the target audience’s appetite and make them want to read the feature!

When talking about what made the magazine look unprofessional, a lot of the respondents said that the contents page did. I think this shows that I was not fully successful in targeting the audience. A quote from one respondent was that ‘it didn’t look like it was for teenagers.’ I think I would have to improve on this if I made the magazine again. I would use brighter colours to make sure that it did appeal to young people and also make the page look more busy.

Pictures

Interview

Contents Page

-The language in the article is very clear, no fancy words are used which makes it an easy read for the target audience.-The layout of the feature article is also clear. This makes it easy to read. I think I should have included more text grabs to attract the reader to reading the article.-The headline ‘The legend is back’ should attract the target audience because the label ‘legend’ makes him seem extremely important. The main image of the feature article is different because he is not directly facing the camera but it still uses direct address. This image draws the audience in. It is also quite relaxed looking so the audience should be able to associate with this. The other image that I have used on the feature article might be a bit plain and boring. I think I should have used a more exciting image to hook the audience in.-My article challenges the ideology that celebrities are all about fame, money and getting drunk, and that older rock stars try to act young and party all the time. The article shows an artist as being a normal human being and settling down to raise a family, as well as still living his dream as a music star.

PicturesInterviewContents Page

The feedback from the audience questionnaire shows that the interview makes the magazine seen unprofessional. I think maybe one reason why the interview was made to seem as a negative point about the magazine is because the artist is an older person. This could also help to explain why the pictures did not appeal to the target audience very well. I can understand that using an older artist might mean that the audience are not as interested so if I was to improve my magazine I could use someone younger. However one quote from the questionnaire was that using an older person made the magazine seem more realistic

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

I didn’t know anything about Indesign, Photoshop or even blogging before I started this project. I learnt how do edit photos using the cutting tool on Photoshop and change the colours of the photo.

I learnt how to put photos onto Indesign and use the blurring and feather tools to edit them. I also used these tools when creating my logo.

I also learnt how to put a magazine together using Indesign. First of all I set my background colour and then placed my image. Then I learnt how to insert text and edit the colours and opacity of all the text and objects. I gradually began to edit each page as I went along and keep changing them until I was happy with how they looked.

From this to this...

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

• Better layout on my final front cover. On my prelim, there is a lot of blank space and this can make the page look very boring. The busy layout on my front cover makes the magazine look like it is bursting with information!

• Indirect address on prelim task. Doesn’t catch the reader’s attention. Used direct address on final front page.

• Didn’t use a wide range of fonts of prelim. Makes page look boring, not as busy as my actual final front page.

• Better use of colour on my real front cover. On prelim, I tried to stick to a theme of St Mary’s. Colours did not fit with the outfit of the model, which they do on my final task. The use of green on my final front cover is very eye catching. No eye-catching colours on prelim.

• The connotation of the colour green is fun because it’s bright and often associated with rock music when put together with black. This means that my product will appeal to people that also enjoy rock music.

• Editing on prelim task doesn’t look professional. Cutting out isn’t very accurate. Looks as if she’s just been shoved on a background. For actual front page, I cut out the model more carefully and shaded the edges around him so that he looked almost 3D, not that he had just been shoved on a background as I think this looks rather boring,

Looking back at my preliminary task I think that I improved a lot in my final piece. Here I have compared my preliminary task against my final front cover for my magazine.

CONCLUSION!!!! I am quite happy overall with my final magazine. I think there are quite a few good points about it. →On my front cover I think that the image jumps out and grabs the reader’s attention. →The colour scheme makes the magazine look attractive and the mixture of fonts make it eye catching andexciting. →I've used the journalistic word 'EXCLUSIVE' to draw the reader in and make them feel like they HAVE to readthe article. →I've tried to use a variation of fonts on my contents, using different fonts for the headings, page names andthe descriptions. I did this to keep the page looking interesting! →To make my contents page better, I could have took photographs of many different people to show whatother artists are featured in the magazine and also to make the contents page look more busy because itreflects the magazine. →I like the big image that I have used of my artist on the feature article. I think it is relaxed and it sets off themood for the article. I think the shadow effect I used makes the model look like he is jumping out at the reader. →The white title stands out against the black background and catches the readers eye, this draws the readersinterest, if they were just flicking through the magazine. →I think I could have used different colours for the fonts rather than green and white. I was trying to stick tothe colours of the front cover, contents and artists clothing but I think if I had used different colours it wouldhave looked more interesting. I think that my magazine does look quite professional, and I am happy with it.→Overall I learnt that there has to be a strong relationship between the producer and the consumer when

making a media product. The producer needs to be able to understand what will appeal to a certain target audience, which is why research is so important. It is not easy to create a media product that will appeal to the whole target audience, due to everyone’s individual tastes.