AS Foundation Portfolio Evaluation

Becky Lynch

Question 1

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

The mast heads of both mine and the VIBE music magazine are both similar to each other. Most well known music magazines, the mast heads are short and very simple, so they are easily remembered, they use big bold lettering to catch the buyers eye. My mash head is big and bold so that it stands out, it’s very similar to the VIBE magazine. The text colours, I wanted to keep the colours to a minimum of three different so not to be so bright and colourful (like a children's magazine) I wanted it to look serious and professional, so I would attract the right audience.

The picture like the VIBE magazine is close up and is only the top half of the body. This is good for the front cover as it covers a lot of place and most people will notice the picture therefore the picture has to be good quality and in good proportion.

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Katie's long dark hair makes her look feminine and the fact that she's not wearing much make-up makes her look more natural and not as fake as most of the girls in magazines are. Her top is quit simple, casual and the dinosaur on it makes it look vintage and her own style. The necklace adds to the vintage look and shows that she wears her own style.

Question 3

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

I think that Bauer Media Group would publish my music magazine as it’s forwards the same audience and they are a big company and therefore would help the distribution of my music magazine and get it out to lots of people. Bauer Media Group have published Kerrang and I think this is good becasue lots of people know kerrang and therefore people will see my magazine and help get it out there.

Question 4

•Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience would be young people aged 16-20 who like to read about the newest music and catch up on their favorite musicians. Young people who are at college/sixth form who don’t have loads of money to waste, and want a good read and good music to listen to.

Question 5•How did you attract/address your audience?

•To attract/ address my audience I have, mentioned the names of the bands that we talk about inside, so that all the people who like those bands will buy this magazine and be interested in it. The colours are bold and therefore will get everyone’s attention. •One of the main things that came to mind was the price as my target audience is young people who go to colleges and sixth forms, they need to be able to afford it, so that’s why the price is low.•The text is really bold and modern, young teens these like to see modern however the clothing is a bit vintage this shows a bit of both therefore it is good for a lot of people not just one social group.

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

Since starting my music magazine work, I have uploaded all my work onto Blog.com, before starting my music magazine I didn’t know what Blog.com was.

When I started my music magazine I didn’t know how to use photo-shop very well. However I did know the basics as I've edited pictures before, so I knew how to get the picture up and add effects, make the picture bigger and smaller and crop but there was so much stuff I had to learn for example I had to cut the background out of a picture so I just had the person, this takes quite a long time as it has to look like the background was never there. Doing the music magazine and editing it has helped me so much with getting better at working in Photo-shop

The Canon 600D was the camera we started using at the start of the year, we have used to for all our photography tasks such as the picture took for my front cover, double page spread and contents page. It has a lot of settings and we all had to learn how to use them, I have done photography before so I have had a bit of experience so therefore it wasn’t as hard for me to get to grips with the camera. The camera is very good and clear graphics.

Question 7

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

From my preliminary task I have learnt to use photo-shop correctively, better camera use and better layouts.

My school magazine and my music magazine front covers are so very different,In my school magazine I didn’t use the space very well, I had a lot of spare space, however on my music magazine I filled it in more so it look more professional as I didn't want big gaps as this made it look bad. The text on my music magazine is much better compared to my school magazine as the school one had only one text type where as my music magazine has about three, this gives it more personality, makes it look more professional and not look like I was lazy or didn't know how to use more texts. My music magazine looks a lot more professional as I knew who to use photo-shop and the cameras properly, unlike the school magazine that looked childish as I didn't know how to use everything properly yet.