Formal Evaluation

BY CHRIS MARTIN

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

and conventions of real media products? • My piece contains most, if not all, of the typical magazine conventions. I have

used a medium shot for my front cover and band article. I have also used the obvious conventions of a title, headline, and have acknowledged other artists as being in the magazine.

• The genre of my magazine is metal - a genre that is seemingly ‘put down’ and ignored by popular culture. Therefore, the conventions previously mentioned have been modified to suit the genre - including the title being displayed in a ‘flames-style’ font, and the other uses of text being displayed in almost a graffiti-style font. The main colour scheme throughout the magazine is red and black, to display more of an angry tone - a mood/tone synonymous with the metal genre.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• My use of red and black as a primary colour establishes fans of the metal genre as seemingly angry people right from the start. While this is not necessarily true, red and black are colours most would link to metal. The social groups likely to buy my magazine would most likely be your typical ‘rockers’ - who have been stereotyped as angry young people. The gender is also very likely to be male - as they are the typical fans of this genre.

• However, my magazine never refers to fans of this genre as permanently angry people. Being a fan of the genre myself, I can identify with the stereotype - despite not following its connotations.

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

• EMAP started as a newspaper company in 1947, and its first consumer title Angling Times was launched in 1953. They first caught the mainstream public's eye in 1978 with the launch of Smash Hits! music magazine - an institution still running to this day. They bought London dance radio station KISS FM twelve years later, and in 1994 revolutionized the men's magazine market when they bought small title For Him Magazine and converted it into FHM. Their projects Smash Hits! and KISS were launched as TV channels in 2001, and as radio stations on Freeview the next year.

• Whilst IPC Media originated in 1968, its predecessor The Field was first seen in 1853. They launched iconic music magazine New Musical Express in 1953. NME became immortalized in music history with its compilation of the first official UK record chart (Al Martino's Here In My Heart thereby becoming the first official UK number 1). Shoot! magazine was created in 1969 to capitalize on the surge of interest in football following England's 1966 World Cup triumph. In 1994, men's magazine Loaded was launched to huge praise - at the time, it was complimented for opening up the men's market.

• Despite EMAP seemingly suiting the style of my magazine, I decided to use IPC due to its proven record of revolutionizing certain types of media. It also produces music magazines - with NME in particular changing the music industry permanently.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• The intended target audience for my magazine are fans of the heavy metal genre. There is no official target age, but the magazine may be subconsciously directed at 16-25 year olds. There is no social status attached to my piece, but it is less likely for upper/high middle class people to buy it than the typical metal fan, who is considered a lower class. Also, the male gender are more likely to buy this magazine, as they are considered the typical metal group (but again, it is not explicitly considered the ‘target gender’).

• These are good ranges to aim at because these are widely considered the majority group who buy music magazines. The fact that there are no metal magazines on the market at the moment also carves a niche into the market, as it allows metal fans to buy a magazine about a genre that they like.

How did you attract/address your audience?

• I attracted my audience with my piece by firstly making my front cover stand out. My magazine is entitled ‘Riff!’ due to its connotations with guitars and more ‘heavy’ music - linking to the genre of my magazine. I used a red and black colour scheme - as this not only makes the image on my page stand out, they are the colours most linked to the metal genre. My band image (s) also stand out due to the mis-en-scene of my models; while one of the models is wearing clothes not typically associated with metal, the other is - he is wearing a black Metallica shirt and black trousers, with other images of the pair holding their instruments (one a red guitar, the other a black bass - again, the colour scheme being used to good effect). They also look ‘mean’ in an attempt to grasp the audience’s attention.

BUT WAIT… THERE’S MORE!

• Admittedly, my contents page does not particularly grasp the attention of my audience, and is considered the weakest point of my magazine. However, it has been proven to inform the audience as to what is to come with acknowledgement of other articles. My article attracts my audience by making the title of the interview larger than normal, and by using a large band image on the second page. All images have not been cut out or reproduced via Photoshop, as I feel that this creates a more natural image of the band and my piece.

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

• I have used technology to great effect during my piece, including the ability to use such programs as InDesign and Photoshop to great effect during the production of my magazine - despite having had never used either of the products before prior to the start of my piece. Although I did not use the products from Photoshop (for reasons previously mentioned), having the skill to be able to do so is a great ability to have for future productions. InDesign was the program I used to make the pages of my magazine.

• I also used www.blogger.com - an internet blogging site. I posted my progress on this site, and it was vital to the production of my piece - as without this site, there would have been no outlet for my progress. I used www.makeagraph.com to transform my questionnaire results into graphs for my Blogger evaluation.

• I have also improved in camera work and technique, and can now better identify what kind of lighting, mis-en-scene, etc. could add to my images taken.

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

• I believe that I have improved many things from my preliminary product. For example, my use of Photoshop has improved dramatically - and I can now use this product to full effect if need be. I have also improved my ability to lay out my piece. Elements of this include titles, use of photos and the skill to make it look more appealing to a wider audience. My use of lighting when taking images has also improved - gaining better use of effects.

Conclusion

• Overall, I think my project has gone very well, despite some earlier problems. I believe it features many of the connotations required for a music magazine, and comes very close to the real thing. Admittedly, my contents page could have been improved to include extra information, and problems with obtaining my images forced changes to my article, but overall I believe these problems do not harm my piece.