CEVALUATIONEmma Nugent

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

• For my magazine I used conventions to ensure that my magazine looked as professional as possible. I used conventions in my work such as; a mid shot image of my model, a date, issue number, a price, a barcode. Also on my magazine cover I have used a masthead and a colour scheme – where I used gender neutral greys, black, white and reds, also on my cover is blue and purple. On the cover of my magazine I used a left hand third, plug and puff. I used each of these as I felt that they made my magazine look more professional and also made the magazine look more exciting. For my work I have not challenged forms and conventions of real media products, but I have developed them. I have developed them by including multiple bits and also by slightly moving them around to make the layout look similar but unique to other magazines.

This is the left hand third on my magazine cover. I have included 5 pieces of information. Also I have used different colours.

This is the masthead. I have used a font not commonly used for magazines.

This is an example of a plug using a pun to entice the reader. Not something all magazines would do.

This is an example of a puff, in a shape with block colour, to break up the image and background.

How does you media product represent particular social groups?

• I think that even though the colours on my magazine could be well lied by men and women that the colour scheme suggests that the magazine is aimed more at women rather than men. The magazine is quite dark but seems to be much more feminine, especially with the use of the pink colours on the contents page. Also women may be more interested in the magazine due to the fact that the article is about a woman and the images in the magazine are of her too. This magazine would be aimed at a demographic audience of C1, C2 and E people. The psychographic for this magazine would be ‘working class’ people, also ‘strugglers’ would be the people that would want to buy this magazine as they would be the complete opposite to mainstream people – however ‘mainstream’ people may like this magazine too as they find that the artists that are mentioned in the magazine are bands and artists that they personally like. Teenagers would be more interested in this magazine, the content would interest their age range more as the music mentioned in the magazine is newer and up-and-coming music that younger people listen to.

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

• Bauer Media Group could be the media institution that would distribute my magazine, as it is similar to other magazines that Bauer has created, magazines such as; Take a Break or Spirit and Destiny. I think that Bauer may also like my magazine because it is similar to Q magazine – which is a huge music magazine, however it has it is more suited to younger people, whereas Q are more likely to try and cater for as many people as possible. Magazines are distributed by Bauer online and in the shops, the bigger seller is online – which Bauer would like about my magazine as they would be able to put my magazine online and get the readership as a younger audience would be more likely to go online and find the magazine.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• My target audience for the final product of my magazine would be female teenagers. Teenagers interested in Indie Rock music. This target audience would fit my magazine as the whole magazine is based around indie music and indie bands/artists. Although my magazine would be targeted more specifically at teenage females the magazine could also be something that males are interested in as the music would be something that they could be a fan of too. However the magazines colour scheme suggests that the magazine is more for girls. I used another magazine to compare my work to as I went along. I looked at Q magazine as the magazine is aimed at both men and women but, in different issues the magazine is aimed at either specifically men or women – for example:

Both of these covers are aimed at men, this is shown through the sexualised images of women used on each cover.

However this shows a gender neutral cover – this is because the images on the cover are not sexualised.

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

• I used Photoshop CS3 & CS6 to create my front cover and contents page for my magazine. And I also used InDesign CS6 to create my double page spread and masthead. To create my double page spread I had to use text boxes.

• To create my cover and contents I used various tools – I used these tools the majority of the time to edit my images I wanted to use. I used tools such as the quick selection tool, the lasso tool and I also edited my images using camera raw. This is shown above.

• Final product: Tools used:I used the lasso tool when editing my images, mainly for getting ride of the background.

I used the quick selection tool for editing my images, it gave a nice finish around the image and didn’t leave jagged lines.

I used the spot healing tool to make sure that my models skin looked flawless – like professional magazines do.

I used the burn tool on the background on my front cover and contents page, so that they weren’t just block colours.

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

To start with I have learnt how to fully produce a magazine using Photoshop and also InDesign.

These two top images show my preliminary task, from looking back on them now I can now see that my work has progressed a lot. One way to prove the improvement in my work is that in my first task I used publisher to create my magazine cover and contents page, also instead of Photoshop I used paint. For this task my images were cropped and cut but not actually edited. I improved my work and I can see that from my final product – one way that I have improved is by using codes and conventions that are used to create professional magazines, for example I have learnt to use a date, price and barcode. I have also learnt to use a properly developed masthead, a left hand third, cover lines, plugs, puff etc. I have improved my work completely which I show in the two bottom images to the left – which shows my final magazine cover and my final magazine contents page.