Chris Heather - AS Media Studies Critical Evaluation

AS/ Media / Studies Critical Evaluation

I feel that my magazine both conforms and challenges conventions.

When compared to other popular magazines such as NME and Kerrang there are certain similarities that can be seen. The performing musician up against a wall in a typical photo situation in the above referenced magazines. The conventions of popular magazines are challenged by my lively choice of colours, which break away from the stereotype of indy/rock magazine that predominantly white/black or red in their magazines.

I feel that my magazine represents a youthful/late teenage audience and represents their ideas and tastes The subheading on the main page “Music For The Youth” shows the demographic I’m aiming for with this magazine. The predominantly teenage musicians who are in the photos in my magazine would also help attract teenage fans. The punk article that focuses on the ideas of rebelling against society would be particularly popular amongst stereotypically rebellious teenagers.

My audience was attracted through several means Slogans such as “Music For The Youth” not only catch the eye but state what music will be contained within the magazine and that its clearly designed for a certain demographic. My research told me that the demographic I was aiming for would like to see certain features ( see right) and I included nearly all of the standout features, Free Gifts for example. By paying careful attention to the feedback I received from my questionnaire I Included other features and aspects that Would further boost my magazines appeal such as including words that attracted my Prospective customers, a price range that would suit them and of course their favourite genre.

I learnt a lot during my construction process I learnt much about the music magazine construction process, most importantly how to find out what the demographic I’m aiming for would like to see and how to get this down in digital format using Photoshop CS2. The skills I learnt while using Photoshop CS2 will be invaluable if further use of this program is needed in my studies and I feel that the technology available to me was of great help. The feedback I received was pivotal and using that to shape my ideas was vital to ensure that a well polished and respectable output was achieved. I had started constructing a magazine before received my questionnaire back, for practice, and found that the features and theme’s I’d incorporated into it were simply not up to scratch.

My magazine and ideas about them have changed drastically from my preliminary task

My preliminary task is almost incomparable to my finished product. When constructing my preliminary task I was unaware of the conventions, themes and styles that modern magazines conform to. The feedback gained was invaluable and the comparison of current magazines pages helped showed me these. This whole development processes taught me much about the necessity of drafting in general and how it is vital to go back and edit your work according to your audience.

Distribution

Magazine distribution is typically in the paper based form but theres as growing surge in online magazines such as Rio Ferdinand’s “5”. Online magazines are typically focused at the youth. These magazines are proving to be extremely popular among teenagers and young adults due to there lack of price and the use of video and audio content unavailable in paper format without the use of a CD.