Media Evaluation Questions

1. By Jake Hughes

2. • There are a few ways in which my magazine pages both
conform to and repel the generic conventions of real
media products. On convention that my magazine
conforms to is that of the masthead. The masthead
covers quite a big portion of the page, meaning that the
magazine is instant recognizable to customers/potential
customers. However, one convention that I have
challenged is that of the normal layout. And structure. On
most magazines you will see, the central image is in the
centre, with puffs around the outside on either side. Here
though, the central image is positioned to the right, with
puffs only appearing to the left side. Also, the text relating
to the central image is located right at the bottom of the
page rather that overlaying the image a good way up the
page.

3. • My music magazine that I have created in this project is
based around the world of post-hardcore, metalcore, and
just general rock music. There are a few different colours
relating to this genre, with red and black being the most
prominent. I have used these colours on the majority of
my magazine to represent and attract the social
group/target audience for my magazine. Also, the
language used is reflective of the aforementioned.

4. • There are a couple of different media institutions that I think
will be able to effectively distribute my magazine. For one,
there is Bauer Media. I used their logo on my front cover and
contents page. Bauer Media was first founded in 1875, and is
owned privately by various different generations of the Bauer
family. They sell up to 38 million magazines each week. They
also have their very own radio station which, in the past, has
been moderately successful. Some of he magazines that they
publish include the likes of Bella, Q, Take A Break That’s Life!,
and Kerrang!. The music magazines that they publish are
Kerrang!, Q, and Mojo. They have experience in publishing
magazines, (Kerrang!), that are within the same genre as
mine, thus meaning that they will be able to effectively
distribute it and gain profit. Kerrang! is a very successful,
worldwide magazine, showing that Bauer are very good at

5. • Another media institution that I think would publish my
magazine is IPC Media. IPC Media is the former name of the
current British publishing company Time inc. UK. IPC stands for
International Publishing Corporation. The core company was
founded in 1963 when three of the big names in magazine publishing
at the time came together. The actual IPC Media company was
founded in 1968. In 2001, IPC Media was brought out by Time inc,
and was rebranded Time inc UK IN 2014. They publish magazines
such as Marie Clair, NME, Uncut, and Now. They only publish 2
music magazines, NME and Uncut. Just like previously with
Kerrang!, NME, (New Music Express), is one of the country's,
and maybe even the worlds, biggest magazines in the indie
rock genre, a genre that is close to the one(s) featured in my
magazine. This shows that IPC are experienced and effective
in promoting and selling magazines in this genre, and that is
why they would be the kind of media institution to promote and

6. • The target audience for my music magazine would be
fans of rock music, specifically the sub-genres of post-
hardcore, metalcore, and melodic hardcore, amongst
others. The age of my target audience would be between
16-26 years of age. This is because this is the general
age of fans of the genre, meaning that if I make the
magazine appeal to them, it is more likely to be
successful. Readers would either be in education or have
a part-time job, (maybe both in some cases), and also be
very low in the socio-economic rankings.

7. • As I have mentioned before in a previous question, the
colours red and black are associated with the genres that
my magazine is based upon. Thus, I have used them in
prominence to both attract my target audience to my
magazine, and make the genre of the magazine instantly
recognizable as well. Also, the masthead is something
else that would attract my target audience. The masthead
of my magazine is very distorted and eroded, something
that is also seen in logos of bands in the genre. This
would mean that the magazine and its genre would be
instantly recognizable to a customer/a potential customer.

8. • During the creation of my media magazine front cover,
contents page, and double page spread, there are a few
technologies that I have learnt about, or learnt about in
greater detail. One of these is Photoshop. Photoshop is a
very complex software and, before this assignment, I only
knew it in quite brief detail. However, after going through
the construction process and completing all three tasks, I
feel like I have more experience now. I am now confident
in using the software now, and can effectively use things
such as keyboard shortcuts, blending options, and free
transform to create effective looking documents. I have
applied these new skills/more experience to parts of my
magazine pages, and am pleased with how they have
turned out.

9. • There are a few things that I feel that I have learnt when
progressing from my preliminary task to my full product. For
one, there is the actual style of the magazine. In my
preliminary task I was tasked to make a school magazine. Yes,
in the end I did create a magazine, but general feel and look of
it made it feel like a professional magazine that you would see
in stores rather than a quick, cheap school one. When
progressing into my main task, I feel like I have corrected this.
I have created a music magazine around a certain genre and
believe that both the look and feel of it make it believable,
unlike before. Something that would help this fact is the use of
effects on Photoshop, and this is something else that I feel like
I have progressed with from my preliminary task. I now feel
that I am more confident in using effects on images and text in
Photoshop to make the magazine more believeable.