1. Amelia Cranstoun
Media AS - Evaluation
AS MEDIA STUDIES – EVALUATION
My product uses conventions of real media products in the form of fonts, colour schemes and lexis.
My masthead for my front cover reads, ‘REVOL’, this is short, bold and catchy. It therefore catches
the eye of audiences and is easy to remember. I used a bevelled effect on the text to make it
appears silver and shiny rather than a basic grey, which is included in my colour scheme. It stands
out from the other texts as it has a large font, across top of page. This is the first thing the eye see’s
and it stands out as professional and glamorous.
Most of my layout is inspired by ‘Q Magazine’ as it is structured bold and simple with elegant
sophistication. I tried to portray these aspects when creating my own project.
My colour scheme of red, white and black acts I chose to emit a classic theme with bold burst of
colour. The colour scheme also fits with my magazines inspiration as Q and NME bot use themes of
Red and White. I decided to add Grey as a neutral divide between the two colours to add another
dimension and levels to the magazine. I used of Guttenberg design principle as all fields of the page
are used. The primary optical area is features the models full face as she is looking into the camera,
this creates a personal relationship with the reader. In the Strong fallow area, the cove lines frame
the face of the model and give the audience something to look as while informing them on the
contents of the magazine. The weak follow area also has the use of cover lines which also frames the
face of the model without distracting from the image. Lastly, the terminal area holds shapes and
pricing information this means all aspects of my cover are full for the audience’s viewing and
therefore follows the Guttenberg design principle.
My main image uses editorial profile shots this makes it look professional and dramatic. I edited
colours using Photoshop to advance upon contrast, brightness and saturation. This brightens and
emits a positive atmosphere. I used the rule of thirds with my front cover image. I placed the image
slightly to the left more than centred. Main image would first and foremost attract fans and men
who find star attractive and woman who idolize her by her appearance. My contents page uses the
rule of thirds as the main image is in bottom left corner, however the image its self is a profile pose
and does use rule of thirds, this is the same for my double page spread. It connects with the
audience directly and creates a personal connection.
For special effects and image manipulation i have used on photography I used Free transform on my
cover image and duplication on the models hair to brighten it without effecting rest of the image, as
her hair appeared yellow but her completion was natural which is the look I was aiming for. I used
editing with brightness saturation and contrast. I used this form of image manipulation on my
contents images also.
For my article on my double page spread I used a Journalistic technique by asking direct questions,
with an interview format. I used a formal tone but stayed informal with humour and hyperbole
language to attract audiences. This meant I stayed sophisticated to keep in theme with ‘Q’
Magazine’. My layout uses columns and kickers to look structured and creative, I also use pull
quotes such as ‘I just create insanity and I love it.’ This is to attract the audience to read the article
by using lines from the article that express a story or intrigue. I found this as successful as gave a
professional styling while being funny.
My media product represents mainly Youth and females. It shows them in an Independent light as

2. Amelia Cranstoun
Media AS - Evaluation
the protagonist model is a young female artist starting off and being successful. My project also
doesn’t feature any images of men, the lack of masculinity encourages woman and infers female
power, beauty and working woman. Through the use of close up profile images of woman on the
cover and contents and the feature page the theme of beauty and femininity is portrayed. Versatility
is portrayed through a range of genre and artists in the contents. The simplistic yet detailed article
on the feature page, shows the taste of the audience. The main image would first and foremost
attract fans and men who find star attractive and woman who idolize her by her appearance. My
product represents a Social class as it is easy to ready through the article and chatty and informative
with a sophisticated layout. Therefore my magazine may prove most successful targeted for a
working or middle class.
When looking at what kind of media institution might distribute my media product I found IPC media
would not be the best kind of music institution for my media product, as there are not a lot of
brands similar to my media distributed by them. No music media magazines are distributed by them
apart from ‘NME’ and where that magazine in particular has a similar colour theme to mine its
layout and house style are very different. Bauer media Distributes magazines such as ‘Q’Magazine’
which is the style of magazine I have based my own around.
To decide who my target audience should be I created a survey on ‘Survey Monkey’, where I asked
questions about music, lifestyle and magazines. The results from market research show that the ages
of people who have answered the survey ranged from 16 and under, to 50. It also shows feedback
mostly came from a younger audience, with most people answering coming from the 16 and
younger category. This could affect feedback as it could result in only stereotypical kinds of music
coming through from what that age group are presented with via TV and radio. This tells me if I were
to create a successful magazine, based on these results, I should focus on a younger age group.
Also results show the most commonly listened to music by the survey’s participants was
‘Indie/alternative’ genres. This music is most popular with almost half the votes from survey. The
second most popular genre from the results showed to be R&B. This helps contribute to my
magazine research as it shows to create the most successful type of magazine, I should base it on an
indie/Alternative theme and including R&B artists to bump up the audience numbers and versatility.
To attract and address my audience I used bright bursts of colour with red highlighting main articles
and headings. This use of colour will attract to my younger target audience as it separates itself from
other magazines and stands out to them. The dissection of sophisticated black and grey from the
Bright red will give the audience a sense of professionalism while staying interesting and creative.
Red is a colour associated with energy and danger, therefore the use of this colour will bring the
magazine alive and thrill the audience.
I also used what I thought were significant story ideas to attract the young adult age group such as a
virtual ‘popular’ new music artist. On my front cover I featured artists of an Indie/Alternative genre
such as ‘Lana Del Rey’ and ‘Rolling Stones’. I also used Pop and R&B artists such as ‘Kanye-West’ and
‘Disclosure’ and ‘Rudimental’. Popular music and up and coming artists like these would attract a
younger audience who would be interested in knowing who the best were to listen to, especially
those competitive in the music scene. I also mention concerts and prizes to attract my target
audience as this could cause interest for any magazine reader. The use of prizes and competitions

3. Amelia Cranstoun
Media AS - Evaluation
are popular within the advertising to any magazine and this is due to people enjoying the chance to
win something and compete. I used the ‘Guttenberg Design Principle’ on my cover page; this attracts
the eye of the reader as it gives them something to look at wherever they look on the cover. I placed
a young female artist on the cover as this will attract both genders; women who aspire to be the
beautiful woman on the cover and men who find the woman attractive.
From using new technologies within the production of my music magazine and ancillary project I
have learnt new technologies and how to use them for my own. The first piece of technology I used
was a Nikon camera to take photographs for my Ancillary project and a card reader to upload them
onto the computer. Using these technologies I found simple and easy to use however when looking
back on the images when uploaded I found hem to be blurred and distorted. I was able to upload
quickly, some useful images for my ancillary, however it took a while to understand the Nikon
camera as I had never use one before.
Later on in the course, I used a Canon camera for my music magazine. I struggled to get pictures with
a good quality using this camera so had to wait to use the Nikon. Once uploaded, I then used
Photoshop to create both my ancillary project and my music magazine. I found I improved using
Photoshop the more I practiced and after my ancillary project I found the magazine looked realistic
and professional. When first using Photoshop I was often asking for help and having to be reminded
about small details needed to do certain things. It took a while however now when I use Photoshop I
find it easy and I have enough knowledge about the technology to explore new things and be
creative within image manipulation. It was hard to decide how my magazine would look completed
when using Photoshop while referring to the layout plans and the process looked slow however the
small details seemed to make the most difference in the completion of the project.
I created a blog using Blogger to upload all my coursework onto. This was simple and easy to use
and the layout showed individuality to each person. It was straightforward to organize my work to
look professional and it helped me keep up to date with what I had done and what I had left to do. I
used Microsoft Word and PowerPoint to complete all of my typed up coursework. Also, when
completing coursework, I used websites such as Survey Monkey and Slideshare to do market
research and upload word documents to my blog. Slideshare was a new device where could present
the work I had completed on Microsoft Word. It made the work look more professional and
presentable on my blog, I can also use this in future when presenting other forms of work, so it was
highly beneficial for future projects. When using Survey Monkey It proved hard to figure out what
questions to ask and how to phrase them. Then when I had created the survey, it wasn’t very clear
on how to send it to people. When it did send, it took a long time to get all the responses back and
then even longer to analyze them. This wasted a lot of valuable production time; however it was
successful in generating the correct market research I needed for my magazine.
Finally, I used Facebook to upload Jpeg images of my photo shopped documents to allow others to
review my Magazine and give their opinion, this would have contributed to my evaluation, however I
got very little responses and waiting for a response took too long when I needed to report the
reviews for my evaluation, and deadline wasn’t far off.
I feel that I have improved drastically from when I first started the Media A-level course, learning
many techniques on software such as Photoshop, and when using cameras. When creating my final
music magazine, I prepared by booking a studio, having a main, this differed from when I started my
ancillary project and was completely unaware as how to organize and prioritize what I needed to do,
I mostly walked around college taking photos of anything rather than planning how my magazine
would look and taking precise shot based on my theme. In my music magazine I planned each image
so I knew what lighting, pose and pose/stance I wanted the model to have. This made the photo

4. Amelia Cranstoun
Media AS - Evaluation
shoot much more professional; it was easier and quicker which helped my progress and production
of things. I was also able to experiment with the camera but changing the shutter speed, fade and
use of Rule of Thirds to create industry standard images. I was able to upload and save my images
quicker and easier as I fully understood how to use a card reader when uploading and saving the
images, whereas when making my ancillary project I just stayed with whatever lens the camera had
at the time, as I was unsure as to how to change it.
Looking back on my Ancillary project, my front cover was far too empty in regards to cover lines, and
was too decorative with colour schemes and fonts. The text was unaligned and dotted everywhere,
my masthead clashed with the background and my main image was blurred and the lighting was too
bright, to the extent that the use of flash was far too obvious. I think this was based on the fact I had
never used Photoshop before and how I didn’t understand fully what we were doing on a whole.
To improve my skills of Photoshop I spent time on each image to make sure I edited each one to a
professional standard in my music magazine, and to make sure I didn’t make the same mistakes as
my Ancillary projects. However, I still wanted my model to look natural, and not over edited. So, I
only used tools such as the blemish tool to simply hide any blemishes, and enhance their natural
features such as Zoe’s eyes. This made my magazine look more professional than my ancillary
project, and less fake. I also spent time researching music magazines such as Q and NME, and
noticing their layouts and house styles and use of colour. I wanted my magazine to look like a music
magazine but still relatable to other magazines I read like gossip magazines and fashion for example,
just so the magazine was close enough to a professional and widely successful magazines
appearance. This was effective as it shows that I have developed my understanding of how cover
lines should be presented.
Overall, I feel that I have progressed the most that I could have in the time I have been given, having
no experience of a media lesson or Photoshop prior to this a level course. Having created multiple
successful pages, I feel that I have gained a lot of skills, mainly on Photoshop. It is a challenging yet
fun piece of software to use, which is what has been the most beneficial in the creation of my music
magazine.