Gemma Davis evaluated her media magazine product "Encore". She used various technologies like Fireworks, Paint, Word, and Blogger to construct the magazine cover, contents page, and double page spread. Through this process, she learned how to more effectively use Fireworks and understood what audiences look for in magazine layouts, images, and content. She received feedback that her second set of images and poses were more appealing to the target audience. Overall, Gemma felt more comfortable with the design software and understood the importance of visuals in attracting readers.

1. Evaluation Gemma Davis

2. 1: In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products? Question 1

3. Why.. I chose the title Encore for my magazine because it is a word related to music quite often. It also sounds very catchy and the actual design of the title ended up to be quite attractive and different. The masthead design was off of a website where you can add your own design or using an existing one. I kept to a simple to design where I decided to add quite different pictures to make the magazine look quite odd but in a good way. Question 1

5. Main image

6. Side stories

8. Barcode

9. Background

10. Famous titles or imagesQuestion 1

11. Mise en Scene… The costumes in the images I took previously were very out going, dress and heel outfits. Whereas my newer updated photos are different to normal photos. Loads of jewellery, patterned tights and a baggy jumper. The outfit in the picture (left) is different and not an every day outfit, people wouldn’t even wear it over the weekend. It’s just different but it fits in well with the theme of my magazine. The lighting worked well in nearly all of the pictures apart from the ones that were taken outside. Some of them images went blurry and dark, I think that’s because the flash on the camera re-bounded off of cars and other things to make the images come out dark. Some of them went blurry because of the rain kept hitting the lenses on the camera but at the time I didn’t realise. The sort of poses I asked my model to do were poses I had remembered I had seen in previous magazines. Or we were just creative with it and did what we thought would look good enough to appear in a magazine. My models make-up was different, very in your face- dark eyes, red lips but it wasn’t too over the top. It’s the sort of make-up that some people do wear out. So they wouldn’t look at it thinking it was weird. There wasn’t any major props used only jewellery being held or a jewellery bag & box. Original&Edited Question 1

12. Written content In my contents page I decided to stick to the original convention of a music magazine. I decided that by doing this, I would have an editors note like many other magazines not just music. The language I used is quite formal so that all different types of audiences could read it without having to know any ‘slang’ words involved. Although throughout the interview on the double page spread, I seemed to be a lot more informal because I was speaking to directly to someone. I think that with the interview other things could’ve been said to appeal to more people, but I think that the questions I did ask would appeal to my target audience. Question 1

13. Genre My magazine doesn’t actually have one specific genre it varies some times it looks a bit ‘rocky’ but its mostly R'n'B/hip-hop because that is the sort of music I am into. My magazine suggests the different genres within the images and lay out. The title ‘Encore’ has a hint of rock to it whereas the images suggest the theme of R'n'B and hip-hop. There is nothing crazy happening in my magazine that suggests its pretty normal and relaxed. Its not to busy, with too many images or wild story lines. It’s pretty plain and basic which takes out the rock in the magazine. Question 1

14. The layout of my magazines is pretty basic and simple. It relates to a lot of other magazines. It’s also conventional, with a main image, title, story lines etc. It’s in the rule of 3 as well and does contain a house style. My contents page, is quite basic aswell. It just has the page numbers, two main images and editors note and a title. I decided not to make it look to busy and crowded because that’s not what I wanted it to look like. It should appeal to my audience because they can see the main image and read the page numbers without feeling like there is to much going on. Layout & Contents page Question 1

15. 2: How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups? Question 2

16. VS Compared to music magazines, my images didn’t come across as powerful. The two images on the left are from Vibe and Q and all for artists are popular world wide. The top image is of Drake, who looks strong and important. He is staring straight into the camera lense so that it looks he is staring at the audience. The bottom image is off, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga and Dave Grohl. The position they are standing it makes them look powerful and in charge. Because there are three people and there all very famous, it would appeal to the audience. Whereas my first set of images are more joking around and they weren’t all serious and professional like the top right image. Whereas my second set of images like the bottom right one come out a lot better, I asked my model to keep eye contact with the camera and do an unusual pose. Which will attract my target audience. The lighting on both of my images was varied. Some were to dark but some turned out to be ok. Question 2

17. 3. What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why? Question 3

18. Bauer Media Bauer Media owns more than eighty media brands with a wide range of interests, including heat, GRAZIA, Closer, FHM, MATCH, Magic 105.4, Kiss 100, Kerrang!, Q and many more. Question 3

19. I think Bauer Media would be the sort of media institution that would publish my magazine because my target audience would be the sort that would listen to music such as kiss 100 and read other fashion and music magazines such as Heat and Q. Bauer Media is very successful over the world and has no trouble with introducing new artists/magazines to their fans. Why Question 3

20. 4: Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product Question 4

21. Encore is aimed at both boys and girls aged between 16-21 years old. It’s more of a girlie magazine because of the images, and the information inside. But because of some of the stories, prizes, competitions etc boys will also enjoy it. The front cover looks like it is just aimed at girls but its not, its aimed at both. The audience will enjoy going out at the weekend but will still be in some sort of education or working. They enjoy going to festivals, gigs and concerts in their spare time. They listen to music for different reasons, but they have a variety that they listen to. They download music on to a laptop to then transfer it onto an iPod or phone so that they can listen to music whilst travelling. Audience for Encore Question 4

22. Display your final cover, contents, double page spread, annotate these either in flickr with tags or in ppt boxes, you could also film yourself doing a demonstrtation showing how the language, fonts, layouts and use of colour attracted/addressed the audience. Show what questions you asked your audience with pictures about your production, or interview your audience. Include a summary of your audience feedback - what do you think of the front cover, contents page, double page spread? 5:How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience ? Question 5

23. Front cover “Do you want an…” is catchy because it can be used in concerts Date & price of magazine Title looks bold against white background Tells you that the magazine is issued weekly Model is staring straight at the camera to engage audience Use of love hearts, is different as you don’t usually see it on a magazine Tickets for V festival are very popular so by having a chance to win a free one it would persuade people to by it Smaller image stands out, with the story line on top Question 5

24. Contents page Catchy title, sometimes used talking about ‘Encores’. Also it’s a question about more then it goes on to explain the page numbers etc Love hearts that are used on the front cover look effective next to the main image Main image is plain but looks ok because the contents page is quite busy Random message but looks good above contents page A weekly note from the editor is conventional in magazines so looks appealing Page numbers look effective because of the black background and white text Question 5

25. Double page spread Pictures that look appealing, some normal but some funny Bold title which is the first thing that people will look at Interview stands out because how dark the text is compared to the white background It says what’s in next weeks issue which gives readers something to look forward to Another bold title including their name in it Question 5

26. 6. What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing This Product Question 6

27. Laptop/computer Fireworks Paint Microsoft word Camera Memory card Dafont Blogger YouTube Slide share Technology that helped me process and construct my product Question 6

28. Why I used these technologies Laptop/Computer: I used a laptop or computer throughout the whole process because I needed to complete everything on it. Editing photos, writing things up, using the internet etc. Fireworks: I used this programme to complete my front cover, contents page and double page spread. Paint: Before uploading things onto blogger I had to print screen and save it on to paint for it work properly. Microsoft word: I wrote everything up on microsoft word first before adding anything onto my blog. Camera & Memory card: I used a camera which already had a memory card in, to take all of my images. The memory card could hold quite a lot of images which was very helpful. Dafont- I got most of my titles or headings using this website. Blogger- I had to upload everything I had done onto blogger. Slide share- After finishing this power point I had to put it onto slide share so that it will be it can go onto my blog. I have used slide share previously and uploaded that on to my blogger to. Which was much easier. Question 6

29. 7:Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task (The School Magazine Task), What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To Full Product Question 7

30. Overall, I felt more comfortable using fireworks whilst producing my music magazine. I had used it previously when I was creating the school magazine and I also used it through my gcse classes but I sometimes struggled with it. I now feel very comfortable using it, which is good for future references. I learned a lot about what audiences look for on a magazine front cover so I knew exactly how to lay it out properly. I also learnt a lot about the images and about how the pose, outfits and make-up matters to a reader. I know this because when asking people some suggested about what they would like to see, which always relates to the type of magazine that they read. I also learnt how to edit things on fireworks and change them exactly to how I wanted them to be. Evaluation Question 7