Media evaluation draft

1. Evaluation:
In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My magazine uses a rock theme, I decided to use this because real rock magazines, in
my opinion, have the most iconic forms and conventions.​ ​My masthead incorporates
an almost eroded look, this was to stay in touch with magazines such as ‘Kerrang’
which uses a similar style. Furthermore, the colours presented on my front cover are
simple, mainly black, white and red, and this came from my research into real rock
magazines, in which I realised that simple colours are common, especially black, and
that if I wanted to make my magazine look realistic also, I needed to feature simple
colours.​ ​I believe the biggest thing that I challenged was the expectations of rock
magazines, mine takes a very different approach to most as it features articles that
focus on the personal lives of rock artists and how that has inspired their music. I
went with this approach because I saw a gap in the market and decided that a
combination of heart­felt, personal stories and rock music would work well together
and bring about a successful magazine. The photographs included in my magazine
indicate what genre of music my magazine is about. I see rock music as quite raw,
dark in a way, and very mature, that is why I focused on using images that incorporate
those three things Photography was very important to me during the construction
stages because I wanted to challenge the conventions whilst also making it obvious
that the conventions had been taken into consideration when the photographs were
being taken. I used a model that I believe fitted it perfectly, not only where they a rock
music fan, they also dressed appropriately for a rock magazine, whilst also having
that inner emotion that was needed for the front cover to create a sense of mystery so
that my magazine intrigued audiences.​ ​I think that the media text which influenced my
magazine the most was ‘MOJO’. The magazine had a simple design, and did not over
do it with the front cover, meaning that it easy to look at and take it, whilst also
making it interesting because it was very unique. I wanted to style my magazine in a
similar way and I think readers will notice the similarities in my magazine and real
rock magazines. My front cover especially is directly influenced by the front cover of
‘MOJO’. It is simple, and not full of information, because I find it irrelevant, I only
wanted to include snippets that would engage the audience and make them want to
read more. What I found, especially with rock magazines is that they fill their front
covers with lots of information, and I wanted to go against this convention, by
breaking this tradition I believe that my magazine will become more popular because
it’s not just the same as other rock magazines.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product was always targeted at young adults, specifically 14­20 year olds
who like rock music, and this meant that I could have a more mature yet fun
magazine. I wanted my media product to attract all genders and races, and I did this
by making my double­page spread article about a female. This was important to me
because I wanted to move away from this stereotypical representation of women,
always requiring help and love from men. My article flipped this idea on it’s head by
discussing how a female rock artist got through a depressing time in her life, and

2. came through it stronger than ever. However, I also included, Ant, a male. I did this to
highlight not only the importance of friendship during tough times, but to also show
that men rely on women just as much as women rely on men. I highlighted this by
mentioning that Ant needed Ely so that they could be a success, and Ely needed Ant
to get her life back on track.​ ​In terms of class, my media product is more directed
towards working to middle class. I think this is an acceptable range because my
magazine is quite informal and from my research I learnt that fans of rock music are
located more in these two classes, rather than the upper class. This does not mean to
say that upper class people cannot buy the magazine, as it is reasonably affordable
for all three classes, merely I am suggesting that my media product was made with a
broader audience in mind, rather than concentrating on a small proportion of rock
fans within the upper class.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
In consideration of the research I undertook before I began my media product, I decided that
the global organisation, Bauer Media Group would be the most appropriate for my magazine.
This was because, not only is it the largest consumer magazine publishing house in the UK,
but it also publishes rock magazines such as Kerrang. ​I believed that if I wanted to make
my media product a success, then I should publish it with a company that are
successful and also have a lot of experience with working with rock magazines​.​ My
media product would sit well with Bauer’s other media products, and because they
also distribute to radios, televisions, etc, it could result in my magazine becoming
popular.​ I especially thought about creating a website; I wanted to do this so that readers
could perhaps add their own personal rock stories to a column; which would make them feel
part of the magazine.​ I will charge £2.50 per issue, I decided upon this because most
magazines have a similar price range, and I also think that is a reasonable price to pay
too. Bauer Media Group make around ​€​2.3 billion per year, and with my media product
I will be adding into this revenue.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
As mentioned in question two, my audience will range from around 15­20 year olds
and will appeal to both genders. I knew that I wasn’t going to use colours that are
associated with a certain gender, such as blue and pink, instead I went for a
black,white and red approach, so that the front cover of the magazine was attractive
to both genders. To draw the female audience in further, I added a quote that centred
on emotions, which would intrigue women more than men. For the men, I decided that
I would home in on a dark theme by adding smoke and a greyness to the overall front
cover to assure the male audience that this media product was for both sexes.
For me, it was about focusing on the two themes of my magazine, personal stories,
and rock music. By using hooks such as, ‘the secrets are out”, I am grabbing the
attention of the female audience because women like knowing the truth, about
personal stories. I used bold titles to further make audiences focus on particular parts

3. of the magazine. I do believe that this is an effective way to get readers attention,
however I think that the most effective way to do so is to perhaps include a quote or
something similar on the front cover to make the audience want to read on.On the
front cover, I have various rock bands, all male so that it would get the men’s
attention, I used bands like this so that the male audience would think that if these
bands are involved then they should be too, because they aspire to be like them.
To maintain audience interest I decided that the best thing to do was to include
exclusive stories which readers won’t find anywhere else and free gifts. This could
include anything from posters to t­shirts, as long as they all remain within the rock
genre.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
Whilst I was constructing the magazine, I always had one thing in mind: the audience.
Everything I did was based on how the audience would react to it, especially when it
came to the front cover. The front cover uses a variety of fonts, all of which have a
rock theme to them, to make the audience feel like this magazine very much has a
firm rock identity. To attract them, I manipulated images and added items such as a
ring of fire and smoke.​ ​I decided early on that the effect used on the image had to
attract the audience by relating to the theme of the magazine, in this case the theme
being Ely’s personal struggle back to rock music. I achieved this by taking the colour
from Ely’s skin, showing that she was a broken person, and this attracts the audience
by making them want to find out more about her story. The medium closeup image
used in the front cover was intended to make the audience feel almost hope, they
know that Ely has faced tough times, but her facial expression shows that she is a
very strong person. I used this emotional pull to make the audience relate to the
magazine.​ ​I went for an entirely different approach when it came to the images
included in the double page spread. I wanted to highlight unity, and that is why I
included an image of Ely smiling with Ant in the background, the audience will be
attracted to the article because they can see that rock music has helped Ely overcome
her struggles, again I feel like a lot of readers would be able to relate to this too; as I
was focusing on an age group of 15­20 year olds. Whilst I was researching rock
magazines, it came to my attention that basic colours are very prominent within them,
I wanted to incorporate this also, and that is why I used a basic white background on
the front cover; it was directly inspired from ‘MOJO’ which uses a similar design.​ I​t
reflects the genre of my magazine because it shows the personal side of the music

4. magazine, it implies a slight darkness, which I think is important to include in rock
magazines. This emotional edge in my interviews is defiantly my magazines Unique
Selling Point, I decided this very early on so that my product stood out from others,
yes it’s primarily about rock music but behind that is an emotional depth which I think
will keep readers coming back to it every issue.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the
product?
When it came to taking images for my media product, I found it fairly simple. This may
be because we had a tutorial on how to effectively take images; so I went in there fully
prepared. The only problem I faced was choosing the correct pose for the magazine, I
had a very specific idea in mind, but getting that to work out properly proved to be a
challenge. However myself and the model worked together to combine our thoughts
on the poses, and i think the finished product is the best images I took. In terms of
desktop publishing software, admittedly I struggled in the early stages of editing
images and page design, merely because I had not used things such as photoshop
before. After watching videos and reading guides on how to use photoshop, I began
to edit my images and construct my media product. I mainly used the ‘magic wand
tool’ which I found was very good for cropping out unwanted parts of an image,
leaving only the desired result. For my front cover image, I used ‘image adjustments’
to make the model’s skin tone grey, it was a simple enough tool to use because I
combined it with the ‘marquee tool’ also which meant that my task was a lot simpler
because it only changed the colour of the selected part of the image.​ ​One tool that I
used frequently was the ‘brush tool’. I used this to create the smoke on the front
cover, and also the cloudy effects for the skyline. I thought it was a very easy tool to
use and was, in my opinion, the simplest one to use out of all the tools I used.
InDesign proved to be a harder programme to use. I wrote my article on a word
document, and in the correct size too, so that it would be easier for me when it came
to adding into my double page spread. I found that it was harder than photoshop,
merely because it seemed more ‘mature’ by that I mean it was a lot more difficult to
place things in the correct place, probably because I was not familiar with the
programme.​ ​For me, the most difficult aspect was making sure that everything worked
well together on the pages, and also making sure that everything was in the correct
layer. When images or text weren’t in the correct position, it was always challenging
to move them to their correct place, because moving one thing would always result in
something else moving place; ultimately, however, I managed to overcome this with
some support.
7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
In comparison to my preliminary task, my media product is a lot more realistic. When I
constructed my first magazine, I wasn’t thinking about a target audience, about
realism, it only concerned me about getting it finished. However, when it came to my
media product I learnt that so much planning had to be applied to make sure that the

5. magazine was successful. I heavily researched rock music and magazines and also
created a popplet on what my magazine would be like, so that I went into construction
knowing fully well what I was wanting to achieve. My prelim skills were very basic, I
didn’t have a brand identity, I didn’t think about pull quotes or an effective image or
name. Merely, I applied what I knew, which was not a lot, with the end result not being
very effective. In the full task, I prepared myself, my skills improved greatly because
of my dedication to making sure that the media product showed realism. When I first
used photoshop, I only used it to crop the image, I didn’t think about adding effects to
it. The next time around, though, I had already researched real magazines, and
because I’d already used photoshop, I was confident in using a new variety of tools to
make my full task look better overall. In terms of using a DSLR camera, I feel much
more confident because the images I used in my media product are effective and
intrigue the audience. I also think that my skills in DTP have improved massively from
my prelim task, and if I were to do it again I know my prelim would be a lot better
because of the research and planning I applied to my full task.