My evaluation

My Evaluation
By Louis Flanagan

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the
product?
7. Looking back to the Preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
8. How successful do you feel your end product is in fulfilling the task? How well does it
fit the brief?
Questions

Question 1:
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
When making my magazine I wanted to ensure that most of the codes and conventions of professional magazines in this genre are used
in my own magazine to increase the professional and realistic feel to my product. To do this I analysed various music magazines such as
ones from Q magazine and NME in order to identify the various codes and conventions they used and also what effect this may convey
to a reader and also the magazine itself. All of my analysed magazines are located on my blog including the image bellow:
http://flanagan62.blogspot.co.uk/
After we have completed this analysis a few more times and gained an over all
understanding of what the codes and conventions were we applied them to some
magazine front covers we created using existing artists:
http://flanagan62.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/page-plus-task-jack-garrett.html
This exercise allowed me to gain an understanding of how the different codes and
conventions could work on a physical product allowing me to know how I can
create different conventions in an effective way. Additionally this task allowed me
to get a short idea of how my own magazine could be layed out and how I could
create a realistic and professional look. Further more it gave me an idea od what
cover lines I could use in my own magazine as well as how to position aspects such
as the main cover image and masthead on my magazine.

Question 1:
After learning the various codes and conventions and applying them to various mock magazines I tried to apply some
of the conventions to my own magazine in order to gain an idea of what I would include as well as how I would lay it all
out.
When designing my cover I considered each convention and how I
would apply it to my magazine and also how real music magazines
use there magazines in an effective way.
I used a left third masthead as all of my research used this in there
magazines, also it makes it easier to see on a rack allowing it to be a
form of visible advertisement for my magazine company whilst not
obstructing the main cover star.
I also ensured that my cover lines framed my cover star as much as
possible in order to let the cover lines be clearly visible but not take
away from the effect of the cover image. In doing this the audiences
eyes will be drawn more to the cover star as intended and then the
rest of the cover.
I wanted to ensure that the main cover line/cover star credit
dominated over the other cover lines in order to highlight the main
story of my magazine and to entice the audience as it is clear to see
what artist is the main feature of my cover page.

Question 1:
Challenges and developments:
I have challenged the conventions of typical
music magazines in some ways, this includes
the use of a more darker house style, as
most of the covers or magazines as a whole
I researched in my genre used a lighter
theme such as white. However I have used a
black background as I feel this gives m cover
star a sense of mystery and further entices
the reader as they become curious on what
he has to say.
I also don’t mention any real/existing artists
in my magazine as it perhaps suggests my
magazine concentrates more on the unsung
hero's of the music industry, this may
appeal more to a niche market as it gives
the sense that these artists are unique.

Initial Influences:
My first real influence on my magazine was this Q
magazine cover of Ed Sheeran. This influenced me
mainly through its layout as well as use of costume. The
layout of this magazine inspired me du to how it
emphasises the main cover image and the cover star
credit by encompassing it in a border of cover lines,
masthead, pug etc., this was effective to me as it made
it clear why the main article was about and also gave
me various ideas of where I could put certain aspects
such as the mast head, bar code ad of Corse cover lines
to gain an effective result which would further entice a
reader due to the clear visible cover star as well as the
title of the main article in the form of anchorage text.
As stated this cover also inspired me based on its use of
costume. This cover star (Ed Sheeran) wears more
casual everyday clothes unlike the more show off pop
star look we may expect. I thought this was effective as
it suggested a more grounded and human feel to the
magazine which would be very relatable to an average
reader, due to this effect I chose to apply these two
features to my own work and I feel I have met the same,
or if not close to the same, effect.
Finally I liked the idea of using a plain background
consisting of one colour as I thought this helped to
emphasis the test as well as the cover star due to the
lack of distractions it gave further leading the
audiences concentration to the cover star and cover
lines.
http://flanagan62.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/organisation.html

Initial Influences:
This Q magazine cover of David Bowie is the cover which
inspired my house style or red, white and black as upon
seeing this I felt these colours worked well together and
created a dramatic look which would make my magazine
stand out more. However when trying this colour scheme on
my own magazine it did not work well with the image I used
of my cover star. After I reviewed some of my page plus tasks
particularly my Jack Garrett cover I was influenced by the
more darker colour scheme which I used, this was unlike
other magazine covers I had analysed however I thought it
created an effective look and added a sense of mystery to my
work, due to this I swapped some of the colours around
changing the white background to a darker one (black) and
used white text white stood out to the reader in a similar
way as the David Bowie cover still giving me the same effect.
This will link you to my Jack Garrett cover which I made on
page plus: http://flanagan62.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/page-
plus-task-jack-garrett.html

I have kept the consistency of my
chosen house style (red, white and
black) through out my magazine as
shown in my contents page as this
shows a similar style through each
page showing that they are of the
same magazine. Additionally to this
I have used an image of my cover
star in my contents page and
positioned it next to the relating
article description, This image is
also taken in the same location and
in the same costume as seen on the
front cover. This provides a link to
my front cover and creates a strong
symbiosis between the magazine
company and the cover star.
I have also utilised cross media
convergence by linking the reader to
my magazines social media pages
through using each sites loo and a
breath description one where to
find the magazine. This further acts
as visual advertisement for other
aspects of my magazine and offers
the reader more opportunity to
learn more about the articles.
A further aspect I used in my
contents page was the use of a
top 10 chart shown in the
description of page 83, this was
inspired by an NME contents
page which I saw and it used this
same layout, I believe this
entices the audience to this page
as they want to see what
changes have took place in the
top 10 as well as extra
information about how it an be
effected.

Double Page Spread:
When researching my magazines
double page spread I was originally
inspired by this page of Ed Sheeran as
I felt it was clear to see both image
and text as the text was in a box
allowing it to stand out, also the use of
one large image allowed the reader to
clearly see that the article on the right
was related to the artist on the left.
However when using this on a Jake
Savoretti page plus magazine I found it
to be too blocky and as if it had been
pasted together.
However after further research I
found this double page spread of rad
artist Nicki Minaj and although she
isn’t consistent with my genre the
layout of this page inspired me as
rather than having the accompanying
article in a box it is instead positioned
around the artist across both [ages,
this not only emphasises the artist in a
similar way to how the cover lines
emphasis the cover image.
Additionally this gets rid of my
previous issue as in this double page
spread the text flows well with the
image.
I decided to apply this to my already
existing double page spread image
and positioned my text around the
side of my image following the same
shape of it, this creates a good flow
to my double page allowing it to nit
only be effective to a reader but also
clearly show the connection
between the image and text of this
page.

Layout: I used one main image for my double page spread
rather than several as this makes the audience less confused
and also makes the page less cluttered giving a more simple
effect, the image also relates the both the contents page and
front cover due to the aspects of mise-en-scene such as
costume and background being the same through out.
Additionally I have inserted the magazines masthead on this
page as a form of visual advertisement for my magazine as well
as a way of linking this page to my front cover.
Colour: I used a consistent
house style through out
this page which is the
same as my front cover
and contents page to offer
a consistency trough out
my magazine, The use of a
barker background
emphasises the text
allowing it to stand out to
the reader, it also gives the
same effect to my cover
star as the bright colours
of his clothes stand out to
a reader further enticing
them into reading the
article and making it clear
who the article is about.
Text: For the first section of my
text I gave a shot background
on the main artist not only to
tell new readers who this
person is but to also entice
fans to discover more about
the artist. Additionally I used
another section entitled
‘interview’ which is a question
and answer section with the
artist asking him various
questions relating t both home
life and public life such as
albums and tours, this allows
the reader to gain more
information about upcoming
events as well as letting them
get to know the artist at
home. As stated the text is
white allowing it to stand out
on the darker background also
allowing it to be clearer and
intern easier to read. I used a
font size of 8 for this section of
text.

Question 2:
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The main audience of my magazine is that of teenagers
primarily ages between 14 and 20 who are interested in a
more indie and pop genre of music as seen in most if not all
Q magazines. Also Q magazine was an influence in how I can
reach this target audience through the use of language and
also images used as teenagers want to read a more informal
type of language and also the pop aspects of Q Magazine
helped me to gain a visual appeal to my audience through
the use of casual clothing's and also bright primary colours
which stand out to them.
The style of my artist was particularly inspired by artists
such as James Bay and Ed Sheeran in order to gain a more
casual look with more unusual aspects such as the hat in
the front cover to offer a feel which would relate to a
teenage audience but still give the feel of an artist in the
music industry. This would help make teenagers feel more
comforted by this artist and even create a role model which
they could relate to due to the casual feel giving a sense of
normality to them. And as stated the darker house style
gives a mysterious feel which I believe teenagers are more
likely to delve deeper.

My secondary images found on my contents page
further offer a youthful and mysterious edge as all
artists are the same age as my target audience ad follow
the same casual costume feature which I began with my
cover image. I have used a group in my images which I
have called clown fish and due to this name as well as
there facial expressions it offers a comedic sense to this
group and so gives a break to the more mysterious
theme as it contrasts with my main star and maybe a
few more of my secondary stars such as Chloe Harris. I
have in this magazine. This also shows the mood of this
band and so makes my magazine appeal to a wider
audience. The appeal to a wider audience is also shown
in the image of Hannah Smith, in this image we get a
lighter forest back ground unlike the other darker
backgrounds this stands out to an audience and also
offers some contrast and therefor interest in the other
artists, the use of this may suggest a more song bird
type of singer which again appeals to a wider range of
people whilst staying in the same age rabe due to the
artist being of that age also. I also used a landscape shot
or a wide shot on this image to give a variation on shot
types used on this page didn’t seem too simple.

Question 3:
what kind of media institution might distribute your media product? Why?
When researching various publishing companies many came to mind however the one which related to my genre
and layout was that of Time Inc.UK:
http://www.timeincuk.com/brands/#entertainment-2
Time Inc have published wide
range of magazines such as uncut,
InStyle, TV&Satellite but more
importantly they publish the
music magazine NME.
They use various cross media
convergence to advertise there
products such s social media and
there website.

Question 3:
what kind of media institution might distribute your media product? Why?
But another distributer I have also looked at is ‘Bauer media Group’: http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands/q
This distributing company works with many magazines
across many genres of media such as Empire, Q,
Kerrang and mojo as well as a wide range of media
such as radio, internet, smart phones, TV and
magazines. This could help advertise my magazine on
various formats and also there magazines, primarily Q
magazine was the source of most my research, due to
this I believe this is my most likely distributor of my
magazine due to similar genres such as Q as well as
various advertisement abilities.

Question 4:
Who would be the audience for your media product?
My magazines main audience focus is that of both boys an girls of ages between 15 to 20, teenagers who are
interested with the latest music as well as upcoming artists, primarily birth artists. The link bellow will take you
to my questionnaire feed back I created to gain my audience as well as aspects they want to see:
http://flanagan62.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/organisation-questionnaire-feedback.html
A similar target audiences can be found in
both NME and Q magazines so I aimed my
focus on these two for research and to help
me understand how they reach there
audiences. My ‘re-make re-model’ task also
helped me focus on my layout and house
style. It also helped me understand the
attitude of my cover star an how that has an
effect of the audience.
NME’s target audience is that of 20 – 21 year olds
and Q magazine consists of a similar age range
although a bit older, this allowed me to get a look at
he over all appearance of each magazines and how
they appeal to there audiences.
This link will take you to the blog post of my Re-make Re-model
task: http://flanagan62.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/remake-and-
retask-model.html

Question 5:
How did you attract/address your audience?
Masthead:
SOU
ND
I wanted my magazine name to be catchy and ofcorse memorable to an
audience and by making it short and snappy and ofcorse related to music
I believe I have done that successfully. As a left third masthead it will be
much easier to see the magazine on a rack and also allows for the cover image to take centre stage but still being
able to clearly see the masthead. I liked the name sound as it was short and catchy but also related well to the
product of a music magazine due to music being a sound and so it is clear to an audience what topic my magazine is
based around. I found a lot of music magazines such as NME and Q used red and so I tried to incorporate this
without going overbroad and by only having one letter red it makes my masthead stand out more but also creates a
more iconic look. A teenage audience would appeal to this as it is quick to say and also clearly relates to the music
not the industry.
Colours:
Similar to Q magazine I have chosen primary colours such as red, white and black which a
very bold colours which will stand out to a reader and intern stand out on a magazine
rack. The red gives the magazine a powerful and dramatic look whilst the black indicates a
more mysterious and intense feel whilst the light white offers a balance between the two and helps the text stands
out from the background. This appeals to my audience as teenagers are expressive and loud in there choices of
fashion music and other aspects of life so using bright and bold colours appeals to this aspect.

Question 5:
How did you attract/address your audience?
Cover Lines:
By using words of a bigger font like New Album and New
Tour I am putting emphasis on important aspect to the
reader in order to entice them into finding out more
information on key points in the articles. By positioning
the cover lines around the cover star like a frame it leads
the readers eye from the cover star to the rest of the
magazine allowing the page to be fully visible to the
reader. The language I have used fits the age group as I
have kept the language simple and used aspects which
are seen as informal so it appears to be a casual read
rather than a task.
Images:
The images I have used show my artist as being
confident due to the cocky attitude presented by his
position, also the clothes he is wearing suggest some
normality to the artist and shows a more grounded
and relatable feeling towards an audience. As well as
this the artist is looking at the camera creating a feel
of direct address to the audience which shows the
artist to be confident showing he knows what he is
doing giving a sense of power. This relates to an
audience as most teenagers are like this, confident,
cocky and casual.

Question 6:
What have you learnt about technologies from process of constructing the product?
During the process of making my product I used various programs to better construct my
magazine and create a successful end product, these include: Paint. Net, Page Plus and
publisher. Bellow are some strengths I found when using these.
Page Plus Publisher Paint .NET
Easy to understand
layout and locate tools
Ability to save work as a
JPEG image
Use of layers helps keep
work in order and help to
manipulate and edit
various aspects.
Work can be exported as
a jpeg image or a PDF
Simple tools, useful for
planning magazine
Canvas size can be
change to create a
realistic magazine size
helping me to gain a
better understanding of
layout.
Has a useful magazine
layout to offer a full
overall feel of how it
works together
Able to group text,
images and shapes
together to create one
image. Useful when
designing a front cover.
Range of tools to create a
professional look and
improve aspects such as
image editing.
Easy layout to follow and
tools are simple to find
and use

Question 6:
However there are also weaknesses to each of these products.
Page Plus Publisher Paint.NET
Inserted photos are
often pixelated or
blurry especially
when shrunk.
Large lack of tools
meaning work is
limited and you
have to change
between
software's.
Takes a while to get
used to using the
system, I had to use
a guide for some
aspects.
Limited choice of
shames, only
square, circle and
triangle which
limits possibility
Magazines look
unrealistic and
stuck together due
to lack of tools and
quality.
Less quality in
cutting out images.
Text was unable to
be changed after a
layer was
unselected

Question 6:
Blogger:
Blogger is the perfect place for me to display the magazine and the journey of creating it. It was very simple and easy
to use especially to upload my work with the added ability to schedule various uploads. When viewing the blog there
were various design choices each displayed my posts professionally and clearly as well as having easy navigation tools
such as posting dates at the side rather than going through all the pages. Also due to it being online I can access it
anywhere meaning I didn’t have t be in school to add to my blog, also I was able to access blogs made by my peers
which allowed me to gain inspiration on what posts I could do as well as extra research.
This is a link to my blog:
http://flanagan62.blogspot.co.u
k/search?updated-min=2017-
01-01T00:00:00-
08:00&updated-max=2018-01-
01T00:00:00-08:00&max-
results=31

Question 7:
Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the
In my preliminary task, my cover lines were limited as there wasn’t enough of
them, also the descriptions were brief and talked about singles which shouldn’t
be done. Also the image is covered partially by the URL which takes away from the
main image and there is a lot of dead space particularly on the left side. The
appearance of this is very simple and minimalistic. I have managed to correct
these issues in my final piece adding more cover lines and conventions including a
pug.

Question 7:
Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the
As a first attempt I gained a basic idea of how to layout my contents page,
however I have only used two pieces of original photograph and 4 page
description reaching up to page 7 instead of 100 in my final piece.
Additionally I had neglected to insert a page number on this page as well
as any other conventions. My final piece is far more superior due to this
improved use of original photography as well as the use of social media
links, page numbers and more page descriptions so I am able to reach the
100 page limit.

Question 8:
How successful do you feel your end product is in fulfilling the task? How well does it fit the
brief?
Overall I am happy with my magazine as I believe it fits he brief well, this is because it follows and
uses a variety of codes and conventions that are present in everyday music magazines, and I have
also utilised these to offer an effective result which appeals to my audience. I also challenged a
couple of the conventions to give my magazine a unique feel allowing it to stand out in certain
ways. Through the use of all my research into similar products as well as my various drafts and
page plus magazines I was able to create a professional and realistic magazine which offers many
effective features which would appeal to both the indie pop genre I am following and the teenage
audience I have chosen to target.

My evaluation

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