q

1. Evaluation
Isaac Halle 6917

2. In what ways does your Media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My media product uses the convention of a masthead. Similarly to real
media products my masthead is large, clear and bold located at the top
left of my front cover in order to be eye catching to an audience.
My magazine repeats this convention as it is large, bold and clear and at the top left of
my front cover, my product also repeats the convention of a short worded/lettered
masthead-’XTRA’ similarly to many magazines of the same genre eg. NME,Q,DIY. In
addition many of these use these magazines use the colour red in their mastheads in
order to make their product stand out and be easily recognised, my media product
replicates this for the same reasons and to make my magazine stand out. My media
product repeats this in order to replicate the other successful magazines of the
indie/alternative genre as the masthead design is eye catching and makes a magazine
easily identifiable for consumers.

3. My media product challenges the convention of social media convergence
such as Twitter ,Facebook or Instagram. My media product challenges this
convention because the largest magazines of the genre (NME, Q, DIY) I am
replicating do not use social media convergence in terms of a twitter,
Facebook or Instagram page like my magazine front cover has used, and most
do not even have a website address on the cover. My magazine is challenging
this convention as few or no magazines of the indie/alternative genre that I
am replicating use social media convergence and by doing this it allows my
audience to become more engaged and as my target audience is 15-19 year
olds, this will allow them to ‘personally identify’ because the young age group
in my target audience have the greatest interest in social media of all ages.
Additionally the social media I used n my front cover was the ones most
popular with those in my target audience. By using social media convergence
my magazine has a unique selling point and can have a greater appeal to my
target audience than similar magazines of the same genre.

4. My media product repeats the convention of a large main image of ‘star’
(Dyer)on the front cover, that is manipulated to go in front of the masthead.
This is a convention I am repeating from the most popular magazines of the
indie/alternative genre (NME, Q, DIY) because the main image of a star
attracts consumers to buy the magazine due to the ‘star appeal’ (Richard
Dyer) of the featured celebrity. As they recognise the star they will be
attracted to look at the magazine and read the featured article inside. I am
replicating this for the same effect as it makes my magazine more eye-
catching and professional by including this feature. My media product also
repeats the convention used by many of the major magazines, where the
image is manipulated (via eg. Photoshop) to partially go over the masthead.
This is in order to make the main image and ‘star’ more visible and central
to a consumer and direct their focus.
Magazines of inspiration My media
product
Evidence of image
manipulation Evidence of image manipulation
Evidence of image
manipulation

5. My magazine front cover repeats the convention of ‘puff promotion’ which is used by the top magazines of the
indie/alternative genre which I am replicating (NME,Q). Use of Puff promotion entices the consumer to purchase the
magazine because of use of exclusive language such as; ‘special’, ‘Exclusive’, ‘Free’, ‘win’ as well as the punctuation of
exclamation marks. In addition, puff promotion entices an audience to buy a magazine because of the attractive
‘feature’ within. A consumer will be attracted to the exclusivity and positive connotations of words such as ‘exclusive
and ‘win’ and buy the magazine in order to be in with a chance in the belief they will gain from it or otherwise miss out.
The featured promotion will also relate to the target audience’s tastes and often relate to the genre through advertising
a poster for a band of the magazine’s genre for example. This will attract the target audience t the magazine more and
give them a greater appeal to purchase the magazine as it would personally relate to their tastes in music. My magazine
cover has also repeated the shape and colour of the puss promotion of the major magazines of the indie/alternative
genre such as Q and NME as their promotion is a circle shape and yellow. This is in order to make the puff promotion
more eye-catching to a consumer and by seeing the promotion they can b attracted to buy the magazine in order to
gain the benefits of said promotion, additionally it makes the magazine all together more eye catching and visible and
therefore can be more clearly seen and attract the consumer.
In my media product I have repeated the conventions of real media products by sing a yellow circle for my puff
promotion, and I have advertised that the consumer can ‘WIN! Free bloc party tickets’. I have repeated the convention
of exclusive language through the words ‘WIN!’ and ‘free’ in order to attract the audience to buy the magazine, and I
have advertised tickets for bloc party, an alternative/indie band in order to be have continuity with the genre of my
magazine which is an indie/alternative genre magazine. This will therefore make my magazine ore appealing to my
target audience because it will promote something they are interested in as they will be a fan of the genre and
therefore will give greater appeal to them to purchase my magazine.
Magazines of inspiration
My media
product

6. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
My target audience is 15-19 year old males. My magazine represents this group because
my magazine will mainly feature male artists because my target audience can ‘personally
identify’ (Katz) and relate with the ‘star/stars’ this is also based on readership figures for
the established magazine of the alternative genre- ‘Q’ magazine that show that it is the
majority of men that read their magazine. Furthermore my coloursheme of mainly reds,
black colours throughout are stereotypical masculine colours and the colour and
boldness will attract my young and male target audience.
The low price of my magazine (£2.99) additionally represents the social groups in my
target audience because it’s a very fair price for a monthly magazine, and will be very
affordable for my target audience in section E and B of the socio economic chart who will
likely have enough disposable income as well as free time. These groups are also most
likely to have an interest in the indie/alternative genre and thus read my magazine.

7. What kind of media institution
(Publisher) might distribute your
media product and why?
From the research that was conducted pre production, I would envisage that the
production house Bauer Media would publish my magazine, XTRA, firstly because they
are Europe’s largest publishing company and therefore could give my product strong
financial support as well as give my product stronger marketing and guidance which is
why I believe Bauer would be more suitable to other production houses such as timeinc.
who aren't as large. In addition I believe Bauer would be suitable to publish XTRA
because they sell a similar magazine, one that my product is inspired by which sis Q,
However this would not mean they would compete as Q is a more alternative and
popular culture magazine whereas XTRA is indie/alternative and would therefore be a
more niche product and fill a gap in the market and fulfil a consumer need. Additionally
Bauer media’s experience with a similar style magazine would mean XTRA magazine
would be supported and guided better due to the previous experience of the publishing
company

8. Who would be the audience for your
media product and why?
Hartley’s seven subjectivities
The ‘age’ (Hartley) of my target audience is 15-19 years old because this age group are most likely to have
enough interest in the indie/alternative genre to buy my magazine and will have more time and
disposable income than other age groups.
The ‘gender’ (Hartley) of my target audience would be male because that is the gender my magazines of
inspiration target, which implies that the majority of readers are male too. In addition, the
indie/alternative genre is stereotypically liked by males and features many more male stars than
women.
Katz’ Uses & Gratifications theory
According to Katz’ Uses & Gratifications theory, ,
Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, ,

9. Category E would be likely to include
my target audience because my
target audience is young people
aged 15-19 years old. The majority of
unemployed people or students are
young and in this age category but
also have disposable income and
more free time than other groups
and therefore more time to grow a
strong interest in music and read
about it
Category B would be included
within my target audience
because they are creative and
therefore would be likely to have
a taste in indie/alternative music
and have a disposable income so
would be the sort of people to
buy my magazine.

10. How did you attract/address your
audience?
In order to attract the intended target audience of.. I decided to….
The inclusion of codes & conventions such as… helped to appeal to the target audience becasuse…

11. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
The denotation of the software used to construct the media product entitled ‘name of magazine’ was…
In order for this product to look fit for purpose and appeal to the target audience, I decided to create… using
the… tool because.
Refer 2-3 examples at least and conclude
During the process of constructing this product I have learnt more abut the technologies of
Photoshop. I have learnt how to manipulate images in a greater variety of ways and to a more
professional standard, for example, I have learnt how to manipulate an image behind text and
have overall become more proficient and confident with Photoshop.
During the process of constructing my media product, I have learnt about how to use the DSLR
camera. I learnt how to use focus and zoom effectively to shoot a proffesiona and clear images

12. Looking back at your Preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
I feel that, having completed the preliminary task and learning about the demands of this
production process, I have learnt…
There is evidence of progression that I feel particularly demonstrates how I met the demands of the
production process, for example…

13. Audience Feedback -
I asked my target audience what they liked about my
magazine. The different responses were..
“I liked the bold colourscheme”
“I liked the mise-en-scene of the main image”
“I liked the format of the contents page”
“I liked the interview on the double page spread”

14. Analysing my Front Cover
Cover Lines
Feature ‘stars’ of the
genre attracting
audience to
purchase
Large bold and clear
masthead
Puff promotion uses
exclusive language to
attract audience, related
to genre
strapline
Edition, date and website
Main Headline
Mentions featured
‘star’
Barcode, Social media
convergence and QR
code
price
Main image of
featured ‘star’

15. Analysing my Contents Page
Features of genre ‘stars’
with page numbers and
short description of
feature
Editorial with picture
Magazine logo
Date
Image of features ‘stars’
Enticing description of
main feature
Advertisement to
subscribe

16. Analysing my Double Page spread
Interview
Interview
Synonymous to
conventions of
magazines of
inspiration from the
same genre ie:
columned text, Q and
A format, initials for
different answerers,
bold/italic/different
coloured writing for
question.
Image of stars

17. Photography Planning – Front Cover

18. Photography Planning - Contents

19. Photography Planning –Double Page
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