Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Masthead
The Masthead is a prime convention that addresses the audience the title of the magazine, it
helps give the product a significant house style and enables different demographics to identify
and distinguish the magazine form any other genres or from the same genre that are being is
sold to which shows authenticity and distinct form. He name I selected for my Masthead is
Lithium, this appeals to my specific genre because it’s a metal and my target audience is
primarily focused on youth who are interested in listening to heavy metal, punk alternative
rock. It’s a universal term so it’s incredibly easy to identify and the characteristics behind
Lithium are it’s silver-white metal belonging to the alkali group metal of chemical elements.
These characteristics really associate well with the design of the magazine because I included
a metallic effect on the background which signifies the prime reasoning of alternative rock.
The font used was Punk Kid as it shows a graffiti underground punk theme that resembles an
edgy outlandish style. I then controlled the text by filling it yellow to illuminate the reactive
meaning metal this highlights the alarming appearance. Pixel effect was attached with the
font and I kept this because it enhanced the style and related more with the grunge theme.
It is apparent that on my front cover I have included key conventions. However, felt a
conscience need to go against the normal conventions especially with the cover lines;
normally the cover lines are meant to be positioned at the left this helps the natural eye
flow of the consumer however, I positioned it to the right because I liked the structure and
how it took up the majority of the page. I sectioned it off with a black text box because it
introduced the cover line below which was subtle so I aimed for something bold and
different.

Layout:
I firmly believe the majority of my text and fonts confront the typical conventions of media features for
example, I researched different texts but came across the font ‘Punk Kid’. As I mentioned before, it really
applies will with the layout of the background. I wanted to conform different attributes of the grunge
movement to the magazine such as, dark colours (Grey Black) but also compliment those with colours that
highlight the conventions
My magazine has been mostly based on ‘Q’ magazine as its target audience is similar to mine. The content
page is the page which directs the reader around the magazine, and is a preview to what they can expect to
find inside. When creating my contents page I found it quite difficult as I wanted it to continue with the theme
and style of the front cover. In order to do this I studies many different contents pages and I picked out what I
thought made them stand out and interesting. The images I used in my content page was images of different
models that represented they grunge scene, I thought I would also add an image of concert in my DPS
because it shows an atmospheric sense of culture around grunge. This also, signifies the importance of music
and because it’s intimate and so close to the band playing.
I kept a consistent theme with the background because I wanted to exhibit features of the Grunge time period
how it transformed to heavy grunge to subtle grunge during post grunge. I wanted to incorporate this idea
because it speaks to many volumes and expands to different bands that contribute to the alternative rock
scene. The use of editing the images enhances the reactive metal considering the magazine is called
‘LITHIUM’, I made a conscience decision to have everything stem from the fundamentals of Lithium because
the Grunge seems to pay a great deal of attention to detail because their edgy look evokes attention and I
wanted to apply that with the layout of my magazine- how everything is neatly structured but still has a dirty
underground scene effect.

2 How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Since I decided to appeal to both genders I decided to feature a male artist as my main feature
image for the magazine in order to make that decision I researched different Grunge bands
and prominent amount were male vocalist and musicians and hardy any women were high
regarded as grunge artists. I took inspiration from past existing bands into consider the 90s
and thee way in which they dress and how they represent themselves in the media. The main
band I looked at was the all male band ‘Nirvana’.
My magazine is particularly focusing on ‘alternative rock (Grunge)’ theme which means they
would have to be interested in this type of music, to fit this magazine in with their lifestyles. I
used the colours yellow, black, grey because when carrying out my research I found out that
most magazines that are targeted to the same audience as me uses similar colours and show
that through the house style , I believe this is because of most teenagers that are into rap, hip-
hop or grime tend to like colours that will attract their attention and images that look
appealing to them before they would purchase a magazine. The magazine targets both males
and females, however most females would purchase it, because it uses words and phrases
most females might not use, for example “I got a bomb in my temple that is going to explode”.
it also includes more images of guys which again gives an impression that it could be a male
only magazine. In a way the magazine is stereotypical on guys, as it includes one image of a
guy y etc. This image below is an example of the kind of stereotype the topless playing the
guitar. My magazine represents guys that are in the “ECCENTRIC” category , this is shown by
the style of clothing they wear, hairstyles and the kind of poses and facial expressions they
show In the images provided in the magazine.

3 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Bauer Media Group
I researched on media publishers and I considered of IPC and BAUER. In order to get
my magazine to sell, I would have to get help from other big media institutions, such
as Bauer and IPC. They are enormous publishing institutions that advertise in cross
media using TV, radio, magazine and websites. Because my magazine is a music
magazine it can be distributed almost anywhere especially in forms of Radio (Q-
Radio). It can be purchased in music shops such as ‘HMV’ and in other general shops
and newsagents so this will broaden the target audience because it’s accessible
everywhere. When sold in newsagents and posts offices it will target the audience
intended, this is because these shops are usually located around schools. It can also
be sold in areas that associate with my target audience and my magazine will not
only be advertised and sold in shops but online and orders would be sited and
advertised on my magazines own website and IPC or Bauer publishers
website, which would increase interest and sales in my magazine.

4 Who would be the audience for your media product?
I mentioned my target audience, but here is an extensive profile of the intended target audience.
My target audience would be predominately females of the age 16-25, but
its produced as a unsex magazine. They would listen to Alternative Rock/
Grunge preferably Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins and Mud Honey. They
would enjoy attending gigs and support band which were aren't
commercially acclaimed successfully, they have to reject the idea that one
must always purchase the things that one wants or needs from others
-Like obscure indie bands, but disown those bands when they sign to major
labels and take as little effort as possible on appearance and dress for
comport and affordability. They also might be quite artistic, due to more
artistic features of the magazine (such as the photography) but they would
find music a very important aspect of their lives. They would read
magazines like NME, Kerrang! and Rolling Stone because these magazine
celebrate any form of Rock n Roll. The social grade for my target audience
would be people in the C-D band as it is relatively low cost 0f £2.99 which
means its suited more for them and reasonable price range too. People in C-
D would be young adults, who have just left education or are still in it. The
targeted audience for this magazine has quite a big number of people
compared to other targeted audiences for magazines.
Other magazines that include just one type of music genres such as ‘indie or
rock’ appeal to less people, however it depends on what area you plan on
selling your magazine. As this has one specific genre the audience is limited
and quite big, especially if I distribute my magazine in shops that my
targeted audience are surrounded in. However this isn't a very big issue as
every reader that we get would be loyal and consistent. I believe that the
reader’s value for this magazine is much higher than the circulation, but this
is probably a better situation as we have loyal, frequent customers.

Lly draasw
5 How did you attract/address your audience?
To attract my audience I had to think, imagine and research about how my audience would want a
magazine suitable for them should look like. It is not difficult as long as you recognize and understand
what they represent. This means what they like to listen to, wear, how they talk, and the general
‘attitude’ of your audience. To do this I used the right font type, text type, colours used throughout the
magazine. I used black, grey and yellow throughout my magazine, this is because I thought about my
audience, their ages and their style. The age and gender of my audience gives me ideas of the kind of
colours, pictures and text to put in my magazine. I personally don’t think targeting my audience was
hard, as it was simple to understand the basic appeals of ‘grunge/alternative rock/punk /heavy metal’
culture and to present this in my magazine. I’m already into alternative rock so I have a clear
understanding of how I should present my magazine to look appealing to my audience. The first thing
that your audience will see is your front cover. This means that my colour scheme and image had to be
attractive and stand out to them and make them want to read on and find out more about it. On the
front cover I tried to dress the main image/model in bright clothing that matches the colour scheme of
the magazine to make it seem more professional. I also wanted him to wear a jumper which symbolised
‘not in trend with styles of society’ clothes which usually means having a ‘dirty not composed well’ look.
On my model he is wearing just a plain jumper with no accessories simplistically to not conform to styles
generated on by its acceptance by mainstream. This is very appealing and draws attention to the
magazine, attracting the audience on the front cover is getting the eye contact from the main image
which then attracts them to the rest of the magazine. The importance of eye contact was big for me, so I
felt that it was very important to keep it throughout the magazine. This is why on the contents page all
of the images of people have eye contact with the camera as well. In addition, another way to attract my
audience was to use employ a the use of plugs- which hopefully attracts the audience. This is also a
source of promoting an upcoming artist and also engaging the reader at the very beginning. The actual
image of the artist and cover line is shown at the front cover to show that the feature is legit convincing
and reasonable, this is a great way of attracting my target audience.

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
product?
The technologies used in constructing my media product have all been diverse. Some tough to handle and
understand how to use, and some simple things used in my day to day life. Another aspect of creating my
magazine was taking photos. This, for me wasn't a hard when making my magazine, I chose to use a digital
camera of my own, because I knew my images would come out professional looking, even though I could
also edit them on photo shop. I chose to do this because I could carry the camera around with me wherever I
wanted to snap a picture. Taking the actual photos wasn't that challenging. I thought about the lighting
issues and the backgrounds, what you could and could not see, and I tired to make them look as
professional as possible. I took a range of photos, most of people, using different angles, to add variety to
the magazine. Photoshop c63 and publisher where the only two programs that I used to create the
magazine. I was advises to use Photoshop, because it provided volumes of tools to enable with the best
outcome. At first, it was hard and very difficult to understand the tools and I found it as a big challenge
because I had no idea how it worked.
How have I developed:
-> Now I am able to operate Adobe. I can try to apply things I have learned from tutorials, or just experiments
with things I'm not familiar with. Photoshop has so many different functions, features and settings that you
eventually become familiar with in order to understand their potential.
->I learnt how important it is to save coursework regularly to ensure that data is not permanently lost.
->Frequently I got into the habit of watching tutorials on YouTube which gives me a good grasp on how to
perfect images. I utilise the tutorials because they're always their whenever I’m uncertain.
-> I very confident when it comes to manipulating images (Transforming, Effects and Fill). I can use them to a
very higher standard with the assurance from the tutorials. When working with manipulating images I find
something that works best for me in terms of learning new things. I like to work with large images by
experimenting with wallpaper design because the large canvas size opens up all kinds of opportunities and
you can take it in just about any direction that you want.
-> I gained more of an understanding when it comes to blogging, you have to be more aware with the time
consumption and be very particular what you write and the level of analysis and language.

Blogger- Over the course of this coursework, I have used different software and many different
technologies in order to produce the final product, and also to exhibit my research, planning and
construction.
Slide Share-
We used slide share which allows you to upload and share
our work with other people. I found this website
challenging and confusing to use as uploading work consist
of finding codes and inserting them in certain areas to
upload your work then, I forget how to use it because it is
not a website I use daily, so I find it quite challenging too.
However, after you got the concept it was practical and fast
to operate Overall the technologies part of making this
media project has been hard and challenging, as a lot of it
is new to me. Moreover, I think I picked it up easily and
learnt how to use it all efficiently. In the future I can tell I
would find it quite easier to use when I need to use any of
these programmes/technologies.
We used blogger because it's free, easy to use, and they can start
blogging immediately. Through the duration of this project we are
able to draft the requirements and improve them then eventually
update. I found this helpful because it introduced new way of
making improvements because you can read over your work and
make modifications that well hopefully make posts more
interactive. Also, we made comments in the preliminary task; this
was helpful because you don't have to waste time finding a
document and the hyper linking it to the post. It’s a practical and
efficient way of communicating with peers too.

7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
Preliminary Front Cover Coursework Front Cover

Question 7
The preliminary task gave a clear insight on what to expect in terms of development on my
magazine and how it’s structured but being able to analyse my work constantly.
In general, looking back at my preliminary task, I have learnt how to use Photoshop and In-
design to improve and produce better quality product. Because the preliminary task was just a
starter in order to create a magazine, it helped me find out what my strengths and weakness
are. It gave me a chance to progress on my finally product. Looking back at the preliminary
task, I feel I have learnt a lot, such as how to edit and manipulate images to create a smoother
and clearer face within the artist face through Photoshop. I was able to use In-design but not
as much as I could use Photoshop, as I edited and created my product on Photoshop because I
found it easier to understand. Images below is of before and after of my improvement. The
image on the previous slide is from the front cover of my preliminary task and the image next t
it is my final product. Great adjustments in progression have been established , before I came
across Photoshop I did not take an image with a plain coloured background or edit it at all,
however when I started creating my actual product, I learnt a lot and used my previous
knowledge to create an image with a suitable background and edited it in Photoshop, not
making the photograph look too fake but real enough. I learnt that making the artist on the
front cover look the part for the genre of the magazine makes the audience more fascinated,
because of the stereotype I gave to the artist on the front cover. Looking at my preliminary
exercise, I learnt that it is better to make the main focus on the eyes and face of the model
rather than other things around, so for example my preliminary front cover -my model is seen
wearing the school uniform but confuses it with the busy background, there are too many
distraction going on, so creating my front cover, I decided to create less distractions for my
audience and made the main focus on his face, which is a middle close up.

First Draft Second Draft Final Draft

First Draft
Second Draft
Final Draft

Evaluation

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