The document discusses the evaluation of a student's media studies magazine project. It describes how the student used conventions from real magazines in their design, such as placing the title at the top and using two dominant colors. The student changed their initial front cover design to be more conventional based on research of music magazine formats and styles. They aimed their magazine at teenage girls ages 15-19 and described techniques used to attract their target audience, such as an attractive cover image and gossip content. The student discussed technologies learned like Photoshop and the importance of audience research identified between their preliminary and final projects.

1. AS Media Studies
Evaluation
By: Nelab Rahmani

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
I have used many conventions in my magazine that are similar to real media products. For example on my front cover I have put the
title of the magazine at the top of the magazine because most magazines put it at the top of the magazine. I have also put an image
of my model behind the title and I made the text around the image to come on top of the image, most magazines have similar
conventions. I have mainly used two colours, purple and black as most magazines use about two or three colours. I have also used the
usual conventions like the date, issue number and the barcode. I also used the usual conventions like the date, issue number and the
barcode.
Front cover before: Final front cover:
This is how my magazine looked before but as you can see I had to change it a lot. For example I had to change the image because most music magazines
either use a medium close up or a medium long shot. I used a medium shot so I had to change it, also the model I used didn’t have the look for the front
cover so I changed the model. I had to change the colours because most music magazines mainly use 2 or 3 colours and at first I had used 4 colours which
was too much then I reduced it to blue and black but then I had to change it again because the blue wouldn’t look nice with the new model’s outfit, that is
why I changed it to purple and black. I also made the title bigger as most magazines make the title big so that it stands out. I also added more sell lines to
make it look realistic and so that there isn’t a lot of spaces left on the cover. So I had to improve it to make it conventional. I did this using photoshop.

3. I have mainly used this Blender magazine front cover as a guide to produce my own front cover, that is
why my magazine looks similar to this magazine. I have used a female model similarly to the Blender
magazine. The framing I used is similar to the framing used in the Blender magazine. Also you can see
from the Blender magazine that there is only two colours used, blue and black, that is why I made my
text two colours two, purple and black. So overall my magazine is very conventional and uses typical
conventions which are used in professional music magazines. I haven’t used anything unconventional that
challenge professional music magazines.

4. How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
First of all I have used an image of a girl who is dressed in purple and posing in
a girly way. From this image it represents girls in a stereotypical way. Also on
the front cover I have used mostly purple and black which is mainly a girly
colour so again it is a stereotypical representation of girls.

5. What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?
I would want Bauer Media to distribute my magazine because they
distribute a lot of popular magazines such as Kerrang!, Mojo and Q
magazine.They distribute lots of different types of magazines for
example women, mens lifestyle, Gardening , sport, pets magazine
and many more.They produce a lot of well known magazines that is
why I want Bauer media to distribute my magazine because f they
distribute it I will have more readers because they know that Bauer
distributes good magazines.

6. Who would be the audience for your media product?
From my audience research my audience is teenagers around the
age of 15-19 years old. Also mostly teenagers buy magazines thats
is another reason I have aimed at teenager. Also my magazine is
mainly aimed at teenage girls as mostly teenage girls are
interested in gossip and also I have a better idea of what girls like
than boys and I have based my magazine and girls interests rather
than boys. But as I have used an image of a girl, male will also be
interested as they might be attracted to the image. But mainly it is
aimed at teenage girls.

7. How did you attract/address your audience?
I have used many techniques to attract the readers attention. For
example on the front cover I have used an attractive image of my model
that would attract any one passing by. Also the layout seems to attractive
to the audience too. I have used direct mode of address which again will
attract the readers attention as it is inviting the reader to look inside the
magazine. The sell lines will also attract the readers attention for
example, “Glamorous stars on the red carpet in the Brits Music award
inside this issue” readers will want to know about the award and what
the artists wear so having this sell line on the cover would make the
reader want to read the magazine. On the contents page I have put many
features that will attract the readers attention for example I have
information about competitions which would interest the reader because
they would want to know about competitions. Also I have got features
such as “Amy jailed again” and “recent relationship affairs” these features
will interest the reader because it is gossip and people mostly like gossip
so they will interested in reading the magazine.

8. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
I have learnt how to use many technologies for example I have
learnt how to use Photoshop to edit my picture by cropping and
cutting the pictures.I also learnt to make the layout of my
contents, front cover and double page spread. I learnt how to use
layers so that images and text can overlap and create gradient
affects for the background which makes it look more realistic and
professional. I also learnt how to create and use a Blog to put my
work on and show the steps and research I did to produce my
magazine. I also learnt to use Slideshare which is an online storage
site to put documents such as presentations and word documents
onto my blog. I also developed my skills in using Microsoft
Powerpoint to present my work.

9. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel
you have learnt in the progression from it to the full
product?
From the preliminary task I have learnt how to
layout text and images around the age to make it
look better. I learnt how to improve my Photoshop
skills to make everything realistic. Also for my
preliminary task I didn’t do any audience research
so I didn’t know what to put on the cover or
contents page but for my production task I did
research so I knew what people wanted and what
type of things I should include in my magazine. This
made me realise how important audience research
is when producing a magazine. Also we didn’t have
much time when producing the preliminary task
compared to the production task so we had to
rush the preliminary task that is why it wasn’t as
good as the music magazine. This shows that time
management is important when producing a music
magazine. Also when we had to take an image we
didn’t have time to edit the image in the preliminary
task while for the production task we did.