Media studies as evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop and challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?

2. Sell line
Masthead
Main image
Features
Tag lines
Anchor text

3. I used the common convention of using a sell a
line, this introduces the magazine. Usually
situated near the masthead. The use of informing
is the uses and grats theory, the white text in front
of the black background highlights the text.

4. Large, bold and placed northerly is the common
conventions. The text is the top layer of the production,
allowing it to be the most visible piece of text on the page.
By it being placed on the top of the page, it is the first
thing read. However after a few issues once I have
developed a brand awareness I will put it behind the
image, thus creating my own developed convention. The
bold font and bold colour gains attention.

5. The common convention of a medium close is broken
in my main image, this is because I am trying to get
the message across that the magazine isn't about one
singular model and instead a DJ can be anyone, thus
why the face is blurred. However by there only being
one person I am showing how there is a story of a
new DJ. I am challenging the idea of the male gaze
(mulvey) by having a male on the front instead of a
female.

6. ‘Exclusive’ creates engagement, exclusively
provided, the effects model, buzz work ‘exclusive’
– informing on the unknown (uses and grats
needs model)

7. Insight into features included for entertainment and informative
needs (uses and grats) – left positioning – altered colours to
separate text and top highlight titles – linked with house style –
smaller font – not mail selling point – contrasts against background.
Other magazines follow these conventions

8. Name – entices fans, anchored to the image , insight
into main story, bold and contrasting,
links with house theme, encourages fans to buy.

9. Black/yellow/white. I chose these colours as they
contrast well against each other, meaning the text and
image’s will be able to be distinguishable from one
another. I suited the models mise en scene to continue
the house theme of yellowish colours and blacks. The
yellow text highlights the text around it, therefor
encouraging the readers to read on. Using black and
white is a common convention in a magazine, as shown
below.

11. Masthead
Features
Columns
What’s hot
Social media
Date
Numbering
Images

12. The date shows informative information (uses and grats) – regular
readers can keep up to date – but smaller text as less important –
contrasting colours

13. Eye catching – different font size – breaks down magazine – easy navigation.
Short description of the featured page’s – enticed reader – informing of what's
included (uses and grats)
Wide range of features and artists. – shows variety – reflects the different
image’s.
Features commonly feature on the left hand side of the page.
Altercation of the colours following the house theme, allowing for a more
eye-catching and desirable.
Other magazines that use this are

14. This isn't a convention found in any of the magazines I researched, however I
found it to be a relevant feature to include. This is due to the fact that my
target audience are the biggest users of social media, therefor they will find
this useful and intriguing. It allows me to increase my customer base as well
as staying in touch with my customers throughout the month and not just in
the magazine. It can also work as advertisement to promote and market the
magazine.

15. The use of a masthead on my contents page
allows the reader to subconsciously
recognise the content of the magazine as
‘MIXER’ exclusive, thus making people want
to buy the magazine over and over again. It
also gives the magazine brand awareness as
well as giving ‘MIXER’ an identifiable
image. To be consistent with my issues I
would continue to use this masthead for the
rest of my magazines.

16. Bold, easily readable, easy to navigate, appeals to a younger audience,
creates shortcuts, makes the page look more appealing, linked with the
future article, informing of what's happens (uses and grats) & continues
with the house theme.
This convention can be seen in other magazines, for example :

17. The images I have included are
in a thumbnail type format.
Include a wide variety. Reflects
many genres included.
Organised box’s with borders
for professional look. No
overlapping / not too text heavy
for overwhelming approach.

19. Anchor
text
Image
Quote
Tag line
ColumnsText
Page numbers

20. Common convention of altercations between
colour of text and background. The text is what
gives the information about the article.

21. Creates engagement – exclusivity provided – text
has influence – the effects model – buzzword.
This effect is used in other magazines:

22. Anchors name to image, intro to article, entices
fans, informative (uses and grats) – insight into
main story topic – bold and contrasting

23. Direct mode of address
Connects artist audience. personal
Relationships (uses and grats) –
Medium close up for personal view.
Expression becomes more visual
Projection for unique outcome
Attractive to target audience
Brightness on face shows importance

24. Insight into the rest of the story – creates
engagement and questions – personal
relationships to those experienced (uses and
grats)
Other magazines use the same feature:

25. I have challenged regular codes and conventions, as normally the artist is
placed on the left and the text on the right. This is because the text and
headings are considered the most crucial part of the article, and then the
image to come second, therefor why its on the right. My image hasn’t been
split down the middle, and actually continues throughout both pages. I
positioned my text carefully as no important information was placed in the
fold in the middle of the double page spread.
Magazine’s that follow the normal common convention are as follow:

26. Convention developed to be positioned at the top,
therefor making it more visible upon eye level.
Makes for easier navigation, allows numbers to be
separated for text. Continues house theme.

27. Question 2

28. I have created the effect that the identity of the model in question is some
what distorted/blurred, this creates the effect that the music industry
doesn’t have to be controlled by a small few and instead anyone has the
potential to make it big. This therefor helps to expand the target audience
as it can relate to anyone.

29. All images chosen in my production of models were medium close ups,
this allows the reader to see the significance of the models and there
importance in the music industry. By having male and female models
in my production It allows both genders to be able to relate. I have
followed the stereotypical design of having a male model on the front
cover, as it suggests that most DJ’s are male, however by having a
blurred face we are able to break these codes and conventions and strip
away any stereotypical ideals of DJ’s.

30. I have followed the stereotypical ideals of a double page spread being mainly
focused around one large image, relatable to the article. And then having a
relatively small amount of text to the left or right of the spread. This is because
a younger audience tend to be more attracted to an article if it is heavily
covered in images/colour.

31. The model on my front cover wears an informal jacket and
jumper, giving him a casual rugged look. This enables
teenagers to be able to relate to the model and their youth.
My research into magazine front covers suggests that
most DJ type models continue this theme of having a
casual look. Thus why I have mirrored it into my own
magazine. Regarding props on my front cover, I haven’t
featured any sort of prop which could normally be
relatable to the electronic music scene (i.e. alcohol/drugs )
as imp not trying to suggest this is what should be
acceptable. However the use of decks/mixer not only
highlight the name of the magazine but also suggest what
the main article is about.

32. The layout has a simple style, this is representative of the youth target
audience. There is very little crowding and is mainly image based and
contains little text. There is an organised structure allowing for nothing
to be missed, in case the younger age of my audience may lead to them
being less attentive. Much like mixmag contents page’s my production
features several image’s which relate to featured articles throughout the
magazine. Like I said earlier a younger audience tend to prefer looking
at image’s over text which may ‘scare’ them away from reading on. The
informality of my text was done to keep the readers attention. My
layout was adopted from Mixmag’s content page’s

33. The models featuring in my magazine are all of a youthful age, this
leads to the audience feeling more obliged to relate to the magazine.
This means they can relate to artists featured, which is essentially
what I wanted to create by allowing the readers to feel they can
become who they are reading about. Personal integration is created as
it becomes relatable between young the young audience and the
artist. The front cover image reverses and challenges Mulveys theory.
Her theory consisted of the thought that females are used as sexual
object to males gaze. By challenging this convention you could attract
those males, and the females who admire the male under the reversed
‘gaze’

34. What kind of media institution
might distribute your media
production and why?

35. IPC publishing company is a very popular magazine publisher. Time Warner is
the companies owner, and his company publish many popular magazines such
as ‘NME’, which is a hugely successful music magazine which covers the same
target audience. This therefor adds the chance that they would make my
production successful as they already have the skills to promote there products
to this age group. Also due to IPC’s huge customer base, they could potentially
get there already set fan base to also become interested in the electronic music
industry which could hugely increase my customer base. Time Warner also
owns television channels such as cartoon network and have stakes in MTV
which is mainly target at a youthful audience. This could become a major
advantage as they can use channels such as MTV to promote the magazine.

36. Harris publications is one of the leading magazine publishers in the world,
publicising magazines such as XXL. This company would be ideal to publish
my magazine, seeing as they have the skills and expertise to successfully
promote my magazine to my target audience. Harris publications also
publicise 10 other major music magazines around the country and continent.
However the most important magazine they promote is the DJ magazine
‘scratch’, which integrates into my genre of magazine and ties in with my
contents page features in my magazine. Again there expertise on the
electronic music genre suggests they know the ways to promote around the
country. Most importantly is the fact that Harris publications are the largest
publishers of music magazines in the US. Selling over 285,000 copies every
month. This gives for great promise as Mixmag could potentially be
promoted throughout the U.S as well.

37. Bauer media are a well known privately owned publishing group which
own over 300 products, including TV stations, radios, and other online
products. Q and Kerrang magazines are both published by this group,
thus meaning they have great expertise and knowledge in the music
magazine market. These magazines also come under the same target
audience as mine, thus why they would be very helpful to publicise my
magazine. Bauer magazines publish 38 million magazines a week thus
meaning the production of publishing my magazine would be relatively
cheap to the hugely large scale they are already publicising on.

38. My magazine is mainly targeted at teens between 16-25 and based around the
electronic music magazine genre. I would like my magazine to be mainly
published and distributed by companies such as Bauer, IPC and Harris
publications. Many institutions may be suitable, but the most suitable would be
Harris Publications, this is due to huge scale they are producing meaning costs
would be low as well as having such a large customer base promotion of the
magazine would be very easy. Also due to Harris publications producing
‘scratch’ they have a lot of expertise in publishing electronic music magazines.
Harris publications is a major conglomerate and have the financial benefits to
distribute my magazine through horizontal and vertical integration. Horizontal
and vertical integration is crucial in the distribution of magazines. Horizontal
integration is when a company e.g. Harris owns multiple companies of the same
structure including TV, radio, magazines and newspapers (all media). So
horizontal integration would be using these media groups to help publicise my
magazine in order to create a larger audience. Vertical integration is when the
publishing company own different companies in the same selling genre. E.g. the
sun owns multiple newspapers and magazines within the business. This is useful
for my magazine as it can distribute it cheaply and in bulk as they already own
the business within.

39. Synergy could come into play when distributing my magazine, synergy in media
distribution means the sale of production through other media conglomerates. So
companies such as Harris may put my magazine in different business’s such as
music labels which can increase sales of my magazine through this technique. Social
media and the internet which is a multi platform approach which can help target my
product through Facebook and twitter which is also the main use of social media for
my target audience. Social media for my target audience is hugely popular and is
used daily. Thus meaning it can spread like wild fire throughout the internet and can
be viewed and promoted rapidly and relatively free of charge. The idea of ‘sharing’
and ‘retweeting’ the magazine would allow many people to view there opinions and
promote it through their friends. By using promotional strategies such as eyeline
marketing, where the product is put at the customer’s eye level so they can
constantly see the magazine and become subconsciously attracted to it.
In conclusion Harris publications should distribute my magazine, due to there
experience and skills in the target audience. As well as the sheer size that they
publish meaning costs will remain lower then if it was published from a smaller
independent publisher. Also due to my unique colour scheme and house layout my
magazine will stand out against the other magazine they publish

40. Who would be the audience for your media
product?
How did you attract/address your audience?

41. My target audience for my magazine is both genders aged between 16 –
25. I used my focus group on Facebook to address and get their opinions.
They gave me feedback on my production on how people that fit into the
age group would like to see it.
By aiming my magazine at both male and female it allowed me to
maximise my audience, I did this by using neutral colours and using
male and female models in my production. I didn’t want to potentially
deter anyone from my magazine by abiding by gender stereotypes.
The class of my magazine was meant to be well rounded, as it is
affordable by most and therefore means most people will be generally
attracted to it if they are attracted to the electronic music genre. The
nature of my audience would be to generalise the electronic music
magazine and I didn’t want to create anything too niche that would limit
my customer base. I covered everything in my magazine, such as up and
coming artist in order to attract everyone I possibly could.

42. To attract my audience, as well as using the focus group for input and
feedback. I concluded common conventions I found within my research, of
magazines with the same age range. The codes included bold texts, imagery
and no crowding within the layout.
The images I used were eye catching, to attract my audience. For example the
bright galaxy production onto my double page spread, this made the image
bold and eye catching and attracted the young audience.
Concerning the mise en scene, the models were dressed in clothing similar to
what would be worn by the target audience, thus giving them a motive to
relate to them.
The direct mode of address in the front cover gives the model a blurred face,
thus giving the ideals that an unidentifiable model could potentially be
anyone.

43. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?

46. This camera was the one I used to take my photographs for my production.
The camera being digital has its major perks, such as how I can instantly see
the shot after taking it, meaning my ability to change and adapt was much
quicker and efficient e.g. the lighting and angles. Also the camera’s large
memory card meant I was able to store great amounts of photos at once,
which once again made my production more efficient. I used multiple
online tutorials for help with the camera, for example I looked into how to
play around with the i.s.o in order to have the best quality photos possible.
This merging of technologies enhanced the outcome and my knowledge of
the device.

47. I used internet explorer for help with my research, to about command process
of magazine codes and learn conventions and it aided to help me with the
production of my final product. Blogger, YouTube, slide share and google are
all dependant on internet explorer, so clearly it proves to be very useful.
Blogger was incredibly useful as it allowed me to precisely lay out my
production from start to finish, as well as allowing me to look at other blogs
for help and inspiration. Without internet explorer my media coursework
would have bene very difficult to complete.

48. Adobe Photoshop cs3 allowed me to manipulate my image’s, add text
and create my whole production. I used multiple YouTube tutorials to
help me make my production to the highest quality possible. These
tutorials were step by step which meant they were very useful and easy
to remember for future use.

49. My HTC one M8 mobile phone was another piece of technology that was
extremely useful for taking photos of things where the camera becomes
too much to carry around and becomes impractical. The lightweight 18
megapixel camera was very useful for taking photos at gigs. The high
quality camera meant I could produce professional looking photos
without having to pay a premium price for a camera. My phone was also
useful as I was able to send photos via email on the go as well as
constantly update my focus group without the need to be sitting at a
computer. The accessibility of the phone meant I was able to organise
and plan the set up of my photo’s with my colleagues. Convergence with
this technology meant I could merge the convenience of emailing,
photograph taking plus communicating with others all into one, making
the production process much easier.

50. I used PowerPoint to produce my evaluation,
from PowerPoint I was able to transfer it to slide
share, which makes it neater and easier to
interpret. Slide share is the online website where
you are able to share presentations online, this
means I can show other people my work as well
as look at other peoples work for reference. The
exciting use of slides, colours and transitions
means others will be engaged.

51. The lighting and projector were relatively simple to use, however the
positioning of the projector took quite a while to get right. The use of
these for my production meant I could produce a professional looking
final product which had an authentic look that could be in a professional
magazine, and the unique idea of image projection allowed me to
provide an individual result.

52. The technologies I have mentioned have all considerably helped me to produce my
front cover, double page spread and contents page. Without them the production
would not have had such a professional outcome. The technologies helped to make the
product more presentable, organised and cohesive, and without this my production
would be no way near as presentable, and therefor worth less marks. The technologies
were nearly all alien to me, and with the help of the internet I was able to improve my
skills on all of them. And now for the future I will be able to use all of these
technologies with ease to help with future projects.

53. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from it
to the full production?

54. Preliminary Final production

55. Preliminary Final production

56. I wanted to make many improvements from my preliminary task, there are as follows.
The image taken in my preliminary task has got the professional quality to it, however the mise en
scene isn't appropriate as the messy school uniform gives it a less formal look. I could of taken the
image with better lighting, but l learnt how to adapt the image quality and contrast within
Photoshop itself. I am not happy with the font used for the title and the headline and also the
colours used for the strapline could be improved. Through both my preliminary tasks, I haven't kept
a continued house theme.
As you can see, both my final productions I
showed a variety of images as well as keeping a
continues house style. The first image taken I
used lighting to create a underground rave effect.
I then continued to blur the models face to make
the image less dull (unlike the image in my
preliminary). I also feel that I have progressed in
the way I utilised fonts, whilst having a variation
of fonts throughout they still have a professional
feel to them as they have good separation effects.
The fonts and image’s are in my opinion the most
crucial factors to make a professional looking
image.

57. My skill in Photoshop has massively improved from the transition from
preliminary to final production. I became familiar with how to enhance image’s
and play with text, such as giving it a drop shadow.
For example on my double page spread I have raised the text to make it less dull
against the background. It makes it more appealing and therefor more
professional. Using the drop shadow tool I learnt that by changing the speed and
angle of the shadow I could get very particular with my editing in order to have
the most effective production.

58. The complexity of my layout has changed also, as I have learnt how to add
different layers into my production. Before my skills of Photoshop had
developed my preliminary tasked looked flat and dull, but by utilising layers I
was able to produce a more professional looking image. By following the codes
and conventions of other music magazines I was able to use layers to produce a
professional looking final product. Some of the techniques I learnt was how to
colour text box’s, line spacing, and separation between letters to create
variation.
By following my own advice from my preliminary task, I was able to remain to
one constant structure, by always referring to my research it meant I didn’t just
produce a mess of image’s and text that didn’t have any professional qualities
to it. To do this I created mock ups and sketches of what I wanted my final
production to look like. Unlike what I did for my preliminary which consisted
of very little research .

59. I also learnt the importance of mastheads, as they are the initial thing a reader
will read when viewing the magazine. In my preliminary task my masthead
was unrecognisable and didn’t have a relatable font to the theme of a school.
Also it had no qualities that could represent the magazine as a whole, unlike
my final productions masthead. Due to this I decided my final masthead must
look professional and be the symbol for the magazine, thus why I created
several options and allowed my focus group to decide which looked the most
professional.

60. From all of the lessons I’ve learnt from the transition between preliminary to
final production, I was able to produce my double page spread, which
considered all the factors I have learnt.

61. The unique bright colours against the topless model contrast
and create a very eye-catching look. Through repetition and
tutorials I managed to position the model just right in order
to create the best ‘solar flare look’, thus making it look more
professional. By utilising the projector, lighting and the iso I
was able to highlight the transition from my preliminary to
the final production. Overall these techniques aloud me to
have a stand out image which would overall greatly increase
the professional qualities of the magazine.

62. In conclusion the increase of quality from my preliminary task to my
final production was large. This is mainly due the fact I have acquired
many skills throughout the process of this production. For example
my skills in Photoshop have greatly improved, thus allowing me to be
able to produce a more professional piece of work. By learning the
codes and conventions of different genres of magazine I was able to
put them into my magazine by utilising my Photoshop skills. The
variety of fonts, house colours, design planning and spacing were all
conventions necessary to have a successful final production. If I had
not learnt how to use this software to its full extent I would not have
been able to produce such a high quality piece of work.