This is my Preliminary Evaluation of the sixth form magazine.

1. 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My product uses a variety of conventions within the sixth form magazine so
that it would look like an actual product. My sixth form magazine uses many
conventions to make this happen such as; a masthead, cover lines, main image
and the left third. The masthead used says “Post 16” which implies that this
magazine is aimed at students within the sixth form. The cover lines which are
used shows different information which the magazine contains, but it also
relates to different social groups as for example, it says “SHED - The official
rules” which relates to students who enjoy card games. This is just one
example on the front page of the magazine. Also, my media product uses a
main image but I have developed this because instead of having one main
person, I have decided to use the flags to represent the different houses within
the school, which also relates a subject inside the magazine. A final convention
which I have used on the front page is images to show what is inside the
magazine.
My product also uses a variety of conventions in the contents page as well.
One convention which I have used is different font sizes to show the most
important topics in this magazine, so that it can stand out and attract the
readers attention. Also, I have used a clear house style, which is the colours
from the school emblem which is maroon, black and gold, so that the two pages
look like they are from one magazine. The product also uses images so that
the reader is able to know what is inside this issue of the magazine. However,
I have challenged real media because I have used a “DID YOU KNOW” section
so that it can engage the reader.
2) How does your media product present particular social
groups?
The product which I have created relates to students within the sixth form but
there are certain sections within the magazine which relates to different social
groups such as students who enjoy chess, there is a chess section for them
and students who enjoy cards, there is a section for them. I have done this
because it means that the magazine can relate to all social groups within the
sixth form, so that it doesn’t just target one certain group.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?

2. The kind of media institution that would distribute my product would be the
school because the magazine is aimed at students within the sixth form, so the
information would be targeted at them. As well as this, the shops near the
school might also distribute the media product because many students within
the school, including lower school and upper school, visit these shops, so by
having my media product there, then the students would want to know what is
happening in the school.
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my media product would be for students who attend Nicholas
Chamberlaine School’s sixth form because of the information which the
magazine contains such as “Mr Smallman’s Interview” or “80’s Dress Up”,
which is targeted at the students at this particular sixth form.
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
There are a variety of ways in which I have attracted the audience as one way
I have done this is by “SHED - Official Rules”, which is a common game that
students play while in the sixth form centre. I have chosen to attract the
audience by this because majority of the students within the sixth form play this
game, which means that students would want to read the magazine because
there is something which attracts them. Another section within the magazine
talks about Chess, which appeals to students who enjoy chess, so this is
another way how I have attracted the audience. Another way in how I have
attracted the audience, which is students within the sixth form, is by images of
the sixth form centre. I have done this because then the students would be able
to recognise the images, so that this would attract them into reading the
magazine.
6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process
of constructing this product?
Throughout the preliminary task, I have used a variety of software to create
and publish my work but for the construction, I had used Adobe Photoshop. I
have used this software before in other subjects but not in as much detail as I
had to for this task. While using Photoshop, previous skills which I had used
before came up when constructing my product. However, there are many new
skills which I had used in this software as one I had used (which I had not used
before) was Quick Selection Tool. This skill enabled me to edit photographs
which I had taken. An example of this is where I needed my main image to
cover the title, so I had to use the Quick Selection Tool to erase the other flags

3. to just have the yellow flag left. Once I had done this, I then had to use another
tool within the software called Rectangular Marquee Tool to then select the
entire image and then copy that onto the front page of the magazine to then
place the image over the mast head, making it look like a typical magazine.
Another tool which I had used in the construction of the preliminary task is
filters. For the images which I have used, I had used filters because some
images were too bright or I just thought that they would attract the eyes of
individuals if they used filters. One filter which I had used was a black and white
effect. Once I had done this, I then had to make my other images darker,
because the black and white effect made that image darker, so I had to do the
same. I had then used a lighting effect because this meant that the images
which I had used because this made the image darker so that the images would
look similar together. These are the main tools which I had never used before
on this software, so these are the things which I have learnt from using Adobe
Photoshop.