My AS media studies evaluation.

1. Media Studies Evaluation

2. How Does My Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products? My magazine predominantly uses conventions of real music magazines. For example the main picture on the front cover I used overlaps the logo and various other text. Magazines often do this as they feel the band or artist featured on the front cover is more important than their logo, as their audience is probably familiar with it anyway. The colour theme I used was based on those used in real media along with my audiences feedback. The theme consists of colours red and black being repeatedly used throughout the whole magazine switching between the two to keep an element of change. The information about what’s inside my magazine featured on the front cover is laid out in a way that is easy to read so you can easily see if you want to purchase the magazine. The main logo of my magazine is very typical and does not challenge any conventions of those in real media products. It is placed in the top left corner and styled in a way very common. I chose to base my magazine on conventions of real music magazines as I thought people would have a greater interest in the magazine, if they thought it was like their regular music magazine; full of great tips off on good bands/artists and containing all the usual like interviews and reviews.

3. How Does My Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups? By studying the social groups that were around me at the time, I discovered that the genres of music people were most interested in were indie and rock. For this reason I based my magazine on what I thought was appropriate to the title indie, so my magazine would therefore represent that particular social group. I used various techniques and chose appropriate conventions to construct my magazine in a way that would represent this social group. For example the names of all the bands I used are typical of those used in real indie music magazines such as NME. I also used photographs that I thought fitted in with the indie style by choosing clothing that reflects that worn by ‘indie kids’ and constructed text that would appeal to them. On my double page spread I constructed an interview between two members of a new indie band. This would particularly appeal to them because teenagers are constantly looking for new music and if they saw this text written in a way that relates to them. For example “he struts around the room and I sit down with a pad”. Hopefully they would consider buying the magazine more than they would if it was written in a more civilized way.

4. What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute My Product? Media institutions such as HMV or a good Newsagents, I feel would take on my magazine as I think they would have a good chance of making a profit. This is because my magazine displays common conventions of music magazines already on sale, so customers would feel they trusted my magazine for it’s similar to the ones they are use to. However, there are some aspects of my magazine that detract from conventions, such as using one big picture on the contents page rather than many smaller ones scattered around. Small differences like these, help the customer to make a decision on whether or not to reach into their pocket and make a purchase. Other institutions that make magazines available online, may also take on my magazine. They would find it easier to publish new products rather than ones already on the market in a physical format because customers would find it hard to make the switch. Hopefully institutions would see the potential of my magazine and consider selling it, as its typical conventions along with its small differences could well be worth investing in.

5. Who Would Be The Audience of My Media Product? After tallying up all 30 questionnaires I handed out, I found out that my audience were commonly people aged between 16 and 19 and I therefore decided to aim my magazine at teenagers between those ages. I did many things in my magazine that I hoped would attract people of that age. For example pictures, layout and use of perhaps informal language. As Mentioned before, I chose pictures that were appropriate to the genre of music; indie. This was not just to represent that social group, but to also attract people of a young age (teenagers) who are into that sort of music, to my product. The language I used among my pages I constructed, I chose as I thought it would appeal to people of this age. Using words like ‘the lads’ so as to grasp the attention of my audience.

6. How Did I Attract/Address My Audience? As said previously, I used language that I thought would interest my target audience. Notably on my double page spread there is a lot said there in the style of perhaps how my audience would talk. I constructed it this way specifically to attract my target audience and keep them interested. You might say I wrote some of the text informally, but this was done deliberately as the language used would sound formal to a member of my audience reading it. Furthermore, there were a number of other things I did in order to initially attract my audience, but more so to keep them interested. These include pullout quotes, fillers, images and constant change of text colour, size and font. All these I did to keep and element of change so as to attract my audiences attention again and again.

7. What Have I Learnt About Technologies in the Process of Constructing My Product? In the process of constructing my product I have learnt a lot about technologies such as Photoshop and Microsoft publisher. As I used each of the packages, I became more and more familiar with there interfaces and how to use the features. With Photoshop especially (as it’s the one I used most) as time went by, I found myself wondering how to do specific things like extract hair in a neat way. I eventually found out by reading tutorials on the internet, which I used again several other times in order to find out how to do various other things. I enjoyed using this package very much, and was quick to realise the potential I had when using the software. I will probably go on to use it in again to construct other media products.

8. Looking Back at My Preliminary Task, What Do I Feel I’ve Learnt in the Progression From It to the Full Product? Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel I have come along way. From barely being able to cut a person out to pages full of neatly cut out pictures and other material, I think I have progressed greatly. In the process of doing the preliminary task, my main initial focus was to learn how to use Photoshop quickly, so that when it came to doing the full product, I would know how to use the basic elements of Photoshop. After completing this task, I felt that I’d achieved this focus and was competent with using the software. However, when constructing the full product I extended my knowledge further by teaching myself how to do specific things like extract hair as previously mentioned. I have also learnt about the appearance of media products in that even small things, such as applying the rule of thirds can improve the overall look of the finished product.