EVALUATION TASK

First Four Evaluation

Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product has the intention of representing a professional yet edgy pop music magazine; with a target audience of people who regularly listen to music in the charts,
aged between fifteen and twenty- five years old. Therefore in order to appeal to this target market I have both followed some conventions typical of a pop music magazine that
have proven to be effective in encouraging the customer to buy the magazine (in existing media products). For example the masthead in a pop music magazine needs to
summarise and reflect the type of magazine intended on being produced. This also includes the colour and text font and style.

In this already existing professional music magazine cover produced by Q, the masthead for this magazine is a significant feature on the page because of the bold red
coloured that is placed where the large Q is presented. From this visual device I took inspiration to also use a bold colour in order to present my masthead. Not only does this
make it so that when the customer looks at the cover their attention is drawn the level of the masthead and the models face, it also creates an in-house colour scheme would
allow the pop magazine to become easily identifiable. An in-house colour scheme is very conventional of any music magazine therefore is important to convey in order to
appeal to the target audience.
The majority of models shown on the front covers and other pages from existing music magazine are females that are an inspiring, successful attractive to many young adult
females. This was a convention that I wanted to clearly portray in my own media product to support Paul Willis theory that pop stars are a symbolic vehicle with which young
women understand themselves more fully, shaping their own personalities to fit the pop stars. This ideology of inspiring young women to aspire to successful women appealed
to me to in portraying a representation of how media can positively impact a young females life. I felt as though this would be important to as there are often negative
connotations surrounded by the idea that women can be objectified. Therefore I wanted to oppose these opinions such as Laura Mulveys theory that the dominant point of view
is masculine, and therefore the female body is displayed for male graze in order to provide them with exotic pleasure, resulting in a complete objectification of the female body.
Using up shot and side on shots as well as effective body language and posture from the models I have made it clear that the intention of my images are to show a women in a
positive, sophisticated and powerful. For example this image shows a slight upshot to the model that would not make a customer for the magazine assume that it was directed
for a male audience only for atheistic appeal. Although it can be said that some magazines do portray the female body in a sexual way, I took inspiration from magazine covers
such as this Rolling Stone front cover of Adele:

Evaluation question 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine looks to reflect the image of the target audience in a positive way. The images, writing style and content all contribute to expose the representation this
magazine intends to express of the teenage demographic.
The way in which I have decided to portray the teenager population in my magazine is not typical of how they are thought of by society in general. Often, teenagers or
young adults in the media are presented to be very sexually promiscuous, unapproachable to other age groups and very disrespectful with the way they speak and act.
My magazines contradicts this stereotypical view of teenagers in the hope of reassuring the wider audience that not all people of this ag group are this way but more
importantly to make it so that the magazine is relatable to the intended reader audience (being teenagers), allowing them to be comforted by the fact that not all media
representations of this generation are negative.

This shows how my media products does not look to undermine the capabilities, aspirations and achievements of these young adults which reflects well on the entire
population of the teenage age category. As the text is written in a formal but still relatable manner, focusing on how the rising star has come so far in the music world
even though she had been told by many to give up. This powerful and strong persona is reiterated with the secondary image in the double page spread, where Amber
(the model) is photographed in a slight upshot. This sophisticated and classy representation of this social group is shown also through the way she is costumed wearing
clothes that are modest but still reflect the fun and edgy vibe of the media product. A theory that supports the intentions of my media product is a statement from the
extremely influential Janice Whinship who states that, the gaze between cover model and the female readers marks the complicity between women seeing themselves
in the image. Therefore my media products wants to create a positive inspiration to the social group it targets, in order to contribute to proving that not all people of a
certain age and social group conform to the common stereotypes.
Whereas the already existing media product conforms to the traditional stereotype of the social group my media product also includes; producing a negative
representation of the same social group. The cover shows a very well- known singer that is looked up to by many young people and as a result shows a negative
reflection of the social group of this demographic. The image and text portrays a very sexual and provocative message to the audience. The way in which the model is
photographed clearly evokes male attention which dominates the feminist ideology that women are not just photographed for male attention. A theory that supports
this point is a statement from Jib Fowles, whose view is in advertising, males gaze and females are gazed at. This statement completely summarises the image
pictured in the rolling stones front cover and supports the traditional view that people in the social group of relatively young female, from middle class backgrounds are
objects intended for male satisfaction.

Evaluation question 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Media products need to be promoted through marketing, production, distribution and regulation. Financial backing is extremely important in order to
distribute a magazine successfully and gain the most customers possible in doing so. Therefore the type of media institution in which any given creator
of a media product decides to allow access to their magazine needs to be assured that the media institution is relevant to their media product.
In relation to similar genre of music magazines (pop) as my own, Q and NME magazines both have media institutions that support and sponsor their
existing media products. Q magazine is distributed through the company Bauer Media and NME by IPC Media. These publishers are a reflection of
my own media product; proven by their supporting of other music magazines (Q and NME of the same genre.
Bauer Media is Europes largest privately owned publishing company. The media institution allows it possible to offer over three hundred magazines in
fifteen countries; through many types of media other than the conventional, such as TV, radio and radio stations. Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK
based publishing company consisting of many companies centered on the main two; Bauer media and Bauer radio. Therefore is an extremely well
established publishing company with expertise in many different areas of advertisement and distribution. The company is built on influential and wellknown media brands/ magazines, therefore has many connections in order to distribute magazines to the highest density population possible. The
magazine heritage of the publishing company dates back to 1953, therefore is reputable over many competing media institutions.
Time Inc.UK formally known as IPC Media has a three magazine divisions. Each of which focus on a specific core audience. One extension of the three
media divisions, Marketforce represents over 30% of the magazine market and is widely recognised as one of the main outstandingly well performed
institutions in its sector. It publishes magazines such as Marie Claire and The Beano that have been traditionally frequently brought magazines by the
mass market for decades. The company was founded in 1968 and originates in the UK, it specialises in the distribution of magazine therefore the
companys main focus is to promote magazines successfully. This is clear as they currently publish over 350 million copies of their represented
magazines, annually.
Considering the successes of both relevant media institutions, it has been concluded that Bauer Media would be the best option for publishing my media
product because I feel as though it has the most expertise in effectively bringing media products of the same genre, as my own, to market and
establishing these media products globally. Therefore by having this media institution supporting the distribution of the media product, the magazine
could have the potential to sell more copies than if I was to decide to be published by a competing company. These is because Bauer Media has a proven
record of publishing already existing extremely significant magazines in the music magazines market. Therefore with the connections and contacts from
these other magazines through this publishing company, I feel as though this could be taken as an advantage to further promote my media product.
Furthermore, Bauer Media publishes aspects of magazine online therefore provides a unique selling point in which audience can access the magazine
from other places apart from in store. This keeps them interested in the media product and keeps the music magazine functioning on a 21st century
level.

Evaluation question 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?

From my research and planning stages, I originally predicted that the target audience most appropriate for my music magazine was the female demographic.
However the age and social status of the targeted audience was not specified. After completing the media product, I feel as though the music magazine
would still appeal to the female audience but more explicitly; the target market of the middle classed female between the approximate ages of fifteen years
to twenty five years.
The audience for my final media product are similar in the way that they all have a similar interest in pop genre music. In producing this music magazine, this
was in mind, to reflect the identity of the audience in the media product in order for the audience to find interest and relate to the media product. The idea
that a collective identity one particular demographic, who all share the same interest, can support the theory of Michel Maffesoli, who developed the idea of
urban tribe. The main argument of this theory consists of the view that members of small groups tend to have similar worldwide views, dress styles,
common behaviours and interests. Therefore by creating a music magazine that follows one genre would appeal to one particular urban tribe. As a result of
this, allowing the certain group/urban tribe to decide as consumers whether the media product interests them enough, to purchase it.
The theory of Uses and Gratifications further develops this idea that the consumer chooses the media they receive and take in as an active choice through
the life decisions they have made forming their personal identity. Therefore how an individual chooses to react to media is relevant to the potential interest
they may have in the specific music magazine Ive made. This has even more significance to my media product as the purpose of my music magazine is to
entertain the audience. This is shown through the written style, aspirational figures and images within the magazine. The consumer actively goes out to
purchase a magazine that interests them therefore by appealing to what the market demands is important through presentational and visual devices.
In the media product Ive created also relates to the theory of Uses and Gratifications in the way that using figures in which the consumer finds aspirational
encourages them to prefer the media product as a whole compared to other existing (same gender) media products. For example if there is a famous figure in
which the consumer feels they have a connection to therefore allow them to be influenced by them and promotes the magazine further.
The media product created therefore is specific to the audience through using an aspirational figure as a model in which is the focal point in the magazine;
this is a convention commonly used in music magazines. (See images). My magazine is relatable to the female, young adult, middle classed through the
written style. Writing the article for the double page spread in a sophisticated way, using lexis that would be understood yet still informal was important in
making sure the media product fitted the identity and demands of the targeted audience.