Evaluation of media

Product
By Matthew Pickhaver
 In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products
My media Product has many forms and conventions that are similar to real media products.
The location of my title is in the top right hand corner of the front page, which is where
many other magazine have there's ( like Q, Vibe and NME ). This keeps it familiar to
readers making it simpler. My magazine also has a theme which is my little man holding a
spray can. Many magazines have this but I’ve developed my theme to it having it
associated with other things on the page. I have made it look as if the man is spraying on
the page number and therefore getting other things on the page involved. Throughout my
magazine I use the colours black and green whenever possible, such as texts or
backgrounds, which many magazines don’t tend to use. They normally use just black text
and occasionally a white background. The font I have also used it different to other media
products as it has a more teenage fell to it, who are my target audience. Many hip-hop
media products have just a main picture on there front page and descriptions of the other
stories in the magazine on the sides. I have got a similar design except I also have a picture
to go along with one of the other cover lines on the right-hand side.
How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
 The genre of my magazine is Hip-hop/R&B so I had to try and get my magazine to
focus on the target audience of this genre. The audience I targeted was between 13
to 25 so I had to use conventions that have be suitable for them. The main thing I did
was to have bright colours so that it have catch their eye and get them interested. I
also on my front page have a competition for the reader to win free concert tickets
inside. The models I’ve got within the age group of my target audience which
immediately gets the reader connected towards them. They are wearing jeans,
trainers and hoodies which is likely the reader of my magazine will own, making the
magazine more suitable for them and getting them liking it more.
What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?
 A good media institution to distribute my music magazine would be Shellshock.
Shellshock distribute many genres of music magazines, including my genre Hip-
hop/R&B, making it a well know and well trusted media institution. The Hip-hop/R&B
magazines that they distribute tend to be aimed at a slightly higher age group so
they could want to take on mine in order to attract more of an audience.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
 The target audience for my music magazine have be teenagers and young adults,
mainly between the ages of 13 and 25. My first reason for this is the fact there is a
larger population within our country of these ages, making it aimed at a wider
audience. This have result in more people buying my magazine than if I was to have
and older target audience. My other reason for choosing this audience is the fact that
people at these ages are the main people that buy magazines. Therefore if I was to
get maximum sales I have to make a magazine that have be suitable for people that
are between 13 and 25. This audience are the main people who buy music also so
they are the people that have the highest interest in music magazines. Hip-hop/R&B
is a genre that is also found most popular by people of these ages so I have made
my magazine so that it would catch this audience with the colour schemes and the
fonts in my magazine. My magazine is aimed mostly at males so that is why I
decided to go with the colour scheme that I did and also the stories I have chosen
would be of more interest to males than females.
How did you attract/address your audience?
 The first thing I did to try and attract my audience was to have colours that have
make it stand out from others. I chose green as it is a bright colour but also makes
the magazine have its Hip-hop feel to it mixed with the black. The next thing I did
was have a story in which the audience have be interested in. My main story I’ve
decided to go with the Hip-hop star bringing in a new young star. The fact that there
is a young star involved, who it within my target audience range, gets them more
interested as they have like to read a story about someone who is of a similar age to
them. The next story I had was a rivalry between two artists. This is a big story that
readers have like find out more about it. I also had my fonts have a connection to the
genre of the magazine with them having a street feel to them. This have gain the
interest my target audience as it have stand out from others as there are not any
other magazines that have the same. It have also have the reader know what genre
the magazine is straight away, without them having the need to go looking for it and
possibly finding another magazine. My main image on the front page is in black and
white, making it different from other magazines. Most magazines tend to be in colour
so with mine being in black and white it have make it stand out more than others.
What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing your product?
 I have learnt to use many new technologies while constructing my media product,
such as Scribd and Photoshop. I have also learn more about my blog as well and
finding out more things I can do with it. Before the start of my project I was unaware
that you was able to add polls to your blog that people would be able to vote on.
Scribd I had never heard of before the star of this and throughout to course of
constructing my media product I have learnt what it is and how to use it to put
documents onto my blog. It has made it much easier for me to download my work
straight to my blog, allowing me to spend more time on constructing my product.
Before I started my project I was aware of Photoshop and had used it before, but my
knowledge was very limited. As I went along however, I was able to learn new skills
such as the use of effects on imagery and text and also having layers and ten being
able to merge them together. Blogspot I have already knew how to use but I learnt
that I am now able to upload documents onto my blog via embedding the cod.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you
feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the
full product?
 From looking back at my preliminary task I can see that I have learnt a lot in the progress
into making my final product. The first thing I can see that I have learnt is what I have
learnt from the research about magazines in the way they are set out. I have seen that you
have to set out you magazine in the ways to attract your audience in order to catch their
eye. Colour schemes and fonts are an important factor to attracting your audience, and
you cant just keep it simple so that they are familiar with it. You need to make your
different to others and make it suit them as much as you can, by making it as unique as
you can. This shows that you need to put in the time and effort to plan your magazine. I
spent much more time planning my full product than I did in my preliminary task and the
difference in the end has shown how important this is. When constructing my front page
and contents page for my full product I learnt to make use different layers for everything
and then when I was happy with certain things I would merge the layers together. An
example of when I did this was with my pug, I placed the shape where I wanted it to be
first and then wrote the text after and then when I was happy with them I merged both of
the layers together. This makes it much easier to move them later on if I am unhappy with
where they are. Another thing I have learnt is using effects on images to make them how
you want. I used an effect on my contents page with the one of the images to make it look
more like a painting made by a spray can, going along with the genre of my magazine.