Coursework Evaluation

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

Front cover: Throughout producing my three pages I have used similar techniques to
Real music magazine covers
real music magazines. For my front cover I decided to have a close up of a classy
looking model, which is a convention used my many music magazines. Looking at the
images on the right of the two music magazines, they are both close ups of the music
artists looking directly into the camera, matching my image. With the artist/model
looking directly in your eye it catches the readers attention, making you feel more
connected with the model and magazine. For this reason, I decided to use the same
idea rather than challenge the convention as I wanted my target audience to feel
connected with the artist on the front cover. I also wanted to use a model with a
unique look standing out from other models. With my genre being pop, I wanted my
artist to be quite classy looking with big eyes , looking similar to an artist like Cheryl
Cole or Beyoncé. I have also positioned my objects in a similar way to a conventional
music magazine. On nearly all music magazines the title of the magazine is
positioned at the top on the page, standing out to catch the target audiences
attention. All of the cover lines are usually positioned in the left third of the page, as
this is the part of the magazine that will be on show whens the magazines are on a
shelf. For this reason, I decided to place all of my cover lines in the left third as this is
the part that is going to get noticed first. My main cover line is also similar to other
music magazines, positioned in the centre of the page in large text. I wanted my main
cover line to stand out from everything else grabbing attention to the magazine. My
My music magazine cover
main cover line is related to my main image, which is also a similar convention used
on real music covers. I have also included a barcode, selling line, pug, date, price and
website which are also used on most music magazines. I decided to use the similar
objects as I feel they are all very important objects to include in order for your
magazine to be successful. Although I wanted my magazine to be similar to real life
music magazines, I also wanted mine to stand out so I decided to carefully choose my
colour scheme. Looking at a few music magazines such as NME and Q, I noticed red
was a popular colour to use as it stood out. I decided I wanted to use purple and a
light pink as these were colours I have never seen before on a music magazine. The
purple is a bold colour which stands out like other colours used on music magazines.
On my front page I decided to use similar conventions of a real music magazine cover
rather than challenge it, as I felt all the music magazines I had been researching had
been successful and I wanted my magazine to follow the same path.
Contents page: When producing my contents page I also used similar conventions. When Q contents page and front cover
I was looking into the different layouts used for contents pages, I found out a number of
things. I noticed all contents pages include the name of the magazine, linking together the
two pages. I decided to do this for my magazine, with placing ‘mayhem’ at the top left
hand corner, showing this page relates back to the main cover. All of the contents pages
also had there pages put into categories. I used similar categories such as ‘news,
features’, competitions and every month’. I used this technique as I felt it made the page
look more organised and the reader is able to find what they are looking for a lot quicker.
The music magazines all include images, making the page look more exciting. I decided I
wanted to have a range on images rather that just one, as I wanted to make the page
seem exciting rather than just having lots of text. I wanted my images to relate to the
story's, so the audience could spot the pictures and be excited to read about them. I also
included the page numbers on the images so the audience are able to skip straight to the
My contents page and front cover
pages. With looking at other real media products such as fashion magazines, I noticed
some magazines had a small box on there contents page where the editor of the
magazine has wrote a short paragraph. I really liked this idea as I felt it made the reader
feel more connected with the magazine. I have also used the same colour scheme
throughout my front page and content's page, which is also a similar convention to real
music magazines. I decided to do the same as I think it connects the pages together
more.
Double page spread: On my double page spread I have also used
similar conventions. When looking at existing double page spreads, it
gave me a few ideas of the layouts I wanted to use. The image on the
right is an example of how I wanted my double page spread to look
like. I decided to use a large image on the left page, which would
straight away draw in the readers attention, and make the two pages
more exciting. I decided to put the title of the page in large font, similar
to existing stories, showing the audience what the pages are about. Q double page spread My double page spread
Some pages also included more than one image, which breaks up all
of the text. I decided to place a few small images on the right page,
making the reader feel they are finding out more from reading the
story. I have also used a similar convention with placing the page
numbers at the bottom corner on the page. I didn’t want to challenge
this convention as I feel this is the most common place for page
numbers and this is where people would look first to find a page. I
have also kept the colour scheme the same which is also a similar
convention. I felt it was essential my colour scheme flowed through all
three pages an I wanted them to link together, and for the audience to
easy recognise where the pages have come from.
 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
When producing my three media products, although I wanted my product to mainly appeal to a specific target
audience, I didn’t want the products to discriminate different social groups from reading the magazine. For my
products I chose pop to be my genre. When choosing this genre I took into consideration it is a fun, up beat genre,
liked by various types of people. The main age group of this genre is 14+, so I decided to use a young model which I
would make out to be a famous well known artist. With having a young artist it attracts mainly young customers,
although older people may like her type of music an therefore will also like the front cover. I wanted my model to be a
classy artist, which the younger age groups can look up to. I feel the image on the front cover represents a classy
social group, but with it being a music magazine it does not stop not so well of people buying the magazine as they
may feel it is an inspiration to look at these higher class artists. Pop music is usually represented as fun and
glamorous, which is why I chose the image I have. The model is dressed in a fur coat, which can be seen as very
fashionable attracting the females. Although the magazines colours and images may be a bit girly, it does not exclude
males from purchasing the magazine. Males may be very attracted to the woman on front, or really like her music, and
therefore will still go ahead with purchasing the magazine. With many magazine covers, the main image is of a model
which has clearly been edited. Although I wanted my model to look nice, I did not want to make too many changes as I
wanted her to look natural. I did not want my image make the person look fake, as I want the audience to feel they are
as beautiful as the models. For this reason I decided to edit my photo slightly to make it look professional, although did
not go over the top to the limit where my model looked a different person. All of the photographs I have taken are of
white models, purely due to the fact these were the models who I knew were going to take good pictures and make
my magazine look professional. I would not discriminate any other races from being on my magazine, and would
happily feature people of a different race on my magazine.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

To find the right publisher for my

magazine I researched into different
publishing companies. Out of all the
companies I feel ‘Bauer Media’ would be
the one most suitable for my magazine.

Bauer Media owns more than eighty

influential media brands spanning a wide
range of interests, including heat,
GRAZIA, Closer, MCN, FHM, Parkers,
MATCH, Magic 105.4, Kiss 100, Kerrang
and Q. Kerrang and Q are music
magazines, although of a different genre.
This doe not matter as this companies
produces lots of different types of
magazines and therefore would not
hesitate to take on another genre of music
as they would want there name to be
spreaded over a wider range of
magazines. With Bauer Media owning
kiss 100, I feel it would be perfect for
them to publish my magazine as they
would be able to promote the magazine
on this radio station as it plays a lot of pop
music.
 4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

When beginning the production of my media products I produced a target audience

profile where I talked about the type of person who would probably purchase this
magazine. My main target audience would be teenagers over the age of 14, probably up
to 20 year olds. Although this is the main age group, it does not discriminate other ages
from purchasing this magazine, it can be brought by people of any ages. My target
audience profile is of a young girl, although it does not mean that males cannot read the
magazine, it is suitable for both male and female.
 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Throughout the production of my three media products, I have carefully looked into different ways of attracting and
addressing my audience correctly. The images I used were the main things I could use that would attract my target
audience. For my images I used a young model which I represented as a well known star which would straight away
attract readers. If people see a magazine cover with a well known artist on the front they are more likely to pick up the
magazine. The young model allows the young target audience to relate to the model and be inspired by her. When
taking my images I used fashionable clothing and make up, which would also attract the younger target audience.
On all three pages, I have tried to maintain a clear layout making it easier for the customer to read everything and find
what they are looking for. The clear layout also emphasises a classier feel to the magazine. The colour scheme also
had a large impact on attracting my target audience. I wanted my colour scheme to be different from other magazines,
and be kind of girly. I decided to use purple as the main colour, as it is a girly colour, although some males may like it.
The purple stands out from all other objects on the page, and will stand out from other magazines as no other music
magazine have a purple masthead. I also used pale pink in my colour scheme, mainly for my backgrounds of things. I
used this colour as I did not want to use white as it is such a common colour used, so I decided to go for a pale colour
which made the pages more exciting rather than just having white. Looking at the font of my magazine, I also used
this to attract my target audience. For the title of my magazine I decided to download a font called ‘adorable’ from
www.dafont.co.uk. This allowed me to choose a font that was going to stand out. For all my other fonts I used
‘Engravers Mt’ which i thought worked really well with ‘adorable’ font and was also very clear for the customer to read.

In order to address my audience in the correct way, I chose my story and language of my story very carefully. For my
main story I decided to produce an interview with a famous artist, where she would be asked revealing questions and
the readers would find out exciting information. As my target audience is similar to me, I decided to write the questions
and answers in a formal language, which I easily understood. The questions I asked were exciting and required a long
answer rather than just yes or no, which made the whole interview a lot more exciting to read. Throughout the
answers of the questions I put myself in a singers position, and answered them in a way that sounded like I was
opening up to my fans, which would attract my audience. Overall I feel the style of my magazines and the language I
used expressed a young but classy target audience. Every bit of text I used I made sure it was clear and would be
understood by people aged 14 and over.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
product?

In the whole production of these three products I have used a wide range of different
technologies, which have taught me new skills I can use in the future.

Firstly I have learnt more about cameras, and the different ways of using them. To take
some of my pictures I used a SLR cannon camera, which I have never used before.
Using this camera allowed me to take high quality images and play around with the
different zooms and angles of images. Using the camera gives me a better knowledge of
the quality of pictures need to produce a high quality cover. Using the camera has given
me new skills and basic knowledge on how to use the camera in the future.

To produce the three products I have been using ‘Photoshop Elements’ on the mac
computers. I have used Photoshop in the past, but this project has allowed me to look
more into the different types of things it is able to do. Photoshop allowed to me produce
the products in the way I wanted to, and edit the pictures I took to look professional. It has
allowed me to make my models skin look clearer, making it seem more professional.
Photoshop has shown me how real magazine companies can edit pictures to make them
look like completely different people. Using Photoshop for this project has given me more
experience with the programme, and has shown me new things. Photo shop teaches me
new skills every time I use it, which will benefit me in the future. The mac computers I
have also found extremely useful in the production of my products. The large screen
allows you to get a better view of what you are producing, making it a lot easier to focus
on detail.
While producing my product I used the internet. The internet helped me look at existing
products, giving me background knowledge. I used lots of different websites such as
http://www.caci.co.uk/acorn-classification.aspx, http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/, and many
more. I also used a website called www.dafont.co.uk where I was able to download a
exciting font rather than just using the fonts that come with the computer.
 I have used Microsoft word and PowerPoint throughout the
project, which allowed me to produce high quality
documents. The two programmes helped me to analyse the
existing products and put all my research and work into one
place.

After producing each piece of work, rather than printing all

the pages out I have been able to store them on a safe place
which can be viewed by my teachers and friends, called
blogger (www.blogger.com). This website has allowed me to
store all of my work and arrange it in a neat way. Before this
project I didn’t know this website existed, but I have found it
extremely useful in managing all my work and will defiantly
use it in the future. With the work that I did on PowerPoint
and Microsoft word I used scribd (www.scribd.co.uk) which
allows you to upload the documents onto, and then gives you
an embed code which you can copy into blogger. Once
copied you can go on to blogger and your work is there. This
has been very useful, and has shown me a way of uploading
documents on to the internet.

Overall everything I have used in this project has given me

new skills and knowledge which will help me in the future. In
some cases I have gone over things I have already learnt,
and it has allowed me to develop my existing skills.
 7.Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?

Looking at my preliminary task and this task I feel I have improved in many areas. In my preliminary task I did very little
research, as I only looked at a few layouts of magazines, and then only produced a couple of draft designs. In this task I spent
a couple of weeks looking closely at different types of magazines and focused on the layouts and detail of each page. I
analysed each page very carefully, which gave me a better understanding of how magazines need to be laid out. Once I had
researched the three different products I began my designs, which were very basic and quickly analysed. In my preliminary task
I did not put that much effort into my front page and contents page, and took very basic pictures.

The few pictures I took were not planned, I just took them around school of any model I could find. With my final product I spent
a lot of time thinking of the right pictures to take, and how I was going to do it. With my real product I thoroughly planned my
photo shoot, thinking of every aspect such as the clothes she was wearing and the location. With this task I used a cannon
camera, which allowed me to take high quality photos. In the preliminary task I just used the camera on my phone, which gave
me blurry pictures. When looking at the pictures I had taken, I thought they were fairly good pictures, but now looking at the
pictures I have taken for this project I have seen a great achievement in improving my skills of taking high quality pictures.
Before this project I didn’t realise how important the quality of a picture is, but know I know a high quality picture makes a huge
difference.
 Although the images are a main part, this project made me realise every object plays an important part. In my
preliminary task, I just used a basic text that come with the programme, whereas in this project I researched
different fonts making sure I chose the perfect one that would be suitable for my product. Doing this taught me
different ways of finding new fonts, which will benefit me in the future.

In this project every aspect was carefully planned, such as the colour scheme, stories and magazine name. In
order to produce a high quality product I thought it was vital to carefully plan the main story, whereas in my
preliminary task I made the story up on the spot without any thought going in to it. The colours I used were also
chosen very carefully, taking into account of other magazine colours. The title of my school magazine was the
first name that come to my head, whereas for my music magazine I thought of lots of ideas, choosing carefully
the right one to ensure it would appeal to my target audience and fit in with my genre of music. For all those three
things on my music magazine, I also produced questionnaires to gain more feedback and help me make the
correct decision. Looking at the planning of the two tasks, I feel I have improved massively, as I have realised
how important it is to plan a product before you make it.

Not only have I progressed in the planning of the products, I also have learnt new skills in the construction of the
three products. In my preliminary task I spent little time on Photoshop, and only spent little time editing the
picture. In this project I learnt new skills on how to use the different tools on Photoshop, and how to do them
properly. I spent lots of time carefully editing the main image making sure she had clear skin and her hair and
make up was perfect. Looking at the main image on my school magazine I have done little editing and only
changed the colouring slightly. This project has allowed to me gain more experience with Photoshop, and has
also taught me new skills on it which I can use in the future.

Overall I feel I have improved in my planning, research and also the construction of a real media product. The
research has given me background knowledge of the magazine industry, and has taught me how to analyse a
product carefully. Putting more time and effort into planning has also made me more aware how important it is to
spend time planning a product, as it helps you to achieve the best possible product. Looking at the construction
side of it, I feel I have improved in the actual taking of pictures, as well as the editing. I have learnt new skills on
my mac computer and Photoshop, and also learnt about useful websites such as www.dafont.co.uk.,
www.blogger.co.uk and www.scribd.co.uk.
 My final products

Front cover Contents page Double page spread