Draft - evaluation

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

My magazine develops some forms and conventions of real media products such as:

·         A masthead- clearly presents the name of the magazine usually on the left hand side, my magazine uses the abbreviation ‘UFM’ that stands for ‘Upcoming Future Music’ that is inspired by NME New Music Express. The masthead is bold and has its own unique style that is recognised by the readers.

·         Specific colour scheme- looking at Mojo and NME both mags use three colours throughout the mag that represent the housestyle. Inspired by both NME (black, white and red) and Mojo (black, white and grey) my housetyle uses the colours black, grey and red.

·         Main Image-a medium close up image taking up the front cover to attract the readers eye and shows who is the main star of the magazine, they also feature in dps

·         Coverlines-inform the reader with what the issue has inside.

·         Barcode, issue date, price and page numbers-typical magazine details that are for store use and readers use

·         Regulars and features-the most important page as it enables the reader to know what else will be in the magazine as well as some detail on the cover lines and on the cover story. Includes images to make it easy to link to the details.

2. How does your media product present particular social groups?

My social group is defined by gender and age. My choice is to appeal to both male and female audiences of ages 16-26. To make my product match this target market I have done the following:

• The artist in my magazine are young and upcoming which is represented through the images hence the title 'Upcoming Future Music' which tends to come from younger artist creating something new. Also, young adults tend to stay on top of all things modern.
• My model are wearing clothing that represents their music as well as being trendy so that readers can get inspired to recreate outfits which is what younger audiences like to do (follow trends.) The outfits my stars are wearing links to their genre of music for example my cover star is an R&B singer therefore her outfits are quite classy, the fur jacket is quite typical with R&B artists.
• My colour scheme is not stereotypical for one gender therefore it should attract a balanced audience.
• My journalism in my DPS uses a storyline from the artist who is of the range group, she is being interviewed on a past experience that some other young adults may be able to relate to. The artists also gives advice to the readers and is open to help those. The story is setting examples and presenting my artist as a strong role model.
• My interview is in Q&A form that suits my target audience as they will not get bored and find it difficult to read as it does not drag and is straight to the point.
• The language I have used is of some standard form and not rude however it has a simple and conversational tone.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

• IPC Media – Publishes NME, publishes many women magazines, two thirds of 26 million readers are UK women and 40 percent are UK men, they work with; prints, online,tablets and events
• EMAP Bauer – Publishes MOJO, Q and Kerrang who are all more rock magazines
• I decided to challenge IPC Media by publishing my UFM magazine as they could get more male audiences and be more challenged by making an online ezine of my magazine for readers. IPC would know how to work with my magazine as they already work with NME that are very popular and known for creating events.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

• Balanced male and female audience
• Ages 16-26
• Interested in upcoming music hits in R&B, soul, indie, rap, hip hop
• No specific social class or
• Audience mostly based in urban areas such as London, Birmingham and Manchester
• Audience is not based on what they like to do, it’s very open to young adults
•  
• (Include pictures of my target audience)

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

First given feedback from proposal (verbal presentation):

Q: You didn't mention the layout for contents page, what would it be like/will it be inspired by MOJO?
A: I am looking at NME and MOJO for inspiration but I am mostly focusing on keeping it simple.

Q: Have you thought about your cover star?
A: Still unsure, may use one of two upcoming artist or make one up by using a student who sings.

Q: For your DPS what kind of information will you use?
A: I would like to do an interview with the cover star using a Q&A form.

Q: Do you think making the mag weekly is too much?
A: I am debating on weekly or monthly but new music is released every day and my mag has to stay on top of it.

Q: Would you make a facebook/twitter site?
A: Yes, there will be available social networks to get involved with our company as there will be a quiz in each issue.

Q: You have quite a lot of good ideas there, you mentioned fashion which you did link to music, but do you see that being equally for male and female?
A: Yes because we will include both male and female artists and look at their fashion/style to inspire both genders.

Feedback on my final product (from blog):

1) The only issue that I would say with your magazine is that the Q&A isn't aligned, so it doesn't match the conventions of a typical Q&A in a magazine. Otherwise, the magazine overall is good, as there is a good use of images to match the genre of your magazine, which is upcoming music artists and the house style is consistent throughout!

2) The colour scheme works well together and the images used are really strong, especially the ones on the dps. One improvement could be to change the font of the ' Leah Rosemary' and make it a bit bolder.

3) The house style of your magazine is great as it is consistent and it matches your chosen genre of music. The images used are very strong because you made your model wear different outfits. The journalism is very easy to read because of the black white background. However, I think that the pull quote on the dps could have been on the second page where the image is.

4) I really like the strong colour scheme on UFM and the photography for the magazine is of really good quality (professional). However for the contents page I think that for the background on where the text it could of been light grey or white. Overall the magazine is very professional

• Linking to question 2 on language and models.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

• Photoshop – learnt how to create layers, use guidelines, make cover lines, align things professionally, adjust brightness and saturation on my image, pick up colour tool from image to use on my cover lines, use smart vector when inserting my masthead from illustrator
• InDesign – apply images and align them, create columns and align those, able to use the same colours from cover on the contents by using the picker tool to create a box that I then cropped out and were able to copy and paste into my contents where I could pick up the colour from for my text.
• Prezi – how to create a presentation with images by simply inserting, create boxes and shapes for my writing by inserting as well,
• Timetoast – how to create a timeline of deadlines and assignments
• Illustrator- learnt how to make a basic text look more interesting, applied a black outline to make my masthead stand out
• Photography Studio – working with both white and black back drop, how to set up the DSLR camera to create a good shot using shutter speed and aperture to create a good exposure, how to set up the soft boxes adjusting the brightness of light, organising the model
• Blogger – create posts, embed videos and prezi slide shows, post images

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final product?

• In my preliminary task I had a strength in photography however my front cover image had a very busy background that had some difficulties with cover lines placement, this was an improvement in final product as I got to use the studio where I could use a blank back drop that made placing things a lot easier.
• Used feedback from preliminary task to help make decisions on my final product:

Person 1; (Front cover) the shot of the image on the front cover is very clear and fits into the educational theme of the magazine. I also like the masthead as it is large and clear and has been written in a suitable font for the target audience. The cover lines, bar code, QR code are all conventional and have been included on the front cover. The issue number and dates are conventional features and have been included. To improve you can add more cover lines and can match the colour scheme of the masthead with the cover lines.
(Contents page) I like the use of your columns, it gives it a structured look and is conventional to a contents page. You have kept the house style as the colours you had on your front cover match the colours on the contents page. I like how you have separated the different sections of the contents and the use of conventional images. To improve you can fill up the contents page more e.g. with editors letter, making the images larger etc.
Person 2; I think the consistency of the house style is very good which makes a good impression on the audience, it also shows good consistency in the contents page throughout. The cover lines are short and snappy and very suitable for a college magazine - the font also makes it standout and remains clear up throughout the cover page and contents. I like the layout of the contents as it looks well organised. Everything seems to be included. For improvements, fill up certain empty spaces.