Evaluation Questions
1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I used most typical codes and conventions of a music magazine. When creating my magazine I tried to create it to look similar to the codes and conventions used in the Top of the Pops magazine, this was because both my magazine and Top of the Pops' magazine were trying to appeal and attract a female target audience.
For my front cover I used a typical layout for a music magazine. I included a skyline which was longer than Top of the Pop's skyline and their skyline was about the free things the magazine offered its readers. My music magazine's skyline was about different bands and artists who were touring.
My magazine is called 'sugar' and this is what my logo was. My logo was originally going to be in the centre but when I came to actually produce my magazine I moved the logo to the left of the magazine, this was where Top of the Pops' logo was too.
At the bottom of my magazine I used a plug. Mine doesn't include images where Top of the Pops' did, this is an example of where I have broken the codes and conventions because Kerrang also included pictures in their plug. My plug follows the codes and conventions as it tells the reader what other stories are included.
I have broken the codes and convention of a magazine because I have included other headlines in boxes or circles where Top of the Pops and Vibe didn't have theirs boxed.
My front cover picture shows a picture who the main story is about and it has that headline unboxed, this was to follow the codes and convention because Kerrang and Top of the Pops' stories where unboxed. Their stories were written on the band/artist and so was mine, originally I did have it to the left, but I moved it to be on top of the drummer. For this story I have included the page numbers in a little box, this was breaking the codes and conventions of a music magazine as none of the magazines I analysed had done this. However, in the Top of the Pops' contents page they included images and numbers which is where I got my idea from.
For my main image (on the front cover) I originally used the female artist who the double page spread was about and I originally had her looking down and the floor and had cut around her to use a coloured background. I had her looking down to show her naivety and her innocence, which linked to the story of her never being on stage before. I then realised that this picture broke the codes and conventions of a front cover of a music magazine because nearly always the artist has a direct mode of address, this is to attract and engage an audience. So, to keep with the codes and conventions and to get the feel of a music magazine I took photos of a male artist who had a direct mode of address. I had tried a version with the brick wall the photo was taken on and tried it when it had been edited and cut around and used with a coloured background. I chose the background that has the brick wall as the background because, although I was trying to use the same codes and conventions of Top of the Pops' magazine and I had before cut around the images I used, like the editor has done to Britney on Top of the Pops' front cover. Kerrang is the only magazine front cover that I had analysed that uses the background, though the band are taken from close up, and the main singer is the only mid shot, the others are more in the background, so the background isn't as visible as mine.
Looking back on the layout plan I was going to follow I haven't gone completely with my first ideas.
For my front cover I thought I was going to put the skyline alone the top of the magazine, and this is what I actually did. I was going to have the skyline telling the reader who was featuring in my magazine but when I came to my final artifact, it was on different bands and artists who were touring.
My masthead, from my planning, shows it was going to go straight under the skyline and right across the page. However, in my final artifact it was to the left hand side. At first I had put it in the centre at the top, under the skyline, but when I came to finalise my magazine and make any further changes I decided to move it to the left. This was because when creating my magazine I tried to make it close to the Top of the Pops' magazine and their masthead was in the left corner of the page.
My colour scheme for my magazine was a little different than I had originally planned. I chose the layout and colour schemes before I had experimented with different mastheads, so in my plan it said I would use a pink masthead but I had actually used a three colour masthead. Also it said the background was going to be a pale purple which it is, but I've also included a slight border line going around the edge which is a darker purple. Although I have slightly changed the colour scheme, it still is intended on attracting a female audience.
My layout doesn't show how big I had planned on doing the main photo, this was because the space for my magazine is bigger than the space I had used for my planning. This meant I showed the image being smaller than intended because I made room for the subheadings. As you can see from my final artifact my artist takes up most of the space and is directly in the centre of my magazine, this is to show importance.
My subheadings were shown to be in on specific things, however in my final artifacts I didn't use these subheadings. I did have a subheading on another artist; I included one on Kelly Rowland's new single: Forever. I didn't include a gig line up because if the reader wanted to know the full gig line up they could go on the gig's website, which is included on my double page spread.
I did include a plug at the bottom of my page, however I included most things that my layout suggests. I didn't included reviews or freebies, but I did include stories and gig information.
My layout suggests that my barcode will be in the plug section and this is where I had put it on my final artifact. Both Kerrang and Top of the Pops included their barcode in the plug, this is because studies suggest that people look at front covers in a 'Z', which means they look from left to right, diagonally down and then left to right. This means that producers of magazines put the most important thing at the top, e.g their masthead and the least important thing in the bottom right hand corner, e.g barcode. I included my barcode, issue number and date and the bottom right hand corner.
For my contents page: it suggests that the wording 'Contents Page' will be in the top right hand corner of the page and it'll be written in pink and in a purple box. The page title is written where suggested but it is written in purple and isn't in a box, this is because I have used a coloured background. My writing is also in italics, and this is to give a handwritten feel and to feel personal. Also, Top of the Pops used a similar type of font where they have titled their page 'Inside the mag...' because I was trying to use the same style as Top of the Pops' magazine I had included this type of font. I included a pink line under the contents page, this was done instead of putting it in a box like Top of the Pops and Kerrang's magazine.
My layout for my contents page is nearly completely different from the layout I had originally came up with, my original layout was similar to both Kerrang and Top of the Pops' contents pages. However, my contents page has used ideas from all contents pages that I analysed. It hasn't got as many pictures as Kerrang and Top of the Pops but it has more than one main image like Vibe. I didn't want to use pictures and then have a number on top of it like Top of the Pops has done, and I didn't want it to be too over crowed with photos like Kerrang. I also wanted more to be happening than in Vibe's contents page. I included a main image, the female artist, on my contents page and this was similar to Vibe having just Usher. However, I thought one picture is quite plain and so I include images of Dappy and Will Young too.
For my double page spread I was going to do half the page on the artist and half the page on gig information, this was so it broke the codes and conventions of a typical magazine as normally a main story takes up both pages. However, when I came to creating my final artifact, I did the story on both sides and used the left hand corner for gig information. This then followed the codes and conventions of a music magazine.
On my double page spread I used enlarged text of quotes, Vibe and Kerrang included large quotes in their articles, with Top of the Pops' they used a quote from each of The Wanted members. Each quote linked to the article and with my quotes it also links with the story, this has followed the codes and conventions of a double page spread story.
I used most typical codes and conventions of a music magazine. When creating my magazine I tried to create it to look similar to the codes and conventions used in the Top of the Pops magazine, this was because both my magazine and Top of the Pops' magazine were trying to appeal and attract a female target audience.
For my front cover I used a typical layout for a music magazine. I included a skyline which was longer than Top of the Pop's skyline and their skyline was about the free things the magazine offered its readers. My music magazine's skyline was about different bands and artists who were touring.
My magazine is called 'sugar' and this is what my logo was. My logo was originally going to be in the centre but when I came to actually produce my magazine I moved the logo to the left of the magazine, this was where Top of the Pops' logo was too.
At the bottom of my magazine I used a plug. Mine doesn't include images where Top of the Pops' did, this is an example of where I have broken the codes and conventions because Kerrang also included pictures in their plug. My plug follows the codes and conventions as it tells the reader what other stories are included.
I have broken the codes and convention of a magazine because I have included other headlines in boxes or circles where Top of the Pops and Vibe didn't have theirs boxed.
My front cover picture shows a picture who the main story is about and it has that headline unboxed, this was to follow the codes and convention because Kerrang and Top of the Pops' stories where unboxed. Their stories were written on the band/artist and so was mine, originally I did have it to the left, but I moved it to be on top of the drummer. For this story I have included the page numbers in a little box, this was breaking the codes and conventions of a music magazine as none of the magazines I analysed had done this. However, in the Top of the Pops' contents page they included images and numbers which is where I got my idea from.
For my main image (on the front cover) I originally used the female artist who the double page spread was about and I originally had her looking down and the floor and had cut around her to use a coloured background. I had her looking down to show her naivety and her innocence, which linked to the story of her never being on stage before. I then realised that this picture broke the codes and conventions of a front cover of a music magazine because nearly always the artist has a direct mode of address, this is to attract and engage an audience. So, to keep with the codes and conventions and to get the feel of a music magazine I took photos of a male artist who had a direct mode of address. I had tried a version with the brick wall the photo was taken on and tried it when it had been edited and cut around and used with a coloured background. I chose the background that has the brick wall as the background because, although I was trying to use the same codes and conventions of Top of the Pops' magazine and I had before cut around the images I used, like the editor has done to Britney on Top of the Pops' front cover. Kerrang is the only magazine front cover that I had analysed that uses the background, though the band are taken from close up, and the main singer is the only mid shot, the others are more in the background, so the background isn't as visible as mine.
Looking back on the layout plan I was going to follow I haven't gone completely with my first ideas.
For my front cover I thought I was going to put the skyline alone the top of the magazine, and this is what I actually did. I was going to have the skyline telling the reader who was featuring in my magazine but when I came to my final artifact, it was on different bands and artists who were touring.
My masthead, from my planning, shows it was going to go straight under the skyline and right across the page. However, in my final artifact it was to the left hand side. At first I had put it in the centre at the top, under the skyline, but when I came to finalise my magazine and make any further changes I decided to move it to the left. This was because when creating my magazine I tried to make it close to the Top of the Pops' magazine and their masthead was in the left corner of the page.
My colour scheme for my magazine was a little different than I had originally planned. I chose the layout and colour schemes before I had experimented with different mastheads, so in my plan it said I would use a pink masthead but I had actually used a three colour masthead. Also it said the background was going to be a pale purple which it is, but I've also included a slight border line going around the edge which is a darker purple. Although I have slightly changed the colour scheme, it still is intended on attracting a female audience.
My layout doesn't show how big I had planned on doing the main photo, this was because the space for my magazine is bigger than the space I had used for my planning. This meant I showed the image being smaller than intended because I made room for the subheadings. As you can see from my final artifact my artist takes up most of the space and is directly in the centre of my magazine, this is to show importance.
My subheadings were shown to be in on specific things, however in my final artifacts I didn't use these subheadings. I did have a subheading on another artist; I included one on Kelly Rowland's new single: Forever. I didn't include a gig line up because if the reader wanted to know the full gig line up they could go on the gig's website, which is included on my double page spread.
I did include a plug at the bottom of my page, however I included most things that my layout suggests. I didn't included reviews or freebies, but I did include stories and gig information.
My layout suggests that my barcode will be in the plug section and this is where I had put it on my final artifact. Both Kerrang and Top of the Pops included their barcode in the plug, this is because studies suggest that people look at front covers in a 'Z', which means they look from left to right, diagonally down and then left to right. This means that producers of magazines put the most important thing at the top, e.g their masthead and the least important thing in the bottom right hand corner, e.g barcode. I included my barcode, issue number and date and the bottom right hand corner.
For my contents page: it suggests that the wording 'Contents Page' will be in the top right hand corner of the page and it'll be written in pink and in a purple box. The page title is written where suggested but it is written in purple and isn't in a box, this is because I have used a coloured background. My writing is also in italics, and this is to give a handwritten feel and to feel personal. Also, Top of the Pops used a similar type of font where they have titled their page 'Inside the mag...' because I was trying to use the same style as Top of the Pops' magazine I had included this type of font. I included a pink line under the contents page, this was done instead of putting it in a box like Top of the Pops and Kerrang's magazine.
My layout for my contents page is nearly completely different from the layout I had originally came up with, my original layout was similar to both Kerrang and Top of the Pops' contents pages. However, my contents page has used ideas from all contents pages that I analysed. It hasn't got as many pictures as Kerrang and Top of the Pops but it has more than one main image like Vibe. I didn't want to use pictures and then have a number on top of it like Top of the Pops has done, and I didn't want it to be too over crowed with photos like Kerrang. I also wanted more to be happening than in Vibe's contents page. I included a main image, the female artist, on my contents page and this was similar to Vibe having just Usher. However, I thought one picture is quite plain and so I include images of Dappy and Will Young too.
For my double page spread I was going to do half the page on the artist and half the page on gig information, this was so it broke the codes and conventions of a typical magazine as normally a main story takes up both pages. However, when I came to creating my final artifact, I did the story on both sides and used the left hand corner for gig information. This then followed the codes and conventions of a music magazine.
On my double page spread I used enlarged text of quotes, Vibe and Kerrang included large quotes in their articles, with Top of the Pops' they used a quote from each of The Wanted members. Each quote linked to the article and with my quotes it also links with the story, this has followed the codes and conventions of a double page spread story.
2) How does you media product represent particular social groups?
It represents a girl pop and R&B social group, as it has featured female colours and also included artists who write and perform pop and R&B music.
Audiences can tell it isn't designed for rock, classical or any other types of magazines because it doesn't have swear words like you might find in Kerrang, or another rock magazine. A reader could tell that this would not be a classical music magazine as the iconography would show classical music instruments, e.g pianos or violins, etc. Also, the artist would be formally dressed, e.g black and white or a suit. The reader can know by looking at it that it's a music magazine because of the mise-en-scene, the male artist on the front cover is holding drum sticks, which connotes music.
The ideas used, e.g subheadings in coloured boxes, represents a particular social group as these wouldn't be found on a rock magazine and it also suggests females, my target audience, because it uses feminine colours of pink and purple.
Also, the writing used in my magazine isn't thick or heavy looking like you'd find in a rock magazine, it used 'hand-writing' font to give a soft and female feel.
It represents a girl pop and R&B social group, as it has featured female colours and also included artists who write and perform pop and R&B music.
Audiences can tell it isn't designed for rock, classical or any other types of magazines because it doesn't have swear words like you might find in Kerrang, or another rock magazine. A reader could tell that this would not be a classical music magazine as the iconography would show classical music instruments, e.g pianos or violins, etc. Also, the artist would be formally dressed, e.g black and white or a suit. The reader can know by looking at it that it's a music magazine because of the mise-en-scene, the male artist on the front cover is holding drum sticks, which connotes music.
The ideas used, e.g subheadings in coloured boxes, represents a particular social group as these wouldn't be found on a rock magazine and it also suggests females, my target audience, because it uses feminine colours of pink and purple.
Also, the writing used in my magazine isn't thick or heavy looking like you'd find in a rock magazine, it used 'hand-writing' font to give a soft and female feel.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Bauer Media would be the kind of institution that might distribute my magazine because they deal with more music magazines than the others. Bauer deal with well known music radio stations, e.g: Heat and Closer and these appeal to teenage girls from 16 and above.
Although Vibe Media deals with music magazines, it usually deals with urban music more than pop music, and so this institution may not distribute my magazine.
IPC deals with more of a broad spectrum, but it is more aimed at women rather than teenage girls, e.g woman&home and this wouldn't appeal to 16 year old girls (my target audience).
Bauer Media would be the kind of institution that might distribute my magazine because they deal with more music magazines than the others. Bauer deal with well known music radio stations, e.g: Heat and Closer and these appeal to teenage girls from 16 and above.
Although Vibe Media deals with music magazines, it usually deals with urban music more than pop music, and so this institution may not distribute my magazine.
IPC deals with more of a broad spectrum, but it is more aimed at women rather than teenage girls, e.g woman&home and this wouldn't appeal to 16 year old girls (my target audience).
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
My target audience is females. I think I'd have reached this target audience as the main colours used are pink and purple which are typically seen as female colours.
My font also reaches my target audience, I didn't use heavy fonts like you'd find in a rock magazine and I didn't use slang/colloquialism that you might find in a Hip-Hop magazine.
My age was between 16-19 and I think I could achieve 16 but perhaps not 19 year olds as it feels a little young. The colours seem quite young rather than sophisticated enough for a 19 year old. I think I used too much pink and purple for a 19 year old and as they're adults I think too much pink would be seen as very girly and might put them off.
My target audience is females. I think I'd have reached this target audience as the main colours used are pink and purple which are typically seen as female colours.
My font also reaches my target audience, I didn't use heavy fonts like you'd find in a rock magazine and I didn't use slang/colloquialism that you might find in a Hip-Hop magazine.
My age was between 16-19 and I think I could achieve 16 but perhaps not 19 year olds as it feels a little young. The colours seem quite young rather than sophisticated enough for a 19 year old. I think I used too much pink and purple for a 19 year old and as they're adults I think too much pink would be seen as very girly and might put them off.
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted females by using feminine colours, such as pink and purple. This wouldn't appeal to a male as they're seen as girly colours. This also would appeal to much older adults because it wouldn't be seen as very sophisticated and it might be seen as quite girly because of all the pink and purple.
I have attempted to attract my audience's age 16-19 because I have written an interesting story and included a competition to win festival tickets and festivals are enjoyable for people of that age range.
I also included a font that would attract females as it looks hand-written. I copied Top of the Pops' ideal of a hand-written looking font. I know they had attracted their target audience because this was a successful music magazine. I also felt that the hand-written look gave it a feel of delicacy and females are usually associated with being delicate.
I attracted females by using feminine colours, such as pink and purple. This wouldn't appeal to a male as they're seen as girly colours. This also would appeal to much older adults because it wouldn't be seen as very sophisticated and it might be seen as quite girly because of all the pink and purple.
I have attempted to attract my audience's age 16-19 because I have written an interesting story and included a competition to win festival tickets and festivals are enjoyable for people of that age range.
I also included a font that would attract females as it looks hand-written. I copied Top of the Pops' ideal of a hand-written looking font. I know they had attracted their target audience because this was a successful music magazine. I also felt that the hand-written look gave it a feel of delicacy and females are usually associated with being delicate.
6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
When editing my images and creating my magazine I had originally tried to use Sans Serif but I found it very difficult to use and I didn't have it on my home laptop and was unable to download it so I couldn't use it for my final artifacts or for my images.
When creating my final artifact I use Microsoft Word, this was because I was familiar with this programme and knew how it worked and so I could easily make my magazine and because I knew what the programme did I could easily make my magazine look how I wanted it to. I also knew it's limits, so I knew exactly what it could and couldn't offer.
For editing my images I used Paint.Net on my home laptop and Paint on the school laptops. I used this programmes because I was familiar with all the tools the programmes offered. I could easily cut around a picture and add colour because I easily knew how to do this.
For my barcode I used an online website to create this, as I wanted it to look realistic where I may not have been able to achieve this if I had tried to create the whole thing by myself. I looked at an already existing one to ensure the right amount of numbers were used and then the website I used (shown in my planning) created all the lines for me and put the numbers on, once I'd added them.
Because I created my magazine on Microsoft Word I was unable to upload it to my blog as the .doc or the .docxx format it saves as wasn't compatible to upload. I then tried saving it as a PDF, but that, too, wouldn't upload. I had to try and convert it into a JPG, GIF or PNG, at first I found this hard as my computer wouldn't allow me to do this, so I Google searched how I could do this. I eventually found a website: http://pdf2jpg.net/convert.php#.UW_NGKKsiSp This then allowed me to upload it to my blog.
When editing my images and creating my magazine I had originally tried to use Sans Serif but I found it very difficult to use and I didn't have it on my home laptop and was unable to download it so I couldn't use it for my final artifacts or for my images.
When creating my final artifact I use Microsoft Word, this was because I was familiar with this programme and knew how it worked and so I could easily make my magazine and because I knew what the programme did I could easily make my magazine look how I wanted it to. I also knew it's limits, so I knew exactly what it could and couldn't offer.
For editing my images I used Paint.Net on my home laptop and Paint on the school laptops. I used this programmes because I was familiar with all the tools the programmes offered. I could easily cut around a picture and add colour because I easily knew how to do this.
For my barcode I used an online website to create this, as I wanted it to look realistic where I may not have been able to achieve this if I had tried to create the whole thing by myself. I looked at an already existing one to ensure the right amount of numbers were used and then the website I used (shown in my planning) created all the lines for me and put the numbers on, once I'd added them.
Because I created my magazine on Microsoft Word I was unable to upload it to my blog as the .doc or the .docxx format it saves as wasn't compatible to upload. I then tried saving it as a PDF, but that, too, wouldn't upload. I had to try and convert it into a JPG, GIF or PNG, at first I found this hard as my computer wouldn't allow me to do this, so I Google searched how I could do this. I eventually found a website: http://pdf2jpg.net/convert.php#.UW_NGKKsiSp This then allowed me to upload it to my blog.
7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I have learnt to make it look more professional and how to cut neatly around an image, so I can cut bits out that I didn't want to be included.
Before I was unable to cut images properly and so I left them as a full image and added writing on top. I think it looks very basic as the image is slightly blurry where I have made it fit the size of a page.
My contents page is very basic and with no pictures. It also looks very unprofessional as it uses dots to tell the reader what pages certain things on and most magazine's don't use dots. Also the font is very basic. The font colour and the background colours don't really link to the genre, the background or writing should have been blue because these are Poole High's colours.
I have learnt that more pictures make it look attractive and professional, but too many just look crowed. I should have included a picture of Mrs. Haefield, as this was who the main story was on.
Before I was unable to cut images properly and so I left them as a full image and added writing on top. I think it looks very basic as the image is slightly blurry where I have made it fit the size of a page.
My contents page is very basic and with no pictures. It also looks very unprofessional as it uses dots to tell the reader what pages certain things on and most magazine's don't use dots. Also the font is very basic. The font colour and the background colours don't really link to the genre, the background or writing should have been blue because these are Poole High's colours.
I have learnt that more pictures make it look attractive and professional, but too many just look crowed. I should have included a picture of Mrs. Haefield, as this was who the main story was on.
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