Evaluation: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I feel that I have learnt a lot of new skills while making my magazine, I also feel that I have learnt about the whole process of producing a magazine and therefore I have been able to produce a magazine of good quality.

When I first made my preliminary magazine cover and contents page I had a basic knowledge of how to use the equipment, such as Photoshop. This was evident in my final preliminary product as it wasn’t great quality, this was also down to me not having a particularly good amount of knowledge on how to produce a magazine in areas such as layout and features. However once I had completed my preliminary magazine I looked at it and decided which areas of my production process I would need to improve to make a good quality final product. When I started making my product I made sure that I had an idea of what I wanted to produce however I did not want to have very strict idea because I wanted to be able to use my imagination during the production process to try and make the best possible media product.

I have learnt a lot on how to use various media equipment and programmes during the production of my media product. I have got a lot better at using Photoshop, which has been important to me producing a good quality product because if I had not developed my skills I would not have been able to produce a product of even sufficient quality. I also learnt a lot about using equipment such as the macs and cameras, the macs have been a vital piece of equipment throughout the entire process and I have learnt about various features of the macs that have made producing the magazine a much more simple process. I also feel that I have developed my skills with a camera as I was able to get many good looking images by using things such as camera angles and also picking appropriate locations; this is something that I was unable to do before going through this process.

I also feel that my knowledge of the overall production process has increased greatly, not only in the actual making of the magazine but advertising, distribution and publishing. I have learnt about good ways to advertise and distribute my magazine so I know what to do to help my media product sell, for example I looked at areas to advertise and came up with ideas like putting up posters at Hip – hop gigs so that I can guarantee that my intended audience will see the posters. I have also learnt about publishing companies, such as IPC media, and I have been able to think about which publishing company to choose, for example I f I choose I small publishing company it will be cheaper however the quality may not be as good, but if I choose I large and recognised publishing company such as IPC media it will be more expensive but it will be of a higher quality which will help the magazine to sell.

All the knowledge I have gained is vital to producing a successful media product and I feel that while learning this as I progressed has helped me to produce a good quality media product. It will also help me to produce media products in the future as I will have all the knowledge before I have even started which will enable me to produce good quality products.

Evaluation: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Question 6 media evaluation

View more presentations from samc94.

Evaluation: How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience by using a wide variety of features on my magazine that I felt would appeal to my audience. It was important that I researched my audience as I needed to know what things that they liked so I could attract them towards my magazine. To find out what my target audience liked I handed out questionnaire’s asking them about things such as what their favourite colour schemes were, this allowed me to choose colours that would attract my target audience and also make sure that my magazine would be eye catching. Also in the very early stages of my planning I did a questionnaire asking people about their favourite genre of music so I knew which genres would make for a popular magazine, doing these questionnaires is also a good way of addressing my audience because it would encourage them to buy the magazine if they feel like they have assisted in producing it. I also used a chatty style of language to help attract my audience as a serious and too formal style of language would have probably made my target audience disinterested in the magazine whereas the chatty style will be appealing to the type of people that will read my magazine. I also considered the images in my magazine and when I was taking the pictures for my special feature and I took them in a rough looking city area, I did this because my target audience live in similar areas to the one in the picture, this will help to attract my audience because they would be seeing a similar area to the one they live in and this would encourage them to read the magazine as it would help them to relate to the artist they are reading about.

Evaluation: Who could be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my magazine would be teenagers aged 13 – 19, mainly boys, who have an interest in Hip –Hop music. They would most likely live in urban areas in big cities such as London, Birmingham and Sheffield and attend state schools also they would probably be in a family that had a fairly low income. They would dress like the artists that they read about in the magazine as that is the style for Hip – Hop music, for example they would wear baggy jeans or tracksuit bottoms and most likely a branded hoody like Addidas or Nike and a t-shirt, they would also probably wear a baseball cap and probably a lot of jewellery such as chains and rings, they would be likely to wear Nike basketball trainers or Nike high-tops. They would probably not be that interested in terms of education, however they would probably enjoy playing sports such as basketball and football however they may not take their sports too seriously. Other interests and hobbies would be playing computer games and listening to music, they would also like to go out with their friends a lot and hang around on the street. My audience will be quite laid back people and they will not be particularly outgoing. They are most likely to live in small city terrace houses or flats due to them having a lower income bracket. My audience will like to idolise people such as kanye west who are worldwide hip – hop stars as they like this genre of music and will look up to people like him. They will also idolise people who have “rags to riches” life stories such as 50 cent as they will feel like they are in the same position as he once was and he has gone from having almost nothing to being a worldwide star and they will be able to relate to the artist and therefore idolise them, this is one of the main reasons I included the artist I did in my magazine as he has a “rags to riches” story and this could make them want to read the magazine more as he would have the likeability factor.

Evaluation: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Question 3 media evaluation

View more presentations from samc94.

Evaluation: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents the social group that is most likely to read my magazine. It represents the artist featured in a positive way as it portrays them as a successful person. If the audience were just looking at the photos they would probably see the main artist in a negative light as he is pictured in a rough looking area wearing a hooded top which is a bad stereotype, however the reader may understand that is just the trend for Hip – Hop music. But the text represents the artist in a good light as it is an interview and the type of answers he gives makes him seem like a good person, the answers in the interview that relate back to his home town will represent him in a good light as it will give the audience the impression that he is a down to earth person that has not forgotten his roots, things such as this will make him an easily likeable public figure. Also the artist being pictured in a rough back ground will have connotations of a “rags to riches” story which will make younger readers idolise the artist and also this will make the artist more likeable to the reader as they will feel like they are on the same level as he once was. The genre of music is represented in a typical way, things such as image locations being in urban areas are all stereotypical of Hip – Hop music, also the language used is specific to the type of people that are most likely to read the magazine which could make them appear in a positive or negative light. I think that the genre of music being represented in that way is good as it will help the product appeal to the target audience and also people that are not in my target audience would understand why the music is being represented in that way as each genre of music seems to have its own unique image and language style.

Evaluation: In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My magazine uses allot of current magazine conventions, for example there is a large main image on the front cover and also smaller images around the edges, the features are all conventional for example the title of my magazine is in large writing and in the centre at the top, also my magazine cover is very busy and that is typical of modern magazines. As well as this my contents page is similar to other contents pages as the features are all conventional in things such as position and size. My contents page follows the same colour scheme as my front cover and it also uses similar images as this will give the magazine some form of continuity instead of it changing all the time which gives it a look of professionalism and also I do not believe that the readers would like it if the colour scheme was changing all the time. My two page spread is also similar to other magazines as it has similar features and layout style. I used the same image and colour scheme for my two page spread as I did on the front cover because that is where this feature was advertised and therefore I wanted it to link to my front cover and also have some continuity about it. The reason I made my magazine similar to other current magazines is because I had looked at other popular modern magazines and they all had similar layout and features, therefore I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to make a successful and eye-catching magazine I would have to try and follow the forms and conventions of other magazines. I also believe that if I had tried to change the way my magazine had looked my audience may not have liked the change and purchased a magazine that did follow the trend of how modern magazines looked. I think that using the forms and conventions of popular magazines was a good decision as I feel that my magazine looks good and professional and this would persuade someone to buy the magazine, whereas if I had changed it there would have been a risk that my magazine would have looked unprofessional. In terms of the genre of my magazine I did challenge the forms and conventions of media products as there are not many magazines that focus mainly on r ‘n’ b and hip-hop music , however I felt that genre would be good area in which to challenge forms and conventions as it would enable me to exploit a gap in the market, if I had used forms and conventions in genre if would be producing a magazine that has the same content as others and therefore it would probably not sell as I would be up against magazines such as Kerrang and Q. When it came to deciding what type of language to use I had to look at things such as the content of my magazine and also my target audience, I did this because if I had used the wrong language style my magazine may not have appealed to my target audience. For my language style I used forms and conventions of other magazines as I looked into what language other magazines of the same type used, I found that they use a chatty and informal style of language in their magazine so that is what I decided to use.

Magazine two page spread

Magazine contents page

Magazine front cover

Draft 2

Of the two draft's I made I decided that I liked this layout the most and therefore I will base my magazine on this layout.

Draft 1

Colour Scheme

To decide on what colour scheme to have in my magazine I made a questionairre with different colour schemes on it and asked my target audience to put a mark next to the colour scheme they preffered and would like to see in a magazine.

Here are the results:

black and yellow: 8

black and red: 3

white and red: 3

white and blue: 2

white and black: 4

The clear majority was with black and yellow, therefore I will be using this as my main colour scheme. I think that it is important to have a colour scheme that your audience will like so that your magazine will be eye-catching to them and therefore they will buy the magazine. Also it is good to have colours that are associated to the genre of the magazine and I feel that these are colours that are associated with Hip - Hop.

Target Audience

My target audience are teenagers aged from 13 - 19, male or female, who have an internest in Hip-Hop music. Stereotypically my target audience are more likely to live in the city and have parents within the lower income bracket. My target audience will probably attend a public school and have interests in sports such as basketball. They will have a typical city fashion style for example jeans or tracksuit bottoms and also a branded t-shirt and jacket, they would also be likely to wear a baseball cap and also jewelery such as chains and rings. They will idolise celebrity's who have "rags to riches" life storys such as 50 cent. although they have interest in sports they will probably not take there sport too seriously and will be laid back and not particularly outgoing.

Planning: possible magazine titles

I will choose one of these three titles for my magazine, i will try them out in different colours and fonts on photoshop as there is a wide variety of font effects that i can choose from. To help me decide which one to use i will ask people which title they think is the best and most appealing.

Institution: key company

IPC media produces over 60 iconic media brands, with print alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men - almost 26 million UK adults - while their websites collectively reach over 14 million users every month.

IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone, with a focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women.

Their men's portfolio comprises a wealth of leisure brands including Country Life, Horse and Hound, Rugby World and Decanter, as well as lifestyle brands including Nuts, Mousebreaker and NME.

Their mass market women's division comprises famous women's weeklies including Lokk, Now, Chat and Woman; TV entertainment brands including What's on TV, TVTimesand TV & Satellite Week and, online, the goodtoknow network.

Their upmarket women's division comprises luxury fashion brands including Marie Claire and In Style, lifestyle brands including women&homeand essentials and home interest brands including Ideal Home, Livingetc and housetohome.

IPC media is the leading magazine publishing company in the Uk and therefore extremely reliable, it is important when making a magazine to choose a company that i can trust and that has a proven track record of publishing quality magazines. Using a company like IPC media will also help my magazine to sell as people will know that it is of a good quality if this company has produced the magazine.

Reference: www.IPCMedia.com

Institution: distribution and advertising process

Firstly the magazine must be sent to a reliable printing company so that the producers will know that there magazine is printed on time. Then a reliable delivery company must be chosen so that the magazine gets in the shops on time.

Advertising is very important because if people do not know about your magazine they will not buy it. The internet is a very effective way of advertising as it is widely used by millions of people, however you cannot just advertise it on any website because for example if you advertised a music magazine on a cooking website it would not be an effective way of advertising as your target market are unlikely to be looking at a cooking website. If possible oyu should try to advertise your magazine on a website such as PLAY.COM as this is a website that sells cd's and therefore is a website that your target audience are likely to visit.

Another good way of advertising, and possibly the most common way, is on the television, but once again the same rule applies as with internet, only advertise on a channel that your target audience are likely to watch, for example if it is a hip-hop magazine advertise on the MTV BASE channel. However although advertising on the television can be very effective it can also be very expensive so you would have to be sure that it would be worth it before advertising on the tv.

You could also advertise a magazine by putting up posters, this could be turned into a very effective way of advertising by putting up posters at venues for concerts, for example if you are advertising a rock magazine you could put up posters at a venue for a rock concert, this would ensure that your target audience would see the advertisement.

Institution: production process

The process of producing a magazine will often start with the editor and the publisher deciding on a date that the magazine will be in the shops for. Then the team who produce the magazine will be able to set deadlines for certain stages of the magazine production for example when the front cover must be completed.

once all the deadlines have been decided the production process can begin. Different members of the production team will have different jobs. Firstly things like layout, features, images and colours of the magazine will be decided. People will have to research the information that will be in the magazine, for example interviews with bands and finding out information of upcoming events in the music industry, while all this is happening the production manager will be constantly checking the progress of the magazines production. once everything has been decided, all research has been done and images taken the editors will start to produce the magazine.

when the magazine has been fully edited it will be sent to a printing press to be printed and then distributed to various shops.

Analysis of existing products: kerrang magazine

I think that this magazine cover is very eyecatching and also quite typical of modern magazines. the masthead is in the usual place and stands out well. However i feel that the main cover image and main cover line are the most eyecatching feature of this particular magazine. The main cover image stands out as the members of the band are pulling parculair faces and one of the memebers pictures is raised above the masthead which makes it really stand out. Also the colour of the main cover line really stands out. This cover is very busy which will give the audience the impression that there are manny different features in the magazine. As well as this there are names of various different magazines on the skyline which will allow the magazine to draw interest from a wider audience as there will be a wider variety of music in the magazine. Another good feature of this magazine cover is that it clearly shows the offer of free posters which could help convince someone who doesnt usually read the magazine to buy it, because some people may just want the posters but then read the magazine and be encouraged to buy it in the future.

Analysis of existing products: Q magazine

This magazine cover is different to other covers as it not as busy as a lot of other covers. It has the masthead and main cover image but then only one cover line which is uncommon, especially for this particular magazine. I beleieve that this magazine cover will not be as appealing to the audience as the front cover looks too plain. I think that it would be better if they had used more eyecatching colours as the colours they have used are very dull. Also i beleive that only having one main cover line could discourage people from buying this magazine especially if they do not like the group shown on the front cover. Whereas if they had used more images and cover lines with information of other features i think that people would probably still buy this magazine.

Audience

There are many diffenrent ways that companys categorise audiences, many companys use various theorys to judge who their product will be aimed at. Categorising audiences can also help companys determine when and how there audience will consume their product which could also help companys decide on what to include in their product. one way of defining and categorising an audience is by usingh the life matrix theory, it defines ten audience categories, it is based around values, attitudes and beliefs of the audience, which will be useful in letting the producer know what to include in their magazine to make it appealing to there target audience. the categories of audience in the life matrix theory are:

1. tribe wired- digital, free spirited, creative young singles


2. fun/atics - aspirational, fun-seeking, active young people


3. dynamic - hard driving, high involvement couples


4. priority parents- family values, activities, media strongly dominate


5. home soldiers- home centric, family orientated, materially ambitious


6. rennaisence women - active, caring, affluent, influential mums


7. rugged traditionalists- traditional male values, love of outdoors


8. struggling singles- high aspirations, low economic status


9. settled elders- devout, older, sedentary lifestyles


10. free birds- vital, activ, altruistic seniors

Another effective way of grouping an audience is by using their income bracket status as this enables producers to know the class of their target audience which will be a good of indicator of what content to inlcude in a magazine for example upper middle class would most likely read a formal magazine and people at the lowest level of income such as students would probably read a less formal magazine, however this does not always apply. Income bracket is in six bands they are, A. upper middle class, bankers etc, B. middle class, teachers etc, C1. lower middle class, nurses etc, C2 skilled working class, skilled workers etc, D. working class, manual workers etc, E. people at lowest level of income, students etc.

reference: http://www.slideshare.net/

Analysis of existing products: NME magazine

Current magazine covers are all very similar in the way they are layed out and what is on them, for example magazine covers are very busy with lots of text and images on them. most current magazines will have a large main cover image with large text, with information of the main feature, but the rest of the front cover will be crammed with text giving information of other features in the magazine, when i have looked at various different magazine covers i have noticed that there is hardly ever any blank space, this enables the magazine to look as apealing as possible as it will give the reader the impression that it will be full of exciting features, it also makes the magazine more eyecatching. something else that i have noticed about current magazines is that there is no structure to where things are positioned on the front cover, for example text will be often be at an angle and be off center on the front cover this is something else that will make a magazine more eyecatching. the colour schemes of magazines seem to match with each other for example the cover to the right is predominantly red and white which are two colours that go, however something that i have noticed is the colour scheme often changes with each issueoften depending on what band the main feature is about. Also the font size and style used changes alot on the front cover for example information of the main features will be written in a larger, more eycatching font whereas other smaller features will be written in a smaller font.

Current market research

In order to find things such as gaps in the market I researched current magazines like the ones above. I also looked at them to find out things such as how magazines are layed out, for exampe what colour schemes are used. Doing this research was very useful in order to know how to lay out my magazine so that it was appealing so people would want to read it. Doing this research helped me find gaps in the market for example I found that most of the popular magazines such as Q, NME and Kerrang focus mainly on indie and rock music which showed me that there was a gap in the market for magazine that focus on genre's such as pop, rap and hip-hop. I also looked at the content of the popular music magazines so that I knew what features to include, for example I found that there were alot of interviews with different artists and also previews of upcoming gigs and albums.

questionnaire

In order to produce a succesfull magazine I feel that it is important to know what people want, so I did a questionnaire to find out what type of music people liked, which would let me know what type of music magazine would be popular. I asked 20 people who were all aged 0-18.



Here are the result's:



pop- 3



rock- 1



indie - 8



hip hop - 7



rap- 1



classical - 0



country - 0



other - 0



Although indie was the most popular genre of music I did not decide to make an indie music magazine, this was due to my market research in which I found that there was not a gap in the market for a indie music magazine. Therefore I decided to choose the next most popular genre, which was hip-hop.