First Draft for Evaluation

Q1: in what ways does your media product (music magazine) use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media products?

 My music magazine Origin develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media magazines as my front cover follows the conventions. An example of this is my case studies of B&S and Q magazine. The photography taken on my magazine is similar to B&S magazine as they are both taken by a medium shot.  The cover lines were bold and clear just like the cover lines in Q magazines front cover. I mostly used the colour white for the cover lines as on Q magazine that’s what stood out on the cover. In the same way the cover star for my magazine was a male just like B&S magazine. The props were simple but effective. I challenged the conventions of the cover lines by including the page number that relates to the cover line. I did this because I thought it would be quick for my audience to find the main features by having page numbers on the front cover.

For the contents page I had a combination of both B&S and Q magazine. I included an editor’s note and split the page into two columns just like B&S magazine and the photography for the contents page and the layout of the images are similar to Q magazine with the page numbers on top of the images in bold.

For the double page spread I followed the conventions of having a bold title and have my cover star on one page as well as having a pull quote within the text.

In general I challenged Q magazine layout as the magazine is always filled with content and looks busy but I went with B&S magazine and kept the front cover especially simple and clear to read as I thought this would be better for my audience.

Q2: how does your media product represent particular social groups?

My social groups for Origin magazine are young adults (aged 16-26) of both genders (mainly men) who are located in the UK (and maybe USA). They have an interest in the genre Soul/R&B (mostly African-American people). They are also into UK and US artists as well as American music. The genre soul can be shown through the images on the DPS where the cover star is holding a guitar; the prop of the guitar can be classed as an ionic signifier as it is a typical instrument in Soul music. The people in the images of the magazine are mainly African-American ethnicities. The back story of the journalism can link to the social group/target audience of Origin magazine (young person living in the UK wanting to be an artist). I think I have reinforced stereotypes of Soul/R&B of the target audience for the genre being black people but it is enjoyed by other ethnicities today. I have also challenged the stereotype of selling an R&B/Soul magazine in the UK as the people in the UK may not be interested in the common American genre and artists involved in Soul/R&B.

Q3: what kind of media institution might distribute your media product (music magazine) and why?

I think that Conde Nast Publications would publish and distribute my magazine because it is a UK and US based whom I think would be good for the target audience of Origin magazine to notice the magazine as the age limit for the publication is at least 16 years. I think that R&B/Soul has a particular interest. This is good because Conde Nast focuses on particular interest genres such as such as fashion and lifestyle, home, bridal, food travel, technology and many more. The publications pubished by Conde Nast do not have a genre of music. This is an advantage to Origin magazine as it can be the first music magazine to be published on Conde Nast. I think that the branding of the magazine links to the organisation because Conde Nast has all the latest technology to access magazines today. The existing publications published by Conde Nast has a mobile app, iPad edition, subscription, media pack, events and social networking sites linking to the magazine all there by a click of a button. This would be ideal to my target audience (young adults) as they tend use technology all the time; it would be a great way for the audience to access Origin magazine through their technologies.

Q4: who would be the audience for your media product (music magazine)?

The audience for Origin magazine would be 60% male and 40% female aged 16-26. The median age would be 21/22. Their musical taste would be Soul/R&B (mostly interested in US music/artists but also some UK artists). The location of the audience would be in the UK, London. The social class of my audience would be middle/working class. The main ethnicity would be African-American people but still other ranges of ethnicities.

Q5: how did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted the audience by having a strong colour scheme and house style for Origin magazine. The audiences said "successful colour choice... A simple but effective layout". "Great colour scheme and layout". I feel that having a strong colour scheme would attract the audience to remember Origin by the colours yellow, grey and black. Just as my case study, Q magazine is known from the strong colour scheme red, black and white (which relates to their genre rock).

In the same way I think I attracted my audience by the photography of the magazine. The audience specifically liked the photo with the rain drop effect. I did this to make the photo look more aesthetic to the audience. I did this by editing all the photos in Origin magazine on PhotoShop.

Q6: what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I’ve used many technologies to construct Origin magazine such as: Photoshop (FC and editing photos). I’ve learnt how to edit photos better by using the patch tool and I’ve learnt how to get a stroke on text and make it thicker. InDesign (CP and DPS) I’ve learnt to use the layers properly as this helped on the construction of the CP and DPS especially when I want text to go on top of images. Illustrator (logo) I had an induction from a teacher on how to get familiar with the software. It’s quite similar to InDesign, blogger to post the progress made on the magazine, I’ve learnt how to upload videos and prezi onto my blogger by using the html, slideshares to help plan Origin magazine, timetoast to show a timeline of the schedule of the coursework, prezi. To improve the photography of the magazine I used the Nikon D7000 camera in the studio to take professional photos. I had an induction on how to use the studio and how to use the camera, it was very useful. The soft boxes were a big help to get the lighting right for the pictures. For location photography I used the Canon PowerShot SD950 IS.

Q7: looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

From the preliminary task I had 3 developments which are one, to use professional photography for the images by using a better camera and using a studio as this would make the images of the magazine professional and less blurry. I achieved this because I was able to use the studio to get professional photos as I also had an induction on how to use it.  Two, using creative cover lines such as teasers which would attract the audience to want to read the magazine by using language devices such as rhetorical questions and puns; I achieved this because the journalism for the DPS I included mannerism to make the information less formal and interesting as I think it would attract my audience. and three, to continue to develop my Photoshop and InDesign skills to make the outcome of the magazine even better by watching YouTube videos of how to use the software tools and getting help in class. I achieved this by playing around with the software’s and when I got stuck I searched it to see any possible answers.

During christmas I done a word document draft of the evaluation on the completed magazine, Origin. There is still a lot more to write but I just dotted the main ideas.I'll soon upload a plan of what technologies I would consider using for the 7 questions.