Media Product Evaluation

Media product evaluation

Who would be the audience for my media product? How did I attract/address my audience?
Teenage girls aged 16-19 years old would be the audience for my media product. Girls interested in gossip about fashion and different bands would also be an audience for my magazine. Fans of Pop and R&B is definitely going to be the genre of the audience interested in my product. I attracted my audience by making my magazine fun, colourful with lots of gossip. I included lots of coverage on popular bands to attract readers to want to read the articles. I used headlines on the front cover to attract my audience to want to read the whole magazine. I used gossipy, chatty language to address the audience and I made it seem as if the writer was talking directly to the reader, which creates the impression the magazine is a friend.

In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My magazine is very similar to the conventions of a real magazine. I have used headlines to attract readers and advertise the magazine just like real magazines do. I think my cover image was quite eye catching as all the girls where dressed in black and this helped grab the reader’s attention. Another way I tried to attract readers was with the exclusive cover story. I used the cover story like real magazines do to grab reader’s attention and make them think it is an exclusive story that no other magazine has. On the contents page I included an introduction by the editor about this month’s issue, just like real magazines do. I decided to include this as it is one of the main parts of a contents page for a gossip style magazine. I wanted my magazine to have a gossipy feel to it and I thought this would be a good way to introduce the magazine to the reader and become their friend. As my magazine is for a teenage girl audience I used lots of imagery and girly colours to create a fun and happy mood. I also used colour to represent the music genre of the magazine which is R&B and pop, just like Top of the Pops magazine use colour to represent pop. I used a realistic article which was an interview of a girl band. I tried to include realistic questions and answers and I thought about what the reader would want to know about the band. In the interview I tried to express the importance to teenage girls of being confident and independent, this is realistic to teenage girl’s gossip magazines. I included a competition next to the article to get the read involved with the magazine and hopefully buy the magazine again for the next competition. Including a competition also promotes a good name for the magazine when the readers win which is shown by real magazines.

How does my media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine represents teenage girls and girl bands in the public eye. It represents teenage girls to be quite gossipy but also quite fun and clever as there are facts included in the articles. The main representation is of girls bands. There is a lot of expression of girls being independent, beautiful but clever. It is a positive representation for females in the public eye and they are shown to be good role models.

What kind of media institution might distribute my media product and why?
I believe my magazine is quite realistic and there are a few institutions that might distribute it. I think local shops, petrol stations and supermarkets would be the best place to distribute my magazine as these are the most common places teenage girls go to buy their magazines. Local shops and supermarkets would be a good place to sell my magazine as many teenage girls buy their magazines from local shops because they are local and they don’t want to travel far. Petrol stations are another good place as many girls buy magazines when going on long journeys or just for daily travel. Health and beauty shops like ‘Boots’ and ‘Super drug’ would also be a good place to distribute my magazine as these are common places girls go to get beauty products and often food when on lunch breaks or out shopping. The most obvious place to distribute my magazine is in music shops like ‘HMV’, as it is a music magazine and this is a good place to get the latest news and music. College is a possible new institution that could venture into selling magazines as this is the most common place girls of this age will be most often.

What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt a lot about technologies from the process of constructing my magazine. I have learnt how to deconstruct media products and find out the meaning and reasons behind there use. The intention of my product was to attract teenage girls to my magazine and help give them advice and confidence through a girl band. I used exclusive headlines and imagery to attract the reader and then I used the editor to talk to the reader and create a friendly atmosphere. It was through the article I created the advice and confidence I wanted to create. I created advice from within the answers of the girl band and then I enforced the advice by including an advice section. I used girly colours and images to make it personal to my audience. One thing I learnt was how to address the reader to create a chosen affect. I wanted to create a gossipy feel to my magazine so I address the audience informally by using slang words and I made jokes as if the writer was talking to the reader in a private conversation.

Looking back at my preliminary task, what do I feel I have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at my preliminary task I believe I have learnt a lot in the progression of my work. I have learnt new media language and their meanings and the importance of using them within my work. I have learnt how to approach the designing process of my product and how to make decisions, by trying different ideas and seeing what works. One way I learnt how to make decisions was through the use of questionnaires. I found out that by asking the right questions to the right people questionnaires can be helpful in finding out what your target audience want and don’t want in their magazines. My questionnaires helped me to choose successful ideas to include in my magazine that will make it a successful product. The main thing I learnt that has allowed me to produce my final product was how to use photo Shop. I have never used this programme before but I now know it is an extremely good way to produce different types of work in a smart and professional way.

My College magazine practise

My Final Magazine - Front Cover

The last and main part of my magazine that I did was to create the front cover. I started by taking the pictures for it. I took a middle shot photo for this, so I would be able to get a clear shot of the girls. I used Photoshop to create this cover. I started by changing the colour of the eyes to get rid of red eye, I also added colour to the eyes like blue to make the eyes stand out and attract people. Another thing I did on Photoshop was that I added colours around the eye area to givwe the impression of more make-up.

After changing the colour of the photo I then cut it out and moved it on to a red background. I chose a red back ground because I wanted it to contrast with the dark clothing of the girls and also to represent the girls as being firey and hot. Next I added to magazine name and headlines, I chose bright colours to create a happy atmosphere and grab attention. Lastly I added a price and a bar code to make the magazine look realistic.

Overall I am happy with my front cover as I have never used Photoshop before. I feel I have achieved and created the right image for my magazine that I wanted to create, and I think the bright colours I have used will attract readers to buy my magazine and therefore make it successful. :-D

My Final Magazine - Contents Page

For the last couple of weeks I have been working on my final magazine. One of the main tasks was to create a Contents page. I started the development of my contents page by following the plans I had made to take photos. The first photo I took was of the editor, I wanted her to look older and like a editor so I got her to wear glasses. This photo had quite a lot of reflection on the glasses and in the eyes, so I used Photoshop to darken these areas. While I was doing this I also darken the areas on her top to get rid of any pink, so it gives the impression she is wearing something different.

The next photo I took was of the band 'The Sisters', this was a fictional girl band that I made up. This photo had a little bit of red eye in it so I used Photoshop to get rid of this. I also wanted to change the colour of one of the girls tops from white to black so again I used Photoshop to do this. I decided to keep the background the same as I wanted the pink background to create a girly atmosphere.

The last photo I took was for the main story headline and this was the picture of the girl band. I didn't have to change this picture much apart from using Photoshop to get rid of the red eye. I kept the same background so it would match the advert, I also wanted to create a urban look.

On the contents page I put the name of the magazine, this was one way of reinforcing the magazines name. I also put the issue date of the magazine to make it look realistic. I tried to make my contents page look girly so I used lots of colour to help to this, like the pink background. I put the main stories in bold writing to make them stand out and I also put the page numbers on the pictures, so readers will be able to find the stories easily and quickly. The last thing I did was I added a editor chat section. I wanted to create a friendly, chatty atmoshpere so I used approprate worlds to connect with my audience.

My Final Magazine - Article (double page spread)

I have spent the last few weeks creating my magazine article or double page spread. After I had planned my article I started by taking the pictures for it. I got my ideas for my article pictures from pictures of the Pussy Cat Dolls that I saw in a magazine, these pictures were of the girls in their dressing room getting ready. I wanted my pictures to be both posey, girly and fun. I tried to copy their poses, like holding a hairdrier and a mirror. I decided to set the pictures in a bedroom as the bedroom was pink and very girly so created the right image very well. After taking the photos I needed to make some changes to them, so I did this on Photoshop. Both of the pictures had red eye, so I used photoshop to get rid of this. I also added a darkener to the girls eyes so to give the impression they are wearing lots of make-up.

When creating my article I used the plans I had made as a template. I simpley took out the pictures of the Pussy Cat Dolls and added my own pictures. When writing the text part of the article I used my article research to help me create this. The main article I used was the article on the boy band, I liked the layout and style of it. I created my article on Publisher, I did this because I find Publisher easy to use. I chose to use this programme as it is easy to create pictures and text together.

I wanted my article to have an overall girly look and feel to it, so I used pink and blue colours. The images I used were glamerous and girly, with a fun feel to it. I also wanted it to attract and influence young, teenage girls so I used cool words used by this age group, to help me conntect with the audience. In my article I tried to get across the idea of the girls being attract but yet clever and indepentant.

My final magazine - Advert

Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on my final magazine. The first part of my magazine I worked on was the advert. I decided to do an advert that advertises the group I have made up, which is a girl group called 'Girl Band'. I got my idea of the design from a 'Pussy Cat Dolls' concert advert. The advert had a dark back ground and the girls were dressed in colourful clothes. I liked the idea of using dark backgrounds with lots of colour as it main the advert stick out and also made the main image look very striking. I thought this would strongly attract readers attention. The 'Pussy Cat Dolls' were also in a
posing position, which created the impression they had attitude. The posing position was something that I used in my advert as I wanted to create attitude and make people look. The picture above is the picture I used in my final advert.

I created my advert on Publisher, I chose to use this programme as it suited my advert and I felt very confortable using it. My advert is quite simple so I thought this would be the best thing to use. However, I did use Photoshop to edit and change my the picture. On Photoshop I got rid of the red eye and I added colour to the eyes to the impression they had lots of make up on. I also added colour to the eyes, like blue to make them bright and stand out.

I decided to use black at the top and the bottom of the page to create a dark attmosphere and make the main image stand out. At the top of the page I put the heading 'Girl Band' as this advertises the name of the band straight away. I did this writing in Pink/Red to give a girly impression. Next to this I put 'Live in London' as I wanted people to see straight away where the concert is going to be held. I did this writing in white to make it stand out. On the bottom I put the name of the tour, I chose to call it 'The GB Tour', this is like the 'Pussy Cat Dolls' tour name, which is 'PCD' which is short for the bands name. With this I put the date and a contact number to make the advert look professional. I didn't change the back ground of the picture because I wanted to create a kind of urban, city effect to represent the music which is R&B.

Magazine Planning

To help create the best magazine I can, this week I have been doing plans of what I am going to do in my magazine. The first plan I have done is a plan of my front cover. As it is only a plan I have used pictures of the internet of a well known girl band called 'The Pussycat Dolls'. I chose this band because I like them and they have the type of style and image that I want to create from the band used in my magazine. For the front cover I planned where I was going to put the text, like where I was going to put the cover lines or stories. This plan was to show my ideas and help me with the lay out of the real thing. I also thought about the colours I want to use and the size of the font. Next I did the contents page, I focused on where I was going to put pictures and what things would be included, like artilces, stories, news etc. After this I did the double page spread. Again I used pictures of the internet and focused on where I was going to put things on the page, like where abouts I was going to put quotes in the text. This was to show what the lay out of my article would be. Lastly I did the advert, with this I thought about what colours I was going to use and what words I might use, like Live from London. I thought about what image I wanted to use, like mid shot, long shot etc.

The reason I did this planning was to make it easier for me to create my real magazine as I would have an idea of what I wanted to do. It also meant that my real magazine would be better quality as I would know what I'm doing and what areas I need to think about and work on. I also wanted to show improvement and progress of my ideas.

Creating contents page

Welcome to ZINE
The best magazine for the latest College News

For the college magazine I had to create a contents page as well as a front cover. The name of the college magazine is 'Zine'. To help give me some ideas to create this contents page I looked at some magazine contents pages from magazines that are popular at the moment. On my magazine I put 'welcome to zine' as the heading of the page. I then put underneath the slogen of the magazine, this was to re enforce the message that this is the college magazine and is the best one for the latest news. On the page I included pictures of what is included in the magazine. On the front cover I put a main heading, this was about Mike and the student council so I put this on the contents page so readers could easily find the story advertised on the front. On the contents page I put the main stories and the main things that I thought would attract the readers. I madw the page quite simple with its use of colour as I wanted the articles and features of the magazine to be the main focus on the page. I included college related stories and stories that were related to what was happening that week, like rag week. This was to keep the reader intereested. I also numbered the pictures with the pages the story was on so readers could find the page easily.

Contents

p3 - Mike and the Student

Council

p6 - 20 Top Tips

p7 - Sports Award
Celebrations

p11 - 10 money saving
fashion buys

p12 - Rag week! pics

p14 - Copacabana


p17 - Exam dates

p19 - UCAS important info

p21 - Using Moodle

Creating College Magazine Cover

Creating a College Magazine Cover

In todays lesson I have been using Photo Shop again to design and create a magazine cover for the college magazine. I started off by taking pictures in medium close up of one of my friends who is a student at the college and running for Student Council. From the pictures I took I chose this one to use as my magazine background. I opened Photo Shop and up loaded the image, I then tried different ways of using the image as my background. Once I had my final background I then added the title of the magazine which is called 'Zine'. With this title I tried different colours and fonts and I decided on a dark blue colour as the background is a light blue and I wanted to keep a colour theme. After adding the title I then added subheadings and a headline. The headline was called 'Mike gives us his reasons why he should be Student Presendent'. I chose this headline as it is relevent to what is going on at college at the moment, so therefore will attract readers. A subheading I included was called '10 Top Revision Tips to ensure you get the best result this year'. I did this heading in blue and white, blue for the main part of the heading to catch attention. Another piece of text I added was the magazines slowgen or catch phase, this was 'The best magazine for the lattest College News'. I thought this was a good slowgen to use for thw magazine as it sums up what the whole magazine is about. Next lesson I am going to finish my design and hand it in to my teacher. With the feed back I am going to see how I can improve my work for my music magazine cover.

Alicia Pearce

Using Photoshop

Today I have been learing how to use Photoshop for the first time. My teacher gave me a booklet of instructions of what to do. I logged on to the computer and started by exploring all the different areas, like what the different icons are used for. In the booklet there were some tasks to do so i started by doing them. One of the tasks was to create a background image as if it was for a magazine. I recieved a image from the interenet and tried different ways of presenting the image, like different colours and different postitions on the page.

Overall I thought using Photoshop was actually quite difficult. I started off just trying different things but after a while it became a little easier once I new what the icons were for. My aim for the next lesson is to be able to add text to my image to make it look a little more like a magazine cover.

Alicia Pearce - Questionnaire

Target Audience Questionnaire

This week I have also been developing a questionnaire to give out to my target audience. In order for my magazine to be successful I need to research my target audience and find out what they want. My questionnaire asks questions about the music they like and what music magazines they like. There are 10 questions on my questionnaire and I will give my questionnaire out to 15 people. When developing my questionnaire I did a first daft and I gave this out and then I improved it for the final copy. I will give my questionnaire out to my target audience which is males and females aged 16-18. With the results I get I will write them up and discuss the out come.

Alicia Pearce – Analysing Magazine Articles

Analysing Music Magazine Articles

This week I have been analysing music magazine articles. I have chosen to analyse 5 articles from different magazines, these magazines are Vibe, Top of the Pops, NME and Bliss. I have been analysing articles to find out how I need to construct my article and what I need to do to make it successful. For each of the 5 articles I annotated them by writing notes around the article. I commented on parts of the article, like why certain colours where used etc. Two of the articles I chose were interviews, these magazines were Top of the Pops and Bliss. The other three articles were reviews, these magazines were vibe and NME. All of the magazines have different moods to them like the way they are written and the subjects they talk about but all of them use the same methods to construct their articles. From analysing these articles I now have a good knowledge of how I should construct my article, like what colours to use and where to put the pictures and quotes.

Alicia Pearce - Analysing Magazine Covers

Analysing Music Magazine Covers

This week have been analysing music magazine covers to try and understand why there designed the way they are and what meanings there are behind the design. I have analysed 4 magazine covers so I have I wide range of different types of music. All 4 magazines are based on different types of music and give out different meanings. These magazines are Rolling Stones, Vibe, NME and Top of the Pops. I chose these 4 magazines because they are the most popular music magazines and they all had very eye catching images so therefore would be good to analyses. For each magazine I analysed the name, target audience, front cover, style of presentation and the mode of address. I explained what the designer had done and what effect they were trying to create, like making the reader stop and look at the magazine. From studying the covers carefully and in detail I have learnt that every image and text is carefully constructed to create an effect or meaning. Readers sometimes do not even notice the meaning being portrayed from a simple image or text. Analysing these covers has given me ideas about what I need to do to create the right effect I want. And also what I should do to get the readers interested to make my magazine successful.