Evaluation

 

My magazine uses many conventions and forms of a typical media product. From the research I did I identified all of the conventions of a music magazine and I have included them in my product. They include a masthead, subheadings, large images and a banner. I developed these to fit the genre and target audience of my particular magazine but have made sure that I have included these to make my product seem real

My magazine represents the indie rock groups in a positive way. It shows them to be fun and good people. This social group is usually given a bad name but I have made sure that I have shown them in a positive light. Young people are also represented positively in my magazine and this is shown in the interview with my band and from the images. My magazine has gone against the average stereotype of young people and tried to represent them in a good way. 

The Institution that would publish my magazine would be IPC media. This is a large organisation that distributes magazines such as NME, which is similar to my magazine. My target audience would probably have heard of this company as well which would give the magazine an advantage. The magazines would be distributed in small newsagents in many towns as well as in the larger supermarkets such as Tesco and in stores like WH Smith. This way many people would see my magazines and it would become well known. The Internet could also be used for advertising as my target audience would use the Internet regularly.   

My audience for the product would be young males and teenagers between the ages of 14-20. The audience would be mainly British and be middle class. My audience will be people who live a mainstream lifestyle However it will be a niche market of indie/rock fans.

I attracted my audience in many ways. On my magazine front cover I used colours that would appeal to that audience and relate to the genre. My main colours were red and black. The main image on my cover was a young band that was clearly rock genre. The target audience would be able to associate with the band. I also used language that younger males would use to address the audience. I had the audience in mind all the time while creating the magazine and made sure it would be something they would buy. However when making my magazine I have tried to make it stand out from similar magazines and I have tried to make it fresh and something completely new and different.

I have learnt a lot about technology while creating my magazine. When taking my images I learnt about digital photography and how different setting and modes can get the best image. I have also learnt how to use programmes such as fireworks to crop and manipulate images. For each image I removed the background and made the image lighter. This has developed my knowledge of these type of programmes. When producing my final magazine I used publisher which I am now very comfortable with using and have learnt how to use it correctly. Using a blog to upload my work has also increased my knowledge on technology and the Internet

From my preliminary task to main task I have learnt a huge amount. I have learnt what makes a good image and developed my photography skill. I have learnt a lot about what really makes a good magazine and how to manipulate and develop conventions to create a media product of my own. When doing the preliminary task I did not take the audience into to account when making the magazine but I have learnt how important it is to keep the audience in mind. I have also learnt that genre of the magazine is very important and that the magazine must have a recognisable identity. Through the research that i did i also realised that the image is extremely important and that if the images are not right the magazine will not work.

You can see how much i have learnt during the process by comparing the my preliminery task to the main task My preliminary task looks quite amateur but the main task looks as if it could be on a shelf in a newsagents and looks more professional. The quality is much better.