14th March 2016

I have now finished half of my AS media journey. It is now onto the theory side of things! I have had a lot of fun creating my media product and I hope to be able to progress even more next year to get the best grade possible. The best part of this coursework has been finding out about the media industry and how magazines make money. So, by bye for now but I will hopefully be here next year to create some more media products for the A2 part of media studies.

Evaluation Number Seven

https://goanimate.com/videos/0cjTWO2-Y1fc?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=linkshare&utm_campaign=usercontent

This is the link to my evaluation answer number 7. If this does not work the content is written below.

 

'Looking back at your preliminary task, what do your feel you have learnt from it to the full product?'

Firstly, the preliminary task has been very helpful in the process of creating my music magazine. I have used it to gain skills, experience and confidence in the programmes that I ended up using to perfect my final media product. It has also taught me about the importance of market research and how the conventions of a magazine catch the attention of the target audience. I didn’t know how many common characteristics that there are on a magazine until I started the preliminary task. Some of the most important conventions of a magazine include the masthead and placement of it; the central images and how the central image is anchored (usually by a cover-line).

It was only until I had carried out extensive research that I was able to produce a contents page that was more than just eye catching with a list of content. As you can see, I would not rate my preliminary task contents page at all compared to the final product; however, it was by doing this preliminary task that I was able to see my errors and change the way that I was doing things. The aim of the preliminary task was to produce a school-based magazine with a mock-up contents page.

The first thing that I did was carry out a photo-shoot with a chosen model; I chose my brother as he fit the target audience that I had chosen for my school magazine. The outcome of the first photoshoot that I did for the preliminary task showed me that I needed to concentrate much more on the background of the photos that I was taking, as they were mostly the back of my garden which made it hard when it came to editing the picture. I made my brother wear school clothes to add to the mise-en-scene of the photo; as the pictures that I had taken were on an apple phone, they did not come out in the quality that I had expected, which led me to updating the camera that I used to a lumix in the main tasks.The fonts that I had used on the school magazine cover now look to me to be boring and dull, with little or no variation to them. This defiantly changed as I progressed through the course as I managed to download some new fonts specifically for my magazine cover, that would attract my audience. I then realised that the reason my school magazine was looking so poor was due to me not doing enough research into the magazine industry and the conventions.

The contents page for my preliminary task proved to be very disappointing whilst looking at it now as I do not think that I had the knowledge to make a decent looking contents page. Luckily for me, I conducted more research into contents pages that I liked and gave me inspiration so that in the final contents page, I had enough skills and knew enough about the variety of contents pages, to create one that I was proud of. The contents page for my school magazine just ended up being a mere list of articles that were in my magazine and did not has any visual satisfaction to the reader whatsoever.I did not use any typical conventions on the school magazine that I made which would have made it very hard for the reader to be attracted to reading the rest of the magazine. This taught me that in the final contents page I needed to use more images of the main article in the contents page and split up the text into different sections to make it more exciting for the reader to look at; in addition to this I also used callouts advertising competitions in order to engage the target audience which will entice the young audience who are on a budget.

I did not use any typical conventions on the school magazine that I made which would have made it very hard for the reader to be attracted to reading the rest of the magazine. This taught me that in the final contents page I needed to use more images of the main article in the contents page and split up the text into different sections to make it more exciting for the reader to look at; in addition to this I also used callouts advertising competitions in order to engage the target audience which will entice the young audience who are on a budget.I did not use any particular colour scheme in my school magazine cover making the magazine look a bit messy and there did not seem to be any sort of organisational structure whatsoever. Luckily, I noticed this when I had finished the preliminary task, because it then lead me to include in my questionnaire what sort of colours my target audience would like to see on the magazine. I then decided to use a primary colour to attract the target audience. In addition to this I used many of the magazine conventions that I had learnt from the preliminary task to make my final product.

In conclusion, the preliminary task gave me the basis for progression and allowed me to learn from my previous mistakes and act upon them. I now know that in order to produce a professional looking image there is a need for layout and planning in a photo-shoot, including considering booking the perfect photography venue, planning out the shots, camera angles and how you are going to represent the model in a way that the target audience can relate to.

Evaluation Number Six

Evaluation Number Five



Evaluation Number Four

'Who would be the audience for your media product?'

To fully understand who the target audience would be for my magazine I carried out a questionnaire on a few people of different ages. This helped me to get a rough idea of what kind of things the target audience would like to see in the magazine and roughly what ages liked what types of thing. I have decided to aim my product as teenage girls aged 17-20 as these are the types of people who would be able to relate to my magazine the most. This is the ideal audience as the images in my magazine are of teenage girls at the age of 17.

The girls that would often read my magazine would enjoy keeping up with the latest trends through clothing, music and common interests with her friends. They would be typical teenagers that like to gossip about celebrities and this is why in future magazine issues I would include some celebrities to draw in the audience even more.

Evaluation Number Three

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

A media institution is a company that disperses a media product for audience consumption. A magazine would usually be put out nationally but not internationally and would be dispersed into shops such as grocery stores like Sainsbury’s or Tesco, or on a smaller scale, corner shops and newsagents. The most popular magazines in the UK include; IPC media and Bauer media. As these are popular in distributing magazines I decided to look into them further.

Bauer Media

Bauer media distribute a lot of magazines such as the ones in the picture below.

A few of the magazines that stood out from the crowds that Bauer media distribute are ‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang’. This is because they are very well known magazines. On the website (http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/about/our-company) I found that Bauer is a division of the Bauer media group, which is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, T.V and radio stations. This made me curious as to whether I thought they may be interested in distributing my magazine as we aim to target a large audience in the mass market. They are also a UK-based media group and are widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators. Bauer Media is very well-known in the industry as having a wide-span of control over well-known brands. Bauer is an example of media vertical integration; this is the process in which several steps in the production and/or distribution of a product or service are controlled by a single company in order to increase that companies power in the marketplace. Currently, the magazines with the leading sales figures for Bauer is heat. This is a womens weekly magazine so this shows Bauer is not as successful in music magazines that some other companies.

IPC Media

IPC is the UK’s leading consumer magazine publisher and they engage with 2 million UK adults. IPC media has ownership over many popular brands such as Marie Claire and Women’s weekly. Their company reaches a huge number of people and is therefore a hugely influential player in the media market. Their audience consists of almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of men. This shows that IPC media own a broad genre of media products which shows that they appeal to many people. IPC media has three publishing divisions; IPC connect, IPC inspire and IPC Southbank. Each of these divisions serves a different function within the media group. They have more than 60 brands, less than Bauer Media.

IPC Media may also be a good company to distribute my media product as it is a very popular media institution and distributes music magazines such as ‘NME’. My magazine is targeting a mass audience and they are not currently distributing any magazine that is quite like mine, for example, the genre, dance, has not really been done before. The company is distributing well known music magazines and so it has experience in the marketing side to music magazines which would give me many advantages.

 Conclusion

I believe that Bauer magazine would be the best media institution to distribute my film as it is the best opportunity to make my magazine successful. In my opinion my magazine has the potential to expand and become as big as some of the other music magazines in the industry and so Bauer would be very interested in distributing my magazine. Bauer would benefit in investing in my magazine as they would be able to help my magazine grow and become big in the industry, this would look good as their reputation would go up for having another successful magazine added to their list. In addition to this, my magazine is physically appealing and uses many conventions of a magazine that have been successful in the past; meaning that my magazine has a big chance of surviving in the magazine industry. Therefore, it will not be a risk for Bauer to distribute my magazine. Bauer will see that the magazines that they are distributing may not be as popular in the future so they have to keep building up their database of magazines to keep the company fresh with ideas.



Evaluation Number Two



Evaluation Number One

'In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? '

Front Cover

The first hurdle that I had to get over when creating my magazine was the title. When I personally think of titles of magazine I think, creative, fun and bold, so this is why I chose the word ‘Bounce’ to represent my magazine. It depicts the magazine is interesting and is a word that a majority of people would link to dance music; this would hopefully attract the attention of my target audience as they can link the masthead to the content of the magazine. I have seen in many magazines that the content or ‘genre’ or magazine is usually shown in the title which is why I chose to do this also. In many of the magazines that I have analysed I saw that the companies had put the masthead at the top of the page in the centre, which is what I chose to do as when the magazine is on the shelf, my target audience will still be able to see it. Therefore, as the masthead would be the very first thing my audience see, I was committed to making it look outstanding; which is why I chose to have a cold font with and interesting twist as the heart being an ‘o’; this will make my magazine look more intriguing and so the reader will want to buy it. I would describe the font as being bubbly which is great for my magazine as it is rounded, much like a ball, which people link to ‘bouncing’, therefore by choosing this font, it will attract the attention of viewers. I have seen in a fair few magazines that the creators like to use primary colours to stand out against the rest of the magazine cover. In addition to these conventions I chose to use white and red as I felt these were two brilliantly contrasting colours that complement each other and are the first colours someone would see when look through the heaps of magazines on the shelves.

 

The images on the front cover and inside the magazine are (to myself) one of the most important factors to think about when creating a magazine as this is how companies directly target the audience. It is because of this that I chose to really concentrate on my main cover image. Magazines usually use famous or well-known people to model for the front cover of their magazine; however, for someone like me, this just wasn’t possible; therefore, I decided to use someone with the same unique style and look, as the target audience. This would make them feel personally targeted by the magazine, attracting them to buy it to know more about the content and read the articles. I asked the model to wear something bright, as if she was going to a festival and her makeup was well-done up, resembling that of most festival-goers. The colours that she wore fitted perfectly with the colour scheme that I had chosen as they were bright and pink, which is stereotypically, associated with a ‘girls’ colour. The reason that I did this was because many magazines use the colours in their photos to represent the target audience for the magazine and pull in the ideal readers. The pose that my model is in does not typically challenge the conventions of a magazine, however the model is not making eye-contact with the camera, which most magazines choose to avoid; I did this as it makes the magazine look a little different and so it will stand out from all the other magazines. The picture is edited to look slightly older or ‘indie’ as the target audience would often refer to it as. This makes the picture stand out to the target audience and they will know that this magazine is aimed towards them.

 

 

 

The cover-line of my magazine cover is clearly in a bolder font which is different than all the other fonts on the front of the magazine so that it clearly anchors the main image and the reader can see what the main article is about. I chose a plain and simple font for the written content on the cover as it is easy to read and will attract the target audience as it is girly and elegant. Finally, the colours I chose for the titles of articles are just plain black; this may come as a surprise to the reader as black is a dull colour, so this would not go with the conventions of a magazine, however I really did think this was the best colour to contrast the pink with as it gives a sultry look, which shows the reader the magazine is for the older girls in their teens, not the younger ones. Everything that I have chosen to place on my magazine cover I tried to fit with the conventions of a magazine, however if they challenged them, I made sure that I had a justified answer as to why I ignored them on that feature.

 

 

Contents Page

 

The images that I chose for my contents page are full of people (mainly girls) in festival clothing with directly relates to the content and genre of the magazine which is a common conventions of magazines as this will make the reader understand that the magazine is all about festivals and dance music. I did not need to edit the pictures as they were taken on a disposable camera so they came out very unique which will stand out when compared to other magazine contents pages. All of the images are bright and airy with ambiguous background which makes the magazine seem jam-packed with information and articles for the target audience to read. As my cover model is one of the main features of the magazine I chose to include her in the contents page as-well. This sort of goes against the conventions of a magazine however some do choose to do this. I did this because I believe it emphasises the importance of the article and shows the model in a different perspective, having fun with her friends, which gives the magazine a positive vibe.

 

The contents page heading is on the top left of the page (a lot of magazines do this), to clearly tell the reader what date the magazine was issued and that this is where they can find the information about what is inside the magazine; in addition to this, the fonts are bold and plain to show this is important information. Most magazines keep to a colour scheme so this is why I did the same by having the red backgrounds and writing. The font of the contents page features and regulars are much the same and are soft with no sharp edges as I wanted to emphasise that the magazine is for girls in their teens. Largely, I kept the text to the left-hand-side of the contents page as I feel this is where we as people start reading form so this would pull in the target audience to want to know what the catchy articles are about in full.

 

Double-Page-Spread

The written content of the double page spread was a big area that I needed to ensure that I got right; this is because it is the main feature of my magazine and will be a big part of why the target audience will pick up my magazine. This needed some serious research. So, after I had look at some contents pages that had inspired me to get myself together and write the perfect piece, I decided to have a large picture on the left side of my double page spread, this would take up the entire A4 side as it is the person that the reader has been waiting to read about! Many magazines choose to have one side of their article picture-based, but it is not a necessity as every-one has different preferences. There are a variety of different ways that I could have set out my written text on the double-page spread but I decided to do it in an interview form. This goes with the conventions of a magazines as this makes the reader feel as though the ‘main person’ featuring in the magazine is talking directly to them, this will make them feel personally involved with the magazine giving them a sense of wanting to read more. I felt that the best way to have my double-page spread was to have the text in columns to show organisation and make the presentation look good. The main image is in black and white with the lips being in a bright red colour; I did this because the red lipstick links to the red in the colour scheme and is very girly. It will also remind the reader of the summer days at festivals, listening to dance music, which will link back to the genre of the magazine. The model’s hair is slightly wavy as this implies she goes to camping festivals often, where there are no resources to straighten hair, giving her a natural, airy look. She is posed, head facing sideways, looking towards the text compelling the reader to want to know more about this person as she looks mysterious. Magazines often show their model on the double page spread as being mysterious and sultry as this is a common conception as to how women are portrayed in modern day media.

 

Next, I debated on what the large font should be and what it should say. Deciding to have just ‘Rianna Caira’ as the main text as it does not take any attention away from the actual text itself; I then chose to have a little enticing line underneath to persuade the reader that this is the article that they want to read. Many magazines have the ‘famous’ person’s name in bold writing as the first thing the audience will see, to show they are important and to excite the reader. The font that I chose for the main title of the double page spread links back to the main front cover as it also had a heart as one of the letters; however, on this page the font makes the writing look more personalised as if it was a signature, which is more fulfilling for the reader to look at. I developed the common convention of having the famous model’s name written in bold on the double-page spread as mine is much subtler and shows a more girly side to the cover model, rather than the common conception that women have to be empowering to men to be able to get their way. The font in which I put my description as to what the article is about, is in a plain text, leaving the last word ‘lover’ in the title’s funkier text. This is contrasting and makes the page look more interesting which will stand out when looking at all the articles in different magazines.