Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?

My final three media products all follow the forms and conventions of
real media products in numerous ways. My front cover has many
conventions of a real media product, the first being the pug on the left hand side of the magazine, I created this pug as it shows that it is something interesting and different from the other cover lines on the page. It advertising festivals that my particular audience would be interested in and draws their attention to it when first looking at the magazine on the shelf. 

Like most other media products I have placed a bar code on the
cover of my magazine, this makes the front cover realistic and
would look correct when placed on a shelf in a retail store.
Although I have not placed the price around the bar code
however not all magazines place the price of the magazine on the bar code and therefore I am not challenging the conventions of a media product. I have placed the price of the magazine below the magazines name this is also common among magazines. Also following forms and conventions I have placed the Magazines name 'Starstruck' underneath the models head, this is so writing doesn't cover the image and look silly, by doing this is looks professional and follows other magazines.

I have used a full body shot of a young teenage girl for the cover of my magazine, I decided to use this type of model as it relates to who I am aiming it at. My audience is 17 + teenage girls and therefore they are likely to buy a magazine with someone that they look like or someone they inspire to be. I have dressed the model in fashionable clothing which is a trait my target audience would be looking for in a music magazine as they can relate to her sense of style.

When i began creating my contents page I looked back at my analysis of real music magazines. They all kept similar colours through the magazine and I decided to use this idea. Like my title on the cover I used the same colour for the word 'Contents', by doing this my audience can associate it with Starstruck magazine thus my music magazine began to have a house style. My contents page had information about what is going to be inside the magazine, the information and page numbers where placed in columns which again follows the conventions of an average music magazines contents page. This also makes it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for as well as the page numbers be over certain images.

I decided not to challenge the conventions in my media products as I felt this would put off my target audience. They are used to buying magazines that look like this and therefore they would want to buy magazine similar to the ones they buy already.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I have used certain colours, fonts, locations and clothing to represent a
particular social group. The social group I have aimed my magazine at is in my audience analysis, teenage girls are the social group I intended to represent in my music magazine. The model on the cover is a stylish young female musician wearing high street clothing that would appeal to my target audience. The audience would buy the magazine as they aspire to be the musician and look like her or they already have a similar style to the model and can relate to her. Also the cover lines on my front cover include well known pop bands such as the Saturdays, that would interest my readers and make them buy the magazine. I have used the colour pink throughout my media products as this would be my target audiences preference, the colour is associated with girly girls which my magazine is aimed at and therefore this represents this particular social group.

3. What kind of Media institution might distribute your media product and why?

There is two magazine publishers that would publish my music magazine, the first being IPC media (http://www.ipcmedia.com/). They produce over 85 iconic media brands reaching almost two thirds of UK women. They produce a range of magazines from sport to music, however they don't have a pop music magazine that they publish, this would make it an ideal publisher to publish my magazine. They would create a new audience for their brand and can offer even more different types of magazine to their audiences. My target audience would be already my magazines from this company such as Look and Marie Claire as they are fashion magazines that see extremely well to my target audience. ICP media also publishes the well known music magazine NME which is extremely successful indie magazine and therefore by publishing my magazine it wouldn't cause any disruption in ICP medias sales and therefore they could publish my pop magazine. The second publisher I found that is likely to publish my media products is Bauer London Lifestyle Ltd. Like ICP media they publish a range of magazines from fashion to music, such as Heat and Q magazine. They are Europe's largest privately owned publishing group and are also connected with the TV and radio. The only reason that they wouldn't agree to publishing my magazine as they already produce Q, MOJO and Kerrang which are three large music magazines although none of them are dedicated to just pop which makes my magazine separate from them. I think my magazine could be distributed in large and small supermarkets such as Tesco and the Co-Operative. These stores sell a range of magazines and these are the stores where my target audience are likely to shop and purchase there magazines.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience for my media product would be similar to Megan (see audience analysis) who is 18 and listens to music in the charts and has a great sense of style. Artists that my audience would listen to include Lady GaGa, Pixie Lott, Florence and the Machine and many more. The audience for my magazine will be interested in hanging out with friends on weekends in the sunshine listening to pop music in the charts as well as attending the best festivals there is on offer such as Glastonbury and V festival.

5. How did your attract/address your audience?

To attract my audience I had to have a unique selling point, my unique selling point was an exclusive interview with a new pop sensation. It was he first ever interview the artist had published in a music magazine, this would mean that more people are likely to purchase the magazine as it has something no other magazine has in this particular issue. The exclusive interview is in a simple font but is larger than the other cover lines showing the audience that this is important and draws their eye to it immediately. My cover also looks like my target audience and this makes it seem friendly and inviting them in to buy to my target audience. I have styled my artist to look like a celebrity as on every magazine cover there is a picture of a celebrity which helps to sell the magazine when it is displayed on the shelves where it is distributed. The language I have used in my media products is fairly simple as my target audience are not interested in complex writing styles, this therefore makes it appeal to them as it is quick and easy to see what the magazine is all about.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

To create my three media products I used adobe Photoshop, I had used this technology previous to this task although my skills progressed further when using it to produce my three pieces. I created my products on a Mac computer which I hadn't had much experience with, the software on these computers were different from previous computers I had used and therefore I had to learn to use them. To take my photos I used my camera which is an Olympus AF 5X optical zoom and is an 8.0 mega pixel camera. I have different settings on my camera such as an outdoor setting, when i took photos of my models outside i used this setting to make the quality of the picture much better. I took over 100 photos using different angles, Locations, clothing and lighting so that I had a range of photos I could use. Before I took my photos I planned out what i would like them to turn out like, this helped me as i didn't rush to chose my locations. The image I used on the cover originally had a skirting board at the bottom to erase this i used the eye dropper tool to pick the colour of the wall out and used the paintbrush to blend it in to the wall to make it appeal as though it was a plain wall. I did this so it looked professional in a studio as most covers of magazines wouldn't have this feature. The task that took the longest was using the lasso tool to cut out the model to place her on top of the magazine's name, I had to make sure it looked correct and that the audience would still be able to make out the name of the magazine. One tool that i thought was amazing within photoshop was the burn tool, it allowed me to darker the image on my double page spread which made the artist stand out more on the page with her bright red lipstick. I also used http://www.blogspot.com/ to post the steps of how I created my final three media products, I found this very simple to use although I hadn't used this website in particular before I have used similar sites to this and this made it simple to learn to use.

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

Looking back at my preliminary task there is a dramatic improvement between it and my final media products that I have produced. My music magazine looks professional and of a higher standard than my preliminary task which didn't have many conventions of a magazine. I think the help of analysing music magazines and looking at the forms and conventions it allowed me to place things in a more organised way to look professional. I knew where particular things should be places such as cover lines and the bar code. I think the locations of where i took my preliminary magazine made it look how it looks, By finding interesting locations other than a plain wall made my final products interesting to look at whereas in my premliminary task all the photos had simple backgrounds.

Final pieces Front Cover:



















Contents page

Double Page Spread

Analysis of preliminary work

For my Preliminary work I had to create a front page and a contents page for a school magazine. It is intended to show how my skills in photo shop will develop over time when it comes to creating my own music magazine. To create my school magazine I needed initial ideas to help me plan and design what the school magazine would look like, I began brainstorming ideas for the title and storylines, by doing this it saved a lot of time when it came to create the school magazine as I could refer to my designs. I also created draft title pages and contents pages showing a rough idea were I was going to place pieces of text and pictures. I then took numerous pictures around the school that worked with my chosen storylines. I used a medium close up of the model for the front cover which was required and took photos of other students in different locations around school for numerous stories I had created and placed them on the contents page and front cover.

Front cover for preliminary task


I took a picture of a student on a blank wall and using the lasso tool i cut around the image. I had not had much practice with this tool on photoshop and therefore the picture was not seperated from the background very neatly. The photo has a jaggered edge and looks unprofessional by doing this task it has taught me how to use the lasso tool to get a more desired professional finish to an image and this will be shown in my music magazine. Although i have used a pug like many typical magazines, many of them do not use them for the price of the magazine, I have learnt this through the research i have taken out for my music magazine. Also the main headline gives the indication of the title of the magazine and could have been positioned better. Overall this task has helped me undersetand photo shop elements and my new skills will be put to use when creating my music magazine.

Contents page for preliminary

I used the same colour font on the contents as the front cover of the school magazine to keep a house style throughout. Alhtough the light lilac and purple don't work very well together and this shows me not to use similar font colours on similar coloured backgrounds when it comes to creatin my music magazine. After looking at typical magazines most of them do not have the page number written in words across the images but in digits, i will use this idea when creating my music magazine to make it look professional as well as typical of all magazines. I learnt how to crop and resize photos in this task which will also be helpful when using photoshop again.

Analysis of contents page:

Stage one:

I started my contents page with the aim of using numerous photos within the page itself. I carried out the colour theme and font from the front cover to give the magazine a house style and make it easily recognisable to the target audience, this also makes the magazine appear professional to the customer. In this stage of my contents page I began adding in the articles that would 'appear' in my magazine again this is used in every magazine to interest the reader as they can see what the magazine has to offer. In my initial ideas i liked the idea of a line at the bottom of the page to give the magazine an edge to it. I did this my using the rectangle tool and selected the colour black. Finally i added the page number and the magazines website, again this is like many music magazines I have analysed.

Stage two:

I started to add in the photos to the contents and arrange them so they worked well with each other rather than just placed anywhere on the page. I resized the photos and then rotated them using the mouse on the image. This made the page look much more presentable and made all the photos fit well on to the page. Like many music magazines such as Q, I placed the page number over the photos referring to the page the article about this image was on. I have used the images that I analysed earlier on my blog, I decided that i would use all of them as contents pages tend to use numerous photos to interest the target audience with interesting pictures. In my questionnaire my target audience liked to look at pictures and this will be a good selling point of the magazine.

Stage three:

I began adding more images that I have taken of a different girl band so the magazine did not look like it only contained an article about one artist. As before I added the page number over the top of the image layer using the text tool, i used the same colour as before using the eye dropper tool so it worked well together. I made my front cover into a JPEG image and then resized the image making sure the image was not stretched. I then wrote about how the target audience can subscribe to the magazine, this will boost the magazines image and makes it look like a real magazine on the shelf.

Stage four, Final stage:

I decided that the titles on the contents page need to stand out againts the other pink text. I used the rectangle tool and drew black lines underneath them just like at the bottom of the page. This made the titles bold and the customer will find it easier to locate certain articles in the magazine. I also included a picture I had taken on a media trip to New York, it related to a storyline under regulars and worked well and therefore i decided to include it. I added more storylines onto the contents which filled any unwanted white space and completed my contents page.

Possible photos for contents page:
Photo one:


I like the idea of the artist sitting down in this image as it corresponds to the headline of an exclusive interview. It looks as though she is being photographed during an interview and would be suitable for a contents page. The colour of the background and the outfit colour work well together and will brighten up the page and show the artist in a different outfit.










Photo two:

I like this photo as it is very clear as well as being very friendly and welcoming to the magazine. I like that the model's hair has been rolled to give it volume and makes it a feature of the photo, this will attract the target audience as they are interested in how their idols dress.

Photo three:

I took this photo of friends whilst on a media trip to New York, I liked the style of the image and the pretty scenery. This will be effective with a story line about New York which is mad about music and partying. Many of my target audience will be interesting in New York as there is plenty of shopping and different scenes of music.

Photo four:

I needed a picture of a girl band in order to attract my target audience. My audience are interested in well known girl bands such as The Saturdays and Girls Aloud, by including this image the target audience can relate to the image and will interest them in listening to a new pop girl band.

Analysis of double page spread:

Stage one:

The original image i wanted to use for the double page spread was in colour, I wanted the picture to be in black and white with aspects of colour showing through. To do this I duplicated the layer and placed it over the top of the original image. I then used the toolbar in photoshop to take the colour out of the photo. I then used the eraser on the models eyes and lips to bring colour from the image beneath. I found the centre of the page and used the rectangle tool to show this. This prevented me from typing text that went over one half of the page. This is because of the layout of the magazine, if it was printed the centre of the page would be folded in to secure the magazine together and therefore the text would be folded into the middle and would be unreadable. As the image was smaller than the width of the page rather than stretching the image and disorientating it, I copied and cut out a part of the image and duplicated the layer three times to make the image appear bigger and fill the whole double page spread.

Stage two:

As the image was still quite light i used the burn tool to darker the image which highlighted the models face and make her stand out showing the reader who the interview is about. I changed the writing font and colour for the headline at the top of the page. I think this looks better than stage one as the colours work well with the dark background. Like the contents page i used the rectangle tool to draw a line across the bottom of the page with the magazines website and page number underneath, this makes the magazine have a professional feel to it and it is also an idea I had in my sketches. I found a picture of a film strip, i cut the film strip out and copied and pasted it into the double page spread. I resized and reshaped the image so it looked like it was ment to be there. I later added numerous pictures of the model to the film strip. I liked that it made the images placed in it, seem in place rather than just placed anywhere on the background. 

Stage three:

Stage four:

Stage five, Final product: 

Possible photos for the double page spread


I like the outfit the artist is wearing in this image is reminds me of Cheryl Coles look in Q magazine. As the photo has been taken landscape it can go over both pages as far as i would like without disorting the image. I like the pose the model has done here as it makes the artist promonent and invites the audience in. Again the singer has eye contact with the reader which engages the reader with the artist.




Possible photo two:

I changed the artists outfit and location so there are many different photos the reader can look at and they wont get bored of looking at the same pose and background. I like the fact the expression in this photo is happy and shows the reader the artists personality and my target audience can feel they are getting to know the upcoming star from my magazine. The laid back outfit shows my target audience that you can look good in anything and as my target audince would be interested in fashion this will help the magazine sell.

Possible photo three:

Like my front cover this pose is unsual and makes it more interesting to look at. It gives the magazine a seductive vibe and will interest a male audience as well. The image gives the feel of a singer which is what i intended to happen and this is portrayed to the reader. Although hair has blown across the models face it gives a nice affect, this photo could be used as a smaller image on the double page spread as well as another images. The outfit fits in well with the dark woods in the background making the artist work well with the scenery. The angle could have been better as we are looking down on the artist making her seem inferior however by the powerful pose struck we know she is important.

Possile photo four:

I liked this image as it seem to draw attention to the model immediately because of her intense eye contact. Also the lighting is on her face which is lights it up again jumping out at the reader. The downside to the image is the mouth expression as it looks sad, however using different facial expressions could work well together when placed on the double page spread.

Possible photo five:

This photo is very similar to photo three, however her hair is away from her face making the image happier relating better to a pop magazine. Also the angle looking down on her is not as harsh and would be the better of the two photos to use on the double page spread.