Media Studies Evaluation

1. Becci-Jayne Edwards Media StudiesEvaluation

2. How does my media product use, develop or challenge conventions of real media products? • My magazine uses conventions of existing music magazines such as the colour scheme. Throughout I have mainly used red, black and white as I found magazines such as NME, Q and Kerrang! Also used these colours because they stand out and are easy to read. • In my contents page I have followed NME’s layout with images in the middle/left and the actual contents list down the right. I have used photos of bands featured in the articles to attract the audience and make them want to read the piece; I have used captions overlapping to clearly show which story it connects to. By using white and caps I have made the important information stand out which is another convention I found in other existing magazines

3. Continued • However I have also challenged conventions of existing music magazines, for example on my double page spread I have used multiple images; one small one on page 1, one in the middle of the two and a larger one on page two. All of the magazines I had looked at used one large image many times taking up over one of the pages. I decided to challenge this as in my magazine the bands featured are not celebrities, the magazine is intended to help unsigned bands get into the industry, therefore I felt the copy was more important than the images because the audience are looking for advice rather than celebrity news.

4. How does my media product represent particular social groups? • My magazine represents established musicians as hardworking people who have earned their place in the industry. But also independent artists and bands are represented as promising and equally as hardworking, they are shown breaking the stereotypical ‘rock-star’ mould. Rather than talking of ‘sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll’ musicians in my media product discuss their efforts to break into the industry. • Furthermore my front cover photo shows the band all against a wall, no one member in front of another which shows a sense of team work and equality rather than a front man’s ego and stage persona coming before the band’s skill.

5. Continued • Moreover, my media product represents members of the music industry such as promoters, managers etc as helpful. Despite it being known that it is a tough cut-throat business I have represented this group as supportive to new and unsigned bands because I know that there are many supportive people within the industry willing to give new bands that push into the music business.

6. What kind of media institution might distribute my media product? • My magazine would be best distributed as a newsletter, due to the specific target audience it would not be bought by masses so would not succeed on the self. Only those interested in new bands would pick this up such as unsigned bands or managers scouting for upcoming acts. • Alternatively it could be published regularly on the internet as technology is advancing people are more likely to look to the internet rather than sign on to a newsletter. Additionally, newsletters can be sent via email, so this could be another method of distribution that could prove successful for my media product

7. Who would be the audiencefor my media product? • The audience for my magazine would be upcoming bands trying to break into the music industry, I have appealed to this audience by including competitions to music festivals (the one I chose is a festival of independent bands) but also workshops to help bands get noticed. Moreover on the front cover I have included a quote from a main article “realised just how big we are” which shows to the audience that the featured band have been in their position and have got noticed; which would make them want to read the interview. Also there are tour date, coverage on Surface Festival (unsigned music competition), tips for new bands as well as venues to play at. These shown on the contents would attract my audience because they are trying to break into the industry and need all the advice they can get. Furthermore it gives them hope that they can because other unsigned bands appear in the magazine.

8. Continued • Another intended audience for my magazine are managers, promoters and other members of the industry scouting for new bands. • I have included a ‘top ten bands’ article on my contents page, this in particular would appeal to this audience as they could read monthly and see which bands are getting noticed and where to find them as at the back of the magazine I would have a page with all the bands included and their websites and general details such as genre and location.

9. What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? • I already had knowledge of Adobe Photoshop prior to this project, however this has allowed me to develop my skills. I have learnt to take care in placement of images and text as positioning can have an impact on the audience and effect how professional a page looks. • I have also developed my skills in photography particularly concert photography which is more difficult due to the dark, bright disco-style lights and constant movement. • Additionally I got to use Wordpress.com to blog my work which I had never done before so I had to learn quickly. Luckily the website was simple and I found it easy to learn and build up my blog.

10. From my preliminary task, what have I learnt in the progression to the full product? I have learnt a lot more about positioning images and text since my preliminary task. I have also learnt about using colours appropriate to my audience, the preliminary tasks were aimed at sixth form students so I used the colours of our school. However I learnt to use appropriate colour scheming for my new intended audience. Also the fonts I feel are more professional, especially on my contents page where I have used different sizes, colours and caps to emphasise important information. I also used much better photos in my full product as I had developed skills not only on deciding where to place an image but on how to take it to fit the page too. The backgrounds on my preliminary tasks are cluttered and busy, I made my full product more mature and stylish by simplifying the backgrounds and using less colour in order to gain clarity and professional simplicity.