AS Media Evaluation

1. AS Media Evaluation Ellen Coyle

2. All my magazine products use and develop the conventions used on a magazine that you would find on a newstand. For my front cover, I used a large mid shot image as seen below. To develop it, I used the brush tool on Photoshop to change my models hair colour, eye colour and skin tone. I also used the spot healing brush which made the image look more professional as blemishes were hidden by the tool. I added a drop shadow to my image so that it appears as though my model is stood up against a background. To also make my front cover have the conventions of a real magazine, I inserted coverlines on my product, as magazines are well known for the catchy coverlines on either side of their cover image. Plugs and puffs are also prominent features on a magazine front cover. I added one of each because magazine do not plaster them all over the front cover, however I put the plug in a bold, black circle to make it obvious. My date, price and barcode are all fairly small to make room for the more important features, however I think it is important that they are small to fit the conventions of a professional media magazine. My masthead is in the top left corner and is by far the biggest piece of text, as it is on most professional front covers. I added the satin tool in blending options on Photoshop to give it the double letter effect. I stuck to a red, black and white colour scheme to fit my models look, this is because most real magazines do the same. I didn’t put in a unique selling point because I had what the name of my magazine meant (“Alternative new music”) across my masthead and so I didn’t want to have a unique selling point. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

3. My contents page, I used columns to structure my pages however to keep to my music genre, I kept the rest unordered. I added several images, which are all linked to pages in my magazine. Some images are layered over the top of different pictures, I think this makes the contents page look more professional. For one of the images, I developed it into a black and white image by using adjustments and grayscale on Photoshop. The colour scheme I picked sticks to them the same as my front cover, because I wanted to keep it simple as most alternative music magazines have a fairly simply colour scheme. My editors letter I put in the top right corner of my magazine and tried to keep it informal because I think most alternative magazines give off that kind of vibe. I inserted a subscription option to make it look real and used a previous version my magazine front cover to make it seem as of there is more than one issue of my magazine. As well as this, I tried to stick to similar fonts as the one I used on my front cover, again because I wanted to keep a running them. The fonts are all small apart from the contents at the top because I think it is important to make it obvious, and real magazines would make the contents obvious.

4. For my DPS I put the main image on the left hand page because I wanted to have who the article was written about large and central on one page and have the article on the other page. I changed the hair colour, eye colour and skin tone on Photoshop again, the same as I did on my front cover. I stuck to the same red, white and black colour scheme as I did on the last two pieces of my work and kept the font fairly simple and made the title of the article bold and large. I also added a quote in in a larger font because most professional articles have this. I gave the article a small font and put it in two central columns to keep the article ordered. To make it more individual, I added a twitter feature in the bottom right corner. The page numbers I chose are a interesting font but also small so that the numbers do not distract from the article pages. I made the DPS on InDesign, however the images and the quote were made using Photoshop because it was easier to change the hair colour etcetera.

5. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? • I aimed for mainly women, however it would also be acceptable for men between the ages of 16 and 25. So, I tried make my magazine suitable for both genders and age groups. Because they are older than younger teens and possibly more sophisticated, I made the colour scheme and layout more sophisticated. • I used a female for my images because I think it appeals to both genders. I also aged my model at 17 because I think it is an age that both the younger and older of the age range will be interested in. I tried to keep my models poses fun, but natural to catch the eye but link it in with the music genre I chose. I also used a lot of colourful, concert images because young people spend a lot of time at gigs nowadays. • I chose colours that were simple but also had a vibrancy, because I wanted to still have a sophistication about the magazine but there still be an eye catching, youthfulness side to the magazine, linking again to my age range. • I added features such as the possibility to win ticket to V festival and plugs like the best gigs of 2012., this was to keep my social group interested. I also added the feature of a free Alex Turner poster. This would mainly appeal to the women of my social group, however it may also appeal to some men. • The article could be read by anyone in the social group I have targeted. This is because it is written very informally and is not focused on a particular gender, although I think it is more likely to be read by the more mature of the social group I have targeted. This could discount, some of those who are not as mature, but considering my music genre, I think most of the social group I have chosen would have a certain sophistication.

6. 3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? • The 3 main institutions that would distribute my magazine are likely to be shops, gigs and webzines. • I think that shops would distribute my magazine mainly because that is where most magazines are sold and because it is on permanent view to the public who can purchase the magazine whenever they want. I think also because it is a music magazine it can only be found in a minority of places, one of these being a local shop, because of this I think my magazine would be distributed at this institution. • Secondly, I think my magazine would be distributed at an institution such as a gig or music festival because that is where music is played, and where better place to sell a music genre magazine, than somewhere that plays music? It is more likely to be distributed at a gig or festival that plays the type of music genre that my magazine focuses on. Because my music genre is alternative, I think it would be sold at festivals such as V festival and obviously would be sold at gigs of alternative music bands • Finally, my magazine could be distributed as a webzine. As the age range I targeted my magazine at is very in touch with technology, I think it would be appropriate to distribute my magazine as an online magazine. Many more features can also be accessed via a webzine so it would make more room for videos and a more interactive way of reading the magazine. • These 3 institutions are where I think my magazine would be distributed.

7. 5. Who would be the audience for your media product? • The audience for my magazine was mainly females between 16 and 25, this was because it is the easiest age range to focus on because my peers were between these ages and being 16 at the time, I knew what kind of magazine girls my age looked for. • Through the magazine making process, my audience didn’t change, it is possible that my magazine could also be targeted at males between the same ages as well, however I still think that the target audience is more female than male and so no my target audience hardly changed at all. • It was fairly easy for me to aim towards my target audience because, as I mentioned, I was 16 when I began making the magazine and so I knew what girls in my target audience would look for when choosing a magazine . As I am also into the alternative genre of music, I knew what my magazine would look like and what people who also liked this type of music would look for in a magazine. Although, it was difficult to determine how to word the article, coverlines and editors letter because I didn’t want it to be extremely formal but neither informal so It was difficult to find the perfect balance to hit the youthfulness sophistication of my target audience. • I would say that my choice is based on personal influence because my peers were around the target audience age range I chose and also as most of my friends and I listen to the same genre of music, and read the same type of music magazine, so it was fairly easy to work out that I wanted a target audience similar to me and my peers.

8. 5. How did you attract/address your audience? • As my audience was mainly female, I tried to design my magazine how a female between the ages of 16 and 25 who prefers alternative music would want the magazine they are buying to look. • For the images, I used bright and eye catching concert images that would appeal to the alternative nature of my audience, but I also used images of my model. The model is wearing quite quirky and fashionable clothing which again would appeal to women because of the fashion side. • I used a fairly simple colour scheme of black, white and red. However, I think the red again appeals more to a female because it red is more of a feminine colour. Also, red is often seen in music magazines, so I thought it was important to go with a colour seen in many music magazines. • I also put in some features such as horoscopes which women are more likely to look at because I think women are more concerned with future predictions concerning money, love etc. I also added the best gigs of 2012 which would attract the audience because it is a music magazine after all and many people love to read about gigs that they may have been to. • The article would attract my audience because although it looks at the music side of the persons career, it also looks briefly into the artists personally life. It is also written in an informal format which appeals to the younger portion of my magazines audience. • The price of my magazine is £2.99 which is a reasonable price and attracts the audience because it is affordable and as my magazine is a monthly magazine, it will not cause more than £3.00 per month.

9. The genre of music of my magazine is alternative/indie which is usually not a popular music genre for women. However, recently it has become more popular with females and so I think now it is an appropriate music genre that will attract the audience I have chosen.

10. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? • The software I used was Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. Photoshop was the main software that I used and in the beginning I was not very confident at using the software. However, as I began constructing the magazine, I used it much more frequently and became more confident when using it. I was able to change, hair colour, eye colour, skin tone, get rid of picture backgrounds and add strokes to text as well as manipulate text in ways that made it look similar to that of a professional magazine. • Another software I used was InDesign. However, this software was mainly for arranging the layout of my DPS. I had already made my DPS image on Photoshopand had manipulated it how I wanted and only used InDesign to sort the layout of the DPS. • The images are examples of how I manip- • ulated the images into the ones I used • on my magazine DPS. I changed the • hair colour, eye colour and skin tone. I al- • so added a drop shadow and got ridof • the background. • Ithink it was necessary to manipulate the • images because it is possible to get rid of • blemishes on Photoshop and it makes the • image a lot more interesting. Unedited Edited

11. For my magazine I also manipulated different text. I used Photoshop to create the quote. I created the quote using the text tool on Photoshop. I then used the colour picking tool to choose the right colour for the quote. I also used the stroke tool from blending options to give the text a black outline. • Obviously I changed the masthead of my magazine, but the example was what the initial layout of my masthead was. Again using the text tool, I created both text pieces. I then colour both using the colour picking tool. For the ‘ANM’ I went to blending options and chose satin to get the square effect. I then moved the square effect about to see what worked best. • I also used a the website prezi which helped to create some of the interesting PowerPoint's I have made on my wordpress blog. Wordpress was another software I used which held all my research and planning and made it easier to keep track of all my work. I did this by adding pages on my blog and then uploading the materials I had done for my research and planning from my computer desktop. quote masthead

12. 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? Preliminary Coursework Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel like I have improved a lot. When I first started using Photoshop, I was not very confident when using it at all. However, as I began to create my three pieces my skills when using Photoshop improved. Nearer the end of the construction process, I was able to change different parts of my front cover, contents page or DPS very quickly and without difficulty. I think my planning was my most successful part, because I did it in a lot of detail and I was able to use my planning to create a successful magazine front cover, contents page and DPS.

13. My preliminary task looks a lot less professional than my coursework magazine. The picture is hardly edited and is very small compared to the one on my coursework front cover and also there are a lot less coverlines with no edited text to give a professional look to them. The masthead also has no design or creation to it, it is simply a different coloured text with a different font. I haven’t included any features on the front cover of my preliminary task. • My coursework front cover, looks a lot more professional. To start of with, the image is a lot more constructed and I have edited it to get rid of blemishes etcetera. The coverlines have also been edited with outlines, different colours, different fonts and have placed in certain places to cover the magazine. I have placed the date, price and barcode all in constructive places. I have also used a colour scheme on my coursework magazine, which is what real magazines have. Obviously my preliminary task was done before I started my research and planning so I have improved a lot when using Photoshop, but when placing my preliminary task and coursework together, it shows just how much I have improved.