AS Coursework - Evaluation

After Completing my final product I evaluated my work and progress.

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
By researching into different music magazines it has helped me to develop the forms and conventions of a real music magazine. I noticed that magazines titles were the biggest font used on the front cover. This made it stand out. I used this information and applied it to my magazine by making the title of my magazine on the front cover the biggest text used on the page. The front page is also dominated by a picture of the main feature of he magazine.I also used a barcode on my front page which I placed on the bottom right as I found that most magazines displayed there barcode here as it is easy to scan.On my contents page I also made sure that the title of the page was the biggest font used.I also found in my research that many magazines write a letter from the editor. I thought that this was a good idea so I wrote a short paragraph about the magazine and what was featured inside it.I also found from my research that magazine contents normally have regular articles that are featured each issue and features that are only featured once such as interviews with artists and bands. I used this form and convention and also used regulars and features in my contents page to make it as professional and real as possible. On my double page spread I used the convention of columns that many music magazines used.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine represents a young age group. I have used a picture of a teenage girl holding a guitar which shows that this magazine is a music magazine. On my double page spread I have used a picture of the artist with a big cheesy smile. This shows that she is enjoying what she is doing and enjoys the music because she is holding a guitar.On the contents page I have used a picture of the main featured artist with an electric guitar looking as if she was about to hit it on the floor. This shows that she also has a reckless side to her and has fun while making music.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Before starting my main task I researched into different media institutes that distribute magazines. I found that Bauer consumer media distributed two very well known and popular music magazines, Q and Kerrang! The music magazines that Bauer Media do distribute I found are mainly aimed at older teenagers and young adults. I think that my magazine could fit into this group and a company like Bauer Media could distribute my final magazine.

Who would be the audience for your product?
When starting the task I researched different types of music and school magazines. I found that a lot of music magazines are aimed at teenagers and young adults. From this research I decided to target my music magazine at young teenagers, both boys and girls. I thought that this would be the best audience to market my magazine at as this age group regularly buy magazines either weekly or monthly.

How did you address/ attract your audience?
by researching different music magazines I found information about what I should include in the music magazine and what would look good. I found that it would be a good idea to add information about latest bands and popular music. I found that these two features were included on most music magazines. I also included interviews with music bands and artists. This was also shown in most music magazines. My double page spread was an interview with a new artist as I found that most music magazines used their double page spread as an interview for artists. I used the research from other music magazines wisely and made sure that I included important features that I found on the magazines.

Which technologies have you used?
To complete my final product I have used a range of software that I was not used to.
To complete the front covers and contents page of my music magazine I used Adobe Photoshop CS2. This is a programme where I could put different layers and photos on top of each other to create good looking effects that made my product look more professional.
To create my double page spread I used Adobe InDesign CS3. This allowed me to add guidelines and add big chunks of text that I had already written out in Microsoft Word. This saved a lot of time. By putting in guidelines where I wanted to put my text made it easier to line up the text and make it more professional looking.I was already familiar with photo editing software as I have used it before to edit and Photoshop pictures and photographs. I found it easy to add pictures, move them about and also scale them down without making the picture out of proportion. I was also familiar with the layering so this was not a problem. I found it hard to add text and move it about. I had problems trying to change the size of the text so that it did not pixelate. I also found it hard to add effects to the text. I used online tutorials to help me so that I could edit the text and make it look as professional as possible. I found it hard to use Adobe InDesign as I was not used to this programme. Again I was familiar with the layering of the product but I found it hard to add photos and scale them down in proportion. Again I used online tutorials to help me understand how to do this. I have learnt new photo editing skills while completing this product. I am now able to edit photos such as giving a photograph a Polaroid effect. I am also able to customise and edit text as well as adding effects such as making a drop shadow behind the text.


Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I have learnt a wide range of new skills since completing my preliminary task. I learnt a lot of text effects and how I can use Photoshop to edit photos and fonts. I also learnt about professional layouts about how to layout front pages, contents and double page spreads. I also learnt about the features of a magazine and how to target these at an audience. I also learnt how to cut out pictures on Photoshop and how it was best to fill pages and not leave blank spaces.