Evaluation.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My product mainly coincides with codes and conventions of similar products; I have chosen to do this so that I know my product will fit in with other similar products in terms of layout and content. This is so that my audience don’t have to leave a comfort zone whilst buying a new product i.e my magazine rather than the one they may usually buy, so it is not too different. However I feel that to appeal to my target audience I have used fonts, colour schemes and certain language at times that will make my product stand out over competitors by relating more closely to the audience. I have done this using unusual fonts, bold colours and informal language which at times gets the reader involved.
Photos have used photographs not dissimilar to ones which make up conventions of a normal music magazine for the same reason that so my target audience aren’t put off my too much change. In terms of my front cover it is similar to most other music magazines conventionally, for example this ‘vibe’ magazine. My font is big, bold a bright to catch readers attention to look at my magazine over anyone elses, the colour scheme I used coincided with what my target audience said they preferred in a questionnaire. Also the route of they eye on both examples are typical of any music magazine with coverlines down the side which come in front of the main image in the centre of the screen. I have also used the rule of thirds in the conventional way with the middle third containing the main image, top the masthead and each side third with coverlines and information. My contents page has swayed further from the conventions, partly because contents pages of magazines conventions are more wide spread. I have included images which should want the reader to read more, the images I think will appeal to my target audience. I haven’t got a main image as such but three different ones which are relevant to my three main features. I have only included features on my contents to keep it simple and less boring, however some of my target audience may want to know more about the more regular things, I decided to keep with the colour scheme as it is only the next page, these are the colours my target audience primarily wanted and to keep consistency. The double page spread I produced is, like my front cover, very conventional with a main image which takes up half the space and the actual interview on the other side of the page, with this page as it is a one off page I decided to emphasise this my using a different colour scheme to give it a more exclusive feel.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My product in particular is quite unbiased in respect to different social groups and how they are represented nowhere are any certain groups said to be better or worse than any other. I have done this intentionally to make my target audience range wider, so that my magazine appeals to a broader amount and type of people. My magazine may suggest that people who read about and enjoy listening to the genre of music do, or should behave or dress in a certain way, this however is only an impression given my images and features within the product and is to the readers discretion how they view this, giving the reader more power and engaging the audience more. My images may be seen as stereo typical as hip hop and R&B are associated with dark, largely males who dress a lot like the model I chose. The costume, pose, ethnicity and mise-en-sene all represents what would be stereotypical to see in a music magazine. For example the two models in the main image for the front covers I compared further up are similar in all of these aspects, I chose to do this to follow conventions as the magazine sells well so is a good example.
What type of media institution might distribute your product and why?
a company like intermedia may distribute my magazine as they already distribute ‘vibe’ magazine which was largely my inspiration. Intermedia are a major media conglomerate who distribute a wide variety of media products, from TV o Magazines. Their magazine and my magazine are similar as they both follow major codes and conventions of a music magazine from this genre however I think they both appeal to the same target audience in a different way..
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The primary audience for my product is people who enjoy reading about and listening to R&B/ Hip Hop music roughly aged 13 and above, I understand that this is a broad range of an audience for which I have taken into consideration and have also tried to appeal to people with different interests to by including certain other features in my magazine as well.
from my survey I also found out that I had a neutral gendered target audience population because of this I tried to use neutral colours to balance masculinity and femininity I also did this with language and images.
How did you attract/address audience?
I attracted my primary audience by carrying out surveys on them asking about preferred content such as colour schemes or fonts and features, where pliable I complied therefore hopefully attracting my target audience. I also largely used informal language where suitable so that the reader felt engaged and so they felt they could relate to the content. Mise en scene, shot types and angles were also chosen carefully along with model selection to ensure my target audience were attracted. I also tried to broaden the audience not so by age more by interests, I did this by including features that in my surveys were asked for but not so by the majority in the hope of keeping my primary target audience engaged but attracting the interest of people who would not usually read this type of magazine.
From this I used retrospective colour schemes that went with what my audience requested. Also form a feed back questionnaire I discovered that the information on each page was good but my audience would have preferred a famous model. You can see how I followed my target audiences requests in images further up the page as well as here.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I learnt that there a different ways of communicating with your audience which enables you to give them what they want, which benefits you as well. I also learnt that photos can easily be manipulated to fit a frame or be integrated into a different background to have the full effect, attracting more target audience. Also different programmes on the computer are better and make it easier to carry out different functions e.g survey monkey for a survey and Microsoft publisher to design. Print screening is also a good way to show how you went about a certain task
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression to the full project?
The main thing I learnt that everything that goes into a product is to make it appeal to the target audience which is the main priority. I also learnt to use appropriate programmes for different functions, and how to use these programmes to their full extent to for fill my works full potential. I have also learnt that time management is very important to meeting deadlines and to have your product completed to a good enough standard. I learnt that more interesting, more professional font have to be used to make the product appeal to the target audience. as well as these qualities I also learnt that using an example for inspiration can help even if you end up with a different finished product however more original ideas also pay off well.
