Evaluation

1. Evaluation Shakel KalamAS Media

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? • Like my magazine real music magazines have mastheads , this also contributes into if the reader will buy the magazine or not, as readers may usually buy a certain brand of magazines. Using this will help make my magazine look more professional as this will give it a brand image and make it more recognisable. Also I have used advertisements as real music magazines have advertisements in them and this also makes the target market want to buy the magazine more as they will gain knowledge on certain products that they may want to buy. • My media product uses the same conventions as a real media products. I managed to accomplish this by analysing every feature on R&B and rap magazines. I mainly concentrated on the front cover, contents page and double page spreads. I also took some time at looking at advertising pages that magazines like ‘Vibe’ uses as they were the most similar to my target market and similar to my music genre. • I have also used cover lines and a main cover line which are used in real music magazines as they convey information on what the articles in the magazine are going to be about. Also the main cover line usually relates to the artist on the cover page

3. My magazine uses the same conventions as a real music magazine, this is shown here are they both have a masthead and the colour scheme of the masthead is used throughout the magazine. My magazine also has a selling line at top like the real music magazine All magazines require a barcode in order for the item to be sold so this also shows that my magazine uses conventions of a real music magazine. Both magazines have a colour scheme of 3 colours The model on both covers has a way of communicating a message to the readers by body language, for example both models are using their hands by pointing one finger towards a cover line.

4. How does your media product represent particular social groups? Representation is the way that groups are presented, often through stereotypical images. This can be done by the way someone is dressed, their age or the colour of their skin. In this case I have used the clothing of my model to appeal to my target market as some readers want to wear the same clothing as the artists. The social group that I am targeting is C1. The common people in this group have basic skills and may be employed. They are most likely to be employed as shop floor supervisors bank clerk or a sales person. I believe my magazine represents the particular social group of teenagers aged 16-25, who are interested in music, I’ve represented this social group by selecting an artist that will appeal to the target audience and also through advertising, because the products I have advertised are what is in fashion with 16 – 25 year olds. I have also chosen the main feature artist of my magazine to be someone that the target group can relate to. I have represented my social group as typical teenagers with little money, which is why my magazine is only £2.20 for an issue that is only released once a month.

5. My masthead automatically draws the readers attention as it has been designed with bold square font and the colour scheme used is a contrast between dark and light shades of blue. As teenagers usually like bright colours and strong bold fonts this makes my magazine more prone to be bought. My photographs relate to my target group a lot, because the readers in most cases go on to use the poses used by the artists in magazines. Another way I related the photographs was by taking a picture of my artist doing something that the target market and youth of today regularly do.

6. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? There are a numerous amount of institutions that could distribute my magazine. While researching I came across a few, I found out that IPC have not released a music magazine within the rap genre so there is a high possibility that they will distribute it. IPC will take the risk as they are already such a recognised media institution and they are already distributing very high selling magazines, which means they have committed readers that will buy new magazines distributed by IPC An example of an existing magazine that is being produced by a media institution is VIBE magazine who is published & distributed by InterMedia Partners My magazine is most likely to sell in stores such as or similar to WHSmith, Costcutters, Corner shops.

7. Who would be the audience for your media product? My magazine is going to be aimed at males roughly aged from 16 – 25. I will be aiming it at people from the social class C1. I personally think the people that will purchase this magazine will be the people that are located within Central London. I believe that my audience would be more of a niche market rather than mass market as I am making requirements to my magazine matches a specific target audience. Their aspirations are to purchase a magazine that is worth paying for. The want to read something that will interest them and keep them occupied, also something that may help them gain knowledge The demographics of the population of my audience is mainly aimed at the male sex, aged roughly between 16 – 25 who are most likely to be either single or in a relationship, but not married. Presumably they wouldn’t have any kids yet and they will have been educated. There geographic location would be within the city centre and some of them may have jobs as sales assistants. They would fall under C1 of the socioeconomic table.

8. How did you attract/address your audience? I used specific techniques to attract my audience for example my cover picture of my artist, the pose that he strikes and the clothes he is wearing will automatically attract my audience as I have researched into what people of my target market like and what interests them so this is a big factor of what influences them to buy the magazine or not Also the layout of the double page spread would interest my audience as it looks unique and the colours used are eye catching. I also tried to change the language used to appeal to my target market I used clothing brands and accessories that are fashionable to my target market, this helps as the artist may be and idol to some readers and they may like to dress up like him so the advertising in the magazine will help attract my audience as well.

9. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? The first thing I learnt was when I was taking my photoshoot, I learnt about the angles and different perspectives when taking pictures. I had to make sure that one side of the artists face wasn’t too light or too dark compared to the other I also had to gain a great amount of skill on Photoshop and InDesign, as I had to edit all my pictures on Photoshop and had to design my whole magazine on InDesign. I found Photoshop very easy to use as I had past experience but using InDesign was very tough to learn as I was using a program I had never used before.

10. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? I learnt gain a great amount of skill on Photoshop and InDesign, as I had to edit all my pictures on Photoshop and had to design my whole magazine on InDesign. I gained skills considering the layout of my preliminary magazine to my final music magazine as it looks more professional due to the amount of research I did on existing magazines. I have learned how to manipulate text, make images brighter, remove unwanted scars or marks of the models face, change the contrast of the images , how to gradient the background and how to contrast colours effectively The things I have learned about planning are planning photo-shoots and interviews, what equipment is required, the location and how time consuming is will be.