Evaluation

1. Evaluation BY Dan Cusdin

2. Activity 1= In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Mis-en-scene Title of magazine Costumes and props This is the title of my magazine I decided to choose guitar smash as my magazine name because when you say it, it builds a image straight away in your head o someone smashing a guitar to bits so it sticks in your head and you remember it this means you wont forget the magazine. It also can be related to the type of music my magazine represents. This being rock music. When doing the photo shoot we had to decide what to wear as this is a major point in making the magazine a big success. Are costumes were designed around other rock bands fashion trend. The props being the music instruments shout out what type of a band we are whilst keeping the image realistic and eye catching. We used a black and blue guitar to keep the colour contrast with in a range making sure its not too bright. The reason I designed this front cover like this is all to do with connecting with the reader that be through image or writing. The main picture on the front cover is like pointing out at you with a neutral expression on his face. I could have placed the picture in the middle but I haven't it is slightly to the left this is because it catches your attention better.

3. Title font and style People Written content Here is a screen grab on a section of my written content taken from my double page spread. These are a set of questions asked to the main guitarist of my media band “Red Revolver”. They are written like his is just having a normal conversation this is to interact with the reader. When I was writing this content I tried to include vocabulary that my band members would seem to use. Such as “sick” meaning awesome. I kept the front a reasonable big size so it Is easy to follow and read. The font was kept standard. I chose this picture to represent the people used because it shows all three band members. You can show a lot of information by using people in pictures such as what mood they are in or how they dress etc. people can learn a lot from looking at a person. A role model or some one to dress like these people in magazines become role models so it is just as important to include them as average pictures such as props and music instruments. On my front cover I have used a large range of different fonts and styles this is to keep the page looking fresh and stop it from looking the same and boring. I used bigger fonts to get certain information across to the audience depending on how important the information is. I used different fonts to separate different parts of information.

4. Music genre and how your magazine suggest it Layout Contents page I have screen grabbed this picture to represent music genre because the way that this picture is positions shows that this is a classical quiet slow song. Its loud and in your face type music. The style of playing looks very intense and energetic. The vocalist looks like he is screaming into the microphone seems very harsh type of music, So I feel this picture gets across my music genre very well. If that is not enough the clothes also show the genre of music the jeans are skinny and tight the clothes are dark. No bright jewellery or colours. This picture was chosen because it has the most detail on it being my double page spread it had to have lots of information on as well as pictures . When it comes to choosing what layout to use this is very important. When designing you must remember that we look left to right on a page mainly because this is how we read. I tried to place each picture so as you are reading your read right through the picture. Like when looking at the white guitar it is as if you are reading it. Layout very important gets across what your magazine is about to the reader . This is my contents page I have made this so it is with in the same colour scheme as my other pages. I have tried to contrast the two colours. White and black. I layout of this is well planned I think . With the information about the magazine at the bottom and all the pictures and things that attract you to look at the page right at the top. These are Magazine editors blog and a band picture.

5. Activity 2 = How does your media product represent particular social groups? My media product represents a particular social group. Which is a gofic look commonly used for metal bands. This is shown by the use of clothing, Shot design and emotion displaced in the photo to the left. The picture on the right is what I will compare it to and is from a kerrang magazine front cover. Here are the three members of the band created for are media product. I have picked these two pictures to compare because I believe they share similar quality. The positioning of each band member is very similar this is used to interact with the reader by using eye contact. This is very important it could be what catches the readers attention this is good because it makes your magazine stand out from the crowd. The way the three members are positioned gives the front person more importance the emotion on each members face is very neutral but can be seen in many different ways. My picture has a slightly dark side on each face this changes the mood and makes it seem more gloomy. The Biffy Clyro has the same shadow effects but only for the front member. The clothing used in are media band are dark and would be usual worn by a rock band or metal band. We have no jewellery or big chains as stereotypically this is what rap artist or pop starts would wear. This picture was constructed by looking at other photo shoots and seeing the best way to display free people with out blocking them out. When designing this shot I wanted a slight shadow on one side of the face to show a more serious shot.

6. Activity 3 = What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? • The media institution that would distribute my magazine is probably someone like EMI they are based in London which makes it easy for my magazine producers to contact them. They are a large music company but are relatively small compared to the big names like Universal Music Group or Sony BMG. But this is good because they will be looking for new and upcoming music magazines which are able to get into that small gap in the market. The main role in this is getting a small magazine like my self into the big main stream so it has a bigger audience and more chance of people buying it. You could make a very good magazine but not have the money to advertise it so your audience doesn’t see the magazine and it doesn’t sell so it is stop being made. My magazine is similar to Kerrang except it does not have such a large audience because it is a new magazine.

7. Activity 4 = Who would be the audience for your media product? To the left is a stereotypical emo or punk. They tend to wear dark clothing such as black jeans and gloves. They have different fashion trends to other social groups they will normally have hair styles which are considered different. This could be dying their hair or having a fringe that covers one eye. They like to wear nail varnish and eye liner this is for both male and female. They display a lot of their emotion through clothes and the way they dress. My target market tend to have several piercing as this Is seen as being cool and standing out from the crowd. My target audience dress like this because their bands do so it is seen as being cool. I asked 30 people who all bought kerrang magazine what type of music they prefer and listen to most often out of the four categories. The results show that out of all the age groups harsh vocal music referred to as scremo was most popular. This was also a mix of male and females that bought this magazine and answered the survey. Their favourite TV programs would be music channels such as scuzz and kerrang. They would shop in most shops apart from sporting shops such as JJB.

8. Activity 5 = How did you attract/address your audience? Keeping to a simple but effective colour scheme through out the whole magazine will keep you audience attention with out using bright flashing symbols or bad contrasting colours. One of the biggest factors in attracting your audience is having a eye catching magazine name and front cover. I have tried to make my magazine front cover connect with the audience by eye contact and body language I think it works well. Putting in band reviews and rating’s is also another feature which helps attract the audience because they want to see what the band has to say about others. Putting big quotes around the page keeps it interesting and keeps the style fresh as well as stopping it just being full of writing. Using quotes to get key points of information to your audience. Adding competitions also keeps the audience hooked as well as attracting them. Making the competitions refer to a band that have been in this weeks issue will make the audience interested . I have chosen to place a large amount of pictures into my magazine this is because after researching several magazines I found that. The use of imagery is crucial this is because it is the first thing to attract the readers view. Conclusion = I have made my music magazine look bright and eye catching so it gives a good first look. This is very important if you are trying to win over new people or increase your audience. Your magazine needs to be well designed with plenty of information and picture.

9. Activity 6 = What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Since the start of this product I have learnt many things using different devices and loads of technology. For the whole creation of this magazine I have used Photoshop the first time I used it I was not sure on how it worked and what could be accomplished . After playing with it I found out how to do a lot of effects and editing. Then to the end of my product I have found out how useful Photoshop is and all the simple but effective features it has. The computer was used to work on and transfer pictures on the majority of my time was spent on the computer making the product in Photoshop. The song camera had many features on it as it was a top of the range camera. I could get some really good shots using this. I found that as we went through out the course I learnt more about different settings on the camera and how to capture certain moments in the beast quality. There is not a lot you can learn from using a memory stick but it is a very important piece of technology this usb stick backs up all data and is very useful and quick when wanting to transfer data. The tri-pod is another easy to use but good quality piece of equipment. Its best use is if you want to take pictures of yourself or be in the picture you can adjust a good position . Tri-pod also good for getting a bottom flat image.

10. Activity 7 = Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product. I have also learnt that using small things like quotes can have a big effect on your page. It is important that when you create a magazine of some sort that it’s colour scheme stays the same through out the magazine and uses multiple colours which don’t clash but stand out. This is the contents page from my first product which was to create a school newsletter . As you can see there is not a great amount of effects or features used here . On the right hand side is my contents page for my music magazine product. If we compare this to the other contents page we can see that the design layout is a lot more complex because there are text boxes and titles here and there. The first contents page the sentences are just listed with two pictures added top left and bottom right. The title on the left contents page has been given some slight effects such as drop shadow while the other has a colour design round it and a different font design. What I have learnt from one product to the other is how you can implement with light to keep better moods and finishes to photos . Props makes it look more realistic and can be the fine line between a ok piece of work to a good piece of work. I also learnt that the layout can affect how the reader approaches the text or page.