Evaluation
This is the evaluation of the media products, which I have
produced. I have worked alone on my product and have produced two contrasting
magazine covers and produced sample pages for the inside of the magazine. I
chose to produce a music magazine, as it is something that I have a strong
interest in.
The research into existing products helped me to produce
these magazines, as it was good to see the codes and conventions of the types
of magazines that I was producing myself. For example the positioning of the
masthead is at the top of the magazine and both use the colour red for the
masthead as it is a very strong colour which stands out and the Feature Article
Photograph located directly in the middle of the page so that it is the
forefront of the magazine which the audience first sees when they look at the
magazine. In my research, I began with gathering my initial ideas together and
had the decision of either making a music magazine or a music poster. I made
the decision to go ahead and make a music magazine as my interest in music is
much higher than anything else and looking at other music magazine covers, it
interested me and looked like it was going to be an enjoyable product to make
and the codes and conventions in the magazine were a lot more typical than the
ones which are used in a music poster. Once I made the decision on making a
music magazine, I selected two different magazines and analysed the codes and
conventions, the denotations and connotations, the use of colour and genre. This
was fundamental to helping me to pick out the certain colours used in the
magazines like white, black and red used in both the magazines as these are
dark colours and stand out on the page and the locations of the masthead and
feature article photograph which I then used to put into my magazine. This
helped me spot the features that are usually on the cover of a magazine and
what I had to do to make my magazine covers look authentic and enticing. After analysing existing products, I looked
at the IPSO regulations which included; no foul language and the editors code
of practice which, when making a magazine if you break one of the rules then
you can be punished for it. This helped me to put make my product and stick to
the different rules and regulations. Then I researched Time Inc. to see the
product portfolio they had and the background to the company.
Following this research, I then started my research into the
different types of audience to see who my product was going to appeal to and
which types of audience I would be aiming my product at. In the audience audit,
I identified the demographic audience that I would be targeting to be males
aged 16-35, as these are the types of audience who would be into the music
content that is in the magazine. The psychographic audience for my product was
people who liked Indie/Alternative or just had a general interest in music.
During this process I asked a series of interrogatives to a member of the
target audience and this helped me to find out what people expected to see on a
magazine cover, For example, the typical colours black, grey and white which I
have used in my magazine to make the rest of the magazine stand out. I asked
ten different questions and used the answers from the audience research to help
me to produce my pre production magazine cover and the double page spread
making it relevant and using many of the answers to make the media product to
suit the target audience. This research helped me to think about several
different features like the secondary articles positioning and the colours,
which were stereotypically on a magazine such as white, which stands out on the
page. The Practice magazine that I created helped me to know how to create a
magazine cover properly and how to use Photoshop efficiently as this was my
first time using it and it took time to figure out how to it properly. For the
first magazine I took several different shots to see which one was the best and
used one on the front of the magazine and one in my production for the music
magazine as I considered these two pictures to fit the criteria of the magazine
the best. These pictures were effective as it shown a close up of the feature
article photograph and a long shot to show the full picture. For the dog
magazine, I took several shots of the dog in different places and also picked
the picture that I thought was the best for the magazine and used the picture I
took of a different dog in the right pug of the magazine. The colours that I
used for the secondary articles and headlines I changed in the dog magazine
from yellow to red and black as the red and black showed up better and was
clearer for the audience to see when they first look at the magazine. For the
first magazine I faded out the background so that the writing was clear for the
audience and it wasn't difficult to read. This met the needs of the target
audience due to the big name artists of the Indie genre like Blur, Muse and
Foals which then invites an older audience and dark colours which stand out on
the white background making it visible for the audience.
Once I completed the two contrasting magazines for the pre
production, I selected one of the magazine covers, which was the music magazine
and then conducted the main production. The headline for the pre production was
‘Smithy takes 3 awards at the NME awards’ which was linked to the main
production as the production inside the magazine was an interview that had
taken place after the awards based upon the success and how they felt about the
awards they had won. This interview was conducted on a double page spread,
which made the interview seem really important and made it seem like this
artist wasn't easy to get hold of to interview. The demographic target audience
for this magazine was males aged 16-35. The way I addressed this audience is by
putting a picture of a male dressed in a suit on the front cover, which may
attract a male audience as they like the look of the person in the suit. Also
in the secondary articles and below the headline I used bands and singers,
which predominantly had males in them so that once again males are likely to be
attracted to it. I used band names that were named in the audience interview to
address the target audience. By putting bands like Blur and Foo Fighters name
on the front of the magazine, this attracts a different type of audience as
these bands will appeal more to the 25-35 bracket as these bands have been
around for a long time. Inside of the magazine, I put another picture of Jack
Smith in the suit inside the magazine to appeal to the male audience and asked
questions that isn't just about music and about personal life which is used to
attempt to inspire the target audience. The psychographic target audience is
people who are interested in indie music. This target audience is addressed in
the front cover by being packed with lots of different indie artists and bands.
Inside is an interview with an indie artist that has lots of content for indie
music and just different types of music which means that it reaches out to a
wider audience also. This magazine follows typical codes and conventions as it
has all the typical things you are likely to see on a magazine cover besides a
puff. The codes and conventions of the double page spread show no separation of
the interview and it just carrying on a different page. I also challenged these
codes and conventions by including other types of music and including off the
topic of music questions. The audience interview made me put the picture of the
singer in the magazine to show the importance of the person and dark colours
like black on a white background so that it stands out and are easy for the
audience to read.
My magazine has many strengths and weaknesses. The strengths
of my pre production is the colours that are used are very typical for a
magazine making sure that they look very professional and realistic for example
the colours red and black on a white background so it stands out and I use many
secondary articles and place the model in the typical positions after making a
comparison with real magazines meaning that my product is more realistic. Also
the look on the models face is good as he looks happy and confident which
conveys the joy of winning the award. The clothing is dark blue and black as
they stand out to the rest of the magazine is different colours. I am happy
with the cover of the magazine as it follows many codes and conventions, the
use of colour, mode of address and target audience appealing to a male audience
due to the more masculine colours used and the male on the front and inside
attracting both males and females. The strengths of my production are that the
content is spread across two pages with many questions about the artist that is
also typical in other magazines. By putting a red background on the fact-file
this makes it stand out due to the dark colours used when the rest of the
background is white that makes this stand out more. I also used a large font to
make certain parts of the writing stand out and dark colours for the writing so
it stands out on the background and compared to the rest of the writing. The
inside also looks like a real magazine due to the different codes and
conventions typically in the magazine. In comparison with NME magazine the pre
production masthead is at the top and is red like in the NME as it stands out
and on the shelf it is a lot more visible as the audience will see the title
and know what the magazine is. However in the NME magazine the different fonts
used in the media text are a lot more effective than my magazine as it uses a
font which looks like handwriting which is effective as it is a quote from Noel
Gallagher.
