Evaluation of my Magazine

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My final pages of the magazine uses many forms of conventions of media products as I researched 3 different ones to find out similar aspects of them all and therefore, what is successful in magazine.By doing this research I was able to copy all the similar aspects of their media products and develop them further or edit them to put on my magazine. For example with the front pages: The mast head is large and clear in the corner with the image using most of the available space with a main cover line over the unimportant parts of the image and smaller cover lines to the side of the main image. I developed this by adding in smaller images to empty spaces to really show the images of the story.

I challenged the conventions of real media products by using a story that would not normally be heard of in the rock music industry - rock stars turning gay. Most stories would be about bands breaking up or their new singles and new yours and new plans, however, I used an exciting and different story to try and capture the eyes of not only my target audience but other people as well.








How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product of a magazine represents the rock and heavy metal lovers and all the people who are into rock, indie and heavy metal type music. It includes all the stereotypical rock music lovers who wear dark clothes and wear band's clothing and hide themselves away from the rest of the world unless at a gig or concert. It does this by using colours, such as red white and black. The target audience are associated with these colours and so the colours on my magazine reach out to them when they see it. Also the props used in images and the clothes used help to catch the attention of the target audience.

Who would be the audience for your media product and why?

My target audience for my magazine would be somebody who resembles Alana. She’s 21 years old and lives in the suburbs of London. Listening to music is one of her passions and she most likes rock and indie music, however, she also enjoys a little bit of everything else. She loves keeping up to date with all the new music and bands out and in her spare time she goes to live gigs, festivals and concerts with her friends on the weekends. She also likes to keep up to scratch with fashion and always knows and wears the latest indie, vintage and soho chick trends. Her favourite places to shop are Topshop, American apparel and H&M for some cheap, fashionable clothes. She loves to be loud and talkative and is also up for a good time jumping around in a mosh pit.

An example of Alana would be my target audience as my magazine is about rock music and is therefore, for people who love that music.

How did you attract/address your audience? 

I did this by using the conventional colours of rock lovers: red white and black and by using quite exciting, wild and furious designs. The mast head for example is style to be quite loud and furious which resembles the music and also the name of the magazine - Rage!- is  a direct description of the rock music. It sounds like it has a lot of rage and anger and therefore, the target audience will recognise this and want to buy my magazine. 

What have you learnt about technologies in the process of constructing this product?

When constructing this product I learnt a lot about technology. I started using photoshop to develop images, produce magazine pages and edit/change anything you put on there, for example, images and text and shapes. Without photoshop, the construction of my pages wouldn't have been possible to as high of a standard as they are now. Photoshop can make things look professional and of high quality. 

I also learnt how to use  blog page. I'd never used this before and therefore it was very new and confusing to me. However, after having used it to upload all my research and production of the pages, I've learnt how easy it is to use and how you can use it and what you can use it for.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

I feel I have learnt how to make a product look more professional. I've learnt that in order to make your product send off the right signals, there are so many small things to do such as colours and images which really help to convey a certain mood and atmosphere. I learnt that researching can really help you to convey the right images and moods and genres. i learnt how taking many photos rather than just a few can give you a wider range and more options for better photos and how the quality of the photo really helps. For example, posing your models to a certain way and the use of props and clothing and make up. All this leads to a better image and better implications of your genre of product. Re-editing all the work can also help as well to make a product better in all aspects. Changing things around and moving to test out every possibility to see what looks best.
My full product is a lot better than my preliminary task as i took all these things into consideration when I was producing my pages. There is always more to be done though and more to be edited and improved which would be learnt through re-doing my tasks in the future.