Coursework Evaluation

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

From analysing music magazines at the beginning of the coursework, this helped me to decide how i was going to design my front cover, contents page and double page spread. I was then able to identify elements that were used in most magazine. E.g. Tag-lines. And then also the elements that were original and that linked together the magazine. E.g. colour themes. I started off my magazine front cover with a picture in mind of how I wanted it to look unconventional, however as I started to put it together like this, I soon realised that would not have worked and that i was better off to stay as making it conventional. I had my own titles and photo ideas and the other magazines helped me to decide which ones I wanted to use in my final, I could

then get the most out of my magazine for it to look professional and suitable to sell on a shop shelf. As there is not many pop music magazines around, I couldn't really look at any to help me whilst designing my music magazine. In the front cover I used the conventional things like mastheads, taglines, barcodes and an eye catching main image, I also made sure that the front cover included the price and date in which it would be sold. The main headline on the front cover, is bold and bright and therefore it would be obvious to the reader that that is going to be one of the main stories in the magazine.

I started off my music magazine after designing three different front covers, using my masthead as 'Pop Princess' and this was written through a rainbow, after I had started to produce the front cover I decided that it was not working as if it was to be sold this way from far back Pop Princess could not be read and with the rest of the images etc on the front cover, the rainbow was too over powering, this is why I completely changed the name of my magazine and the way in which I laid it out. I changed the name from Pop Princess to Popular because I felt that it looked and sounded immature and too young.

Within the double page spread, I wrote it as an interview like most magzines do and also added images and picked out quotes and made them stand out, this is like many double page spreads that I had looked at before starting the coursework.

My final contents page, in some ways followed a conventional contents page, I have a bit which says 'Regulars' and 'Features', I have also used the same rainbow that is on the front cover in the contents page but made it a little bit smaller.

I also put a little version of the front cover into the contents page at the bottom of the editors note. By including all these ideas I was able to develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products, to then fit my own design.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I have aimed my music magazine at young teenage girls, aged between 12-14 years old.

For my music magazine I chose a model that would suit the theme of pop music and that fitted in well with my target audience. When putting together my magazine I wanted my 'celebrities' (models) to be a good role model for the target audience of young girls and who like to listen to this type of music. I chose my 'popstar' on my double page spread to be the same image on my front cover, this is because she is young and attractive and this would attract young girls to buy the magazine. My music magazine represents the social group of young girls like Samantha who I used in my target audience profile. My magazine represents young girls in a positive way, as it is colourful and fun that will attract the audience to the appearance and and standard of my product. I didn't use anybody that was too young as my model or one that was too much older than my target audience. This is because this type of magazine is not aimed to anyone of them ages and therefore they would not purchase the magzine from the shelf in a shop. The typeography that I included within my magazine was quite simple and easy to read, this will also attract a younger reader, as anything that is too complicated they would not bother to look at, this is also the same with the colours I used, there are many different colours and they are all bright and eye catching.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

One company that could publish and distribute my magazine could be the bbc. http://www.bbcmagazines.com/. The BBC media however sell a large range of music magazines and one of them is extremely popular. 'Top of the Pops'. This could be a problem for my magazine to be published by them because they would not want it competing with their big magazine as mine is also under the pop genre.

Another company that may publish my magazine could be IPC media: http://www.ipcmedia.com/. They have published 80 successful magazines, like NME. They also haave nearly two thirds of the public that buy their magazines are female. This is good becuase it is young girls that my magazine is aimed at. Although they produce a range of many different magazines they do not produce Pop magazines therefore by producing my magazine, it would give them more scope.

That is two companies that could produce my magazine. Places that could distribute my magazine are big well known shops like Tescos and WhSmiths. These would be good places that could distribute my magazine because as my magazine is not yet known by many people and by selling it in a well known shop, will help to sell the product.

Another way in which my magazine could be distributed is by mail and suscription, that way as it is aimed at younger teens it is easier for them to get the magazine and also as it is sold weekly it will be easier than having to go to a shop every week.

Some magazines are sold at magazine kiosks. However I do not think that a magazine kiosk would distribute my music magazine as they do not always sell music magazines as they prefer to sell magazines that they know will sell, like 'Heat'. As many people buy magazines for celebrity gossip.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?


The audience for my music magazine is young girls that age between 12-14 year olds. Like Samantha, the girl that I used in the audience profile, they should be interested in pop music, being with their friends and having girly nights in with chocolate ice-cream. They should also be interested in singers like, Pixie Lott, Katy Perry and Leona Lewis. Without this taste in music there would not be much point in buying my magazine therefore the young girls that do, my magazine will really suit them. As it is aimed at young teens and they are likely to have no money as they are too young to earn it themselves I have priced my magazine to retail at £2.00.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Mise-en-scene is also a big part in designing a magazine, so that it attracts an audience. I have tried to attract an audience by using many different techniques. I used images of a model-like girl, who represented my target audience of teenage girls. The model I used, Charlotte 'Lottie Piper' has a young attractive face with a slim build and this will attract young girls as they will want to be like her. I dressed Charlotte in a light purple prom dress, this is because young girls love a girly dress and cannot wait for the day of their prom. I also made sure that she was not wearing too much make-up as young teens shouldnot be persuaded by looking at a magazine to wear a lot of it.

I chose the colour scheme by taking the colours out of the rainbow and using the different colours to do the different things like, the background and taglines. I did this because they are bright colours and by using lots of different colours, it can start to have a pretty, girly appearance. Also straight away when somebody thinks 'girly' they think pinks, purples, whites etc, so I wanted my magazine to be different. The language that I used was informal throughout my magazine as it then portrays the magazine as friendly, this will attract youn girls and they would want to read on.

By deciding that my magazine would be retailed at £2.00, this will also help to attract my audience as that is not that expensive for a music magazine and they are not old enough to be able to afford a magazine every week that is too expensive.

All the articles that have been included on my front cover are what every young girl wants 'luscious locks' or love doing 'girly nights in'. This is another way in which my magazine will attract young teens to want to buy my magazine.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

To create my music magazine I used Photoshop Elements 8, I used the same photoshop when completing my preliminary tast, however I only knew how to use the basic tools like cropping the image and cutting it out with the lasso tool. Now after completing my final products I have learnt new skills on how to use it and what majority of the tools mean and do. I completed my music magazine on a Apple Mac computer, when doing the preliminary I found it difficult to use, however when starting my final magazine I was used to how it worked. On photoshop I now understand how the layers work and what I have to do to get images under/over the masthead etc. Some of the tools that I have learnt to use properly are the 'move tool', 'clone stamp tool', the 'eraser tool', the 'shape tool' and the 'gradient tool'. I also learnt how to add and arrange layers and how to use some of the basic tools like text and how to change the canvas size.

The camera that I used to take my photos was a Cannon 400. Before taking the photos for my music magazine, I decided to take them outside so that the images would be brighter, I had to take into consideration the sun light. I had to make sure that the sun was behind me, whilst I was taking the photos and then had to double check that the sun was not making Charlotte's (model) face not too bright so that when I took the image you could see her face properly. I wasnt a hundred percent sure if I was going to use the background that I took the image on or whether I was going to cut it out, I tried with the background and decided that a field type background did not contrast in with the style of the front cover.

As well as photoshop and a camera I also used http://www.blogger.com/ to show the stages throughout my work from the start to the end and also to upload the images of my work, I have also used it to show the research and analysis that I did before designing my final product.

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

For my preliminary task I designed a front cover and contents page for a school magazine. At the beginning I looked at some previous school magazines to help me with ideas for my versions. I planned a few mastheads, tag lines and what sort of images I had in mind to use. I ended up having to produce 3 different copies of my front cover and contents page because photoshop kept crashing and as I hadnt saved my work any where else other than my memory stick it was deleted. Therefore througout this task I have learnt that I need to make atleast 3 copies of my work. My preliminary did not have any conventions to it, this is because I did no research before completing it. When using photoshop to complete my preliminary coursework I only used basic tools and can see that now my knowledge on how photoshop works is more improved. I think my music magazine looks of a higher quality and more professional than my school one. My music magazine was aimed at a certain audience and was completed after a lot of research whereas the school magazine wasn't. When completing the preliminary task I did not really know how to use photoshop, however when I came to do my final pieces I was able to use it better and knew how to use the layers properly to give my magazine a professional and retail look.