Evaluation

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

I believe my front page challenges what is commonly seen on a magazine. I have made my product this way intentionally to allow it to stand out in an otherwise mundanely typical market. The differences which can be seen on my front cover is the use of mainly black and white with only a small amount of colour. This automatically makes my magazine stand out when compared with others of its genre. Another aspect is the way the image has been edited, I have intentionally made the picture harsh and sharp as opposed to the way in which other magazines make images in black and white look soft and comfortable. In doing this I feel I have again brought a new atmosphere to the magazine which is rare and mostly unvisited by others. My contents page fits in more with what is expected from this sort of magazine due to its very casual feel which can be found in many other music magazines. It is in this way my magazine uses real media product's conventions.

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

I believe my magazine is a similar style to others such as Vibe and Blender which are mainly Rap and R&B oriented, due to this I feel mine reaches out to the same or similar social groups and has the same audience as these highly popular magazines. My product is aimed at many social groups as although it does have this main audience others could enjoy the magazine due to its mature and professional feel which is perhaps not always accomplished in 'Rap' style magazines. My magazine adresses these social groups in the selection of models, who are of the age group and style of those who would be reading the magazine, allowing them to relate to the magazine. The golden theme also relates to the genre of music as it was inspired by Kanye West and Jay-Z's album 'Watch The Throne' which presents a fully golden album cover without anything else. The use of gold also refers to the unattainable feel most models have in magazines which are made for this age group.

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

I feel my magazine appeals to a high end market as it is different and edgy such as magazines like ID. It does not fit in with what is commonly sold at corner shops and newsagents and instead is the sort of magazine you would rarely find in these places. I feel my magazine would fit well with specialist stores such as music shops and book stores. Putting the magazine in a music shop gives a highly professional feel to the magazine, again enforcing the way in which the magazine is different to others of the genre yet still appeals to the right audience, even if they have to go to a bit more of an effort to find the magazine. This also adds a more rare and exciting aspect to the magazine. With so much focus on social networking and the Internet in this digital age I feel it would also be a smart move to also create an online magazine subscription option. This allows the magazine to still feel original and special yet allows a different experience for the readers. Along with this digital idea, creating a version for smart phones and tablet reading would also ensure my magazine is fresh and up to date.

4+5. Who would be the audience of your media product? How are they attracted?

As I mentioned before my target audience would be those interested in listening to and finding out about 'Rap' and 'R&B' styles of music. A majority of the artists mentioned on the front cover and contents page of the magazine are of this style, for example Odd Future are a group mainly known by this audience and have not yet become so popular as to become mainstream. Other artists mentioned such as Jay-Z, Beyonce and Kanye West are much more well known and loved by a much wider audience as well as being constantly in the media therefore attracting not only those interested in the genre but also interested in these singers/ rappers themselves. My use of certain colours and fonts has also helped towards aiming my magazine at my target audience's age range. I feel the mature fonts and basic colours appeal to an audience of 16 to 25 year olds, who are also the age group mainly interested in the genre of the music in my magazine. The group my magazine relates to would want aspirational and inspirational images which I feel I have fulfilled by using the golden model in two of my photoshoots and the using the road signs in my other photoshoot which are unusual and quite thought provoking.

6. What have you learnt about technologies since starting this product?

Before this experience I was not able to use any of the main programs needed in order to make the magazine. I had never before used adobe photoshop, something that was essential in the editing of all of my pictures. I am now able to make adjustments to the pictures such as changing the contrast and brightness, which is something I found use for in all of my pictures. I can now give an airbrushed effect to pictures and remove any blemishes which would have made my pictures look messy and unprofessional. I can even now change the look of an entire picture seemingly effortlessly due to the skills I learnt in this program. I have also learnt to use adobe indesign without which I could not have put my magazine together effectively and would not have achieved the finished product I have now.

7. What have you learnt from the progression from preliminary to full task?

Due to my research of other magazines I have learnt the reasons behind the placement and use of certain aspects. For example the use of the 'rule of thirds' and why you should make sure there are no 'hanging words' on the page. These are things I perhaps didn't pay enough attention to in the preliminary task yet concentrated a lot more on in the main task. Upon starting my preliminary task I had no idea hold to use any of the programs needed to make my magazine but now I have progressed in my skills in using these programs a fair amount and did not hit any major issues along the way whilst making my products. Comparing the overall results of my preliminary task and my full task it is clear to see that not only have my skills developed but also the level of planning and organisation I put into the work. I did not manage my time well for my preliminary and therefore did not have time to complete it to the standard I would have hoped whereas I can confidently say that I have managed my time much better in the full task and therefore produced a much better magazine. The quality of my pictures is also a difference to be noticed, but this again was due to not having the time to conduct a good amount of photo shoots to achieve a good enough image. You can see how much better the quality of the pictures used in my full task are due to me allowing myself the time to take three different photo shoots to develop my ideas. In the preliminary task I used my iPhone camera which meant the image was not very clear and could not be easily manipulated to make it look more professional. This is why the pictures in the preliminary task have such a poor quality and therefore make the magazine look very amateur and uninviting. Instead of trying to change this which could have ended up taking me a lot of time, I decided to take it as a lesson and made sure I would not allow the same bad results in my full task. This meant that I knew I would not make the same mistakes by using a bad quality camera again.