Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My product, AlternativeGirl magazine, uses conventions of real magazines in the fact that it has a masthead, tag line, a main photo with various sized plugs and a bar code on the front page. The contents page has a list of what's in the magazine and various photos to go with it, and the double page spread is an article in a similar style to one you would find in a real magazine. It has page numbers and branding, larger text for the page titles and a continuous colour scheme and theme throughout. It's conventions are aimed at a specific audience as most usually are on magazines, and this is continued throughout the magazine to the contents page and double page spread, which both also have conventions of a real music magazine. My product challenges forms of real media products as it is aimed at an audience that I feel the media does not currently cater for. Educated young females who have a genuine interest in music and want to actually read about it and not just read gossip articles about the artists.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My music magazine represents the females who are interested in the music industry, not just for the gossip and 'hot' male artists but for the actual music and everything that goes into making it. These females are well educated and are not the type to just believe anything they're told, they want to know the meaning behind artist's music, they are perhaps not the stereotypically 'popular' or 'girly' girls but they are the hardcore music fans that would rather read a magazine aimed at females like them than a more male orientated magazine such a 'Q.'
These females are the type of individuals that are not one to follow the crowd and aren't too bothered about what's top of the charts and what's not, and the ones that will spend the money to buy the magazine.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Looking at media institutions that produce magazines similar to mine I found Bauer Media who distribute magazines of the same type, music. They distribute Q magazine and Kerrang magazine which are both music magazines like mine but aimed more at males. So if they were to distribute mine it would be a good alternative for them as mine is aimed at females, whilst the others are aimed more at males therefore AlternativeGirl would fit in nicely with their publications and fill the gap in their market range.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
My magazine AlternativeGirl would be aimed at young but mature, educated girls aged around 16-27, that are interested in music. It's an alternative option for girls who don't want to read more masculine music based magazines or extremely girly gossip-y music magazines that don't actually feature much information on music. These girls would be probably middle class who don't mind spending more than £2 on a magazine but wouldn't commit as much as to spending around £4/5.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience to my magazine by featuring plugs on the front cover of specific music artists that my audience would be like and therefore be interested in reading about, to entice them to buy the magazine. Including a plug that says 'Free Download' which after asking some of my target audience, I found they said it would make them more likely to buy the magazine. I chose a colour scheme of black white and purple as it is not too girly but still girly enough to appeal to girls that would read it, and because black and purple are often classed as rocky colours which link with the image I want to give off to my target audience. I chose a photo that was quite strong to go on my front cover as I feel this represents someone my target audience could relate to and will admire as a person and musically. I also chose a price that is affordable to my audience and quite appealing so that it won't stop them from buying the magazine. I kept the language used in my magazine quite informal but still formal in parts as I am aiming it an more educated females who would more than likely not have problems with more sophisticated language. But I didn't want to make it too sophisticated as this could be a reading barrier and put someone off reading it.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Whilst constructing my product I have learnt a lot about how to use Serif Draw Plus and what tools work well and which ones don't. The colour picker tool was a great advantage to me, whilst I feel the cutout tool used to cut out the background wasn't the best and was very fiddly and temperamental. I also found that the program often froze, sometimes for several minutes which was a great disadvantage and rather annoying.
I have learnt the importance of having a good quality photo, taken with a good quality camera, as they are a lot easily to cut out and take editing a lot better. The quality of the photo and the editing was one of the most crucial factors effecting how professional my product was going to look so this was important.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel in the progression from the preliminary task to my final product I have developed a better use of the software and Serif. This has enabled me to give my final magazine a more professional and sophisticated look. I feel on the full product I have had a better choice of colour scheme and a much better choice of fonts. I feel this is one of the biggest differences between the two, as although the font on my preliminary suited the style of the magazine looking back at them I am not too fond of them, and think I may have used too many different types of font in different colours. On the preliminary the text was not always as readable as it should be, as on the bar going across the page with photos and plugs in the text seems to get lost on the photos. On my final product I limited the number of different fonts I used and made sure all the text was clear and easy to read so to do the best job it could in attracting the target audience. Also on my final product I had developed a better use of the cutout tool and so used this on my photos when needed. I did not do this in the preliminary and I think in doing this I have made my final product look more realistic, as photos taken in a studio would have a plain white background like the one on my front cover as it looks a lot more effective and stands out more. It also meant I could cut out photos so they were different shapes and therefore make my double page spread more interesting.
