Music magazine evaluation questions (Harry Short)

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
 
Throughout my magazine i have used or challenged conventions you would find in a music magazine of a dance music genre or conventions in all magazines. For my front cover i kept to standard magazine conventions by keeping my masthead at the top which helps when displayed on shelves in shops, i also kept all text off the main image so it stands out more than if text was intruding on it. In my contents page i kind of challenged the layout as most music magazines of the dance genre tend to use one image with the contents in a list, where as i used several images to give more depth and sectioned my contents into different areas like exclusives, regulars, reviews etc. My brother who is within the target audience age range found the layout of the contents more appealing than a conventional contents layout. Finally i changed the convention of the DPS completley from an informative article to an interview layour which looks more aesthetically pleaseing as the text is broken up and not just a huge block of text. my brother also thought this looked more appealing.                                                                 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
http://www.slideshare.net/Short10/evaluation-of-my-media-product-presantation

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

Overall I decided that our primary institute to distribute my media magazine would be Development hell as they primarily work with music magazines of my chosen genre (dance). As Development hell work with Mixmag the biggest dance music magazine it would make sense to sell my product alongside it as it would gain us more publicity and a wider audience within the dance music community. However Development hell like other media institutions may not distribute my product if it is a competitor to their most successful product so i may need another media institution to distribute my  media product. I have decided that IPC media would be my second choice as they are a bigger company than Development hell and they don't produce a dance music magazine so by publishing my product they could find a gap in their audiences that my media product could fill. Also by publishing my magazine IPC media could give my magazine more publicity than Development hell could as they don't have a competitor giving my magazine more freedom within their company.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience was aged from 16-21 which seemed suitable for the genre of music I have chosen as my age range is more likely to go out to clubs and parts and listen to my chosen genre of music. The agre range I have chosen for my product would also be more likely to show their friends what they enjoy so word of mouth would get around about my media product and so would boost the popularity of my product. Also 16-21 year olds are fairly influentual and tend to follow fashion and trends and as dance music is a fairly popular genre they would possibly follow dance music and read my magazine.

How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract my audience I kept with many music magazine codes and conventions, I also kept the magazine fairly basic with regards to fonts and layouts so not to deter any potential audiences. I used direct address on my front cover and through out the pictures in my magazine which would attract my audience. I used basic sans serif fonts to keep the look of my magazine simple and not too cluttered. I also kept with conventions of dance music magazines and went for a basic layout which would appeal more to my target audience as they would not be interested in looking at a cluttered page. I also kept the main article simple and used collums to make the bulk of the writing seem smaller. For my main article I used an interview style article as i thought it would seem more appealing to my target audience in comparison to a biography style article which would fill the page too much.

A)Question about your TA - it is about the choices you made to cater for your TA(who?)                     

I chose my target audience because they are the most influential age group (16-21 years of age). I also targeted this age group because they are more likely to share what they like with thier friends and it would help spread the reputation of the magazine and dance music. I thought that using an interview format would appeal more to the audience as it doesn't look like a huge block of text and off put the target audience, my brother also thought that the interview format was more aesthetically pleasing and not as off putting as a block of text. I chose the dance genre because it is a type of music i enjoy and i know what appeals to other people who like this genre. I made my magazine appeal to its target audience by using the conventional representation of genders e.g. adding mystery to males and highlighting and emphasising the sexuality of females.

B)Question about attracting/addressing your TA - how have you drawn them in?
To make my magazine appeal to my target audience i have used the correct representation of genders in my images. I have also attracted my target audience i used language which is simple but still appealing and i have avoided using slang in all of my text. I think the fonts  i have used for my articles and cover stories are attractive and appealing to my target audience because of thier simpleness, I also think the font i have used for my masthead and main cover story is appealing because of its bold shape. My mum thought that i had chosen the right fonts for the target audience. I also asked my brother who falls into the target audience category and he agreed that the

(couldnt add flow charts or use statistics from my survey as jack has all the information)

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

Through constructing my media product i have learnt alot about technologies from software on the imacs as well as learning alot about photography. Adobe photoshop elements was the software in which I made alot of progression, I have learnt alot about the tools in photoshop elements such as the magic wand tool and layers with in the actual programme. I have also learnt alot about photography and that there is alot more to consider whilst taking photos than i first thought. For example i learnt that you have to consider the lighting and the focus of a picture as well as the depth of field and the ISO.

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

I have learnt alot about building a media product from the preliminary task, I have learnt that a magazine requires alot more components that i first imagined and needs alot of thought through planning to make sure the media product satisfies the target audience. In my preliminary task i made a magazine on what i felt was aesthetically pleasing but trough my research leading to my final product i learnt that you need to conssider other peoples point of veiw. I also learnt that a magazine needed more components than i first thought, in my preliminary task i had a masthead a few coverstories a banner and a flash but i realised that i needed alot more components such as puffs and pugs for example. I also learnt that the fonts i used were important in attracting an audience and couldn't be too complicated as people would not stop and read them in a shop and just pass them by.  Overall i think i have made a fair amount of progression from my preliminary task through to my finished product.