Evaluation of my three products

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

From my research, I identified many conventions of music magazines. For example,

in the rock or indie music genre, I found that every magazine I analysed followed a
house style of red, white and black. I decided to go for a different colour scheme,
of dark grey, gold and white, as I felt that this made my magazine appear more
classy, and also make it stand out on the shelf. However, I also followed some
conventions, for example the layout of the front cover, with a mast head in the top
left corner, a sky line at the top, a barcode in the bottom corner, and a large,
striking main image. I followed these conventions because I thought that if I didn’t,
my product might not actually look like a music magazine, and that is very
important if it is to catch the reader’s eye.
How does your product represent different
social groups?
My magazine mostly represents males, as this is who it is primarily aimed at. The main model
on the front page has scruffy hair, and buttons undone on his shirt. These things could be
seen as stereotypical of fans and artists in the rock or indie music genre. The colour scheme is
white, dark grey and gold. These are quite bold and manly colours, which will attract my
target audience. They are also a bit more classy than similar music magazines, like NME OR Q.
This will attract a more sophisticated customer, and make it stand out on the shelf. In my
article, the tone is quite casual and chatty. I use words like ‘ciggie’ to show the casualness of
the situation. The images are all in black and white, which also gives the magazine a more
arty or sophisticated feel.
 What kind of media institution would
distribute your product, and why?
One media institution I can see distributing my magazine is IPC Media. This is
because they also distribute a range of magazines targeted at my readership, like
for example NME and Nuts. This means that they will have a great knowledge of
how and where to advertise my magazine, and also where would be the best place
to sell it.
Who would be the audience for you product?

As explained in more detail in my target audience profile, my magazine

would be primarily aimed at males, between the ages of 16 and 14 who
are in to indie or rock music, like for example Arctic Monkeys or Kasabian.
However, I can also see some women buying my product.
Target audience profile:
http://tomleemedia10.blogspot.com/2011/05/profile-for-my-target-audie
nce.html
How did you attract/address your audience?
One way in which I attracted my audience was through the use of dark, bold and
manly colours. This makes it stand out on the shelf. The fonts I used were bold and
simple, which also lends its self to attracting males. Another way I attracted them
was through the competitions that I featured on my front page. As most of my
audience would either be at school or university, the chances are they won’t have
much disposable income, so any competition they can enter to get things for free
would be a great reason for them to buy my product. My magazine will also
commonly feature massive stars in the rock or indie genre, so many people will be
attracted to the big names or faces on the front page, and throughout the
magazine.
What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing your product?

Throughout the planning & production process, I discovered

new things about a wide range of different types of
technology. I used a lot of things I have never done before,
like for example www.dafont.com to get all the fonts I used in
my magazine. I also used different settings on my camera,
where as on my preliminary task I just used the one.
 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from
it, to full product?

I learnt a lot about the editing of images, and how to do things I never knew you could do on
Photoshop, like for example the pug on my front page. I feel that my final products are a
massive improvement on my preliminary task, as they look much more professional. I put
this down to the editing of the images, like for example cutting people out from the
background, and also the research I did looking at music magazine conventions.