Evaluation of Print ProductCaan Larkin’s

My magazine front cover.

This is my Contents Page

This is my double page spread.

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

During construction of my music magazine, I decided to mainly stick to the main codes and conventions of a typical pop music magazine.

My masthead stands out to the audience. This means that it draws the consumer’s eye to the title. My masthead also has relation to my chosen genre.

My cover line's are quite ambiguous. This grabs the attention of the consumer.

My main cover line is linked to the image on the front cover.

There is a maximum of four colours per page.

One main image and direct eye contact has been used to engage the audience.I also used a medium shot because I have a solo artist.

Although, for the majority of the magazine front cover I stuck to the main codes and conventions of a music magazine, I did break one of the codes and conventions. This is where instead of having my masthead along the top of the magazine cover, I had it on the left hand side of the page. I got this idea whilst researching, from Billboard Magazine. I felt it would look different and original if there was a clear break in a code and convention. I decided to challenge the Laura Mulvey, male gaze theory because I wanted to show a the other, less feminine side of Taylor Swift. This is because in mainly any other magazine she has been featured in she have been over sexualised because she is woman. Before I wrote my script I did a little bit of research as to how Taylor Swift felt about women in the music industry and found that she thinks women are over sexualised so I wanted to show this other side of her. Her pose and the direct address to the audience is still ‘sexy’, and ‘feminine’ but I got my model to dress in grey colours to show this almost masculine side to Taylor Swift.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

To start, my cover star features a young, white female. This is what you would typically see on a music magazine.

In terms of the Demographic Scales, I would put my magazine in Grades E and D. This is because after doing my audience research I found that the age groups that were interested in this type of magazine fitted into these two Social grades. The cost of the magazine also fits in with the age range because students typically have a job or some form of income, so the price of my magazine ties in well with the age group and I have my wants/needs of target audience research to back this up.My Media Product therefore represents young females well because that is who I have featured on my magazine.

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

After consideration, I believe that Bauer Media Group would be interested in distributing my magazine because they are a highly successful institution and have previous success in distributing the music magazine ‘KERRANG’. I also believe that they would be successful in promoting my print product. This is because they have various different platforms that they can promote the magazine on. Bauer distribute pop music on platforms like radio, TV and print.I will sell advertising space in my magazine because this will help raise funding to produce and distribute the magazine. The advertisements will fit with the target audience of 15-22 year olds such as, typical high street brands.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience I am aiming my pop music magazine at is 15-22 year old females. This is a typical audience for the genre of music because this genre has a heavy amount of female singers. My audience would shop at high street shops like Topshop, River Island, Zara and other high street shops. They would be heavily interested in pop music but could also be interested in other music that features in the charts like House, Dance, RnB music. The magazine is a very mainstream product so my audience would watch mainstream TV programmes like Orange is the New Black, Prison Break, The Big Bang Theory and Friends. They would also be mainly interested in love story films like Paper Towns, The Fault In Our Stars and other films that follow the same narrative as these.

How did you attract/address your audience?

My target audience is mainly females that are in the age range of 15-22 years. To attract this audience I have used a well known music icon that this age range is interested in. I know that my cover star will attract the audience I want because they target their music at the same age group and gender as my magazine.In my Wants/Needs of my Target Audience, I asked a question “What kind of articles would you expect on a pop magazine”. I have used this feedback to include, upcoming albums, gossip stories about relationships, Charts information and a front cover with an artist relating to the music genre. This feedback has helped me to attract my audience and address them because what is included on the magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread is what my audience has asked for. The Unique Selling Point of this magazine is having Taylor Swift as my cover star and my main feature for my double page spread. This will attract an audience that is heavily interested in the artist and also regular readers of the magazine.

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

I have had the opportunity to gain new skills through this as well as developing my knowledge and skills.

Blogger - I had previously never used or made a blog before so I was quite nervous as to how to use one. This website was very accessible. I am now very confident as to how to upload, use and manage a blog.

Scribd – Previously, I had never known that you could upload word documents onto the internet. This website became a great use to me as I could access it from home and it was easily usable.

SlideShare – Again, I never knew that you could upload a PowerPoint Presentation to the internet. This was a great use for uploading to my blog.

Prezi – I have previously used Prezi but not as in-depth as I did for this task. I enjoyed using this because it looked a lot nicer than a PowerPoint Presentation. Although it looks nicer, It did take a lot longer to use than making a PowerPoint.

Through using Scribd, Slideshare and Prezi, I learned how to use an embedded link and make the blog more interactive rather than just copy and pasting links onto my blog. I feel this made my blog stand out a bit more and a lot more fun to use.

DLSR Camera – I have previous experience with using a DLSR Camera though GCSE Media and one of my AS options, Photography. This was easy to use and made the quality of my photos a lot better than if I had used a different type of camera.

Photoshop - I again, have experience using Photoshop from GCSE Media and Photography. I did develop my skills more because I used tools that I previously hadn’t used.

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

From the preliminary task I felt that this task would be easily manageable and quite enjoyable. I was able to stay on top of the work load for a short while but then started to fall behind. This made me start to find the task difficult and then make me start to not enjoy the task at all. Due to falling behind with some of the tasks in Research and Planning, I was unable to complete everything, So from this I have learned that it is important to always stay on top of what work to do as otherwise I will fall behind.One thing I definitely learned is that doing in-depth research and planning is incredibly important and makes the task a lot easier to deal with because you have things to go back and refer to. I especially found this helpful whilst taking my photos and during the construction of my print product. I used my Pop Music Mind Map of codes and conventions to help me with the construction because I would then know if I broke any of the conventions.From doing GCSE Media I only did a small amount of research and planning so I was shocked as to hope in-depth we had to go in AS Media. I am happy with my end result and am pleased at to the amount of work I was able to complete.