Tuesday 9 May 2017

Evaluation of the 7 Questions - Music Magazine


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

My magazine uses a variety of techniques to conform to the stereotypes of a classical magazine. I have used three main cover stories on my front cover to try and attract the audience. The main cover story featuring the main model is on the sweet spot of the magazine and this will be the first thing the audience will read. The colour scheme of the magazine is black, white and orange. This is to fit into the vintage, monochrome stereotype of classical magazines whilst also using a vibrant colour such as orange to make certain things stand out in the magazines. The mast head of my magazine reads Classical Strings. I chose this masthead because I wanted the audience to immediately know the genre of my magazine and also the word ‘Strings’ is often associated with classical instruments such as violins. The main image on my magazine front cover shows a student from Stockley Academy playing a violin. I used this image because the younger generation do not often play classical music as it is often associated with the older generation so using a younger model will attract a younger audience. My contents page uses the same colour scheme as my front cover. I chose this because it allows the magazine to flow better and look more appealing to the target audience. I have used three main images on the contents page to show what some of the content is inside of the magazine. I also decided to put page numbers on these images to make it easier to get around the magazine and so readers can find what they are looking for. I put a ‘contact us’ section on the contents page to allow the audience to be able to interact with the magazine. With this, I encouraged the audience to contact the magazine by giving them one free entry into the competition advertised by the magazine. My feature article also follows the same colour scheme of the previous pages and uses the same fonts as well. Here, I used another image of the main model and put a quote in large letters reading ‘it all feels like a dream’. This is to tell the audience what the feature article is a about and gives the impression that the content of the feature article is of the main models life as a classical musician. I put her name in large letters across the first two pages of the feature article. This is not stereotypical of classical magazines to do and I did this to try and cater towards the younger generation who read classical magazines who prefer a more informal layout, often not seen in classical magazines. Overall I think my magazine both conforms and goes against the conventions of a classical magazine. It conforms through the use of its colour scheme however the layout is very informal, attracting a younger generation to it.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My music magazine represents the younger generation who enjoy classical music. This is due to the main image on the front cover being of a young female playing a classical instrument and the feature article telling her life as a young classical artist. I think it represents this social group in a positive way. This is because I had the main model smile as she plays her instrument, showing that she enjoys what she does and doesn’t care what anyone else says. On the contents page, there is an image of the main model holding her instrument and smiling at the camera, showing how she is very chilled out and has a lot of fun playing classical music. All of the images in my magazine are females so another social group represented is women. I think they are all represented in a positive way as they are all smiling showing they enjoy what they do and are proud to be associated with the classical genre.

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

One institution that might distribute my media product is Time Inc. UK. I chose this institution because they haven’t distributed a classical music magazine before so it will be new way for them to make money by catering for a new target audience. I think this institution would like my magazine because it would be a way for them to make more money by attracting a new audience as it may also make readers try their other products as well. One method in which they would distribute the magazine would be through social media. This is because the younger generation use a lot of social media and spend much of their time on there. I think this would be better than physical promotion because it would attract more of the younger generation for the magazine.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product would be teenagers and young adults. They would age from 13 – 25 and I would aim for a more female audience. I have chosen this because it is usually the older male generation that purchase classical magazines so I have tried to create a magazine that would cater to this demographic instead. The social class of my target audience would be working class. Although classical music is often associated with the upper class, I have tried to show that those from working classes also enjoy classical music.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience by using models and images that are associated within the target audience. For example, I used all young female images within my magazine and this allows the audience to connect with these images and this attracts them more to the magazine. I have also tried to attract my audience through the use of a competition. In my magazine I have advertised that if you subscribe to the magazine every month, one free entry into the monthly competition will be entered. I think this will attract the audience because everyone looks a chance to win something free. Another method using to attracting my audience is through the use of the internet and social media. As the younger generation use these methods of communication more often than the old, they are more likely to get attracted by something on social media.

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

In the construction of my magazine, I used a range of software’s and methods to create and edit my magazine. For my images, I used a camera to take my own images and then put them into Photoshop to edit them. I experimented with different filters to try and make the quality of images better however I thought that the original images looked more authentic in the final product. When I finished editing my images, I had to plan the layout for my magazine and this was done in a software called InDesign. This software was where I created my magazine and the software gave me a variety of tools to help me with this. I had to create shapes for where my images and text would go and this later be filled in with the real thing. Doing this allowed me to experiment with the layout and what would look best the target audience. At first I went for a stereotypical classical magazine layout with everything in line and neat however I thought the younger audience would find this bland so I changed it to a more informal layout. After completing my magazine, I feel like I can confidently use InDesign to create a media product such as a magazine again and that it has helped me in identifying the codes and conventions of other magazines as I created my own.

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

Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel like I have developed my skills a lot more in creating my magazine as well as evaluating my magazine. I now know how to use media software’s such as InDesign and Photoshop effectively to create a media product to a good standard. I am able to edit images with ease now and know how effective planning is when creating a media product. I also feel like my understanding and reasoning behind my media product is more detailed and I know why I have done certain things on my magazine to cater towards my target audience. In the Stockley Academy film magazine I created, I know that my understanding was limited of why I done certain things however I feel like this has improved in the creation of my music magazine and that I am able to explain everything about my magazine. Overall, I think my understanding has greatly improved in the progression from both tasks and that this shows in comparing the two products together. I feel like my knowledge has improved in the technologies I have used and that this will help me in the future should I need to use them again.

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