7. Of Evaluation

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

I feel as if I've progressed hugely  from the early stages to now...

Front cover

From first glance of the front cover, you can immediately see where things have improved, dominantly on the amount of content on the page, there is much more content on my real task than the preliminary task, also on the preliminary task, there is alot of 'empty space'. I also think the use of colour on the real task is much better, as there are no 'collisions' such as the purple onto the trees in the background makes the masthead feel obstructed and doesn't have that 'thrown off the page' effect.

I have also learnt that the masthead must stand out, as well as the cover story, as this could bring in potential customers, from the preliminary task to my real task, I think that both the placement and colour of the masthead on my real task is much more suitable for the page as it's easily recognisable and doesn't obstruct the image.

For the main image, I think the real task image is better, as it's posed better, without so much background (a effect I wasn't trying to re-create). it also allows for better positioning of coverlines.

The coverlines from my preliminary task look basic and amateur, as they aren't easily readable and aren't placed well, where-as on the real task I think the use of the bold yellow colour makes the coverlines stand out, without obstructing the image in the background.

For the preliminary task, I didn't add anything at the top or bottom of the  magazine (apart from a barcode) but for the real task, I added information both at the top and bottom with a black background to make it stand out much better.

Contents page

I think again the contents page is alot more developed, for a start, there are more subsidiary images, which can be a good point for a contents page as images can interest readers more than words, my preliminary task doesn't contain the 'editors corner', also, the cover story is shown better in my real task, with the image, page number, and a little text being given to it, where as, for the preliminary, it's just a bit of text with a red outline.

In my preliminary, there is alot of empty space, but in both contents pages I have added more pages to look it more realistic. There is more of a sense of a 'grid structure' in the real task. The use of main image in the preliminary, however not bad, still has plenty of room for improvement, where as I think the image choices of the real task are much better fitting onto the page.

Double Page Article

The real article was the first article I had any experience of doing, as we didn't do any for the preliminary task/mock, I felt the article is a big mixture of the front cover and the contents page, this is due to the fact that to do the title, it needs to be structured in a way in which the masthead of the front cover would be structured. The information and subsidiary images on the right have to be structured and placed in a way in which the information and subsidiary images on the contents page will be placed.

Conclusion

From doing both the preliminary and real tasks, I can conclude that there is a huge step up in quality needed to succeed in the real attempt. Simple things like text placement needs to be thought about very thoroughly, Images need to be posed specifically, and if they're posed wrong, might not work on the page it's going on. I also have a sense of time-keeping with the pages, it's surprising how time consuming it can be to design and produce something such as the contents page.

6. Of Evaluation

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

5. Of Evaluation

5.How did you attract/address your audience?

I decided to use informal language throughout my magazine (although trying to stay professional) as my influences such as Rocksound use this approach in text, (however, Metal Hammer, because it's target audience is older than Rocksound/Kerrang, uses more formal text)

For my front cover, you can see that i've kept things informal, the band name 'Sharks & Danger' is rather informal, as with the pose of the band, I've stuck with the red, black and white colour scheme, but added a yellow as I wanted to mix the influences from Kerrang and Rocksound (Rocksound regularly uses bold, bright colours such as light blue and yellow)

For the article, I've again stuck with the laid back atmosphere, especially with the interview, as it suggests that the band also has a laid-back attitude, which the readers could probably relate to/ the colour scheme is the same as the front, but with a more dark sense due to the background, the title could create a sense of wonder, as it's rather unusual, which could want the reader to read the article, rather than skim read until they find something that hugely interests them, which is what most readers of magazines do.

   

My contents page, I think, would  attract my audience well, as I think, very quickly, they would be attracted to the 'win' section, as that guitar is very expensive, and could be used as a tool for 'showing off' to their friends, I also think the reader would be attracted to the main image, as the little annotation 'insomnia rocks' can be seen as rather peculiar.  I think the reader would also be drawn in by the amount of content, the 'albums' section could appeal to people interested in studio music, where-as the gig section could interest people interested in the live aspect of music, basically, there's something for almost all rock fans here.

4. Of Evaluation

4.Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my magazine is teen-young adult, specifically 14-21.

The readers of my magazine would take use of the free posters and other goodies, which could all add up. For example, many fans of Kerrang and Rocksound take advantage of their free weekly posters, and build 'poster walls' in their room, this is a good way for the readers of the magazines to feel involved in a community, which is what I hope will happen to my magazine audience.

The audience of this magazine would be interested in the live aspect of music, as rock music can be focused around the live aspect heavily, plus, the readers would be interested in reading about the 'gigs' section of the magazine.

For the outfit/style of my audience, I feel as if they're going to be wearing similar clothing to the bands that will be featured in the magazine, some brands that both bands and readers alike will both possibly be wearing are, Converse, Vans, Drop Dead! wearing skinny jeans, maybe another bands t shirt (Iron Maiden and Metallica seem to be popular)

 









Due to the majority (not all) of mainstream rock/metal bands being male dominated, I think that the percentage of readers will be 65%  male and 35% female, as the males will look up to established bands for inspiration (especially people learning guitar. For hair, I think the majority of the readers will have medium to long length hair, as bands usually have long  hair so they'll take influence from that.


I think the readers of my magazine ( more the young adults around the age of 18 as opposed to teen) will buy records/cds from cd shops such as HMV and independent record shops such as Spillers records in Cardiff. I think they'll do this because they will have alot of passion for the bands they like so would go out and buy their cd (maybe even at one of their gigs) to show support, as opposed to using a social networking or other methods to listen to their music.

3. Of Evaluation

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

If I were to distribute my magazine, I would probably chose Bauer media.

Bauer is a very well established company, from womens weeklies to film magazines, Bauer sells over 200 magazines in 15 countries. Bauer also own many different forms of cross media platforms, including radio, tv and online, because of this, I think it wouldn't take long for my magazine to become one of the top flight magazines.

Bauer also works closely with Frontline - a company who distribute magazines, this is an advantage in choosing Bauer as they could get my magazines distributed at ease.

There is a huge negative though. Kerrang. I think my magazine is too closely related to Kerrang, and because so many of Kerrang's readers already have their trust in Kerrang and are loyal to the magazine, I think it would be hard to gain any huge amount of readers, as probably most of the readers of my magazine genre, would already be interested in Kerrang, however, if they for some reason don't like Kerrang, they could trial 'Mosh!' 

There is also another I could chose. IPC. IPC are obviously in huge contest with Bauer, so they could be needing a magazine of  the rock/metal genre,(they already have NME, but that's more for indie.)

2. Of Evaluation

2.How does the media product represent paticular social groups

My magazine is targeted towards the age group 14 - 21 which is the rough age target for magazines such as Kerrang! and Rocksound  I feel I have made this point.

As you can see from a real magazine,  from the guy at the front, you can see that he's posing with a specific facial feature, this is also shown in my magazine with all sense of huge 'seriousness' taken out. I also think subsidiary image of the woman in the real magazine and the male on the right in my magazine are posing similar, completely by accident.

Their dress sense is similar, with the people on the cover of Rocksound wearing bright clothes of a 'pop punk' style, and the people on my magazine front cover are wearing informal clothes, and having logos on t-shirts, this goes against the stereotypes of metal and rock being 'dark' and 'emo' but maybe suggests the new sub-genres it's producing, which are more colorful

By looking at the use of the guitar and linking it to the masthead, one could instantly assume it's of a metal/rock genre 

 From the article, the sense of immaturity and 'no seriousness' is still shown, with dialogue like 'insomnia rocks' which is popular in modern rock bands and the sense of an easy-going atmosphere is shown, though 'Lew's terrible drumming' I think the target audience will appreciate the use of humor, which is also found in magazines of a similar genre.

From the contents page, you immediately get the idea that it's a contents page from a rock genre magazine, in the main image there is the same sense of wearing laid back clothes with logos, which is also the clothes of the target audience, the use of props of drum sticks and guitars also screams "rock!"

1. Of Evaluation

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