Evaluation Q7

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

One of the biggest things I have learnt is an understanding of conventions in creating a realistic magazine. My preliminary project lacks a barcode, which immediately makes it look less like a real magazine. 

I have also learnt how to use typeface and colour scheme to appeal to a target audience. My preliminary project uses a very dull typeface, and uses both black and white outlines to make the text easier to read. The means there is no consistency in the cover, and it has no identity or style to appeal with. My choice of typeface on my final cover is much better at appealing to my target audience, as it uses a gothic style common in the music genre. It also uses Drop Shadow instead of outline to make text easier to read, which has the side effect of making it stand “off” the background, which also makes it more professional looking. The constant colour scheme through my final cover also creates a house style recognisable from a distance.

My ability in Adobe Photoshop has also massively increased between my preliminary task and my full product. I initially knew very little of Photoshop, having only casually used it once or twice. Through the project, I became more confident with layering and advanced tools like Drop Shadow, allowing me to make more complex text. My increased ability meant I could also edit my image to the point where I could choose a background to place it on, unlike with my preliminary project. I was also able to manipulate the models through layering, allowing me to make the image a better size to fit the magazine, whilst also making it look more like what I envisioned it to be. Being able to edit images with more advanced techniques meant I did not need to make a blue mask for the frontman, as I could have him wear a mask and just edit the colour.

Overall, I am very happy with the progress I have made through the project in understanding media and the conventions within, and I feel I have created a product that  I can be proud of.

Evaluation Q6

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

Alternative link (may be of higher quality):

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1cy8irlgmFJeUhSMm5wV3VlVms

Evalution Q5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Q4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience is the same as when I planned my magazine. They are mainly male, perhaps with a small proportion that is female, between the ages of 16 and 40. The age range is slightly wider than a pop music magazine because of the wide age range that listens to metal music. The target audience’s hobbies will mainly be music, whether listening or playing, with a few also interested in TV, Film, or Racing, however there are not enough of these in the group to justify writing about anything other than music. My choice to use a minimalist colour scheme should ensure that the older range of readers are not alienated, and the choice of typeface and slightly informal tone of writing will keep the younger readers interested.

Evaluation Q3

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

The magazines published by Time Inc. UK cover a large variety of hobbies and pastimes, but they are mainly targeted at women rather than men, and many of their magazines focused at men are about sports – shooting, sailing etc. The magazines published by Bauer Publishing Group get much closer to my target market, with many automotive magazines and music magazines. These are aimed more at men than women, compared to Time Inc. UK. 

The music magazines published by Time Inc. UK focus on two very different areas. NME focuses solely on new music and acts, but Uncut, their other music publication, is more about older music. The genres most popular with Uncut Readers are Rock, Classic Indie, and Americana. These differ quite a lot with the genres popular with my target market. Although Rock may overlap, it is more likely to be older Rock with Uncut fans, and newer Rock with my fans. Additionally, Classic Indie and Americana are very different to metal, which is the main genre popular with my magazine’s fans.

 

The magazines published by Bauer Publishing Group line up slightly more with my target audience, but not exactly, due to the niche nature of my chosen genre. Mojo Magazine focuses on new music, but does not limit genre, so it features a lot more pop music than my target audience would want to read about. Q gets slightly closer to my target audience, as it focuses on modern music “distilling it down to the good stuff”, which would resonate with the part of my target audience looking for new bands curated by people with good taste. They also cover gigs, something my magazine also uses as a selling point, but like Mojo, the bands covered are of a slightly wider variety of genres than what my target audience listens to. Kerrang! gets closest to my target audience, covering new rock bands. However, many bands in Kerrang! suffer from being more about image than music, something I wanted to move away from with my magazine.
 

I believe that Time Inc. UK has a better market for my product, as my magazine focuses on a target audience very different to any that they try to sell to with their other magazines. This means that they would be targeting a whole new group, instead of trying to sell another magazine to the same group. The magazines published by Bauer Publishing Group are too similar to the other interests of my target audience, meaning that they would be trying to sell at least two magazines to a target audience, which could hurt the sales of both, as people may be unwilling to buy more than one magazine style publication a month.