Final Products

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

Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In order to view this Goanimate, please click the 'social groups' link at the bottom of the box, and then click it again once the new window has loaded.

I originally intended for my magazine to be aimed at both genders, however my magazine turned out more feminine than I anticipated. This worked in my favour as I found it easier to produce a successful magazine that specifically was aimed at females rather than males. I decided to challenge the typical female stereotype by choosing to feature a Jim Beam t-shirt. Jim Beam is a brand of whiskey therefore it is typically associated with the male stereotype. By having my model wear this t-shirt, this illustrated her carefree attitude, ultimately reinforcing my initial ideology of rebellion. I have further challenged the typical female stereotype by choosing a model with dreadlocks. Dreadlocks are extremely controversial as some may argue they make females unattractive whereas others may argue they make females look more masculine. I decided that dreadlocks would be an ideal feature to include within my magazine in order to portray that she does not conform to the typical female stereotype, furthermore supporting the ideology behind my magazine as rebellious. In addition, I decided to choose a model who had tattoos, as they are iconic of the classic rock lifestyle, thus connoting elements of rebellion and the hard rock lifestyle. Due to these reasons, I believe I have succeeded in challenging the typical female stereotype.

As I explored in my social class and demographics research, I stated that my product is to be aimed at the C2 social class group on the demographics table. I feel I represented and targeted this group positively through the price of my magazine will is affordable and worthy and the language used throughout my magazine. I decided to stay clear of complex vocabulary as I believe my target audience would feel intimidated and confused when reading a specific article. On the other hand, I maintained an element of professionalism and sophistication throughout my magazine, evident on my first contents page as it is clear and organised for my target audience to navigate. By maintaining an element of professionalism and sophistication, the audience will feel obliged to read my magazine as they will see this as a posh and successful magazine, bringing them closer with their dreams.

Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

To conclude, I chose Kobalt Music Group to publish my product.

Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

I have created a Prezi to illustrate who the audience is for my media product. To summarize, my target audience is females aged between 16 - 20 years old, that may have a job as a hairdresser or along those lines, and will still be a student. I concluded this through my audience research.

Evaluation Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

I feel I have addressed my target audience successfully through the use of mise-en-scene as I have supported and reinforced my genre: classic rock. I included costumes such as a Jim Beam t-shirt which supports the idea that my artist is rebellious, furthermore conforming to the initial idea of rebellion that I wanted to create.

I broke down my audience research into sections, for example age, education, gender, work and location in order to make sure I successfully address as much of my target audience as possible. By doing so, I feel I managed to address a vast majority of my target audience, meaning my product sells to a mass audience, globally.

During my planning and research I conducted audience research in order to understand the needs and wants of my target audience. I did so by asking demographic questions (age, race, and sex) and psychographic questions (personality, values, opinions, attitudes). These questions are evident in post Reader Profile.

Here is an example of a demographic question that allowed me to understand the perspective age of my target audience. By understanding the age of my target audience, I was then able to include artists such as Paul Weller, Johnny Cash, My Chemical Romance and Arctic Monkey's on my front cover, contents pages and double page spread.

On the other hand, here is an example of a psychographic question: 'Who is your favourite artist/band within the Classic Rock genre? Please state your top three.' This question allowed me to understand the interests of my target audience by listing existing artists within the Classic Rock genre which could potentially feature on my front cover, contents pages and double page spreads. 

I feel my audience research impacted me greatly when producing my final products as this research allowed me to understand the wants, needs and interests of my target audience which essentially meant I could feature artists on my front cover, content pages and double page spread which would appeal and address my target audience. 

My Reader Profile

This is my reader profile I created when conducting my planning and research. This allowed me to gather all the information I collected about my target audience together, meaning I could officially publish my audience research in a reader profile format. I included a moodboard at the top of my reader profile to convey a specific mood (rebellion) to the audience which supports the genre and target audience of magazine.

Evaluation Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Here is a Prezi to illustrate evaluation question 6. I feel I have used technologies on the computer and off the computer to the best of my abilities meaning that all my products are accurate and successful.

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

My music magazine and my preliminary task:

 Areas for improvement:

Conventions followed:

 Developments:

 Photoshop:

To conclude...

Overall, I feel my preliminary task was extremely beneficial for me when creating my music magazine as it helped me understand the codes and conventions of existing magazines that help make them successful products. It also helped me develop my photography and editing skills. I feel that I have improved since my preliminary task and that my progression is evident throughout my work, when comparing my preliminary task to my music magazine.

Used and Unused Images

Here are some unused images that I decided not to use for the final piece of my music magazine. I felt these images were effective however they did not achieve the connotations in which I initially wanted to create in order to reinforce the conventions of my genre.

Double Page Spread Edits

Double Page Spread 1

This is the first edit of my double page spread. As you can see, I have followed the conventions and format of MOJO's double page spread featuring Echo & The Bunnymen. This is a successful product that conveys the ideologies of MOJO and Echo & The Bunnymen to the audience. I have changed the headline of double page spread in order to make differ from the original MOJO double page spread. I made my model pose as if she was posing naked so I could place 'censored' across her chest, however my model was wearing a boob tube bralet underneath 'censored'. I feel this is a successful representation of a Classic Rock magazine as I am supporting the conventions and ideologies I set out to maintain.

I have found a few flaws on the first edit of my double page spread, such as there is no page number in which the audience of my magazine can refer too easily in order to find this specific article.

Double Page Spread 2

This is my second double page spread edit. I have changed the main image to an image where my model is looking directly into the camera, making the audience believe that she is looking straight at them. This creates a strong double page spread however, I believe the first edit I made supported my ideologies more through her pose. 

Double Page Spread 3

This is my third double page spread edit. As you can see I have changed the 'censored' stamp to a font I felt was more appropriate for the theme of my magazine. This font is called 'stencil' on Photoshop and Publisher. After researching the official censored stamp on Google [see post Censored Stamp Research], I realised that my original font did not connote themes and ideas of rebelliousness to the audience therefore I decided to change my font.

I have also increased the size of the drop cap in order to make it clearer to the audience that this is the beginning of my article. A drop cap is a convention (at the beginning of an article) and features on my chosen inspirational double page spread, therefore I felt it would be ideal and I would be conforming to the typical conventions of a magazine article by featuring a drop cap.

Censored Research

In order to make my magazine as successful and realistic as possible, I decided to research the font and the typical 'censored stamp'. Here are the results:

As you can see, the majority of the results I found are red and capitalised. This differs from my censored stamp as mine is black and white, therefore I will adapt censored stamp on my double page spread image in order to create a more realistic effect.

Firstly, I will search dafont.com in order to find the same font as featured on the typical censored stamps.

Final Contents Page

This is my final contents page edit. I have maintained all the convention I said I would in order to achieve a successful product. I have followed the conventions and codes from three MOJO magazine contents pages:

My contents page is clear and neat in order to allow my intended audience to navigate around the page easily. This will benefit the audience as they will enjoy a stress-free read of ROCK magazine.

Contents Page Edits

Contents Page Edit 1

This is the first contents page edit I completed. As you can see, the title of my contents page is grey, not green like I planned, therefore in order to correct this mistake, I created a new edit of my contents page and removed layers such as 'curve' and 'levels'. This allowed me to colour the title in the appropriate colour I desired.

This is the outcome after removing 'levels' and 'curve'. This is much more of the desired look in which I was hoping for.

I have decided to adjust the lighting on the second edit of my contents page. I am happy with my main image and the format and structure of my contents page as it is similar to the MOJO contents pages that I have taken inspiration from, for example, the main image being on the right hand side of the page.

Contents Page Edit 2

This is the second edit of my contents page, in which I have changed the main image of my contents page. This image is ideal as it conveys the rock and roll lifstyle through the use of mise-en-scene such as the Jim Beam t-shirt. 

Contents Page Edit 3

This is the third edit of my contents page. As you can see, I have maintained systematic themes throughout all of my edits of my contents pages, however on this edit, I have lightened the masthead to a lighter shade of the green that I chose. By doing so, this creates a more systematic style throughout my front cover, contents page and double page spread.  

Contents Page 2 Edit 1

This is the second half of my contents page. I have chosen to create a second page of contents in order to give the audience more information as to what is inside my magazine. I have taken inspiration from MOJO's second contents page featuring Kings of Leon. As you can see,  I have followed the structure and layout of this contents page in order make my contents page as successful as possible. I have included all the necessary sections, such as 'the contributors of this weeks magazine' and information about the artists and what page it's on. This is a convention of contents pages therefore I feel this second contents page is professional and successful for the genre of my magazine.

Furthermore, reinforcing the classic rock genre of my magazine, I chose to include specific albums that I felt conformed to the conventions of the classic rock genre. These albums are Arctic Monkey's - AM and My Chemical Romance - My Chemical Romance. I believe by featuring these albums on the contents page of my magazine, the audience will understand the genre of my magazine without looking further.