My evaluation for my media project.
I enjoyed my magazine projects as they let me experience new software and creative ideas towards creating the finished project. Creating a magazine that does not involve me in the target audience of gender, or being a genre that I would never take an interest in – I believe made the project I challenge, however I have done this to the best of my abilities, stretching myself to see another point of view.
My music magazine challenges the conventions of a normal men’s music magazine as the model I used for the photos was female (which is not usually common) but through my research I found other evidence of the use of women used in a sexual but classy way. I decided to change the photo for the final product because I believe it works better with the concept of my magazine, and looks more professional against the rest of the layout of the front page. I chose to use a semi-naked photo because it stretches my limitations, makes the magazine more appealing and also unique compared to others. The convention of the article is very similar to an article in a real magazine; there is a large photo, headline of the artist’s name, an introductory paragraph, an interview, a concluding paragraph, and finally the magazine’s name along with a page number. This is very usual for an article in a real media product, as I believed I should develop the codes and conventions in my own way while still creating a strong bond in the layout to an original magazine.
My media project focuses on indie/punk males between 16 and 30; I have represented this social group by the layout, the photos and the use of language. The layout represents this social grouping because the colour scheme is dark with some contrasting bright colours (for example the red masthead) to catch a potential reader’s eye, the layout is quite blocky and the text is usually black or white so it is easier to read. The photos are mainly of women, in the front cover photo the model isn’t wearing many clothes to particularly attract a male audience, and the other photos have been edited using photo shop in such a way to seem attractive to a male reader (big eyes, big lips, smooth skin etc). The photos are all quite dark and mysterious to attract the indie/punk readers. The use of language in the article is quite harsh and strong because this social group is not going to be offended by obscene language unlike a younger audience may do.
I believe most supermarkets and garages would sell my magazine as it appeals to a quite varied audience, I believe that ‘The National Magazine company’ would distribute my product because it would sell, and it means this company could branch away from women’s magazines (like Company) and create a new market segment for them in the male music industry.
As I have said before males would be the target audience for my magazine, as it is affordable it would be open to all income brackets in the market. The main age grouping would be between 16 and 30 as they would be more interest in the music genre that is indie/punk.
I have learnt the use of photo shop during my media project as when I started I was not able to understand it. To the end where I have edited most of my photos using this programme, by changing the appearance of the model and even creating my whole front cover using this software. I am pleased to be able to do this as I was getting frustrated at the programme as I have never used the software before.
From my preliminary task I have learnt how to use software like, as said before, photo shop. The use and decisions to use different colours and fonts within my front cover and contents page helped me with my main task as I was able to choose fonts that would stand out against the background and attract my target audience.
In conclusion I have enjoyed both the main task and the preliminary task, and hope my work reflects this enjoyment. I am pleased with the result from my main task and the only thing I might of changed if I was to re-do a page would be the contents page, but noticing the bad things about my project I believe gives it a better value behind it as it shows I have been critical about my work. I have stretched my imaginations and limitations of what I have been able to produce in a school environment to make it as professional as possible.
