My Evaluation

For our prelim coursework task in Media, we had to create a front page and a contents page for a new student magazine for our college.

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I think a student magazine should include information that the students want to know about, and my thought was backed up with my audience questionnaire that I conducted a few weeks back. I also found out from my questionnaire that the audience would like to see bright colours, bold headlines, students on the cover, information about what's inside and the price. I took all of these into consideration and used them on the front cover of my magazine. I Googled images of typical contents page of magazines and I found most of them have a white background, lots of pictures and bright colours. I tried my contents page with a white background to start with but didn't like how plain it looked so decided to look for backgrounds on the internet. I didn't want something to masculine, but on the other hand I didn't want anything to feminine either as this may result in it becoming a one gendered magazine.

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?
This cover of Elle magazine is obviously for a female audience. The pink writing tells us this, along with the cover lines that say what's inside the magazine. I analysed this image when I was organising my photoshoot and said that you would buy this image if you were a fan of the model as the picture is dominating. I used this idea with my magazine as the main picture is what you're going to see first and will make you want to buy it more. I didn't want my magazine to be just one gendered so I made sure my colours could attract both the male and female audience. The age range for my magazine would be about 15-19 year olds and there is something for everybody within my magazine.

I have used students on my front cover as that's what my audience in my questionnaire wanted to see. I have represented them as what you'd expect to see of students - lounging around being typical teenagers. Although this is a sterotypical phrase about teenagers, this may attract students to buy it more, as this is truly what happens in a students lifestyle and the magazine is not posed. I have used the images I have because I think they represent the article they're advertising well and this gets straight to the point. The language I've used isn't formal, but it isn't too "teenage" either. It's also quite short sentenced either, because too much writing can overrule the images and make the magazine look too boring. Most music/gossip magazines use the same layout as student magazines, having a main image that takes up most of, if not all of, the page, other images around the side of the cover, and the coverlines around all the images.

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

Local companies would want to distribute my magazine because there isn't any magazines that students can buy that advertise the college. If sometimes a student is embarrassed or doesn't want to talk to a tutor about anything that can happen at or around college, they could then buy this magazine and find out all the information they need. Pupils could also subscribe to the magazine through the college and get it automatically every month.

• Who would be the audience for your media product?
As mentioned above, I didn't want my magazine to be one gendered so I made sure my colours and fonts could appeal to both sexes. It could also appeal to any age, because if somebody middle aged wanted to find out what's happening around Ludlow, they could find out in the magazine. Or if a parent was looking at colleges to send their child to, they could see what goes on by subscribing and then finding out about the area that way.

• How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract the audience, I stuck to my idea of using bright, clashing colours. I used primary colours such as blue and yellow because they tend to jump out and get your attention more than secondary colours. Saying this, I did use green, but a bright, bold shade of green so it also grabs your attention quickly. I used the green on the strapline because if the magazine was in a shop and was behind loads of other magazines, you would see the green sticking out the top and that would then make you pick it up. After I finished my front cover, I realised that the brief said to use a medium close up shot, but I used a long shot. Although I haven't completely followed the brief, I think the image used works well. I also think my colour scheme goes well with the image. Someone would want to buy my magazine if they were interested about what goes on around Ludlow and the college. I stuck to my contents and title page drafts as well as I could, but if there was a gap in the page, I'd fill it in with adverts or extra images. The majority of my audience liked draft number 2 of my title page so I chose that as a main layout, and they also preferred draft number 2 for my contents page which was good because they both were going to have matching colour schemes.

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

 I used computer programmes such as Gimp to edit my pictures to make them look more eye catching, so I edited them and changed the contrast, etc. I also used Publisher to create my contents and title page of my magazine. Publisher was quick and easy to use and I think it worked really well with the brief we were given. Gimp was a bit more difficult to use because I've never used it before so it was all a bit confusing to start with. Once you got used to it, it did get easier and I learned how to do more effects on images than what I knew once I started. I'm glad I used a programme such as Gimp and learned something new, rather than on a programme such as paint and not being able to change the image in any way except the colour. This is also the first time I've ever done a blog as well, so it was a new experience learning how to use Blogger as well as Gimp.