Evaluative Questions

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Before producing my magazine I spent a long time looking at and analysing existing music magazines that are already on the market and selling to the general public. This helped me to not only gain knowledge of the basic material needed to create a successful magazine that features content that will sell, but also how to set out each page’s layout, with the use of effective colour schemes and images.
Throughout my magazine I followed simple conventions that you would find in any magazine, no matter whether it’s one on music, fashion or even babies. This included; ensuring there was a header on every page, having at least one image on every page and creating each individual page to be attractive to the products target audience. Following the very common convention of using big, bold, shocking text for the title, whilst also making the title colour red, I was ensuring that my product would appear as if it was already on the same standard of professionalism as the existing ones. However, I did challenge this convention slightly by putting the title of my magazine ‘inTUNE’ in the top, right hand corner of the front cover, instead of in the top left hand corner like all the magazines I researched had.
The convention of using one large image on the front cover, I used. I then connected this with my double page spread by having the image of the artist whom was the main article, which was the content of my double page spread.
To ensure I followed several conventions from real media products to create a very realistic, relatable product I also chose to use the same fonts and colour schemes throughout. My main four colours used for the magazine were red, black, white and grey. In spite of this, as with the front cover title idea, I decided to try and develop and improve the idea of the use of colour schemes and slightly altered the colours used for my double page spread. I chose to incorporate the colour pink, instead of the use of red, with this article as I felt it fitted better with the article topic (‘a day in the life of Sophie Grace’- a young rock chick superstar who is known for wearing a lot of pink) and also brought more colour to the production, which some magazines I looked at avoided.
By following regular conventions of real media products I was enabling my magazine to be instantly likeable and reassuring to potential consumers that would find comfort from it being similar to existing product. By then adding my own spin on some of the conventions, developing them in a way in which made them even more attractive, I was bringing a ‘new and improved’ looking magazine, which would attract the modern day society.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I aimed for my magazine to cover as broad a variety of social groups as possible, to try and prevent singling out particular classes and units of the general public. By producing articles on information and artists from a wide range of musical genres it meant that I could ensure there was something to interest everyone, in each issue. Also by looking at music from all centuries, past and present, I was enabling older generations to reminisce and muse over songs from their youth, which other magazines do not offer, making mine appeal to a bigger prospective audience. In the particular issue I have created the main focus of that month was a new young female singer, Sophie Grace, who would predominantly attract the younger generation, 14 to 17 year olds, with the majority also being female. This would mean that for each particular month and with each issue will come a core, focused social group that would cover the most part of the overall consumers for that issue, dependant on what or who are the main focus, on the cover and inside by the use of articles.
At just £2.50 an issue, I had managed to create a price that was not only affordable for all classes of people, but was also great value for money. With it being such an extensive magazine, with lots of pages and articles and lots of information, offers and competitions, the consumer would expect to pay a much higher cost than £2.50, therefore being affordable for anyone, no matter their background or affluence.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Some would say that publishing companies can make or break a magazine, dependant on who they know and how much experience they have. This is why it is important for me to ensure I pick a suitable publisher for my product. Formerly known as International Publishing Company UK Ltd, IPC media is one of the UK’s leading consumer magazine publishers so would be an ideal publisher for a publication like mine. I would also pick these producers as they have a lot of experience dealing with magazines, already publishing top music magazine NME. This may also even help bring links between my publication and NME, making my brand stronger and encouraging consumers of NME to look at purchasing inTUNE also.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
My target audience would be both males and females ranging from the ages of 14 to 25, however this does not mean to say people younger or older than this may not also wish to purchase the magazine. The typical person to purchase my product would be someone who not only enjoys listening to music but also takes an active interest in finding out more about and broadening their knowledge on things such as music artists, events such as concerts and festivals and songs-old, new, and soon to be released. The typical consumer for my magazine would either still be a student in education (compulsory and higher) or be employed. Those in education may also have a part time job and pay for the magazine themselves.


How did you attract/address your audience?
As my audience would all be already interested in music, artists and events, it was not too difficult to attract them to my magazine. By creating articles for all different sorts of music interest I was easily addressing every potential consumer in each issue. The use of bright colours and large clear images also helped capture the attention the magazine and initially draw their eye to it first when bronzing though many. The offer of competitions that are free to enter is an extra added bonus, from the consumer’s point of view, as these opportunities come with the price of the magazine, with nothing more to spend. The use of colloquial language throughout my magazine makes it much more personal and relatable for a reader, bringing comfort and enjoyment to them without making even the least music-knowledgeable person feel awkward or embarrassed.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Producing my magazine, inTUNE, has not only expanded my knowledge of the music industry immensely, but has given me new skills, and developed some I previously possessed, with technology. I now have a great knowledge of the computer software Photoshop. I have learnt how simple software such as this can be used to create complex, professional looking productions, such as the magazine I created. I have also learnt the importance of technology for not only the creation of such products, with the use of computers and printers for example, but also for the research that needs to be undertaken before creating it. The internet is a prime example of this, with it offering information on anything you wish to learn about or discover.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel my knowledge and skills have improved greatly since when I undertook the preliminary task at the beginning of the course. During the development of the preliminary task I was able to acknowledge ways in which I could improve my product and what skills to take forward with me for my music magazine and what to avoid trying again. From looking over my preliminary task I realised that I would need to make bigger, bolder statements with both the text I put on my pages and the pictures I use. From not having a great expertise or familiarity with the music industry or magazine industry I learnt the importance of research and planning. By obtaining wisdom and understanding of particular aspects of both diligences before starting the process of actually producing my magazine, I was more advantaged, compared to with the preliminary task where I rushed my research and attempted to go straight into just doing the magazine. I also learnt that, like with all large pieces of work, by planning the layout of each page before creating it I set myself guidelines to follow and was also able to set targets for completion.