Friday 4 May 2012

EVALUATION: Who would be the audience for your media product?




The ideal audience for my magazine would be an audience that was made up of young teens of male and female genders from the ages of rough fully 13 to 18. The reason why I have chosen to target both genders is because my type of music is so specific I didn’t want to limit my audience anymore than I had. The reason for my age range is because this is the norm age range for this type of genre.
My audience would all have the interests of the pop rock genre of music, and would more than likely all be from the working class background. They would buy the typical amount of music for anyone of that age, and the majority of it will be of the pop rock genre, as well as music magazines which could be considered to follow the same genre of music that I have followed.
I have priced my product at £2.50 and I probably would only publish an issue once a month. This is because since I am targeting young teens from the working class I didn’t want to make my magazine too costly for my target audience to afford. This gives me a larger chance to expand on my audience, and so that my magazine is relatable for everyone.

Thursday 3 May 2012

EVALUATION: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? part 2



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My audience has also changed since the first task, as before it was such a niche audience of about 1000 people or so. This is because it was for one school, whereas my music magazine will be aimed at a larger audience as many people listen to music on a daily basis. I have also learnt a lot more about how Photoshop works throughout the process. This is because I have discovered how the programme works and how I could have used it to the best of my advantage.

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



Check this out on ChirbitIf you can not see this chirbit, listen to it here http://chirb.it/5PhrwE

Check this out on Chirbit

EVALUATION: How did you attract/ adress the audience?

EVALUATION: What have you learnt about new technologies from the process of creating this product?

Since I begun to produce this product, I have learnt about many new technologies. One of the main ones that I have learnt to use was the use of a camera. I had never really used one of those cameras before and it took me a while to get used to using it. I have learned that it is very important to check what the settings should be before going out and taking photos. This is because I could have saved a lot of time in the process if I had knew that I had knocked the camera in order to make the images too small to use on my front cover. I have also learnt how easy it is to get the right angles for the images through the use of a tripod... and that it isn’t hard to get the right lighting on the right backgrounds.


The second piece of new technology that I am going to discuss is the use of Photoshop. I have found how easy it is to develop my products and to edit them due to this programme. I used the magic wand tool to cut all the images out and to place into the appropriate places. The text itself was also very easy to place onto the final product. This was because I began by creating the copy on Microsoft word. I then created the columns by using text box’s and the grid function (to ensure that all my spacing was correct). Then all that I had to do was copy and paste the text into the appropriate places. I also got my musical notes from this programme in its shapes section. This allowed me to make sure that my cover is unique, and stands out from many others that you may find in the shops.


Throughout the process of creating my product, I have also been keeping track of all of my process through the use of my blog. This has meant that as well as becoming a consumer, I have also become a prosumer. This is because by using the blog, I have been expanding my own knowledge and I have been able to see what other people think about my product itself. I have been publishing my work on the internet for everybody else to see.


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

The company which I believe would be great for distributing my music magazine would be Bauer. The reason why I think that they would be great my magazine is because they have already had great success in publishing and distributing other magazines, such as Q. Since Bauer is a great multimedia company, I feel that they would be able to take more risks in the decisions that they make in publishing. My magazine isn’t what they would normally publish, as the audience that I have chosen is younger than their usual. But, I have also used the theme Pop Rock, with a layout which they would usually use... which means that it wouldn’t be too different to the material that they already publish.
My audience themselves will be slightly younger than the average for their normal market, but by producing my magazine I believe that it would help them expand into that niche market, and therefore help to expand their profits. Using this company to distribute my product would mean that I would be helping them to reach into this market. Although this is the kind of company which would be aiming for a higher audience, but they would be able afford taking a risk with mine through the profits that they have already created.

EVALUATION: How does your media product represent particular social groups?


My first photos that I took involved Charlotte in a pink waistcoat and pants which contained roses on them. They were taken in the old media classroom with the white screen behind them so they were easy to cut out. I took shots of my model both standing and then also sitting on the floor. When she was sitting on the floor she was positioned with the guitar and her legs to one side. When she was standing she was mainly leaning against the guitar itself. I used a variety of shots, including long and close ups, and the majority of the images contained my model using an acoustic guitar.


I then went on to take some more photos, as I was not happy about the set that I had already taken. This is when I took my model out to the Quayside and the old keep in Newcastle to take some more. In these images I had my model wear a black and grey dress, a green jacket and brown ankle boots. I did this because then it appealed more to the pop audience, with the backgrounds which could be used for its rocky edge. This meant that, after I used a variety of shots once more, they could fit in nicely with the feature article.


Finally I changed my model’s clothes once more, in front of the white screen in the media classroom. I did this as I wanted a good medium shot for my front cover. My model was wearing brown pants with a colourful vest top and stringy waistcoat. This meant that I would be able to use my model on my front cover. I also used other models for my contents page.

• In my front cover image, what is being represented is that my model is just an ordinary teenager. It represents that she is a teenager, and looks like the average one along with the many others. She looks like she is from the working class as she is wearing clothes that other young people may also be wearing. She is also representing female artists.
The editor of my contents page looks like she could also be of the working class; this is due to the fact that she is wearing piercings. She is also looking straight to the camera, which suggests that she is smart, and so she represents other young women.
My third model is wearing a demin waistcoat, jeans and a skull scarf. She is also female, and she looks like the working class. She is looking smart and the way she is sitting suggests something like a rock background maybe.
My final model, is wearing skinny leggings, a long top and a green jacket. It is also clear that she is wearing an amount of makeup. This means that she appeals not only to females, but to a rock audience as she is holding her guitar. She is also looking like she may be from the working class.
In the feature article my model is wearing the pink waistcoat ect. This image makes her seem maybe a little older, and also that she could be from the middle class. The other image is her in the dress, which makes her seem more girly, and relates more to that pop audience.
• The codes that have been used throughout my models are that they look relatable to my possible audience. According to Price (1993), “the way in which ideas, objects, people, groups and life- forms are depicted by the mass media”. I believe that this is this means that when people look at my model they will see that it is possible to be like her. They look relatable, and they all look as if they came from that of a working class background. They are all look as if they have come from within the pop rock genre. This is because of the way in which they have been dressed and the way in which they have been posing.
• The representation has been made to seem ‘true’, ‘commonsense’ and ‘natural’ as they are all wearing outfits that can be bought out on the British high street itself. I believe that my models all go against the stereotype, which has been mentioned in Gauntlett’s (2008) theory. This is because when we typically see women in magazines they all look as if they want something. They mainly have skin showing, which is something that I have made sure is not true of my models, as they are all fully clothed. In music magazines they always wear full makeup and are dressed to suit a certain theme, which is what my models are like, but not to the extreme as some.
• In the foreground of all my images is my model in whatever they are wearing. In the majority of the images that I have used is the white screen, but in some it is location. This is because I believed that the bricks in the background would be something that could relate to the genre of music that I decided that I was going to portray. It gives them the Rock edge that I was looking for, and it looks like it could be off any street which was the message that I wanted to show.
• I believe that my representation would be that of the ordinary young person who would see these images in a magazine. This is all down to the image that my model is portraying. This can be explained by Price 1993, as she states that basically the media is how they want it to be seen. So because I have made it so that all my audience will be able to see that my model is just the average girl, they might be able to relate to her too. I mean she is white and middle class, which is what the majority of my audience, will more than likely be.
• My representation is being aimed at my target audience. I know this because for one thing, my models are all looking into the camera in some way or another which helps to pull them in. Also all my models could look as if they are in their age groups, and therefore they could be the ones that these people all look up to, and inspire to be them.
• The representation means to me something that it may not be the same to others. This is because they might not see the stories and the images in the same light as I do. I see them as being just ordinary people, friends that I have used to take some images for my magazine. Whereas my audience won’t necessarily know them themselves, and will just see them as someone knew. They will be able to see them in a different light, and will be able to stereotypically judge them. This is an area which Gauntlett, 2008, looks into, with his 6 different looks into stereotypes. I would like to think that my audience will think as my models as the ‘Outsider’ role model as they don’t really know anything about them.
• Many people make sense of it all in different ways. But many people do just tend to use Gauntlett’s stereotypes as a way of interpretation what is going in the images. They look at the 6 different stages and decide what they agree with and what they don’t. They could also look at the subordinate and dominant features of what is going on, for example Middle class is dominant to Working class in the majority of the cases. This could mean that all the opinions could be recognised as either great or complete opposites of one another.

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