Evaluation.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I think my magazine represents young girls mostly. Most pop magazines were aimed at young/teenage girls, so they are the one's that pop magazines would have to represent. Young girls can relate to the people featuring in the magazine therefore I think the social group I have represented are young/teenage girls. Past pop magazines have also represented this particular social group as most of the covers I have researched either have male artists on that girls would have found attractive, or female artists that girls would have found iconic.

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

I think Bauer Music Group would distribute my magazine as this conglomerate distributed Smash Hits magazine until 2006. There is a gap in the market for Pop music, most of the music magazines that Bauer distribute now are quite 'individual' magazines. However, I think that because there has been such a drought of Pop magazines I think Bauer would distribute my magazine to satisfy Pop fans needs as there not being satisfied at the moment.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I chose teenage/young girls for my target audience as they are more likely to be into Pop than any other social group. And as a Pop fan I decided to create a Pop magazine as I am more likely to know what a fan of Pop would expect to see in a magazine than a person who was a fan of Rock or Indie music. I have put bright, bold fonts on my magazine to attract the female audience and the artists that I have featured on the contents page are quite popular in terms of contemporary Pop music. My magazine is called 'Pop' so I think it's obvious what genre of music is in my magazine therefore the average Pop fan would buy my magazine as there are hardly any, if any, Pop magazines still out today.

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

In terms of technology, I feel I have learned how to use a camera properly. I can take professional looking pictures now by using proper lighting and mise en scene. The mise en scene for my picture centered around colour and brightness. Because it's a Pop magazine I needed things too look happy with my mise en scene, so I chose a brightly lit room and asked my models to wear bright clothes. I found it hard to capture a decent picture at first. But as I learnt more about cameras and technologies I was able to take better more professional pictures. For my preliminary task my shots were quite face on and I had to create light on photoshop instead using the natural light properly.

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

In terms of progression, I think I have came a long way from my preliminary task. In the process of doing my preliminary task I had to edit the picture using photoshop, and I didn't know how to use it, I added light and changed the paper into certificates, but thats all I was capable of back then and I used Microsoft Publisher for both my front cover and contents page mock up. But now on my main task, I edited all of my images on photoshop, cropped them, added shadows where needed and changed the lighting slightly. Also, my front cover, contents page and double page spread are all done on photoshop and I think it looks a lot more professional than my preliminary task.

Double page spread

The conventions I have used that other magazines have used are the use of columns for each section. I have used a big title to introduce the band which stretches to the next page, which I found is often used is magazine double page spreads. Also, after research, I have found that most magazine's tend to have one main picture and a few other smaller pictures, I have also used this convention. And I have started the article by setting the scene and finished it by looking into the future and have included snipets of an interview in between the article which is another convention I have used. However, most magazines tend to stick to one colour of font for the article, I have three colours, but the reason for this was if I kept it all black the consumer wouldn't be able to read the middle two columns so I changed them both to pink to match the title, but then I couldn't read the third column so I had to change that and I used purple as I also used that in the title. Also, the main picture is formed out of three separate images which challenges most magazine conventions as it's normally just one image, but I chose to use separate images as I wanted it to look a bit quirky and different from other magazines.

Contents

My magazine uses a lot of conventions that the 'Smash Hits' magazine contents page uses. I have set out the pages in blocks as the real magazine did. I have different subtitles for different blocks as the 'Smash Hits' did and each block is a different bright colour against a dull background. Also, I have included a competition in which the audience could win Katy Perry tickets, the Smash Hits have included a contests block and they have free posters within the magazine which is another shared convention with Smash Hits. However, my blocks have a different logo type image which I think would attract the consumer to each page. I also only used one picture to show what the poster would be, whereas the Smash Hits contents has used several to show who will feature in their magazine, I think if i used this convention my contents would look crowded so I decided not to use it.

Magazine Front Cover.

My magazine uses some of the conventions used in the 'Smash Hits' magazine. For example, both magazines have a bold title that stretches across the top of the page. I have chosen to crop one image so that each of the girls where closer together, however they are on different levels and have completely different, colourful looks and are posing differently, this convention is also used is Smash hits, as all of the members of the band are on different levels and are also posing differently and all look different. I have also used a circle to highlight a free poster that is available within the magazine as Smash Hits does. I have also used different colours to indicate some of the contents of the page which is another shared convention. However, I feel I have challenged some conventions of this magazine as I feel I used brighter colours to present the pop genre, my title, puffs and image stand out better than those of the Smash Hits magazine. Although the Smash Hits magazine has more puffs, I think that if I used that convention my magazine would look overcrowded and tacky therefore I chose not to use that convention.