This is my evaluation

1. Evaluation
Of my media product

2. In what ways
does your
media product
use, develop or
challenge forms
and
conventions of
real media
products?
 My media product uses similar conventions of a music magazine,
with my own added style. I chose different elements and styles
from different magazines to create and individual design for my
magazine, which links in with the genre of indie music. I used Q
magazine for the basis of my design as the colour scheme was
effective and it was visually pleasing to the audience. In addition,
using Q magazine worked favourably for me as many elements of
music are touched upon in the magazine. I did research into
magazine images and found that a mid-shot or a profile was the
most effective image I could have used. I used the traditional style
of a music magazine, however, as it would have appealed to a
wide audience as the professionalism would have made it more
likely to be sold to my target market. I did not challenge many
codes or conventions of music magazines with my own design as it
would look more realistic if it looked like every other music
magazine, however I took elements from several magazines,
mainly Q, to create my final design and to make it look slightly
different.

3. How does
your media
product
represent
particular
social groups?
 My magazines represents women very positively, as the model
shown in the front cover of the magazine is covered up and not
sexualised, in addition, there is no sexualisation in my magazine.
In fact, it has a very gender-neutral view on people in the
magazine.Young people are represented positively in my music
magazine, as it is aimed at a younger audience and possibly an
older audience, so their fear of youth’s is diminished. Music from
different generations are touched upon in my magazine as
relatively modern music and older music is referred to, mainly to
attract an older audience and to make the younger readers more
aware of the music that out-dates them. Only young people are
shown in my magazine, which may prevent the older audience
from relating to the stories within.

4. What kind of
media
institution
might
distribute
your media
product and
why?
 Whilst creating my magazine, I considered which magazine
institution would consider publishing it for commercial retail.The
Bauer Media Group specializes in the publication of music
magazines, such as the popular magazines 'Q‘, Kerrang and
MOJO.This would be appropriate for my magazine as the Bauer
Media Group could be able to sell my magazine to a smaller, yet
dedicated, audience. Another media company that would be likely
to publish my magazine would be IPC media as it already
published NME magazine and Guitar and Bass, and it would be
likely to publish my magazine as it would hit a different market of
people and would be likely to make a profit. A way of distributing
my magazine would be through retail or perhaps online as the
audience would be more technologically advanced.There is
likeliness of distribution through subscription with my magazine,
as people would be likely to start collecting and to continue
collecting my magazine.

5. What have
you learned
about
technologies
from the
process of
constructing
this product?
 Camera – I have learned how to take an effective photograph, how to
focus the camera and the position of model to imitate the style of a
music magazine. I also learned that the context and the background
of the photograph is also important as it should reflect the genre and
tone of the magazine.The relevance of how the model looks and how
it links in with the entire genre of the magazine.
 Photoshop – the use of Photoshop and the subsequent skills I have
gained from using this were editing photographs, adding text and
creating an overall professional music magazine cover.This vastly
improved the quality of my magazine as it made it look more
professional. As well as photo editing, the fonts and over all design of
my magazine was improved which developed the authenticity of
'OFFBEAT' to make it look like a true, professional magazine.
 Blogger –The use of Blogger helped with the development of my
skills in my media project as it allowed me to show my development
and show off my ideas and thoughts in a public form of media.
 Slideshare -The use of Slideshare to show the production of my
product and the subsequent development of such was entirely helpful
in my AS media project. It helped my show my work on a different
media platform and helped me develop ideas and skills as well as
show pictures for further detail in

6. Who would be
the audience
for your
media
product?
 My media product is aimed at people who are interested in indie
music, or people going against the mainstream charts. It could
also be aimed at people with a passion for music, like other
musicians who look for their idols and things that inspire them.
Usually, music magazines are aimed at young people who use
them to read about good music and about their idols, further
sparking interest in the individual and alternative genres. I have
also used a ‘scan bar’ so the magazine can be access via
technology, making it appropriate for the younger generation who
amy not want to buy a physical copy of the magazine as they may
find it more useful on a technological device. However, as I have
mentioned the Sex Pistols in my magazine it can be aimed at older
people who remember them, or people who would like to learn
more about a band which isn't as well remembered. The general
public would also be the audience as they would be coming across
my product in any retail shop willing to sell my product, so I could
not make it offensive or in anyway controversial, which may have
rose its popularity and market consumption.

7. Looking back at
your
preliminary
task, what do
you feel you
have learned in
the progression
from it to the
full product?
 I have developed substantial skills and techniques on Photoshop,
such as how to edit my front cover, contents page and double
page spread and add further details to the magazine, and I have
learned how to edit photos effectively to show professionalism, in
addition the quality of my photographs have vastly improved
which helped the development of my magazine.. I have also uses
other magazines for a basis for my design and final product of my
magazine. Research on different music magazines such as Q, NME
and Rolling Stone aided the development of 'OFFBEAT' and the
analysis on them has helped me develop my magazine greatly
from my preliminary task. My knowledge of different media
platforms such as Slideshare has improved, which allowed me to
show my magazine at different stages of development and add a
different media platform to my Blogger account.

8. How did you
attract/address
your audience?
 I attracted my audience with the professionalism of my magazine,
which would have made it more likely for the customer to buy it.
Furthermore, I attracted my audience by making everything on
my media magazine cover visually appealing and easily accessible
to the human eye. I used an appealing colour scheme and followed
the social conventions of a professional music magazine. I
attracted my audience by using information about bands and
using words such as ‘exclusive’, the implication being that the
story read in the magazine cannot be read anywhere else.The
model I used for my front cover and as the main focus for my
double page spread was attractive yet relatable which would
attract people of both genders of the audience to my magazine. I
also did research on the target market by posting a questionnaire
onto my blog, in an attempt to get information on what music
genre and elements of a magazine to focus on whilst creating my
magazine.