1. Media Practical Production
Evaluation
Sarah Smith

2. Introduction
For my Media Coursework I decided to create a Music
Magazine. For the production of this I worked individually,
designing the front cover, contents page and double page
spread which included an interview. As well as this I shot the
images included within the magazine and researched various
information for inspiration and ideas of what I should
include.

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge from and conventions of real media
products?
The genre I chose to base my Music Magazine on was Drum and
Bass/Dubstep music. In the beginning I aimed to make my magazine in the
style of grunge, including dark colours and unusual fonts. Although in the
process of creating my magazine I decided against this, including brighter
colours to attract the audience, as well as this I found inspiration from the
certain fashion magazines I included in my blog. It was important to make
my magazine different to already existing ones, in order to make it
successful. Although I chose not to use the usual technique of ‘Mode Of
Address’, I still believe the photograph I used draws in the reader and
captures a feel of mystery about the magazine. As well as this I chose to
keep my magazine layout very simple on the front cover, leaving the more
complex and exciting pages within, although this is unusual and almost the
opposite way to which usual magazine layouts work, I feel that readers
would be much more satisfied. The certain genre I chose to base my
magazine on is already much more underground music rather than
mainstream, leaving a huge niche for my magazine to fill.

4. How does your product represent particular
social groups?
My product is aimed at older teens and young adults of both gender. As the type of
genre I chose to base my magazine on is much more underground music, my
magazine is aimed at the less stereotypical type of people. Much more commercial
genres have an identified target audience, such as pop music and girls. Although
my magazine is aimed at both genders the specific artist I created to include is
aimed more at a female audience, showing that females can also be involved and
enjoy the music that is Drum and Bass. Therefore all in all my magazine is adhering
to stereotypes that we commonly know and see, offering an alternative
representation within the Media Industry. In order to make sure that I created the
right image for my magazine in order to relate to the readers I decided to use
bright colours, yet mix them up with darker colours to create a feel of curiousity
about the magazine. As well as this I decided to style the magazine shoot with
different patterned clothing that would usually clash and not be seen together in
the same outfit. I chose not to make all of the lighting on the magazine bright and
clear in order to shout out to the reader that my magazine was new and different
from the rest. I made sure that my fonts were almost the same on the front cover,
keeping a feeling of neatness and simplicity, yet on the inside I decided to mix the
fonts up and give create a feel of variety.

5. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and why?
The kind of media institution I chose to distribute my media product is IPC
Media as it distributes magazines such as NME, Marie Clare and Look and
all three of these magazines are very successful. Overall IPC Media
produces more than 85 media brands, their magazine porfolio reaches 27
million UK adults a month, and from just online their brands reach 20
million users every month. Figures such as this prove that IPC are a very
successful distribution company. As well as this IPC should quite easily be
able to guarantee making my magazine a success as there are very few
magazines of this music genre in the industry, leaving a huge niche and
unfulfilled target audience, leading to easy profits.

6. Who would be the audience for your
media product?
The audience for my media product is older teens to young adults, with this I
chose to aim my magazine at both genders, yet the main article I included
does slightly relate more to females. My magazine is aimed at any race, as
the music I chose to base my magazine on is listened to by all races within
culture. The music I chose to base my magazine on is Drum and
Bass/Dubstep, as this is much more underground than most genres such
as Pop and Rnb, the social economic status I aim my product at are
working class-middle class.
Most people associated with Drum and Bass/Dubstep are late teens and
young adults, as well as this they are not known as a ‘typical’ stereotype,
with a ‘typical’ look or dress sense as the music is still very much
underground.

7. How did you attract/address your
audience?
The title I chose for my magazine was ‘Rumour’. I believe that this is original and
intriguing towards an audience as it unusual and the meaning of the word
creates mystery about the magazine and its contents.
The key image on my front cover was originally bright including high key lighting,
although I did not dislike this, I believed that editing the image and then
adding on top a slightly coloured text box created a much more mysterious
and grungy feel towards the magazine and front cover, including some of my
original ideas and also relating to the magazine title. Although I decided to
include more colour within the colour palatte I believe that keeping only
certain parts bright and mixing darker colours has worked very well giving a
good mixture and variety to the magazine. Although on the front cover I chose
not to include too many stories or strap lines, this is what I always intended to
do as I explained on my blog by finding inspiration and style from fashion
magazines. I did this again to include a much more mysterious feel to the
magazine, as the genre is much more underground music than mainstream
and therefore the target audience will expect a different style of magazine to
the usual very mainstreams ones such as NME.

8. Continued...
On my contents page I believe that I have used a variety of articles to feature,
and as well as this I have kept them all very light-hearted and not too
serious, yet also making sure that they can be very informative for the
reader at the same time. As well as this I have included a huge headline
introducing the artist I chose to feature and an image to go with this,
giving the reader a taster of what to expect.
On my double page spread I carried on with the mix of colours dark and light,
giving again a variety of colour to grab the readers attention. I chose to
use a mix of fonts and sizes within the headline as this I believe makes the
page look much more exciting and busy to the reader. I believe the the
content included is pretty balanced between text and images, introducing
the reader to the artist fairly. The choice of images I chose to use have
again been edited to create a much more dull and mysterious feel, yet at
the same time being clear enough for the reader to see. I believe my
double page spread is appealing to the eye to read as it is balanced,
colourful and yet intriguing for the reader.

9. What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?
In the process of constructing my magazine I have learnt various aspects of different
technologies. First of all when beginning my Music Magazine I had never before
used the website www.blogger.com , although I had browsed it I had never
personally created a blog and therefore I had to learn how to add new blogs, edit
certain blogs and also attach photos.
Second of all I have never used Apple Mac computers much before and therefore I had
to become accustomed to even simple things such as opening files and saving files.
Other software included on the Apple Mac computers such as InDesign and
Photoshop were both new to me and again I have to become familiar with certain
techniques such as editing photos, creating backgrounds on my magazine, adding
titles, including text and even re-arranging objects on the pages.
I believe creating a piece of coursework this way I a really good example, and helps the
student as well as this teacher. I believe that using a blog to upload and keep track
of work is very successful as, as a student you can access it anywhere and as a
teacher there is a clear layout of what stages your students are at. I also believe
that using Apple Macs and the certain software is a good idea as I have learnt so
much more and have now gained skills from this.

10. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel
you have learnt in the progression from it to the full
product?
Looking back at my preliminary task I believe I have learnt a lot more, and
have clearly put this to use within my final product. In my preliminary task
I kept the colour palette very minimum and pretty dull, as well as this the
headlines I included were not as interesting or as intriguing as my final
product. Although on my preliminary task I did edit my main image, I
believe that my final product shows the full content of what I am capable
of when editing images. In my final product the composition of headlines
and the image creates the feeling of a much more professional magazine
and the variety of texts and colours intrigues the reader much more than
my preliminary task. I believe that through the research I did and through
inspiration from various music and fashion magazines I have learnt much
more and have successfully portrayed this in my final product.

11. Conclusion
Overall I am proud of my Music Magazine product, and believe that I have
shown how much I have learnt over these weeks, through research and
finding inspiration. I believe that my magazine looks quite professional and
in terms of comparison to my preliminary magazine, very professional. I
believe that I have used choice and variety of colours very well, and
although I have used bright colours in certain parts I have managed to
balance them out by fading and mixing darker colours within. The type of
fonts and font sizes I have included are a good variety and I also tried to
contrast my fonts in certain places between black and whites. I did not
want to include too much colour within my fonts as I believed I had
enough with such bright background colours. If I was to change anything
of my Music Magazine product it would most likely be the images on my
double page spread, if I had managed my time a little more towards the
end of my task I would of been able to edit the images to a better
standard and create I believe a more exciting page.