Evaluation Questions

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

For this question you need to discuss your product in terms of the ways in which it follows the
generic conventions of real music magazines, or alternatively, does it deliberately develop,
challenge or subvert the generic conventions of real media products. To do this you need to
put your magazine pages next to real magazine pages and explain the ways in which they are
the same and the ways in which they are different. If they are different, then you need to
explain why they are different. This work should be completed as a video and should include
images of your product intercut with images of real media texts.

A) My name is Jessica Vardy and for the last four months I have been working on
creating my own music magazine cover, contents page and double page spread. To do
this I needed to study already existing music magazines, which are at the same genre
as the genre that I have chosen for my magazine, I compared my magazine to one of
Kerrang’s! magazines. I did this so that my
magazine followed the same genetic
conventions of a real music magazine of the
same genre.
By comparing my magazine to one of
Kerrang’s! I am able to compare it with my
completed magazine cover to and tell you which
bits are similar to that of a real magazine such as
Kerrang magazine.
Ok so I will start by comparing the front
cover main image. The image on my magazine
is a mid shot of the people in my main cover
“Exclusive” story; this is so that it attracts the
target audience to the magazine, if they see a
band they are a fan of then they are going to
want to buy the magazine. The image is also
covers the whole of the magazine page which is
genetically typical of a music magazine. By
looking that the real Kerrang magazine and by
studying others like this I am able to indentify that a mid shot is the most common
shot used in photos that are on the front page of a music magazine and that it always
covers the whole page of the magazine
Next I will talk about the font ant title of the mast head of my magazine. My
magazine is called “Mettle Vibe” this is a typical name for a music magazine of the
rock genre, I chose it because it sounds like a typical rock magazine as the word
“mettle” is a type of rock music. The font of my mast head is in a font which looks
like it has been smashed this connotes the idea of loudness, creating the image that the
music is so loud that it smashes the font, connoting existent and energy to the target
audience. This font was inspired by that of Kerrang’s font.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

For this question you need to discuss your product in terms of the ways in which represents
particular social groups. This could be the ways in which it represents a particular youth
subculture, a particular racial group, gender etc. This work should be completed as a video
and should include images of your product.

My music magazine product represents a teenage boy rocker social group. This is very
stereotypical of a music magazine of the rock genre. My magazine represents this particular
social group because it has the right codes and conventions of a rock magazine. The

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

For this question you need to discuss your product in terms of the ways in which it would be
produced and distributed. Will your magazine be sold nationally or locally? Would your
magazine be the product of a multinational conglomerate, such as Bauer or IPC, or would it
be distributed by an independent publisher? What would be the advantages and
disadvantages of each option? This work should be completed as a video and should include
images of your product or you could produce an MP3 Podcast with images on your blog post.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Use your demographic audience profile for this but add some more theory to back up what
you have already done. This work should be completed as a video, which includes images of
your audience demographic profile and your product.

My media product’s audience would be rockers between the ages of 15-25. To help me
create my magazine I created a demographic audience profile. This shows me what kind of
thing rockers like. For example in my profile there are images of guitars, which tells me that
my audience are most likely to play an instrument such as the lead guitar, the bass guitar and
the drums. It also shows me that they are most likely to like things like heavy metal rock
music and they like colours like black, green and red, these colours are typical of the
stereotype of being a Goth of a rocker, so therefore I have used these colours throughout my
music magazine. This demographic profile really helped me create my product, so that it
attracted my target audience.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

For this question you need to discuss your ways in which your audience attract/address its
audience. You will need to discuss your magazine’s mode of address, writing style, use of
images, colours, mise-en-scène, ideal self/partner, coverlines, house style, competitions/free
gifts etc.
 I attracted my target audience by giving my magazine the right codes and
conventions of a magazine of the rock genre, this then therefore would attract the right
stereotypical audience of a rock magazine. By using the correct colour scheme and by
modelling my models in the right clothing and by using the correct lighting for my photos I was
able to create the right look and feel that will attract my target audience.
When I finished creating my magazine I posted it on my facebook account and
gathered feed back. This helped address the product to my target audience, which then
helped me improve the product to make it better, because the feed back I got was both
negative and positive feedback.

Questions 4 and 5 could be completed as one video.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
product?
You have already produced a series of Camstudio videos showing how you used Photoshop
and Quark. You could produce some more videos of how you posted images to your blog,
and how you used other Web 2.0 applications, such as bubbl.us. You could also discuss the
other digital technologies you used such as Digital SLRs, scanners, non-linear editing
software (Windows Movie Maker), Camstudio, digital video cameras etc. Narrate a
commentary to these videos discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each of these
applications and processes.

Before starting this product I dint know how to use Photoshop or QuarkXPress, I have show
how I can now use both of the software’s by creating a cam studio video, which are on my
blog. This also shows that I have learnt how to use Camstudio which I couldn’t use before

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

You need to describe the ways in which your understanding of the generic conventions of
media texts and your production skills have developed from the Preliminary Task to the Main
Task. The technology section of this answer could be completed as a Cam Studio video.

You are already in a position to answer questions 3 and 4 but the rest of the questions cannot
be answered until you have completed your magazine.

A rough draft of your question answers must be answered by the time you come back after
the Easter holidays.