Introduction

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Click here to view my preliminary task of the sixth form magazine.

Evaluation 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?

I have identified a gap in the market. Although there are other festivals magazines such as 'Festivals magazine', its audience is much older than mine. Therefore this an niche, individual magazine. As well as a magazine for which its audience are the majority that go to festivals. Therefore I have developed conventions such as the semantic fields portrayed. My magazine has semantic fields of young, fun-loving, entertainment.      

It is important to use conventions to ensure that my magazine seems convincing, and could actually act as a real product. The audience would be used to seeing these conventions in regular music magazines/others so this is important to use, for them to understand.

Evaluation 2- How does you media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation by

Evaluation 3- What media institution would distribute your media product and why?

Click on link to view some of IPC Media brands.

Furthermore, view Bauer Media Group webpage by clicking here.

If VOLUME is successful I may consider the future prospects such as an online magazine, and advertising through IPC Media in order to try and gain more readership. If I did in fact produce an online version of VOLUME, I would definitely make it interactive, for example on my contents where there is a photostrip I would make this feature flow through, so more pictures of inside content would be shown. If I wanted to advertise VOLUME, I would have to fulfil http://www.ipcadvertising.com/ an application which will enable me to advertise VOLUME elsewhere.

IPC already advertise for brands such as NOW, Marie Claire well-known magazines, which is hopeful considering how well they are currently doing, and maybe VOLUME can achieve this same status.

IPC Media do actually advertise for the music magazine NME.

If I actually wanted to advertise VOLUME, these are the people I would need to contact.
- Deputy Head - Creative Media Neil McSteen (020 3148 6707)

- Digital Brand Partnerships Director Andrew Sanders (0203 148 6716 )

- Digital Business Director Chris Dicker (020 3148 6709)
- Live Sales Executive Emma Martin (020 3148 6705)
- Classified Sales Manager Nicola Jago (020 3148 2608)
- Group Trading Director Kate Mackenzie (020 3148 3603)

Evaluation 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

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Regarding the Values, Attitudes and Lifestyles framework I have categorised my target audience to be strivers/experiencers. This is because strivers are fun-loving, and trendy, whereas  experiencers will spend a large proportion of their money on entertainment and socialising eg. festival. Therefore, using the LifeMatrix Tool the audience would be fun/antics people, as these are aspirational, fun-seeking and active young people.

With reference to the uses + gratifications theory, there are four categories
- information
- personal identity
-social interaction
-entertainment
I feel that VOLUME would be best in the entertainment section as festivals are considered an entertaining social activity. However, it would also offer information however just based around festivals. 

Evaluation 5- How did you attract/address your audience

Evaluation 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of construction?

Through researching and analysing music magazines to understand the conventions used. I used the internet, particularly when carrying out research. Whilst producing pieces to display my new understanding I used Snacktools such as Prezi, Microsoft Word and Blogger. Prezi was the most challenging to use, yet I feel its my most creative due to the interaction involved. Furthermore, whilst creating my own magazine, I had to set up my own photoshoot, to do this I had to use photographic equipment such as a Canon Photography camera. To develop the images I took I had to use iPhoto to edit and produce better quality images, to how i felt it would look best and fit in well with my magazine. I very much enjoyed using iPhoto, although I struggled to grasp the concept of it, when I was able to make my images exactly the way I wanted it was rather satisfying.

 

If I had the opportunity to produce a music magazine again, I would definitely use my same idea, as I liked the fact it was different to others. However, next time when shooting, I would make sure to set up perfect setting for a more convincing portrayal of festivals, although I do feel this was portrayed rather well. Furthermore, although Photoshop was challenging I now understand how to use it. However, rather than presenting my work on Snacktools which was very time-consuming, I would use other technologies that would present them in an easier way. I would also ensure that these would be interactive and understandable.

Evaluation 7- Looking back at my preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final one?

My preliminary task

Not only has my technical aspects of my magazine progressed but also my understanding of how branding and representation is important.

Representation is important as the audience will only purchase the product is the representation of the context is the portrayal of positivity. Therefore the overall image of the magazine is vital considering the effect and influence it will have on the audience. The branding is the symbol that will identify VOLUME from its competitors, however due to the originality and gap in the market for my magazine this will not be of major concern. I feel that the use of the volume speaker in the masthead will allow the audience to identify the underlying service of the product, as a volume speaker is obviously related to music.

When producing VOLUME I made sure to apply my magazine to the LIAR concepts, which admittedly was not something I had thought about considering wth my preliminary task. To apply to language I ensured to use terminology appropiate for my audience and genre of music, for example 'crowd-surf' only relating to the audience and genre. For the institutional aspects I made sure to include barcodes, pricing to cover this. For the audience I made sure that it was relatable to them and made ways for them to interact eg. sending in a text, or use of twitter. I also esnured the representation of festivals was positive, therefore something the audience would want to read about.

                VOLUME.                                                                                         Preliminary.

From the above, it is clear my skills have progressed. I had included more conventions such as tag words, bottom + top strip. Although I did still include puffs and masthead before. In my preliminary I did not edit my main image in anyway, perhaps why it is so unfocused in comparison to my one used for VOLUME. Although my audiences would have been different, I feel that the set demographic theories would fit in better well with VOLUME than for ACHIEVE, as it is obvious from the front cover it is unclear, therefore something to ensure I consider.