Evaluation

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

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I think my magazine stereotypically represents the pop music social group. There was a high importance to represent the music artists in a typical pop way opposed to them being represented in a different music genre’s way. This meant it was vital to compose the models in the correct way, from the clothing and makeup to the camera angles. The gender of the models was crucial in order to give the correct representation of the pop genre. Females are usually the main focus within pop magazines, however having it is uncommon to have no articles about men. In my magazine I had more articles about girls than boys. I kept the models young but still older than the target audience because pop music artists are usually seen as role models and what the readers aspire to be when they grow up.

One of the most important things that represent the pop social group is the way they look. I used society’s standard of ‘good looking’ models. The girls wore tight fitting clothing, plenty of makeup and did their hair. Any flaws were edited out during production which is so they look ‘perfect’. The boys were well groomed and dressed smartly. This is because society sees men as more business-like and professional. 

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

If my magazine were to become successful, a magazine distributor such as Egmont Publishing Group would distribute my product. Egmont would be able to fund the advertisement of my magazine and make it gain popularity so people will buy it. This publishing company have a lot of experience in selling and promoting magazines and thanks to this, will have the best marketing plans. The company sell over a million copies of their magazines each month, this shows just how big they can make my magazine. Egmont only does magazines for young children aged under 7 to teenagers so they already have the right target audience to promote my magazine.

One of its magazines is called 'Go Girl' which is targeted towards over 7's. This magazine is similar to mine in target audience and style, showing that if they were to produce my magazine they would know how to make it popular. They have interactive websites for their magazines which can bring attention to the magazine in ways that a lot of magazines don't.

Since this genre of magazine is at such a high demand, I think my magazine would do very well in the hands of Egmont with great potential to do well in the industry.

4) Who would be the audience for your media project?

Due to my research in the pop music genre, I think the best audience is young girls aged 9-15. A magazine similar to mine has a target audience of 11-15, which I personally think is quite a small target audience. With the age people start using social media getting younger and younger, the audience with a need for the latest 'gossip' is also going to get younger. This is also the target audience for free gifts such as make up and posters, as this is the age they start idolizing celebrities and playing around with make up to try and get the same look as their idol. The colour scheme and articles are heavily aimed towards girls with pink being a main colour.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your product?

7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression of it to the full product?
I have learnt a great collection of skills since starting my product including, magazine layout, common conventions, continuity editing and magazine production. One of the mains things I learned, was what different types of audiences expect from magazine genres they're interested in. I found this out in the initial research on magazine genre and conventions, something I didn't do much of when creating my preliminary task. 
I learnt how important research and planning is. It is a key element when designing something, because without it, the work will look thrown together without a professional look. Planning a layout was especially helpful for me as I had already decided what I needed and where it would all go. 
I've learned a lot more about editing photos professionally. In my preliminary task, I didn't know how to properly remove a background. Now, I know to use the background eraser tool and to feather the edges to keep the editing looking natural. 
In conclusion, there are a variety of things I have learned since my preliminary task. A lot more time and care was taken on my final product than my preliminary task because I wanted to ensure it looked high quality and fits the conventions of a real magazine.