Evaluation

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Icon weekly used the normal forms and conventions of a normal magazine. This was solely because I wanted the title of the magazine to catch the eye of the reader. As you can see in the image below I placed the masthead at the top of the page with big bold letters on a black background. If I had broke the conventions of a typical magazine perhaps the magazine would loose popularity or maybe interfere with the main picture.
As you can see I used all the conventions of a typical magazine except for using two different font types in order to make one font stand out from the other and vice versa. I used the basis of the college magazine I used for my textual analysis. As you can see the masthead is boldly at the top of the page with a student doing something academic, in this case science – similar to my magazine where the masthead is at the top with a student reading.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main purpose of Icon weekly is to give reader information about a typical month in college, so basically Icon weekly is a magazine about college life, it represents social groups as it shows that its specifically aimed at teenagers who are in college or possibly last year of secondary school. I feel that with this issue I included audiences of all genders as there is information which both boys and girls can relate to. But I feel as if unintentionally used models of the same race, which as a result shows that I’ve excluded other races such as Caucasian and Asians, this shows that this isn’t really reality as the college is a multicultural society . As you can see in both the contents page and front cover I intentionally got the models to smile, in order to project a sense of enjoyment whilst learning, if I had made them looking grim and unhappy then the audience may not feel that it appeals to them and would destroy the whole cause for Icon weekly. I used props such as geek glasses and books to fit with the subculture of schools and different social groups within the college. In the contents page on the left you can see that is a female with a hooded top and a boy with a Father Christmas hat, this so it appeals to more than one audience.

Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Icon weekly will be beneficial for a publishing company as it appeals to a wide audience than a niche one, that being teenagers of all genders.
Icon weekly will have different content in every with information that refers to previous issues such as “find out who won the battle from last issue!”
Also icon weekly will have content that could be referred to electronically such as websites for music and revision with specific passwords. These are just a few advantages which could boost the sales of my publishing company due to uniqueness of Icon weekly. I would encourage teenagers of all ages to subscribe to my magazine. And also to distribute them in youth clubs, this is because it may boost the likely hood of teenagers to further their education, and give them information on what college is really like. I would distribute them there by giving the owner(s) a small share in the sales as they will be an asset to the distribution and increase in popularity of my magazine.

Q4.Who would be the audience for your media product?




Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?


Icon weekly used what could be classed as a convention by using popular people as my cover image and contents page image, I used a medium long shot in my photography in order for my magazine to distribute effectively, I used cover lines such as “ 5 ways to revise” and “latest pics of CTK’s football match” in order to catch the eye of the reader as my audience is towards all gendered teenagers I put information about a football match to reel in the male readers and the same with the revision cover line. I used Standard English in my cover lines as I felt that if the cover lines were in slang then some people wouldn’t be able to interpret the text as all teenagers are different in one way or another. I used a red san serif bold font on a black layout for the cover lines to stand out. Also because that is what the verdict was in my audience research.
The models were very modern looking in terms of their hair styles and clothing and jewelleries. I also used models that were in the same age group as my audience in order for to reel I customers.

It is worthwhile remembering that 40% of all magazine purchases are determined by the content of the front cover, instead of brand loyalty.

Please give specific details, including pictures.

Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?


I learnt that photography isn’t as easy as it looks as I had to do a range of shots and keep the camera steady and straight, I also learnt that using lighting for images can make a difference in he end result if I did not use lighting then my images in Photoshop could not be brightened that well. I used Photoshop CS3 in order to produce both my cover page and contents and learned to use a selection of tools such as the magic wand and magnetic lasso tool for my masthead as the font was not in the default selection. I also used filters such as ink out lines for effect and to make he contents look interesting. I also used the patch healing tool to remove spots of the cover models if any were seen.



Q7. Looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to a full product?


At first I wasn’t too keen of the two tasks as I had no knowledge of Photoshop or with the equipment I was required to use. But once I go into I enjoyed it I used the camera effectively as well as the blue screen in order for me to alter he background easier. I used to models with care and knowledge that they had things to do so took the pictures quick and efficiently and I was aware of their free periods so that’s when I asked if he were willing. I made sure I had time to do the task by using a plan containing things I had to do by a specific time. As long as I followed it I was able to do the tasks with ease.