Media Studies Evaluation- Looking back on your preliminary project what do you think you have learnt?

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Preliminary Project

Media Studies Evaluation 7 - 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

My media product was a music magazine in the genre of hip hop and r & b. This genre of music is stereotypically linked with young adult males of a low rating on the Jicnar scale and usually of radicalist and aspirational social values. For this reason they are often perseeved by other people as quit ea negative group of people who are not doing anything of value. My magazine challenges this representation of them and portrays them in a positive way by saying that the graffiti work that they are partaking in its a positive contribution to society and showcases their talent. My graffiti showcase challenges the usual forms and conventions of a double page spread in this genre as it does not have much writing and the pictures are not of any real boldness. Instead I have taken a different approach in which I attempt to make the images and fonts stand out in a more sophisticated fashion instead of a bold and brash approach. The varied use of sans serif font makes the page appear more sophisticated which challenges the ordinary forms of these magazines are sterotypically they look for an underground feel. My magazine aims to be more sophisticated and look at the other end of the hip hop spectrum by trying to be quite classy and at the high end of the social spectrum. This is linked in with hip hop artists lyrics and would attract my aspirational target audience in a different way to ordianry products.

With my front cover I stuck with the ordinary conventions of a hip hop magazine by using a bold picture with the focus on a mid close of a young male. The male is posing in a dominant position at the forgeround of the photo which connotes strength, wealth and superiority. I used bold font which stood out from the page in their reversed out status.

My contants page was left very basic and was again breaking the conventions of an ordianry magazine of this genre. The page was not filled with photos and bold fonts as a usual magazine would be. The contents has small serif font which is capitalised and placed in red text boxes which are'nt reversed out and quite plain. The photo itself is quite stereotypical of these magazines and it is based around graffiti and basketball which are both linked in with this genre of music.

In conclusion I would say that overall my magazine with its large scale inclusions such as photos and captions is very sterotypical and does nothing but develop forms and conventions of normal magazines. But on the other hand the smaller things such as articles and fonts are relatively unconventional and aim to be quite sophisticated and classical in comparison to the ordinary magazines which are quite dark and have an underground feel to them.

Media Studies Evaluation - What have you learnt about technologies from constructing this project?

Before this project I only had a small amount of knowledge on technologies including Quark express and Photoshop. This project has taught me how to edit photos effectively in photoshop including changing the opacity and contrast of photos to manipulate them into the photo that I wanted. Also i have learnt how I can remove small objects and anything of dissatisfaction to me from the picture. For example on my contents page the camera case was left in the picture and due to this I have removed this from the photo using various tools.

With Quark Express I have learnt how i can use various colour schemes and layouts in order to completely change the feel of a photo and manipulate it in order to create a completed project with a completely different feel to it. An example of this is how i have hidden the trees in the background of my contents page by arranging the contents page around this to take the focus away from the trees. During my preliminary project i would not have known how to do this effectively.

Also with this project I have learnt how to use a camera in a more effective way than just taking photos in a standard way. To get the photo i wanted for my project I have used zoom and changed the focus in order to fit everything in the photo and give it the feel that the image is bold and very prominenet and dominating. I also changed the brightness settings in order to make the image seem darker to give it that underground feel that before was not possible due to the weather on the day of my shoot.

Media Studies Evaluation - How did you attract/address your audience?

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Also to attract my audience I used various forms and conventions such as bold mastheads and reversed out coverlines and straplines. The impact of this was that it grabbed the readers attention and makes my magazine stand out from the crowd.

Media Studies Evaluation - Who would be the target audience for your media product?

Media Studies Evaluation - Who would be the target audience of your media product?

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Media Stuides Coursework Evaluation - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

In my opinion my Media Studies Product would be ideally suited for an alternative market due to the connotations and overall feel of the Magazine. There are various Institutions which I feel would be appropriate for the Marketing of my Media Product. Places such as small privately owned Record stores, small Newsagents away from the mainstream corporations such as WHSmiths and also depending on the success of the Magazine a multi platform consumption idea could come into practice through internet distribtuion on Websites which are linked closely to the Genre of music which my Magazine is based around. I feel that a small Record Store would be a suitable place to market the Magazine as these "old school" institutions are very alternative and due to the alternative nature of my magazine, would suit my target audience due to their Radical values. A radicalist would like the idea of not shopping in mainstream stores as sterotypically they like to break away from the norm and find alternative ways of doing every day things. Also as the genre of music quite niche, i feel that marketing it in such a place as WHsmiths would be inapropriate and that more would be sold in smaller institutions which my target readers are more likely to shop due to their low value on Jicnar scale and also their physchographic values. I feel that Internet distribution would work well as due to the genre of music my Magazine is centred around the most common place to find the music of the artists is on the small websites often set up by the Asrtists themselves. I feel that this would be a good way to boost the sale of my Product as a large amount of people interested in my Magazine would be on these websites looking to find things which are linked to the genre of music on such sites.