EVALUATION

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

Using conventions from exsisting music magazines i didnt reely pin point my magazine to a certain genre. Thefore i took small elements from many to give a more unique feel to my magazine as it is niche. One thing i took into my own use was the similar style of masthead to kerrang, changing it with colour themes it was then suitable for my audience as to a mainstream rock fan base which have much more darker plain colours.

When coming to the photography of my magazine i wanted the representation of the my band as close to the real thing as possible, therefore i had the group in various body positions of the backdrop complimenting each member in individual ways for example i have used "THE GOSSIP" with this i have took the prop of some sunglasses and put them in (Adams) mouth not only does this compliment the feel of my magazine it makes it stand out from just a plain stance.

Similar to this my contents and double page spread show obvious connections as the images i have taken are full of action and movement giving the audience a preferred reading and connotations of raving.

My contents page itself has all the the stereotypical factors which add to the verisimilitude
this includes obvious elements such a as bulleted columns, bands, prizes but as well of this smaller aspects which are equally as important such as a small image of the front cover at the top and putting frames round my text boxes all make FUTURE SHOCK believable.

My double page spread follows the same principles as the previous. Using the font 28 DAYS LATER, IMPACT and the chaotic over the top colours gives my target audience a strong house style which will help them recognise my product if their was to be another issue. One thing i felt suitable was the use of adobe photo shop elements 5, with this i could play around with the brightness, contrast and saturation of the images i took and enhance them to give connotations of heavy dance gigs it also makes my pages stand out and gives stronger anchorage to my captions above.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is aimed at teenagers and young adults who are trying to keep up with the ever changing music and unique hybrids which are forming through time. With this as my magazine is a first issue it will be very niche and have a small fan base which is why i have had created it with upcoming and local artists. The overall mise-en-scene of my front cover had to be spot and look different to other mainstream genres for example heavy rock this makes it clearer to the fans who are interested in this type of music. With this i have my 3 actors dressed suitably and following their rolls as a rave and dance group to help convince this Adam (left) has a tight white v-neck top on with retro ghetto blasters all over, this is much easier than finding one in real life and taking a snap.

The way they are stood as a group shows variation and differences in sexuality on one hand i have Tom (left) stood in a stereotypical masculine way with his chest stuck out and a serious facial expression hinting he is comfortable with his sexuality of being straight. In centre of the page i have directed Andy to have a less domineering role and touching Adam on both shoulders, this could give of mixed emotional connotations some accumulating he may be uncertain of his sexuality or just a has a strong bond with his band member. Either way i felt by showing a mixture of people it would make the viewers reading comfortable to be an individual.

Targeting both female and males i thought of different ways i could reach compliment both genders. This is how i did it.

TARGETING MALES

GRITTY LOCATIONS FOR PARTS OF MY PHOTO SHOOTS

EXPLICIT AND BOYISH TAG LINES

FOR EXAMPLE

"WE HAD F**K ALL SUPPORT"

RIVALRY OF MALES SCOIAL REALISM

(CLAIRE MONK)

FIGHTING SNAPS

IDEAL SELFS

TARGETING FEMALES

FASHION

LOCAL FEMALE BAND TO ENCOURAGE NEW TALENT

IDEAL PARTNERS

FLORENCANT COLOURS

With my masthead FUTURE SHOCK i have encoded meaning to give simple denotations deeper thoughts for instance the FUTURE is used as my magazine is unusual and attempting to influence musicians and for fans to always look further for trends, stles and genres of music which will widen their appeal. The SHOCK dennotes being startled and awakened by an energy this can reflect onto the general feel of my magazine which is designed to jump out of the page instead of blending in the rest.

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

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for FUTURE SHOCK would be arouund the ages of 16-22 no older or younger due to explicit language use. The readership around 60% male to 40% female the audience must be interested in future electronic rave and dance and alow them selfs to explore different eras which are beguining to unwravel. They should also be interested in new and upcoming talents brought to light through the magazine. Money wise my magazine wont be making a large amount of money as its readership is a smaller minority than for example KERRANG or Q and its monthly, however it wouldnt take as long as a popular selling magazine to make as i wouldnt have as many pages.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Even though my magazine is a hybrid genre and different i have still kept all the fundamentals of a music magazine this is one of the most obvisious aspects as the audience need to understand what it is your actually selling, therfore on my front cover i followed the conventions and cropped an appropiate picture and had it main focus covering most of the page. To adress my audience i also had smaller images around the outside and bottom this tells the audience my magzine has plenty to offer and will persuade them to find out about the artists e.t.c. With the pull quotes i limited the amount of text teasing the reader it aslo dosent give too much away that it isnt nessercary to read on and purchuse my magazine. On my masthead and sell lines i have showerd the text with colour this keeps my magazine looking busy and exciting it also helped my fonts jump out onto the fore ground through having text boxes this will attract customers and give them plenty to look at.

Word use has also helped me, modern, exclusive and ggoodies (great goods) all give postive feedback to Future shock and readers look out for things like this which will make them feel they hav got something worthy and valuable. With so much going on it was a good idea to keep the discourse structure simple and easy to follow this is evident through my double page spread where an indepth interveiw was present.

Being local my magazines main band

ATTACK OF THE NERDS interveiw is much more around domestic problems and rough up bringings this gives my double page spread character and makes a relationship with the reader as they may be able to relate parts of their life to it.

Attracting young adults the left image on page has plenty of energy and action it also shows the wild side to the band. Further up top another snap puts the readers on a short story and gives achorage to the meaning full interveiw aside and below. Under the band name is a descriptive opening about the group in general and gets audience arroused to read on.

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

Starting the project i was introduced with new and strange ways of saving and using my work to an advantage over the internet. Blogger at first was a real struggle to navigate howeer over time through smart custimization and work prep i eventually got used to the website. The next couple of weeks had me creating posts and uploading images which was satifying and gave me confidence to carry on.

Soon after we were shown two programmes the first adobe photoshop element 5 and Quark express. Using adobe photoshop in the past i was fairly comfortable navigating and constructing my project and in a whort time had created my front covers. Later getting cam studio inwhere i could take my own recordings and upload them had me using the lasoo tool cutting one of my band members out and onto a blank file this was failry easy to grasp however the playing and stopping of the softwear got akward and took several attempts to perfect. After tweeking my front cover i advanced into fonts and enhanced many of my text styles with drop shadows, gradients and outlines this aded proffessionalsim to my work. Helpfull also was the adavanced picture settings of adobe which after cropping allowed any inconvient marks or tears in the backdrop to go away.

For my contents and double page spread i wasent comfortable using Quark express and found it difficult even to add simple things such as text boxers and import pictures due to lack of experience. Getting towards the end of the project i eventually grasped what was needed to do and was happy fitting box to picture, picture to box along with house styles and other basics. One usefull tool was the drop capital, this ensured my work could resemble existing ones and added verisimilitude to FUTURE SHOCK.