Prelim Evaluation

1. In What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I am going to compare my magazine to 'Cosmopolitan'.
'Cosmopolitan' is aimed towards women and uses a very femine colour scheme of pink to attract its audience. I chose to use a colour scheme of purple to attract my audience as it's the official college colour and is also seen to be a very royal colour, insinuating that if you bought this product you would be worth more than those who haven't.
The layout of 'Cosmopolitan' is very different to the one of my product, as 'Cosmopolitan's' main sell lines are all placed down the left hand side of the page. This is because we are a culture that read from top left to bottom right. All my sell lines are on the right hand side of my page, this could be a good thing as it makes it stand out from the crowd but looking back now, I think it would have been better if I had put them on the left. Also, the placing of the 'WIN!' is almost blocking my models face, this is something I should work to improve on with my next product.
The model on 'Cosmopolitan' is placed in the center, and her eyeline is in the top third of the page to show superiority. My model is places slightly to the side, as I believe this worked much better with my sell line placements and placing someone on the left side of the page means they are powerful, meaning if you bought this magazine you too would be powerful. The eyeline of my model is also within the top third, this makes it seem like she's above anyone that hasn't bought the magazine and challanges the audience into buying the product. It also makes her seem important, which makes people think if they buy this product they also become much more important. My shot is a medium close-up to help the reader empathise with my model, as it it much easier to see body language like this. My model looks very happy and is stood in a casual manner, which insinuates that the college has a very relaxed atmosphere. The lighting used for my front covers photoshoot is very natural, which insinuates my magazine to be very relaxed and laid-back.
My font is very bold, much like the one of 'Cosmopolitan'. This is because I wanted to draw attention to my title, as it's the first thing people generally look for when searching for a particular magazine. The context of my sell lines, such as 'All Your School Supplies FREE!' appeals to my target audience as it's quite expensive to buy all your school/college supplies on top of travel costs etc. So a student will be attracted to this to save money.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I chose to represent the social tribe 'Trendies' on my front cover, and also 'Emos' slightly (bottom right corner). The location of my 'trendy' model compared to my 'emo' model makes it seem like the 'trendy' model is superior - she's on the left, and is much bigger and higher up than my 'emo' model. I chose to do this because 'Trendies' make up a large percentage of the youth of today, so bigging up their ego could encourage them to buy this product.
'Trendies':

'Emos':

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

My magazine 'Educate' is aimed towards students aged between 16 and 19. Students could come from a variety of different stereotypes, such as 'Indie Kids', 'Chavs' or 'Scene Kids'. However, I chose to aim my  magazine at the social tribe 'Trendies' as these make up quite a large proportion of the youth of today. 'Trendies' are generally of any gender and are interested in magazines such as 'Vogue', or 'Cosmopolitan' so they are up to date on all the recent fashion developments. They eat healthily, and this means eating anything the media says is good for you and/or your body and their outlook on life is generally a positive one. They normally spend all their money in Topshop, grabbing the latest bargains out there.

Aiming my magazine towards this specific social tribe meant having to appeal to all the different aspects of the values this stereotype carries. To do this meant tactfully making my sell lines appeal to this audience, for example 'WIN! All Your School Supplies Free!' - this appeals to the need this tribe has to always be on top of the latest 'trends'. I also did some market research into what the people from different social tribes are interested in and I looked at YouTube videos;

The model on my magazine represents the 'Trendies' so I ensured she was wearing fashionable clothes and make-up. I did this because my research proved that this is what 'Trendies' take extra care of.

4.How did you attract/ address your audience?

I attracted the 'Trendies' by appealing to their need to have the latest accessories, and to always be on top of the latest gossip/fashion ('VOTE! Now On Your Class Representative!!').

Knowing the audience that you're directing your product towards helps you because it lets you make design choices that would appeal to that group of people. This means that you can ensure as many sales as possible of your product. I was influenced to use a certain model (wearing 'trendy' clothes and make-up) on my front cover, and as I have previously mentioned, it also helped me choose my sell lines.

I placed my front cover on a popular website/instant messenger for people to review;

The feedback provided here proves my magazine to be successful, and the flaws pointed out are flaw I already noticed myself. I will improve on these with my next product.

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

I have learnt many different things and that in a photoshoot there lots of things to consider;

• To reduce camera shake when you don't have a tripod, you simply bring your elbows closer into your body which reduces the amount of movement in your arms.
• The depth of field is the range of distances from the camera which are in sharp focus (aperture).
• The main focal point of the image should be the face and eyes.
• The subjects' eyes should be placed somewhere around 1/3 or 1/4 from the top of the frame.
• The problem with single light set up is that you will get dark shadows on the opposite side of the face. You can overcome this problem by using a reflector to bounce some light back.
• The best angle to have your model at whilst shooting is to have the body and shoulders turned at a 45 degree angle from the camera, but the face looking directly at the lens of the camera.
• The Rule of Thirds; This identifies four important parts of the photo, which you consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image.This also gives you four lines which are useful to position certain elements of your photo (for example: eyes, nose, lips).

I also learnt my way around PhotoShop and InDesign, which are two things I have never used before in my life. I also learnt that the left side of a photo holds more power and now when I look at photos, it's things like this that helps me to understand it on a whole different level.

I also learnt a lot more about the layout of magazines, and why certain things are placed where they are on most magazines. I also learnt how the choice of colour can help influence a buyers decision.

Prelim

Prelim Flat Plans

For the prelim flat plan of my college magazine front cover, I decided using the three main colours of black, purple and blue. I chose these colours as they compliment the official school colours and represent certain aspects. Purple is often a colour related to royalty, which gives the impression every student that buys my magazine will be of a better 'class' than the students which don't buy it. Blue is a very cool, calming colour and I believe that students will be attracted to this after a hectic day of college. The title (EDUCATE!) is placed in bold, dark purple near the top of the magazine to attract the buyers attention, and just underneath this is my sell line. This is bold and dark blue, this is different to the title so the buyers will notice it more. It's also just under my title because that is where sell lines are usually placed and this will not confuse the potential customers.
For my image, I decided to make only half of my model viewable to try and be a bit different. Almost every magazine out there has the image in the middle and I think that if my image was in a different location, this will interest the buyer. I am planning to use natural lighting to make the model seem much more real, as if this could be any real-life student that can relate to the customer. The model is suitable for my magazine as it shows a young female ready to start her day at college.

For the prelim flat plan of my college magazine's contents page, I used the same basic colour and font scheme as the front page, to make the two look similar (which is normal for magazines). The content of my magazine (such as the chance to win free college supplies and tips on how to stay healthy and active) is suitable for the genre of my magazine as I believe (being a student myself) it's hard for students to be able to stay fit and active whilst having so much work and pressure on them. Therefore I believe this content will attract my intended audience.