Evaluation

Media Evaluation.

I have created my magazine using specific conventions of magazines to ensure my magazine looked convincing and looked like a real magazine.
First I created a masthead that i thought would be suitable for my magazine. I used www.dafont.com to look for a font to use, however i didn’t think any of the ones i had looked at were what i wanted therefore I created my own using Agency font and Photoshop. I played around with different effects and brushes till I got my ideal masthead. I wanted it to look like a cross between NME and Kerrang!’s mastheads, I feel I achieved this. I chose a house style of using Agency FB font and Arial font. I used the colours, black red and white throughout my magazine.
The text on my front cover all have banners behind them to make sure they stand out from the cover image but not too much. The cover images I used were all taken by me or self timed. I used models to pose. I gave each model a criteria to fill for their role. I made the main cover image trio wear black and white to give a grungy look. These cover images are aimed to attract the audience.
I put the name of the band “Follow My Lead” in a big title across the cover as i’d seen Kerrang! Do this and i aimed my product to be similar to Kerrang! If not better.

(KERRANG IMAGE & MY COVER EDITED IN WORD PRINT SCREEN)


The subject of the photographs in my project have all been mediated to give a meaning of the rocker stereotype. They stereotypically wear dark clothing and i have chosen my subjects because most have dark hair. I have animated the subjects with the aim to make them look mean and arrogant.

My magazine would be made and distributed by a conglomerate company because it is a mainstream genre of magazine. The circulation of my magazine would be quite large as it is a popular genre of magazine. My magazine would be promoted in a variety of ways. For example on TV like kerrang has it’s own radio channel, my magazine would also have this. My magazine would also be promoted over the internet with its own website and could possibly have its own radio station.

The target audience of my magazine would be males and females aged 16 and over. The audience would be stereotypical “skater” “mosher” “emo” “goth” type of people. Their hobbies would be skateboarding, playing instruments such as the electric guitar, the bass guitar and the drums. They would be extremely into music and may be in a band with friends. They would possibly stereotypically be the kind of people we see walking around in band t-shirts and like piercings.
Feedback from my ideas determined my target audience as most commented that 16-24 year olds are more likely to buy this type of magazine as it is similar to Kerrang!.
(SCAN IN PICTURE)

My magazine attracted and addressed my audience visually and through the language used.
The magazine attracts attention from the correct audience (males and females) as the main cover image shows a picture of an ideal self and ideal partner for both genders and all sexualities. (visual example hereee). The mode of address is friendly throughout my product (example from cover)
(example from contents) (example from double page spread).
I have learnt to use a variety of new technologies during my practical work, ranging from software to cameras.
First i learnt how to use web 2.0 which is blogging. I had to learn how to post my work onto the blog and how to upload images and videos. I found this really easy.
Strengths of web 2.0
- it’s easy to use
- you can edit posts
- you can get comments on your work which saves typing up peoples feedback
- you can’t lose your work
Weaknesses of web 2.0
- internet may not work
- html codes might mess up
- can be confusing to navigate around

The second thing i learnt to use was adobe photoshop elements 5. I learnt how to use each tool that was available to me on the program. When i used this software i used tools such as the magnetic lasso to cut out images. I also learnt all the keyboard shortcuts to help me use it easier.
Strengths of adobe photoshop elements 5
- you can easily manipulate images
- easy to use when you get the hang of it
- you can edit near enough anything
-you can really pay attention to detail when creating products
Weaknesses of adobe photoshop elements 5
- things can go wrong because it is easy to make mistakes on
- takes quite a while to get the hang of it

Another piece of software i learnt to use was Quark Xpress. I learnt how to load images onto it, how to create text boxes and columns and how to set it up so that i had two a4 pages next to each other.
I found quark quite difficult to get the hang of as it was completely new to me.
Strengths of Quark Xpress
- you can easily create clean neatly aligned publications
- once you know how to use it properly it is very simple to use
Weaknesses of Quark Xpress
- It’s very confusing for first time users
- complicated ways of doing things
- it is very limited to what you can do, creatively

A further piece of software i learnt to use was Cam studio.
It was very simple to learn. And i used it to record examples of using photoshop.
Strengths of Cam studio
- easy to use
- you can set it to record specific areas
Weaknesses of Cam studio
- you have to be careful how you save your videos
it can be confusing to where they are saved and in what format they are saved in.
I finally learnt how to use the CANON EOS – SLR camera.
I had to learn how to use the zoom on the lense, where the buttons were and how to upload my photographs onto the computer.
Strengths of using an SLR
- Brilliant picture quality
- easy to use
- you can use a tripod to keep it steady
Weaknesses of using an SLR
- uploading the photographs is confusing