Evaluation - Question 3

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

When choosing an institution to distribute my magazine I have to consider the competitors I will face within the institution as they may already distribute magazines of similar genres.


IPC and Bauer Media are known for distributing magazines such as ‘NME’, ‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang’ all of which revolve around the rock genre. Therefore, this would not be a suitable institution for me to distribute my magazine as my music magazine is of a similar genre of indie rock therefore, my magazine will have too much competition. In addition magazines such as ‘NME’ already have a large amount of consumers who buy their magazine; as a result, this will make it increasingly difficult for my magazine to sell amongst such strong and popular magazines. 


As a result I need to choose an institution who does not currently sell music magazines as this will increase the chances of my music magazine being more successful as it is not being overlooked by the other “bigger” names. If not, an institution that does not currently distribute music magazines of my genre of indie/rock as that will make it easier for customers to notice my magazine. 


Overall, I think the most suitable institution to distribute my magazine would be the ‘National Magazine Company’ which is now known as ‘Hearst Corporation’. Hearst Corporation would be ideal as they are already a successful distribution company that distribute 300 magazines worldwide which include ‘Cosmopolitian’ and ‘Esquire’, as a result there is potential that my music magazine can be successful if distributed by them. In addition, Hearst Corporation do not currently distribute music magazines; as a result, my magazine will be the first music magazine that they will distribute which heightens the success of my magazine. As Hearts Corporation have the skills to attract audiences worldwide this could potentially mean that my magazine could be distributed internationally which means that my music magazine will not just be limited to a UK based audience instead it would be targeted at a much wider market. 

Evaluation - Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I aimed for my magazine to represent the indie social group which I think I have achieved in a variety of ways. Firstly, I think the colour scheme I have used of red, grey, black, and white particularly fits well with my target group as similar colours are found in magazines such as Q and NME. Instead of using a brightly coloured red I opted for a much darker red as I thought this colour is often used in indie style clothing – the colour is also used in my models outfit which furthers my reasoning. In addition, the black, grey, and white that I used in my magazine overall, gives my magazine a more professional look.

On my front cover I also considered the sell lines used and how they will link and relate well to my audience. Therefore, I included sell lines to do with bands in the indie/rock genre and stories that related to these bands to build interest for my reader and to make them want to buy my magazine e.g. ‘Behind the scenes with Coldplay’. This also links into the competition that I used on the front page, my ideal reader is someone who enjoys attending gigs and festivals, as a result I knew that a competition relating to the reader winning tickets to a concert would interest them greatly.

For my contents page I included a variety of articles that again would interest into my reader, I sectioned each page under a heading e.g. ‘Features’ so it was easier for my reader to navigate to their desired page; this also linked into the typical conventions of a music magazine. At the bottom of the page I included social networking logos such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’ as my target market would typically be teenagers/ young adults therefore these services would be used often by my readers. 

How my model was dressed and how her hair and makeup was styled was also key as the style of someone can greatly signify what social group a person is from. On my front cover, contents page and double page spread I used a variety of shots ranging from a close up to a long shot to illustrate my models clothing etc. The clothing I used for my model linked into the indie style as she wore a maroon coloured dress with a checkered shirt underneath and some unusual patterned tights, her hair was in the style of messy waves and her makeup was very natural. Overall, this was a very independent style therefore highlighting the indie social group as they continually desire to be independent in their style and to not fit into the fashion that everyone else is following. The style of my model also is something a potential reader would wear to a festival or an outdoors event. 

Finally the image I used on my article page showed my model wearing different clothing than the other pages, on this page my model is pictured wearing a dark green jacket looking away from the camera, additionally, my model can evidently be seen wearing unique jewellery e.g. a ring in the shape of key and the model also has unusually painted nails as each nail is painted in a different colour which highlights the indie style.

Evaluation - Question 1

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

Before creating my magazine, I did a variety of research on other magazines in the indie/rock genre to get a better understanding of the typical conventions of media products in that category. Some of the magazines I researched were ‘Q’ and ‘NME’, therefore I tried to reflect my findings into my magazine; however, making sure I incorporated my own creativity into the magazine to differentiate my magazine from others in the market.

On my front cover I included a full bleed image of my artist to enable my audience to get a clear look of who the artist was in the magazine; this was commonly used in the magazines I looked at therefore I knew it would appeal to my target audience. However I made my artist look away from the camera so my audience felt more intrigued to find out what the story behind the artists it. The rest of my front cover covered the conventions of a typical magazine front cover; for example, I surrounded my artist with sell lines as this is where they were typically positioned on a magazine, I included feature artists e.g. ‘Kasabian’ and ‘Paramore’ to enable my audience to get insight of the types of artists included in my magazine. The main sell line that linked into the artist was positioned on top of the artist to highlight to the audience that the sell line is about her, in addition it was the biggest sell line to make it catch the readers eye. The masthead was a white heading surrounded by a maroon box which linked into my colour scheme, by having it in a coloured box made it stand out to the audience. Additionally I put a black and white effect on the main image which made the masthead stand out and the other sell lines around the front cover. Finally I included the issue number, price, and barcode at the bottom of my front cover to make my magazine look professional for my audience.

Additionally, the contents  page in my magazine links into the typical conventions of a magazine for example the layout of contents, as it is split up into sections e.g. ‘Features’, ‘Exclusives’ etc, this allowed the reader to navigate to their desired page much easier. I also inserted more than one image into my contents page similar to what ‘Q’ does to make my contents more visual for audience instead of using continuous text, this also would enabled my reader to get some visual idea of what content is included in my magazine. I made sure that in my contents page that I used the same colour scheme I used in my front cover so my pages where continuous throughout. Finally I remembered to include social networking information and subscription information at the bottom of the page for my reader.

My first double page spread consisted of a second full bleed image that was in landscape – on the image I changed some of the lighting effects to make the image more effective and eye catching for the reader. On top of this image I included a quote in a large font and white text, again to create a house colour scheme. Having the large quote on the image gave my audience an idea of what the main article was about.

My second double page spread included the main article. I positioned the text of the article on the left hand side as typically this is the first side the reader will look at; in addition I sorted my article into to block columns as this is typically used in magazines as it makes the article look overall more professional and appealing for the reader to read. I made the ‘interviewer’ and ‘interviewee’s’ text two different colours again to make it easier for the reader. Finally, I included a mid shot of my artist on the right hand side again tweaking the lighting of the image. On top of the image I included the artists name to again highlight who the article was about.

Week Twenty - Diary

During the past few weeks I have now completed creating presentations,videos,prezi's for all the evaluation questions I had done. These included creating a 'news report' style video where images would appear to the right of me, a prezi of my journey throughout AS which allowed me to show how my skills within media have improved especially within the use of Adobe Photoshop. Again the creation of these were very beneficial  for me as I could thoroughly explain my decisions and choices I have made and helped me self assess my work. These were all uploaded to my blog.


I have now finished everything for my magazine and uploaded anything needed on to my blog.

Week Nineteen - Diary

Over the past few weeks I have been creating videos/prezi/presentations etc for the evaluation questions 1-4, this have been creating by using the Canon 550D, Adobe Premiere, Camstudio, the online program prezi, and Microsoft Powerpoint. For some of the evaluations I have recorded a voice over which I then uploaded on Adobe Premiere, while using this I inserted a variety of images to compliment the voice over I have created. When using camstudio I was able to record a prezi that I had made for question 2 and record my voice over the top. By creating different medias for the different questions enabled me to explain why I have chose certain things e.g. the colour scheme I have used, it also allowed me to explain how my magazine represents particular social groups, how it challenges the typical conventions of real media products etc.. more in depth.

Audience Feedback

Week Eighteen - Diary

This week I completed my audience feedback this involved me asking my target audience a variety of questions related to all the pages within my magazine e.g. the positives and negatives and what they think I could have done differently. I filmed a combination of media and non media students to ensure I had feedback from people with media knowledge and skills and feedback soley from my target audience. From this a few suggestions were made, I then improved these on my magazine. The feedback was filmed and uploaded to premiere, I then edited it using this software and uploaded it to my blog.