Media Evaluation: Question 5 Part 3

This is my focus group for question 5, talking about what attracts them to my double page spread:

Media Evaluation: Question 5 Part 3

They started by saying it had a strong image on the left hand said and they liked how it drew your eye to the left side without much writing on it. And how the right side had quite a lot of information to read. They also said it had a good layout with good fonts but some of the words are too small. They also said that the people in the pictures look passionate. They said that the black background goes with the pictures well but the colours could be darker. Finally they exclaimed that it was a good, strong picture and that the double page spread looks professional.

Evaluation: Question 5 Part 2

This is my focus group for question 5, talking about what attracts them to my contents page:

Evaluation: Question 5 Part 2

They pointed out that it was laid out well and that you can see what the magazine contains well but they did mention that the writing was too small. They also said that the font is hard to read in places but they said that it did look professional. They mention that tit contained good pictures and they liked the idea of putting a front cover picture on the contents page. They did suggest that it could contain a picture of next months front cover but that the picture of the current front cover looks fine. They finally said they thought it was a really good front cover.

Evaluation: Question 5 Part 1

This is my focus group for question 5, talking about what attracts them to my front cover:

Evaluation: Question 5 Part 1

They said they liked the font on the 'Alias' band name and how it goes well with the background colour. They also liked the design and how everything is set out. They also pointed out that the female's T-shirt matches writing which woks well. They liked the writing as the same colour as the band members hair and how the picture was strong. They finally pointed out that it looks professional.

Textual Analysis - Double Page Spread 5

5. Eighties Pop Magazine

There are lots of sections in columns referring to the story on both pages. This makes more entertaining for the reader to read. There is more image than text; this is to show the reader more images about the story. Your eye is drawn to the whole article because it is broken up into sections with an image to each paragraph. The colour template is white with bits of red, these are welcoming colours to keep the reader interested. The mode of address is informal to make the reader feel relaxed and casual. There are a few metaphors and word play to keep the reader interested. The story is about a famous eighties pop star and secrets about his life. The pictures are a mixture of different shots to keep the material fresh and depict the star throughout his life. There is no pre-dominant image because there are a lot of images. The target audience for this article are people who like this selected artist (Adam Ant). I can tell who the target audience is because the writing is informal, the pictures contain the genre of music and the colours represent its identity. Overall, this double page spread shows the target audience well and contains an interesting story for the reader as they would be interested in the information about the artist.

Textual Analysis - Double Page Spread 4

4. Garage Rock Magazine

There are few main columns referring to the story with the story carrying on to the next page. This makes the reader want to read on to the next page. There is more text than image; this is to put more information onto the page. Your eye is drawn to the main picture because it relates to the story and also helps the reader understand who the story is about. The colour template is white with bits of red, these are welcoming colours to keep the reader interested. The mode of address is informal to make the reader feel relaxed and casual. The story is about a musician and his life. The pictures are close ups and mid-shots which depict different images that relate to the different stories. The pre-dominant image is the larger picture on the left that shows the person that who is being interviewed. It also shows the target audience as he wears the same clothes as the demographic. The target audience for this article are people who like garage rock music. I can tell who the target audience is because the writing is informal, the pictures contain the genre of music and the colours represent its identity. Overall, this double page spread shows the target audience well and contains an interesting story for the reader as it contains famous musicians from the genre.

Textual Analysis - Double Page Spread 3

3. Drumming Magazine

There are three main columns referring to the story with a big picture covering the right hand side. This makes it easier for the reader to read. There is more image than text; this is to attract the reader. Your eye is drawn to the main picture because it relates to the story and also helps the reader understand who the musician. The colour template is white with bits of red and pink, these are welcoming colours to keep the reader interested. The mode of address is quite formal so the reader understands the story better. The story is about a musician and his lifestyle that keeps him into drumming. The pictures are long-shots and depict the drummer recording a video. The pre-dominant image is the background which shows the drummer that the article is talking about. It also shows the target audience hanging out with the musician. The target audience for this article are people who like drumming. I can tell who the target audience is because the pictures contain the genre of music and the colours represent its identity. Overall, this double page spread shows the target audience well and contains an interesting story for the reader.

Textual Analysis - Double Page Spread 2

2. Rock Magazine

There are two main columns referring to the story and then on the right hand side there is a separate column with extra information. This makes it easier for the reader to read. There is more image than text; this is to attract the reader. Your eye is drawn to the main picture because it relates to the story and also helps the reader understand who the band is. The colour template is white with bits of red, these are welcoming colours to keep the reader interested. The mode of address is informal to make the reader feel relaxed and casual. The story is about a band and how it became famous. The pictures are mid-shots and depict the band performing at a gig. The pre-dominant image is the background which shows one of the band members playing the bass guitar at a gig. It also shows the target audience at the gig. The target audience for this article are people who like rock music. I can tell who the target audience is because the writing is informal, the pictures contain the genre of music and the colours represent its identity. Overall, this double page spread shows the target audience well and contains an interesting story for the reader.

Double Page Spread Feedback

People said that my double page spread looked good because of it's interesting interview. They also said that it was big and bold which attracted them to read the information. On the other hand, some said there wasn't enough story to make them understand who the band are. But, all in all, people agreed that it looked brilliant and that the interview was an interesting read.

Evaluation: Question 7 - Double Page Spread

Evaluation: Question 7 - Contents Page

Evaluation: Question 7 - Front Cover

Contents Page Feedback

People said that the contents page looked good because of the bold colours and it looks like it would appeal to my demographic. They also said that they could easily see what the magazine contained. Although, they did say the columns looked a little messy but others said it still looks professionally.

Evaluation: Conclusion

Conclusion

In conclusion Rock Portal appeals to my demographic well because of it’s darkened colours and informal language. It is also draws the reader in well because the photos connote that the magazine is “cool” by having the male staring away and the female looking towards the camera. This shows that the band is looking ahead in their future but also looking at their fans for support throughout their career. On the other hand there are a few adjustments that could be made, for example, the contents on the contents page is almost all in one section, when looking at other magazine it is noticeable that the contents is in sections with titles like “Regulars” and “Specials”. This would have made the page look more interesting. But all in all,  the magazine was successful because of it’s quality and it’s attractiveness.

Evaluation: Question 3

This is my PowerPoint for Question 3 of my Evaluation that I uploaded to SlideShare:

Evaluation: Question 3

Evaluation: Question 6

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

I learnt about a lot of different photography skills during the process, such as mise-en-scene and the connotation and denotation of certain camera shots. Also, about how each shot and people’s body language will affect the reader in a certain way. I learnt about eye contact and about what it means if someone is looking away or looking straight at the camera.

In Photoshop, I learnt about the different effects you can add to a photo to make it look a specific way. For example, my front cover photo was originally very dark, so I brought up the brightness using Photoshop. Also, I learnt about stretching a photo’s colour at the edge to make it bigger or to move the people to one side of the photo. In InDesign, I made my double-page spread. I learnt about the construction process of making a double-page spread, for example there are construction lines that you can follow so the product looks neat and tidy. Also, I learnt about the different ways in which you can show text. For example, you can carry the text on to another box by syncing two boxes together.

I had to overcome a few tricky challenges, such as, learning how to use InDesign straight away as I hadn’t used it before. I also had to overcome the times when the font I had used for most of my text had gone from the system. Picking a similar font helped in this situation until the font came back after I restarted the program. I learnt a couple of things about some technologies, for example, before the task I had never really used a Mac before, so I had to get to grips with the software and hardware.

There were other technologies that I learnt about, such as Blogger. I had never used Blogger before, so therefore I had to learn everything about it. I had to learn about uploading different texts to Blogger and how to get a blog set up. This meant that I could add videos, pictures and text to a post and then put it into the list of posts in my main blog. Another example is SlideShare. This was to put my PowerPoints on to Blogger I had to make an account so I could upload PowerPoints to the site, and then copy the link to Blogger.

Evaluation: Question 2

Question 2 video:

Evaluation: Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The photographs represent men and woman as un-stereotypical because the girl on my front cover seems to be un-“girly” and the male on the front cover has make-up on. They are representing the different genders as being different and going against social convention which is what my target audience enjoy seeing. Their body language represents the idea that they are proud to be different and enjoy wearing darker clothing.  The female’s hair is straightened and dark which represents the rock genre. Their facial expressions are plain which attracts the readers because they look like they are strong emotionally which some wish they could be. This is because teenagers are emotional and almost respect people that can control their emotions well. My front page photograph represents young people as “cool”, un-caring and rebellious. This is because they have a rebellious style and that goes against social convention. My double page spread photographs represent older people as still “cool” and making the same kind of music as younger people. This gives a positive message to my target audience. The genre of my magazine is represented by the style of the people of the front cover but also by the instruments that the band is using on my double page spread. Also, the colour (black, red and white) and the style of text represent rock as they have a jagged and anarchic look to them. I have equated people who listen to Rock music as people who where darker clothing by showing some of my target audience in photographs but at the same time showing other people wearing other types of clothing. This says that my genre doesn’t have a specific style but if it did it would be people wearing darker clothing. There are no people represented in my magazine who are just interested in mainstream music as my genre has a wider, more eclectic range to its music tastes.  There aren’t any genres in the magazine that don’t represent a kind of rock. All in all, my media product represents rock social groups as a wide range of eclectic and different people. But also says that there isn’t a certain stereotype to the genre.

Evaluation: Question 4

This is my PowerPoint for Question 4 of my evaluation that I uploaded to Slideshare:

Evaluation: Question 4

Evaluation: Question 1

This is my Prezi for question 1:
Evaluation: Question 1