evaluation

Foundation portfolio preliminary task written evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.
My college magazine uses the normal rules to make it recognisable to my targeted audience. I put the title of the magazine in the top & made it stand out so it does catch the attention of my audience. Having the masthead at the top of the page is a convention and I used this because I noticed the magazines with the masthead there got buyers as it is easy to catch reader’s attention. My magazine does follow the typical conventions, as it has the main title at the top, images around the page, slogans in order for the magazine to be noticeable . From my textual analysis i saw that the magazine, i analysed also put the masthead at the top & made it big and bold in order for it to stand out, that is why i decided also to do that. I used images and slogans to advertise this product because when i did my audience research a majority of people i asked said that they wounld like to see these in the mgazine,and that is what attracts them to it.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product is aimed at college studects or teachers so therefore i used as student that attends this school. I used a girl that was reading a college handout, i wanted it to look as realistic as possible so i told her to not show alot of facial expresion, so that the targeted audience would now that the magazine is serious.
I only used three main colours which were white, black and red, i did this because i wanted it to attract both genders (male&female). i knew that these colours will appeal to each gender, so therefore both genders will eqwually want to read it. When i looked at other magazines i noticed that they too, do not use alot of colours, i think they did this so that the magazine would not look to confusing & choatic.
The model for my magazine dressed in dark colours so that it would not clash with the theme of my magazine. I included props & costumes for mymagazine. I made sure that i took the pictures by red lockers as i knew that would match with theme of my college magazine.
The colours, props, costumes all appeal to college students & teachers which is why i decided to use those. I also used the same to do my cotents page so that my audience knows that everything is linked together.

How did you attract/address your audience?
I put the masthead at the top and made it stand out the most so that my targeted audience will know that, that is the title. I put slogans and catchy phrases to attract them because when i did my audience research this was one of the best ways they suested attracts them to magazines. I also used phraseds suh as 'free ballpen worth £9.99' and 'win an I-pod touch' i used this to persuade my audience as i know that they will like to get something free and seen as an i-pod ouch is one of the most wanted items for young people means that i they were to see that, then they will want to read the college magazine.
I used standard english as i wanted my magazine to attract teachers as well as pupils. I did not use street slang because not everybody will understand what is meant & that will mean that my magazine does not appeal to everybody which is not fair. By using standard english, it enables me to be more clear in attractin people and allows me to appeals to everyone.
Choosing the right kind of fonts for magazines means that it will atract the targeted market and would appeal to a certain group.It is not just about recognisability, its also about choosing the right font that communicates the right message to the everyone.
My photo used, is a student from the college, i used this to attract my audience because when i asked what attracts then to magazines some said images, so i thought that if i used somebody of the similar age it will be more appealing.

what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt that for a photograph to come out ok, the background must not have much sunlight as this will affect the way the photo will come out, as it will have shades of the ligt shining through. The bakground should also not be dark because that will make the the photo come out dull and not allow the photo to stand out.
I used photoshop to make my college magazine. I used this because it allows me change colors, hue, saturation, brightness, contrast and retouch images, airbrush people to make clearer skin and remove blemishes. By using the magnetic lasso tool it allows me to draw around my photo deleting the parts that is not need. or example my image for my contents page was taking in a classroom with people standing behind her but with this tool it allowed me to cut them out. I also used some tool to make the font stand out more and cut out unneccessary things such as the writing on the lockers in the front cover.

Audience feedback
I posted my maazine on my facebook and asked people what they thought. There were strengths and weaknesses pointed out.
Strengths Suggested

• The colours are very good as it attracts both male and females, it allows everyone to be equal.
• There are no spelling mistakes & the language used is straightforwar which means it is easy to understand
• The fact that it offers a free pen and a chance to win an i-pod attracts people to see what is inside of it.
• The front cover is not to much, there is not alot of things oing on so it does not confuse them.
• It looks very realistic
• The contents page use the same colours as the front cover which suggests that i am focusin on three main colours

Weaknesses suggested

• More images are needed on the contents page, as it looks slightly boring
• Photo needs airbrusing.