My Media Product

My Media Product

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My Target Audience

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My Target Audience

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Main Task: Evaluation 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

When it came to planning and preparing my main task, i felt i had acquired slightly more experience from my preliminary task. The preliminary task only required me to research three similar student magazines, but the research was not in depth at all. I think that research is vital in deciding, ultimately, everything on your magazine, if i were to do the same amount of research i did for the preliminary task for my main task, my magazine would be solely on my terms, and that is poor because my magazine is not just for me, but for a varied audience.

Here is a link to my preliminary task research:
http://danbmedia.blogspot.com/2009/09/preliminary-task-research.html

I admit, my time organisation is terrible, my preliminary task was rushed because of it. Since then the construction of a time plan (see blog here:
http://danbmedia.blogspot.com/2010/01/time-plan.html) has really helped me gain a solid structure to do my production in. for example i had planned when i was to take my photos and which lessons i would spend doing either the: contents, double-page, or cover, this helped me meet deadlines etc. Despite having a time plan, i feel as though i still need to work on my organisation of time.

The preliminary task only required me to take a mid-shot as my main image, the main task however, allowed me to be more creative with my camera shots and in doing so broadened my view on camera shots and framing. Lighting was an important issue that i wasn't aware of when doing the preliminary task, fortunately i was able to use various lighting equipment in the main task. the lighting equipment was pretty straight forward but its results were far better than i anticipated it really did encapsulate the photo and gave me a well lit image to use on my cover.

Dialogue was never really an issue in the preliminary task because a double-page spread was not needed in this. The main task however needed me to create a double-page with text appropriate to my target audience. At first i didn't see a need to use appropriate language because i didn't think that my English was being scrutinized, for example there are some words (scrutinize as an example) that i use, but my target audience would not, and so i really had to change my vocabulary to appeal to my audience. My previous front cover, in my opinion was too "blocky" and i don't think it flowed well, however with my main task cover, i believe i have achieved a good result based on my research.

Some features i have lifted from my preliminary task onto my main one, for instance the bleeding effect on the main image. But i wasn't as technological advanced when making the preliminary as i am now, you may be able to tell that the skin tone on my model is rather blotchy, compared to my main task where i have managed to blend the properties to make for a more even tone.

The audience research that i undertook was a big help when deciding where to place images etc. I was not aware of the important role the audience play in the creation of a magazine. In my main task i referred to the audience research i did and created a product based on those credentials. My double page spread posed the most problems during production, i couldn't decide which font to use for the text just above the main body, blue or red. So to solve this problem i consulted some of my target audience through Facebook, and they were unanimous in choosing red because it was "inkeeping with the overall style of the magazine" and "better suited to your audience"

The biggest thing that i have learnt since my preliminary task is the importance of audience research, everything i wanted to do had to be approved by my audience before i could do it.

Main Task: Evaluation 6

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

I have expanded my knowledge of the DSLR camera. For this task i learnt the various features of photography , such as determining which camera shot would be appropriate and get best results, and i also learnt a fair bit about lighting techniques. I was fortunate to have lighting equipment, which i was almost clueless about, so i had to learn quickly, luckily due to this i learnt a lot about lighting from doing this task.

Since the preliminary task i have learnt how to blend on Photoshop. This proved invaluable when trying to even out skin tones without giving off a plastic vibe to the model. A minor thing that i learnt was that i could simply drag a selected item onto a new piece, minor feature but something that i learnt which helped my progress.

With this new software technology (i.e Quark Express, PhotoShop,) I think that it is easier for amateurs to create a product similar to mine. New software is increasingly becoming easier to comprehend and for this reason i believe that it is getting easier for amateurs to create a media product.

Blogging has proved invaluable for keeping track of the creation of my media product. Since creating my blog, I have found that it is far greater for keeping a production log than written work, largely because a blog allows me to go back to a previous post and edit whenever a new idea strikes.

Main Task: Evaluation 4/5

Who would be the audience for your media product?

How did you attract/address your audience?

I set out making my media product with a specific target audience in mind. My target audience was teenage radicals, possibly on the levels D/C1 income wise, and mostly males with a few female readers. For a full audience profile see my previous blog: http://danbmedia.blogspot.com/2009/12/audience-profile.html

The target audience that I think i have attracted with my finished product, slightly differs from what i originally planned. I think by having an absence of females on the cover, i have isolated the female readers and attracted a large proportion of males instead. I think that because of the radical and gritty fonts I've used I have still attracted teenage radicals, and because my magazine is priced at £2.99 it is still in the income of D/C1 teenagers.

I feel as though i am successful in attracting my target audience. When i showed my rock magazine to a group of 16/17 year old, mixed gender rock fans, there response was very positive. The majority recognized the genre immediately due to my fonts and colour schemes, and were able to notice the similarities to other music magazines i.e. Kerrang! They particluar liked my double page where they thought my representations of teenagers was "true" and "to the point"
I showed my magazine to my friends via facebook and here are a few of there comments:

The Front Cover

"I like how the coverlines are of alternating colours, i think that really makes your cover look professional. I would say you have attracted your target audience with this"

" The background is a bit lazy and i think you could've done a better job with that, although i think the image itself is well taken"

(I agree with this comment, i do think that my background is sloppy on my part and i could've better used the technology available to create something more suitable)

The contents

" The background is appauling, really makes it look more amateur"

" The Editor's Note bit has come out well but i think the overall layout could've been improved"

" I think that your features and regulars section has appropriate bands and terms for your audience"

Its pretty obvious from this that the audience didn't take too kindly to my contents page, and if i were to do this task again, i would most definately organise my time better so that i had equal time to spend on the three sections of the task: Cover, Contents and double page.

The Double Page

" I really like the layout of this spread, its clear that you've put some time into the general layout of this, The use of comical images and text i think attracts your audience"

"The funny article does reflect some of the characteristics of your target audience, although it could've been risky, i think that you've done well here"

"The pictures are well suited to the article itself, very well done. x"

From these - and more - comments, two things clearly stood out: one, my contents page was lthe least liked out of the three, and two, my double page was the most liked. The cover page had mixed reviews but was generally praised. I am slightly dissapointed with the reviews i got for the contents page, however i respect the fact that these people were honest.