Evaluation Questions- Preliminary Task

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


My media product challenges and develops forms of real media products, as firstly it has a title at the top of the page which associates with what the magazine is about. The magazine is about the different sporting activities in the school "Mountain Valley College", therefore I called the magazine "The Mountain Valley Review" I have called it this, as the reader will know it is for that school, and that it is a review of everything that has been happening there. I placed it at the top of the page, as it would be the first thing that catches the readers eye, so they will know immediately what magazine they are reading. I also have a title at the top of the contents page; which was simply "Contents" - which is used so that the reader knows what they are looking at. A contents page is always seen in a magazine, and is there for the reader too see what information is being told in the magazine and where they can find it.
Next, I used an image; which will always be seen on the front cover of a magazine. The image is usually used to give the reader an idea of what is spoke about inside the magazine- it will usually link to the text that is on the front cover. To get my image I took photographs of my younger brother playing badminton, as some of the text used in my front cover said "Results- Badminton Tournament" The idea of the image was that it was a student participating in the badminton tournament.
Headings are also always seen on the front of magazines, and I used quite a few for mine. All of them link to sport, and also give an idea of what will be in the contents page. For example " News! Student Wins GOLD!!" - this relates to sport and is a feauture on my contents page.
In addition, all magazine have a specific colour theme, as it makes the magazine seem focused and not confusing. For my magazine i used the colours purple, black, white and gold. I used these colours as they are all found within the image that I used- they all stand out, but also relate to the image.
Lastly, I included the Date of Issue and the Issue Number. Not all magazines include extras like this but some do. There can also be extras like the price and the date. These extras are just there to notify the reader how much the magazine cots, or around the time the magazine is set on.


2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The social group my media product represents are young boys and girls- specifcially in primary schools. However, it could also be for older men and women (parents) who want to know what achievments have happened in the school. It represents young girls and boys, as it shows all their sporting achievements, and what they can do if they do participate with sports. The image and all the headings link to the younger generation, which means it would attract that age group.


3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product & why?
There are two main companies which are the most well-known for distributing magazines, these are Bauer Media and IPC Media. Bauer Media is Europes largest privatley owned publishing group. It is also a worldwide media empire, and offers over 300 magazines in 15 different countries, as well as being online, on TV and on radio stations. They mainly produce music magazines such as Kerrang and Q and celebrity gossip magazines, therefore I feel that this company would not be that appropriate for distributing my school magazine "The Mountain Valley Review."
The next company- IPC Media, I feel is more suitable for this school magazine. IPC Media produces over 60 well-known media brands, with print alone versions reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men, which is almost 26 million UK adults. This means that it produces a hight amount. It also has a corporate responsibility agenda that currently focuses on three main areas – community, environment and the collective input and action from the employees. This is why I feel that this would be most appropriatre for my school magazine, as they tend to publish magazines about the community which is what I would consider "The Mountain Valley Review" to come under.

4) Who would be the audience of your media product?
The audience of my magazine would be young boys and girls that are in primary school from the region of cornwall- as this is where the school is. This is the audience, as the magazine is about the achievements of young boys and girls from cornwall. However, this magazine could also have an audience of parents, as they would like too see what there children or family have achieved in school.


5) How did it attract/ address your audience?
There are a variety of different things I tried to attract/ address my audience. Firstly, I chose bold and bright colours to attract my target audience, which are young children- I felt that bright colours are usually more atttactive and interesting to them. Next, I chose to list things that would interest the children like competitions and prizes. I also included an individiual from the school winnning a gold medal- as I felt this would make people want to read it.


6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout the process of the preliminary task I learnt how to use a variety of different programmes. The first programme I learn to use was blogger. This was the very first thing we had to create so that we could show all our research and progress on. This programme was quite confusing at first, but I eventually learnt how to post and make the blog look attractrive. The next programme I learnt how to use was Photoshop. This programme was also very confusing at first, but after being taught the main features of it it became simple. We used this programme to edit the photographs, and make them look more proffesional and attractive. I learnt how to change the vibrance and brightness of the image, and also how to change things in the background. The last programme I learnt how to use was InDesign. This was where we actually made the magazine. This programme was very similar to Photoshop, therefore I did not have to start from the beginning to use the programme. With this programme I learnt how to make something that looks like a magazine, use and play with a variety of differnet fonts and colours and also create text.