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

These are images showing what Preliminary Task: College Magazine looks like compared to what my Final Task: Music Magazine came out like.

Preliminary Task:

My Final Product:

Here is a video that answers the question:

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

Evaluation: How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The people that I want to draw in for ‘Cometessa’ would be aged between 17 to 24 years old.

It was originally meant specifically for women but the LGBT community also show an interest so perhaps if I had to develop 'Cometessa' further, I would try and make it satisfy a wider audience.

They could potentially be interested in ‘Cometessa’ in both a physical and digital format as they use the Internet regularly to be social or to download music.

They listen to artists that produce music under the genres of pop, rock, indie and metal that they would most likely download from iTunes. 

They are particularly interested in the careers and opinions and attitudes of these artists.

Their favourite colour would most likely be red closely followed by blue.

My intentions were to obviously attract people to buy my magazine but also to expand the market by offering a product that meets the main conventions however with a different portrayal of the artists within it. 

By doing so, I can perhaps change what people value as important when it comes to music artists or satisfy something that has never been explored enough in the past.

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

Media Institutions

Sometimes the audio chooses not work along with the presentation so here is the basic script just so you can see the details of what I am saying.

Bauer Music might distribute my media product because:

• They have an interest in similar magazines that a re popular to their audiences.
• They are more willing to take risks as they have their previous successes to fall back on.

IPC Media could have potential interest because:

• My magazine isn't like any other product that they own making it niche which could make them want to fill the gap that is currently there.
• They might want the female counterpart to their male audience targeted music magazine.
• There are two categories for women that 'Cometessa' could belong to giving more chance of being chosen.

Self-Publishing and Distributing:

• A very big risk and I would need lots of money.
• It would mean that my magazine would be completely under my control without the need for outside influences.

Online:

• It would appeal to my audience in a society built upon technology and internet communications.
• I would need advertising for my own magazine as well as inside it. In today's world, advertising is particularly successful online so I could attract potential advertising clients who's funds would keep 'Cometessa' alive.

Feedback: Focus Group

I gathered a group of potential audience members together in order to give me feedback on what they liked and disliked about my front cover, contents page and double-page spread.

However, some people I wanted to ask the opinion of were not able to attend so I asked them seperately in order to get as much feedback as possible.

I had made adjustments based on what I was told from the Hot Seating Classroom Rotation exercise so the products were looking at a better standard.

Here is a summary of what they said:

Front Cover 

Positive:

- They loved the new red and yellow colours (some had seen 'Cometessa' in the really early stages).

- They liked the colour splash, which I had adjusted before the focus group to be more precise and have a cleaner effect.

- The image used on the front was particularly popular as they really liked the pose she was in.

Negative:

- Move the 'Rebecca' the front to be a little more central.

Contents Page

Positive:

- Once again, the colour choices were a hit with the audience.

- The stories listed seemed interesting and relevant to my market.

- The images were popular as they were 'fun' and nice to look at.

Negative:

- They didn't like the yellow part at the top because it looked empty . Someone suggested a subtle showing of my masthead so I will make the relevant adjustments.

Double-Page Spread

Positive:

- The layout looked fantastic with the R behind the text.

- It looks clean and not cluttered.

Negative:

- The picture side didn't link to the other page with the interview. They suggested coloured lines along the top and bottom and a pull-quote next to the artist in the photo.

- Make the first paragraph introducing the artist larger to stand out more.

I will make the relevant adjustments to make my work the best that it can be!

Here are a few photos of a group of feedbackers: 

I found this to be an effective method of collecting information about who my target audience could be and what they think about my work.

Evaluation: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I have created the music magazine ‘Cometessa’ to represent young women who are interested in the most popular genres of music.

 I wanted to make my product a fair representation that follows some conventions but also breaks others in order to separate it from its competitors in the market and to make it more appealing to my audience.

Here are some of the good examples of representation of women in music by Billboard and some not so good examples by Rolling Stone.

Lady Gaga

Katy Perry

Rihanna

I chose to not represent my artists as sexual objects like many magazines out there do because my research showed that people did not value physical appearance as much as they did the quality of music.

 

I portrayed this by allowing different attitudes to come across from each artist. The pop artist is elegant to look at and gives off a ladylike feel, my metal artist comes across as slouched and carefree, my rock artist was sassy and had an aura of confidence and my indie artist looked intense and lost in thought. 

Each of these impressions and poses were made to represent a different member of my audience depending on what kind of music that they listen to and what their thoughts and opinions are.

I am comfortable that I have achieved the representation that I wanted!