1. Who would be the target audience for your media product
My school magazine is aimed for students in key stage 4 and 5 at Plumstead manor school. This means that the age range for this magazine is typically 14-18. The majority of readers would be female as key stage 4 is part of the all girls main school. However some of the sixth form boys may read, so the magazine must appeal to them also. Although everyone has their different interests, a common one for most of the students would be education, so the content would be dominantly based on the school and the education within it. Plumstead manor consists of many different ethnicities, so the magazine cannot be aimed at one. The status of Plumstead manor pupils should be mostly working class and low in the school hierarchy. This is because the students are minors, and also because the teachers would be higher than them. Plumstead manor is also in an area that is more deprived than other areas in London, so most of them would come from working class families. This is why I have decided to dedicate a page inside the magazine (as noted on the contents page) to display part-time jobs that are available in the area.
2. In what ways does your media product use the forms and conventions of a real media product?
My magazine includes conventions that a real media product would use. For instance, the bar-code in the bottom right corner of my magazine front cover is also found in real magazines, packaging etc. the position of my bar-code also mirrors these products as it is in a discreet corner. I decided to use a bar-code so that there could be a record kept on how many magazines have been sold. I have also used a masthead on the front cover of my school magazine. This is so that I can use the same masthead, in the same colour, font and style on every issue of the magazine so that readers can notice it quickly, and so that consistency can be seen in each and every issue. Real magazines use these for the same reason. I have also used cover lines and images. This is to entice the reader and persuade them to buy the magazine by showing a sneak peak of what’s inside.
3. How does your media product represent the interests if your target audience?
I conducted a survey asking only key stage 4 and 5 students, and they voted that the best colour combination to use would be red, black and white so that’s what I used. The results prove that the majority of the 20 people I asked preferred this. I also chose the font and items according to the survey results. This means that although the features of the magazine may not appeal to everybody, that data has shown us that it is possible that it will appeal to the majority of readers.
4. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Mr. lock taught us how to operate the basic functions of the camera. Namely the exposure, ISO and others. We practised in groups these techniques and we then went on the learn how to edit them. Mr. lock taught us this, but I was already familiar with Photoshop so used the skills I knew to make my magazine front cover look effective and professional. I used InDesign to block out the basic format of the front cover and contents page and used them as plans for when it came to creating the final products. I did, however, have to problem solve as I have the newer version of Photoshop at home, so some of the features function differently. For example, resizing images is much easier at home, but in the media suite, I had to go through a much longer process.
5. Which aspects of your product do you feel are successful and why?
One aspect of my magazine that I am pleased with is the gradient backgrounds, which made the pages look more effective and less boring than just block colour or no colour at all. Another bit I am proud of is the effect I put on some of the text on the front cover. I distorted the text and made it into archers and raised parts of the text. I am also pleased with the overall layout of the cover and contents page. Although I imagined it slightly different, I did my best to replicate my flat plan blocks, and in my opinion, looks good.
6. What aspects of your planning and product could be improved and why?
