Contents Page Analysis.
Research for school magazine. - Aimed at secondary audience- students.
These charts all display my own primary research as it is original data that I haven't copied. The third pie chart shows my quantitative research as it data dealing with numbers referring to how often the audience would be willing to buy a school magazine.
Qualitative Research
Question put forward- What would make you interested in reading a school magazine and what topics would you like to see in the magazine?
From my qualitative research, I found that the majority of students would be most interested in announcements about upcoming events. This was closely followed by recent/future trip information and the latest news regarding the school. Others wanted to hear about future opportunities with relevance to their current studies and exam tips/techniques. A small majority were interested in gossip.
Primary Research- Aimed At Primary Target Audience (Parents)
Qualitative Research
Question put forward- What would make you interested in reading a school magazine and what topics would you like to see in the magazine?
For my qualitative research, I found that parents were most interested in reading about topics related to their children's current studies and future opportunities for their children. They also were interested in upcoming school events like parents evening and any future school trips. Some parents would be interested in information relating to exam support/techniques for their children. None of the target audience were interested in 'school gossip.'
Front Page Construction Plan
Contents Page Construction Plan
Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media?
My magazine uses conventions that show that it is a school magazine. The magazine has stereotypical conventions such as the masthead, headline, straplines and a main image that shows a student stood in front of the sixth form building, developing the idea that the magazine is of a school genre. The magazine challenges form of conventions of real media as it doesn’t look professional therefore doesn’t meet the expected conventions of a real magazine.
How does your magazine represent social groups?
My magazine represents social groups through the use of text and image. The main image of my magazine is of a student smiling and wearing smart clothing. This stereotypically represents a 'smart' social group that would want to be successful and do well at school. This is reinforced with the text 'summer exam tips, 'university open days' and 'student success'. This shows that my magazine is mainly representing hard working students and parents that want to get involved.
What kind of media institution (publisher) might distribute your media product and why?
The institution Time inc .UK (formally known as international publishing company) might distribute my magazine as it is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the UK. It sells over 350 million copies each year, all of different genres. It groups it’s current titles under three magazine divisions each focusing on a core audience. Connect- aimed at women, Southbank- aimed at upmarket women and Inspire- the target market for men. My magazine would fit under the division aimed at women and upmarket women as my research showed that women are most likely to be interested/buy a school magazine. This publisher would distribute my magazine as it distributes other magazines aimed at women that give advice and help. The school magazine would fit as it helps informs parents/mothers about their child’s education.
Who would be the audience for your magazine?
The audience for my magazine would be parents (mainly women) as they’re most likely to read a school magazine in order to help their children succeed in school. They’d want to be involved with school and would be interested in what’s going in with their children’s education.
How did you attract/ address your audience?
I attracted my audience using a range of features on my magazine cover:
Colour scheme- I used metallic colours as these have connotations with medals, rewards and achievement. This would attract an audience as parents would believe that the school would help their child achieve their goals.
Font- I used a formal font to attract the target audience as I found in my research that the target audience of parents would be most likely to read a magazine with a formal theme.
Image- The main image should engage the audience as it is an image of a sixth form student that would be roughly the same age as the parents children that would go to the school. Therefore, they'd be able to relate to the magazine.
Language- I used language within the semantic field of school/education and success. This would attract the audience as they'd want advice for their children and to feel involved with the school.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Blogger- when conducting my research I had to set up a blog to put my coursework on.
Slideshare- I put all my powerpoints for my coursework onto slideshare in order to put them on my blog.
Microsoft excel- when conducting my own research for my magazine I used excel to produce graphs and pie charts to put on my blog. I learnt that this was a good way of portraying data in a visual way.
Photoshop- I learnt to use Photoshop to edit my photos before I used them in my magazine.
What have you learnt during the prelim that will help you to progress during the main task?
I learnt during the prelim that I need to dedicate more time to construct my magazine as it needs to be to a higher standard and look more professional. I'll do this by using Photoshop to manipulate my photo's more effectively. I'll also think more carefully about the colour scheme and the font I use so that all text is bold and stands out against the background. When planning my magazine I'll make sure I'm clear on terminology like 'subheading' and 'headline' so I don't get them confused.
In reference to your magazine include images you have used before they have mainuplated or cropped and explain why you have used on your front cover with DPS with a brief annotation,
Bella, feedback on the prelim task below:
ReplyDeleteYou tackled the task thoroughly and mostly stuck to advised deadlines. Your analysis of magazines’ use of language is good, but be sure to consider the register used too.
Be sure to proof read all comments for SPAG and silly errors.
Check terminology related to magazines and print - you used ‘subheading’ when it should have been ‘headline’.
Consider how photos have been manipulated to enhance certain aspects or to brighten certain colours. In the first front cover, you discussed how the child’s jumper was a lot brighter than the mother’s - try to explore what techniques might have been used in photoshop (contrast control, saturation, brightness) to achieve this. This is also what you should think about doing in your own product.
Along the same lines, you should also try to deconstruct the creation of graphics and fonts - how are they put together and why? Your magazine should show an awareness of the need for variety in fonts and text size and the conventions of layout and page design - every aspect on the page is important in showing that you understand these ideas.
Your planning and research was excellent and it was fantastic how you integrated your research into some ideas on your mock up. It would be good practice during the main task for you to summarise some of the similarities and differences that you found between them the pages you analysed and bring these ideas together with your primary research.
As I think you will agree, your front cover was somewhat of a let down after such detailed and thorough preparation. Hopefully the preliminary task process helped you to realise how much time you will need to dedicate to the actual construct (especially as you have to produce more for the main task and it carries 60 of the 100 marks available!).