This is my media evaluation

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
The conventions
of “Classic Rock”
There is also an
magazine… eyebrow, which acts
like a cover line,
showing a article
The ‘Classic rock’ inside the magazine.
convention for the This makes the
masthead is that the magazine look more
masthead is bold and has tidier.
two stars on either side
of the ‘Classic’. Also the
‘Rock’ is bigger than the
‘classic’. Underneath the The central image is very strong and colourful
masthead is the magazine so it stands out, also the image is under the
slogan. masthead. The person in the image is looking
directly at the camera, so that the audience
has eye contact with the magazine and they
are more likely to spot it as they feel as
This is the main cover thought hey have a connection with the person
line, the convention of this in the image.
particular magazine is that
there is only one cover line The barcode and the Future logo
on the front cover. Also the is the convention of Classic rock
main cover line is in the magazine. Also that the barcode
bottom centre of the page and logo is in the centre of this
and the line of the shirt collar particular version of Classic rock.
is directing the audience to This may also be due to the
the cover line. Also there is a central image and the main
design above and below the cover line all based in the centre
cover line which is a of the front cover.
convention that I will follow.

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
The front cover… products?
All magazines have a masthead, however the
whereabouts of the position of the masthead is This the central image. It follows the
not determined. Using the conventions of the convention of Classic rock magazine by
magazine “Classic Rock”, I have placed the having the models face the camera directly
masthead in the centre top of the page. Also I so that the audience will more attracted to
have made the word “Rock” bigger than the the magazine. However it also challenges the
“top of the” again following the conventions of conventions as the image is ¾ of the model
“classic rock” where the “Rock” is bigger than whereas Classic Rock magazines only has the
“classic” top half of the model. Also the scarf brings
However I have challenged the convention as the audiences eye down to the cover line
the masthead is not as bold, and as large and is which follows the conventions of Classic rock
a different colour to “classic rock” as its more as they use the shirt line to direct the eye
colourful. down to the cover line.
Another way that I have challenged the
convention is the date and the issue number in
classic rock are not shown below that
masthead, instead they show their slogan, There are no other cover lines apart
which my magazine does not have. from the main cover line. This also
follows the conventions of this
particular Classic Rock magazine.
This is the main cover line of the
magazine. The convention of Classic
magazine that I have followed is that
there is only one main cover line, and This is the barcode and the logo. This
no other. Also the cover line is in the follows the conventions of Classic
centre of the page and there are rock as it is in the centre bottom of
designs above and below that cover the page as the main image and the
line. However I have challenged the cover line are based in the centre.
convention as I have made the cover However, unlike Classic rock, my
line slightly diagonal so it would look magazine has the price on the side of
more attractive a it is different from the Future logo.
other magazines.

4. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
The conventions products? The header of the contents
of “Classic Rock” page is “CONTENTS” and
magazine… underneath it has the edition
number and the date. Also
there is a border on the page.
These are also the conventions
of Classic Rock magazine.
This is the main image. It is The content has a red
to do with the main number on the left of
article/ double page the title. The title is next
spread. Also the model is to the number and is
not looking at the camera. black. Also There is a
It is also black and white little description of the
and takes up ¾ of the page page below every
on the right hand side. content.
These are the conventions
of Classic Rock magazine.
The image also has a
caption with the page
number on it. This is also
another convention.

5. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
The contents products?
page…
This is the header of the contents
page. It follows the conventions of
Classic Rock magazine as it also
has a border and below the
header is the issue number and
This is the main image of the the date of the magazine when it
contents page. It also is to do was published.
with the double page spread
and the main cover
line, again following the
conventions of Classic Rock
The contents of the
magazine. Also the model is
magazine is following the
not looking at the camera.
conventions of Classic Rock
However the image is not
magazine also. The
black and white therefore
numbers are also red and
challenging the conventions.
the actual content is black.
There is also a summery
and description of the
The main image also has a page below the content.
caption with the page
number and the person in
the image. However it is in a I have added this design
box so that the caption to the page as in Classic
stands out from the image. Rocks contents page
Which doesn’t follow the they have a shape with
conventions slightly of extra content, however I
Classic Rock as they use red am challenging the
and white, whereas I only conventions by adding
used white. the images.

6. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
The conventions products?
of “Classic Rock”
magazine…
This is the heading of the
article, it is in the same
format as the cover line.
Also it is at the top middle
of the page. These are the
conventions of the Classic The main image takes
Rock magazine. up an A4 page. It is in
black and white and
The standfirst is right the model is not
below the heading of the looking at the camera.
article and it also has a Which is another
border below it with the convention of Classic
writers name underneath Rock magazine.
the border. (The by-line)
These are the conventions.
This is a pull quote and it is in the
centre bottom of the article. The
The start of the
writing is white and the background is
article there is a drop
red. Also there is a white line to
cap which goes down
separate the two columns of the
8 lines in the article.
article.

7. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
The double page products?
feature… The main image takes over one A4 page, which is
the same as Classic Rock however the model in
This is the heading of the double page this image and the next image on the next page
feature,. It challenges the convention are both looking at the audience which defies the
of Classic rock because it’s not the
conventions of Classic Rock because they have the
exact replica of the main cover line on
the front cover. The reason for this is artist looking away from the camera
that the heading would not look as
professional if it was tilted to the side.
The pull quote in my magazine has
Also it would take up too much room
and there wouldn’t be that much space
challenged the conventions of Classic Rock
for the text. However I have kept the as it is not in the same place and that the
same design from the cover line on the colours have been changed. Also there Is
front cover and also put the heading of a box outlining the pull quote. The line
the article in the same place as Classic separating the two columns is following
Rock magazine did. the convention, it also goes down after
the pull quote too.
The standfirst and by-line are in
the exact same place as the
Classic Rock magazine double I have added another page continuing
page spread. There is also a drop the double page spread article. The
cap, however the drop cap does image is ¾ of the A3 page in, which
not go down 8 lines but it goes follows the convention of Classic rock
down two lines, which challenges because in the contents page they
the conventions of Classic Rock. I also have the image covering ¾ of the
have done this so that there page. Also I have added a caption of
would be more space of the the image stating the name of the
editorial. model and a little description which
challenges the convention. Also
As the header and footer of every behind the text there is a box which
page I have added the Top Of The aluminates the text and makes it more
Rocks website and the page number inviting to the audience and makes
which also follows the convention of them want to read it, this also
Classic Rock. challenges the convention.

8. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
Images and Social groups that I
representation am targeting
Pose
The target audience for my media project and magazine are
The Pose that I have chosen for the front cover is white middle aged (35-40), class B men, who listen to either
the model looking head on at the audience with or both classic and new rock.
an aggressive look. My target audience are white My media work represents this particular age range due to
males who are aged 35-40, that are interested in the fact that I have used a model that is middle-aged and also
classic and new rock. Most rock artists rebel that the cover-line is about David Bowie who has been a
against the norm and they tend to act more major figure in rock music for the last 40 years (1960-1990)
aggressive and therefore I think that the front therefore people at this particular age would have listened to
cover image represents the rock lovers as the David Bowies music.
model has his head down but he’s looking at the Also the language that is used through out my magazine is
camera. formal as the men that would be reading this magazine would
be middle classed and therefore they would not understand
Dressing ‘slang’ or informal language. Classic rock is the magazine that
The dressing that I chose for my model was a I am basing my magazine on and classic rock uses formal
sweater vest and a scarf. However the scarf language too as they want to address middle social class men.
doesn’t go well with the ret of the outfit, rock Also because the formal language used in my magazine, it
listeners rebel and they wear things that are would not look cheap and therefore would be able to sell it at
outstanding. Therefore when the audience see’s a higher price, as the men in their 35-45 can afford to buy the
the unco-ordinated scarf and the outfit, they will Outstanding magazine.
identify with it. rock artists.
For my media project, I decided that it
Location would be best that the images will be a
mixture of negative and positive. This is
The location that I had the photograph due to the fact that rock magazines tend
taken was in a TV studio in the college, I to have a gloomy effect, For
asked to have a black background as black example, NME have dark images to for
is a colour that would represent rock their front covers to attract their target
artists and listeners. audience.

9. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
Design
construct…
The colours that I have
The colours that I have used for used for my double page
my contents page is white black spread are dark ones. I
and red. The black is used a lot in have used a lot of black
my magazine because rock because I believe that rock
artists tend to use that and red a artists also believe inn the
lot. Red represents fury and colour black. I have also
that’s why I chose it because used the colours red and
rock artists tend to have a lot of orange because it
fury in them. represents fury and
Also I have placed a design on anger, which represents
the bottom of the contents page rock artists. The fonts that
to make it look more elegant I have chosen for the
because the middle ages men heading is ‘Edwardian
that will read this magazine are script’ because it looks
not exactly going to still be in to spooky and elegant and
rock and roll as much as when the same time.
they were younger and
therefore they have a little more
class.

10. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and
why?
Distributing my magazine/media product is one of the most important factors in the
media institution. Therefore in order to have a chance at selling my magazine I
would have to go to the company that sells more magazines than any other
publication. Also I would need a company that would publish the online ‘Top Of The
Rocks’ magazine. The publishing company that would be able to achieve this would
be Future PLC.
By also joining with a big media institution, the theme of the magazine will have to
match, that is why I have used the same house colours and some conventions of
‘Classic Rock’ magazine as they also advertise them. I feel that it would be better if
my magazine doesn’t compete with ‘Classic Rock’ but they should join forces so that
they wouldn't have to compete, whereas I will be competing against other rock
magazines such as NME and KERRANG. However NME and KERRANG’s genre are
general rock music while ‘Top Of The Rocks’ magazine has a specific target audience.
Using big publications for distributing my magazine will cost cheaper and eventually
bring in more profit instead of independently distributing it.
Because my magazine is a music magazine, it can be sold at any place. Such as a
news agents or HMV or post offices. However the magazine’s target audience are
middle class white men, so it will be unlikely that they just stop by a post office as
they are normally located around schools, therefore I will think I would be best if my
magazine will be sold at a news agent so that when men come back from work they
can pop in to a news agents and read the magazine on a train journey. However it
will also be available to buy from the internet on the official site and get a
subscription delivered to the audiences house every month.

11. Who would be the audience for your
media product?
Target Audience The target audience for ‘TOP OF THE ROCKS’ is white
men who are middle class that live in the suburbs and
they are 35-45 who miss their childhood rock. They
wear normal clothes but tend to turn to rock for
comfort and sometime wear scarfs for example that
don’t go with their outfit. The men that would buy this
magazine would earn £30,000-£60,000 and would be
in the social class of B. Therefore they can afford to buy
the magazine at the price of £3.99. Also the cover is a
picture of a male therefore males would relate to them
so it would not identify with females much.

12. How did you attract/address your
audience?
The front cover is the most important when attracting
your audience. So I had to think really carefully at how I
would do that. Firstly I made sure that the Masthead was
visible and could be seen from a fair distance and the
colour red on a black background showed the colour more
so that the masthead would standout. Also in the
eyebrow I have put a band that is new and will have a tour
soon and that would also attract the audience as they
would want to buy tickets.
Then I took the image of the model. I had to make sure
that the model was looking directly at the camera. This
gave the effect that the audience would think that the
person on the cover would be looking at them and that’s
how they would subconsciously communicate with the
magazine. Also I made sure that there was something
significant that connected the image to the main cover
line so that the audience wouldn’t miss it. I decided that a
scarf would suffice. When the audience is caught by the
eye of the model, their eye directly goes to the scarf as it
stands out and you follow the scarf down and it takes you
to the main cover line.
Through out my magazine I have been using the colours
red and black. The reason that I used these colours was
because red stands out on black the most. Also I have
used white for the text because it also stands on black and
would attract an audience to it.
Also on the double page spread for the title I have used
the colour white as it also stands out, I have made the text
bold and also put some designs around it. This would
attract my audience because it stands out with the
different font and the bolder look.
Also for my contents page I did the numbers in red
because it would standout more and so that the audience,
if they flick through the magazine, will see the numbers
first and glance across and see the editorial.

13. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
I have used a variety of technologies.
I have mainly be using Adobe InDesign and Word Processor for my magazine. Also I
have used paint to print screen all the images I want to place up on to my blog due to
the fact that I am very familiar with it. However InDesign proved to be rather
frustrating to work with, as some of the tools were very complicated. Then I resorted
to word processor for my research and my page layouts.
Also for my research I need some extra information for my article which I got from the
internet using different websites. I found that it was really easy to just type in the exact
thing you wanted in to a search engine, such as Google, however it sometimes gave
you sites that were not relevant so that I learnt to type in specifically want I need to
find out.
To take my images, I had to use a TV studio in the college. For the image I had to
have a black backdrop, and white lighting which would place a spotlight on my model.
Also I used a Nikon D300 digital camera to take my pictures. As the photographer I
had to make sure that the camera was perfect for the shot that I was going to
take, therefore I had to check if the exposure, ISO and aperture were correct. At first I
was a little nervous about using the camera as it would have been my first time, but
then it became really easy once I knew the basics.
A thing that I found that was really frustrating was that I could upload word files on to
my blog. So I had to use ‘SlideShare’ to upload it.
Using InDesign I think I created a unique and good magazine.

14. Looking back at your preliminary
task, what do you feel you have learnt
in the progression from it to the full
product?
Here are the preliminary task and the final piece of my magazine.
Looking back I can see that my preliminary front cover, although it had the
same colour scheme throughout the front cover and the contents
page, compared to my final magazine cover that has been perfected, seems
very messy and really busy with cover lines that are all over the place.
However my final magazine has been completed to a high standard as it looks
neat. The image also looks better than the preliminary task as the model is
looking directly at the camera which attracts the audience to the cover. Also I
have learnt that it is important to have a very eye catching masthead.
I have learnt that simple also looks good and that I shouldn’t bunch up all my
work in one place.
Another thing that I have learnt is that representation is very important and if
the audience can not relate to the magazine then they wont buy it.
Overall I think that I have created a rock magazine that will change the way
people look at rock artists as people normally associate them as outrageous
however the model in the front cover does not look too outrageous and he
looks like a normal person. Not everyone would like the magazine, every
individual is different. But I have created a magazine that targets a specific
audience.