School Magazine Evaluation

1. School Magazine Evaluation By Salaffina Doré

2. My school magazine does not include all of the codes and conventions of magazines however it does include some. Some codes and conventions that I have used in making my magazine is the main image. As well as a music magazine a school magazine also has a main image, however on my magazine the main image is on the right hand side of the magazine. On music magazines the main image is always on the left hand side this is because when the magazine is advertised in shops the left hand side is constantly showing, however, school magazines are not being sold in any store so therefore even though my magazine did no follow the specific convention, its not a problem. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

3. Another convention I followed is the masthead. Every magazine needs a masthead. My masthead is on the top, middle of the magazine. However, some other school magazines on the other hand, place their masthead in a lot of different places, weather its at the top, top left or right. Comparing school magazines to music magazines, school magazines don’t always have a big bold font for the masthead, whereas , music magazines do because they have a bigger audience. they also place their masthead on the left hand side again because of the way the magazine is sold. here are some examples. The masthead overlapping the central image. Central image overlapping the masthead Masthead small white font Masthead bold appealing colour, (matches the school uniform)

4. I also followed the feature convention. I included features on the front cover, as well as professional magazines I have the features on the left hand side of the magazine. Another way my magazine followed the odes and conventions is by using a pug. On the front cover of my magazine includes the date & issue of the magazine. Professional magazine also have a pug, this is one similarity between a professional magazine and my magazine. A school magazine does not follow every code and convention of magazines but includes some. As a result of this I tried to use appealing colours to make the magazine more attracting and eye catching towards the audience. I used the colours Black White and Red for a simple reason. I carried out a questionnaire about what students would like the school magazine to be like; one of the questions was ‘what colour scheme would you like the magazine to be?’ the majority of the students that filled out the questionnaire chose Red White and Black, therefore by using that colour scheme it would persuade and attract people to buy the magazine.

5. My magazine product represents a particular social group. As my magazine is a school magazine it represents the school and the people in it. The magazine itself is made for students (within the school), parents and also staff. Because school magazines are mostly for students and parents, most school magazines include latest information and updates on school changes weather its classes or a new department. How does your media product represent particular social groups? To attract the audience I used different codes and conventions to attract them to the magazine. I included features for students, staff and the parents and carer (s). This informs the parents about trips that are being organised in the school and information about them. This also applies to the students . This is for student and staff, for dates, times and duties for after school clubs and using the studio and Astroturf.

6. I would choose the school governors to distribute my magazine. This is partly because they know about the school a lot more the parents and carers, and they have more time on their hands. As my magazine is a school magazine and the school governors are distributing it, I would like for the students to also get involved because its their school as well as the staff and governors. By letting the students and staff have input into the magazine it encourages them to purchase the magazine knowing their idea have been put into consideration and in some cases used, and have been successful. However, some parents like to get as involved as much as they can so this would be a opportunity for them to contribute their ideas. So my magazine would have everyone’s ideas, but distributed by school governors What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? this is parents/governors/carers in this instance as well as students

7. I attracted my audience through colour and layout. The layout of the magazine can make a big effect on how the audience would see the magazine. For example if the magazine looks for organised and easy to read the audience is more likely to read it. Even if it’s the front cover, this also includes colour. By using a interesting colour palette for the magazine it helps attract the audience. For my product I used a colour palette that most of the children that took the questionnaire voted for, (red white and black). How did you attract/address your audience? My magazine has a target audience like any other magazine. My school magazine audience is children and staff of Holy Trinity Catholic Media Arts College, and parents and carers of those pupils. This is because it is a school magazine produced for the school it self. I kept used an interesting colour palette that the pupils picked from the choices in the questionnaire. The pictures that are placed on the dominate background I outlined in red making them stand out and still keeping with the colour scheme.

8. I also took into consideration what they would prefer, images, text or both. The majority of the students said images and then both, so I used more images than text, this will encourage the students to read the magazine, and maybe also the parents. In the questionnaire was also a question about them featuring in the magazine most of the students said ‘it depends on what the feature is’. So if I made a fun feature it will endorse the students to get involved with the school magazine. This is another way how I choose to addressed my target audience threw finding out about their views and opinions. The questionnaire that I handed out was to find out what the pupils would want the magazine to be like, by using their opinions and views it will attract more students to participate in the magazine and to buy the magazine. It also addresses the parent and carers abut what happening in the school and what will be happening in the school. It also addresses the staff of any ‘awareness’ around the school or updates and changes. I then used the information and produced 3D pie charts for each question to make the information more clear and understandable, for me and just in general. I did this so it would b easier to make my decisions when making my magazine. To make the 3D pie charts I used a software called Excel. Internet example

9. My product has a lot of features. It include exam dates & times, changes around the school, after school clubs, lunch time clubs and many more. These features were chosen by the students. On the questionnaire I designed a question about what they (the students) would like to be featured in the magazine. By giving the students an opportunity to choose what they would like to see in the magazine, helps widen the audience, and draw in the students to buy the magazine if there’s something featured in the magazine they would like to read. This also informs the parent/carers about their children’s school and what’s happening in the school that they mite not be aware of. It also reminds the staff about update and duties around the school such as who’s on duty for each day of the week. The students also circled horoscopes comics and trips. By having trips featured in the magazine can inform the staff, pupils and parents/carers about trips there dates and paying deadlines and prices and because my magazine is a monthly magazine it will include all the trips for the month and the start of next month. Another reason why I included horoscopes n comics in my magazine because it will make the magazine more fun then just to read about the school, it gives the students a reason to buy the magazine, and enjoy reading it. I gave a variety of choices for the students to pick from and two or more people circled each one of the options. A lot of the students choice comics however I researched about comics in school magazines and its not common at all however I still included daily horoscopes.

10. Most of the students also said that the would prefer to see mid shots in the magazine more close ups and long shots, taking that into consideration on my front cover I used mostly mid shots however I did use a long shot for the central image. A lot of magazines school and other genres use a wide range of shots just to make the magazine look more appealing to its audience. All the ideas of what’s featured in the magazine and the magazine look of the magazine are from students aged 14/15 in my media class. This links to the age range my magazine is getting published to 11-16. They also chose the price, how often it will be published, and the camera angles .

11. To accomplish this I used two main software of technology. I started of by using Photoshop to cut and edit my original images; I used effects such as variables and smoothing the skin out to make the images look more professional and attracting for the audience. Photoshop was not hard to use at all, because I have used this software before, however I still learnt more about the software, and the things I learnt were very helpful. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Photoshop Magnetic Lasso Tool (Internet Example) The magnetic lasso tool magnetic cuts around the image as you drag the mouse around. It’s the most easiest way of cutting out an image from its background.

12. The other piece of software I used was InDesign. InDesign was very new to me, and was difficult to use even though it has similarities with Photoshop. Personally InDesign is a more complex version of Photoshop and makes you’re product look ten times better. On InDesign to create the perfect finished product it is best to create layers. Layers help organise the placement of the images, text and overlapping. I have also learnt about the process of transferring images from Photoshop to InDesign. To do this you I had to save some images as a JPEG file and some as a PNG file, this was crucial when it came to placing the images onto layers on Photoshop. When it came to using the camera, I had no trouble at all, Nikon D19 cameras are quiet easy to use, and I have had experience using them before last year for my GCSE course. My photos came out better then I expected and I was very pleased. Internet example I used layers so that I can have text overlapping images, and images overlapping text without it looking unprofessional. Using different colours for the layers organises the product better