Evaluation for Preliminary Product

Evaluation of the Preliminary Exercise

Genre Conventions:



One way my product uses the conventions of a school magazine cover is the use of a medium shot. I know this is a convention as most magazine covers of the genre that I have looked at, for example,Green Fields and Back To School also use a medium shot. I used a medium shot of Callum (my actor) as I think this appears to be more personal and shows a good image of the school uniform.

I have chosen to develop the type of shot that is typically used, the majority of magazines that I looked at had their image in a classroom environment. I on the other hand, chose a shot which showed the outdoors. I think that this portrays the idea that Sixth Form gives a lot of freedom, that you are not always in classroom activities and that it gives you a lot more independence. I don’t think that my magazine challenged any conventions of a school magazine and I pretty much kept it to the conventions that I observed in professional products, for example, I used a masthead in the top fifth of my page which seems to be common in this genre of magazine. I decided to use this convention as it makes the reader well aware of what school they are reading about. I used the masthead ‘biddulph6’; it makes the school recognisable and is the first thing that the audience will read. However, as a contrast to using quite traditional serif fonts, I used a more modern digital sans serif font which hopefully will attract the target audience of older school children.

Analysis of Front Cover

My front cover is effective as it gives a clear insight of the core beliefs of the school. Biddulph High School aims to achieve the best results each year, and the slogan on my banner implies this. Quoting ‘strive to succeed with us’ the slogan used sibilance and is catchy which will be remembered by the audience. My school magazine has a purpose to encourage the children and to give them reassurance when it comes to A levels. I also included the school slogan ‘Respect, Dignity, Pride’ which portrays the school's ethos. My magazine cover demonstrates pride in the school as it shows Callum being proud about wearing the school uniform, demonstrated by his expression and upright posture; he is holding his head up high showing his dignity in the school environment.

Feedback:

I believe the best way to get feedback is to ask your target audience. I asked my peers, fellow students, in my lesson what other people thought of my magazine. One male student said that he thought my magazine was bright and eye-catching and would be very effective for the target audience as it tied in well with the school's house style of blue, light blue and white. The convention of not using much text and a large image would be effective for the younger audience, as arguably they prefer to read less. Another male student said the colours were effective as they match my housestyle which makes the school more recognisable and if I was to have a series of magazines this would be a good continuity technique. The use of colours and fonts show that my magazine is forward thinking and up to date yet doesn’t lack formality, which is what I think the school is trying to portray.

Use of Digital Technology:

I have used Adobe Photoshop to construct my front cover and contents page. Admittedly, I was clueless when I began to use the programme yet every lesson I learnt something new and soon saw the progress in my work, for example, I learnt to edit by creating shadows by changing the opacity, gradient and blur tool.