1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I believe that my media product uses, develops and challenges the forms and conventions of real media text. This is because I planned and developed new ideas to create something that best fitted the forms and conventions of real media text.

I have studied and analysed different magazines such as ‘Vibe’ and ‘Q’. 

I chose these two magazines because I felt that they would appeal to my targeted audience. I looked to see what the pros and cons where about these magazines; this gave me an idea of what I should put in my magazine. This also made me think about what kind of house style, masthead, brand identity, lure and cover lines I should use, also what little things like barcode, issue number and price I should add to make it look more like a real magazine. Getting these different things right are vital for my magazine to be successful.

I challenged forms and conventions by taking the two different types of layouts from the magazines I had studied and combined them by using the front page style of Vibe and the contents page style from Q. I change them both slightly so that they went well together, for the double page spread I mainly used the style from Q but also included some ideas from Vibe.

    

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I believe that my heading is one of the key things about who I am trying to appeal because it stands out and I believe that the word SMASH is associated toward younger people, as this would not be as appealing to older people. From how the person on my front cover is portrayed the connotation of this helps represents the genre of music I am doing.

The colours I have used have also help appeal to my targeted audience, I have done this by not using childish colour and instead have used more mature colour that will appeal to younger adult of my targeted audience. Also I have done the same for the picture using more mature like pictures rather than childish ones.

I have also lured them in by saying ‘The UK hottest top 40’; this is appealing to young people as they want to find out excusive information about the top 40. This is also interest them in buying the magazine as they will want to find out what songs are in the top 40, as these sort of things are enjoyable for younger people. I liked the way both magazines had imposed the picture with no background, I thought that this was a very good idea and that it would be chatty, so I decided to us it.

  

3. What Kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

When I started my research for my music magazine, my main influence was Q magazine. I found out that Q magazine was produced by Bauer Media Group, which is a Germany based company. The company was first set up in 1975, and is privately owned and managed by the Bauer family.

Frontline is the main distributer of Bauer Media Group, they supply over 55,000 retailer with the United Kingdom. Frontline was made by Bauer Media Group in 1986, and therefore the company has grown in population, front is also a distributer of many BBC magazines, like Top Gear and Good Food.

I believe that this company would be a good one to choose as my distributer, this is because this company is a large and well know company which distribute many other magazines like Kerrrang and Q magazine. As my music magazine is closely related to Q magazine with the same sort of Genre I believe that Bauer Media Group would be a good company to use as by distributer.

4.    Who would be the audience for your media product?

My music magazine is mainly aimed at the younger generation of people, between the ages of 13 – 29. This is because my magazine is an R&B/Pop magazine, and I feel that this genre would mainly appeals to younger people, as it is livelier.

My main focus was to use styles and idea that would appeal to my targeted audience, therefore I decided to ask some of my piers what they would want to see in a magazine, after a while I collected the most popular ideas and used them in my magazine.    

5.    How do attract/ address your audience?

I believe that the vibrant use of colours of my magazine make it appealing to my targeted audience.  I tried to attract/address my audience through the use of funky headings and catchy cover lines so it was eye-catching and appeal to people.

I made sure that I kept to the colour scheme of red, white and black so that it look more like a magazine and was more eye-catching to my targeted audience. I felt the most important thing was to make the front cover appealing and attractive so that people would want to buy it.

I have looked and evaluated different music magazine like Q and Vibe, they both had good Idea’s which I used, for example my masthead was big and bold and went across the top of the page, this is very similar to Vibe magazine, which to me was appealing so that’s why I chose it. Both Q and vibe gave me the idea for the way in which the pictures has been done, the picture was in front of everything including the head and this made it stand out and look appeal to other. Vibe’s use of teaser and cover lines stood out from other magazine I have looked at. So for that reason I had decided to use it. Also I felt that my front cover need more, so looking at different magazine I found a couple that ‘Free CD’ on the front, so I through that as people would thing they are getting something for free they would more likely what to buy, which would be good for my magazine, this also meant that I could charge more for my magazine.               

I decided to use the similar layout and style to Q magazine for my contents page, this is because I felt that it was attractive and appealing which would help to sell more. For my double page spread again I decided to go for a similar style to Q magazine as I felt it stood out and was eye-catching. I also through that I should go with the interview style of double page spread, as it is easier to read and I feel that it is more appealing to my targeted audience.

6.    What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Through making my music magazine I didn’t really use many technological devices, for example I used a camera to take all my photos, then used editing software called Adobe Photoshop Element t edit my photo and I also used the internet (Google) to help research ideas and other magazine for my magazine.

 

I also used Google Chrome to surf the internet for information plus to access my blog, I used blogspot.com as my blogger account.
At first Abode Photoshop seem difficult to use as I have never used it before, nut after a couple of lesson playing around it soon became a lot easier, which meant I could edit my photo a lot easier and quicker than before.
I believe that have learnt more thing about technology since I start the course as I now know how to work Adobe Photoshop and use a blog account etc.
I used the blog account to document all my work that I had done throughout the course, which made the progression through each a lot more efficient, I used it to upload all my Coursework from my school magazine to my evaluation, this also made it easier to change any mistakes and also add extra things.


7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I believe that throughout the preliminary task I learnt that every little detail in creating my product is vital if I want to do well, also I found that the editing was a hard challenge throughout the making of my magazines.

 

I believe that my preliminary task lack in style and detail, this is because It was the first magazine I had created and I didn’t really know to use the technical devices and didn’t understand what to do. After doing my music magazine and seeing how good it was, I looked back at my preliminary task and could see that It wasn’t really eye-catching, it had hardly any information of the front cover or contents page for that matter and It didn’t look anything like a school magazine. I believe that there is a lot of things I could have done to improve my school magazine. One thing I did like about my preliminary task was the faded picture in the background of the contents page; I felt that this helped link it to the front cover of my preliminary task.

Over the period of creating my school magazine to my music magazine, I believe I learnt a lot of different thing about how to create a magazine, at first I learnt how to use the different technical devices need to create my magazine, also how to link my front cover, contents page for my music magazine my double page spread all together through the use of house colour and similar styles.

I would say that through the process of creating my school magazine to my music magazine, as you can see I have learnt a lot more about how to make a media product like a magazine, I learnt that it had to be appealing and attractive to my targeted audience, and use good teaser, cover lines and pictures to draws people attention. I believe I done this very well for my music magazine, but not at all for my preliminary task. You can see that I progress massively from my school magazine to my music magazine.    

finished double page spread

This is the final copy of my music magazine double page spread.
I think that it is good, as it consist of the right colour (house style), the writing is clear and easy to read.
I made sure that I kept to using similar fonts as my front page and contents page, this was done to ensure that it look like a real magazine.
Before I put the writing in I wasn't sure if it would look good with the big letter L on the page, I had to decided either to put the writing over the top of the letter or inside it, I felt that it looked better inside it.

double page spread

This is my first draft of my double page spread. I tried to stick with the house of red, white and black, to make sure that it stayed looking like a real music magazine.
As you can see I have decide to use a similar style layout as Q magazine, the letter L stand for the beginning of his name 'Lucas'. I felt that has worked very well and now my next step is to work on the writing, which I chose to do interview questions.

double page research

I feel that my contents page for my music magazine is good, I like the idea of the photos.
Also for my contents page I have ensure that there is too little or too much writing on it, so that it looks like a magazine.
I have also kept to the colour scheme of my mucic magazine, which is red, white and black.
Overall I feel that it is an outstanding effort and that the pictures make it eye-catching, I have done this to attract and address my targeted audience.

contents page

After a focus group I had decided to add more pages, as it was concluded that it didn't have enough writing so I decided to add more.
My next step now is to add pictures to my contents page. To help link it with the front cover I will use a picture o the same person on the front cover as he is the main attraction but I will also add another picture of another artist.

This is the first draft of my contents page, there are no pictures as I haven't decided what will appeal to my targeted audience.

I have made sure to keep to the house colour and the same sort of style, which I believe I have done very well.

As you can see that I have used the same sort of  style as Q magazine, but I have also add some other idea from a various of other magazine and also add some of my own ideas.

I decided to use this style of heading for my contents page is big, bold and it stands out. This is good as I am looking at drawing in as many people as possible. 

I though that I would use a similar sort of layout to the Icons magazine, this is because it looks advertising and appealed to me and also to other people I had asked. 

Analysis contents page

final front cover of magazine

This is my final copy of my front cover of my music magazine.
After comments from a focus group, it was concluded that the previous version of my front cover need more cover line or teasers. this is why I decided to add the Free CD label in the bottom left comer. Also I have add 'exclusive pics' this has been done to draw the attention of my targeted audience, the free CD makes people feel like good because there getting something for free, which will mean they will what to buy the magazine. the exclusive pics also does this but it also interest people, as they want to see the latest pictures of the stars.

Front cover

I believe that the way I have imposed the picture on top of the magazine it suits the kind of style I'm trying to create.

I have centered the picture as this is how the majority of magazine look. I have used this picture because of the colours, as you can see he is wearing a white and grey hoodie and also a black pair of trousers, I have done this so it fits in nicely with the house colour.

I have put the picture on top of the writing, this is because it makes it stand out, and I also think that it is more eye catching than underneath the writing.

Background

I decided to add a teaser and cover line, this is because I felt that the front cover was empty and it needed something more. I suck to using the house colours red and white, but I also add black. This is because I felt that  there was a bit too much red and white, so I chose black as this was close too dark grey which I had used for my background.

I felt that the size font I chose for my teaser and cover line was good, this is because it stood out and was eye catching but also at the same time didn't look stupid.

This is the background for my front cover. As you can see I have chosen red, white and dark grey for my house colour. This is because the red stand out as a colour and so does the white if you have a dark background, I have done this to draw people attention to the magazine.

I have tried not to use to many colours as this would make it to busy and would put people of reading you magazine.

I decided to us a big heading as this is eye catching and as lets people know the name of the magazine. I have used this font for the heading because it looks as though it has been smashed up, also because it stands out and appeals to my targeted audience.  

Front cover Analysis

Before I started my front cover music magazine, I looked at what font I should use for my main heading
1.)

Base 02

2.)
Algerian

3.)

Magneto

I decided to use font 1, Base 02, this is because I felt like it was the one that when the best with the style of magazine. As my magazine is aimed at younger people (teenagers) like myself, Base 02 seemed the most appealing to me, so this is why used this font. i am cool

This is my first attempted at my music magazine front cover, I decides to go for the same kind of design/layout as Vibe, the music magazine I analysed. This is because I think that the design is appealing and eye catching, this is how I want my magazine to be as it help the popularity of the magazine and also would mean more people would want to buy it. 

Analysis front cover

For my music magazine I chose Vibe, Vibe is a hip-hop/ Urban culture magazine. This magazine includes things from artist profiles to celeb gossip.

Masthead - the masthead is very clear in big bold letter's above the top. This makes it stand out. It also attracts people to want to have a look at it, this is good as it will encourage them to buy it.
For my music magazine I think that I will use a similar sort of masthead as they have.

Banner - the banner is bold and clear and it stand out, this makes it easier for the read to see who it's about, this is very as it will draw the readers attention, which will persuade them to buy it.
I may decide to use this big bold banner as it stands out which may interest readers.

Cover Lines - the cover lines are quite big, this is to catch the eye of the read, they have does this very well.
for my music magazine I will go for the same kind of lay out as it very eye catching, which will attract readers.

Layout - the layout of this magazine has been done very well as it has keep to basic house colours (red, black and grey) this to make it easy to read and not off putting.
The layout features used in the magazine are very good, so I will probably use the same kind of layout.

Main image - the main image is in the centre of the page and is the thing that stands out the most, this looks very good so I will use the same type of style for my music magazine.  

Questionnaire

I sent my Questionnaire out to six people in each year ( forms 1-U6), most people replied within two weeks, For Question 1 most people choose either music, sports or celeb, so this helped me with what stuff they would want in their Sschool magazine. For question 2, three people said once a month, seven people said once a week, Most people paid between £3 and £4, for question 4 most people said that they read the sports section the most, question 5 was quite varied but TV was most tick with twelve ticks, as for question 6 it was mostly even, for the last question I got some good suggestion but most where already answered in questions above, on the other hand, there was one or two good suggestions, the best one was to have the same colour theme throughout and also a what's on calender.  

Click link for questionnaire:
Questionnaire