2. Question 1 – In what ways does your media product use,
develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products
• There are many conventions for music magazines, for instance on the front
cover there is always a mast-head which is the biggest text on the page, there
is always a main image in the middle of the page with the main cover story at
the middle with a catchy description, there is normally a house style in which
only a certain of colours are used, there are cover lines on the right and left of
the page. Finally, underneath the mast head there is a slogan for the
magazine.
• On the contents page the title of the magazine is predominately at the top,
with the date and issue number, the image of an artist is normally in the
middle of the page with a description of an article. The most conventional
thing on the page is the ‘subscribe now’ at the bottom. Normally on the right
hand side there is articles and there page numbers with a pull quote or a
description
• Finally, on the two page spread more than likely there will be an image of the
left hand side of the page with the name of the artist and a pull quote with on
the left hand side there will be the title of the article with a pull quote and
then an article underneath, describing the artist
3. How does my magazine follow or challenge conventions?
• My magazine follows conventions, but however does challenge conventions for instance on my front page
it follows conventions by it has a big mast head that stands out the most, it only has one image which is
associated with my cover story, another convention followed is that of the slogan underneath the mast
head, the cover lines are all around my page which is used in magazines such as NME and Q. The front
page does challenge conventions by it has lots of bright colours whereas normally there are just a few
colours used, by having bright colours I thought it would be more appealing for my target audience which
are teenagers.
• My contents page is very conventional, the title of the magazine is at the top of the page with the date
and issue number which is used in nearly every music magazine, also the image and description of the
article is used in my contents page is conventional as it gives the reader a ‘teaser’ of the magazine. The
most common convention on a contents page is the ‘subscribe now’ this is used in nearly every music
magazine and it normally colourful so people will look at it and hopefully subscribe. The artist index and
the features and news of the magazine follow many other music magazines, they are easy to navigate
around with a colour for the page number and a plain black sans serif font for the article and a description
or a pull quote. My contents page is the most successful as it follows all the conventions.
• My two page spread is less conventional to my contents page, this is because although it has an image on
the left page and a artist title and pull quote and main text body on the right, it is very colourful which is
not necessarily associated with music magazines, it is colourful so it follows my house style. The image on
the left is conventional because it is an artist which is associated with my target audience, having a pull
quote is used by many magazine makers because it offers an slight insight to the article and makes people
want to read more
• Overall, I believe my magazine follows the conventions of music magazines well but however challenges it
when it comes to colour schemes and the house style
4. Conventions of an existing music
Slogan
magazine Date and issue
number
Magazine Image to
title show a
story
MASTHEAD
Cover lines, different
colours
Main image
Page
Main title for the numbers and
main article, descriptions
always in better
text font
Reviews
Title of artist
Main text body
New image
of the artist,
to show who Kickers
this is about
Page numbers
5. My magazine and how it follows conventions
My magazine has all the conventions of a famous music magazine, it has a significant house style with
different colours used which is a technique used in Q magazine. They all have a variety of
coverlines, with different images throughout the magazine. The subscribe now is the most
conventional on my contents page as this is used in most music magazines. The two page spread has
an main image on the left hand side, with a pull quote and the main article title is on the left with the
main text body, which is used in many two page music spreads I researched. Overall, my music
magazine follows conventions well effectively. Title for
magazine is
Masthead, c used in many
onventional magazines on
Slogan for my contents page
magazine Artist index a
technique used
Main Image in some Cover lines with a
magazines brief description
Cover lines, and page
conventional for numbers, very
them to be all Subscribe now is conventional
around probably the most
conventional part of
Main cover story my coursework
Title of the Main image with a
magazine , my description on the
house style. A Title for the article article
technique I got
Pull quote a technique used
from NME
in most magazines
Main text body
Pull Quote
6. Question 2 – How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
My media product represents media products in many different ways because although it is predominantly targeted to teenagers , I
believe it can be associated with young adults who enjoy music. Socially, I believe I target to a vast audience, for instance I target to a
teenage audience by using artists associated with the age group for instance Kanye West and Jay Z. I believe my audience is for all social
classes, but especially middle class, as these are the social class who are associated with the genre as they normally have daughters or
sons who can afford to buy these magazines as they have disposable income
I have focused essentially on the female audience by using an image of a young girl in contemporary clothing on my front page, also by
using font colours such as pink and purple these are the colours that are commonly used to promote a female audience, on my image the
mise-en-scene I have used has helped me construct a specific social group, as the artist is wearing youthful clothing and I have edited the
picture so it looks more youthful and makes the audience interact and associate with her
The language I used throughout my magazine is informal this is so it appeals to my specific social group and target audience, teenagers
often just want to read something informal rather than having to read a article which is formal so this helps me appeal to my social group
I have been able to construct these social groups by my research and analysis for instance each magazine I research has a different social
group targeted for instance NME is the rockers and teenagers. Billboard is for the popular crowd and teenagers. So by doing the research I
have got a solid understanding on my social group and how best to represent there specific social group
Billboard also
represents the same
social group as my
magazine – teenagers
who are
contemporary and are This group of people from the
also middle classed, These are the popular show ‘Skins’ would be
also they have a flair group of people ideal for my social group – they are
for music and and teenage portrayed as popular, who like
especially pop music things that are contemporary music, fashion and
like my magazine. associated with are shown as middle classed
the specific families.
social group
7. Question 3 – What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?
‘Billboard’ is
Prometheus’s only
music magazine, it is ‘Adweek’ is a magazine
an American magazine made by Prometheus
that specialises in pop Global Media. It is a
and r and b genre weekly advertising
magazine
• I believe my music magazine could be distributed by Prometheus Global Media, which is a subsidiary to a media
conglomerate called Nielson Business Media. The companies CEO is Richard D. Beckham. They produce magazines such as
Adweek, Back Stage, Hollywood Reporter and the music magazine Billboard. The companies headquarters is in Lower
Manhattan, New York.
• Prometheus would be an ideal company to distribute because their other music magazine Billboard has the same target
audience as Beats so therefore has a solid knowledge of the audience and would be able to make my magazine better in
appealing to my target audience. Also, they would be ideal because there conglomerate company is a media company that
specialises in distribution and marketing so they would be able to get my magazine out to the world.
• I believe Prometheus Global Media would distribute my magazine because it is in relation to Billboard so the magazine
carries on with there mission statement of catering for young adults, Billboard is an American music magazine so having a
British magazine will open up there market even wider and make there profits higher, as they would be able to advertise
Billboard in Beats and vice versa so make the two magazines a worldwide success. I believe they would agree to my
magazine because they only currently distribute one music magazine so having another magazine that is specifically for
music will allow them to make more money and grow as a company. The companies main goals are to deliver excellence,
service, and value for money. I believe Beats magazine fulfils the companies goals and aspirations, so Beats and Prometheus
would be a brilliant fit and work in partnership to make increased revenue and make Beats and Billboard become a
worldwide force in the music magazine industry.
8. Question 4 – Who would be your target audience for your media product?
• My main target audience for my product is teenagers and young adults, with a flair
for music and fun. I have decided to have an audience similar to myself because it
would allow me to know what the target audience wants, as I would know because
I am part of the target audience. I also chose this target audience because it is
convenient for me to do this because I would easily be able to address my target
audience by using people my age. Also, I chose this target audience because the
magazines I evaluated are all magazines that have this target audience so it would
allow me to take there ideas and combine them with my own so it completely
associates with the target audience. Many young people like to just look through a
magazine and read only a few articles, Beats gives this opportunity because the
ratio between text and image is about the same, like NME.
Here are some images of
the type of people my
magazine targets. As you
can see they are all in
contemporary clothing,
hairstyles and look
youthful, which I have
used in my magazine by
the use of a teenage girl
and bright colours.
9. Question 5 – How did you attract/address your target audience
• I have targeted my audience by using a young girl wearing contemporary clothing as this would
allow girls and boys associate with her. I also used bright colours as these are the colours that are
associated with the younger generation, the ordered layout is also used because after doing my
questionnaire and asking my peers they said they preferred a ordered layout because it is easy to
read and navigate around, they also told me to use sans serif font, these fonts are also used in
music magazines that have the same target audience like Q and Billboard.
• The artists used on my cover lines also help me attract to my target audience, artists like ‘Jay Z and
Kanye West’ are artists that are associated with the younger generation. I also talk about issues that
youngsters want to read about for instance the line up of summer festivals, many young people like
going to festivals so they want to know who will be there, so having this in my music magazine
makes people want to read it and find out more. The main way I attract my target audience is the
models I use, they look like everyday youngsters so it allows my readers to associate with them. In
my two page spread I talk about issues that youngsters want to know about for instance ‘Is Aimee
really dating teenage sensation Justin Bieber?’ this is a technique used by many music magazines;
there main focus is music but however they do integrate other areas of teenagers life
• I also use informal language throughout my magazine so teenagers can easily read them and also
keeps it open for a broader audience as many teenagers want to read some informal and fun rather
than reading formal language as this could be very monotonous for them and boring, so I decided
to do this because it will keep my magazine fun. Pull quote to make her
relatable ‘I still live with my
Big colourful mast-head to parents in California’ makes
the artist relatable to
make it stand out. teenagers
Teenage girl in contemporary clothing will make my
magazine attract to teenage girls and boys as they can Informal language
relate to her throughout my
Artists associated with teenagers – ‘Kanye West’ which will main text body
make teenagers buy the magazine as these are the artists which is a
they like Talks about artists that are Pull quote with colourful fonts common
associated with teenagers – and colourful fonts throughout convention for
Bright colourful text throughout to make it stand out, which is a Justin Bieber as this is associated with the teenage
convention used in magazines when the target audience is teenagers - pop genre and teenagers magazines
Billboard
10. Question 6 – What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
One technology I have used in constructing my product was the use off www.dafont.com. I decided to use all
my fonts from dafont because these were better and looked more professional than the standard
Microsoft fonts.
I used www.dafont.com because it This is how I
made my magazine look more downloaded
professional my fonts
I used the Microsoft publisher
editing tools ‘contrast’ and
‘brightness’
Another Technology I used was editing my pictures of my magazines – to make it look
more professional
11. Question 7 – Looking back at your preliminarily task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the main construction
My preliminary task was very basic, there was just one main image with a main cover story, with a
mast head and only one cover line, the colours used were very basic, there was only 3 colours used –
burgundy, blue and black. The Image also came ‘as it comes’ there was no editing, which did not make
it look professional. My contents page basically just had cover stories with a page number and a
message from the editor. Overall, I believe my first task was very poor as it didn’t look professional and
was very basic
I believe I have made significant progress from my first task, I used a variety of colours throughout my
magazine like NME and Billboard. My contents page looked the more professional I believe, I got
knowledge from my first task to make t a good looking contents page as it has a ‘artist index’ images
and ‘subscribe now’ area and the name of the article and the brief description and a pull quote. I
edited my images in my main task to make them look more professional, I changed the contrast of
black and white, added more colours. I believe my first task gave me knowledge and basic
understanding of magazines to make the best possible magazine I could think of, and gave me a good
solid basic to improve
As you can see my preliminary task was
very basic with only a few colours used,
with two images and a few cover lines.
My main task was a huge transformation
as it follows all the conventions of music
magazines and the images look better as
they are edited. There was a vast
improvement this is mainly due to a
increase in skills.
12. Dates and times, to
More professional mast
Mast Head. Microsoft make it look
head, with fonts from
fonts, looks conventional
Image with no dafont, better than
unprofessional editing, does not Microsoft fonts
look conventional
Barcode from the
internet
Image with
editing to make
it be more
conventional
A lot more cover
lines compared
to my
prelimearley
task
Only a few cover lines lots of
My front cover has improved greatly
empty space because there is a lot more colours used,
Only a few colours used
with edited images and better fonts used.
Over all it looks a lot more professional
13. The house style and the
This looks very basic with
magazine name, this is
Microsoft fonts and a Only one image on
colour scheme which is conventional for music
the whole contents magazines and my first task did
basic and doesn’t look
professional page not have this
Groups of
articles, is a
Artist Index to show
technique
the reader where to
used in
find their favourite
NME
artist
Bright
colours, with
a description
of the
magazine
article with
the page
number
clearly
standing out
Nothing else on the page The ‘subscribe now’ is on every music
except from the page numbers magazine and it is always in bright
and title of the articles which is colours to make it stand out
not conventional
Same font
throughout
14. To conclude!
• I believe my magazines follows conventions of normal music magazines in
a lot of ways and sticks to my target audience and appeals to them a lot.
Prometheus Media group was the company I would chose to sell my
magazine to as they would be able to help my magazine with there
advertising and marketing schemes. I have learnt a lot about technologies
doing this take for instance how to use iMovie and the Macs. Finally, I have
improved greatly since my first take and have made my magazine look
very conventional.
• Brett Tinnion
