2. FORMS AND CONVENTIONS
In what ways does your magazine use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real music
magazines?
My magazine follows most of the conventions of a typical R&B
magazine. One of the conventions that my magazine challenges
is the fact that on the front cover, my model neither in front of or
behind my masthead. The conventions such as the sell lines
being positioned on the side and the model looking at the
camera with a dominative pose are all followed.
3. REPRESENTATIONAL ISSUES
How does your magazine represent particular social
groups?
The main representational issue that my
magazine might face is the one where viewers
would read it and think that all troubled teens
turn to music. Whereas all my magazine tries to
portray is that the most unlikely teens have a
hidden talent but they just need a bit of held
finding and harvesting that idea.
4. INSTITUTIONS
What Kind of institution might distribute your
magazine?
The institutions that might distribute my magazine, are institutions
such as HMV and WHSmiths. This is mainly because these
institutions do sell magazines as one of their ,ain products. Also the
fact that R&B is one of the main genres in which they sell magazines
in, therefore it will be possible for these institutions to sell my
magazine.
In addition there are also institutions such as Tesco and Asda.
Although these institutions don’t sell magazines as one of their main
products, they do sell magazines and again R&B is one of the main
genres in which they sell their magazines . As a result of this, these
institutions will most likely take an interest in my magazine and
hopefully get it on the shelves.
5. TARGET AUDIENCE
Who would be the target audience for your
magazine?
The main target audience for my magazine would be
the demographic of 16-30 year olds. This is because
teenagers of that age are generally interested in that
genre according to my audience research. My research
also showed me that older people close to the year 30
would also be interested in my magazine. This is
suggested that it is because they were listening to R&B
closer to its origin, therefore they will be more than
interested in how R&B is sounding in this current day
and age.
6. ADDRESSING THE READER
How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted/addressed my audience through
offering what I thought was most appealing to
them. This includes news on Tours, Artists and
Fashion. This was done to attract a range of
audiences for example not many people may be
interested in the fashion side of my magazine but
they might be interested in the artists that my
magazine contains. Also I have included
competitions in my magazine where the reader
will be able to win various items such as tickets
7. TECHNICAL/CONSTRUCTION ISSUES
What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing your magazine? (software,
photography etc.)
Throughout the process of constructing my magazine I have learnt that there are many steps
needed within the post editorial stage. Some of which require more than just one editorial
software. Throughout my journey I have used the software: Adobe- Photoshop, Bridge and
InDesign. I used Adobe Bridge as a starting point as it allows you to preview your photos and
visualise your ideas before you even start to edit them and make them a reality. Bridge feeds
photos directly into Photoshop which I used to edit all shots of my model and background. I
also used it to layer different and duplicates of one photo to create one optimum background. I
have also learnt advance tools within Photoshop to bring out the best in my photos such as
the Hue/Saturation levels. Additionally InDesign was used to construct the layering of the
whole magazine. This was done by importing all the finished photos from Photoshop and
putting them all into place. Then the text and colours and styles were added using in design. I
used the bleed feature as this is a professional magazine designing software in order to
prevent the likeliness off my photos being over stretched.
On the other hand I abruptly learnt that the media industry is in constant change. This is
because throughout my production process I have had to to change my ideas several times.
This required me to take a set of completely new photos and restart the photographic editorial
8. COMPARISONS BETWEEN PRELIMINARY AND
MAIN TASKS
Looking back to your school magazine cover, what
do you feel you learnt between creating that and
creating your music magazine? How did the school
magazine task help?
Looking back on my school magazine cover task, I
have learnt the overall challenges of the media
industry and the difficulties that those challenges
bring. I have also learned various tricks and skills
within creating a magazine in general. Overall I feel
that the school magazine task has helped as it was a
starting point in which I have developed into what I
can create now.
