2. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
My magazine is of a pop/rock genre. Similar to that of Kerrang!, billboard
and NME. For this reason, many conventions used in my Media product, will
be evident on most other leading magazines. in many different ways. I used a
masthead, which is inevitably used on the front cover of every magazine,
often placed near the top. To tie in with popular branded magazines, I opted
to do the same. I used layers within my magazine cover to create a 3D effect. I
developed this convention by using a polygonal lasso tool and cutting the
background from the cover star image, so then I could move the image onto
the masthead to create the 3D effect. To get the person to the right to go
behind the text on the masthead, I had to duplicate the layer of the masthead.
I have also used incentives as a convention. These are commonly used on
most magazines in order to persuade customers to purchase the product. In
most cases they are located across the page and are in the most eye catching
places, for examples, in a star shape, or at the top of the page. In my case, I
have located mine at the top of the page in a banner, and also in a horizontal
banner across the page. I further developed this convention by using words
such as “free”, “win” and “best” which would catch the audience’s attention.
In addition, I underlined some words and highlighted them red to make these
words stand out.
I added a barcode as every real media product will include one in order to
purchase the particular item. This gave the magazine a sense of realism.
Moreover, my main article is in bold white letters, with a quote slightly over it
at a horizontal angle. This angle creates a rebellious atmosphere and also adds
a sense that the magazine is more aimed at teenagers and young adults. The
colour scheme is a calm lime green and aqua blue which is fresh and gives the
magazine an ‘organic’ feel – which connotes the fresh and raw music talent.
3. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
When designing my contents page, I didn’t want a myriad of stories and
features overpowering the reader. For this reason, I segmented the text into
certain categories: News, Features, Reviews and Live! Each header is in white
bold letters with a green background – carrying on the colour scheme from
the front cover. This creates an aesthetically pleasing look and is also mind
digestible for the reading audience. A large main image takes place on the
right, with a dark background which contrasts against the girls red hair and
green coat. The colours in the girl were brought out via the help of hue and
saturation, and brightness and contrast. This large image also breaks down the
text and seems to reduce the amount of information the reader needs to
consume on the page.
Underneath the stories and features, a small caption can be seen which
gives a small taster as to what the story holds – this is a very common
convention that is included in popular magazines such as NME and Kerrang!
Page numbers are in green to make it easier to locate the page that you are
looking for. The large heading at the top ‘contents’ distinguishes which page
the reader is on. At the bottom of the page, a green arrow can be seen with
text on it. This is telling the reader which page a certain incentive is located
on. The iTunes logo which is used is a well established company, so the
readers will be instantly aware of what the incentive will be.
I have included an editors note which includes a heading, text , an image of
the editor and a signature which further add to the ‘realistic’ feel. Lastly, I
have also included my logo again on the page – this can be seen in the top
left, turned on its side. This is to aim to keep a professional standard to the
magazine, and also maintains the colour scheme.
4. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
A common convention in other music magazines, my main images spreads across the left of the page, and also
slightly goes over the right of the page. It is a large image of three people in a band. Filler images can be seen at the
bottom of the page – all an individual picture of each band member doing something. These images have been
manipulated in order to create a 3D effect and to make it look as though they are popping out of the image. A
shadow has been added to each person. Moreover, a common convention of music magazines are captions – of
which there are four on my double page spread. These are each placed over an image, and are quotes from the
actual article. Page numbers are seen in both bottom corners of the spread, and are also commonly used in products.
My main body text takes up three columns,
and gutters are present. These gutters
segment the text and make it not as difficult
to read. A drop cap is present at the start of
the text in order to conform with the
convention of a magazine. The blue
background conveys loyalty which runs
through the veins of this band – also, the
blue manages to fit into the colour scheme
of lime green and does not look tacky. The
pull quote and header is in large bold white
text with a black outline to contrast against
the pale blue background. The kicker gives a
small taste as to what the article has to
offer. Furthermore, a web address is
included to find out more information if the
reader wants to.
5. 2. How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
In my piece different people are represented. I did this to spread
the target audience out so it appealed to more people, and in
doing so, potentially increasing profit. For example, my cover stars
is featuring a band of 3, and it is evident they take on an ‘indie’
look and that vibe is created by the stance, clothes worn, and the
facial expressions. In addition to this, both genders are shown in
this image which is becoming more common due to bands like the
Black Eyed Peas and N-Dubz. On the double page spread, I have
represented the band as having fun and being very loyal with each
other – this conveys how the social group of band members are
close friends who work in unity and are genuine. Although the
cover stars may represent the more indie-oriented genre of
people, that is not all the magazine represents.
At the bottom, a filler image is present - a girl which would appeal to the more ‘pop
oriented’ fans. Her hair, make-up and costume are quite feminine and would attract
more females to look into the magazine. The magazine would mainly appeal to mid
teens (about 16) to late thirties. This is because the genre portrayed in my music
magazine is rock and pop which is heavily associated with adolescents and young
adults. The features and news which are located in the contents page in the magazine
contain a range of stories and has something for everyone.
6. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?
The media institution that may distribute my media
product would have to be a well established, profit based
organisation that would deal with the distributing and
advertising of my product. They would also need to include
information services. I would want the main form of
IPC Media would be the media institution I
distribution for it to be sold physically. This could be done
would like to distribute my media product. by having it on the shelf to be sold in many high street
supermarkets such as Tesco, ASDA and Morrisons, and also
in chain stores such as Wilkinsons and WHSmith. Small
corner shops may also order as many as they please, to
please their customers. The magazine could also be sold
online on these company’s websites.
This is because they are a well established, The magazine would be sold at a retail price of £3.49 an
profit based organisation, that already issue (a figure I produced after calculating my
distribute successful magazines such as NME. questionnaire), and would not be able to be reduced unless
confronted otherwise. This is why the media institution I
would like to distribute my magazine would be IPC Media.
They already distribute many successful magazines such as
NME being one example. This also has the same target
audience that my magazine could potentially have. Because
Supermarkets such as ASDA and chain stores they are such a large company, there will be more
opportunities to further advertise my magazine and
such as WHSmith would be the best to
hopefully make it a household name such as many other
distribute the finished media product. magazine on the market (i.e. Q, billboard etc.).
7. 4. Who would the audience be for your media product?
It is evident that the audience for my final product is not aimed at a
particular gender. Going back to research, it is clear that I asked an equal
amount of boys and girls to produce a result that would be representative
of both sexes. This is reflected by the equal amount of genders that are
present in my media magazine – there is no sexism nor prestigious
gender. The age range for my media product would be late teens and
early twenties as this took the biggest proportion of the question for
‘what is your age?’. This is further portrayed by the age range of people in
my media product – all of which are in their late teens.
The genre of music that is present on the magazine is pop and rock,
hence, the target audience would be people that are interested in these
two genres; possible sub cultures and stereotypes such as moshers and
Goths could find interest in the rock aspect of things, whilst the pop side
has a much more widespread fan base that would appeal to more people
in general. I chose to do the pop and rock genres due to them winning my
survey by a clear mile, whilst most other genres lacked in popularity. The
colour scheme of lime green and aqua blue are very neutral colours that
would not propose to a preferred gender, hence, keeping the unisex
media product.
8. 5. How did you attract or address your audience?
I attracted my audience in many different ways. I had a large masthead located at the top of the
page to make the magazine instantly recognisable from other magazines. The colours on the
magazine are bright green, white and black, which are different and further add to the magazine
standing out from other magazines. The font is bold, and the blends of colours and strokes
created create an aesthetically pleasing result. I attracted my audience also by including a number
of incentives such as “free iTunes download” and “win an iPod touch” to encourage the audience
to purchase the magazine for further information and to potentially enter competitions. A
number of exclusives are visible on the cover which is information that the reading audience
would not be able to find anywhere else. A number of the interesting facts will appeal to the
audience, and quenches their desire for the latest gossip and the biggest ‘pop sensations’. The
cover stars are medium close up images. They are classy, high definition images of the audiences
idols and are eye catching and would stand out on a shelf in a shop. I also used quotes on my
project as this would give the readers a taste as to what the magazine is about. I have used
neutral colours – green and blue – which is quite fresh when it comes to a music magazine as the
combination has not been done by a popular magazine before, hence, emphasizing its
differentiation from other magazines. The way in which I chosen to address the public was
informal – so the audience could feel as though they are equal to the cover stars and are
comfortable as it creates a friendly vibe. The address is indirect which allows the magazine to be
neutral and appeal to the general public. I have used imperatives on my magazine as well, such as
“visit www.nutunesmusic.co.uk…” which is telling them to do something. The website has been
included in order for the reading audience to find out further information.
9. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
I have learnt a myriad of different things when it comes to technologies
from the process of constructing this product. I used a number of different
hardware such as a camera, computer, transfer cable and monitor. I was
always confident with using the monitor, computer and transfer cable,
however, my abilities with the camera has improved massively, as admittedly,
I weren't very confident with the hardware object. I know how to zoom, scale,
film amongst lots of other stuff. I also can produce crisp and clear images
which I found tricky in the past.
On the other hand, my knowledge improved far more with the wide range
of software I used. This included software such as Photoshop, quark, blogger
and dafont. I had never used any of this software before, and with some of
the more difficult software (i.e. Photoshop and Quark), I feel that I am at an
experienced level with it. I can now produce a magazine front cover, contents
page and double page spread to a decent standard, and believe I could
achieve this now without the aid of assistance from the teacher. Photoshop
was the most important part of developing the product, and I have come a
long way from when I started. I know how to do a myriad of things using
adobe Photoshop. Blogger was a vital part of the project, and I found it a very
simple software to grasp hold of and understand. The site can even be used
from mobile phones, or at home on your computer. Even more importantly, I
now think that I am much more advanced in using internet explorer to
research essential information for my product – some research would not be
possible to achieve without the aid of search engines such as Google and
Yahoo.
10. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Here are some of the
tools I learnt to use
on the software
‘adobe Photoshop’ in
the process of
constructing this
product.
11. 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back on my preliminary task, I feel I have felt a number of different things to do with my product. A
significant thing which I feel I have learnt in the progression of it to my full product is different software. For
example, I have adapted and learnt how to use the software “quark” which allowed me to import my Photoshop
design and add a myriad of different text and layouts to the design. It was very helpful as there was the method of
making text fit, to add gutters and drop caps etc. Also, the software which I have improved on the most is adobe
Photoshop. I have become more comfortable with methods such as the magic wand tool, and polygonal lasso tool
to get a much cleaner cut of my images. In addition, I now know how to add strokes and use blends on texts, and
also how to edit the text once it has been entered into the text box without creating an entirely new textbox.
Furthermore, I also am able to create a more aesthetically pleasing result with layout and design. One thing that
reinforces this statement is the pattern that I added to the background of my double page spread.
In addition, I feel I have learnt an essential skill that could benefit from a lot of things – researching and
planning. Instead of rushing straight into things, it helps massively to research information such as producing a
questionnaire to find out what people want so you are no disappointed afterwards if things take a turn for the
worst. With planning, I feel that instead of rushing into producing your final media product, creating some
sketches is an advantage as you can establish what you initially want your design to look like, and can go from
there. Moreover, I believe that I can now take much more professional images. This is evident when looking back
on my preliminary task. I can now take much crisper and clean images, as opposed to blurred ones. Not only that,
but the layout is also usually better. In conclusion, I feel that I have learnt an inordinate amount of techniques that
helped benefit me massively throughout the creating of my full magazine, and this was all in the discourse of the
progression from my preliminary task to the main media product.
