2. Q1. In what ways does your media product
use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
Well, I started off by reading magazines and looking into how the
conventions are on the front cover, contents page and the double
page spread.
I kept to the same conventions that were used but I made some
changes. Instead of my Masthead being horizontal, I decided to
make mine diagonal. It makes it look different to average magazine
that I saw in my research and I was happy with the out come of it.
For my genre, which I decided on dubstep, I found that majority of
the font type they used was graffiti, so I used that for my Masthead
and sub-headings in my contents page.
A big characteristic that I carried out from my research to my
magazine was the graffiti writing that came up a lot in my research.
I feel that through the type of font I have used, I adjusted it for my
target audience (16+) as that is the stereotype of the type of stuff
they do today, which is graffiti art.
3. Q2. How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
From my research, I found that it was mostly teenagers from
the ages of 16-18 that listened to and produce dubstep
music.
From the representations that I saw on my research, dubstep
was originally made by Afro-Caribbean, but as the times have
moved on it has become multi-cultural.
People have now added their own mix to it, being their
age, ethnicity, class, etc.
I don’t think that my media product represents a particular
social group who enjoy music, but a mix of social groups.
4. Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?
I think that Development Hell Ltd as they produce the same
magazines that include my genre that I picked, dubstep.
I would think that they would be a good company to publish
my media product as their magazines are focused on events
like:
Dance events
Reviews
Music
And Club nights
Where dubstep is usually a type of music you hear at clubs, I
would think that my music magazine would be best suited for
them.
5. Q4. Who would be the audience for your media
product?
Well, my magazine could go to any reader, but my target
audience is teenagers
I have used some colours that teenagers may find
interesting, along with the graffiti writing it should hopefully
work.
I came to these decisions because it is what I had came
across when doing my research, however most of there text
was bright colours, mine were dark compared to them.
My target audience I feel are addressed like how a normally a
teenager would talk to one another. The use of 2nd person
language engages with the reader, but not in a different
language that they are not used to.
6. Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?
I used the conventions that I found in my research. Like:
Competitions
Prizes
Freebies
In my interview on my double page spread, I used the type of
language that a teenager would understand (slang) as it
relates to them and also the reader may feel that the
interviewee is talking to them in a proper conversation
between two people.
I used 2nd person, where it draws them in using the word
“you” which interacts with the audience.
On the front cover I didn’t add that much text, so that if the
reader wanted to find out more, they would have to read the
article themselves.
7. Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
I found that it was really hard, but fun at the same time as I
was learning to do something new, which is weird as I have
never used these types of programmes (InDesign and
Photoshop) before. The limitations in relation to this, is that I
was slow when I first started using them, because I didn’t
understand how they worked, but I was able to finish the
product in time.
At first it was hard to get to grips with, but as time went on I
learnt how to use it and I have designed a product that I am
happy with and surprised that I actually made a magazine
cover page, contents page and a double page spread.
I was also proud that I had the opportunity to do this as it has
added to skills that I have possessed over time.
8. Q7. Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you
feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full
product?
I have learnt how to use Photoshop and InDesign.
In Photoshop, I learnt how to use the Polygonal Lasso
Tool, which allowed me to get rid of parts that I didn’t
want in ma image for the front cover.
I learnt how to use swatches and strokes, which help me
make and choose colours that I wanted for my magazine
and the strokes used to outline the text or image that I
wanted to be more defined.
How to use light when taking images and using props for
my magazine.
Learnt about codes and conventions
However, I feel that I still have to practice a bit more when
using Photoshop, with refining my image, changing
colours and developing my images better.
