2. THE QUESTIONS
• 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
• 2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
• 3) what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and
why?
• 4) what would be the audience for your media product?
• 5) how did you attract address you audience?
• 6) what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing
the product?
• 7) Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have
learnt in the progression from it to the full product
• 8) How successful do you feel your end product is in fulfilling the task? How
well does it fit the brief
3. Question 1
•1) In what ways does your
media product use, develop or
challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?
4. Q1 - use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions
• One of my main research focuses was on Q magazine. I analysed much of Q magazine
whilst looking at other music magazines such as Rolling Stone and NME. By analysing Q
magazine I got to learn the different codes and conventions of music magazines. By doing
so I could see the effect it had on the audience reading the magazine My blog:
http://adamtooley.blogspot.co.uk/
After doing the analyse of various music magazines I got to learn all
about the different codes and conventions I got to apply them to some
of my made up magazine covers
http://adamtooley.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/drafting-and-
planning_9.html
This exercise helped me very much as it allowed me get a feel for the
codes and conventions and how they are arranged on the front cover.
It also made me realise about negative space and how to fill the gaps
on the front cover. Looking at various different front covers allowed me
to take some of the stories from the cover lines and use them as
inspiration for my magazine.
5. Q1 - use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions
• Now that I have learnt about these codes and conventions, I
tried to apply them to my magazine:
I made sure the main cover line dominated the
front cover and the other cover lines, so we can
see the main story: an act the audience would be
excited to see. I made sure it related to the main
photography of the front cover.
I made sure the cover lines didn’t cover the main image and
block it. As a result this wouldn’t block the main story of the
magazine which is the cover star. In the position I have placed
them it makes it easy for the audience to move from the
audience to move from the main cover star to the cover lines
I considered how I’d apply each convention to the front cover by
remembering the basics of how codes and conventions are applied. I
made my masthead similar to my research and place it in the
general position mastheads go.
6. Q1 - use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions
• In some ways I did challenge the conventions and codes of your general
music magazines. For example the clothing of my main cover star isn’t
really stylish to some degree like other male artists however they do
incorporate the use of a bandana which isn’t really seen on any modern
male artists which definitely challenges other music magazines. It adds
personality and a sense of uniqueness. The background is a part of the
original image which challenges other music magazines as the background
is usually cut out and the cover star is placed onto a different background.
This is used quite a lot by magazines such as NME and Q magazine so I have
challenged this aspect of the magazine. The background also has a link to
the anchorage text used as it says “Vacations Over” and the background is
of a paradise holiday location. I didn’t mention any other real artists. This
was so I didn’t mix up any of the music genres. By making up the artists I
was able to stay real to the genre of the magazine which was pop.
7. Q1 - use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions
The reason that this particular
magazine from Q magazine inspired
my magazine was because of the main
cover line. It was different from your
usual magazine. The typography used
is very different and less formal to
represent the artist. I implemented
something similar in my work.
Q magazine was a massive
influence on my magazine. I spent
much of my research into similar
products on q magazine and
wanted to base much of my
magazine on a similar layout to Q
magazine’s style and use of codes
and conventions such as puffs and
pugs
8. Q1 - use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions
This billboard cover was also a great influence as the
characterisation of Bruno mars helped influence my cover star. As
you can see he is holding his collar which has influenced my cover
star. My cover star had a very similar pose where he is holding his
chin which is directly influenced from this. It is different from other
music magazine as this shows personality instead of the main cover
star just looking dead into the camera.
9. Q1 - use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions
• I decided that for my contents page I would follow a very similar style
to Q magazine. For example I used the L shaped layout that is
commonly used in Q magazine. This influenced my content page
greatly and showed my link between my magazine and Q magazine.
10. Q1 - use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions • Double page spread
• My first influence was a double page spread from
NME with Mark Ronson.
I like the way this cover had the image and the text
separate and not wrapped around the main cover
star. This is something Q magazine did too with
their issue with the great David Bowie. I like the
way it didn’t overlap the artist because I felt I gave
a very organised look to the main cover star. This is
why I decided to use something similar for my
magazine.
11. 2) How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
12. Q2 - Representing particular social groups
• My magazine is aimed towards individuals' between the age of 18-25 who are interested in the latest news of the music
industry. People who have a specific interest in the music genre of pop. The clothing of my artist is clearly inspired by the
current trends in fashion at the time among young people. This means that the young people and young adults looking at this
magazine would see him as someone he can relate to. For example he is wearing a bandana which is a ‘new trend’ within the
fashion industry which would show that he is keeping up with common trends and the audience would see him as a role
model and someone they can relate to. The overall look of the cover star makes him appear to be rich but also very youthful
and suggest that he was not ‘born into fame’ but worked his way up to it. He appears to be relaxed person. He doesn’t
embrace what his haters say which is emphasised in the double page spread. The images that were used on the contents page
also shows a youthful look to the magazine. In the content page I used photos that made the artists to appear as models. I
added a guitar to the main cover star so that a reader could learn more about him by just looking at the picture. I used
different camera angles in my photography to show the difference between the artists and added to the youthful look.
13. •3) what kind of media
institution might
distribute your media
product and why?
14. Q3 – Media institutions
• I researched into different publishing companies:
• http://adamtooley.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/research-into-similar-
products.html
By researching into different companies
and how they produced magazines I was
able to observe the different features of
each company so I could make my
magazine look professional to.
15. Q3 – media institutions
• The distributer I have chosen is Bauer Media Group
• http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/
• They are the publishers behind Q magazine. The reason I have chosen this
distributer is due to the fact they publish similar music magazines such as Q
magazines which have similar genres to my music magazine. Therefore my
magazine would fit right in with the companies portfolio. Bauer media
group creates various different magazine meaning that there target
audience is between 18 – 75 so my magazine would fit in. they are also
associated with wider media such as radio and the internet. With this my
magazine could be advertised in many areas of media and therefore
become more popular and not just being seen on the magazine shelves.
17. Q4 – the audience for your media product
My magazine targets both male and female between the ages of 18 –
25. teenagers and young adults where interested in the latest music in
the pop genre. Below is a link to y blog where I did the questionnaire.
Q magazine has a similar target audience and the remake and remodel
task helped me understand q magazines layout, codes and conventions
used and the persona of the coverstar.
Q magazines target audience is teenagers and 20 – 25 year olds so I
used this as inspiration for my pop light magazine
http://adamtooley.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/research-into-target-
audience.html
18. Q – 5 How did you
attract/ address your
audience?
19. Attract/address your audience
• Masthead – I wanted my masthead to be different from the usual. The
name I chose for my magazine was “PopLight”. I liked this name because it
reminded of spotlight a lot so I used it. It is also something that hasn’t
really been used before and so therefore is made to look unique. It is
unique because it is something that is directly attached to music. I liked
poplight because I could play with it. For example “PopLight today” or
“PopLight weekly”. It also looked good when I put it into the masthead. I
tried to follow closely behind Q magazine’s style of masthead and made
various changes to my masthead to try and make it similar and to show
how different magazines have influenced the design of my masthead.
Another magazine that deals with a similar sort of masthead is NME which
I have also taken inspiration from as it also uses a similar style to Q
magazine. The big bold lettering of the pop light masthead makes it eye
catching and sharp but would also draw in consumers.
20. Attract/address your audience
• Colours – the colours I chose for my magazine was yellow black and white.
Both NME and Q magazine. Originally I intended to change my colour from
red to yellow. And had shown what my masthead and main cover line
would look like if I did. However I reconsidered and kept it to yellow as the
primary colour as I thought it worked equally as well and would separate
my magazine from the other magazines which use similar colours. The
yellow would make the magazine standout as it is a bright dynamic colour
and would catch the consumers attention due to it being such a colour.
Even though black isn’t used a lot with in my magazine it helps make
certain areas stand out and grab the readers attention and may add a little
mystery to the magazine which would contrast well with the white used in
my magazine. I did also use an orange on my contents pages so the
features on the contents page would stand out if the background was
different from the primary colour of yellow.
21. Attract/address your audience
• Cover lines and other conventions - I used a dark background for all my
cover lines to make the actual cover line standout so audiences would be
draw to see who was featured in the magazine. I said things such as “ take
over the world “ and “bring the spark back” as persuasive ways to engage
the audience. I have positioned the cover lines so they do not block the
main cover star or main cover line. It allows the audience’s eyes to move
between the two with ease with allows everything on the page the
opportunity to be seen. The use of skylines and a pug is effective because it
stands out and draws the reader in. “ the reinvention of Vince Reyes “ is a
prime example as the audience would be draw to want to learn more
about this. The language used would fit that age group of teens and young
adults. Words such as reinvention may be word younger teens may not
understand but words such as “take over the world “ would attract their
attention so there is something for them too.
22. Attract/address your audience
• Images – the images used in my magazine show the cover star to be
mysterious, confident and proud. Also when images are accompanied with
anchorage text such as “ vacations over” suggest a certain level of
discipline and respect for ones self as they know when they need to release
new content for their fans. The cover stars clothing however would suggest
that he is one with the people especially those of the age range reading the
magazine as this is a style that many teens and young adults adopt and
shows how a like he is to them. It would show he is comforting as he has a
connection with his audience. The image used show him showing who he
really is and he is expressing which would inspire his audience to do the
same. That he isn’t from a big famous background but from the same place
as his audience. This would challenge other music magazines as they would
usually dress their cover star up to make them appear very wealthy and
superior to other artists and yet my cover star isn’t like this. This is what
makes him different and dynamic and suitable for my front cover.
23. •6) what have you learnt
about technologies from the
process of constructing the
product?
24. Q6 – the technologies used from the process
• During the creation of my magazine I used a variety of editing and creating
software to aid me. These programmes were page plus, blogger, paint.net and
publisher. Each one of these programmes had their own strengths and
weaknesses which is why is used some more then others and if all the tools could
be used from one program.
• Page plus – this program was used to put al of my magazine together and to form
the foundation for my magazine’s layout. I used a template which is one of the
strengths of page plus because it meant I could look at a basic template for my
magazine which would have many tools to create and refine the final product.
However one of the weaknesses of this program is that it didn’t have the creative
tools to edit my photos. However paint.net was a suitable program for this but
Photoshop would have made things easier.
25. Q6 – the technologies used from the process
• Paint.net – I used paint.net in the manipulation of my photos. This meant cropping them so the
could fit the page plus template. A main strength of this program is that it allowed me to crop my
photos, add in different backgrounds, remove backgrounds completely. It allowed me to have
creative ideas by lifting my cover star off the page and placing him on a different background. This
meant I could chose wat I thought looked better. The original background or a custom one.
However when photos were uploaded to paint.net the photos lost a lot of quality. I had to find
the right size of my photos so they didn’t appear too pixilated. Once again photo shop would have
been useful in this process.
• Blogger – blogger is a piece of software which allowed me to keep a blog on the processes and
creation of my music magazine. The research , drafting and planning and organisation. This was a
good piece of software to use because it was an easy access blog and I could upload from
multiple platforms such as computers and smart phones. Everything I had posted on blogger was
very as to access and it made my work appear to be very clear in the creation of my magazine.
There were no real weaknesses to blogger. The only thing is that it relied on an internet
connection which was a probably occasionally.
26. Q6 – the technologies used from the process
• The software I used helped with the management of my magazine
and all 3 of its elements. I learnt that the processes take a lot of effort
when doing them on your own but this has meant I was able to learn
about the different processes, programmes and how to use them in
the layout , typography and photography.
•
27. •7) Looking back to your preliminary
task, what do you feel that you have
learnt in the progression from it to
the full product
28. Q7. What have learnt in the progression from it to
the full product
• I learnt a lot from my preliminary task.
• Preliminary task:
• http://adamtooley.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/blog-post.html
• In my preliminary task I didn’t think much for typography and spatial awareness
of my images and cover lines. I also took more care with colour schemes too. I
used a blue box in my preliminary task that did not work well with my magazine.
This was something I evidently needed to improve on. Some of the cover lines
were not visible on the front cover as they were too bright and weren’t visible on
a bright background. The organisation of the preliminary task wasn’t the best as it
was rather messy and plain. There were not enough cover lines and conventions.
I improved on all of this in my final piece.
29. • Overall I am pleased with how it all turned out
• Preliminary task main task
30. •8) How successful do you feel
your end product is in fulfilling
the task? How well does it fit
the brief
31. Q8 – how well does it fit the brief.
• Overall I feel my final magazine was successful and I am happy with it.
However looking at it now I know that there are much I could of done
to improve it further and show my influence from other well known
magazines. I used codes and conventions successfully on my final
magazine including main cover line, cover lines, puffs/pugs and so on
so. I feel that overall I have fit the brief very well and followed the
primary codes and conventions for creating a successful music
magazine. I believe my magazine fits the brief for popular music
magazines but I also feel I challenged some codes and conventions of
a normal music magazine. I tried to make it look as professional as
possible which I hope does pop music justice.
