1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
I believe that overall my front cover and double page spread doesn’t really challenges
many forma and conventions as I have tried to keep it similar to other music
magazines I have seen such as NME. I have used bright colours (such as hot pink) in
the front cover to attract the reader’s attention when first initially glancing at the
magazine. NME uses colours such as yellow and red and they have the same affect
towards the audience as my magazine does. On the other hand my table of contents
does challenge the forms and conventions of other music tables of contents, as I have
never seen anything similar to my product. It is quite unusual to see a picture used to
fully take up the background, but I believe that this worked well with my contents
page. With such a busy background I was still able to make the editorial content
visible and stand out by placing it in front of an opaque black box in which the white
writing clearly could stand out. I was also able surround the box with more pictures
to relate to page numbers and the information present in the box. This way I did not
need to have any writing on the pictures themselves all I needed as to have the
numbers there. This layout is very unconventional for a music magazine’s contents
page but I believe it is still able to compliment the rest of the magazine.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine represents a young social group, including people who are in new
bands and interested in music. Also those who like to play instruments such as piano,
guitar and the drums. It would also be of an interest for those who like editing
sounds and music. My magazine does represent the young individuals or bands as
their social group as I would also expect them to be part of my target audience.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I expect my magazine to be distributed in newsagents and any other companies
which sell different ranges of music magazines such as Sainsbury and other
supermarkets also WH Smith and other regular shops.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
My music magazine is aiming for young people who enjoy listening and making their
own music, it particularly aims for new bands and encourages them to take the next
step in the music industry. The magazine does this though promoting competitions
in the front cover. My media product represents the new sounds and upcoming
artists. I would expect my main consumerism to be between 14-30 and a mixed
gender.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my target audience members by having bold colours such as hot pink on
the front cover of the magazine which is very eye catching. I also included and
“Exclusive Interview” with a new act as my main cover line showing its importance as
this music magazine is all about new acts making it in big in the music industry. This
shows and represents hope for my main consumerism as they are in the same
position that this act was in the past so they can get advice from the interview. I have

2. also included a completion where they can win a guitar which should definitely
attract the audience members.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
product?
I have learnt many new skills as I have had to increasingly use Photoshop so my
editing and cropping has improved. I have also had to download many fonts from
1001frefonts.com and used my camera to take my pictures included in my media
product. I’ve also had to upload everything into blogger.com and make sure
everything is readable and presentable.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
My preliminary task help me by allowing me to discoverer the new technologies I
would need to use in this final task and this has been very helpful as I haven’t needed
to use the computer for editing before. I’ve had the experience of planning a
magazine cover before so it was much easier to repeat this a second time as I felt
more in control and confident this time. I knew a lot more about which colours and
fonts complimented each other and I knew more about structure. I found it easier to
overcome problems such as making writing stand out from a busy picture
background and those difficulties were easier to resolve. I realised that the final task
involved a lot more time and effort as I faced more problems than I had originally
anticipated, but I was able to solve this by asking other student’s opinion and I found
that with some constructive criticism from them and my teacher I was able to
conclude with a good overall product.