2. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
when designing my magazine the research I did into existing music magazines was very
helpful because I knew from this what other magazines do and so I learnt about what
techniques that other magazines use and about popular forms and conventions or feel
music magazines. I was then able to develop these ideas and use them on my magazine.
3. Buzz words
One thing I learnt about from my research was the use of “buzz words” such as
“free” or exclusive, as I saw that other magazines used these to try to attract
people to buy the magazine. I used the words “ free posters” and I did this
because if someone thinks they’re getting something extra for free it makes the
magazine appealing as they feel like they are getting better value for money
and also that they are up on the deal as they’re getting something for free, and
people like getting things for free.
I also described one of my interviews as “exclusive” as this makes people think
they could not get the same information anywhere else so if they want to know
it they will have to buy this magazine. The other thing that makes saying its
exclusive appealing is that people will feel like they’re one up one everyone else
who isn't part of the exclusive group of people who have seen this interview.
I also saw that listing the artists who features in your magazine on the
front cover will attract people to it who are a fan of that artist, so if you list a
range of different artists on the front then there is a lot of people who might
see the name of someone they like and be attracted to the magazine. On the
other hand if people see the names of artists they don’t like at all then they
might be put off so I was careful when picking the artists as I wanted them to
be ones that are very popular so it will attract more people and put off less
people.
4. contrast
My magazine real life music mag real life music mag
I have put red text on a light background as this contrast causes the text to
stand out in the same way that is does in the two real life music magazines.
Doing this draws the readers eye to the text and emphasises it.
5. masthead
My magazines Q masthead NME
Masthead masthead
I have put my masthead in the top left corner of my page in the same way that Q and NME have, I have done this
because the human eye reads left to right from top to bottom so whatever is in the top left corner is naturally the
first thing that people see. This is why I put my masthead there, so if the magazine had a lot of regular readers or if
the name and masthead was popular then people would know it was UK SOUND straight away.
I challenged the convention of having your masthead in the same font as other things on the page as I wanted my
masthead to be in a font that nothing else is so that it stands out more.
6. Bar code and price
I had to add a bar code to my front cover so that people would be able to buy it in a shop.
I also listed the price next to the bar code as this is a common place to put the price, it is
important to put the price on the front cover so that people know how much it costs.
7. Listing Page numbers
In the bit of my contents page you
can see that I have listed the page
number of the articles that I refer to
in the contents page. This is a
common convention and is used so
that people can easily find what they
are looking for.
real magazine contents page
8. Q2. how does your media product represent particular social groups?
The main social group represented in my magazine in pictures is white male people between 16 and
25, however I made one of them associated with working class by having him wear a hoody and be a DJ
which is more often associated with working class then indie music , which is more often associated with
middle class and is the genre of music of my cover artist.
9. gender
All the images in my magazine are of males, my magazine is not completely gender specific but it
is more likely to appeal to men rather than women. The images were of men that are good
looking and the articles refer to how they are successful, so this appeals to the male gaze because
men would look at these characters and think that they wanted to be like them , so they might
buy the magazine to find out more about how to be like their idols. In the article about my cover
artist I made reference to how he has an exciting raucous rock’n’roll lifestyle that includes a lot of
women, this would also make men want to be like him, it could also attract women as well as
they might want to be one of the women he talks about.
Although I used male models for my photographs because they can appeal to male segment of
my audience, I also chose handsome models and has them looking Posey and dressed up so that
the magazine might appeal to women who find them attractive. My double page spread story
makes the artist out to be someone who has sexual relations with a lot of women and to be
someone who enjoys partying and a mad lifestyle.
10. Representing social class
My magazine is not specially targeted at one social group, so I made sure to include
more than one social group, I included a hooded youth who might be representing
the working class and a more smartly dressed indie artist who is more likely to be
middle class. I made sure to include more than one class, so that my magazine
appeals to more people and does not make people from one class feel as though they
don’t want it because they think it is only aimed at people from a different class.
11. working class
I represented the working class in my magazine through the
character of artist “DJ Shotty”. He could be seen as lower class
because historically baseline and DJ type music has been more to do
with working class than other types of music such as indie. Also he is
wearing a hoodie which is another common stereotype in the media
of working class people. My magazine could definitely suit working
class people because even if they were on a lower income they could
afford my magazine as it is not expensive and it is only bi-weekly.
12. Middle class
I represented the middle class in my magazine
by including an indie artist called “Christley”, he
could be middle class because he is wearing
fairly smart clothes and he is an indie artist.
Indie music is historically more associated with
middle class than any other class.
13. Age representation
Since my magazine is aimed at people between 14-20 I included
images of people who fall into this age bracket. I also chose fonts
and colours that may appeal to young people rather than older
people. Young people are more likely to like the fonts I have used
because some of them are quite bold and aggressive which may
appeal to young people.
14. Social groups
I have included music from a couple of different genres so I have
artists and styles that will appeal to a large range of people, such
as hip hop fans, indie people and some others, as well as just the
normal general young population.
15. Q3.What kind of Media Institution might
Distribute your Product and why?
There are many media distributors who could successfully
distribute my product, I think a good example is Bauer media.
16. Bauer media
I believe Bauer media is a prime example of the type of distributor I would want to
distribute my magazine; there is a number of reasons for this.
Their online statement:
“We have more than eighty influential media brands, spanning a wide range of
interests, including heat, GRAZIA, Closer, MCN, FHM, Parkers, MATCH, Magic 105.4, Kiss
100, Kerrang and 4Music. Our business is built on millions of personal relationships with
engaged audiences. We connect people and communities with compelling and quality
content, whenever, wherever and however they want.”
This is appropriate for my magazine as I would want my magazine to connect with
people; having a good relationship with readers is important in that they will buy your
magazine regularly. I could also use social networking sites to communicate with my
readers, and from this statement I think Bauer media would support this as it builds a
good relationship with readers.
17. reasons for choosing Bauer:
• They are a wealthy company so I could give away good prizes for magazine
competitions. If people can win Ipads or holidays they are more likely to buy
the magazine than if you can win a keyring or a mug.
• They are very well established and have good connections in the media
world so I could get more famous and more exclusive interviewees, this will
give my magazine a competitive edge on the other magazines who cannot
get such high level interviewees.
• They already have good connections with shops and stores where I would
sell my magazine so they may be able to get better rates. They will also have
an efficient transport system in place which will be beneficial to my
magazine so they will be able to get it to stores quickly and cheaply.
18. Q magazine
My magazine is similar to a magazine they already publish; “Q”
magazine. I think this will be beneficial because if my magazine is
aimed at a similar audience as “Q” then they will know the most
effective way of distributing a magazine aimed at this
audience, because they will have experience of this from selling
Q for many years. It will also mean that 2 of the magazines who
have the same target audience as my magazine and Q does will
be owned by Bauer media so they will have a large market
segment.
19. Media types
Bauer are involved in magazines, TV and radio, so if I wanted my
magazine to branch out and have its own TV channel , they
already have experience in developing a TV show from a music
magazine because they have already done this for other
magazines. They already have links with radio and television so
this would make expanding my magazine brand even easier.
22. Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?
Throughout designing my magazine I did certain things to attract my audience
and to address them, so I will now go through some of these things.
23. Attracting my audience
I used my front cover to
Masthead- my masthead is in a attract my audience using Main image- he is a very
font that has buildings
silhouetted on it and it looks very
some common conventions handsome so it will appeal to
females because they will want to
scratched. This 2 things make it
look very urban so it will attract
and using some uncommon know more about him and he is
my audience because we ones. looking dark and mysterious
associate this urban look with which they will like, he is also
certain types of music and with rebellious with the line ”the new
danger and excitement
badboy of indie” and this might
make him appealing to females.
Tag line- “THE BEST IN BRITATIN” Also he will appeal to males
is saying we are the best so this because they will want to be like
is appealing to my audience him and want to know more
because they will definitely want about him to.
the best they can possibly get. It
also refers to Britain which will
be appealing to my audience
because young people have
some pride in they’re nation.
Font- for the word
“CHRISTLEY” I
Buzz words- “Free posters” used a font that is
makes people want to buy it quite sharp and
as my audience does not aggressive.
have a lot of income so if
they feel like they are getting
something for free which is
an extra bonus for them.
24. Addressing my audience
I did some things to address my audience such
as appealing to the male gaze, because I showed
images of men young male readers would aspire
to be like. I also wrote about things that they
would be very interested in such as live music
concerts as well as raucous stories of mischief
and party's.
25. Q6.What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
26. Photoshop
Before I started this project I had very limited skill with Photoshop, and I can see from
comparing my preliminary task to my finished magazine that I have clearly got much
better at it, as my finished thing looks much more professional. I did not even know
how to create a Photoshop file before I started so I had to learn a lot in order to make
my magazine with Photoshop. Learning these skills meant using my own time to
practise with Photoshop so that I would not fall behind my deadline dates because I
was slow on Photoshop. I had to learn how to crop images, edit colours, save
files, create files, move images, add text, create layers, select layers and also how to
edit my images so they were more clear and professional. It is important that I have
learnt these skills so that I can now use Photoshop in the future. It was vital that I
learnt these skills for production purposes.
27. slide share
I learnt how to use slide share so that I could easily upload my
PowerPoint presentations to BlogSpot. It is an internet website
that you can log into using your Google mail account. You upload
your power points to it and then it gives you a html address
which you put in a BlogSpot post to make the PowerPoint easily
visible. Before I started this project I had never heard of slide
share so it is good that I have learnt this new skill.
28. BlogSpot
I had to create a BlogSpot account and learn
how to create a blog and post onto it, I had
never used it so it took some getting used to but
I picked it up fairly quickly. I also learnt how to
edit my posts when they were already up which
and how to view my blog. I used BlogSpot for
presentation purposes
29. Microsoft Word
I used Microsoft work as a way of storing or
writing any text that I wanted to save, for
example my articles, ideas for tag lines, buzz
words, or cover stories. I was already
experienced at using word but I still used this as
an opportunity to sharpen my skills with Word.
I mostly used word for organizational purposes.
30. Microsoft PowerPoint
I used PowerPoint a lot throughout my project
for various reasons, mostly for presentation
reasons. I already had experience with it but as I
did with word, I used this as an opportunity to
practice new skills and gain even more
experience with it.
31. cameras
I have only used cameras for recreational purposes in that past
but I had to use them to produce my magazine so it was
important that I had the necessary skills with it. I had to learn to
use the manual zoom and focus functions, how to upload photos
from the camera to my computer and to learn more general skills
about using a camera effectively. I had to learn this to get clear
and well taken professional photos.
32. Dafont
I used the website Dafont to find more different
and interesting fonts that were more
appropriate for the production of my magazine
than the standard Microsoft fonts. I had little
experience with Dafont before my project, and I
struggled to learn how to import fonts from the
website to your computer at first as it is a
complex process but I soon picked it up.
33. Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in
the progression from it to the full product?
Preliminary task Finished cover
34. My research
When doing the preliminary task I had not done any research into my
audience so I did not know about who I was aiming who magazine
at, therefore I had not tailored it to attract or address that specific
audience. I had also not done my industry research so I did not know
about other magazines. I had not analysed other music magazines so I
did not know about the common conventions often used in real music
magazines. Having done research into my audience I was able to know
what price to charge that they could afford, what my audience wanted
to see in a music magazine, what would keep readers buying it again
and what they think could be done better than what already is being
done by music magazines. From analysis of other magazines I picked
up on techniques used by other magazines to attract readers such as
the use of tag lines, buzz words and freebies to get people to buy your
magazine.
35. planning
I had not planned my preliminary task in very
much detail and this is clear when comparing it
to my finished product which I planned in great
detail, you can see this looking at the design the
images and the text.
36. Same font used for all
information, unprofes Variety of fonts used to
sional and makes it suit the information
look dull
The background looks
strange and unprofessional
with two contrasting
colours that are clearly not
natural
I have learn to leave
space around
everything you put on
your cover so that is
looks clearer and
more professional
Clear colour scheme that is
consistent through the magazine
The photo was not as
clear or as good quality Clear crisp photo
