2. In what ways does your music magazine use, develop, and challenge forms
and conventions of real music magazines?
The title of the magazine: I think the title of my magazine is quite similar to real music magazines. This is because it is
made to stand out on the front cover, so that people clearly know what type of magazine it is. However, I made the
name up of my magazine myself, and made sure it didn’t exist in real music magazines today. This way I made the
magazine my own.
Written content: My magazine contains four cover lines, a masthead, a slogan, a strap line and a main headline. From
looking at real magazines, this is quite common for front covers of music magazines.
Layout: My magazines layout has the main image to the right hand side, and the cover lines to the left. Then it has the
masthead and slogan at the top, and main headline in the middle. I used this idea from a real music magazine
because I thought it gave a professional look and made the magazine look well organised.
Mise-en-scene of images: My magazine front cover has only one image which covers the whole page. The image is of a
teenage girl against a wall blowing a kiss. I had my model doing this, because I thought it linked in with the genre of
my magazine and attracted my target audience. There are other real magazines like this, but I changed it slightly by
having my model in different clothing and an extreme close up shot, rather than medium- long shot.
Contents page: I used the layout of my contents page from an existing music magazine, which I used as a style model. I
used this as my style model, because I thought the layout looked organised and professional.
3. How does your music magazine represent a particular social group?
I would say both these magazines below represent the same social groups, which is teenage girls. This is because the
models on the front cover are both young, which draws in the attention of those of the same age because they think
the magazine will be about them. These images are constructed in very similar ways, as the models are both stood
blowing a kiss to the audience. However they are both in different backgrounds, and the models are in different
costumes. This could suggest that they are representing different genres of magazines, as the one on the left is a bit
more girly, because she is in red which connotes with love and sexiness. Whereas, on my magazine the model is
wearing a black leather jacket which connotes with more fashion and rebellion. The shot types of these two
magazines are also the same, which is close up in order for the audience to focus on the models facial expression. The
lighting is also very similar, as they both have full light in their faces in order for them to stand out.
4. What kind of media institution might distribute your music magazine and
why?
From researching different media institutions I came across one which was billboard, which I thought would be the
most suitable institution for my music magazine. Billboard is the worlds most influential music media brand reaching
key executives and tastemakers in and around the music business through Billboard Magazine. The Billboard brand
is built on its exclusive charts and unrivalled reporting on the latest news, issues and trends across all genres of
music. Billboard receives hundreds of millions of brand impressions daily through many strategic relationships with
major companies across various industries. These relationships leverage Billboard's brand recognition, proprietary
chart data and information resources to develop products, live events and print, television, radio, digital and mobile
platforms. In addition to North America, Billboard operates businesses in Brazil, Greece, Japan, Korea and Russia.
Billboard is owned by Prometheus Global Media, a diversified company with leading assets in the media and
entertainment arenas, including: Music, Entertainment and Advertising.
5. Who would be the audience for your music magazine? How did you
address/attract your audience?
The target audience for my music magazine is teenage girls aged from 14 to 18. I have addressed my target
audience by having an image of a teenage girl on the front cover. This attracts girls of a similar age because they
think the magazine has something to do with them. My model on the front cover is also stood blowing a kiss, which
represents a teenage, stereotypical theme of love. The clothing my model is wearing includes a leather jacket and
scarf which also links in with fashion which teenage girls aspire to, and is quite a common clothing item to be worn
by a teenage girl nowadays.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing
your media product?
From constructing my music magazine I have learnt how to use QuarkXPress effectively and efficiently. By this I
mean I know what all the tools are for example crop tool, and I know how to import images that I have either
taken myself of taken from a camera. I have also learnt how to then transfer my posts onto blogger, which is by
saving it as a Jpeg or PDF file, and then going on to edit to take a screen shot to then copy and paste onto paint,
making the file an image. I have also learnt how to use the cameras properly and effectively by going onto a certain
setting which would most suit the image and setting I was taking it in, for example if it was outside or inside.
Finally, for my music magazine front cover I used photo shop, and I learnt how to blur out the background of an
image so that the main image would stand out more, which in my case was the model. I also learnt how to make
images more clear if they had been cropped and zoomed in.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
From looking back at the preliminary task which was to produce the front page of a college magazine. I feel like I
have learnt a lot from that to the full product about photography, layout, fonts and modes of address. From
photography I have learnt about all the different types of shots you can take. For example medium long shot,
medium close up, high angle shot, low angle shot, and how to take a clear, good quality photo by putting the
camera into focus.
I have also learnt when constructing the magazine front cover, contents page, and double page spread that it all
has to be in straight lines and the contents page and double page spread needs to be in columns. This is because it
makes the magazine look neat, well- organised and professional like the real, existing magazines today.
From the fonts used on the magazine I have learnt that they cannot be Microsoft fonts. This is because it makes the
magazine look a bit like a PowerPoint, and that they should be used from a website like “Dafont” this way it makes
it look more like a magazine.
From modes of address I have learnt about direct mode of address, and why it is more effective to use on
magazines rather than having a model which is looking somewhere else and not directly at the audience and
reader. The reason why it is more effective for the model to be looking the reader directly in the eye is because it
catches the audiences attention for them to read it because they feel involved and part of the magazine.
