2. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And
Conventions Of Real Media Products? Front Cover.
Similarities
Mast-Head
Main Image
Pull Quote
Barcode/Date
/Issue
Footer
3. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And
Conventions Of Real Media Products? Front Cover.
Differences
NME has a clearer
masthead that can be
consistent through out
all future magazines
whereas mine may
have to change
because with certain
images it will not be
very clear.
NME does no really
show the background
so it does not draw
attention away from
the main image.
NME include more sell
lines. By doing this it
advertises more about
the articles inside and
gives more description
as to what they will be
like.
I have changed the gender of the model being NME gives images
used as opposed to just using a male of the of artists as
character which is usually related to Indie opposed to just
music naming them.
4. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And
Conventions Of Real Media Products? Contents Page.
Similarities
They have a clear
contents title with the
magazines name below /
next to it.
Both magazines contain a
featured column on the
left third of the page.
They both have a
main image showing
the article in the right
third.
Both magazines have
used the same rule of
third sections for their
images and contents.
5. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And
Conventions Of Real Media Products? Contents Page.
Differences
Q magazine have also
included a date inside the
contents page. This also lets
the reader know that it is the
most recent edition.
The NME magazine creates
a much more effective
Mise-en-scene. This is
because for my magazine,
the photograph I have
taken was in his bedroom,
and you can see his door.
This does not look very
professional.
I added a little memo from the
editor thanking the reader, but
Q included an “every month”,
proposing the articles that will
be included every month and
won’t change
Q has included a review
section whereas I have used
the space to show images of
other artists that will be
featured in the magazine.
6. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And
Conventions Of Real Media Products? Article Page.
Similarities
Both magazines have included the article section on the right page.
This is so it does not cover any of the image and you can clearly see
who it is.
Both magazines have pulled a quote from the article / interview to
make it seem more interesting.
Differences
On my magazine I have included the artists name in the left
third. This lets readers know that they are on the right page
for the article they want to read.
My magazine has included page number at the bottom of
the page. This makes it a lot easy for the reader to find the
page with the article on,
My magazine has used a background where the artist looks
more at home whereas Q have used one which looks
unnatural to make the artists seem more attractive and of a
high stature,
7. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Indie Music is a genre of alternative rock. It is extremely diverse
with lots of sub-genres including Indie-pop, Grunge and Lo-fi The Wombats
amongst others. It originated in the UK and USA around the mid-
eighties. Nowadays, Indie music is associated with being laid-
back, and being unique.
Nowadays, the stereotypical social group for the genre would be
working class Caucasian’s between the ages of 15 – 22, mostly
males.
They are recognised for having a wide-fashion sense ranging from
snap-backs, polo shirts, shirts, sweaters, chinos, crosses and
sneakers.
I decided to challenge this particular social group as
it expands even more and creates more sub-
cultures.
I have done this so my magazine can represent a
variety of social groups instead of just one main
target audience.
I have represented a number of social groups by –
-Gender
-Latest Trends
-Being individual
-Having confidence
I chose to base my model on a female. I have done this because
stereotypically, the majority of indie musicians are males with
only a handful of female indie musicians. However, Indie is also
about being different and unique, which is why I have based my
Isabelle Mitchell
model on a female.
8. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
"IPC" media stands for International Publishing Corporation Media.
They are associated with a wide range of of magazines varying from
gardening to television, sailing to firearms, photography to music.
IPC media produces over 60 iconic media brands.
Throughout the UK two thirds of females and 42% males read
print alone. (26 million UK adults).
The websites IPC media incorporate have 20 million views each
month.
They produce a wide collection of media, which suits everyone’s
needs not just focusing on one social group.
They already distribute the highly known magazine NME. This
shows that they have a lot of experience and knowledge in the
music industry.
Because IPC is such a large and well know publishing
organisation, using IPC to publish the magazine will help to raise
its profile because it is being published alongside other
magazines such as NME.
9. Who would the audience be for your media product?
General Background Information General Background Information
Name: Hayden Atkins Name: Harriet Castle
Age: 16 Age: 18
Ethnicity: White British Ethnicity: White British
Lives: Solihull Lives: Solihull
Music Interests Music Interests
Hayden listens to Indie music on a regular basis. He Harriet loves Indie music. She tries to listen to it on a
will often listen to music from YouTube as background daily basis before and after work. She will often buy
music. He does not buy/download music as he doesn’t music and attends concerts whenever possible. She
feel the need, but he still likes listening to it. also enjoys festivals such as Reading.
Favourite Artists Favourite Artists
Blink-182, The Kooks, Bombay Bicycle club. The Wombats, The Kooks, A Day To Remember
Likes Likes
Football, Reading, Parties, Journalism. Reading, Relaxing, Pancakes, Parties
Dislikes Dislikes
RnB music, Villa, Reality TV, Brussels Sprouts. Chavs, Peanuts, School, Drama
10. Who would the audience be for your media product?
General Background Information
Name: Annie Thomas
Age: 17
Ethnicity: White British
Lives: Solihull
Music Interests
Annie loves listening to music. She will regularly
attend Indie concerts and downloads a lot of her
music. She also synchronises her music to her IPod
General Background Information
so she can listen to music wherever she goes.
Name: Toby Railton
Favourite Artists
Age: 17
The Kooks, Example, Los Campesinos!
Ethnicity: White British
Likes
Lives: Solihull
Scooters, Geography, Relaxing, Sunday Roast.
Music Interests
Dislikes
Toby occasionally listens to music, he is not a big fan
Walking, Dyed hair, Heavy Metal, Computers.
but he appreciates that it is helpful and often listens to
Indie music to relieve stress after a long day.
Favourite Artists
Bloodhound Gang, AC/DC, Arctic Monkeys
Likes
Economics, Xbox, Movies, Walking his dog.
Dislikes
Geometry, Chavs, Decorating, Ovens
11. How did you attract/address your audience?
I included a main header in large bold letters, to
make it stand out, appealing to the audience by
becoming obvious.
She has a friendly attitude which attracts the
reader.
New And Upcoming News being
Detailed to let them know what is going
on.
Main dominant image with
clothing that relates to the
audience and its latest trends.
Showing new and upcoming artists
that are going to be big.
Celebrity gossip.
Top artists in that genre that my
readers would be familiar with and
enjoy.
From my questionnaire, I noticed that the majority of people said
they would pay between £2-£3. Therefore, I made my magazine
£1.50, which is lower than what they said they would pay and so
they would more likely buy my magazine.
12. How did you attract/address your audience?
I included a main contents header so that the
audience can clearly see what page it is
I have also added the masthead so the
audience knows that this is the contents for
this magazine and it’s not from another one.
I have created my contents page with a white
background. This is to simplify the page, it also
makes it incredibly easy for the audience to read.
I used clear and legible font to make it easy for the
audience to read.
I added images of some of my artists to the
contents page. This was so that the audience
could see who the articles were about. Also if
they were looking specifically for one of those
artists, they could easily find them and the page
they were on, as opposed to scrolling down the
whole contents just to find them.
A little editors not was added to the bottom of
the magazine. I did this to add a personal note
to the readers. This makes it seem as if the
editor is more in touch with the readers and
shows some acknowledgement to the audience.
13. How did you attract/address your audience?
For my double page article, by making the The article I have created attracts the audience by
background an image of the person being standing out. I have included a white background
interviewed it creates an extremely professional behind the actual article. I have done this so that it
look. It also makes it clearer for the audience who stands out against the image and is easy to read.
they are reading about.
Also, by creating the
whole article just as one
main image, it makes
the whole page appear
a lot more professional.
Adding small page
number in each of
the corners it makes
it easier for the
Adding a quote from the article at the bottom of the reader to find the
page makes the article seem a lot more interesting. This article they want to
is because it gives the reader an insight as to what the read.
article will be like.
14. Audience
Feedback
Over-all my audience feedback was very good.
The strengths of magazine were:
Cover Page
Article Page
Colour Scheme
The weaknesses of magazine
were:
Contents Page
Lack of Text
Quality of Text
15. Audience Feedback
Strengths
As part of my audience feedback, I asked my
target audience to list some of the strengths
they found about my magazine.
One of the strengths that they listed about my
magazine was the colour scheme. When
asked why, they said the colour scheme
worked well with the overall magazine layout
and theme. This is because, using the
colours I have selected, the texts and fonts
are easy on the eye and so it is extremely
easy to read.
They also said that they liked the footer at the
bottom of the magazine. By including this,
they found that it gave them more information
as to what would be inside the magazine and
what other bands would be featured.
Finally, they said that the enjoyed the
variation of the magazine. This is because
most Indie magazine’s include men on the
front cover, therefore, by using a female
for mine, they said they found it new and
refreshing.
16. Audience Feedback
Weaknesses
However, not all of my magazine was a complete
success, and it did include some weaknesses. For
example my contents page.
From my audience feedback, they said that they
found my contents page too plain, because I
used a white background. By using a white
background, they said it made my contents page
look like it had a lot of white space.
They also said that I could have improved my title
of “contents”. This is because they felt that it was
out of place and it did not fit in with the rest of the
theme.
The last thing they said about my contents
was the detailed. It was not detailed enough
and did not give the audience a lot of
information as to what content would be
included in the magazine.
17. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
18. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Adobe PhotoShop enabled me to create my magazine front cover. It was extremely
effective and allowed me to edit all of my photographs to create an effective and realistic
magazine.
I have been using PhotoShop for well over a year now and have managed to pick up on a
lot of the techniques and skills required. Without PhotoShop I would not have been able to
make my magazine look professional.
It was incredibly easy to use and it was easy to get the hang of it. For example using the
polygonal lasso tool allowed me to select certain items that I wanted to edit, leaving the rest
of the rest of the image original.
On my cover page, for example, I edited my main image. On the far left I have my original image. To start with, I used the polygonal
lasso tool to outline the background of the image. I did this so that it would be the only part of the image that would change. I then
altered the levels on the selected section to make it seem a lot darker and thus make the person stand out a lot more.
I then did the same to
the person. However,
this time I altered the
levels the opposite
way making the
person seem a lot
brighter. By making
her brighter, it makes
her stand out a lot
more and she seems
a lot friendlier
compared to if the
image was very dark.
19. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Using Adobe InDesign, I created both my contents page and my double page article. In
design is simple to Photoshop. However, InDesign allows you to layout all of your work as if
it were the actual magazine. It is slightly harder to use than PhotoShop, but it was still
useful and helped a lot.
I had not used InDeisgn before this. At first, I struggled to use it and did not understand how
all the tools worked. However after a few attempts with some of the tools and some help I
got the general idea of how they worked.
20. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
I used Microsoft word quite a lot throughout the course.
I used it to type all of my research so I could spell check the work and
ensure that it was all up to standard and made sense.
Microsoft Powerpoint was also an extremely useful tool. I was able to write
up research information and upload it in to blogger.
The reason Powerpoint was so useful is because it made my blogger file
appear more interesting as opposed to having lots of information just
written up.
I used internet explorer to help with everything. I used it to find ideas for
my magazine, to find new fonts, to help research.
I was able to use internet explorer as my main research base, and got
most of my research from it. It also allowed me to use blogger to upload all
of my work.
I used blogger to keep track of all my coursework. I uploaded all of the
work I did, and all of the research leading up to the completed work.
Working my way through the task booklet, I uploaded a piece of work
every time I completed one of the tasks. This was extremely helpful and
motivating as I was able to see how much work I had done and what was
being completed.
21. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
From my preliminary task I feel I have learnt a
lot more about the colour schemes and content
of a real magazine to give an overall more
professional look.
I developed my skills using certain software
such as Photoshop and InDesign allowing me
to create better quality designs.
For my college magazine, I attempted to create it so I looks
friendly and appealing. I created my header so that it was at
a slant with a patchy background around it. However, from
research I found that professional magazines do not do this
and they create simple, yet bold and effective headers.
My skills with colour scheme has also improved since my
preliminary task. I can tell this because with my college
magazine, a lot of my slogans and sell-lines are difficult to
read. This is because they blend in with my background and
so they are not legible. However I fixed this problem with my
music magazine as I had a better idea about the colour
schemes and which colours went best together. This made it
a lot easier for my audience to read.
22. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
I feel that my contents page has
also improved since my
preliminary task. I have taken
certain concepts from my
preliminary task into my music
magazine such as including the
same font in the header.
I have found that I have managed to slightly improve
my contents page. I have done this through including
simple things, for example including the magazine title
at the top of the page to remind to the reader what
magazine they are reading.
However, I do feel that I could have improved the
background of my contents page. My music magazine
is similar to that of my preliminary task and the
background seems too plain. This has the effect of
making the contents seem slightly too dull and having
too much empty space.
