2. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
Along with my magazine representing typical styles and register of the genre, such as the
choice of wording ‘da’ instead of ‘the’ for the name of the magazine “INDAHOUSE”; it also
incorporates the typical media faculties used by a real magazine, like Facebook and
Twitter. All of it down to the price and the bar code are an attempted replication of a
music magazine.
Masthead
typically at the
top of the page.
Featured artist
is the main
subtitle on the
page.
Barcode
and Price.
Trying to show
off as much of
the magazine
on the cover.
Single model for
the splash
image. Taken at
a medium shot.
Varying sized fonts reflect the
varying volume of the inner voice.
3. Featured artist’s
photo is at the
top. Magazine’s logo is at the
top. The layout has
changed since the front
cover so it works with the
overall layout of the page
all while maintaining the
style.
Contents appears as more
of a selection of the best
articles this issue. This
lets readers find the best,
first.
Short exclamatory sentences not
only reflect the sharp, straight to
the point style of the discourse;
but also generally prevents
readers from being overloaded
with reading from the moment
they open.
Incorporation of social networking
sites and a website for the magazine.
Allows for a multimedia platform also
and helps spread the word.
QR code adds even more integrity to
the multimedia situation.
Page numbers are typical of any
contents page. But this application
ties the photo to the passage on
the page
Appropriately themed photo for
the article (a vinyl for an article
about vinyls.
Reference to people who
work on the magazine
pushes a sense of
community. Especially if
only using first names.
Not giving away too much
in the passage so as to
pull in the reader.
4. Large photograph taking
up large portion of the
two pages.
Quote taken from the
interview.
Use of a tagline to bring
the audience easily into
the article.
Use of multiple fonts.
Questions start off
slow with basic
information at first,
then bringing out
more enveloping
questions.
Closing text steps out
of the interview style
discourse to directly
address the audience.
Different fonts and
colours used to
differentiate between
questions and
answers easier.
Softer white
background to be
easier on the eye.
Black boxes help the
white text stand out
better.
5. How does your product represent particular
social groups?
There are essentially three main representations, but all of them still only represent people
who listen to house music. There is Vivien Leigh, who appears on the contents page. She
appears as a young, casual woman. In many ways this represents women in a non-feminine
fashion in that her position is not very lady-like, she has a lot of skin showing and even a
tattoo.
Another social group represented is the older generation of listeners. These people enjoy
the sounds of early music within the genre, and the vinyl format. To reflect this group I have
the discourse
The key representation within this product is the male aged 16-22. This is reflected in the
discourse in that it is fairly colloquial, this register reads clearer for someone who reads
casually, which helps with the consumption of the product within my target audience.
6. What kind of media institution might distribute
your product and why?
To publish my magazine, I made the decision to go with the publishing company
‘Development Hell’. It is small time and seems like a suitable institution. I had looked at larger
publishers such as Bauer and Harris Publishing, but neither seemed to fit well. Harris
Publishing seemed to span into various different hobby magazines and all appeared to
conform with a similar style to one another. Bauer would have been good seeing as it
covered a huge variety of differently styled magazines, and also a large variety of music
magazines and radio stations; however I chose Dev Hell on the grounds that it is smaller, this
would more likely mean a smaller, cheaper product. This casual approach is key to the style
of the magazine.
I have put the price in both British pounds and US dollars, this suggests that, although small,
there is an active foreign readership. Although ‘Dev Hell’ may not function on an
international basis, I still wanted to include this to replicate something which occurs
frequently on magazines all around the world.
Additionally there is an online outlet run by my magazine, this is user based and moderated.
It is modern, which reflects our increasing technical abilities, is cheap to run for what it does
for the expansion of the readership, and most importantly it brings everything together and
various articles can exist for years which allows a huge catalogue past reviews and interviews.
This is heavily suggested throughout my magazine in big letters, as I believe this is key to
moving forwards in a society using less and less paper, which is again cheaper. Websites also
help generate move advert revenue, which means less is required from the paper edition,
this means less adverts.
7. Who would be the audience for your media
product?
A typical reader would be between the ages of sixteen and twenty-two. They would either be
a student, or working full time. While there is a predominantly male presence throughout
the magazine, neither the genre or the magazine style point either male or female. The
reader would have an active social life, going out to clubs on average one to two times a
week and listening more or less only to electronic dance music. Additionally they are always
looking for new music to listen to and loves music which sounds unique.
8. How did you attract/address your audience?
The initial premise behind the attraction was simply to provide features and present the
magazine in such a way that would attract a specific audience. I listed artists on the front
cover which appeal to them, and even based my magazine’s name ‘INDAHOUSE’ to
specifically help my potential target audience know of its existence.
The magazine has a Facebook and Twitter account also. From these pages the magazine can
still act as an informative asset on the most casual basis. Anyone can receive information
even if they do not read magazines, or even go on the website. This also drastically increases
the public awareness of our institution.
9. What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt that you can obtain anonymous survey statistics through SurveyMonkey, and it
can be done quickly and with very little effort (the results come straight back and can be
organised in many ways). On top of that I distributed my survey on Facebook which also
utilises a social networking platform to potentially connect with my audience. Similarly, I
have learnt how to use Bloggar and Slideshare. These are also websites which I used so I can
display my work.
I used a DSLR and Youtube to capture and upload my video interview, which was then linked
to my blog. This whole process, in conjunction with the anonymous statistics showed me that
all my findings and research can be easily connected and exibited because of various
companies on the web.
The most useful piece of technology I used during this project was photoshop. Learning to
use it was tricky but within photoshop I have learnt cropping, separating layers, tone
adjustments for photos. If I were to list them the list would keep going, so in essence I have
learn the basic and intermediate tools used for operating photoshop.
The use of QR codes is something which generally baffled me so when I learnt how to
generate them and how they are used I felt I had taken a step forward.
10. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from
it to the full product?
Besides all the technological stuff, I learnt many things regarding publication companies,
marketing and distribution methods and of course, magazine production. I have learnt how
to properly utilise a photography studio which involved setting up the lights and making sure
the light levels are appropriate, I learnt about utilising various tools on a digital camera to
optimise the quality of the image. I have learnt about the various fonts and how each can
represent a style, and be mixed. I have paid much closer attention to magazines and realised
and re-applied various techniques such as using boxes behind text to help push the text out
of the page.
