2. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Firstly it follows the conventions of a music magazine as there is a clear main image which dominates the
front cover. When creating the front cover I looked at 3 different music magazine front covers to establish
what conventions I required in order to make my front cover use conventions and forms of real music
magazines. Here I found that direct address was also crucial for a music magazine front cover and here I
have included examples of how direct address has been used to encourage the reader to purchase the
magazine: this is a method I have included successfully throughout my magazine front cover.
I have also included a suitable and relevant slogan which is directly located underneath the main title of the
magazine. This is used to illustrate to the audience what the magazine is about and most importantly what
music genre it concentrates on. For example in my magazine I have named AME it may not be immediately
obvious which music genre it concentrates on, which Is why I have then used the slogan ‘for all of your
alternative music needs’ to make this clear and ensure it attracts the right audience members. This can also
help create an identity for the magazine and this is a good way to make it stand out from other music
magazines as a memorable slogan.
3. • 2. how does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product uses the colour scheme of pinks and greens. This makes
it clear that this magazine is aimed at mostly females and of an age range of
16-24 years. The slogan of the magazine helps to clearly indicate that this
magazine I aimed at an audience of people whom are interested in
alternative music as this is what the genre of my magazine is. The magazine
front cover has a low amount of cover lines as from a questionnaire I asked
twenty people to fill out the most popular option was to have a low amount
of cover lines. This is to make it easier to read and also allows the main
image to be the main point. The use of the artist on the front cover being
clearly of a teenage girl helps to indicate the audience and social group of
the magazine.
4. 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?
I have analysed three institutions; these include: Music republic ltd, IPC media and Bauer media.
The company which may distribute my music magazine is Bauer media and IPC this is because I am aware from research
that IPC media distributes for two thirds of the female population and whist my music magazine is mostly aimed at
females it Is a suitable distributors for my magazine. IPC media also distributes NME magazine which has similarities to
mine in the sense that they both are indie/alternative music magazines. Bauer is also a company that may distribute my
magazine as they distribute magazines such as Q and my magazine ‘AME’ being different will help to engage a larger
audience variety to the company. My target audience is mainly females aged 16-24 and I have chosen to aim it at mainly
females as I fall under the category of a female In the age range 16-24 which can help me to tailor the magazine to fit the
needs of what I would personally look for in a magazine. The fact I have included the music genre Alternative/indie as my
main genre is effective as it is a popular music genre for my target audience which can be beneficial for the distributor of
my magazine to help them engage in more of a variety.
5. • How did you attract/address audience attention?
on my front cover I have used direct address in my main image to help
attract audience members. I have used language such as ‘you’ and ‘win!’ as
it addresses the audience which helps when selling the magazine. I have
used this technique throughout the contents and DPS as well to continue
the use of direct address and attract audience attention. Bright colours and
a clear colour scheme have been used throughout my media products to
stand out and help indicate the music genre. This is further illustrated by
the slogan for the magazine ‘for all your alternative music needs’ this helps
to attract the correct audience. The audience who are interested in
alterative music. The use of the large and clear magazine title on the front
cover, contents and DPS portrays the use of audience attention being
engaged through a clear magazine title. My DPS includes a large image
which take over the whole of a page. This also helps attract audience
attention.
6. The software's I have used throughout the production of my
media products include Photoshop and Quark. I have never used
Quark until now and I have learnt a lot of skills when using it to
produce my DPS and contents page for my music magazine
‘AME’. I now have a much clearer understanding of how to
create and edit publications on quark. I have used Photoshop a
lot to produce my front cover, therefore I have had to create text
and edit images for not only the front cover but also my contents
page and DPS. I took my own images on a camera and then after
importing them onto Photoshop I edited them to use on my
contents, front cover and also my DPS. This has given me much
more experience with editing text and images and also I have
learnt how to export and save as pdf which I did not know how to
do before.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
I feel I have made progression with using and understanding Photoshop and quark. I can
now edit images and text confidently on Photoshop which I did not feel I could do during the
production my preliminary task. Furthermore my understanding on quark has been
improved as I am now much more confident using it to create products.
I carried out much more research before creating my music magazine than I did before
creating my school magazine for example I researched more in depth of my music magazine
in terms of colour schemes, audience research and creating a questionnaire was very
beneficial and helped me when producing my full final product as I could take the answers
that the people who filled in my questionnaires answered and weave them into my
products.
I feel I have learnt more on image editing on Photoshop for example how to edit it to stand
out more on a page or how to edit it to link with the genre or feel of the magazine. I feel my
music magazine was much more professional looking and polished than my preliminary task
for the reason I didn’t have much understanding on using the software's and editing and
importing text and images that were relevant.
