2. Question 1 – In what ways does your media product use,
develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products
• There are many conventions for music magazines, for instance on the front
cover there is always a mast-head which is the biggest text on the page, there
is always a main image in the middle of the page with the main cover story at
the middle with a catchy description, there is normally a house style in which
only a certain of colours are used, there are cover lines on the right and left of
the page. Finally, underneath the mast head there is a slogan for the
magazine.
• On the contents page the title of the magazine is predominately at the top,
with the date and issue number, the image of an artist is normally in the
middle of the page with a description of an article. The most conventional
thing on the page is the ‘subscribe now’ at the bottom. Normally on the right
hand side there is articles and there page numbers with a pull quote or a
description
• Finally, on the two page spread more than likely there will be an image of the
left hand side of the page with the name of the artist and a pull quote with on
the left hand side there will be the title of the article with a pull quote and
then an article underneath, describing the artist
3. How does my magazine follow or challenge conventions?
• My magazine follows conventions, but however does challenge conventions for instance on my front page
it follows conventions by it has a big mast head that stands out the most, it only has one image which is
associated with my cover story, another convention followed is that of the slogan underneath the mast
head, the cover lines are all around my page which is used in magazines such as NME and Q. The front
page does challenge conventions by it has lots of bright colours whereas normally there are just a few
colours used, by having bright colours I thought it would be more appealing for my target audience which
are teenagers.
• My contents page is very conventional, the title of the magazine is at the top of the page with the date
and issue number which is used in nearly every music magazine, also the image and description of the
article is used in my contents page is conventional as it gives the reader a ‘teaser’ of the magazine. The
most common convention on a contents page is the ‘subscribe now’ this is used in nearly every music
magazine and it normally colourful so people will look at it and hopefully subscribe. The artist index and
the features and news of the magazine follow many other music magazines, they are easy to navigate
around with a colour for the page number and a plain black sans serif font for the article and a description
or a pull quote. My contents page is the most successful as it follows all the conventions.
• My two page spread is less conventional to my contents page, this is because although it has an image on
the left page and a artist title and pull quote and main text body on the right, it is very colourful which is
not necessarily associated with music magazines, it is colourful so it follows my house style. The image on
the left is conventional because it is an artist which is associated with my target audience, having a pull
quote is used by many magazine makers because it offers an slight insight to the article and makes people
want to read more
• Overall, I believe my magazine follows the conventions of music magazines well but however challenges it
when it comes to colour schemes and the house style
4. Masthead, Title for
conventional magazine is
used in many
Slogan for my magazines on
magazine contents page
Artist index a
Main Image technique used
in some
Cover lines, magazines Cover lines with a
conventional for brief description
them to be all and page
around numbers, very
conventional
Main image with a
Main cover story description on the
Subscribe now is article
probably the most
conventional part of
my coursework
Title of the
magazine , my Title for the article
house style. A
technique I got
Pull quote a technique used
from NME
in most magazines
Pull Quote
Main text body
5. Question 2 – How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
Here is a speech by myself answering this questions
on why my media product represents my particular
social group which is teenagers and young adults
When listening to an audio, if you click any part of the
screen it will stop.
6. Question 3 – What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?
• I believe my music magazine could be distributed by Prometheus Global Media, which is a subsidiary to a media
conglomerate called Nielson Business Media. The companies CEO is Richard D. Beckham. They produce magazines such as
Adweek, Back Stage, Hollywood Reporter and the music magazine Billboard. The companies headquarters is in Lower
Manhattan, New York.
• Prometheus would be an ideal company to distribute because their other music magazine Billboard has the same target
audience as Beats so therefore has a solid knowledge of the audience and would be able to make my magazine better in
appealing to my target audience. Also, they would be ideal because there conglomerate company is a media company that
specialises in distribution and marketing so they would be able to get my magazine out to the world.
• I believe Prometheus Global Media would distribute my magazine because it is in relation to Billboard so the magazine
carries on with there mission statement of catering for young adults, Billboard is an American music magazine so having a
British magazine will open up there market even wider and make there profits higher, as they would be able to advertise
Billboard in Beats and vice versa so make the two magazines a worldwide success. I believe they would agree to my
magazine because they only currently distribute one music magazine so having another magazine that is specifically for
music will allow them to make more money and grow as a company. The companies main goals are to deliver excellence,
service, and value for money. I believe Beats magazine fulfils the companies goals and aspirations, so Beats and Prometheus
would be a brilliant fit and work in partnership to make increased revenue and make Beats and Billboard become a
worldwide force in the music magazine industry.
7. Question 4 – Who would be your target audience for your media product?
• My main target audience for my product is teenagers and young adults, with a flair
for music and fun. I have decided to have an audience similar to myself because it
would allow me to know what the target audience wants, as I would know because
I am part of the target audience. I also chose this target audience because it is
convenient for me to do this because I would easily be able to address my target
audience by using people my age. Also, I chose this target audience because the
magazines I evaluated are all magazines that have this target audience so it would
allow me to take there ideas and combine them with my own so it completely
associates with the target audience. Many young people like to just look through a
magazine and read only a few articles, Beats gives this opportunity because the
ratio between text and image is about the same, like NME.
8. Question 5 – How did you attract/address your target audience
• I have targeted my audience by using a young girl wearing contemporary clothing as this would
allow girls and boys associate with her. I also used bright colours as these are the colours that are
associated with the younger generation, the ordered layout is also used because after doing my
questionnaire and asking my peers they said they preferred a ordered layout because it is easy to
read and navigate around, they also told me to use sans serif font, these fonts are also used in
music magazines that have the same target audience like Q and Billboard.
• The artists used on my cover lines also help me attract to my target audience, artists like ‘Jay Z and
Kanye West’ are artists that are associated with the younger generation. I also talk about issues that
youngsters want to read about for instance the line up of summer festivals, many young people like
going to festivals so they want to know who will be there, so having this in my music magazine
makes people want to read it and find out more. The main way I attract my target audience is the
models I use, they look like everyday youngsters so it allows my readers to associate with them. In
my two page spread I talk about issues that youngsters want to know about for instance ‘Is Aimee
really dating teenage sensation Justin Bieber?’ this is a technique used by many music magazines;
there main focus is music but however they do integrate other areas of teenagers life
• I also use informal language throughout my magazine so teenagers can easily read them and also
keeps it open for a broader audience as many teenagers want to read some informal and fun rather
than reading formal language as this could be very monotonous for them and boring, so I decided
to do this because it will keep my magazine fun.
9. Question 6 – What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
I have learnt a lot about technologies from the process of constructing this media product, for
instance this was my first time using a video camera, which allowed me to create my first
movie, which I edited using the programme iMovie, I had never used this programme before
so I benefited greatly from this experience and it will allow me to have a solid basis for
improvement in the future. Also I improved my Mac skills, before taking media at AS level I
had never used a Macbook, so now after completing my preliminarily task and my main task I
have a solid basis of knowledge and skills on the Mac, after using the Mac, I have decided to
purchase one myself. Also, I have improved in technologies through the use of the blogger
format, I have never blogged before in my life, so after media AS I can now upload pictures,
embed links to the blog to make it look a lot better and help improve my grade and
performance. I have also improved in my viral technology because I used viral techniques like
Facebook and Survey Monkey to get feedback about my media product and also get a
knowledge and understanding about what they want in a music magazine, which allowed me
to improve my media product and my use of viral media. Another technology I have
improved is my use of Microsoft Publisher, before making my media magazine I had never
used publisher so it was a good experience getting to know what to do like contrast the
picture colour, crop photos and download fonts from www.dafont.com because without this
website I would of only been able to make a magazine using Microsoft fonts which are not
very professional. To conclude, I have improved greatly and learnt a lot about technologies
from the process of constructing this product, it has gave me a solid basis to improve in my
media studies career.
10. Question 7 – Looking back at your preliminarily task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the main construction
An audio clip explaining and answering question 7
11. To conclude!
• I believe my magazines follows conventions of normal music magazines in
a lot of ways and sticks to my target audience and appeals to them a lot.
Prometheus Media group was the company I would chose to sell my
magazine to as they would be able to help my magazine with there
advertising and marketing schemes. I have learnt a lot about technologies
doing this take for instance how to use iMovie and the Macs. Finally, I have
improved greatly since my first take and have made my magazine look
very conventional.
• Brett Tinnion
