The document describes the ways in which the author's media product, a music magazine, uses and develops conventions from real music magazines. It discusses how the front cover, contents page, and double page spread employ conventions like the masthead, barcode, page numbers, and pull quotes similarly to real magazines like NME. It also notes how the author develops new conventions, such as cropping the background of a front cover image.

1. Coursework Evaluation By Sam Clark

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Front Cover Firstly, my Music magazine has several conventions which are used in very similar ways as the real music magazines, like the NME for example. The main convention which is used in a similar way is the masthead , on my music magazine it appears to run behind the main image, cutting out parts of the letter, as it does on the magazine NME, as show in the bottom left hand corner of the page. I feel it gives the magazine a unique look and an interesting feel, as it is not simple and boring to look at. A second key convention which is used on my magazine is the barcode , this is a key part to any magazine. However, it is placed at the bottom left hand corner of the page, with the date running along the top of it. This is also the same in the NME magazine displayed at the bottom of this slide. Another convention which my magazine uses which is similar to those used in the real music magazines is the colour scheme, it sticks to the same colours throughout to give it that clear and sophisticated look. It also gives it that professional look. Also I feel that my music magazine develops new conventions, for example, on my music magazine I have cropped out the background of the main image, therefore leaving half of the background still there, this is something I have not seen on any real music magazine.

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Contents Page My contents page has several different types of conventions which are used in real music magazines, for example, the list of page numbers and page descriptions are listed down the side of the page in a box , this separates the rest of the writing on the page and makes it stand out and gives it an individual feel. I have also used a minimised masthead at the top left hand corner of the page, something which a lot of music magazines do not do, this once again gives it a unique feel and gives it that professional look. Another convention which I have used is called a lure, this is where you have a section of text which gives the reader an insight as to what a page is going to contain. This is a key technique as it helps convince the reader into buying the magazine. A unique selling point. Another convention which is used throughout many different music magazines is the page numbers . This is a key technique which must be used on every page to allow the reader to know which page they are on, and also to assist them when navigating there way around the music magazine.

4. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Double Page Spread The final part of my music magazine is the double page spread. This also has many key conventions which are used on real media products and ones of which I have brought in myself. Firstly I have used the main image on the left hand side of the page and it takes up the whole side. This allows the readers to have a clear view on who the article is about, and it also adds a nice bit of colour to the page to make it more eye catching and appealing for the viewers and will keep them interested. Another key convention is a feature which is placed to the left of this text. It gives the reader something else to read besides the article. Another a bit of interesting information for the reader to consume. Another convention used is the title, I have used a slightly different approach from other music magazines. I have placed it running down the side of the image and at a side ways tilt/angle. This once again gives my magazine an individual look and feel. I have also used a convention which many other media products use. It is a convention which allows the text to stand out from the rest of the text. It is called a pull quote and is used in a different sized font to make it stand out from the rest of the writing.

5. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

6. I had a specific target audience for my magazine. It was for people who listen to the INDIE genre of music. I have also designed my magazine in a way that it will appeal to the age range of 16-25. However I have made it partly different so that it will appeal to older people if encase they want to buy the magazine as well. I have made the main image look as rebellious as I can so it appeals to the younger generation and fits into the INDIE scene. I have done this by making the artist sit on a brick wall, showing sign of rebellion. I have also included cover lines and articles about other bands which appeal to the INDIE genre. Social Groups

7. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

8. IPC-Media Group IPC is a company involved with the media which is known nationwide. They have published many media involved magazines in the past such as woman’s weekly, TV times, and lately magazines such as NME. This is a suitable publisher for my magazine as it has a very solid and good reputation. There is a major benefit for a having a company with a good reputation publishing your magazine as it will be very well published and everyone will no about it. I also feel that with IPC as my publisher. People will respect them as a company as they know that they produce good magazines, so more people will be influenced and encouraged into buying the magazine

9. What would be the target audience for your magazine?

10. I do not have a specific target audience for my magazine, but mainly for those who like the INDIE music genre. I would like everybody and anybody to like the magazine and hope that they would pick it up, read it and even buy it. However, after conducting my research of both my questionnaire and focus group, I came to conclude that the main people who would be reading the magazine is the 16-25 age range, therefore I have slightly aimed it more towards them, as they seemed to be the main people who will be reading/buying the magazine. The INDIE music genre generally seems to be aimed at the younger generation, however I feel that if you make your magazine more versatile, more people will be happy with the product, even if they are of an older age. I also stuck to what answers I received on the questionnaire and gave the magazine a clear and easy to read look,

11. How did you attract/address your audience?

12. With my target audience mainly being the age range of 16-25, I felt it was necessary to make my magazine both bright and colourful. I also did this as this is what the people who answered my questionnaire wanted (all 16-25). This will hopefully make the target audience feel at ease when reading the magazine and feel as though it was what they wanted. I also feel if the magazine contained more text than images, and lots of dark/neutral colours, people would find the magazine boring and not interesting. Below is a music magazine which I feel is rather plain and boring. I think this because the colours are very bland and dark, not giving the reader a positive outlook and the magazine itself. I also feel that people may also loose interest in the magazine before even opening it. This is mainly as it is not vey eye catching. Also, there seems to be no bright text which stands out from the background to alert the reader as mine does! I feel by having a brightly coloured magazine, with brighter pictures, brighter text, and also interesting images, will encourage the target audience to pick the magazine up and not only read it but buy it. Also, the younger generation are more interested in brighter, more interesting things as they look different/unique, which is the whole point of an INDIE music magazine, and those are the people who the magazine is aimed at.

13. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

14. Throughout the process of producing my front cover, contents page and also my double page spread. I used to pieces of software, these being InDesign and PhotoShop. They where very useful pieces of software and were easy to get along with. I will also be taking you through a step by step guide of how I created the 3 pages. Front Cover Here was the first step in creating the front cover, I had to place the original image into my photo shop page. Then I used the polygon lasso tool as displayed above to crop parts of the background out to get the main Image . The second step was creating a mast head. I went for a clean cut and easy to read look. I also went with the colours red and black to fit the colour scheme of my magazine in general. To create this I simply used the text tool as displayed above, and then placed the layer behind the main image. Another part of making the front cover was adding a footer to give the readers more information of what the magazine will contain. This was simply done by using the text tool. The barcode was also added by saving the image in my documents and then using the place button to add it to the front cover of the magazine. The final steps was just adding cover lines to the magazine which was done by simply using the text tool as displayed above.

15. For the contents page of the music magazine I used the software called InDesign. This was a good piece of software to use, however I seemed to have found it more difficult to use than photo shop. Contents Page Here is the first addition to the contents page, Simply just created a box then used the text tool to add the text which I wanted. Here is how you can change the colour of text, boxes and shapes etc. Here is a main part to the contents page, it is the main piece of information of the page as it gives the readers an insight as to what the articles inside the magazine shall include. To get the picture onto the page I used the place tool as shown below. Once again to write the text I used the text tool. Here is a piece of imagery which was challenging to include in the contents page. This is called the page number. To do this I had to create a shape by changing the font to Wingdings 3. Then I simply added the number 1 by using the text tool.

16. For the double paged spread I used the software InDesign. Once again I felt it is more of a challenging piece of soft ware to use than photo shop, however I had a little more experience with it as I had already previously made my contents page. A lot of techniques which were used and explained in the contents page are very similar t those on the double page spread. Double Page Spread. Here is a key tool which help me rotate some text which gave the magazine an overall different look as it made it slightly unique. Simply click on the text you want, and then rotate it by using the Rotate Tool (R) . Here is the finished product to the left, rotated sideways. Here is the main part of the double paged spread. This was simply created by using the text tool . Once again notice how the title of the text is at a rotate angle by using the rotate tool. Another key feature to this text was making the first letter in the first sentence (J) bigger and bolder than the rest of the text. This gives it a unique looks and lets you no that it is the starting point of the article. This was done by making the font bigger and bolder. Here I am showing you how I place my ia=mage into the page. Simply click the file button and then click place. This then takes you onto the next step… Select the image which you want to place onto the page, and then click open. Then, resize the image to the size you want it.

17. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

18. Looking back at my preliminary task I feel as though I have came a long way in terms of learning and I have definitely improved with several techniques and different aspect of the two types of software. I now feel a confident user of InDesign and also Photoshop in comparison to how I was with the preliminary task. I now no how to rotate text, keep a constant colour throughout, and even crop images out from there backgrounds in a professional way! Below I shall compare the difference between the front cover of my preliminary task and also the real music magazine front cover media product. Main Image Masthead Barcode Footer which was not included in preliminary task. Main cover line which was not included in the preliminary task. I have stuck to a colour scheme throughout all three pages