2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
The magazine, across the 4-pages, “repeats” (Steve Neale)
codes and conventions from magazines such as “KERRANG!”
and “NME” which I used as inspiration for the construction of my
magazine. These conventions include the colour scheme –
black, red, yellow and blue, with similar fonts to the front cover
throughout the 4-pages to ensure continuity. For my front cover I
ensured that it contained the main codes/conventions:
• price
• Date and issue number
• Bar code
• USP/puff
• Main image
• Headline and cover lines
• Masthead and strapline
• Online link
For my contents page I kept to the conventions of other music
magazines, via the addition of:
• USP/puff
• Divisions
• Page numbers
• sublines
• Online links (twitter, Facebook and website link) this makes
my product more appealing to the readers of the magazine by
providing the product in formats that are more easily
accessible.
• different image to the one on my front cover.
• Editorial
The editorial is important as it develops a personal relationship
with the reader (Katz). I used similar language to the language
used in my magazine of inspiration, which was relaxed and
relatable to the target audience.
During its production my double page spread underwent a lot of
alterations from its original design, in my hand drawn draft for
my double page spread the Q and A section was on the right
hand page of the two pages with a large image of the subject of
my interview Brendon Urie on the left hand page of the two
pages. But after some further research I found that this went
against the conventions that other music magazines on this
genre stick to, therefore I decided to swap the pages around.
To ensure the rest of my double page spread was conventional I
made a series of changes to the original design of my double
page; some examples of these are changing the number of
columns the interview is presented in from two columns to three,
also I used the same colour scheme on the two pages as I had
used throughout my production work (red, yellow, black and
blue).
To improve the reading experience for the consumers of this
magazine I clearly sign posted my questions asked by the
interviewer (yellow) and the answers provided by my interviewee
(white). This is also very conventional with this genre of music
with my main magazine of inspiration kerrang! using this same
technique in their own double page interviews.
3. How does your media product represent different social groups?
My music magazine is in the genre of rock, stereotypically this genre
appeals to a very select social groups e.g. “Goths”, “emo’s”. In the
production of my magazine I kept these social groups in mind, as my
target audience these would be the social groups I would be trying to
appeal to. From the research in to my magazine of inspiration I have
decided that my magazine would be most attractive to people in the C
to E range of the socio economic needs spectrum, I did this by
including language in a more simplistic style and the swear words in
my interview makes the magazine more relatable, but I did not actively
marginalise the people higher up on the socio economic needs profile.
By looking at Maslow's hierarchy of needs I predict “explorers” are the
most likely to purchase the magazine as it offers a product in to a
music genre that has a very limited coverage.
4. What kind of media institution (publisher) might distribute you media product and why?
From the research that has been completed in my pre-production work, I envisage
the Bauer Media group would publish “FRENZY!”, this is because my magazine
incorporates lots of synergy with online media, having a twitter, Facebook and
website link which allows the potential readers to access the content presented in my
magazine in various different ways, this makes my magazine appealing to Bauer
Media because this publisher is described as “multi-platform”.
Also as shown in the Bauer Media mission statement they pride themselves on the
personal relationships (Katz) they have developed with their readers which is
something I have achieved with my magazine.
“Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many
companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio -
widely recognized and rewarded as being industry innovators.
Our business is built on influential media brands with millions of personal
relationships with engaged readers and listeners. Our strategy is to connect
audiences with excellent content through our broad multi-touch point brand
platforms, wherever and whenever and however they want. Our wide portfolio
of influential brands gives us advantages over pure play magazine or radio
competitors.”
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/about
5. Who would be the audience for my media product and why?
According to Hartley’s seven subjectivities, the target audience of my magazine would
be in the age range of 15 to 25 and most likely males (Hartley) the reason behind this
is the main artist on the front cover and throughout the magazine is male, people often
have role models and identify with artists of the same gender (Hartley).
According to Katz’ Uses and Gratification theory males create “personal relationships”
with other males more than they do with females, however females (Hartley) may still
find the magazine appealing because the male gender is often objectified for the
pleasure of the female audience “female gaze” (Diana Saco).
According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, “explorers” would make up a large portion
of the readership since they will be wanting to be “informed” and “educated” on
previously under publicized genre of music.
6. How did you attract/address your audience?
To attract the intended audience of “FRENZY!” I included quite a few
USP’s
as from my results (from my questionnaire) I can see that these were
one of the things that attracted people most to the front cover.
By using a black background the colours that I did use (on my front
cover-yellow, red, blue and white) were in stark contrast to the
background and helped them to stand out and caught the attention of
potential readers, as from my results (from my questionnaire) I can see
that this is one of the biggest attracting factors.
The editorial on my contents page I use this to develop a personal
relationship with the reader, “its been a pleasure to assemble this issue
for you” this helps the personal relationship develop as it makes the
reader feel like the magazine was made purposefully for them.
On my double page I used social media links (twitter and Facebook) and
online website link on these pages, this synergy makes the magazine
yet more appealing as increased availability is something current
audiences attractive in a prospective magazine therefore increasing the
likelihood of a purchase.
The layout of the columns in my double page gave the interview a more
professional look and mad it more attractive to a perspective buyer as
people don’t like to buy magazines that look ‘amateurish’.
7. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The software I used to construct the front cover, contents page and double page spread for
“FRENZY!” was Photoshop CS4. The reason I used this product was because it allowed me to
easily edit the images I used changing the colour, saturation, contrast and effects of the images
swiftly. Before beginning the construction of my media product I had little to no knowledge of
Photoshop however on the course of the construction of this particular project my skills have
developed and I am now very capable of using Photoshop effectively.
To ensure that my product was original I used a font I had imported from www.dafont.com to use for
my masthead and strapline as well as using it in other areas I throughout the four pages produced,
the style of font I used was very conventional with this genre of music and the “repetition” (Steve
Neale) of this font throughout the magazine makes it more effective in tying the pages together then
if I was to use a different style of font.
Using the hue saturation I was able to make the main image on my front cover in greater contrast to
the background and therefore drawing greater attention to him, also this allowed me to greatly define
the features of my model. The use if the healing brush tool allowed me to remove any imperfections
such as spots or unwanted shadows on the face and therefore giving my product a more
professional look.
In conclusion, as this project has progressed my skills in the area of construction and image editing
in Photoshop have progressed greatly therefore allowing me to construct a professional looking
media product.
I used the pen tool to mark out the columns for the interview in a professional style that is
conventional with other magazines.
To remove the background on some of my images I used the magic wand tool to select the part of
the picture I wished to keep, then I inversed the selection and deleted the inverse selection
removing the background.
8. Looking back at your Preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
I feel like the preliminary task helped me develop my very
limited Photoshop CS4, the demands of the preliminary task
also helped me develop my time management and efficiently
skills.
The preliminary production work taught me to alter images
effectively, to gain the understanding of how to use
Photoshop required research and practice in free time outside
of lesson time. This research also taught me more about the
importance of layout and design, how some layouts are more
attractive to an audience and how some font designs are not
visible from certain distances at certain sizes.
The making of shapes and the editing and layering of images
over each other on the preliminary task helped develop my
confidence and creativity in my production work, this helped
me produce a product of a higher standard and to add
originality, which I believe my preliminary task was lacking in.
