The document describes a music magazine product created by the author. They used conventions from real magazines like Vibe as inspiration. The front cover features a posing artist to intrigue readers. The contents page lays out stories differently than other magazines to draw attention. A double page spread uses a black and white background with the artist in color for impact. The target audience is described as females aged 16-25 interested in R&B music. Various distribution methods are proposed. Technologies like Blogger and Fireworks were used to construct the magazine and enhance photos. Lessons were learned about creating an authentic product and typical magazine conventions.

1. Josh Cucyk

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My magazine has a typical layout and is similar to Vibe as I used this magazine for ideas. I have circled the conventions that have inspired me. I have used ideas from Vibe magazine to create my music magazine front cover. I have conventionally placed the masthead behind the picture as I am confident in the popularity of my magazine just like how Vibe have placed theirs. My front cover is also conventional as I have the headlines around the photo as if to frame it, to show that the artist on the cover is the main attraction. I have used bold basic fonts so that they stand out but, don’t take all the attention away from the main image. Which is a typical layout for a magazine. The model in my photo is posing quite smug as if to show that he thinks he’s better than other artists and doesn’t care what people think about him. The reader would be intrigued to know what he is smug about and wish to read the article about him.

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My magazine contents page has a unique layout as it has the model in the middle similar to Drummer to show how the main story is about the model and also so the model is the main selling point of the magazine. I also have my features column on the right side away from this week’s story so that they don’t take the attention away from the main stories this week. Unlike the magazine Drummer which has the features column on the left and is the main column, I have placed the features column on the right so that the reader’s attention is first drawn to the Exclusive list. The Exclusive list is most important because it has the latest news about artists. The fonts I used and the size also work well with the layout of the contents as they aren't too big that they take all the attention away from the model in the middle of the page. I chose the white font colour so that it’s easy to read against the red background. This colour scheme fits nicely with my genre which is RnB. Many RnB artists where these colours so the target reader would easily associate this colour with this magazine. They would also be able to see it easily on the shelf in shops. It is bold and colourful unlike some lifestyle magazines which have a pale colour on their front cover to suit the gender of their chosen reader. My magazine however, targets both genders which means that it will be easier to distribute and have a wider consumer market.

4. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? For my double page spread I have used the photo for the whole background unlike NME who have just used the photo on one of the pages. I chose to do this so that it doesn’t look like two separate pages. I have also used an unconventional layout as I have chosen to lay it out as a Q&A with the artist unlike NME who have chosen to set theirs out as a story. On the image I have used effects so that the background is black and white but the model’s face is normal I used this effect so that it stands out and grabs the attention of the reader. This is similar to the NME double page spread as the background is also black and white and the band are normal. I also made the “back” bold and in capitals the reader looks at that straight away and know exactly what the article is about.

5. How does your media product represent particular social groups The sort of people my magazine engage to are females aged from 16-25 this chosen age was decided by the front cover image with a model aged ranging the same. Also the target audience is for readers who are interested in RnB music and who like to keep up to date with the latest news. The class of the magazine can be decided by anyone from the indication received off the price range and also the pug (advertisement). The pug portrays a £3.00 off voucher which everyone is usually after. This concludes the class to be all of them (lower class, working class and upper class).

7. 4. Who would be the audience for your media product? The audience for my media product will be males and females ranging from the ages of 16-25, who are interested in RnB music and like to keep up to date with the latest music news. To find this out what age group I would aim my magazine at I carried out a survey in order to decide upon a suitable age range.

8. 5. How did you attract/address your audience? To attract my target audience I have used a young artist which correlates with my target audience as my magazine is aimed at teenagers. Another aspect I have used is eye contact so when my audience is browsing through magazines in the store and look at the magazine cover it attracts their attention as they think the model is looking straight at them. Also to attract my target audience I have used bold fonts and bright colours which stand out from the background I used this to grab the attention of browsing customers and to make it stand out from the rest of the RnB music magazines on sale. For example the word exclusive is in bold and in capital letters so readers can see straight away there is news in this magazine that no other magazines have. Also by using the apple sign at the bottom of the page to advertise the compotation to show we are up to date with the latest technology and what teenagers are using at the moment.

9. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? During the construction of my product I have learnt and understood how to use blogger. Blogger is a form of tracking information posted on a certain page which is open for everyone with a blogger account to see. It started with simple sets which then I was able to adapt by increasing my posts on the site by including images, videos and presentations. I have also learned how to use fireworks to add effects to photos and change how the pages look to get maximum appeal to make my products look as professional as possible. I have also learned how to use slide share which is a website which allows you to upload pieces of work on to the internet and then transfer it to my blogger account.

10. 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? What I have learnt? Technologies: I used ‘Blogger’ as a form of tracking my work as I posted it onto my blog. I used ‘Fireworks’ as a way to produce my magazine and edit photos this involved cropping and changing colours on the model out of my image to make the magazine look more professional. I used a ‘Digital Camera’ to take the images of my model, using this technology I experimented with angles, framing, light, mise-en-scene and colouring to enhance the photos I had taken. I used slideshare for a more efficient way and clearer way of putting my PowerPoint's on to Blogger. How to make an authentic magazine? I made sure to create my magazine to the most authentic way by not copying a magazine to the exact position of the pug. Instead as a necessity I made sure that I did not create a magazine which was in illegal terms for a copyright. Thus changing my magazine’s conventions from a normal magazines I have made sure my magazine is authentic.

11. Continued Conventions of typical magazines? When reviewing RnB style magazines there are a number of conventions that are present. For example: the model imaged on the front cover suggests with clothing that is usually seen on the cover of magazines . The articles link to bands and artists who are also linked to Indie Rock. How to communicate The text and articles are bold and easy to read, the headlines are relevant to the genre i.e. ‘top 10 RnB songs of the month’. Since beginning my preliminary task I have learnt numerous different things about editing text and images for maximal effect to attract my target audience. I have learnt what themes can relate to which colours. I know what articles to mention or what style of articles to talk about and what images to portray the type of magazine I am making. I have also used a number of different sites and technology to help improve the images for the music magazine. Furthermore, I have learnt how to produce a effective and professional front page, contents page and double page spread which will appeal to my target audience and focus on the genre in question.