Samuel James Smith is candidate number 2961 for Aquinas College. The document provides responses from Samuel to questions about the target audience, representation of social groups, and distribution of a proposed music magazine media product. Samuel describes the target audience as being 16 years and older, men and women in the UK interested in rock music. He discusses using bright colors and cover stars to represent younger social groups and aspire readers. Samuel proposes distributing the monthly magazine through a website, app, radio station and in print to develop brand loyalty.

1. Name: Samuel James Smith
Candidate number: 2961
Centre: 33435 Aquinas College

2. 1. Who would be the audience for
your media product?
Know what
music they
like
Educate
d
16+
I aimed my
magazine at..
Men and
Women
Who spend money
on..
Who like to shop
at..
Britis
h

3. 1. Who would be the audience for
your media product?
I feel my magazine would be similar to NME magazine and Q
magazine so my target audience would be similar to those who
buy NME magazine and Q magazine. My target audience will be
men and women aged 16 and above with the genre of rock.

4. 1. Who would be the audience for
your media product?
The target audience for my magazine would be 16 year
olds and above, I have chosen that age because I feel
from experience that from that age and onwards you
get a better understanding for music and because it is a
music magazine then the target audience should
understand music well. Men and women are also a part
of the target audience that are British. I have put British
because most of my music will be British based bands
however some bands may not be British.

5. 1. Who would be the audience for
your media product?
My target audience may currently use the web for such
media on music and so I feel that the lifestyle of my
target audience would be mostly using the web and
smart phones for music. So I feel that a music magazine
for this kind of genre would be a change to their
lifestyle and this would maybe persuade the audience
to buy my magzine.

6. 1. Who would be the audience for
your media product?
My target audience would be as young as 16 because
that is the usual age that people would use social
networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook and this
way my target audience would be able to participate
with the magazine from the use of social media
websites this would be a use of symbiotic relationship
from the use of websites or apps from the magazine
that the youngest side of the my target audience would
be able to get involved with and also some from the
older side of my target audience.

7. Q2 : How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
My media product could represent young social
groups this is from the use of synergy for
example symbiotic relationship because my
media product will have an app that the target
audience can download and also have a website
that the target audience can sign up or sign in
onto. This will be for younger social groups
because they are usually the types of groups to
use these social media sites and apps.

8. 2. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
My media product uses bright colours with
large fonts to make the product stand out. The
bright colours will appeal to a younger social
group. My front cover uses 2 cover stars and the
cover stars are big to stand out and to be the
first thing that the audience will see and the
cover star may persuade them to buy the
magazine if the target audience like the artist
that is on the front of the magazine, this
represent social groups that enjoy music.

9. 2. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
My cover star on the front cover of my magazine
represents my ideal reader with the use of mise
en scene, because they are aged 16 and that is
the minimum age for my target audience and so
they might read the magazine. Because my
target audience is also the cover star then my
target audience will aspire to be my cover stars.

10. 2. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
My front cover is influenced by
this front cover from NME as
both the cover stars are looking
straight at the camera and that
is what I have done with my
front cover on my magazine. I
am influenced by this front
cover because people aspire to
be the 2 cover stars on this
magazine and that is what I
wanted for my media product.

11. 2. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
The 2 cover stars on my magazine are looking at the camera as are the ones on NME
magazine front cover this is used to influence the reader to aspire to be like the cover
star. Both use expressionless faces to show the cool nature of the 2 and this again is
to make the audience aspire to be like the cover stars. Cover stars is a great way to
influence social groups for example if the reader likes a certain clothing on a cover
star then the reader may buy that type of clothing.

12. 2. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
My media product will be based on mostly
British bands and will mostly repeat the
importance of British music and the way Britain
has influenced other countries in terms of
music and also the history of British music.

13. Q3. What kind of media institution
might distribute your media product
and why?
My media product is going to be published
monthly this way I can add more information
and pictures to the magazine in time for the
target audience to satisfy the customers needs
and expectations. This time gap allows my
media product to allow more information on the
next issue and also have more information to
display on the website.

14. Q3. What kind of media institution
might distribute your media product
and why?
I would make my media product go for a rivalry
company to be against because I believe I can
take NME’s target audience from them as my
magazine will be monthly which means I can
pack my magazine with more information than
NME also my magazine will be very similar to
NME’s so this means in a monthly magazine you
get more for your money rather than weekly
costs.

15. Q3. What kind of media institution
might distribute your media product
and why?
My magazine will have the following symbiotic
relationships for my target audience to view.
• Website
• App
• Radio station
• Print version

16. Q3. What kind of media institution
might distribute your media product
and why?
My website will have a sign in option and this
will allow my target audience to sign into the
website and I will gift my target audience offers
and rewards for the longer they have an account
my website this will create brand loyalty.

17. Q3. What kind of media institution
might distribute your media product
and why?
Ways my target
audience can
follow the news
with my magazine.

18. 4.In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
My magazine product uses many conventions a real media product
would use I will start with my front cover. My front cover has a house
style of black, white and red. Every magazine has its own house style,
a house style makes the product well recognisable as magazines will
rarely change their house style. An example of a house style would be
NME, their house style is also black, white and red. My music product
uses the house style in the front cover and the contents page and the
double page spread, like other real media products.

19. 4.In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
Media products use big, bold writing to make
certain text stand out and to grab the readers
attention, doing things like this will make it stand
out for the target audience for example if a band
name is written huge on the front cover of the
magazine then someone that likes that band will
spot that and will be drawn to the magazine. My
magazine also does this by writing huge letter then
name of the band on my front cover. Music
magazines also tend to use symbiotic relationship
to get audience participation.

20. 4.In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
An example of this would
be on NME front cover
next to the bar code it
says the website of NME
this is for the readers to
see and go to the website
to maybe sign up or sign
into the website. My front
cover has the name of the
website written near the
bottom of the page as a
use of synergy

21. 4.In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
On the front of Q magazines they have the cover star big
usually in the centre of the frame to stand out and be
clear to the target audience what is featuring in the
magazine, the cover star is a great way to make draw the
target audience to buy a magazine because the cover star
can use certain iconography that will catch the eye of a
reader. For example on the front of the NME magazine it
shows The Strokes and they are wearing things like
sunglasses and leather jackets to appeal to the audience
as a type of rock iconography because sun glasses and
leather jackets are usually associated with rock.

22. 4.In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
I have use this with my front cover as my front cover shows the
cover star big in the centre of the frame with certain clothing like
Fred Perry and Pretty Green to be associated with rock and mod
music. This I a use of iconography as most people who buy that
type of clothing are likely to be drawn to what they are wearing.

23. 4.In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
Contents pages are used to direct the reader to certain
things they want to read. In NME magazine they have
small writing next to a page number, the small writing will
be a small summary of what will be on that page so the
reader will just have to look at the page number and go
to that certain page if they find that interesting. On my
contents page I have a picture of something with a small
paragraph next to and a page number next to it to. The
picture is used to show what will be on that page and to
grab the readers attention and the caption next to it is to
explain the picture and the page number to direct the
reader to that article if they want to.

24. 4.In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
NME use an offer at the bottom of the
page to subscribe to their magazine
this is a part of audience participation
as the target audience will be
participating in signing up for NME
weekly. I have also done this with my
magazine at the bottom I have offered
the target audience to sign up to get
my magazine weekly. Q has the
website at the top of the page, this is
symbiotic relationship because the
target audience can view magazine
features from a different media
platform.

25. 4.In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
Contents pages can also use iconography,
Q use iconography with The Courteeners
showing the main singer Liam Fray in
sunglasses to show the rock genre of the
band and of the magazine. I have also
done the same with the main picture on
my contents page. I have used the cover
stars from the front cover on the
contents page to show the target
audience where to find this article and
they are wearing rock and mod
iconography clothing.

26. 4.In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
NME use blocked clear paragraphed
writing to make the magazine easy
to read and to look professional. On
my magazine I have used boxes to
show the contents of the page and
this makes things easy to find for
the target audience and clear and
simple to read, rather than having
things not in numerical order to
make it harder to find things on the
contents page, I have made it simple
to find things on the contents page.

27. 4.In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
On a magazine double page spread the
cover star is big and clear and usually has
the writing around the cover star to show
the importance of the cover star. NME
magazine have Liam Gallagher on a double
page spread. Liam Gallagher takes up one
page of the double page this is to show the
importance of the person. Liam Gallagher
has sunglasses on again to emphasise the
rock genre of the band he is in and the
genre of the magazine, he is also sat on
amplifiers with drums in the background as
a use of iconography, the iconography is
used on my magazine with the types of
clothing to symbolise the genre of the band
and the magazine.

28. 4.In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
NME also use a huge pull quote from
the cover star and most other music
products do the same, this quote is
usually short and will most likely be in
the feature of the double page. The
pull quote is usually something short
to make the reader want to find out
more from what the cover star said
and therefore read the rest of the
double page. I have done the same in
my media product, I have written in
big clear writing a quote from the
cover stars to make the target
audience want to find out more from
what they said and why they said it,
this is why I have made the quote
small and simple.

29. 4.In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
The house style from the
magazine is still used in
the double paged spread
with the use of just 3
colours as connotations to
the rock genre of the
magazine, for example the
black could show the rock
genre in the magazine and
that is why it is used in the
double page spread
because the band is also a
rock band and that is the
genre of the magazine.

30. 4.In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
My product uses symbiotic relationships to
appeal to my target audience that use things
such as social networking sites and have smart
phones.

31. 5. How did you attract/address your
audience?
How I attracted my audience with my media
product
• Big title
• Huge cover stars
• Star’s facial expression
• Eye contact with audience
• 4/5 features to convey value for money
• Price

32. 5. How did you attract/address your
audience?
How I attracted my audience with my media
product
• Different size text to show audience which
features are most important
• Unique Selling Points are clearly defined
• Clear colour scheme and consistent fonts to
create brand ID
• Bright colours and house style

33. 5. How did you attract/address your
audience?
I addressed my audience by:
I used bright colours to attract the reader to read certain things I want them
too
I used friendly language to communicate with my audience and used clear
language to make things easy for my audience to read and understand.
I used smart font throughout all my media product in connotation that my
magazine isn’t for kids so that you have to have some sort of understanding of
music to understand the context of my magazine.
My cover stars show power and confidence and this will make the target
audience aspire to be like my cover stars.

34. 5. How did you attract/address your
audience?
I can address my target audience of the age of
16+ because at this age most people will have
smart phones and this means my app will most
likely be downloaded by my target audience so I
can address them using this app that will be
available on all smartphones and my magazine
will promote this app on my magazine.

35. 5. How did you attract/address your
audience?
I can address my audience from many different ways
using synergy. For example I can address my audience
from social network sites such
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Youtube
• Tumblr
So my target audience can keep up to date with al the
news of the magazine by following any one of these social
network sites.

36. 5. How did you attract/address your
audience?
NME’s magazine front cover of
the strokes shows Fab and
Nickoli looking towards the
camera with no emotion and I
have done the same on my
magazine with Max and
Keanan as they are both
looking straight towards the
camera and don’t have any
sort of emotion on their face
and this would attract my
target audience because the
cover stars will be looking
straight at the person holding
the magazine.

37. 5. How did you attract/address your
audience?
I think what will appeal to my
target audience will also be the
bright colours on the front
cover for example the big and
bold title in white will stand
out on the black background.
Then headlines down the side
in the blue will stand out and
grab the readers attention so
they will read what is on that
headline.

38. 6. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
I first of all started with an
A4 size sheet of paper on
Microsoft publisher this
made it easy to get the
correct size for the size of an
actual magazine.

39. 6. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Also I found that the double
page spread option is very
helpful for doing my double
page spread it even gave an
option for a line down the
middle of the page so this
way I could split up the 2
pages down so it still
remains different pages.

40. 6. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
As I move the mouse it shows the
width and height the mouse it at
on the page. I found this very
useful for getting my
measurements on the magazine
correct on where to put
everything on the magazine to
give it a professional look.

41. 6. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
I used Microsoft publisher for my magazine front
cover and my magazine contents page and
finally my double page spread. I used it for them
all because I found the layout easy to use and
everything was simple to put things where I
want to and this made my magazine look smart
and professional.

42. 6. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
This tool allowed me to make a
good background with more than
one colour and with different
effects on the background for
example moving the a certain
colour to a certain part of the
page and the other colour to
another part of the page.

43. 6. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
I used photoshop for editing on such things as;
photos and titles for headlines and names. I use
the special effect tool when highlighted on the
certain thing and this will add a certain effect on
what I have chosen. I also use the magic wand
tool to remove any unnecessary background on
any pictures.

44. 7. Looking back at your preliminary
task (Aquinas College magazine), what
do you feel you have learnt in the
progression to the full product?
I feel the main thing I have learned in my
preliminary task is the spacing of pages for my
magazine I think I have learned spacing of
objects is important for the magazine for
example the cover star and title must be in the
centre of the frame this is to look professional to
grab the readers attention straight away.

45. 7. Looking back at your preliminary
task (Aquinas College magazine), what
do you feel you have learnt in the
progression to the full product?

46. 7. Looking back at your preliminary
task (Aquinas College magazine), what
do you feel you have learnt in the
progression to the full product?
I learned from the preliminary task about cover
stars need to be more central and to be facing
the camera so the audience can see the cover
star clearly like on NME or Q front cover will
always have a cover star facing the camera.

47. 7. Looking back at your preliminary
task (Aquinas College magazine), what
do you feel you have learnt in the
progression to the full product?
I have learned that colour is important for many
reasons one reason being the house style of the
magazine. I had use of 3 colours for the house
style red, black and white and I it is important
that I used these colours through my whole
magazine.

48. 7. Looking back at your preliminary
task (Aquinas College magazine), what
do you feel you have learnt in the
progression to the full product?

49. 7. Looking back at your preliminary
task (Aquinas College magazine), what
do you feel you have learnt in the
progression to the full product?
Here is an example of house style
that I learned. NME have a house
style for their logo of red, white
and black. It is unusual for NME
to not use these 3 colours for
their title of the magazine. The
target audience expect the house
style from NME it would be
unusual for them to change the
house style and I don’t think the
audience will appreciate the
change.

50. 7. Looking back at your preliminary
task (Aquinas College magazine), what
do you feel you have learnt in the
progression to the full product?
I have also felt that for my final product I had 2 cover stars that I must
keep centre of the frame and really big and I have learned this from
NME I found this to be important because the cover star can attract
the readers attention if they like the cover star.

51. 7. Looking back at your preliminary
task (Aquinas College magazine), what
do you feel you have learnt in the
progression to the full product?

52. 7. Looking back at your preliminary
task (Aquinas College magazine), what
do you feel you have learnt in the
progression to the full product?
I feel I have progressed from making the
Aquinas magazine to the final product. I think
the biggest difference from the Aquinas
magazine there wasn’t much colour and in the
final product I added lots of colour and effects
to make the magazine look smart and
professional and appeal to my target audience.

53. 7. Looking back at your preliminary
task (Aquinas College magazine), what
do you feel you have learnt in the
progression to the full product?

54. 7. Looking back at your preliminary
task (Aquinas College magazine), what
do you feel you have learnt in the
progression to the full product?
In my preliminary task I think learned that I
needed to make them 2 different pages rather
than 1 big page because this would make it look
like a poster.