2. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
When we started this project, we were asked to look at the main
conventions of some magazines. I decided to look at VIBE and NME
and realised that the magazines did have some conventions that would
match my magazine. But I also realised that there were also some
conventions that I would like to challenge in order to give my magazine
the unique touch in order to attract more consumers.
3.
4. I located the plug on a bold circle background, I also made the
“WIN” text as larger compared to the other text which would
I chose to make the attract the consumers. I decided to use one of the
Masthead bright and main conventions of the NME
eye-catching in order to magazine “angle of gaze” in
catch the consumers order to make it seem like the
attention. model is focusing on the
I chose a volume icon reader.
which represents the title I chose to the medium close
of the magazine. I went up of the model which is just
against a convention of enough to reveal the facial
the NME magazine as impressions of the artist.
they like their title plain
and simple, but I wanted I listed the top RnB and Hip-
my magazine to have a Hop artists as featuring
unique touch to it. artists in order to cater for
other individuals.
I chose to put a “pull
quote” from the article on
my typical reader profile is a
the front cover as I think it
fan of Beyonce and has a
will jump out to the
passion for fashion. So I
customers and make
wanted to cater for my reader
them curious to read the
profile as well as others.
article.
I used Vibe magazines I chose to make the name of
conventions of presenting the artist bold and placed it
a Bar code because I think on the black part of the
it gives this unique sense I decided to put a distribution companies logo on picture in order to bring out
to the magazine. the front cover of the magazine; by doing this I the name even more.
went against the conventions of magazines.
5. I originally wanted to use this layout for my contents page but I personally think
that the contents page above looks a bit like a poster rather then a contents
page.
6. I did not use the NME contents page as a conventions source but I did use some of
the titles and a bit of the layout.
7. I used the icon to I placed the BOLD masthead of
continue the theme of the the contents at the front of a
magazine. plain background which will
The artists picture that I used make the masthead look bolder
on my contents page had to and eye catching. I used the
wear something different same phone as the front cover
compared to the front cover. of the magazine which again
This is a main convention of shows continuity.
many music magazines. This I linked the picture of the article
enabled my magazine to look and the actual article together by
realistic. placing the page number on the
picture. This will help the readers
I used the NME conventions find the page quicker by seeing
of the headings of the the representation of that article
columns. There is a colour which is the artists. This is also a
block underneath each convention of the NME magazine
heading-this ensures that which I wanted to use.
the headings will be outlined
for the audience and attracts For the article titles I made them
their attention with the bold bold and Red. This made them
choice of colour. stand out and eye-catching to the
I used big and bold numbers so rest of the writing below them.
that the readers can find what
At first I was going to put the
they are looking for quicker. The
Facebook and the twitter icon on
big numbers also makes it easier their rather then putting the
for the readers to read and see . whole name but then I realised
that some people may not be
This is not normally placed on the contents page but I decided to challenge this convention by placing it on familiar with the icons.
the contents page. Social media is a main selling point of many magazines as they make sure that their
magazine caters for everyone as not everyone is able to buy a magazine but most people have internet.
8.
9. I used a bold font I placed the pull quote next to the I cropped around the image and placed a drop
colour over the white picture of the artists to make it seem like shadow to it, to ensure that the readers are
background in order the quite belongs to her. I also made the attracted by the image. The cutting around the
to make it clear, eye font bold and eye-catching in order to image was difficult as I had to be accurate with the
catching and stand attract the readers. tool in order to make it as smooth as possible.
out.
Then pull quote
mirrors my
magazine article. It
draws the readers
attention and
makes them want
to read it.
I used a drop
down shadow on
the word exclusive
to make it bolder
compared to the
other text. The use
of the “exclusive”
vocabulary would
attract the readers
as they may feel as
if the article has I made the artists name bold I tried to keep the theme cohesive by using the same
been specially and italic to make it seem like colours and fonts. For the page number I used the
made for them. she has sighed it herself. same colour and font as the contents page to keep
the theme cohesive.
10. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
My magazine is aimed at both sexes aged between 16 and 20
11. Ideal representations of women?
The Ideal connotations of women suggested that they were powerless,
gentle, did not come before men and were only seen good for cleaning and
reproduction.
Recently, as time has changed and moved on, the connotations and
expectations of women have also changed. Women now have their own
power and independence where they can work and have qualifications.
They all have equal rights now due to the Sex Discrimination Act.
New Representations of women
Old Representations of women
12. Ideal representations of men?
The ideal connotations of men suggest that they had power over women,
they were all Macho, strong, healthy. They were only seen doing man like
jobs. But now in the 21st century the connotations of men have changed too.
They are see to be at the same level as women., they are also seen to have
the same qualifications and jobs as women.
Old Representations of men New Representations of men
13. Below are some images of young males and females
(social groups) that my magazine represents.
15. My magazine represents social groups
who are at the age of 20 or younger. It
represents young people who are
confident, independent and
hardworking.
I used a model who falls in the age
group but also who is confident in
herself and I thought that if I use her
then she might be able to represent
her confidence within the pictures and
she did. I used the colour scheme of
white, black and red which are all bold
colours. These colours could also
work on their own because they are
bold and eye-catching. This again
represents confidence.
16. I wanted my articles to represent
young people again. I chose articles
that I would be interested in myself as
I fall in the age group myself. The
model on the contents again has this
confident. The articles are linked to
young peoples likes and looked up
artists.
17. I wanted to challenge some of the negative connotations of young people in
my media products. For example, I wanted to make my article on my
double page spread as a successful article where readers can be inspired
by the article. I also wanted this article to challenge some of the negative
thought of young people.
18. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and
why?
19. Bauer distribution company is apart of
the Bauer media group which is Europe's
biggest privately owned publishing group.
The Bauer company is a worldwide known
distribution company which offers 300
magazines in 15 different countries which
included TV, Radio station and online.
I think Bauer could distribute my product
as firstly they are a “multi-platform UK
based” Company. I think this will benefit
my product as they don’t only distribute
hard copy but they also distribute via
radio stations and also over the net.
As the Bauer company has distributed
successful music magazine like ‘Q’ and
‘Kerrange’ which has a similar audience as
my magazine I think my media product
would really benefit from the company as
the company is experience already in the
distributing music magazines.
20. Who would be the audience for
your media product?
And
How did you attract/address your
audience?
21. My media product was a Hip-Hop/RnB based music magazine, I did already know
a lot about the genre but I still had to research into it deeper, develop ideas
deeper. Throughout the whole production of my magazine I had to think about the
genre and my target audience and how I can apply my idea to them, this was one
of the reasons why I carried out a lot of peer feedback sessions.
22. Age and Gender
Before I did the planning and research I wanted my magazine to cater for the age
groups of 14-30 but then I realised that this age group was to broad which will be
hard for me to cater for. So I narrowed my age group down to ages between 16-
20. I chose this age group because the people around me and myself fall into this
age group so I thought getting the information will be a lot easier and accurate as it
is a primary source.
From the begging I wanted my to magazine to be for both genders; males and
females as I feel that it is a large market where my magazine would sell, On the
other hand as my target audience are students they might not be able to afford it.
23. People that are within that age
group of 14-20 usually admire
people who are successful.
I think the listed featuring artists will
attract my audience if they are
interested in the Hip-Hop/RnB genre
as the artists which are listed are
mostly the most successful ones.
Most young people are also
interested in freebies, I think this plug
will attract my target audience as it is
a free giveaway.
When I did my questionnaire for my
market research the majority of the
people I asked fell into my age group
of 16-20. the respondents told me inn
my questionnaire what to do and
what not to do.
24. 16-20 Year
Olds
A typical reader:
- Likes going to concert and gigs.
- Likes to spend time with friends
- Likes to follow fashion
- They are fans of the top RnB and
Hip-Hop artists
I attracted my media audience
my revolving my magazine
around the things that age
group might like.
Another attraction point is
social media: a lot of people
that fall under the age group of
16-20 are likely to use social
media to socialise as it is one
of the recent and successful
socialising sites which is in the
trend.
25. I dressed my model up in a stereotypical way in order to attract
my target audience.
26. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
27. During the production of my media
product I used a variety of
technologies, I have learnt a lot about
those technologies. The technologies
that I have used has really helped me
in producing my work.
28. Below is a list of the technologies that I used in the making of my media
product.
SLR camera
Digital Camera
Scanner
Adobe Photoshop
Internet Explore
Blogger
Microsoft Word
Slide share
Microsoft PowerPoint
29. SLR Camera
I used the SLR camera to take pictures
for my magazine which was really
helpful. Because it was a digital camera
rather than a traditional camera I was
able to see the images instantly this
gave me an option of keeping the
pictures or not; this also gave me a
chance to see if the pictures where
coming out the way I had planed, if not I
was able to change the angle of the
camera for it to best suite the my plan.
Due to the large amount of space the
memory card of the camera has I was
able to take many photos at different
angles which gave me a lot to work with.
30. Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a picture programme that
enables me to edit photos. It was one of the
most useful technologies that I had used
throughout the development of my music
magazine. It helped me to present ,y images in
a creative way that I could not have done
before. For example for my double page
spread, I placed two images on the page I
added some effects on the images, Photoshop
helped me to see how these images could look
on the double page spread.
Photoshop also helped me to crop the image
on the right.
31. Internet Explorer
Internet explorer was really helpful because I
was able to find my secondary research from
the net.
I was able to look at the forms and conventions
of the magazines and apply this to my
magazine.
Internet explorer also enabled me to document
the work that I have done onto my blog which
was helpful when it came to the evaluate as I
was able to look back at my work and record
my progress.
32. Scanner
The scanner was particularly helpful when
it came to the research and the planning
stages of the project as I was able to scan
magazine covers, shot plans etc.
It enabled me to evidence my work on the
blog website which again helped me to
see the progress of my work
33. Microsoft Word
Microsoft word has
enabled me to draft my
double page spread
article and blog posts
to see if they make
sense on the word
document before I
uploaded it on to my
blog.
34. Slide Share
Slide share has helped me
to upload my work that I
created on PowerPoint
onto my blog. This has
helped me again to
evidence my work on the
blogger website.
35. iPhone
I used the iPhone recorder to record
the feedback for my magazine. The
handheld was easy to use as I was
able to take the video, but when it
came to uploading the file it was
difficult as I was not able to simply
copy and paste the file on to my
PowerPoint presentation. I had to
convert the file into a WMV file which
took around 45 minutes. And then I
placed the converted files into
‘premier’ which is a video making
programme.
36. Looking back at your preliminary
task, what do you feel you have
learnt in the progression from it to
the full product?
37.
38.
39. I think I have definitely improved my skills compared to my preliminary task as I feel I am
confident in working with technologies like SLR cameras, Photoshop and blogger. I think my
researching skills have also improved over the year as I feel that now I know a lot of research
methods and varieties.
