The document discusses how the student's media product magazine uses conventions of real music magazines in its design and layout. Key similarities discussed include a central prominent image on the front cover, similar masthead placement and style, inclusion of barcodes/prices/issue numbers, use of headlines on the left third of the cover page, and similar stylistic elements like top/bottom strips. The intended audience is discussed as teenagers from inner-city Birmingham interested in grime music. The summary also notes that Ditto Music would be a suitable distributor given their experience distributing UK singles. Techniques like eye-level images and prize/interview promotions are discussed to attract audiences.

1. Evaluation

2. In what ways does your media product use, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My media product uses the forms and conventions of real media products in several different ways and I am able to say this from the research I have done on music magazines. I have used an a example from A NME magazine, that I had not seen until after finishing my own magazine. One thing that is similar between the two covers is the main image. On my front cover there is only one main image the takes up the majority of the background space. This is also the case on the example of the real music magazine I have used as an example. The main image portrays the fashion of the particular genre of the NME magazine. The leather jacket the person is wearing and the guitar that he is wearing are all props that are associated with the rock indie genre, which is the of genre that NME magazine represents. This element is The same on my front Cover because I have certain props that are linked with the Grime genre such as the new era baseball cap that the person is wearing in my main image. It is not visible but the hooded top that he is wearing in the photo is Nike, and Nike clothing is the type of brand that a youth in the Grime genre is likely to be wearing. The positioning of the main images is very similar as well, being quite central but slightly to the right hand side of the page. I is likely that the creators of the NME magazine probably moved it towards the left for the Same reason I did, to fill the gap left on that side of the front cover.

3. In what ways does your media product use, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (continued) Another way in which I have used the forms of real media products is because of the masthead. My magazine masthead is extremely similar and I never noticed this until after I had finished designing my own. The positioning is similar as they are both placed in the top left hand corner. Both my magazine and the NME magazine’s mastheads are initial for the full name. My magazine is called ‘BGM’, which is a abbreviation for ‘Birmingham Grime Magazine’. And ‘NME’ is short for ‘New Musical Express’. Another convention of real music magazines that I have included on my front cover is the top and bottom strip. The top strip on their magazine is obvious like mine but the bottom strip in red is not a blatant, but still is visible. There are several other aspects of my cover that are familiar to real music magazines that are small details but most vital. These are the bar code, price and issue number which you will find on all real music magazines, because they are compulsory. Another element of my front cover that resembles those of real music magazines is the headlines. I have a few headlines on the left third of my front cover. The reason why I did this is because most music magazines tend to have headlines listed in the left third and it is a key convention of music magazines. The example I have used has the feature headlines slightly down towards the bottom of the page, where I have mine well space out covering a lot of the page vertically. The example of the NME magazine also has a main headline, which they have put in the centre of the front cover. I have done the same with mine.

4. How does your media product represent particular social groups? The social group that my music magazine represents is teenagers of a low social class, possibly group a social class of C-D. Older teenagers of a low working class of C-D. This is the type of group that my magazine represents are young teenagers that are from inner-city areas in Birmingham and listen to top Grime artists like Chipmunk, and Double S. The reason why I feel my magazine represents this type is because my magazine is about young Grime artists who have a talent and have made a career from being gifted in the Grime genre. The double page article is about two teenage Grime artists who have made it into the mainstream industry of music and have been on tour to other countries in Europe to showcase their talent to massive audiences. It gives the audience an insight into how the tour went and what the artists themselves thought about the tour. The two artists originate from inner-city areas in Birmingham and they once were a part of the social group that I think my magazine represents. Many youths of this particular Social group tend to have a talent in music but have not been noticed because of the area in which they come from. And my magazine basically helps to give the hope and belief that if the continue to work hard they can make it. The two examples of make believe Grime artists I have used for my double page article will help to get this message across when the youths of this social group buy the magazine and read the article themselves. Another reason why I decided to represent this type of social group is because there is not a magazine out there that I know of that actually does represent this type of social group, so I thought I may as well be the one to do it.

5. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? To begin with I had imagined that if someone was going to distribute my magazine then i was be a local music institution, but I had no real idea of who it would be exactly. But I have researched this before hand to see that if my music magazine was to really be released, who would distribute it for me. And I found a company that distributes Music within the Birmingham, west midlands area. This Company distributes 7 UK top 40 singles. They are call Ditto music and I went onto their website to find out what exactly the do. On the left is a table from their website, it tells viewers what the do and how they distribute, in comparison to other local media distributors. From the grid it is apparent that they are superior over the other distributors in the comparison. I think that Ditto Music would want to distribute my music for several reasons. One reason is because a lot of people like Grime music and it would most likely sell well, which would give Ditto Music good accreditation. Another reason is because there are not many Grime music distributors and it may be the beginning of a big rise in the Grime scene, and Ditto would be the makers a big Grime scene era.

6. Who would be the audience for your media product? The audience for my music magazine would be teenagers of all ethnicities that live in the inner city areas of Birmingham, such as Newtown, Small Heath, Ladywood, etc. The type of youths that are in the social group that the social group that my magazine represents. The type of youths that can be seen as under privileged, even if they are not. The teenagers of society that can be associated as anti social, criminal members of society, whether they are like this or not. Those older teenagers who people stereotype as unemployed, and branch from singled parent families. Teenagers that are perceived as low achievers in with low aspirations. Society interprets these youths as unsuccessful in education. The reason why I believe they would be the audience is because it is this type of social groups that take a heavy interest in Grime music and it is these types of social groups that many real Grime artists come from before the make it into the mainstream industry. I myself live in a area which obtains many teenagers of this social group and I am able to say that they are interested in Grime music and participate in mc-ing themselves. Many of them are talented in music but have never had the chance to really express their talent on a wider scale or have never been able to make it as a career.

7. Who would be the audience for your media product? (continued) My double page article is about teenagers who originated from inner-city areas of Birmingham and made it big in the Grime scene mainstream industry to follow in the footsteps of the like of Chipmunk and Wiley. If my target audience buy and reader the magazine, from reading the article they will hopefully continue to try and break through to a professional level rather than them not reading the magazine and giving up on their gift of music because they have no belief of making it to mainstream. This is partly what the magazine would be there for. I also target those who like the Grime music genre and are interested in the progress of Grime scene artists.

8. How did you attract/address your audience? There are several aspect of my front cover that helps to attract people to the magazine. In the main image, if you look at the person, you can see that he is looking back at you. This because when the picture was taken the model was instructed to look at the camera. This is known as interacting with the audience and by him looking at the camera, it’s as if he is looking into the eyes of the viewer and this is a technique that you will find on many music magazine to attract people to them. The shot of the image is a mid- Shot and was taken at eye level to make the interaction effect more effective. The top and bottom strips are a key feature to attract people to the magazine. In the top strip I have advertised the chance to win four V.I.P to a music festival tickets. This will help to attract people to the magazine because they will want to buy the magazine to find out more about winning the V.I.P. tickets. It is tickets to a T4 festival and they showcase many different genre’s so it will attract not only my audience but an audience of several different genre’s. And then in my bottom strip I have Informed the viewer of exclusives interviews with top Grime artists and any Grime fans will want to read the interview. So this will also attract My audience to the magazine. The gold colour to represent richness stands out well on top of the black background and the bright colour would help to catch the eye of customers.

9. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? I have learnt a lot from the construction of my music magazine. The creation of this magazine has increased my knowledge of Photoshop and in-design a lot. Before making this magazine, I didn’t actually know what in-design was. But I have now learnt that it is a programme that specializes in the creation of posters and magazines. Teachers have taught me how to use all the tools and I have become and admirer of the effects that in-design provides such as glows and faded boarders which are present in my music magazine. One thing that I have learnt is that Photoshop is better for cutting out images rather than in-design because in-design does not have the magic wand. So I did all the cutting out of my images on Photoshop and then placed them on in-design afterwards. I have also learnt a bit more than I already knew about photography. I have acknowledge the lens measurements of camcorders from using them in the photo shoot to take my photo’s. I used two different measurements of lenses, 0-50mm and 50-200mm. For the image on my front cover I used a 0-50mm Lens. I also learnt a lot about music genre’s from doing research for this AS level course such as music tribes and music institutions. It has done a lot for my knowledge.

10. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? Since the preliminary task I have learnt a few things to do with the features of magazines. My school magazine was quite good and got me a good grade but I was able of realise that there was many elements that I didn’t consider for my preliminary task that I did take into consideration for my music magazine. One of these elements is lighting. In my preliminary task I did not think much about the lighting in my images compared to my music magazine.