In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Transcript:

When creating my magazine I tried adhere to the typical features shown in music magazines of the pop genre. I used my similar product research to gather information on other magazines. I believe that my magazine successfully features many of the conventions already found in other pop magazines such as Billboard magazine

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Front Cover:

The masthead appears at the top of my front cover, as this is where you would usually see the masthead. It is bold and bright so that it stands out to the readers which will then attract current readers as well as new readers. The font that I used is eye catching and eroding, I choose this font as I wanted the font to reflect the name of my magazine ‘Rhythmix’, and this is by having a ‘mix’ of different textures in the masthead. Similarly, Q’s masthead is large and in a square box with s tagline underneath it which attracts the reader’s attention. I have also incorporated this convention into my magazine. I used a drop shadow in order for my masthead to stand out and not blend in with the rest of the text found on my front cover. I have also included the price, barcode and website underneath my masthead; this is clearly visible to the reader as when they pick up the magazine and look at the masthead they will see the price straight away. I included the website to follow the new technology trends, as by having a website allows the reader to find out extra information online.

I have used an unconventional shot for my front cover as normally you would expect a front cover to have a close-ups or medium shots but I’ve used a long shot of both my models standing behind one another. I felt that by having my main image different it would grad the reader’s attention as both my models are making eye contact. The main image is surrounded by a few sell lines to suggest to the reader what else they can find in this month’s magazine edition. However on typical pop magazine front covers you will see a lot more sell lines, but I decided to take a more sophisticated look and grab the reader’s attention with the main image. I have put boxes behind the text of the sell lines in two different colours; purple and grey. This is because the box in purple stands out more with the main content.

I have used a puff to attract my readers into buying my magazine. I have made sure that this is noticeable by having the words ‘Free’ and ‘Duplicity’ bigger than the rest of the text.

Contents Page:

My contents page also follows the typical conventions of a pop magazine. However I did also follow conventions from Q magazine as I believed the layout and content used was professional. I split my contents into organised and easy columns, ‘FEATURES’, ‘REGULARS’ and ‘REVIEWS. This will appeal to my target audience as it is clearly laid out and easy to navigate to pages as I have made the page numbers big and clear. I have also included a band and artist index which highlights other artists that my readers may be interested in. Not only did I have my contents organised in this way but I also used images to help visualise what else the reader could find in the magazine.

As I created my contents page on a double page spread this allowed me to include a lot of information which in the readers case is a good thing as they will be convinced that they have bought the right magazine to last them a month to read with lots of different articles to read. Due to having lots of room on my contents page I was able to add in an editor’s note which tells the reader exactly what they can expect in the magazine.

Typically found in Q magazine, I have used the conventional idea of having a Review on the left hand side of the page. I believed that by having this, the reader would have a more interest in the magazine. Also below this I have put a Subscribe box and included the social networking sites; Facebook and Twitter. This is because my target audience are typical users of these sites and therefore will be expecting the magazine to have an online copy where they can find out extra information.  

Double Page Spread:

My double page spreads tend to stick to the same typical style of a pop magazine by having the article funny and relaxed. As the double page spreads are en exclusive I have made sure that on each page I have included the word ‘exclusive’ in the left hand corner where you would typically see this. I have made the title of the article big so that the readers can see this clearly; I have also added a purple oval shape behind to make it stand out even more. I have used a range of images with different shots ranging from close ups to long shots. My models are wearing a range of different costumes which makes the article more interesting with the funny pictures to go with the article. Typically found in most articles I have also included a brief introduction to the article so that the readers know exactly what the article is going to be about. I have laid my article out in three columns; this is how you would typically see a magazine article which makes it a lot more professional.

I have chosen to use a variety of different images, some of the artists together and some by themselves. This gives the reader a view of the artists from a range of different views. This is clearly shown on the second and third double page spread. Throughout my magazine I have made sure that my models are wearing different outfits to make them appear more unique and different.

I have followed another convention found in magazines by including several pull quotes from the article. By having pull quotes allows the reader to pick up on key point in the magazine if they didn’t read the entire article.

Overall I feel that I have followed the main forms and conventions of a real music magazine. However I did adapt to these conventions in order to meet the interests of my target audience. 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

When creating my magazine, my main aim was to try and appeal to a specific target audience of just females aged 13 – 18 who are interested in pop music. I believe that my magazine has successfully done this due to the presentation of the magazine and the images chosen and the style of writing. 

I think that the social group within my target audience is represented well throughout my magazine, from looking at my front cover, the audience can tell which target market it is specifically targeted at due to the colour scheme used throughout and the main image. The colour scheme helps to represent the femininity with the use of bright colours. As my magazine is targeted mainly at females I have stuck to a purple colour scheme and used creative fonts. The fonts that I have used are bold and eroded which adds a nice texture to the page.

The cover models on my magazine look successful and superior due to the image taking up a lot of the space on the page with a few sell lines around the image. This suggests to the audience that they are well known to the readers which will target my target audience to buy the magazine as they will know that there will be a big exclusive about them. I imagine the readers of my magazine to be fans of the whole pop music genre, not just the artist featuring the issue. 

This is why I have also included other popular pop artists that I think they are interested in. For my Casting of models, I chose Louise and Emily because I believed that they would be able to create a sense of funniness in the photos used on the double page spread and as they are friends they would be relaxed in front of the camera when doing these photos. Also I choose them, because Louise has already experienced being in a photo shoot therefore she knew how the process was and was calm in front of the camera and didn't mind taking picture.  

As I have chosen to do a pop magazine, I have represented my models to appear approachable and fun. This is shown on my double page spread where you can see a few fun photos I have taken of them. This allows the reader to engage more with the magazine as they will idolise the artists due to them being fun and approachable. I have done this by using a few props such as lots of different types of sunglasses. My models are relaxed and confident which help to promote my magazine. During my photo shoot I had to make sure that my models have different types of facial expressions for different types of photos. This meant that my magazine would have a variation of facial expressions ranging from being serious to laughing to smiling. Depending on which photo I took my models needed to change costumes. 

For the front cover I wanted my models to have a smart party look, therefore I asked them to wear a skirt and a nice top which they would wear if they were going to a party. Another costume that my models wore were an outfit that they would wear when going out with their friends, this was just a pair of jeans with a plain top. Another costume they wore were an outfit they would wear in the summer when on holiday. I have used a variety of different costumes so that my target audience can have options for different occasions to idolise.

 Having said this, I have also insured that my article is also funny, in every pop magazine you will expect to see humour and relatable comments from artists. The language and tone of my article is quite laid back and includes a lot of laughter. I interviewed them in a way in which they were comfortable and oblivious to the recording. This made them confident to just speak what they wanted and how they wanted. 

What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why?

Transcript: 

There are four main companies that form the oligopoly; these are IPC Media, Bauer Media, Condé Nast and National Magazine Company.

IPC Media (International Publishing Corporation) is a consumer magazine and a digital publisher in the UK, founded in 1958. It has a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. IPC Media publish a variety of magazines ranging from fashion, TV guides, music and many more. IPC Media distributes a teen magazine called ‘Teen Now’. Therefore I will not be using IPC Media to publish my magazine, this is because they already have a magazine brand that is targeted at my target audience and includes the same features. 

Bauer Media is a multinational media company; they operate in 15 countries worldwide. The company was founded in 1875. There are around 8700 employees at 15 locations in Europe, publishing over 282 magazines. Bauer Media publish Empire and Kerrang magazine which are two magazines brands with a big target audience and my magazine is aimed at only teenagers interested in the pop industry, therefore I won’t be using Bauer Media to publish my magazine.

Condé Nast is a worldwide publishing company founded in 1909 which distributes the most successful lifestyle magazines.  Vogue is a well known fashion magazine published by Condé Nast. I will not be using Condé Nast to publish my magazine as they have many competitors already therefore this will impact on my magazine as it will be hard for me to attract my target audience due to Condé Nast already having very successful magazine brands.

The National Magazine Company (Nat Mags) is a based in London; they are one of the largest diversified media companies which distribute magazines such as Elle and BAZAAR. Nat Mags don’t distribute any music magazines at the moment; this is why I have chosen for my magazine to be distributed by them. I have made this decision as I won’t have any competition whereas if I was to have my magazine distributed my IPC Media or Bauer I would have the competition with Teen Now, NME and Kerrang. I believe The National Magazine Company would like to distribute my magazine as they have not get distributed a music magazine, therefore I would be the first magazine to be distributed by them and they would want it to be a success.

In order for my magazine to be a success I will have to ensure that my magazine is marketed and advertised well as this will pay a big part of whether my magazine is a success. My marketing plan needs to be good; today’s generation revolves around social networking which means I will need to have a Facebook and Twitter account set up for my magazine. I believe that this is a good way of advertising my magazine as my target audience are always tweeting or making statuses. This insures that they are always up to date on the latest showbiz. I will also have an app for Smartphone’s such as iPhone’s and Blackberry’s, this will enable my target audience to read articles and check chart updates using their phones.

Finally I think by advertising my magazine on billboards and public transport is important when distributing my magazine as people will be able to see these and become familiar with the magazine. By having posters on billboards and on public transport attracts people’s attention and as my target audience is teenagers this is the ideal way of grabbing their attention as they use public transport everyday and we’ll see the magazine which attract potential readers.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Transcipt: 

The audience is the most important element that you need to consider when creating a magazine, as you have to attract your target audience into buying the magazine. My magazine is based around the pop genre; therefore I have used bright colours such as purple throughout the magazine in order to catch my target audience’s eye.

The target audience I have chosen for my magazine ‘Rhythmix’ is teenagers aged 13-18. The social demographic class for my target audience would be B, C1 and C2, this is because most teenagers at this age don’t have a job, therefore they won’t be able to spend money on magazines, and they’ll have to rely on their parents who have jobs to buy the magazine for them. I have chosen these ages because it is at this age where teenagers begin to have an idea of the type of the music they like and also would have gone to concerts of there favourite artist. My magazine would attract mainly females due to the content in the magazine, such as the gossip and boy groups.

In my magazine I have included a section for Reviews; this is because I believe that the social habits and interests with my target audience are quite similar. This means that I believe that my target audience would like to know about upcoming album releases, tracks of the year and track-by-track reviews with popular artists.  By creating this section on my contents page allows the readers to receive the information they were expecting in the magazine and therefore read about it.

Rhythmix is likely to appeal to a mass market; this is because the pop industry is quite popular and is always increasing with more and more artists being discovered. The psychographics of my audience is ‘mainstream’, this is because my genre of music is popular nowadays and many people listen to chart music and keep up with whose number one. The audience can find this type of information through reading magazines, watching music channels or even going online.

My target audience will be interested in fashion and will be observing what artists wear and will want to idolise them, therefore they will expect artists in the magazine to be wearing similar clothes such as converses and vans. As my magazine is also available online on a website, readers will expect Rhythmix to have a Facebook and Twitter account in order to keep up to date with the latest news. This is an easy and accessible way of reading the magazine online as many teenagers nowadays have smart phones such as Blackberries and iPhones which they can use to review the magazine.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Transcript: 

The front cover is the most important page to the audience as this will decide upon whether they want to buy the magazine or not. To ensure I attract my target audience I have stuck to bright colours that will attract my audience. When I research existing products most of the magazines that I researched included bright colours such as pinks and purples. Therefore I have used purple in my magazine. Another important feature that needs to stand out on the front cover is the main image, I have used two models on my front cover, and they are of a mid shot. This is to highlight the clothes they are wearing as many people idolise their favourite artists and like to dress like them. Another feature that will attract my target audience is by having competitions in the magazine that they can enter in order to win something. For example tickets to attend gigs, concerts and festivals.

The contents page is another important page of the magazine as this is the navigation for the reader. This will help the reader to flick to pages of the magazine quickly and easily. My contents is very busy with lots of features, this gives the reader an insight of what’s going to be in the magazine and allows them to choose which article they want to read as there will be page numbers to help navigate to the pages. By having lots of images on the page also allows the reader to relate with the articles on the page. To engage with my target audience I have also included a subscribe box where the reader can read articles online on the website or visit social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. I chose these social networking sites as my target audience will most likely have these accounts. By including a band and artist index allows the reader to discover new artists, this is another feature in why people buy magazines.

My double page spreads are also important as they are the main cover of the magazine. Therefore I have to meet all the conventions of a magazine in order for the double page spreads to be appealing for the target audience. I have used many different photos of the artists that will attract the reader. I have also included a montage with different objects such as sunglasses. This is because my magazine is a pop magazine and they are normally relaxed and funny articles. Most pop magazines come with free posters; therefore I have included two posters of my artists with a quote. As I have included free posters in my magazine this attracts the target audience as to being worth the money for buying the magazine with free posters. Also I have made the way of writing my article in a sarcastic funny way, this also attracts the target audience. 

Feedback on Final Magazine

Susana - 16 years old: 
"There is a strong colour scheme throughout the magazine which makes it look more professional. The front page has good use of bold, eye catching sell lines which makes it appealing to an audience. The contents page is laid out in an easy to read format with the most popular stories on a larger scale to make it easier for readers to find the pages they are looking for. The use of interesting pictures on all pages of the double page spreads makes the target audience more willing to continue reading the article along with the bold pull quotes. Overall, a very professional, well-made magazine." 

Filipa: 14 years old: 
"I like your colour scheme, it is very bold and stands out. Also the use of different bands photos on the contents page are primary photos which is good as it clearly shows you have put effort into taking the photos as you can clearly see who the bands are. Finally the small photos on the double page spreads are laid out nicely and look really effective."

After receiving this feedback I believed that I had met the needs and expectations of my target audience as they found my magazine easy to navigate and found the use of photos and pull quotes interesting. 

Comparison of Draft Magazine to Final Magazine

I have compared my Draft Magazine to my Final Magazine as I have completely changed my whole magazine. This is because when I first started my magazine I had a vague idea of how I wanted my magazine to look like. However I then started to look at other magazine and began to get more inspiration which then led to me starting my magazine again to make my magazine meet all the conventions a successful magazine has. 

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

Transcript: 

The two main forms of technology that I used when creating my magazine was Adobe Photoshop and Indesign. Both Adobe Photoshop and Indesign are a software which allows me to create professional and realistic products with good quality outcomes opposed to using a software such as Paint. Adobe Photoshop is the best software to edit photos and remove the white back drop as it leaves a good quality photo that can be then used on other backgrounds. However I didn’t create my magazine using Photoshop as I did for GCSE. Instead I used a more advanced and professional software; Indesign.

Photoshop is the best software in order to remove the white back drop from the images as when I had finished cutting the background I was then able to edit my photos by either changing the colour levels or adding an effect to them. When adding an effect to a photo that has been taken outdoors makes the photo appear more professional as when taking the photo I used a canon 5500 1.8f 50mm lens which blurs the background and focuses on the model. To remove the white back drop off an image I clicked on Select and a drop down menu appeared, I then selected Colour Range and a new box appeared on screen. I used the ‘Add to sample’ picker to pick out the white background and when I was happy with my sample I clicked OK. I then right clicked and selected ‘Select Inverse’, all this means is that the dotted lines are now around my image and not around the background. I then edited my photo in ‘Quick Mask Mode’; I did this by filling my image with the paint brush tool in black. When I had finished this I right clicked and clicked ‘layer via copy’ and I had no white background on my image. I was then able to put my photo on a different coloured background.

I created my magazine using Indesign, this is the software that is used to make actual magazine. By using Indesign it enabled me to use tools and features that would allow me to produce a successful magazine. Compared to Photoshop the text wrap on Indesign is a lot better and easier to use, by using text wrap it allows you to have text going around an image and it fills in all the spaces available leaving you with no uneven white gaps. Another good feature used in Indesign is the ability to be able to make the edges around the photos round; I have used this in my double page spread where I have created a montage of different photos. Another good feature of using InDesign is the double pages, this allowed be to create an A3 contents page and spreads. By having these in A3 also allowed me to write a fair amount of text. I was also able to download a font off the internet and insert it onto InDesign to use for my masthead and sell lines. I found this quite useful as I was then able to make my magazine stand out instead of just having a plain boring font such as ‘Times New Roman’.

During this course I have been documenting all my work onto a blog; this is an easy and useful way for me to upload all my work. I used many different formats when creating my work, such as Microsoft word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi, images and videos. When creating work on Microsoft word and PowerPoint I had to use Scribd, this is a very useful website where I was able to convert and publish my work as this allowed me to embed my work onto blogger. Another software that I used when planning my magazine was Prezi, this allowed me to create small presentations similar to PowerPoint but with more interaction as there are many paths with zooms, these paths enable you to navigate though each part of the presentation. I also used a software called Cam-studio, this enabled me to make a video of the progression of my work. For example when creating my preliminary task. Cam-studio allows you to record what’s happening on the screen; this could be by showing how you created a product or how you removed the background of an image.

The camera that I used when doing my photo shoot was a canon 5500 this is a professional camera that takes good quality images, this is because you can change the camera lens to suit the type of location such as when taking photos outside you can change the camera lens to 1.8f 50mm lens. As the camera is digital I was able to look through the photos when taking the pictures and delete the photos that I didn’t need as opposed to not using a digital camera as you would be waiting till the photo was printed, also you wouldn’t have been able to see if the photo was at a good quality. When I had finished my photo shoot it was easy to transfer the photos onto the computer. I did three photo shoots; they were based in the studio and in a location outside. In the studio I had a white back drop with professional lighting that would flash when I had taken a photo. By taking the photos in the studio with these lights enabled me to have a more professional quality image. 

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Question 7 

Transcript: 

Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel that I have learnt a lot about the production and distribution of magazines. This is also shown by the lack of tools used in the preliminary task compared to the final magazine. When creating my preliminary task, I used adobe Photoshop whereas for my music magazine I used InDesign. Considering I had never used InDesign before, I feel that my confidence with using a new programme and experimenting with new tools has grown.

In my preliminary task I didn't I lacked in the conventions of a typical magazine, which lead into having a very basic magazine. Throughout the research and planning of my music magazine I have learnt to understand the conventions of a successful magazine. The amount of time spent on my preliminary task compared to my music magazine can be clearly seen. This is because when creating my preliminary task I had less time and I had no time to plan what I was going to do. Whereas with my final product, I completed numerous tasks and done research before doing my photo shoot. Also in my photo shoot I used a professional camera and key studio lighting whereas in my preliminary task I took photos in random places around school.

I have learnt a lot since my preliminary task, for example I've improved in my Photoshop skills by adding different effects to the images that I took and changing the lighting of the image, this made the photos that I took appear more professional. I used a video online to help me remove the white background from my images as I had forgotten how to do this. Due to all the new skills that I have learnt you can clearly see that my music magazine looks a lot more professional compared to my preliminary task, this is because I have made sure that I've included all the conventions needed. Also this is because I used a professional camera which gave me good quality images that I could use in my magazine, more over I used the white back drop and key studio lighting which gave the high quality images. Also I had time to plan the types of poses/positions I wanted my model to be in. Whereas in my preliminary task I had poor lighting with no poses, it was all just natural photos.

When creating my preliminary task I didn't have much inspiration as it was a school magazine whereas for my final task I had a lot of inspiration as the music industry is growing with popular magazines. I researched many magazines so that I could understand the conventions of the magazine. I also researched a lot about the contents page, as I was unsure what the structure was. For example the categories, band and artist index and editors note.

I think that creating my music magazine on InDesign gives a more professional standard look appose to having creating it on Photoshop like I did for my preliminary task.

Production Log: Monday 4th March

In today's lesson I converted my magazine into a PDF print format however I came across a problem where I couldn't convert my magazine due to a font that I had downloaded off the internet having a licensing restriction. It took me quite a while to work out how to fix this problem. I then had to change all the fonts that I had downloaded to an outline which then allowed me to convert my magazine to a PDF print. I then uploaded my magazine to a website called Issuu which allows the readers to turn the pages of the magazine.

Final Magazine

Production Log: Friday 1st March

In today's lesson I finished my magazine and asked my classmates to give me feedback on my magazine. I got a lot of goof feedback for my magazine and made a few improvements where I thought was necessary. As I have finished my magazine I've got a week till my deadline to convert all my evaluation questions into something other than word. I will be working on question 7 tonight and making my way up to question 1. And by this time next week I will have finished my media studies coursework. 

Production Log: Monday 25th February

During half term I finished my contents page and I began to do my double page spreads and was nearly finished. However in today's lesson I finished my double page spreads. And began to look through my magazine and checking the spelling of my magazine and making sure I have included everything I intended to include. When going through my magazine I noticed I had quite a few spelling mistakes I used the spell check that was InDesign. 

Production Log: Friday 15th February

Production Log: Monday 11th February

In today's lesson I continued with my contents page. I continued to add features to my magazine. And do all the page numbers however when putting the page numbers on my contents page I got confused and was using the numbers more than once. Therefore to resolve this problem I wrote out a list of numbers in order in a word document and crossed off the numbers that I had already used which allowed me not get confused with the numbers that I had already used. I have decided to stick to my colour scheme throughout my magazine by just using purple, grey and black. This makes the magazine a lot more eye catching and allows my target audience to identify my magazine.

Production Log: Friday 8th February

In today's lesson I continued with my contents page and worked on sorting out which pictures to use. I used pictures that I had taken in previous concerts that I had attended, I will be attending another concert on the 23rd February where I will then take more photos and put on my contents page. The photos that I already have are from The Wanted concert and the Olympic Torch Relay Concert, I have used these photos as these artists are pop artists and would work perfectly on my contents page. A very popular pop boy band are One Direction and luckily for me I will be attending there concert which means I will be able to take pictures of them at the concert and also include them in my contents page and I will be able to attract my target audience as they are fans of this band and will want to read the magazine to find out gossip.

Production Log: Monday 4th February

In today's lesson I continued with my contents page. I set myself a target which was to do at least half of the contents page. I managed to write Contents in the corner of my page and layout all my text and finish my band and artist index. I also improved some of posts on my blog as I hadn't included a little paragraph explaining each task that I completed.

Production Log: Friday 1st February

I managed to finish my front cover as planned and in today's I worked on my contents page. This is going to take me a few lesson to complete as I will be filling the contents page with a lot of information and ensure that  I have all the conventions to a successful magazine contents page. This includes having page numbers to help the reader to easily navigate them to different page and having pictures supporting some features.

Production Log: Monday 28th January

Production Log: Friday 25th January

In today's lesson I focused on creating my front cover from scratch. I downloaded some new fonts off the internet to make my front cover a lot more eye catching and unique.

These two fonts stand out the most for me. I will have my masthead in capital letter using the font 'VIPER NORA' and the sell lines with 'Arista'. 

Production Log: Monday 21st January

In today's lesson I began to make the improvements to my magazine. The more improvements I made the more I realized that my magazine needed to improve. So I decided to start my magazine all over again and start from scratch. This was also a good idea as I had more inspiration and I knew exactly what I wanted and how I wanted to lay things out.

Comparison of Draft Music Magazine And Real Products

Comparison of Draft Music Magazine and Real Products 

By completing this task allowed me to see where I will need to improve my final magazine. As I was comparing my magazine to a an existing magazine. When creating my final magazine I will make sure that I have all the conventions of a real magazine. 

Feedback For Music Magazine Draft

Production Log: Friday 18th January

In today's lesson I got feedback from my class mates of what they thought of my draft magazine. I did this by showing them my magazine and using a Digital Dictaphone to record them giving me feedback. 

I had 3 different class mates giving me feedback and each person focused on different pages of my magazine this is so that they gave me good feedback instead of giving me feedback on the whole of the magazine. When I had finished recording them I imported the sound into my documents and began to make a video of the feedback given using screenshots of my magazine to highlight the key area that they talked about. 

Production Log: Friday 11th January

In today's lesson I got given the list of 7 evaluation questions that I needed to answer. We went through the questions together as a class to understand what the questions mean and how we should answer them. Each question needs to be at least 500 words long as this will make sure that we talk about everything needed to answer the question properly. Also by the end when all 7 questions are completed I will change them into either a video, powerpoint slide, prezi etc. This is because this will then show off the different software's that I know how to use.