Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task (the school/college magazine task/short continuity film sequence), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from that to your full product?

Firstly I think that I have developed hugely from my initial preliminary task to my final media product. The first thing I’ve noticed is the amount of white space/lack of content on the first product, although I would put this down to my lack of knowledge and confidence within producing a ‘college magazine’, because I personally knew more about the music magazine and the concept was something that was familiar to me this meant I could produce it to a much higher standard. Also the design and layout in my first magazine are of a poor standard as they are almost too ‘neat’ and the sell lines or any features of the page don’t particularly jump out at the reader, this whereas in the second magazine although there is a lack of sell lines there is plenty happening on the page to keep the reader interested and curious. Also the main image on the first magazine isn’t entirely relevant and doesn’t really make a statement or show a purpose, whereas the second magazine is based almost entirely around this main image and this is what everything else on the page revolves around. Also there is only one image included in the first magazine which means minimal media resulting in bad presentation, so in my finished product I used a number of images to even out the balance between text and images.

A you can see the my contents page has developed massively from my efforts for the preliminary and my final product. The research definitely helped me in terms of content and layout of a contents page and exactly what needs to be included. A lot more colour has been injected into my music magazine and therefore it is presented a lot better than the college magazine, there are no pictures on the first task as again I struggled for what content to include, whereas in the second  one there is a big focus on balancing out the input of text and images so the page is more appealing and well presented.

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the production of my magazine I have relied heavily on technology, not only as I used computing software to create my magazine but I used a number of cameras to get the images to include in the content.

Photography- Gathering photographs was relatively easy for me as I have taken the AS Photography course and at the same sort of time I was planning my magazine I took a set of high key photographs using a special type of lighting on a white background in order to create a bright tone. To do so I used an SLR camera in which I had to tweak the settings so that I could capture the best quality photo possible and therefore focused on aspects such as the focusing and the shutter speed. I used one of my photos from the high key set for the contents page as I thought it gave the appropriate ‘look’ and matched in with the semi- glamorous theme of the magazine. I also used a number of my friend’s digital cameras to captures images of my cover star and feature star which are just my close friends, I took images of ‘Lexy Laws’ every night we went out to events as she was then dressed up and therefore looked appropriate for the ‘Lexy Laws’ image, the majority of these images went towards the ‘spotted…’ section at the end of the double page spread.

Computing- These images, once taken, had to be uploaded onto the computer and transferred into a separate folder where there are organised before any edits are made.

Photoshop- When I began to use Photoshop at the beginning of the year I was really inexperienced in how to use the software and was unsure of how to function any of the tools but with me also doing my Photography course, I found it progressively easier to use as this subject is based around using this particular software. Just from experimenting and exploring the tool bar I found that my knowledge of what can be done on Photoshop has expanded greatly and I now feel a lot more confident in using it. I ‘placed’ all my images onto the appropriate magazine page and for most I edited them slightly, by using tools such as the dodge tool, the blur/sharpen tool, the spot healing tool and the healing tool; these were all to improve the quality and look of the image and to give them a ‘flawless’ effect that is in keeping with the people and look that’s involved and associated with my magazine.
I used the patch tool to fix images that may have had unwanted overlapping objects or people in the picture and this picture of my friend Michael I really wanted to use as I think he portrays the right image for my magazine but it had things overlapping him so I used the patch tool to correct this. I also used the blur tool to even out his skin and the pixilation to create a better quality picture.                      

Before                                        After

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?



Georgina

Georgina is a perfect example of my target audience, she’s 17 years old and enjoys socialising and having a good time, she's really into music and enjoys a huge range of genres. She's someone that will have the typical lifestyle of a normal 17 year old this includes a passion for shopping but life as an unemployed student means that she can't always afford everything she wants but presents herself in a way that people may lead people to assume she is 'well off' and handles any money she gets carefully. She attends college full time and her life is half revolved around doing the best she can in her A Levels; she would buy a magazine probably every other week but this may become every week depending on how much money she has at the time and if she wants to treat herself.

For her nights out she would attend events such as this ...

Because of Georgina's love for music she spends her spare time taking a further interest in the world of new music which helps her find new favourites and predict who will be the next big thing. She is the type to buy albums rather than illegally download as she respects the industry etc. These are some of the artists that she has an interest in...

Rihanna- Talk That Talk

Pixie Lott- What Do You Take Me For

Drake- Look What You've Done

She enjoys programs such as Teen Wolf and Misfits and America's Next Top Model

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media produt and why?

I think my magazine would be best distributed in as many selling points as possible, this would include supermarkets, newsagents, convenience stores, kiosks etc. I want to make it as easily accessed as possible and with a reasonable price of £1.50 I think it will definitely appeal to my target audience. I think that a good selling strategy would be to put it alongside the fashion and celebrity magazines which are extremely popular and because they have a similar target audience, the same people that would be going to purchase a fashion magazine would be able to see my magazine, compare it to the others and possibly chose to buy it. For a lot of people that would buy magazines I think they have the wrong concept of what they’re about and feel that you have to be a dedicated music lover that’s willing to pay a relatively expensive price in order to purchase one, but I want to expand the market for music magazines by incorporating aspects such as fashion and celebrity lifestyles creating almost a hybrid genre mainly about music in order to appeal to the biggest market share. I would advertise on both the TV and over the internet, specialising in places such as the ticketmaster website and may create our own website to add value to the product and allow the customer to feel they can access extra, exclusive information.

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The photo on the left has been taken from my magazine and the right is from an existing magazine, more! which is a fashion and celebrity gossip based magazine that although isn’t completely relevant my intention is to incorporate some of this genre into my pop music magazine therefore expanding the target audience, this means that the public figures seen in magazines such as more! can appear in my magazine also and still relate to the majority of the customers. Firstly the right image is of famous pop singer Pixie Lott, right now she’s all about appealing to the youth of today and can pride herself on keeping up with the latest fashions as well as setting them. She’s young blonde and beautiful and with her known musical ability, fashion sense and bubbly personality she is considered an inspiration and role model, she is someone that oozes a fun and ‘normal’ attitude meaning that people can relate to her and will find almost all aspects of her desirable but realistic and achievable. The image on the left is of my friend Alex who appears as Lexy Laws in my magazine, her image as an artist is very similar to Pixie’s as she is portrayed as young, talented and fashionable which is something my target audience will admire. I chose to use this photo as I think it is recognisable with the image of the typical ‘popstar’ in the industry like Pixie for example, in comparison Alex is wearing a similar little black dress that accentuates her tan giving a radiant glow and they both have light blonde hair that has been styled to polish the look. Both girls look happy and relaxed which is something the reader will enjoy to look at and they have a similar stance of the hand on the hip to show off what they’re wearing and  show they are especially posing for the photo.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Obviously when designing and throughout the creation of my magazine the intention was to make it look as authentic as possible and to incorporate every necessary convention so that it was up to the standard of existing products. I found a number of traits that applied to a big percentage of magazines including features such as a large dominant masthead and a main image. My aim was that when the magazine was finished it would feature all the familiar conventions but alongside an unusual colour scheme and a number of innovative layout ideas which would therefore make it different to all other existing magazines.

MASTHEAD+COLOURSCHEME

This is the magazine that has been the main inspiration for my own. The first thing that caught my eye was the colours and the masthead which really influenced my use of colour and design. Seeing that NME (which is a hugely popular music magazine) could use this sort of unusual colour scheme and it was a success meant I know there is a desire within the market for this sort of interesting layout and colour scheme which is why I wanted to imitate this look. My title also uses a gradient overlay so that it fades from purple to pink whilst moving across the word, it really stands out and although is seemingly quite girly it says elsewhere on the front cover that this is the ‘Femme Fatale Edition’ and therefore is more acceptable. I would have my front cover colour scheme quite different every week so that although the layout and name with become distinctive people will like to see a fresh batch of colours brought onto the scene so that it completely mixes it up and keeps it interesting.

IMAGES I wouldn’t say the images are particularly typical of a music magazine as they’re all quite glamorous ‘photo shoot’ photos rather than using a number of photos from gigs etc. which you would often find in a music magazine as obviously the touring and gigging is a huge part of the music industry. I did this sheerly because of the fact it wasn’t really possible for me to photograph an authentic looking gig and the content I had planned didn’t really require these sort of photographs anyway. I do think that, if included, they would have been an asset to the content of my magazine but they aren’t essential.

COSTUMES

The costumes are, again, quite glamorous portraying an image that would be associated with popstars and celebrities in general which is where a fashion influence comes into the magazine as an extra aspect and a way to attract a new market to the magazine rather than just hard core music fans. They differ from the usual attire seen in the music magazines but most of these magazines are based on rock/indie or alternative music so they will obviously dress slightly differently to artists making contemporary pop music.

FONTS

When looking through a number of magazines from varied genres, I noticed that they use a number of different fonts that all work well together and can use them on one page without it looking too messy or inconsistent so I adapted this idea and used numerous of different styles to make the presentation more interesting and keep the authenticity of a real magazine.

MUSIC GENREPop is the main music genre of my magazine and I think that once reading the content and seeing the entire image that is put across this becomes quite obvious. This is because of the look of the featuring artists and the more mainstream content that will appeal to a wide category of people. I have chosen this genre of music as it was something I’m more familiar with and can therefore present it in the best way possible, also there are no existing pop magazines (to my knowledge) that have a sophisticated edge and can appeal to the teenage/young adult generation.