1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Many media products contain particular conventions. A Front cover of a magazine contains a masthead, main image, date line, selling line, main cover line and also a barcode. And also a magazine feature article contains gutters, white space, pull quote, drop cap and also body text. These conventions all exist because these are all the best things to include in a magazine for mainly presentation as this is what the buyers of the magazine look at first and also the magazine producers want to give the buyers the best quality they can provide, so that they don’t lose their customers and business. However some magazines will contain different conventions depending on the audience and the subject of particular magazines. I produced a Rock/Punk magazine and took some influence from magazines like Kerrang! And NME, for example i used these to set out the layout of all my pages and also the choice of colours and font styles.
Layout Cover The main image – made so most noticeable Title- Biggest Writing and visible to the buyers Main Article Headline- Blink 182 bright colours, eye-catching different to the other colours on the page Contents Fonts/Colours- same colours and fonts as the front cover as all magazines carry on the same trends throughout their pages. Images- I placed them at an angle as many other Rock magazines do this to try and represent the genre Information- The information of what will feature in the magazine is found under the sub headings Sub-Headings- These represent every topic in the magazine and also are the same font as the Title on the front cover and the Contents Page Numbers- I have included the page numbers so that the readers of the magazine know where to find particular topics that they want to read about DPS Fonts/colours- used the same font throughout all my pages so it is not complicated. Article- used 2 different colours to represent the questions and answers. I have also made sure that there is enough information to keep the buyer of the magazine occupied Pull quote- this is used to make sure that the readers are attracted to the article as it makes them want to read on, this is also normally the main quote that is said by the band during the interview/Article. Main image- This is the image of the band, i tried to make it as big as possible so they are noticeable and fill most of the empty space.
2.How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The social group that I am trying to represent by using this image is that the age range is between16-35; the race is mainly white and must be reasonably wealthy. And also this image represents their attitude and personality which is funny and relaxed, and also their interests and lifestyle for example they may like sport, gaming, watching TV, playing music. The posture of this image shows that they are always relaxed and believe in doing what is right for them. I have also considered the angle of the person as this is how many photographs of bands that feature on magazines are captured, there way in which the person is not looking at the camera really sums up what my social group in the way in which they respond and act for themselves. I also made sure that the person looks like the particular person of this social group by wearing a flat peak hat and a jacket with a hood. I therefore think that the readers of this magazine will consider buying the clothes in what the main cover image ( Artist/Band) are wearing as they will see this in being stylish and the latest fashion, these people are known as cover icons as they impact fashion in society.
3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
IPC Media I think that IPC Media would be the best publisher for my magazine as i feel that they have a bog popularity in the media industry and will promote my magazine the most and i also felt that my magazine will fit best in this kind of company as my magazine is a different kind of rock magazine than many already out there and mainly because IPC don’t have a well known published Rock magazine. The advantages of choosing IPC Media to publish my magazine is that i know i am going to get a good amount of customers purchasing the magazine as it is a big media company and also the disadvantages of being with this company is that my magazine might not be as popular as i want it to be as the company also publishers many other music magazines mainly the popular ‘NME Magazine’. My magazine will also have different aspects to it other than just being published in the shops. My magazine will also feature an online website that can be accessed anywhere, anytime and by anyone, radio stations, adverts at venues and on TV and also will have a feature on programs such as iTunes and Spotify
4.Who would be the audience for your media product?
Here I have chosen an image of blink-182 as I feel these are the best possible band to represent my Target Audience. I have chosen these as demographically they represent the race (mainly white), the age (16-35) and also location (anywhere, but wealthy to some extent). I have also chosen these as they Psychographically represent my Target Audience. For example, their personality and attitudes (joyful, happy, however sometimes stressed), interests and lifestyles (mainly music, sport, gaming). My magazines Target Audience represents the music interests to the buyers/readers; Rock, Punk, Alternative and Indie. The readers should also be interested in watching Horror/Thriller films more than any other genre. This Target Audience should like to go shopping mainly for their clothes but are maybe interested in buying other things. I think that people would buy magazine because I can provide the everything they would want articles on their favourite bands, free posters, layout of the magazine so it makes it more understandable and noticeable. I think that so many people would by magazine that it could become so popular it could maybe outsell Kerrang! Or NME as I think my magazine will offer more. I think that the advertising in my magazine is key to the sales as I am going to include: Tour dates of particular bands, new video cameras for recording, new music companies, new instrument accessories (Gibson and Fender), clothing (Nike, Vans, Etnies)
5.How did you attract/address your audience? Well I considered many points that were asked from my audience what they would like to see on a magazine that they would wish to buy. The main image is very representative for my audience as it shows the personality and attitude of typical rock bands that feature in the press and public now-a-days. The choice of colours and fonts have that rock feel to them to attract my audience as black and red are dark solid colours, and the genre rock is not necessarily smooth so I felt this was a good attraction for my audience. The layout of my magazine helped me plan and produce my magazine for my audience as it made me think what my audience wanted to see in a typical rock magazine so I made sure i included everything that they asked for. People would want to buy my magazine as it includes everything people of the magazine are looking for, good colours, images, layout, fonts, latest information about the new upcoming bands and also exclusive interviews some of the best rock bands right now. I think that people would want to be associated with the magazine as it is a new upcoming magazine and everyone will want to be a part of it after seeing what the draft magazine looks like (My Product), I think that they would like to take part in the photography and interviewing the bands for the magazine. I think that the main selling point of my magazine is the main image as it represents what my magazine is all about. I also think that the layout is also a selling point as it makes the buyers know what they are going to be provided with throughout reading the magazine.
6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The Programs that I have used in the constructing of my product are Photoshop and Blogger. From using Photoshop I have learnt several new techniques in how to create a magazine in this program, for example adding effects to the images, fonts and layout. Also from using Blogger I have learnt how to present a good amount of work using this program as i have uploaded every piece of work I have done during this subject onto this program making sure that it is all in the correct place. During the process of making my magazine I had to take photos for each of the pages. In the preparation of taking my photos I considered the position of my friends after getting inspiration of the bands that feature on the front of the Kerrang! And NME magazines. I then made sure that when I was taking the photos you could see the upper body of the person, folded arms and someone looking away from the camera.
7.Looking back at your preliminary task (the college magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
Front Cover (Before and After)
Contents Page (Before and After)
I have learnt so much from using Photoshop since creating my Preliminary Task through to creating My Main Task. My knowledge of Photoshop has increased drastically as you can see the difference of quality between the 2 tasks. I have learnt how to layout a magazine in the correct way from using particular tools and techniques and also the choice of colours to make the magazine look appealing. I have used text box sizing to layout my text around the page so it therefore is less compact and easy to read, I made sure that the colours were visible. I used the shape tool to create my border by producing a rectangle shape on one side and then duplicating the layer to fill each edge of the page, I created the black border by using the paint bucket tool to fill each area with the colour of my choice in this instance it was black. These techniques helped my work stand out more as the use of the black border and the white background made you focus into the centre of the page where all the information was found. I also used the background eraser and magic wand tools to create my standard images for my pages. These tools helped me delete everything around the person in the image; this therefore would then make them stand out more because if I would have included the background the images wouldn’t have had the same affect. I also used blending options on some of the images by adding thresholds and a luminosity effect; this made the images more effective to the readers. I decided to use a black and white page layout and also the Phorssa font as I felt this is the best way for me to address my audience as i think these colours can very effective and appealing to the viewers, I was also influenced by the Kerrang1 magazine for the Font and Colours.