3. Q1. In what ways does
your media product use,
develop or challenge
forms and conventions of
real media products?
4. SIMILARITIES IN FRONT COVERS
Both of the magazines have the
main images looking straight at the
camera. This is sticking to the
conventions of a magazine front
cover by making eye contact with
the reader.
Both of the magazines have a
colour theme of reds, gold, white
and black writing. In both of the
magazines, the font is bold
throughout.
They both have a header. Headers
are used to help sell the magazine.
The barcodes on both of the
magazines are to the side of the
magazine.
There’s a variation of font and size
in both magazines. This makes the
magazines look more excited, and
less dull. I have done this to make
it look like a real magazine.
5. DIFFERENCES IN FRONT COVERS
In my magazine my image is central
and in Q magazine the image is more
to the right because I want my image
to stand out and by dominant on the
page
I have a footer on my magazine, where
as Q magazine doesn’t, because I
wanted to include more information
onto my front page without cluttering it.
In Q magazine the colours gold and white
are used more then mine.
In my magazine I have displayed the
website address on my front cover and Q
hasn’t, as I wanted to make my audience
aware of how they can get involved with
the magazine in different ways.
The main image of the Q magazine takes
up the majority of the page.
Q uses flashers on its magazine, mine
doesn’t have any. I didn’t use any of I
didn’t want to make my page look
cluttered.
The masthead on the Q magazine has a
red background to it, and mine is just
plain. I chose not to have a background
because the black font contrasts the
white background.
6. SIMILARITIES IN CONTENTS PAGES
Both magazines have their logos at
the top of the magazines. This is
because it’s the first place the
reader will look, magazines do this
to remind the reader of the
magazine they are reading.
The date and issue number are both
placed in the top right hand corner
in both magazines. This is because
it is one of the first places the
readers will look.
Both of the magazines have boxes
around the headings and white
writing inside the boxes. Then
underneath that, the page number
and heading have a short paragraph
describing what each section is
about. This separates each heading,
making it easier for my audience to
read.
Both of the magazines have a white
background, and both of the colour
schemes are red, white and black.
Both magazines have capital letters
as the headings. This makes the
headers stand out.
Both have information by the
photographs telling the readers what
it is and where to find it in the
magazine. This gives the readers
more information.
7. DIFFERENCES IN CONTENTS PAGES
Q magazine only had one main image
and a small one underneath, and in my
magazines there’s two smaller images. I
chose to have 2 images instead of 1
because I didn’t want just one photo to
dominate my page. Also because if my
readers look at my contents page they
only have to look at my photos instead of
reading in the ‘features or news’.
In my magazine I have my mast head
going down the left hand side of my
magazine, Q’s masthead goes along the
top. I done this because I found it looked
different, and makes the page look
spread out instead of cluttered.
I abbreviated ‘January’ to ‘Jan’ in
magazine, Q hasn’t abbreviated and kept
it as ‘October’. I chose to do this because
it gives a informal approach to my
audience, making it more friendly.
My images are at a canted angle. Q’s
images are very square and straight on.
This makes my magazine look more
exciting and gives the idea of ‘chaos’.
I have a subscription section at the
bottom of my page. I have done this to try
and attract my readers to keep buying the
magazine by offering them deals.
8. SIMILARITIES IN DOUBLE PAGE
SPREADS
Both magazines have a little title illustrating what the is on the page.
E.g. Q – ‘lady GAGA’ and my magazine has ‘TWIST INTERVIEW’.
This helps the readers understand what is on the page without
having to read it, if they are just flicking through the magazine.
Both of the magazines had only one images on their double page
spread. This is because my interview is only about one band, so I
felt it would be unnecessary to add more images, and just one of the
band was sufficient enough.
The magazines both have the page number and title of the
magazine at the bottom right hand of the page. This helps the
readers to find the pages they are looking for and to keep reminding
them of the magazine they are reading.
9. DIFFERENCES IN DOUBLE PAGE
SPREADS
In Q magazine they chose to have a black and white
photo where I had a coloured/slightly sepia effect. I
chose to have sepia effect as it gives a warm feeling
to my audience.
My magazine has a pull quote above my image and
information at the bottom of the page telling the
reader who's in the photo graph and a page number.
Q magazine had nothing but the photograph on the
page. My image is on the right page and Q’s is on the
left.
I have a pull quote in the middle of my article and the
questions are a different colour to the answers. Q has 2
drops caps in their article and the colour is the same
throughout.
The people in my image are smiling and look happy but in
the Q magazine the photograph is looking serious. I have
made my photograph look as if the people in it are happy
and having fun, and there’s nothing serious about them.
10. Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Professional image
Professional image
R&B/hip-hop artists are stereotyped and associated with
wearing hats or hoodies over their heads and quite serious
looking, they have confidence and attitude.
My photos can represent a social group as they represent
the R&B/hip-hop culture, they are wearing the latest trends
in fashion, they have their own unique styles and there’s a
variation of ethnicity.
Women in the R&B genre are well dressed, good looking
and up to date with fashion.
I have made the people in my images dress the way they
have because I found that it gave them their own identities
and styles.
I chose these photos because they had similarities to
professional images.
I challenged the stereotype of having people in hoodies as
afro Caribbean by using a White British person in my photo.
My image My image
Professional image My image
11. Q3. What kind of
media institution might
distribute your media
product and why?
IPC media produces over 85 different media brands. Their brands
collectively reach 20 million users each month. They publish a wide
range of magazines which suit everyone.
This would be good for IPC as my magazine as IPC has a good reputation,
they have been publishing magazines for many years so this makes
them reliable. They are also a very successful publisher group.
My magazine would be distributed in shops, festivals, gigs and specific
music shops like HMV.
IPC Medias leading music magazine is NME. So I believe they should
distribute my magazine as it is similar to mine. Although NME is ‘indie’
and my magazine is R&B, I believe that IPC will help my magazine
reach the correct target audience and even help to widen it.
12. Q4. Who would the audience be for your
media product?
For my product I have chosen to challenge the conventions of R&B/hip-hop audience.
I have chose to aim my magazine towards a wider range of different ethnic
background. Not only to Afro-Caribbean, which is normally stereotyped for people who
enjoy this music.
I want to aim my magazine to both genders who have a interest in R&B music. I have
used images of both women and men to attract both genders. The age group which I
would like the audience for my magazine to be would is between 16-24.
Stereotypical R&B fans..
13. Initial target
research of what
people wanted in
my magazine.
I done this because I
wanted to make my
magazine to appeal to my
target audience. So by
asking people who enjoy
the genre ‘R&B’, it allowed
me to understand what
they’d want and enjoy in
my magazine. It gave me
new ideas.
14. Name; Ollie Collins
Aged;17
Ethnicity; White British
Occupation; Student
Favourite colour; Blue
Favourite artists; Drake, Ed Sheeran,
Wiz Khalifa, Eminem, Rihanna,
Rizzle Kicks
Interests; Socializing, music,
Likes to be up to date with fashion.
Wears vans, converse, tracksuits,
body warmers and skinny jeans.
Likes the makes Ralph Lauren,
Converse, Adidas and Nike.
15. Name; Georgie Pitt
Aged;17
Ethnicity; White British
Occupation; Student
Favourite colour; Pink
Favourite artists; Beyoncé,
Emeli Sandé, Rihanna, Nickie
Minaj, Jason Derulo, Bruno Mars.
Interests; Socializing, music,
spending time with family,
cooking.
Wears leather jackets and skinny
jeans. Cares a lot about her
appearance and listens to music
every day.
16. 5. How did you attract/address your
audience?
I attracted my audience by adding
eye catching sell lines E.g.
‘exclusive’ ‘must have’.
I added pull quotes on my front
cover, contents and double page
spread, which is also eye catching.
My header ‘the UKs brand new
R&B music magazine would
address the audience by telling
them the genre and also the word
‘new’ would attract the.
My magazine is designed to attract
mainly middle class people, so by
adding ‘first issue only £2’, this
would attract them to buy it.
I addressed my audience by using
simple language making it easy for
my audience to read.
17. I chose to have a range of
ethnicities in my magazine making a
wider range for my target audience.
I kept the images in my magazine to
people aged between 16-25, as this
is the target audience I was aiming
for, this would attract my target
audience as similar aged people will
be reading about people there own
age.
I attracted my audience by using
well known artists which they will be
familiar with.
I added a subscription at the bottom
of my page. This will attract my
audience because it tells the
audience they will save money.
18. I chose to have a sepia
effect on my double page
spread as it gives a warm
feeling towards the
audience.
The name of the band is
in big capital letters
dominating the page, this
will catch the readers
attention.
To attract my audience I
added quotes from the
band, with advice to the
readers.
I attracted the audience by
adding ‘Rhythmix’s’
twitter, and addressed the
audience by telling them
to follow ‘us’ meaning the
band.
19. As R&B originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the ‘R&B’ is often
used to describe a style of African American music. A lot of R&B artists are black as
they originate from this tradition.
So I decided to have my front cover image to represent African Americans. This is
what R&B is stereotyped as so this would attract the audience.
20. AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
Overall how would you rate this magazine?
4
3.5
3
2.5
2 Series1
1.5
1
0.5
0
excellent very good good O.K poor
Strengths Weaknesses
Colour scheme Lots of white wasted space
Manipulation of images Front cover plain background
Good choice of sell lines
Language
21. 6. What have you learnt about technologies
from the process of constructing this
product? I used blogger
Using Photoshop I made my front to upload my
cover for my magazine. I was able work.
to manipulate my original images
until I was satisfied with how they
looked. I learnt the different ways
you could manipulate images. I used
Slideshare to
upload my
I made my contents page and work onto my
double page spread on blog.
InDesign. I learnt the features
of InDesign.
I used Scribd
Using a camera I was to upload my
able to take high quality work onto my
photographs for my blog.
magazine. I learnt angles
and type of shot.
23. Using Photoshop.
Because I didn’t want the background of
I opened my image in Adobe the image, I clicked on the forth box on
This was my original Photoshop and then made it the left hand side. This allows you to
image. bigger so I could see what I select everything around your image to
was working with. delete what you don’t want.
I carried on and deleted the I then made my image bigger
Here you can see the whole of the background, just again, as I wanted a medium
section around my image keeping the main image in the close up.
that I deleted. middle.
24. Here I edited the contract and Then I started to add text onto my front cover. I made my
the curves to make my image masthead on www.dafont.com
stand out more. Here it shows me editing the font on my page, to make it look like it
had a shadow – this makes it easier for my readers to read.
Here I added my I added most of my sell lines, footer,
barcode and my header. date and issue number.
25. Using InDesign
Then I added my masthead ‘contents’ down the left hand
I placed 2 boxes to start with on my contents side in the red column. I reused the masthead ‘twist’ off
page. Then coloured them in black and red, as the front cover and placed it on my contents page. Then
these colours match the front cover. added the date and issue number.
Picture 2
I added my boxes with headings in and added 2 I finished off my ‘subscription’ box, by adding a
photographs. Then tilted them and added a website and telephone number. I finished adding my
shadow behind them. I also added my front cover text and added subheadings underneath the headings
to offer a subscription for the readers. to explain to the readers what’s on each page.
26. Using
Photoshop
To manipulate my
images I edited the
These are my original curve levels , this
images for my contents changed the contrast
page and brightness of my
images, making them
brighter.
These were my
manipulated images.
27. Using InDesign. I started off by adding my image to
the double page spread. Then I
added a black box on the top of the
page. I add ‘twist interview’. As the
magazine is called twist and it’s an
interview.
I added the band name, and
explained underneath what the
interview is about. I also added a
quote from the interview to attract
the audience.
THIS IS MY ORIGINAL IMAGE
FOR MY DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD.
AND USING PHOTOSHOP I
MANIPULATED MY IMAGE
I started to add more text and
GIVING IT A ‘SEPIA’ EFFECT
another quote in the middle of my
AND DELETING THE
BACKGROUND article.
I finished off by adding the page
numbers in the bottom right hand
corner of each page. I used the
same font and box colour as I did on
my contents page. I also wrote
underneath my photograph the name
of each member of the band.
28. 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what
do you feel you have learnt in the progression
from it to the full product?
Full product
I feel that I have learnt:
•How to manipulate my photographs better using Photoshop
•How to use the drop shadow to make my magazine look
effective
•To use a consistent colour scheme throughout my magazine
•To use a consistent font throughout my magazine
Preliminary task
29. Front pages. I made my final product
image more sophisticated
then my preliminary image.
I done this by thinking
Preliminary task Full product
about the mise-en-scene,
so instead of using
someone holding a book
looking happy in my college
magazine, I chose to have
the person in my final
product to keep there hood
up and have a serious
looking face.
I have used better
language in my sell lines,
and added more
information to my readers.
I used better images, by
using different angle shots.
I learnt how to manipulate
my images and text, so I
adjusted the contrasts and
added shadows on my final
product, making my
magazine look more
professional.
30. Contents pages.
On my preliminary magazine, Full product
Preliminary task the page has a lot of empty
space, so I decided to add
more text and boxes in my
final product to fill the page
up.
I added more information in
my headings and
subheadings. I gained more
information by looking at
similar magazines, this helped
me decide on what to include
in my magazine.
I chose my mise-en differently
by using images to represent
my genre. E.g. I used people
with hoods and serious faces
instead of people smiling
reading books.
I manipulated my images in
my final product.
31. Double page spread.
I have expanded my
knowledge by making a
double page spread, instead
of just making a front cover
and contents page.
I linked the colours
throughout the pages.
I added the right amount of
text which is similar to other
magazines.
I manipulated my images by
using Photoshop.
