2. Real Magazine My Magazine Masthead Sub text Front cover image Use of other artists that feature inside Main Cover line
3. In what way does your media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of REAL media products? The main image used for my magazine cover represents the conventions of a REAL media product. The picture used is a medium shot that shows the artist in a particular pose, that is very eye catchy. Text on the front cover has been put around the main image which allows the reader to focus upon the image first, then having to look around. The text used on the front cover is relevant to the magazine thus making the reader more interested into looking inside. The front cover has a masthead that blends in well into the front cover, a barcode has been added too which shows representation of a real media product. A range of colours and fonts have been used on the front cover to make it more attractive and get the readers interested. Following on from the front cover is a contents page. The contents page has been designed to be simple as the main point of having a contents page is to allow the reader to have a look at what’s inside. The main focus of the contents page is the actual text so the background has been kept plain and use of pictures to a minimum, this helps the reader to focus on the writing and makes them want to go through the magazine.
4. I have created a double page spread that carries many conventions of a real media product. A large photograph relating to the main article has been used. On the left, the article is introduced by a large heading that makes the reader interested. Following on a introductory paragraph has been placed which then leads onto the next page where an interview has been presented to the reader. A header & footer, page numbers, dialogue and an advert are all basic conventions of a real magazine has been placed within my double page spread.
5. How does your music magazine represent a particular social group? My music magazine is aimed at social group C2-E and at a age around 16-25. What appeals to such a young audience is the use of pictures that have the artists positioned in certain ways (pose). To meet this, i decided to make an alleyway the location of my image. This gives the image a rural look and appeals to the younger readers. The clothes the artist is wearing also attracts attention, the typical pose of a cap on and hood up represents the kids of today. The language used within the magazine is known to be street talk. Street talk is the use of certain words or phrases that have different meanings to what people in a higher social class would use them for. Phrases such as “merk you”, “tryna stack”, “i aint” and “roll” are commonly used within the young society of today. The front cover itself has phrases that would appeal, the words “ hood videos” and “freestyle” all link in with the genre of grime. Today’s popular grime artists are written on the front cover with many of them being the young generations idol. Grime is known to be the streets music where young people take time to write up lyrics reflecting their lives.
6. What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why? As my music magazine is based upon grime, it would be most favourable for “Future” to produce my magazine. Future are known to publish magazine aimed at small groups rather than being distributed everywhere. My magazine would be available in urban areas of major cities and thats where grime is most popular. Large firms wouldn’t be selling my magazine as they believe grime genre isn’t largely profitable and popular hence why it would be best sold at corner shops. Future also specialise is making magazines in different languages so my magazine could also be available to many other people globally such as UK or Australia. Again these would be sold in the urban areas of cities and towns as its least likely to sell in the rural areas.
7. Who would be the audience for your media product? Due to the content of the magazine, I believe my magazine audience would be social groups C2-E. The content of the magazine reflects the lives of the younger generation who are either studying, unemployed or unskilled. Higher social groups wouldn’t be interested into such genre of music as they wouldn’t class it as music. Higher class people would have a rather different change in music as most people don’t regard grime to be music. Many just see it to be lyrics which are said over an instrumental. Although it may seem one sided, i believe my magazine would be aimed at both genders even though grime seems to be male dominated. There are a few female artists within grime who can be idols for other young females. The colours of the magazine, fonts, pictures and language used would mainly appeal to the young and less skilled people of today. Some music magazines that are read by higher class people stick to plain and simple colours within the magazine which appeals to them. My media product has a range of bright colours and contrasts well with pictures to appeal to my target audience.
8. How did you attract/address your audience? The first thing that attracts my audience would be my front cover image. The image represents the type of people who would read my magazine. The image represents the music genre of grime hence why people would be interested in taking a look. The front cover has been kept to a simple colour of black, grey and white so that it matches the masthead. The use of red and white on the word “exclusive” makes it stand out and blends in with colour of the wall and the hat (prop) the artist is wearing. The cover lines consist of the main grime artists of today who are to be featured in the weekly edition of a chart. This would get readers interested into seeing what’s the latest tracks being released by each major artist. Throughout the magazine i have kept to a colour scheme of black, white and red. This is a simple scheme that attracts the readers eye and is easily noticeable. The language used within the magazine represents the youth of today especially as their music speciality is known to be grime. The use of slang and words that do not make the sentence correct make the readers look more interested as it is the street talk commonly used in urban areas.
9. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? To complete this product, i have gone through a vast amount of different types of software and electronic products. Which are different types of technologies available to all. Firstly the use of the internet was a key factor in creating my final product, the use of the search engine “google” has helped me alot throughout and all thanks to the powerful internet. An electronic product used frequently throughout was the digital camera, this allowed me to take high quality pictures to use for my magazine in order to attract my audience. The two main programmes used for my magazine were Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Indesign. As it was the first proper time using these programmes, it took a while to get used to. I was constantly asking for help from my peers and media teacher. Photoshop was mainly used to editing the photos and adding effects whereas Indesign was where the actual magazine was put together. I had used Photoshop and Indesign to create my preliminary exercise but for the actual final product, everything had to be at its best.
10. Finally i used blogger, a website that allows you to post images, powerpoints and other types of media to be accessed by anyone. This took some time to get used to but in the end, it was a good experience going through all these forms of technology. I have learnt that over the years the use of the program Paint is now longer no used due to the vast amount of features that Photoshop has available to a user. Photoshop has changed the way which we can edit photos and add effects.
11. Looking at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? My whole view on how to create a magazine has changed completely, the preliminary task didn’t seem that hard to create but after hours of research i could see the flaws in it. It takes alot of time and effort to create a magazine to perfection as i have put many hours into creating my final product. I have learnt how nearly every little thing as a reader wouldn’t take notice but to a professional it makes all the difference. Everything has to be exactly where it should otherwise it would look wrong and not appeal to the right audience. The magazine needs to be aimed at the correct audience otherwise its not going to get read by many. My noticing skills have dramatically improved, i am now able to pick out the common conventions of most magazines after hours of research and can see what makes a magazine so appealing. My editing skills have improved thanks to many hours put into trial and error using Photoshop. Indesign had helped to make my magazine look like an magazine and not just parts of it all over the place. Little features that both programmes consist of make a big difference and result in the final product looking fantastic. Layout, colours, text, images and many more factors effect a magazine and if they don’t appeal, the magazine isn’t going to sell enough copies.
12. All in all, i feel by comparing my preliminary task (on the left) to my final product (on the right), i can see how my skills have improved gradually and now i have the experience of using the all the technologies available to me for future pieces of work i must create.
