1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Conventions/rules that are generally understood and accepted when producing a media
product, several of these conventions are as follows, Masthead or title, cover lines, colour
schemes, fonts, style of photography and writing styles. My media
product uses several of the conventions of a magazine. I made sure that I
followed the important conventions so that my media product would look
as professional as possible, I did not want it to look at though it was part
of a media task. I did this by using the following conventions: I used the
layout of using columns in my double page spread article so that it
flowed and looked sophisticated, I also continued the convention of using
page numbers and I kept a colour scheme going throughout my magazine
so that it all linked together. I decided that my magazine will be a monthly
issue as this is one of the conventions many magazines follow.
On my cover I used a studio photo that my model posed for, I had her dress in clothes that
were modern and that my target audience would like, as my magazine was based towards
female teenagers I wanted her dressed in fashionable clothing that were not expensive but
from the high-street. I developed the key concepts by adding and changing conventions such
as instead of having my model behind my title on the cover I kept my title above the model,
however I changed the font I used once I had my image- mainly because the font I had
before did not stand out against the image I used, and is not the look I wanted for my media
product. I wanted to challenge some of the conventions so that my media product would be
one that was completely different from anything that has ever been done before. I
challenged the convention of having a close up image of my model and instead had a semi
close up one, I wanted the model to be off to the right so that my cover lines could fit and
not look out of place. Overall I wanted the front cover to look sophisticated and not childlike.
Which through my research into other magazines I have found happens a lot. Most of the
pop magazines I looked at had very bright colours and looked like they were aimed towards
a younger generation. They used language such as ‘Wow’ and ‘Amazing prizes’ which to me
seemed to be quite childish. Therefore in my magazine and throughout my writing for the
article I made sure to use language that fit with the audience of my magazine and that had a
formal register. Instead of words like wow and amazing I used exclusive. I feel my product
challenges the conventions usually used in media products like mine, as I came up with what
I feel are original ideas that haven’t been used in this style of a media product.
On my double page spread I used bold and italic on my
font to distinguish who was who between the interviewer
and interviewee. Unlike the example I did not highlight
any of my font, I didn’t highlight any of my questions as
I feel it looks less sophisticated then having it in just
bold.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product represents a specific social group that relates
to my target audience. With my target audience being older
teens mainly girls, I tried to include things that would interest
them. I used a teen model that they would find pretty and that
would appeal to them in a way that would make them want to
buy/read the magazine. The clothing that I put my model in is
very modern and can be found in the high streets which I have
included on my double page spread. I did this as the readers may
be interested and want to buy what she is wearing. I had her in a
pose that will catch the male gaze and entice the reader. I included ‘plugs’ on
my cover that included free prizes and advertised a competition that teenagers
would be interested in. I think my magazine appeals to my target audience as I
have designed my layout around popular magazines that are already out and
that have been successful in the teen market.I chose to use a female model as I
thought it would appeal to both genders. I concluded that having a male on the
cover would take my magazine in a different direction whereas by having a
female on the cover made my magazine work for both genders as I feel that
both genders would buy the magazine- boys for the male gaze and appeal.
Females would be more likely to buy a magazine with a female on the cover. I
used my cover lines to help sell to my target audience by including ideas of
exclusive stories and free gifts. I found that in other magazines that having free
gifts is a common thing therefore I thought that it worked well with the theme
of my magazine.By using bright colours over black and white I thought that it
added a certain appeal to the cover that would catch the eye of the reader. I
carried on the colour scheme inside my magazine so that it all links together.
However I didn’t carry on the black and white theme as I feel by just having it
on the cover made my media product individualised unlike the others I had
seen I used colours that my social group would approve of. I chose certain
fonts that appeared modern to appeal to my social groups, but I also made
changes when I relooked at my front cover for example, I later decided to
change from my original font to a different one as once the front cover was
finished I found that my original font did not work with the finished concept.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and
why?
After completing my media product I decided that Bauer media would be the
best to distribute my media product. I found that Bauer has yet to have a
media product like mine and I feel that mine would fit into the company. Bauer
media connects over 19 million consumers every week with the most
influential brands in the UK. Bauer media has a unique position to be able to
deliver consumer insight to media professionals. They have more marketing
brands across a wider range of markets than any other media owner. Bauer is a
good media institution for my product as it has lots of other products that are
aimed towards women which are similar to mine, such as Closer which has a
very similar audience to my magazine.
I feel that Bauer would distribute my media product because they have yet to
cover the teenage pop culture with a suitable magazine, which mine would fit
straight into, I feel like they would be able to distribute my media product
globally in both the UK and America as it has features that appeal on a national
scale not just subjected to one area of the public. My media
product offers a wide range of features that a both
appealing and exciting for a teenage audience. I feel that
Bauer would make a substantial amount of money from my
media product which would benefit them. I thought that
Bauer would be a good institution to distribute my media
product as they are a global company and have great
marketing campaigns for each of their media products.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for my media product would be teenagers between the ages of
16 to 18. This was decided by the results of my questionnaire. My target
audience will be focused on the female gender with a secondary focus of
males. I decided to focus on females as my magazine would most likely appeal
to them. I appealed to the female gender by using a colour scheme and
features that would appeal to a female. I wanted my media product to appeal
to my audience therefore I made sure to include features that would interest
them. With my target audience being in the teenage age range I wanted my
product to be modern and be age relevant therefore I did not include any
features that would be found in a magazine such as ‘We love pop’. This
magazine has an audience of a much younger age and targets them to buy
their product by using things that will appeal to them in a specific way, such as
the latest boy bands and ‘freebies’ that would appeal to their audience.
Whereas in my magazine I aimed for my features such as competitions and
interviews to appeal to my specific audience of older teens. Therefore I did not
include anything that would seem ‘childish’ instead sticking to things that
would make my audience want to read my magazine. I created a reader profile
for my magazine after doing my research which described the perfect audience
for my magazine this helped me a lot.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience by using a sophisticated and modern layout that was
both eye catching and interesting. I used a black and white cover for my image
but had my font in different shades of pink to make the cover stand out. I
decided to do this as I felt that it made the font stick out against the image and
gave the overall cover a ‘cool’ look and I think it made the cover look original
as I did not see many pop magazines do this sort of layout for a cover before
whilst doing my research into other magazines that have already been
published. I found that most pop magazines seem to be aimed towards the
younger generation so and included features that were definitely aimed at
attracting their attention. From this I decided that my magazine would be
aimed at older teenagers therefore the cover would need to appeal to that
audience and have things that teenagers would be interested in. I made sure
that each element of my magazine interested the audience so I made sure
each element of my media product did this. I made sure that my masthead was
bold and bright enough to get the attention of my readers. I also made sure to
include free prizes and competitions that would make my readers invest their
time and money on my final product.I chose the colours pink and grey for my
colour scheme as they are quite feminim colours and are very relatable to the
female gender. I used grey to contrast against the pink as I wanted to appeal to
both males and females therefore made sure to have different shades of pink
throughout my magazine. I used darker shades of pink as I feel that the darker
shade is not a feminine as a pale pink, I did this so that my magazine didn’t just
appeal to females but also males. The images used throughout my magazine
were done to attract the gaze of my readers and interest them. I used a
teenage model so that the readers would relate to her as they are also
teenagers. By having her dressed in stylish clothes that are off the high street
would be related to teens as they might have seen or have the same clothes.
On my double page spread I included a synopsis of where the clothes were
from and gave a price I thought they were most likely to be. In my magazine I
used a specific lexis that was easy to understand, I used terms that young
teens would understand. I made sure not to use words that the readers may
not understand instead sticking to a simple lexis. I made sure that the ratio of
text to images was equal as I found that my audience prefers more images
then text.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing
this product?
I have learnt a lot about the different technologies I used in the process of creating my
magazine as I came across new ones that I have never used before. I discovered lots of
different editing techniques and ways to create shadows when taking pictures. I learnt how
to use the studio to my advantage, I enjoyed using the studio and all its equipment to take
my photos as it gave them a cleaner look in the end. By using the backdrop it helped me edit
my images a lot more and give them a professional feel. I found that when using the camera
I had to make sure it was on the correct setting and that the lens was focused or I would
have blurred images.
I discovered new programmes/ websites such as Blogger and Slide share which came in
useful as all my work needed to be on Blogger, I used Slide share to upload my PowerPoints
to my blog. I often found that sometimes my blogger did not work so I had to double check
everything was on it. We also used survey monkey which helped me a lot with my research
into magazines, I found that this technology was very helpful as it aided in my decision on
audience and what features to use in my media product. I used PowerPoint for most of my
work but often found that if I had done some work on Microsoft Word that I had to transfer
it onto power point. I used a lot of hardware such as cameras, computers and memory
sticks. The computers helped me a lot with my media product. I used a memory stick to
keep all my work together but also saved some of my work to a file on the computers in
case I lost any work of the memory stick. Luckily this did not happen. Internet explorer was a
great help to me throughout the process of my work as I used it in several different ways. I
used the internet to help my with my research and any questions I may have had about
certain things. I also used the internet to help me with my research into different media
intuitions such as Bauer. A good thing about using the internet is that you can research
anything you might need.
Photoshop was a big influence to my images as it helped me edit any rough patches in my
images. I used photoshop to help edit my images for the cover and for my double page
spread as these were the images that were the largest therefore you could see any
blemished or red areas. I used the patch tool to fix these.There are some positives and
negative to using these technologies such as being able to download images quickly.
Although there were some negatives as well such as it cannot always be relied upon.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in
the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I have learnt how to develop an
idea and make it as successful as possible, I discovered this from doing my first
front cover which was plain and not very good to doing my cover for the
magazine. The differences between both are very clear and vast. For instance
the cover for my ‘college’ mag used a font that was already available in the
options for font whereas the font I used for my music magazine was
downloaded from a website, which offered a wider range of options. Also the
photo I used for the cover of my college magazine was done with no planning
and was not a close up. It also lacked editing. In the end my college magazine
was unplanned and did not look professional or sophisticated this may have
been because it was rushed and I spent very little time on it, whereas my music
magazine had substantially more planning put into it and I had researched into
music magazines beforehand. This helped me create original ideas that would
all work together to create an excellent final piece of media work.
By looking back I feel like I have learnt different skills when editing and when
coming up with ideas and solutions to problems that may have arisen in the
process, such as models dropping out and being late. The solution to this came
in the form of arranging a different time to take the photos. I also found that
the model I used did not seem to be that focused on the task at hand and had
to be encouraged to proceed with the activity. I found that I got stressed with
my model and had to take a step back in order to calm myself and get the job
done. In the end however I got some good shots that were eventually used in
my media product.The skills I feel like I have developed include using the patch
tool on the photo to get rid of spots or redness. I used this tool on the photo
that went on my cover; I got rid of any blemishes to give the picture a sense of
airbrushing and to make it magazine quality.
Throughout the project I discovered how to use my time wisely even though I
sometimes fell behind I tried to do what I could, I also found that when
something was not going right that I had to leave that task till later as I would
end up spending most of my time doing one thing instead of completing more
tasks.

8. Throughout the task I found that the editing process was the most stressful as
it took the longest, it took me a while as I wanted all my images to be edited
and look professional. In the end though I feel like the task was a success and
that I achieved my goal of completing my magazine. I would however have
liked to have my magazine in a different layout or at least have made a couple
of changes but in the end I had no time. Therefore my magazine was rushed
and I would have liked to spend more time on it to make it much more better
than it is at the moment.