2. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
My front cover follows all of the conventions of real media music magazines and
would fit in on the store shelf with all the other music magazines. It has all of the
traditional items that should be seen on the cover such as:
•Selling line
•Masthead
•Graphic Feature
•Kickers and cover lines
•Headline and anchorage
•Secondary Lead
•Menu strip
•Barcode
I also decided to follow the traditional colour scheme of white, red, black and yellow
which I think looks best for the genre of music that I was using for the basis of this
magazine. On the cover the more important and sell-worthy items have been either
written or outlined in yellow as it seems to be the brightest colour on the page.
The type of shot that I used for the photograph is a mid-shot which is another
convention of all magazines as generally you will only see close ups or mid-shots.
Another element is choosing two fonts that will carry on throughout the magazine as
the two main fonts that regular readers will start to recognise and start to associate
with Chamber. The two separate fonts also help define between, for example, the
kickers and cover lines.
3. Selling line
Masthead
Kicker
Cover Line
Headline
Anchorage
Graphic
Feature
Secondary
Lead
Plug
Menu
Strip Barcode
4. Rule of Thirds:
When it comes to the rule of thirds
technique my magazine fits in with
the codes and conventions. The
masthead is in the top third along
with the selling line. The head of
the model will fit into the bottom of
the top thirds and then the middle
thirds like mine. I’ve also used the
left third to be the main placing for
my copy as my kickers and cover
lines are placed there. Also the
barcode is in the right third which
is the generic placing for it.
5. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
My contents page follows all of the conventions of real media music
magazines. It has all of the traditional items that should be seen on the
contents such as:
•Feature shots
•Feature section
•Regulars section
•Editorial
•Contents logo
•Graphic Feature
•Subscription Banner
I’ve carried on the colour scheme of red white and black and used the
same fonts as I did on the cover to give my magazine an identity that
all magazines eventually gain.
To give the contents page a busier more fuller look I decided to go with
the white background and the pictures to build up the blank space
around the text. The large photographs are the first things that you look
at as a reader and as they are the main feature articles of the
magazine they are the parts that the audience will be most interested
in.
6. Contents
Logo
Feature
Shot
Features
section
Regulars
Graphic section
Feature
Editorial
Feature
Shot Subscription
banner
7. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
My double page spread follows all of the conventions of real media
music magazines. It has all of the traditional items that should be
seen on the page such as:
•Section Header
•Flash
•Sidebar headline
•Discography
•Factfile
•Introductory text
•Inter shot
•Feature shot
•Pull Quotes
•Headlines/Quotes
•By line
•Page Numbers
Once again I have carried the colour scheme on from the cover
through the contents page and to my double page spread to keep
the magazines identity on going. Instead of having a few main
images I decided to have one full length photo emphasize who the
article is about. How I have placed the article follows how other
magazines have done it by placing it in columns and highlighting
the questions by putting them in a different colour to the main text.
8. Feature Headlines/ Section
shot Quotes Header
Flash
Introductory
Text
By line
Pull
Quotes
Factfile
Page
Sidebar Numbers
Discography Inter shot
Headline
9. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
As my target audience is teens who listen to pop/punk I have used names of bands
that they will like to listen to as I found this out through my research. To help
represent this audience for the artists that I created I dressed them in the way that
stereotypes them as a part of this genre. This way the teens can idolize them and
aspire to dress like them and be like them. They will see music artists as someone
to look up to and guide them into the world of pop/punk if it is something new to the
reader.
10. What kind of media institution might distribute
your media product and why?
I’ve decided to go with Bauer Media as it sounds
the most promising media institution to distribute
my magazine. It currently publishes other big
music magazines such as Kerrang! and Q
Magazine, and it offers over 300 magazines to
15 countries around the world.
It also distributes radio stations and online
magazines which means they get my magazine
to a great level and even be as good as
Kerrang! and Q Magazine.
Bauer employs around 6,400
people and has a 2008
turnover of 2.08 billion Euros.
Bauer Media is part of a
mega-corporation as it has
as it is a division of the
Bauer Media's Latest NRS Data (Apr 2010 - Sep Bauer Media Group.
2010)
11. Who would be the audience for your media
product?
My target audience is both male and
females who are in their late teens and
are in their twenties who are interested
in pop/punk music and the emo culture.
They would either be students or
working so they could afford to have
money to spend on magazines. And all
of them have access to the internet
which will be good if the magazine got
it’s own website.
To show all of this I created a
Readership Profile.
12. How did you attract/address your audience?
My target audience would like the colour scheme
chosen as red and black are the type of colours emo
and scene stereotypes are into. The layout is also busy
and eye-catching but with a clean style that is easy to
read and glance at. All of the images I have used give
off a positive feeling and the layout of it looks organised.
With these combined together it gives off a confident
and controlled feeling which all students look to have in
their lives. Some of the images are more playful and
gives a light-hearted feel to the magazine. Throughout
the magazine it holds a rock and roll feel through the
photos, the use of instruments give of this feel along
with some of the poses that the models are creating.
The font that I have used for the masthead is similar to
the type of fonts you may find on some car logo which
ties in nicely with the leather jacket that Kate is wearing
on the front cover. I also address the audience through
the text. In the interview, for example, I write with
colloquialisms to make the reader feel like they are
being addressed personally and that they are apart of
the interview.
13. What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?
Throughout the process of making this magazine I have learnt more about how to
use programs such as Photoshop and how to create a blog.
On my front cover and double page spread I created the effect of the text running
off the page on the masthead and title. This makes the reader follow the line and
turn the page to see where it leads when in fact it leads no where, in essence it acts
as a “page turner”. To create this
I simply used the clone tool and
cloned the end of the last letter and
created the line. This is part of my
house style which is why I carried it
on from my front cover and on to my
double page. It adds on to the look of
the text and makes it seem like
Chamber is going to last forever.
14. On my blog I integrated videos, uploaded
images and PowerPoint's that I had created to
show all my work through. When you go on
my blog this is the screen that you will
immediately see. It displays my latest blog
which happens to be the front cover of my
magazine.
I created most of my work by using
PowerPoint which I then uploaded on to a
document sharing site so I could embed the
PowerPoint into my blogs.
15. I would launch a website for Chamber similar to the one that Kerrang! has. It
would have extra content that didn’t
make it to the magazine and more
exclusive interviews with celebrities
but in video form. Also there would be
features such as the best music video
of the week and to find that out people
would have to vote in a pole and
anybody would be able to vote. There
would then be a follow on feature with
an article about the best music video of
that week.
Another part of the website could be a forum for any of the readers to voice their
opinion on certain topics or just to post a message to the magazine. One topic
could be asking the audience what they would like to see in the magazine so
they have a say in what goes into the magazine and this would also appeal to
them more as they chose the article.
I would also set up a page on all the major social networking sites so that
people can voice their opinion through there as well as through the website.
16. Looking back at your preliminary task (the
College magazine), what do you feel you have
learnt in the progression from it to full
product?
The college magazine helped me figure out how to get the best out of programs like Photoshop and let me figure out more
about my blog. Looking back at my college magazine I feel like it looks poor compared to my music magazine. I learnt that
the front cover needs to be busier and have a lot more content. Also I learnt how to set up a better contents page. When it
came to making my music magazine contents page I realised that I needed more columns and sections like a feature and
regular section. The way I set up my contents
page makes it seem like there isn’t much
content in the magazine which will put the
audience off. The front cover is more aesthetic
rather than following the conventions of using
the left third and the top third to display the main
parts of the magazine. I learnt this and changed
how I set up my magazines when it came to
creating my music magazine. However, on a
positive note I managed to create a house style
and continue that from the cover onto the
contents. I chose two simple but different fonts
to have as the main fonts for the magazine and
used the same effects on the text but I changed
the colours around depending on what
background they were placed on so they stood
out the most. Learning all of this I took this and
made use of it in my music magazine.
