5. “ In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? ”

6. I personally believe that my magazine conforms most of the typical codes and conventions of a music magazine, this is clear through a top strip, I was meant to add a bottom strip however I felt that I wanted only a top strip as I thought it looked more attractive, the most important barcode and price as well as the date and issue, there is also a very large and eye catching central image on both the cover and contents which covers most of the A4 area I was given, most of the models in each image all maintained eye contact except from the contents page, I did this to ensure that the reader or audience felt welcomed and on a personal level with the model in the image, I also made sure that I included a third left layout as this is an essential convention of a music magazine, if I had not included this it would have not been easily identified as a music magazine. By placing a central image on the cover, contents and double page spread it allowed readers or audiences to easily identify the magazine being of music genre. The main genres I was aiming my magazine to feature were Hip Hop, UK Grime and R&B etc. I included well known artist names from all these genres to ensure that all audience could easily identify the magazine as being a mixture of all these types of music. I have tried challenging the typical format of a magazine by using mass variety of different fonts on my cover, some audiences may say that they could find it confusing however I have used it in such a way that it adds to the attractiveness and style that I was going for, I have used about 10 different fonts on my cover and contents to give it a more funky look.

7. “ How does your media product represent particular social groups? .....and also attract/address your audience? ”

8. In the beginning I intended my magazine on having a similar layout as a well known R&B and Hip Hop magazine called “Vibe”. Looking at a recent audience profile for Vibe magazine it stated that there target audience for the magazine was predominantly “Young, Urban followers of the Hip Hop culture”. To support this reference I have listed the website below for further research and proof. Reference - http://coolspotters.com/magazines/vibe-magazine As I intended on using Vibe as an example of what I wanted my finished magazine to look similar to. When handing out my questionnaire I handed out my questionnaires to more female than male audiences as I found that looking and observing many of the Vibe front covers that most of the artists that were featured on the cover were more female than male so I just assumed it was common sense that I should hand it out to more female than male audiences, however only a couple more as I wanted my audience to be wide spread and not biased or one sided. I only gave my questionnaires out to those audiences who were aged between 12 to 25+ as I wanted to identify and see what my target audience wanted and then act upon it to create a magazine that was accurate from my results from the questionnaire as well as the key objective which was being appealing to the audience. For my central imaged I used a fellow classmate to model as a new and upcoming artist called “Preeya Kalidas” who previously played “Amira Shah” on Eastenders, I found that it would be interesting and conventional if I used her as she is a actress aspiring singer/artist trying to make it big in the music industry, as my magazine was based around the concept of loads of different sub genres of music bonded and mixed into one cost efficient magazine called “Original” and was targeted to mainly aspirers I found that it was only common sense and meaningful that I used her as an example as many audiences after looking at the cover could automatically relate to the image and aspire to be like her. I believe that my audience would be ably to connect and relate to this , and I hoped they would understand the new and fresh approach I was attempting to incorporate on my front cover.

9. “ How does your media product represent particular social groups? And also attract/address your audience? ”

10. The genre I had chosen for my magazine was Urban which was made up of several other sub genre’s such as Hip Hop, R&B, Reggae, UK Grime etc. For my central image I have used a young and youthful model to play the part of a upcoming, current Urban artist on the market at the moment, I have used a young and youthful model to make the audience feel welcomed and comfortable and feel like they could some how relate to the model on a personal level, also as Urban is a fresh and new mixture of many other sub genres it was only logical that the models I used were also as young and fresh similar to the genre. Whilst researching and looking at existing and current magazines on the market at the moment from a similar genre, I looked closely at the types and groups of people that were featured on the cover and on majority of the magazines only one artist or model featured on each cover, for example a magazine that demonstrated this was Vibe magazine [Below] who only predominantly feature one person and one person only on their covers, looking through the many thousands of covers not one had featured more than one model on the cover, I then decided to continue this trend of only featuring one model as well to ensure that I kept with the style and layout of a well known and realistic magazine to ensure mines looked similar and realistic looking too. By doing this it would ensure that if my magazine was on a shelf or stand, it would instantly catch the eye of audiences both young and even old along with my chosen target audience, this would result to a wider target audience and would come as an advantage as it would increase the popularity and reputation. I also believe that the colour scheme I have included would also catch the eye of audiences all ages as it is both bright and unusual, younger audiences would possible feel attracted to the bright and unusual colour and elder audiences may be intrigued or aware about the unusual colour scheme and then may purchase the magazine to read more, an elder audience may also become attracted to it as the magazine talks about very mature topics such as “Celebrity relationships”, and an elder audience could some what relate to this.

11. [Continued] Also after taking all the aspects that would have been expected and considered when creating a realistic magazine, I personally believe that in general my magazine mainly represents the youthfulness of our generation which is basically something new, fresh, funky and different. Looking back at my audience demographics I had decided to aim my magazine mainly towards 3 main social groups, these consisted of Aspirers, Constrained and Creators. Looking back at my magazine I feel that maybe I have not appealed so much to Constrained audiences as I put quiet a high price on my magazine which was £2.95, as this group of people tend to be poor and sometimes struggling I feel that I haven't appealed to them on a whole as £2.95 is quiet an expensive price to pay for a normal magazine that in this case isn't even well known or branded. However on the other hand looking at the remainder two social groups, I feel that “Aspirers” would remain and continue to read my magazine as the magazine features new upcoming artists who are people to look up to and as that what aspirers are all about I think it would come as and advantage, and as for creators it would appeal to them as they are basically viral distributers in the form of readers, as the magazine has its own website, creators would find this interesting and appreciate the website which they could then further distribute and spread the news about, this would come as an advantage as creators would distribute and spread the word of the magazine in a cost efficient manner. If the popularity and reputation of the magazine increased as well as the funding for the magazine increased slightly then the possibility of advertising clothes, shoes and latest gadgets like headphones or designer clothing for example would increase massively.

12. The word “Preeya” is in bold and is the 2 nd largest font on the cover, this is to ensure that audiences such as Aspirers easily see this and become attracted and persuaded by the word, they read this and feel an instant urge to go on ahead and purchase the magazine and read on to find out more about the gossip it briefly talks about on the cover. It also adds to the attractiveness of the magazine as it would be the 2 nd thing that would catch the audiences eye and would then trigger them into buying the magazine and reading more. [Front Cover] I priced my magazine at £2.95 as most of the people that completed my questionnaire were willing to pay anything between £2.50 and £4.00 (Left) and as I was aiming my magazine towards a constrained social class I then decided to place it at the bottom end of the price range to ensure all my audience were able to have access to the magazine, I also did this to ensure that if the magazine was to actually be distributed then the company should make a small profit out of it too this is another reason why I increased the price a little. The masthead is large, instantly visible and identifiable, it is almost the 2 nd largest specimen on the page, this is to ensure that the audience can instantly identify and tell the difference to the masthead to the rest of the text on the cover. The text going around the image of the model also adds to the feel of the magazine, it adds a sort of “sexy” feel to the cover, I included this as the sub genre R&B which is included in Urban is mainly focused around sex symbols and portraying women and men is a sexual manner, I thought I would add this to ensure that it had a bit of each genre contained within it. Like many magazines the central image is the main thing that catches the readers eyes, this is simply because it sets a sort of atmosphere for the reader through many elements within the central image such as the quality of the image, mise – en – scene, uses of colour, feelings and expressions on the models faces, this enables to reader to instantly identify the genre of the magazine. The model retains eye contact with the audience making them feel welcomed and on a personal level with the model.

13. The right side of my magazine contains lists the names of numerous well known urban artists that are a similar age to my target audience who are on the market at the moment, this makes my magazine, overall content along with features all the more reliable. For my cover I decided to include the date, issue and barcode as it is one of the vital codes and conventions of a magazine, I also decided to include it as it gives the cover a more realistic and believable look. I decided to include the magazines very own online website where audience could keep track of the latest gossip and movement in the urban music industry, I also included this as one of my target social group the creators would see this and instantly become aware and appealed by it, as they tend to market the magazine across a mass audience it is a cheap and cost efficient for the institutions, my looking at the audience the Creators in my target group will then target my magazine across a mass audience using maybe YouTube or social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, this would come as an advantage as the news of my magazine would be advertised for free. I have included a puff that is over exaggerative and in most cases placed on the cover to catch the audiences eyes, by reading this puff it would trigger them into thinking what is said is true and actually just as good as it sounds, these are one of the very few conventions that institutions use to psychologically adjust audiences minds into purchasing the magazine. I have added a “Tip – on” or “Freebie” consisting of a free iTunes download, audiences would instantly become attracted to this as on iTunes a reader would have to pay maybe a pound at the least to purchase this magazine, therefore by putting this freebie on audiences would instantly find it useful and “worth it”, this would trigger the audience into then purchasing the magazine. The third left layout is large, bold and eye catching, the third left on my cover takes up most of the A4 space I was given, I did this to ensure that all of my audience were able to see this and it would be the maybe the first or second thing that caught the audiences eye, on the third left I have included my own twist to the lyric of a song written by a well known urban group called the Pussycat Dolls, I have done this as audiences will see this and automatically identify what it is about and find interest in it and then want to maybe purchase the magazine. I have used a simple rhetorical questions to show the audience that they have an option, I did it to make the audience feel like they are in control and have power.

14. One mistake that I had made in my magazine was the fact that on the contents page the model does not retain eye contact, this mistake would have made the difference between whether a reader purchased the magazine or not as my the model maintaining eye contact it give the reader a weird sense of comfort and connectivity as they feel that they are on a sort of personal level with the model as the image looks more inviting and welcoming, by my model not maintaining eye contact it could put certain readers off buying the magazine and could also make some audience feel uncomfortable and out of place when there reading the magazine. [Contents Page] Looking back at the feedback I had received form my questionnaire I tried including all the things that most people chose, the most popular features that people wanted were exclusive interviews , events or gigs and latest artist gossip , these are the three main things I included to ensure that all my audiences were happy. I included quotes with extra large quotations marks, I did this so readers can easily see the quote and find some sort of interest and attractive towards it triggering them to some how become attracted and lured into purchasing the magazine, this would appeal to a lot of Aspirers as they would see this and would want to then purchase the magazine and find out more about what the particular artist is up to, they would want to purchase it to read the article and some how find comfort and interest out of it as they are the social group that tend to want to find belonging in a social group above themselves. My masthead is large and bold, it is positions in an unusual and attractive way, I did this to make sure it is the second thing that catches the readers eye, it is something new and not something you would typically see in any other magazine. The position of the word is what makes it so attractive and appealing. I have included large and clear page numbers that are in a simple and bold fonts, I included page number to help my audience to navigate around my magazine easily, this would make the audience feel slightly less confused and almost feel like they are in control of what they can read. I have put both the features and regulars in two separate columns to avoid my audience becoming confused, I also did this to appeal to the needs of my audience as it helps them as it makes it easier for them to access what type of news and gossip they want easily.

15. By incorporating the “urban language” on my contents page along with my cover and double page spread, by doing this I have made the audience feel more comfortable whilst reading it as they can relate to it and also understand it better whereas if it was in formal English some audience could find great difficulty understanding what the text is trying to say. I have done this to make sure my magazine is relatable to the relatively young target audience. I have made use of personal pronouns such as “your” within my contents page and front cover , to further interact with my target audience or reader on a more comfortable and personal level. I have used a brick wall as my main background image, I did this as I believe it represents the youthfulness and originality (similarly to the name of the magazine) of the magazine, as brick walls in art tend to get associated with the word Urban, I only felt that it was appropriate to use this, I also felt it gave the magazine a more rough and edgy feel, it also added to the attractiveness of the contents on a whole as well. I also used this as a background as it represents “the streets” and instead of using something more modern and sophisticated I have instead manipulated that and used something more simple yet meaningful and effective, it symbolises all the young audiences of today's society. I have use individual thin square like boxes to separate each article to avoid the audiences becoming confused about what’s what, I put a white outline around it to make it stand out and easily seen. I put the word “exclusive” in bold and italics, I then put a white glow around it to make it eye catching easily caught by the audiences eye, the reason why I chose to put a glow around it was because it is the main thing that most audiences look at first thing, it is something the audience desire and look forward to reading, as exclusive in media means something new and something no body has read or even seen before this triggers audience into thinking that they are one of the very few that after reading the article will know more about the specific subject or artist, by reading the exclusive article audience somehow feel more important than other people as they believe they are the only person that knows something that very few others know, it makes the audience feel special and wanted, it puts them in such a position that they just cant resist the temptation and result to finally purchasing the magazine. Institutions use these so called technique to psychologically make audiences feel as though they are important and actually worth something. I included a competition to make the audience feel as though they can gain something out of purchasing the magazine.

16. I made sure that I laid my main article in columns, however in the beginning I started by placing the individual questions and answers in carious different sizes, however my teacher than told me that I was unable to do this as she said it was not a code and convention of a music magazine so if I did do this I would loose marks as it does not meet the requirements that were asked for for the magazine, another problem that it would cause was that if it was actually published than the audiences would find great difficulty finding their way around which order the magazine was meant to be in, it would cause a great deal of confusion for many audiences and this may then put some audiences of buying the magazine as well as taking the attraction and appeal away from the audience and the look of the double page spread. [Double Page Spread] I included key maybe influential quotes from the interview and placed them on the opposite page on top of the large central image, I did this as audiences will instantly see this and maybe find attraction to this and by reading what is quoted they might find that it is something interesting and then may find that they then want to purchase the magazine to find out more, the large quotes on the opposite page also add to the style I was aiming my magazine for as well as adding to the attractiveness of the double page, it also compliments the central image as well, I made sure that I did not overlap the central image too much as I did not want to take the audiences eye and focus away from my main image. I made sure that my central image was large and took up most of my right side page to ensure that it caught my audiences eyes, as it is the central image it is meant to be the dominant feature of the page so I ensured I followed the convention correctly my making the image extra large, when I started I decided to put a couple of smaller images underneath however once I placed them where I wanted I found that it made the page look slightly to overcrowded and crammed, I found that it took away the focus from the main image so I then decided to remove them as I felt that it could put some of my audiences of buying the magazine, after removing the images I found that the page looked better however I wanted something to fill in the empty space so I decided to place a star that was also featured on my front cover to show a link between both the cover and double page spread showing the audience that both pages belong to the same magazine. “ ”

17. Looking back at my final media product now I can clearly see the continuous “house colour” that runs through the magazine where it begins with the colour purple on the cover and then the contents being both purple and blue which then leads to the double page spread which is blue, the contents page is basically a mixture of both the font cover and double page spread colour scheme, I did this as I personally felt that it worked well. I did this simply as it makes all the pages seem as though they are meant to go together as well as allowing the reader to identify what he/she is reading all belongs to the same magazine. My magazine generally uses a lot of bright colours purely because the target audience were young and youthful and “bright colours” are stereotypically know to attract a younger audience, i have used some dark colours like black for example however this is purely because I wanted specific words to stand out more compared to others. Looking at my colour scheme overall it is easy to identify that my magazine is not aimed at an older audience. Another way that you can tell that it may not be aimed at an elder audience is the use of “new” urban words and language used throughout the magazine. The use of colours not only makes the magazine stand out but also makes it look unusual and in some cases maybe slightly unrealistic. The simple yet effective structure of the cover, contents and double page spread adds to the clarity of my product which in this case was actually requested and chosen by my chosen target audience [who were aged between 12 and 25] within the feedback of my questionnaires, and by meeting my audiences needs it would have hopefully made my magazine slightly more attractive and appealing. The simple yet effective structure and the continual use of house colours and clarity has added to the realism and professionalism of my magazine. The image I have used for my magazine to generally represent the genre Urban are images that are in some cases appealing, original and different, all the images in my magazine are different in one way or another for example my cover features an image of a model who has a reflection , the contents an image of a model who has been airbrushed and the double page spread a model who is in black and white, all the images I have used some what go against some of the typical codes and conventions however this just adds to the whole idea of it being original and different , the images also represent youth and fun, something funky and fresh and I believe all my images represent this one way or another.

18. “ What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? ”

19. The media institution that would distribute my music magazine would be the InterMedia and IPC Media (International Publishing Company), however the main institution that would distribute my magazine would have to be IPC Media. This is purely based around the fact that this well known institution distribute and produce over 60 different iconic media brands which include nearly 26 million adult readers. I personally believe that they would distribute my magazine simply because my magazine is aimed towards a target audience aged anywhere between 12 and 25 however I want any audience to find attraction to my magazine regardless what age. I also found that InterMedia was an ideal institution to distribute my magazine as I researched the different types of magazines they actually distributed and I had found that they distributed a wide range of different well known music magazines that are on the market at the moment, I had discovered that they distributed the magazines Vibe which is a well known urban magazine on the market at the moment, I found that it would be reasonable for me to want this institution to distribute my magazine as the chosen genre for my magazine was also Urban so I found that my magazine fitted well with the genres of magazine that the institution distributed. [Reference] : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterMedia_Partners http://www.intermediaadvisors.com/ The type of retail shop I would like my magazine to be sold at would be book stores such as Waterstones and WHSmith as these are well known stores which distribute a wide range of different magazines including a variety of music magazines as well as the fact that thousands of audiences will visit stores everyday and will see the magazine and then will hopefully purchase it.

20. “ What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product? ”

21. Once again I was required to use both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign when creating the components I needed for my music magazine and similarly to before I also once again used the Nikon D19 to take my images for the magazine. During the time I was slowly building my magazine I had further developed a better understanding and knowledge since the production of the school magazine on how to use both InDesign and Photshop better, and more efficiently, unlike the time when I first began using InDesign when I began putting my school magazine together this time round when putting my music magazine together I felt more confident using the programme by my self and I personally felt that I came across fewer problems and issues, I felt I had made lesser mistakes than when I first began and as for Photoshop I felt more confident using the programme of experimenting I discovered new tools and applications that I could use to make my images slightly more attracting and appealing, I felt that as I used the more tools the outcome of my images were greater. As a result I believe that my knowledge, understanding and ability on how to use these programmes independently and with confidence has strengthened, this is purely based around the fact that I was prepared to experiment and take a risk and as a result them risks were rewarding. As I was constantly looking at existing magazines I learnt that the codes and conventions played a significant part in the magazine as the codes and conventions are what gives the magazine its identity, it is what helps audiences become attracted to them and it also helps during the planning process and basically helping a magazine become as successful and profitable as it possibly can. For my magazine I had to do quiet a bit of editing in regards to my images which consisted of my central images for my cover, contents and double page spread, my back ground image for my contents page and also the small image that was on the left hand side of the title of my article on the double page spread. Whilst editing these images I specifically learnt the importance of layering a certain image if a effect needs to be added ( from personal experiences), looking at both my preliminary task and my final product I can honestly say that the power of technology has a massive impact during the productions steps of the final product. independently and I had found that this time round I had experimented more with tools I might not have even looked at twice before, as a result

22. “ Looking back at you preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full production ”

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24. [ Looking back at both my school and music magazine I can identify to significant differences between the two. ] It is very clear that there has been improvements from when I began creating my school magazine to the end of finishing my music magazine, I personally believe that it wasn't simply down to my improved knowledge on the typical codes and conventions of magazine but my improved knowledge, understanding and familiarisation on using professional software's that are used by real media institutions. By correcting and analysing the mistakes I had made on my preliminary task, it helped me better my current knowledge and I also learnt about what a significant and crucial role the typical codes and conventions of a magazine played when attracting a specific target audience and also whilst portraying the objective of the magazine clearly to the target audience. After completing my research for my preliminary task, I observed and noticed that school magazines tend to bend to rules and usually didn't really abide by the typical codes and conventions of a magazine this was simply down to the mere fact that school magazines tend to be published and distributed within the school and within the school only except parents, carers or guardians, school magazines tend to have to commercial pressure, as in the actual world of magazines everything tends to have a specific image or subject that is then usually manufactured and finally presented as reality to the audience or readers. The improvement and development in technology also plays a BIG part in helping magazine institutions create a “fake” image and lifestyle and portray it as something realistic, the power of technology place a massive part in this process of selling a very unrealistic image and then manipulating it to create a so called realistic and “plastic” image that is then ultimately sold to the audience under false pretences. This can sometimes lead to certain audiences becoming some what “mislead”, the image that magazines sometimes sell can project a certain way of thinking and believing into some specific audience for example Aspirers who tend to be people that want to be in the social class above them, there are certain elements of the magazine that can be incredibly influential in the way they can manipulate the choices and actions audiences take when in certain situations. Another key thing is that sometimes style choices can also affect audiences behaviour towards society for example, a social class that are the most vulnerable to this are followers.