Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

This question is where I have explained the progress I have made in terms of skills from the first task which was creating the school magazine to the final task which was creating the music magazine. I talked about research, planning, photos and skills on Photoshop and InDesign I have learnt.

Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

This evaluation question allowed me to discuss how I've used professional equipment and software to create my magazine. I talked about camera, lighting, Photoshop and InDesign. I explained a range of techniques I used in the production and mentioned specific features of Photoshop and InDesign that I used. I also highlighted the benefits of technology I had in the process.

Transcript:

During the process of the construction of my music magazine, I have learnt a lot about the different technologies within media such as the cameras and photo-shoot equipment, the different programmes that I used to create to a professional looking magazine and the different tools within the programme.

Photoshop Equipment
One of the first and main equipment I used for my photo-shoot was the camera. I used the proper big professional camera which had a lot of different settings allowing me to create different angles and take different types of camera shots. I achieved different types on angles by standing on a chair to create a high angle shot and got the models to stand on chairs or tables to create a low angle shot. I rarely ever took photos landscape as portrait was better for magazines. I only took photos landscape when my models were lying down taking the photo portrait did not allow me take their full shot. When I was doing the time-lapse I had a camera on a tripod at the back of the room.
The key element in creating a successful image was the lighting. Every different environment needs different lighting. The lighting creates a mood for the picture. For example if the lighting is dark and dull the mood will also portray a dull mood. I used high key lighting as this lighting created the right mood for my magazine genre of pop music and the colours red, black and white. To create the right mood and lighting I used professional white umbrellas.
Another piece of equipment is the white backdrop and the white flooring. In this space the model stood and posed for the photos. This equipment allowed me to edit the photos easily but just removing the white. For me to make it easier I just had to make sure that my models did not wear white. However I did end up having one of my models wearing a white top but it just took a little longer to edit.

Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is the programme I used to edit my images. I used a number of tools to get my images to the way I wanted them.
The main tool I used was the colour range tool which removed the white background and anything else which I didn't want in the final image. For example in one of the images I didn't want the wire from the mic as it didn't look right so I got rid of that using the Quick Mask Mode tool.
Another tool I used was the adjustment tool. This tool gave me a lot of options in order to improve image colour or brightness. I used this tool to change the colour of one of my model's trouser from brown to red to match my colour scheme for the magazine. Another way I used the adjustment tool was when I brightened the main image on the front cover because it was a close up so it looked too dark. I also used the hue/saturation option to make the signatures of each model a darker black.
Furthermore, a tool which was really effective in images was the refine edge tool. This allowed me to feather the edge and smooths it so my editing didn't show at all or as much especially when it wasn't too neat.
Another tool I used quite effectively when creating the album cover is the FX tool. This tool adds extra features to objects such as shapes and text. I used the bevel and emboss tool the most for the text and I used the drop shadow tool for objects.

Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign is the programme I used to create my whole magazine. This programme introduced me to a lot of new tools that improved my initial magazine ideas and convenience within the process of my magazine.
One of the first things I found useful and convenient is the Swatches. This made it easier to select the colours that I wanted to use throughout my magazine. For example I wanted to use a particular shade of red so I added it to my Swatches to have an easier access to the colour rather than trying to find it in the colour picker.
Another thing that I learnt in Adobe InDesign is how to text wrap. This tool I found quite hard to use for some reason but I slowly got it. The text wrap came in handy when creating pull quotes and fitting an image by the text on the double page spreads.
Another tool is the FX Tool. This tool is also in Adobe Photoshop but as Adobe InDesign is the programme I used the most so there for I used the FX Tool a lot more in Adobe InDesign. In the FX Tool I used bevel and emboss throughout my magazine. I used the bevel and emboss effect as it made text and shapes look really effective.
Another thing that helped me was the guidelines on the page. This helped me the most when I was doing putting my article in columns. It allowed me to split the columns equally across the page. It also helped me to layout all the objects on the page.

Blogger
Blogger is the site I use to publish all my work I do which is to do with the coursework. I used it to do write what I do each week. Also I found it easier as I could access it anywhere and any time which allowed me to do more work on my planning and research.
Blogger also allowed me to look at previous media coursework blogs from other people as inspiration and guideline for what I need to do to for my coursework. Looking at other blogs allowed me to do better and expand my skills more.

Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

In this question I have explained what my magazine contains to ensure it will sell, how I have made it attractive and other selling techniques e.g. use of new media.

Transcript

My magazine’s target audience is attracted firstly through the colours I have used which are red, black, grey and white. These colours suit males and females allowing it to reach a larger audience. Additionally these colours go well with my magazine theme of pop and appeal to my target age of teenagers and above. The colours look appropriate to my target audience of pop magazine compared to some that include gender bias colours such as pink and yellow.

Furthermore, I have included a lot of different conventions a magazine that would attract my audience both ways; make them want to buy my magazine and give more for the price they pay. To get them to buy the magazine I included what they want. I did this with the research I carried out. One of the researches was looking at existing magazines and how they achieve their target audience. Secondly I carried out a survey for teenagers as that is my target audience which involved questions which would help me decide what they want; for example, price of magazine, genre of magazine, what kind of freebie they would like – CD, poster, etc. I have also included competitions to win tickets to big music events so that covers the point that my audience are getting more than the price they pay for.

The audience that I have targeted is quite young so they will be involved in the new technology meaning social media such as Twitter and Facebook. The use of social networking sites will allow my audience an easier access to sneak peeks of my magazine each month which will encourage them to buy the magazine to know the full stories and gossip. Additionally the young audience will have good phones which are Smartphones such as Android, Blackberry and iPhones which have multiple uses such as emails and apps. This will allow my magazine to email newsletters to those who have subscribed to my magazine. Also phones such as iPhones will be able to download the App for free from the App Store and the App would include the front covers of all issues so far and it would be possible to buy the latest issue of the magazine from the App itself however it will be at a higher price.

Additionally, my articles are based on gossip as that is what I have found from my survey results. My audience mostly care about the personal life of an artist which is what I have aimed for. My article includes an interview which reveals hidden features and characteristics of my model. This also links with my images that I have used because my article is about a hideous looking girl who then looks pretty and the audience can relate to this as it can change ones perspective.

The style of writing of my magazine is easy to read and my audience would feel calm and relaxed whilst reading it. I have found out that different magazines have a font which is suitable for the genre of the magazine. For example a metal rock genre have big bold looking font which expresses the metal rock type of music. So I feel the 2 main fonts I have used throughout suits my theme of pop music.

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product? - Video with Voiceover

This question was about my target audience and what their gender, age, social class and social habits. I also mentioned why it would be that particular audience and how it fits in with my media product.

Transcript:

The target audience that I have chosen for my music magazine is teenagers to young adults aged from 16 to 25 years old but the older adults are also free to read. I have chosen this age range because music artists are usually this age as well and the audience of the similar age to them usually idolise them. The age 16 is typically known as the age where one is becoming a young adult who earn money but doing part-time jobs so they can go out themselves and buy magazines. Also at this age people are mature and old enough to travel on their own to go to concerts and other music events. So my magazine would allow my audience to find out what music events are held when and where.
I feel my magazine will appeal to both genders equally. My magazine is mutual with both genders as it includes content that will make the male audience read my magazine and the female audience. The male audience would read my magazine as the genre of music my magazine is based on pop and this genre tends to be popular in male as most of the pop music artists are female and the male gender feels more attracted to the female artists. The female audience would read my magazine, due to the similar reason of pop artists are mainly female and the female audience would look up to them and idolise them. Additionally the colours that I have used for my magazine are gender friendly so it will attract to both genders.  

The social class that I have chosen for my magazine is A-C1. I have chosen these social classes because I think that these are the classes that will be able to afford to buy my magazine on a monthly basis. Although I am targeting my magazine at younger people as well, it is more likely to appeal to young people with parents within these social classes. As my magazine is priced at £3.50 per issue, it is likely that only people from these social classes would be able to afford every issue, however as the subscription deals on offer allow both regular and irregular readers to save money, members of other social classes will also be able to access the issues they want and when they want at a cheaper price.

The readers of my magazine will share similar social habits and interests. My magazine meets the audience’s expectations and extra features which they would be interested in. For example, my audience would like to see opportunities to win tickets by taking part in fun competitions so I have included quite a few competitions where readers can take part in and have a chance of winning tickets to music events such as the Jingle Bell Ball and the X Factor Tour 2013. This will increase popularity within the age range and the audience will get more than they pay for. 

Question 3

What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why? - Video with Music

This question is about which company would distribute my magazine. It is likely to be one of the four that form the oligopoly (IPC, etc). Also I have gone with a company that doesn't already have a magazine similar to mine. I explained why the company would like my magazine and how they might or could distribute it. 

Transcript:
Hearst Magazines UK is the largest digital publisher in the UK. Their reach extends to 1 in 3 UK women and 1 in 4 UK adults. Hearst Magazines UK is the largest digital publisher in the UK. Hearst Magazines UK publishes 20 consumer titles in the UK: All About Soap, Best, Company, Cosmopolitan, Country Living, ELLE, ELLE Decoration, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, House Beautiful, Inside Soap, Prima, Red, Real People and more.I think Hearst Magazines UK is a suitable distributor for my magazine as competition will be low, extremely low. This is because Hearst Magazines UK currently do not distribute any music magazines as the list of the magazines mentioned are majoritily to do with women and their lifestyle. Also, my magazine is targeted at women and men so Hearst Magazines UK will expand their gender to both, males and females as at the moment Hearst Magazines UK only distribute women magazines. There are a number of ways Hearst Magazine could distribute my magazine. They could put in adverts in their current magazines to get their existing customers to know about my magazine.They could also create a Facebook and Twitter accounts as the target age are more into the social media.Creating Facebook and Twitter accounts will allow existing and potential customers to engage with my magazine. Hearst Magazine could give out leaflets through the post or in book stores or in the newsagents to spread the word. 

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents particular social groups by its cheerful look and tone. From my front cover you can see that the colours I have used such as red, black, white and grey which portrays my target readers as joyful and outgoing and the black and grey colour indicates a sophisticated look representing my potential readers to be similar to that. This is also seen from the font type I have used. My font illustrates a calm relaxed mood meaning my readers tend to follow that path. The font isn't big and bold like a hard rock magazine as that indicates pain as the font for rock magazines is broken so every font and genre has a connotation. This cheerful, jolly tone is not only due to the type of text I have used but it is also due to the images and types of camera shots and angles I have used. 

I have used photos that portray a pop style look of being stylish and elegant like pop music artists such as Katy Perry and Adele as my social group are similar but at the same time would tend to be unique and not follow the popular trends as much. These types of pop artists are generally looked up to and are idolised. Also the costumes my models have worn are commonly seen on pop artists whom link in well with my chosen genre of pop. My reasons for choosing my two models are that they represent the age group firstly. They are both in their teens and they dress to the latest fashion trends and their own fashion trying to get new fashion in their fans. Another effective way my models represent social groups is the body language and facial expressions. They are both always smiling and not pouting as that tends to give an image of one showing off. 

Additionally my models have portrayed themselves as to be approachable due to the way they talk and the facial expressions in their photos in the article suggest a more open person than the front cover picture. 

The types of shots I have used are varied throughout as it had to suit my article as well. My main image had to be portrayed as a brave young girl so I used a close-up shot. I used a close-up shot also because when doing my research and analysing front covers I realised that most pop music magazine front covers are close-ups of the artist with their hair blown out giving a carefree look which promotes the genre and increases the relationship between readers and the pop genre. I have used similar types of poses with those in pop music magazines so I know it is suitable and fits my magazine theme. 

Additionally, the effects such as emboss gave my magazine a really professional look which made it more appealing and attractive to readers as it didn’t look normal plain text. The emboss effect gave it a 3D effect and this ended up being my magazine’s key effect throughout. Also brightening up my images, especially the front cover main image made my magazine look more engaging to the readers as my model is looking right into the camera which makes it seem as if she is looking right at the reader. This also increases the cheerful tone.  

I expect readers of my magazine to be strong fans of my chosen music genre and not just the artists and their gossip which is why I have included a free A4 poster of a different artist each month. This represents readers of my magazine as being loyal and devoted fans of the pop genre.

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This question explains that my magazine is representing a certain social group - i.e. fans of certain types of music and I have identified how my particular musicians are represented. To portray this I have discussed mise-en-scene so the costumes, body language, facial expressions, as well as the tone of the article. Also for pop artists I have have discussed how I have represented them as approachable, fun, innocent, etc.

Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

This question asked me to analyse my magazine. I have discussed how my magazine is typical or unconventional of my genre of music magazine. I have commented on each page and I have identified all the conventions of magazines and how they apple to my magazine. 

Transcript
During the creation of my music magazine, I continuously looked at existing magazines of my music genre which is pop music and how the conventions are portrayed and presented. I tended to look at the Billboard magazine as the layout and conventions really inspired me and it included my kind of ideas and suited my target audience especially after the audience survey. I feel I have successfully used the conventions of an existing magazine.

Front cover:

The masthead of my magazine appears at the top right hand corner of my front cover because this is where majority of the mastheads appear of music magazines and also most viewers’ eyes are directed to the masthead as soon as they have seen the main image and main sell line. The audience would look at the main image as that it is generally most important however in the case of my magazine I have used an extreme close-up with my model looking right into the camera so it seems she is looking directly at the readers which engages them with the magazine. Due to the use of an extreme close-up the readers will immediately look at it and then look at the name and masthead to see who the story is done by, which magazine. The masthead appearance and colour was inspired from the NME magazine even though it is an indie/rock genre magazine whereas mine is pop genre I didn’t feel there is anything immoral in using the appearance. My masthead does not appear to look like NME’s masthead but the idea of putting it in red and in top right hand corner was used.

I have used a tag line to promote my magazine as to be the best as the tag line I have used is ‘bite into the best’. It links in well with my masthead name which is ‘Beat Bite’. I feel the tag line will grasp the audience’s attention as they want the best. I have incorporated this convention in my magazine as it looks and sounds effectual on the Q magazine ‘The UK’s biggest music magazine’. This makes their magazine sound extremely successful and the best so that is what I was aiming for.  

Furthermore, the sell lines are surrounding the main image. I feel surrounding the main image with text is not crowded as all the text is away from the text. This was effectively prepared as I had planned the main image before my photo-shoot so I knew exactly how I wanted it to turn out. I wanted my model’s hair to blown out with a fan so her hair spreads and fills up the majority of the page. Additionally, this fitted my colour scheme well and allowed me to use the colour white more effectively on the black coloured hair.

The sell lines itself are bold looking which attracts the audience further and makes them read the entire magazine and in order to do that they would have to buy the magazine so the sell lines have to be exceptionally superior and must try to grab every potential reader. I have made the artists names big and bold so the fans can catch the attention of it easily. I made the main sell line the biggest and boldest firstly because she is new to the music industry and her name needs to be heard in public.

I have included a barcode which has the price and the website on it. I have included two prices; one is the UK price in pounds (£) and the other is a price for EU countries which is in Euros (€). This is commonly seen on most magazines which suggest that the magazines are not only sold in UK but are sold in other countries which expands their audience and makes their magazine more and more popular. This code of magazine is successful and I have included it to get a high number of people to read my magazine.

Moreover, I have included a puff by incorporating a free A4 poster to attract my readers into buying my magazine. I have made the ‘free’ sign big and bold compared to the other text in the puff.

Contents page

My contents page contains a lot of the conventions you would see in a regular but thriving contents page starting from the categories the information is split into which is ‘News’, ‘Features’ and ‘Regulars’. These three columns are the ones that stand out the most as they are the ones that need to get the audience attracted as this makes it easier for them to see what my magazine contains. Another two columns which is bold is the ‘Subscribe’ box and the ‘Stay in Touch’ column. These two columns have been made bolder so it can catch the attention of the readers to subscribe and stay in touch with the new media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Another typical convention found in magazines is a ‘Band Index’ which is a list of artists and bands that is mentioned in the magazine with page numbers. This allows fans to find their favourite artist’s page in the magazine easily. This is normally placed on the left hand side of a contents page in a different colour.

Furthermore, having quadrilateral images with page numbers on it is highly conventional in magazines. However I have included an unconventional feature. This is the fact that I haven’t used any quadrilateral images with page numbers but images of my models without a box around it. I haven’t seen this on many contents pages maybe one or two. I feel this makes it effective as the page doesn’t look too boring with boxes everywhere. However I have included two quadrilateral images however one is promoting an artist’s new album and the other is a regular feature that I have included in my magazine which is ‘Guess Who’ where audience have to guess who the picture is of and they find out in the next issue of the magazine. This is unconventional as well but a valuable way of getting the potential readers to become existing readers.

I have also included an editor’s note which is also conventional in magazines as this tells readers who created the magazine. The editor’s note contains a short message from the editor stating what is included in this issue.

The main thing is that I have created the contents page on a double page spreads which allows me to add more information and have it spread out.

Double Page Spreads

My first double page spread is conventional as it follows most double page spreads in existing magazines. The first double page spread includes an image or more of the artist that the article is based on. My first double page spread includes a big title which is the artists name and then in a bit smaller size the title of the actual article. I have included three images of the artist. This isn’t conventional as not many double page spreads contains more than one image. Additionally, I have placed the first paragraph on that double page spread as well. This allows the readers to have a heads-up on what the article is about. My second double page spread is the main article. I had presented this in columns which is extremely conventional as mostly all articles are put in columns. This makes it quite easy for the reader to read. I have incorporated another image on the left. On the right hand side, I have added a column which is dedicated to promote the artist’s latest album. This is seen quite often in magazines whether it is about the same artists or another. My third double page spread is of another artist. This is also conventional as I got the idea from an existing double page spread. I have created a montage of my model doing different poses but in full shots. I changed all of them into black and white except the middle one and it looked phenomenal. This took up at least three quarters of the page which allowed me to do a small article underneath. I have also included pull quotes in both double page spreads which is seen in all magazines and not only musical ones.

Over I feel I have included all the codes and conventions of a successful magazine I could that would suit the genre I have chosen and the target audience. Other conventions are changed to fit in with my target audience’s expectations.