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

products?

I put the list of featured artists at the bottom of the magazine. I did this as I wanted to cover up his jeans, also if I put it at the top f the page it would have left a big un-necessary space and would have crowded the top.

In my research I found that the text was set out in a contrasting way e.g. all the text tilted, so I decided to challenge this by making my text fan out around the model with his chest being the focus point.

I developed the barcode by having the price the issue and who photographed the model underneath. I placed it in the same area.

In contrast to my magazine the info about what’s inside the magazine is at the top.

Just like Mixmag i developed the title by having it at the top in bold outstanding letters.

The text on this mixmag id different to the magazine I researched purely because in this issue they have a cd which is taking up the space.

I challenged mixmags use of text layout. In another issue I reserached they have the text on a tilt across the front cover, so I challeneged this then developed it into a fan, erupting from the artists chest making him the focal point for the magazine.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

This part of the front cover appeals to the people who are old enough to travel to the music festival on their own, representing the older people who would read this magazine. It also emphasises that it’s a festival with a lot of social oppurtunities and for their “group” to grow.

This picture does shout out to the ladies more so than men. His pose is very flirtatious but also cocky. He doesn’t appear too young so he could appeal to a big age range of women, but my aim for the magazine was to have men and women equal all ages, so the picture should still reflect that his music is more important than his appearance, which I think an older audience would respect more.

The overall colour scheme is very stylized and sophisticated with only 3 main colours. This theme is kept throughout the project. I think that by having very minimalist colours it create a more mature effect for an older audience and yet not too sophisticated for a younger audience, more so that they would want to appear older with it.

Overall My media product represents both of these, by keeping idea’s simple and yet still immature to be classed to

young and old. It’s a magazine where, the older readers would have it as their magazine and younger readers would

want to be ahead of their generation and appear older to other people. It attracts both of these age groups, just with

the colour scheme and the layout of the text.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

www.bauer.com – This is one of the leading magazine publishers, that I researched and found. They publish a range of magazine’s, including music magazines such as Kerrang and MOJO. The reason why this company could publish my magazine is that they have a niche’ in the market which my magazine I feel could fill and become quite succesful and popular. . They publish a good range of others, but not one that focuses upon electro/trash music. I believe that it would be a good competitor against the most well known Mixmag.

www.IPC.com- This is also one of the leading magazine publishers with upto 30 magazines being published under its name. The music magazine most recognised is NME, they also do a Guitar and Bass magazine. These publishers also have a niche’ where my magazine could sell. It could compete well against other publishers.

Overall, comparing these two publisher’s I think Bauer would be best publishing my magazine, as with the information I have gathered, they could have more knowledge on how to compete against more popular music magazine’s with the same genre as me e.g. Mixmag.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My Magazine.

My magazine would appeal to…….

A 15+ reader and also to readers over 30+.

The reason why I I believe this, is because the colour scheme is very simple and fashionable, also advertising a festival would appeal to an older audience as they would be able to go on their own or with friends.

The magazine would appeal to both men and women equally.

As an older audience they would rather have more focus upon the sound of the music rather than who the aritst is. On my front cover, I have promoted a list of new artists to grab the attention more of the older audience, which would bring in more money for the company.

My magazine wouldn’t appeal to…..

Anyone younger than 15.

I believe this because the lanugue in the text I think would be to complex for them to really understand what they were reading. Also it isn’t aimed at them. In the magazine I’ve advertise festivals, and tried to focus more on the music, so their level of understanding wouldn’t match the magazine’s content.

Readers who don’t like the music.

This magazine doesn’t mix and match bands, or focus on lots of areas of genre, if it did it wouldn’t be focused . Its focused upon the audience who like club/electro music and where you can go to find the latest club, with the music.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The best way I felt of attracting my audience was by the presentation of the magazine.

• Basic Colour Scheme.

• Eye catching title. “Elektro” in a font which represents the music instantly.

• Stylized font with a layout of a fan, as if its shouting from the artist .

By talking directly to the reader they would feel more involved with the magazine and what they were reading. For example. “YOUR raving essentials.” It is more personal to the reader.

I also thought that by it being a monthly magazine, readers would take more time to order it and remember that It was coming out in a month rather than having the rush of buying one every fortnight and forgetting, including in it being a monthly magazine, it is being sold at £4.20. which is relatively cheaper than other monthly magazines.

Another way I decided to attract my audience was by giving away gifts from an artist. The reader is then getting more than just a music magazine, they feel there getting something back for what they paid for. This I believe would encourage them to buy the magazine as it is giving them the opportunity to get something back from the company. It can also appear more personal and a good way of addressing the audience as it is being advertised as (for example) “Sam Sparro”, the musician has given them away in this magazine, for his own purpose to you, the reader.

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

Overall on this project I have learnt load’s from the use of having a good layout on the page to doing a photo shoot of my model then airbrushing him and changing his hair colour.

On the front page I did a lot work on Photoshop. I changed this picture so much from the original. I changed his skin tone as in the original picture he ahs a bad tan line on his arms, so I saturated his whole body. I also airbrushed his face and his lips, to get rid of any imperfection.

For a while I also changed his hair colour to suit the theme of the magazine. Red, White and Black. So for about 2 months his hair ended up red, but what I realised as it got closer to my deadline, I would have to edit all the pictures (5) of my model and realised this would take about a day to do, so I got rid of it.

At the beginning of the project, the text was going to be in a basic straight line but I challenged mixmags slightly off balance layout and developed my font into a fan around my model, as if it was shouting from him. That took about a whole lesson to complete as it was hard to get the lines in the right angle without clashing with the other text.

On my contents page I have text from a website which I had to import from www.dafont.com to photoshop then change to size and have it as a new layer. Each number was a new layer making it more complicated. I also have a picture at the top which I ahd to saturate and airbrush.

My DPS took a long while to do as I had to re-set all the text into text boxes to get them in straight lines. The pictures at the top all had to be saturated and airbrushed, The white backgrounds also had to have a tool done to duplicate the colour in the background on one picture to blend all the others in to make it look like there are 4 of the model in one long picture.

I also learnt how to stage a photo shoot and prep for it with ideas of what I wanted the shot to end up being.

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

Just looking at the preliminary task and my final project you can see the massive difference just by the eye.

There is a massive difference between the layout of the text. On the preliminary its looks jumbled and disfigured with an off centre black behind to create a shadow which magazines don’t have. I learnt from this and researched closely the text and font used and completely developed my front cover font layout from challenging mixmag.

I learnt how to stage a proper photo shoot and learning that having the right lighting is absolutely necessary. I can make it brighter but as you can see on the preliminary it lacks anything professional about it. It’s also out of focus with a hideous shadow around him. Compared to the airbrushed, light, and more professional shot of my model on the right, I learnt a lot about how basic things such as the lighting on the image can affect the appearance of the magazine, even if the text looks good and the layouts interesting if the shoot doesn’t work, the magazine won’t work.

What will also make an impression to the reader is the title, and the way it has been set out.

For my preliminary, it was basically some random text that was different to the font used for the other articles, with an odd shadow. So on my final piece I used a questionnaire to establish a font, I knew what font the readers wanted but what they chose I felt wasn’t sutiable, I then stumbled upon this font, which I think portrays the magazine brilliantly. What I learnt from making that mistake on my first task, was that I have to have more thought into my presentation, or the magazine just doesn’t work.

On the preliminary I didn’t research the idea of a magazine thoroughly so I am missing basic factors which a magazine requires. For example the price, what issue it is, and more structured information on what is in this magazine.