Primary Task

Music magazine, front cover, contents & double page spread

Brief • In Media Studies my main task consisted of me creating a music magazine

front cover, contents page as well as a double page spread from scratch. Using the skills I gained from the preliminary task I had an easier time creating my magazine taking more appropriate and better quality photos, with thoughts on the Mise-en-scene in my head throughout the process. My photoshop skills also improved from the previous task demonstrating my advance knowledge and experience in media studies.

Front cover and contents page

Double page spread

Vibe Magazine A lot of my magazine was based on the format of Vibe’s as I focused on a genre that they are renowned for covering. I chose to play on stereotypes of a particular race being associated with a specific genre (ethnicity of models/R&B music). It has developed conventions of real media products as the front cover displays small items such as the main artist being the centre of attention with other names/stories on the side to further attract the audience. The dialect used in the magazine is appropriate for the age group I targeted with topics such as “The new class of R&B” (Late teenaged students at college/university)

My magazine (Backstage)

Representation & Institution• My music magazine represents teenagers as a hard working, positive and creative

group of people. My artist/models clearly look like they are college/university students as that’s who the magazine is aimed at. When teenagers see people their own age doing something it adds an extra interest thus generating a somewhat successful magazine/or rather issue of the magazine (if this were really on sale).

• The type of institutions that might distribute my product are supermarkets as my magazine is media friendly, I planned for it to be media friendly and as I based a lot of the structure on Vibe which is also available in supermarkets I believe it can be in the same stature.

Audience• The audience for my music magazine are late

teenagers and adults in their early 20’s. I attempted to attract and address that audience by using education terminology such as “The new class of R&B has started” due to many people that age still in education at university or college. Also the use of twitter and hashtags (#) can be associated with many people that age which could possibly further attract the audience I was aiming at (Present on contents page). The terminology used throughout is more youthful as well as some of the interview responses using jargon that can be associated with teenagers.

Successes & Errors• Although some of my pictures turned out to be good quality it wasn’t

consistent due to the green reflecting onto some of the model’s clothes. This could be improved by using a better background such a plain black wall/curtain which also would of made cropping easier on Photoshop.

• Also the variety of shots used in the final product wasn’t large which could easily be improved by experimenting with different angles and shots.

• I also could of improved by choosing a variety of locations to take pictures in and balancing my time between constructing my magazine and taking pictures however relying on three models as well as additional images is time consuming and leads to disappointment leading me to come to the conclusion that I should use/rely on less models.

• I also shared a photo-shoot with another student (David) due to the lack of time and space availability, we shared some models but each took different pictures which were appropriate for our magazine.

Conclusion• From constructing my magazine I’ve learnt that technologies can be unreliable.

I’ve also learnt that the use of lighting and green screens can affect a picture essentially deeming it not appropriate.

• Looking back at my preliminary task I feel I have learnt how to choose the right images and apply them to my music magazine, crop pictures more efficiently and make the edges more smooth. I’ve thought about the Mise-en-scene likewise the importance of it when it comes to making the audience believe my models fit the genre of the magazine. I’ve also learnt how to exploit my ideas to maximum effect creating a title and a strap line that compliments it.