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AS Media StudiesFoundation Portfolio

Aaron Phelan

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For my AS Media studies coursework I chose to do a music magazine called “Going underground”. This was the print option of the coursework and I had to create a front page, contents page and feature article. On the next three slides will be examples of these.

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Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms of conventions of real

media products?

Music magazines all have to use conventions to create meanings to a magazine. The conventions of a magazine is that they are suppose to be colourful and be recognisable amongst the general audience of the magazine, they are also encouraged to be dominant and recognisable amongst the audience. initially wanted my magazine to become an Indie/rock magazine suited to people who like that sort of music. The original aim was to have it exactly like Q magazine. But I feel my work mixes with Top of the pops. This is because I have used young teenagers as my main artist, who sing the sorts of music that Kings of Leon and The Killers sing.

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For my Music Magazine I wanted to make it feel like a Genuine Indie/Rock Magazine which was aimed at the teenage generation. That is part of the reason why I used young artists as this would keep the audience which I’m aiming my magazine interested and fascinated. This is the main reason behind me changing my ideas and mixing Top of the Pops and Q magazine like below.

The Main magazine

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The idea of mixing the two came after the photo, I used Top of the Pops as an age group target, but I chose the layout of Q. magazine as I felt it was better laid out and it would target the audience I would be aiming my magazine at.

These pictures of the two bands both looking at audience. These pictures are male dominated and the two covers suggest that I am aiming at a teenage audience

The titles create a brand image of the audience they are aiming for. They are both placed in iconic places on the front cover and that is what often picks the audience itself.

The leading caption is used as an anchor. This is done well in both magazines, but the text grabs are more iconic in Q. Magazine and I found the space needed difficult to find due to my icons.

Straplines are placed in magazines to tell the audience who’s featuring in the current issue of the magazine. In Q. the straplines are placed in order unlike my magazine which has them scattered all over the page.

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The columns on the top page are both unique as they have the title of the magazine and contents placed on one row of page.

Feature photo on the contents page visable and both show the reader who the feature article is based on.

The Main layout of the main features of the magazine is chronologically laid out on the left hand side of the page and has page numbers in order.

Each contents page contains a regulars section of the magazine. These are articles and features placed in every issue of the magazine.

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Colour schemes on both pages are very similar and place idealistic between the pages.

Cut out of the text have both been used on the articles

Large and recognisable pictures have been used of the artists to tell the reader who their reading about

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Audience feedback

Do you like the layout of the front cover?Yes (8)No (0)Don’t Know (2)

What Genre do you feel the magazine is aimed at?Indie/Rock (9)Pop (1)ClassicalR&BOther….

Would you be encouraged to pick up the magazine and have a read if you saw it in the shops?Yes (7)No (1)Maybe…(2)

Do you feel the colour scheme placed within the magazine suits the magazine or it is too bland and unimaginative?Good (6)Yes (2)I like it (2)

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If you feel it is unimaginative, what improvements do you feel I could do to my magazine?Maybe brighter background (7)Different range of colours (3)

Do you feel the Magazine is professionally laid out?Yes (10)No

Do you feel that too much detail has been placed on too little of space?YesNo (10)

Does the layout of the article make you want to read the article, and would it keep you interested?Yes (8)NoMaybe… (2)

Looking at the title, the front cover and the article as a whole, which sort of age group and audience do you feel the magazine is aimed at?12-18 (10)19-2223-2930-older

Does the article look like a piece of journalism, if not please state your reasons why?Yes (10)

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• Social groups are potrayed by stereotypes within the media. The way our media is shown may be appropriate to Indie/Rock music fans, but inappropriate to fans of Gothic music. This often gives the producers target audiences to aim their media products at people who support different genres of media products.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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• The Socio-Economic-Scale group which my magazine will be aimed at are the C-D groups. These groups are:

C1= Skilled Non ManualC2= Skilled Manual

D= Semi skilled workers

The characteristics which I feel my magazine will be aimed at will be the Mainstreamers, aspirers and succeders who feel they like up-market products and I feel “Going underground” is aimed at these people.

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• General audiences of media products assume that teenagers follow these stereotypes as shown in pictures below

Drinking alcohol

Acting like chavs such as Vicki Pollard

Taking drugs

Listening to music loudly

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These teenagers however do not follow the stereotypes as shown on the last page. The Appearance of the two models which I used for my magazine suggests to the audience that they may be troublesome teenagers who hang around on street corners. The image of the costume used suggests this and the setting of being outside suggests that this is the typical stereotype of teenagers. This means my magazine will be aimed at a teenage age group and the image suggests this.

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The language used in the article suggests that the two artists are having the time of their lives. Like suggested in the articles title, the article is letting us in and enjoy life like the two teenage artists who have spoke about their past year. Language like “We said yeah, but we wanted to be nearer home” suggests that they may not be ready to make it big in America, but it also suggests that Teenagers want to be reliant on their parents and live nearer home.

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Q3. What kind of media institute might distribute your media product and why ?

• To distribute my magazine i would use is IPC media or WWMO. This is because they are the leading institutions which distibute popular magazines which publish magazines for advertising reasons and to tell the general public about the magazine which is going to be released. I have chose IPC media as I feel my product would succeed with the companies and they do magazines of similar context which would suit my potential magazine.

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• IPC Media also publishes similar magazines to “Going Underground” it publishes magazines such as NME and this will make profits for the magazine as I feel the audience of this magazine may potentially read the likes of NME and IPC media all sell their products at a similar price range and they specialise in weekly magazines over the monthly glossies which most music magazines follow.

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• I would also choose to use WMMO (worldwide music magazine organisation ltd)because it is a specialist publisher for music magazines and specialises in Q and NME as i feel it is the audience that the magazine’s reader profile and audience is aimed at. They specialise in monthly glossies, but i would like my magazine to be published like one of these but be aimed at an audience who like to read the weekly magazines because of the price range and audience the magazine is aimed at.

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Q4. Who would be the target audience for your media product?

• To look at our target audience we would use GRASS• According to GRASS my target audience would be predominantly male,

bur females may be able to have a genuine interest in the magazine.• The age group which i feel my magazine would be aimed at is the teenage

age group of 13-19 year olds. The Magazine is specifically for fans of music overall and checks out the music world from a teenagers point of view.

• The audience of my magazine would be a potentially large minority group and this group would be within the Mainstreamers and the aspirers. The social group this type of audience would be in is Groups C-E.

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• The picture on the front cover suggests that the magazine is aimed at a particular audience. I can see that the two artists fit the teenagers bracket perfectly and that’s why the magazine was aimed at 13-19 years old people. The varieties and colours within the article suggest that the magazine is to broaden out to all audiences and hopefully encourage the teenage audience to have a read.

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• Looking at my target audience questionnaire I can specifically say that the magazine is aimed at 12-18 year olds. I can select the evidence from this question in the questionnaire.

Looking at the title, the front cover and the article as a whole, which sort of age group and audience do you feel the magazine is aimed at?12-18 (10)19-2223-2930-older

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• My secondary audience could include fans of both rock and pop music, this is due to indie music becoming even more popular and commercialised. There is no real magazine specialising in indie music as I would want my target audience to be mixed and hopefully encourage all ethnicities to pick the magazine up and have a read.

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Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

The main cover picture suggests that the target audience is teenagers, this is due to the two models being on a tyre swing and this signifies the typical stereotypes of young teenagers and hopefully engage that type of audience. The image also has to sell the product and with the artists staring into a camera, they are trying to engage you into reading the magazine.

The title “Going underground” was inspired from a song called “Going underground” released by “The Jam” in 1979.

Examples of text grabs like “Poor Boys, did Simon Cowell really approach them” are used to catch the eye of the audience and tell the readers who the band are, even if they haven’t heard about them.

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Pictures are used to potray the image of the artists which featured in the music magazine. We can both see that the models are both looking into the camera to try and engage the magazines potential audience.

Special feature typed in different colours and sizes to engage the audience and encourage them to read the article.

Competition used as a way to hopefully engage the audience and encourage them to enter it.

Subtitles are used to keep the features which may be weekly or in that issue are kept separate and for reasons of importance.

Used for advertising purposes and to encourage people

Same font and size of text used for page numbers and brief on each of the features

Companies name used to state that the magazine is legitimate.

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Different background colours used for the titles placed within the article

Difference of colours between text and question throughout the interview to tell the reader a new question has started.

Individual pictures (ECU camera shots) used to create the layout of the article and have text scrunched around them.

Captions used to pick out key parts of the article and to signify key phrases to the reader.

Main snapshot of band from an ECU range to show a picture of the group who are being interviewed.

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• They are many positive and negative ideologies within the media. They can be pictures of celebrities helping out in third world countries, helping out the charities which they sponsor. This is positive ideology and negative ideology includes pictures of people taking drugs and being drunk which have leaked into the media.

This is positive ideology as it is showing people that they have a second chance in life

This is negative ideology as it is showing people who are taking drugs.

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• The positive ideology which I hope my magazine complies too in many ways, examples of this is shown below:

This picture shows what many people think of a typical teenager. It shows the two models wearing hoodies and look like they mean business. This is positive as it is showing the audience the typical stereotypes of teenagers.

These pictures both show intelligence and that challenges the stereotypes of teenagers.

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Q6. what have you learnt about technologies from the progress of this product?

• From the progress I used various different types of programmes and equipment. These are all shown below

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I used all of the following for my progress.

• Blogger: I used this to do complete a number of research tasks and for giving updates on how my product was going

• InDesign:I used this programme for the creation of my magazine. The main reasons I used this was to create my article, contents page and front cover of the magazine.

Photoshop:I used this for editing my pictures from the camera which I took my pictures from.

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Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Preliminary taskCompleted coursework

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• From the product I did for my coursework and the preliminary task I can notice a lot of changes have been made. This changes benefit my coursework as a whole. The Preliminary task looks a bit shabby and done unprofessionally, this is because it was a first attempt of using programmes like InDesign and Photoshop. I can notice that the editing has not been done in a professional manner and I can see that the picture looks like it was edited quickly. The colour of the magazine doesn’t suit the photo and you can barely see the text which was inserted as subtitles on the front cover.

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• The actual finished product of my coursework looks a lot more broader and fresher than the preliminary task. This was because I had weeks of experience using products such as Photoshop, InDesign, Blogger and various other programmes and facilities used with the product. Unlike the preliminary task I know who to use special effects and how to layout pages in ways which I didn’t know how to when I did the practise. I also know how to send pictures into the background and how to add text above the picture and keep the image which was edited visable.

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Conclusion• I feel that my final product has exceeded the expectations I

had set myself. After doing the preliminary task I was at the opinion that the magazine may be left with rusty pieces of work like the draft. I felt I would struggle being able to understand how to use equipment such as InDesign, Photoshop and Blogger. However I managed to figure this out and for the good of my coursework I chose to do my photos outside a studio as I felt I wanted to expand my pictures and allow the background I had wanted to use for my magazine. I also chose to do this as I felt I could challenge the stereotypes of teenagers, but mix them with how I think teenagers are being represented in society.

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• I feel that everything about the layout makes it look like a genuine publication. I feel that the pictures are appropriate for the teenage audience and they show that not all teenagers do not bring a bad image about them into society. The pictures may be challenging the stereotypes of teenagers, but inserting young teenagers will allow the target audience to see that the magazine is aimed at their own age group. The pictures inside also show that teenagers can be friendly and intelligent, this is suggested by the sign language used to interpret that the models are suppose to be genuinely nice people and hopefully aim a more broader audience. I also feel the language of the text I used was appropriate for teenagers as the article was written in a way teens would respond to the article and to see if they would enjoy the article.