Introduction

• I made a music magazine, based around an indie genre.

• I worked individually.

• All the work was designed and produced by myself, within a ten week period.

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

Typical conventions used in my music magazine• I have used a large mast head at the top, to catch the readers attention.• I have included strap lines at both the bottom and top of the page, to display the content inside the magazine.• A medium close up shot using direct address has been used for my photograph.•I have used a large heading in the middle of the page, to show what the main feature of the article is about, as well as a quotation from the band.• subheadings have been used to attract the reader, and show them what's inside.• A colour scheme to match my indie genre

How I have challenged and developed the conventions of real media products• I have placed some of my text within boxes, and some without, to get a varied look.•I have used two strap lines, instead of just one to make my front page look less empty and more professional.

Front coverHas been used.• I have used a variety of fonts, to make my magazine look professional.• As well as a barcode, price and date.

Q1 continued ... Comparing to a real product

Here you can see the points I mentioned to be typical conventions, are similar to the professional magazine shown here, including:•A direct address photograph•Large mast head•Subtitles •Colour scheme•Strap line•Quotation from the band•Etc.•This show my magazine uses and develops the conventions and forms of a real music magazine

Q1. Continued...Contents page

• I used a photograph of my band, which was taken from above their heads, looking down on them (high angle, medium shot) Although this is a convention, It is not typically used, as medium close ups are generally used. Therefore I have developed and challenged a convention here. I think it works well and makes my band look young yet powerful, as they look up and straight into the camera.

•I have also gone for a typical convention, by numbering the articles, features etc, and placing them under the sub title “What's inside.” This shows the content of my magazine simply, yet professionally. However I think it informs more than it does interest, as I found by using my audience feedback. 40% of my target audience said this. Therefore I can take this into consideration for the future.

•I have used the same colour scheme as used for my front page. This gives my magazine meaning, and shows it’s indie/rock genre clearly.

•I have placed an editor’s letter at the side of my page, as this is typically used within music magazines, and signed it with my name, this is informal address, and helps to make the reader feel involved.

• Subheadings have again been used, to interest my reader as they stand out, and illustrate my feature article.

• I have also used my magazines name again as this is used throughout some music magazines as it is like their signature logo and creates a clear brand identity.

Q1. Continued ...

Feature Article

How I have developed and challenged conventions of real media products

•I have changed the colour scheme used on my feature article, as I think the colours blue, black and white, portray my all boy, teenage band well. This challenges typical conventions as music magazines tend to stick to the same colour scheme throughout, to create a signature style and attract the right audience, however it is sometimes used to convey a particular style in some magazines.

• I have picked out catchy phrases in my article and made them bigger colouring them blue, this is done throughout magazines, and for mine. It creates a relaxed atmosphere, due to what's being said and also looks fun and quirky. Showing the boys overall image. This grabs the readers attention and encourages them to read the entire article.

•I have used an opening paragraph and made this bold, as well as stating the release dates at the end of the article, and making this bold too, this shows they are important and so they stand out to the reader. It is also typically used in music magazines.

•I have placed my pictures in a way that they look like Polaroid's and then changed the colours to black and white, sighing each band members name at the bottom, this looks fun and different, giving my own unique style to the magazine. As generally big photos are used of the bands looking directly into the camera. It also introduces each band member clearly to an unfamiliar audience.

Conventions of my feature article

•large header and subtitle.•Photographs of the band members.•Introduction.•Large quotes.•Release date of album (what they are promoting).•Fun, journalistic article.

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

1. I have represented young musicians in my media product, using a male teenage band as my main focus point of the magazine. I have also represented teenagers of an indie/rock crowd. I have done this by using certain costumes, colours and appearances, on my musicians. The image is fashionable and on trend, so the target audience can relate to and aspire to be like the band.

2. I have created this overall image by looking at all male, teenage bands of similar genres. Such as The arctic Monkey’s for inspiration.

3. By looking at similar bands and music magazines, I came up with my colour scheme of red, black and white. As these are typical indie/rock colours. I then applied this to my photographs by using similar colours of clothing. I kept my bands facial expressions serious, and their focus on looking into the camera strong to create my typical all male teenage band. This therefore represents other young musicians, an indie/rock crowd and teenagers.

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

IPC Media would be a great institution to publish my media product, known for producing over 85 iconic medias brands, including NME. My magazine is similarly aimed at an indie/rock audience, with a difference of being aimed at a younger audience, (teenagers). Although it is aimed towards more of a male audience, there is a percentage of females that would enjoy reading the magazine, as 4/10 of my feed back questionnaires were done by females and with a positive response.

Reasons my magazine is special and different to those already on the market.• It is aimed at teenagers, and is from a teenage point of view. (possibly a younger NME)• The journalism is laid back and fun to read.• Also aimed at females (my secondary audience) as well as males, including fashion statements, which is shown as a feature of the magazine on the contents page, and good looking teenage, male bands.

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

My magazine is aimed at:• 16-22 year olds.• male/female audience (generally male).British nationality, ethnicity can vary according to taste in music.•Fans of indie music or indie/rock.• socio-economic status, C1-C2, (however can vary).•Aimed at mainstreamers!

This audience is right for my product financially, as they fit the right criteria. This means they are highly likely to buy the magazine, as it is aimed at a typically male, indie audience of the ages 16-22. It also fits their price range well, which is £2.30.

Secondary target audiences; •Could include socio-economic status D or E.•A more female audience.•The age could vary under 16 or over 22, as if they are rock/indie fans, age is regardless.

Looking at my audience feedback, my product did gain positive feedback from my primary audience, as well as my secondary audience.My male audience described it as “very interesting” and the article as “laid back and like a conversation.”My female audience said it looked “very genuine” and the journalism was “funny”.

This shows my magazine has fulfilled it’s potential, and it suits my target audience as well as a secondary audience. As results from my audience feed also show that 8/10 of my audience felt my magazine was genuine, and interesting.

My reader profile Gender: Males and females (majority males) Age:16-19Listens to indie music; The Wombats, Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys,  Muse, The Klaxons etcFashion Style:  Skinny jeans, beanie hats, pumps, cardigans (always carrying an iPod)Reads: NME, QInterests: gigs, fashion, music (obviously)

Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract and address my audience I initially did a questionnaire to see what they would like to see in my magazine. Here are some examples of what was said:

I named my magazine Baseline, as this proved most popular through my questionnaire.

Q6. Helped a lot in choosing what went in my magazine, I used the ideas shown here, of the black and white contrast for my article, as well as mentioning reviews and gig listings, to attract the audience.

This question helped me when choosing my colour scheme, with red, white and black coming out as the favourites.

•To address my audience personally, I used an editors letter. This meant I was talking directly to the reader, involving them in the magazine, and telling them what the weeks issue had to offer.• I used photographs of my group looking directly into the camera, to involve /address my audience.•My double page spread was laid out, making it look appealing to the eye to read. I did this by using a bright title, eye catching images, and bold fonts and colours.•My headlines, used words such as “exclusive” to attract and address my audience.

•Psychographic Profiling: I went for a mainstream look, as this group tend to seek security in

conformity and buy well known products, i.e. NME (similar to my magazine).

•I used a cool, young, fashionable band the audience could aspire to be like.

Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I used Photoshop and In Design to create my media product, these programmes were new to me and so I struggled at first. However Photoshop was good for editing my photos, as I had to alter red eye on some pictures, change the colour contrast on others and I also had to cut out my image for the front cover.

Raw image, before altering the red eye and colour contrast in Photoshop.

Image cut out for my front cover, and placed on a grey background

However I struggled using Blogger at times, as uploading could take long periods of time, or not work at all. This caused limitations in my work as I was struggling to find other ways of getting my work done and my photos onto my blog. I also used the internet, such as Google (and Google images) and www.dafont.com these proved helpful in my research and planning. As well as dafont helping me pick the final fonts for my magazine.

Using these two programmes proved successful, and I enjoyed using them. They helped make my product look unique and professional.

Colour contrast changed to black and whit in Photoshop.

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

Comparing my preliminary task to my full product I can see that my knowledge of magazines has furthered through research, as my final magazine, looks a lot more professional and interesting.

I feel like I have learnt how to position and lay out my text better, to make my magazine look more realistic.

You can see that my cut-out looks a lot more professional and neater in my final product, in contrast to my preliminary task. I have also made it more realistic by adding a barcode and background colour.

I think my language is a lot better on my final product, as it interests the reader, and persuades them to buy it, by using words such as “EXCLUSIVE”.

Finally I think my layout is quite boring on my preliminary task, however on my final product it is more spaced out and typical of a real music magazine.

Untidy cut-out

Boring background

Plain fonts

Neat, professional cut-out Background to suit

theme

Different range of interesting fontsboxes

Boxes worked well and were used on my final product

Lack of gossip, nothing particularly stands out

Conclusion

Overall I am really happy with my magazine, I think it looks professional, and I have put a lot of hard work in to it.

Strengths• It covers all the conventions of a real music magazine.• As well as having it’s own unique style.•It represents it’s target audience well, with a colour scheme and young, male band.•It looks interesting and attracts/addresses the reader.•The photographs look professional and fun.• The layout is fun and interesting.

Weaknesses• The contents page informs, more than it interests, however , this is something I can take into consideration for the future, as this was more of a time issue than anything.• Therefore a weakness is , time management issues.

In my opinion, it fulfils the real conventions of a magazine, looks professional, and has it’s own unique style. I am really happy with my photographs, as I think they look good and work well with my overall presentation. I am also particularly happy with my article, as I think it sounds natural and fun, giving the reader an insight into the band’s world.