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

My magazine includes many conventional features such as a masthead across the top center of the page reading ‘Conform’, a barcode at the bottom right hand side of the page, a website and an issue date. Cover lines are located at both the right and left hand side of the page, and my image centered in the middle of the page.

I chose to use the black font on the white background in order to help the magazine to stand out thus attracting viewers if the magazine was placed on a shelf. I used a variety of fonts to make the front cover look more diverse and interesting. The text on the cover lines is a blue/purple color designed to make the page look slightly more colorful. The typical colors used for a music magazine are red, blue and black, although the main colors I’ve used are white and black, I have used red and blue on the page so readers can identify it as a music magazine. This front cover wasn’t inspired by any other magazines it was a totally original idea. This goes with the indie theme of the magazine in order to help it stand out, as people reading this magazine are people that like to stand out and be different.

I have followed the key convention of keeping the ‘Contents’ located at the top of the contents page. Also, on a contents page there is often numbers in front of letters, in a bold font, I have done this as well in order to keep the page numbers easy to navigate. I have also put the main heading of the page next to the number in a bold font, the same size as the number, with a subheading in a smaller font beneath the heading, which too is a key convention, one that I haven’t broken away from. The images one the right hand side vary to the front cover in order to demonstrate more interesting stories within the text. The text on a contents page is often in columns which I have

incorporated into this contents page sticking with the conventions.The color scheme however does differ to the one on the cover page, thus demonstrating diversity. I was inspired by Q magazines contents page as I liked the sophisticated elements of the layout and I also admired the color scheme, therefore my contents page wasn’t as original as my front cover. I put a large image of a band in order to fill a large space and make sure the reader isn’t overwhelmed by writing. Readers also like looking at these images on contents pages in order to see what lies ahead, encouraging the reader to read on. The three images I have used all have color differences to show diversity throughout the magazine. There is a website link in the top left hand corner which will appeal to young audiences because it shows the magazine is keeping up to date with technology.

The only convention I really followed when it came to the double page spread was placing the image to the left of the text. The title is bold however its not placed in the center of the page because I thought this looked more original. I haven’t used any large text to show what’s in the article because I wanted to heighten the level of mystery. I also used two different color texts to show a difference in who’s speaking between the interviewer and the interviewee. The different colors were also used to attract the readers attention. The red font is a typical music magazine color thus maintaining the theme. There is usually a lot of writing on a double

page spread which I did here and there is also columns used which I also used as I made two columns.I did some research and asked several people that I know that enjoy indie music if they liked the simplistic layout or if they would prefer something more complex, and they all agreed that the simplistic layout makes it look more sophisticated which they liked and has an almost quirky yet warm effect. They also liked how the photo used was in black and white, giving an almost vintage effect.

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

My magazine was aimed at teenagers aged 16-19 for a number of reasons. Firstly, the genre of my magazine is alternative/indie, which is the age group that mostly like this kind of music. Secondly, with this age group a certain level of sophistication is required however nothing too formal is expected. My magazine represents this in a number of ways, firstly, the model on the front is a 17 year old girl, therefore the people looking to buy the magazine will recognize the age group of the model, and as it is a girl on the front cover this will appeal less to males looking to read a music magazine. Secondly, the costuming I have used on the model is relative to the genre as alternative/indie people will admire the dark eye make up and skinny jeans. The props such as the acoustic guitar will also appeal to this audience as this is an instrument used to make indie music and something a lot of indie people play.The title font suggests a quirkiness about the magazine as it is unusual which should attract readers into alternative music as they’re usually looking for something ‘different’. Most music magazines are full of the color red and blue however my front cover is mainly white which should also attract these readers for the same reason, this will be seen as something unusual.My front cover is black and white as well as my double page spread, which should be appealing to these readers as when I researched this social group I found out that they would find this simplicity and vintage effect appealing.Although I used a girl as my front cover, she looks a little masculine, therefore the magazine could also be attractive to a male audience. The color schemes are aso fairly dark which also appeals to males.

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

In my opinion I think that IPC MEDIA would benefit from selling my magazine because the only other music magazine they sell is NME therefore it would be beneficial to sell more of a diversity of music magazines. It would give them the chance

to expand their clientele. Also I think there is a place in the market for my magazine because there aren’t many other magazine focusing mainly on indie music which is a big interest of people aged 16-19. Also there is not a lot on the website aimed for teenagers therefore it would attract business to IPC media as it would be targeting a larger audience.I think my product should also be sold at big brand shops such as WHSmith because this is a well known shop that teenagers would shop in to get stationary products. Also newsagents near train stations would benefit from selling this product because many students on there way to school would stop off in news agents.

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

My intended audience is both male and female due to the fact there is a mix of music bands on the front cover appealing to both audiences. The color scheme is black and white, which doesn’t rule out either audience so the magazine is unisex in this sense. However the magazine will most probably be more appealing to the female audience due to the female on the front cover and the fact there’s gossip pages, which are typically catch females attention. Although there’s a female on the front cover, she looks looks slightly masculine, therefore this is still appealing to male audiences.Overall my magazine would appeal to people such as Daniella, Daniella is a 17 year old girl that loves indie music and indie culture. In her free time she jams with her friends as she plays acoustic guitar, and also goes to gigs most Fridays. She loves finding out about new bands that most people haven’t heard of because she finds them more authentic and raw, especially to see at gigs. Her mates have similar interests so they’re always in competition with each other to find new bands. Daniella is a big fan of Vampire Weekend and The Vaccines who she saw playing at festivals on several occasions last year. Despite the fact she loves seeing big bands play and loves her music, she doesn’t want to play professionally because she would never want to think of music as a job, just a hobby. She has a job at the Vans store at the weekend when she’s not attending college, therefore she would find conform affordable at only £2.80 per issue.‘Conform’ also presents teenagers/ young adults in a positive light as it highlights those that have made a success of their life and doesn’t promote artists that are into heavy drinking or drug abuse, or violence. The magazine would therefore be appealing to those people that are aspiring musicians as it gives people inspiration to see people that have made a success of themselves.Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

*answer placed on a powerpoint

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

This task has given me the opportunity to expand my knowledge on how to use programs more effectively and other technological devices.

PROGRAMS:In order to make my magazine pages look as professional as possible I had to use an adobe program called photoshop. This gave me the opportunity to edit photo’s, create new backgrounds, experiment with different colors in order to form mastheads and edit my magazine to suit the desirable genre.By using photoshop it made my magazine making a lot more simple as the website was easy to navigate once

I learnt how to use.

I also was given the opportunity to use the Canon Eos 600D which originally I was apprehensive about as I had never used one before however once I got used to it, I was able to produce some good quality pictures.

In order to upload all my work I had to use blogger which originally was a hard website to navigate however once I got used to uploading files it became less complicated. Blogger gave me an opportunity to treat my work like a diary allowing me to see how my work was progressing every time I uploaded an improved version.

To conclude, as I was forced out of my comfort zone and had to use ICT skills I ended up becoming much more confident ,and eventually improving. I also became much more independent.

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

As preparation for making this magazine we had to create a school magazine. This helped a lot with the process of planning our music magazine because we then understood the type of work that goes into something and also the amount of organization and time management needed. For example, with the school magazine we also had to sort out props, costumes, make up, people to take photos of, where to take them, how to use photoshop and how to use the cameras and blogger. This really helped us with the later task of making the music magazine because by then we were already comfortable with using the technology and understood how the system worked.

When it came to the music magazine I used class time to plan the location, the model, the costume, the pose and the layout of my magazine. When it came to taking the photos my organization came in handy helping everything to run smoothly, the way I had planned.

To conclude I feel from the preliminary task I learnt a lot as it helped me with technical skills and organizational skills, which helped the music magazine run really smoothly.

Q8. Evaluate how successful your product is with your target audience using audience feedback.

I asked about 15 people aged 17-18 about my magazine which was really helpful because I got a lot of feedback.

Strengths of my cover:Many people said the black text on white was really effective

in the sense it helped make the magazine stand out. There were many compliments on how different the magazine looked and several people liked the text above the writing as they said it made the cover look more professional. They also said they admired how it could appeal to boys and girls and some people liked the fact there is not an overload on color.

Weaknesses of the cover:Although some people liked the color scheme, some people would

have preferred more color. Some people also said the barcode may have looked better in a different position. There were also mixed reviews on the color of the writing on the left and right.

Strengths of the contents page:The contents page mainly got good reviews as people liked the

image effects as one’s sepia and ones black and white. People also liked the diversity of colors on the page, and the text and image layout as it looks professional. People also admired the fact its easy to navigate

Weaknesses of the contents page:Some people didn’t like the fact that the contents page didn’t go

well with the cover page because it seemed relatively inconsistent,

Strengths of the Double Page Spread:Most people liked the simplicity of the double page spread

because its plain yet it looks professional. People also commented on the fact the black and white picture looks very vintage yet clear. They also liked the different color texts as it breaks the text up a bit.

Weaknesses of the Double Page Spread:Some people thought the double page spread looked to

simple and could have done with more text around the image.