Name: Holly Bulger Candidate number : 2166 Centre: Aquinas College

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products ? Question 1

I based my front cover on NMEs style, because I felt like it gave my magazine an indie vibe I did this by using the same colours such as red, white and black and also keeping the background very simple (white) I think this creates a more trendy modern feel about the magazine and by comparing both STRINGZ and NME together you see the similarities. I kept my front cover simple because I felt like if I put too many images/writing on it, it would be hard to follow. I think I took a challenge by making my front cover simple as many of my peers did the opposite and made there front covers exciting and loud. However, I felt like with the genre I picked my front cover had to be slightly more subtle than that. When first creating my front cover I used other NME front covers to help develop mine, for example I looked at what I thought made the magazine look inviting and look a spin on it. I saw a front cover which had black boxes with the headlines in and I thought that looked really good and stood out so I managed to put that on my front cover. I also realized that artists named were highlighted in a different colour throughout so I decided to have a bright red colour that highlighted when artists were being spoken about. Thinking of a name for my magazine was quite tricky because I had to think of something that people would remember, something that related to my genre and something that just generally sounded right. In the end I thought of “Stringz” because I figured that the Indie scene is assosicaited with guitars a lot so I got my idea from guitar strings, I then added a “Z” on the end to give my name a more modern feel. Taking my own pictures for my magazine made it a lot harder because I had to tell my models what I wanted them to do and if I thought it was going to look not quite right on my page I would have to make some adjustments, so I kept my images simple. I had the models I use pose naturally with a bland look on their face because that is how people normally pose on Indie magazines. I felt like from using red on my front cover this connotes that my magazine is going to be exciting and loud but because I used other calmer colours such as white and blue it also tells the reader that it will be stylish. Front cover

Contents page I kept my contents page simple as well because I felt like I wanted it to be easy to read. I looked at NMEs design of a contents page and actually didn’t like the way they laid it out so I made my own version of a contents page. I thought that it obviously needed to be easy to navigate round because this is where readers find out what page they want to go to so it wouldn’t of been very helpful if the page was confusing and pages were everywhere. I had a few images on the right hand side of the double page which included some information about what was going to be featured in the magazine. I developed my contents page by looking at other contents pages from other magazines and seeing what looks best and I used some of those ideas on my contents page. I kept the colour scheme the same as my front cover and also had my logo at the top as well as a banner at the bottom. Many of the contents pages I looked at only had a single page but I decided that I I wanted half to be the page numbers and headlines and the other page to have the images of artists. If I was going to do my contents page again I would base it more on the NME style of contents page and have a single page with all the page numbers, images and artists on and also keep the colour scheme simple (black,white,red) I also like the idea of having quotes on my contents page so I developed that by looking at other contents.

Double page spread From looking at other double paged spreads I recognized that normally one half of the page was an image and the other half was the article so I used this on my double page spread. I developed my double page spread by looking at lots of different magazines and seeing what design I wanted to have on mine. I went for a simple effect spread, I had the image on one side with a quote and heading then on the right hand side of the page I had some more images with the article. When writing the article I highlighted with bold the quotes that Jacque had said. This is so that a reader can get a quick idea of what is being said and decide if they want to read it or not. I kept the colour scheme the same and highlighted Jacques name in red and bold. I think my double page spread is effective and looks professional, and doesn’t look much different to real media products. By having other double page spreads to look at for templates this made it a lot more easier to do. I made sure my logo was on the page again so it is recognisable to a reader as well as the page number.

When looking at the finished product all together I feel like it looks professional and trendy, but if I was going to make any changes I would of taken more ideas from the NME magazines especially on my contents page because I think it could have had more information and images on it. My magazine is aimed at teenagers ages both male and female who are into Indie music such as The Stone Roses, Oasis, The Smiths etc. My magazine is similar to NME in the aspect of what Is included inside it this would be my primary audience.

I AIMED MY MAGAZINE AT Who like … Male and female… Who shop at … Influenced by … Who go to gigs … Who enjoy…

How does your media product represent particular social groups? Question 2

My magazine represents an Indie theme throughout and this is demonstrated by the style of the magazine, the artists used within and also my models and the way they look. My magazine invites both male and female genders and is constructed to be invite anyone to read it as it doesn't’t have a big statements saying only people who listen to Indie music can read it. I chose my model Jacque carefully as he may be looked at to be quite indie and I thought with his style of hair cut and dress sense he would be perfect to be my star on the front of my magazine. My magazine represents an Indie vibe by the style of the magazine and also what is included in it. Straight away by looking at the front cover you can see that STRINGZ is aimed at a indie audience who enjoy music and being qwerky.

I used colours such as blue and red to imply that my magazine is aimed at both genders for example if I used pink throughout it would indicate that my magazine was more based on girls/women. My magazine targets a Indie/Alternative social groups and it does this simply by what music is included in the magazine, Mainly teenagers who are into Indie music such HAIM yet have a taste in a bit of older music such as The Stone Roses and The Smiths that is the social group that will benefit from my magazine the most.

My magazine will also attract people who play instruments such as guitars and drums because they will be intrigued to see what the artists they like are doing I would say my main audience would be aged both genders and aimed at members of the public who enjoy Indie and Alternate music.

Question 3 What kind of media institution might distribute your product?

I think that if I tried to sell my magazine as its own brand it wouldn't’t do very well, However if I made my magazine a sister publication I could be connected with the likes on NME which would boost the popularity of my magazine as well as helping the public to see what kind of magazine STRINGZ is, I think this would be the best idea rather than be rivals with NME as it has been around for so long it would be very unusual that the public would stop buying NME and start buying STRINGZ. I would like my magazine to be published at least once a month I think weekly would be too much and my magazine would probably run out of ideas to have in the magazine. Whilst NME releases a new issue every Wednesday I think the chances of the public buying 2 magazines every week would be quite unrealistic so I think once a month would be more ideal. With the price of my magazine being £1.50 per magazine I think this will give me enough money to keep my magazine running especially if I am in a partnership with NME this will make buyers of NME want to try out STRINGZ. I so think that my magazine will take a while to take off in the media industry as there are quite a few magazines like it around but hopefully because my price is fairly low this wil attract customers.

To make my magazine more popular I can do things such as sponsored hashtags on twitter, apps, an instagram profile as well as many other ways of making my magazine well known.

How did you attract/address your audience? Question 4

How did I attract my audience? In comparison to other magazines my magazine is better in some ways, as it has a distinctive logo and name which no other magazine has. It is simple and easy to spot however, by using bold colors such as red and blues it will help the reader to see the magazine quickly and have the urge to pick it up and have a read. The star on the front of my magazine will always have a different facial expression being excited or moody it will differ, my stars will always make direct eye contact with the camera which will attract a reader as they will feel more involved with the magazine. I have a red button on my front cover which will invite a reader to see what is it and especially when a prize is involved this will make a reader want to get involved and hopefully win something. I will always use the same colour scheme throughout my magazine which will create a brand ID which will be recognizable to a reader and become familiar to them every time they buy the magazine.

How did I address my audience? I spoke to my audience in a bright, positive way by using bright bold colours which will tell a reader that STRINGZ is an upbeat magazine with a lot to offer. I wasn’t to formal with language in my magazine which implies that there is a relaxing/informal tone and I think that is sensible considering my magazine is aimed at teenagers so it will make them feel more at home when reading STRINGZ also by being friendly this will encourage a reader to buy the magazine again. I wanted to create a cool, laid back theme to my magazine which will give my magazine a Indie impression and invite readers to feel cool and in fashion with everyone so they will want to buy it everytime it is out.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Question 5

I used photo shop to edit my images and make them look more professional. I used the magic wand tool to select the arse of my image I wanted deleting and then deleted it by clicking backspace, this made my background plain so there was nothing in the background of my image I didn’t want there. I did this with most of my images and there wasn’t much editing to do with my images as I made sure I used a plain background when taking the images. This is what Jacque looked like when I has only taken the background away, this allowed me to be able to add any colour, other images onto the background I did the same with the other images on my front cover

When I had placed Jacque onto my front cover I started adding other images I needed onto it as well as colour and deciding where all my images and headlines should go. After all my images had been added and headlines my magazine was beginning to come together very well and I felt like the editing I had done on photo shop had helped my magazine look professional.