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

3. Whilst I was constructing my magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread, I took in to consideration some of the forms and conventions used in the magazines I had analysed such as; KERRANG!, NME and Q and applied some to my magazine. I placed my masthead in the centre top third of the magazine cover, A convention I applied from some magazine covers such as KERRANG. I used capital letters for my masthead, the use of capital letters make it more eye-catching and as it is placed in the centre of the top third of the magazine, it is the part of the magazine potential consumers would see if my magazine was in magazine stalls,. I included an “exclusive” on my front cover. this is a common convention used by magazines; to intrigue readers to buy the magazine as it is the only magazine with this story. I placed my barcode and price at the bottom of the cover, as this was not an important part in attracting the readers. My main image was of a “singer”, I dressed her in the style of clothes which related to the type of music my target audience enjoyed My main cover-line was in larger fonts and contrasted with the colours used in the background, a convention used by many magazines. I included a strap-line a convention used by a number of magazines and included a competition after analysing my questionnaire results.

4. This is the final construction my contents page for my music magazine, when constructing this page, I applied many forms and conventions from other music magazines which I analysed I decided to adapt the conventions used by “KERRANG” where they placed the title at top right hand corner I placed an image of the front cover in my contents page, as it creates a professional look and also reminds the reader what initially attracted them to the magazine I placed sub-headings to make my page more neat and so the reader can find the feature they are looking for easily. I included page numbers beside each feature, so the reader could easily find that page. Also I included captions, giving an insight to what each feature is about. I included page numbers beside each image, this is a convention employed by many magazines, so if the reader wants to find that feature they can easily. Also, unlike other magazines, I included frames around my images, as if they were polaroid pictures to make them look fun and appeal to my young target audience. I included a page number and also the “CHAOS!” logo at the bottom right hand corner of the page, a convention used by magazines such as NME.

5. I included images to make my page appear brighter and more interesting, this is a convention used by most magazines. I decided to use a “shattered” font for the title of this article as it reflects what type of musician the artist is By-line- I included this to introduce my article, most magazines use a by-line. I decided for my article to be in interview format rather than continuous prose, as I felt it was more personal and the readers could find out more about this new artist. Like most magazines, I included a pull quote, to give my readers an insight to what my article is about. I plugged my magazines website here and also the artists new album, as it advertises both and my youthful audience would be interested in this. This is my double page spread, I took a lot of inspiration from other magazines when constructing this and employed some of the forms and conventions they used: Columns make my article more professional looking.

6. From analysing other magazines I was able to apply the forms and conventions to my magazine that would help it look professional, attractive and interesting and also from analysing my target audience questionnaire results and including things they would like to see such as; artists on the front cover, Blue and Red colours and free prizes I am sure that my magazine would appeal to them.

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

8. Most people who are interested in a particular type of genre of music tend to dress in a certain way reflecting the type of music they are interested in. I initially began considering what my model should wear in my magazine front cover as I wanted it to reflect the “indie/rock” genre of my magazine; I decided to use fashionable clothes which would be typical of an “indie” to wear, such as floral dresses, though with a twist, so I included heavy eye make-up on my model which would connote the idea of her being an “indie/rocker”. I intended to make my magazine for both sexes, so I used an image of a young woman in her late teens on my front cover so girls from my target audience, aged 15-25, would be able to relate to her, and also boy’s in that age group may be attracted to her and buy the magazine

9. When developing my magazine, I considered the social boundaries my target audience would fall in to, these are: Because of this I was aware that some of my target audience may not be highly educated so I used colloquial language throughout so they would easily be able to understand and also to form a relationship with the reader. I decided to use an interview format in my double page spread, who may be easily bored with the use of continual prose throughout. I used the colours white, blue and red throughout as after analysing my questionnaires, which I distributed to males and females between the ages of 15 and 25, I seen that these were the colours my target audience favoured. I used Caucasian males and females throughout my magazine, I did not use images of those with different ethnic minorities as the majority of indie or rock bands consist of Caucasian males and females.

10. What kind of media institution would distribute your magazine and why?

11. IPC Media is one of the top magazine selling companies in the UK it sells up to 350 million copies of magazines per year! IPC also distribute the highest selling indie music magazine in the country- “NME”, I analysed this magazine a lot and feel my magazine is similar in many ways to it,so IPC would be a strong option when it came to deciding who to distribute my magazine. Kerrang and Q! Magazine are distributed by BAUER MEDIA, also a very successful distributing company. The magazines they distribute are also magazines which my final product are similar too. Overall I have decided IPC media would me more suited to distribute my magazine, as BAUER MEDIA distribute “rock” magazines such as “KERRANG” while I feel my magazine is more similar to “NME”’s genre distributed by IPC media, also IPC media seems to target a younger audience, in the same age range as the target audience for my magazine.

12. Who would be the audience of your media product?

13. The audience for my magazine would be young males and females between the ages of 15- 25 and interested in the “indie/rock” genre of music. They would most likely be placed in the social grades C1,C2 or D. To appeal to this type of audience I employed friendly, colloquial lexis throughout as this would be the type of language people in this age range and of those social grading would be used to and would find appealing. In my images I dressed my models in clothes that people interested in the “indie/rock” genre tend to dress in, as they could instantly recognise that my magazine was about the type of music they are interested in and to re-enforce this idea I made references to “indie” and rock bands throughout. I also I used young models in their age group as they could relate to them, and included websites such as “CHAOS.com” as my target audience of 15-25 year olds would be interested in technology. The colour scheme of red, white, blue and black I used would appeal to both males and females of any age.

14. How did you attract/ address your audience?

15. While I analysed other magazines such as “KERRANG!” “Q” and “NME”, I noticed that “KERRANG”, which is more of the rock genre, used colours such as red and black throughout, whilst “NME”, which is more of an “indie” magazine, incorporated some brighter colours such as blue After learning this and analysing my questionnaire to see what colours my target audience liked, I decided to use the colours red, white, black and blue. As these appeal to my target audience of my “indie/rock” magazine.

16. In my images I considered carefully what my models should wear, I researched “indie/rock” band and took inspiration from the clothes they wear as this would appeal to my audience as they are interested in this type of music, also I made sure my models were within the age group of my target audience as they would be more interested in reading about them and buying the magazine. I also included band names that related to the genre my target audience would be interested in, and also, on my front cover I used the Glastonbury line-up as a cover line as this festival would include a lot of bands my target audience would be interested in. Therefore I feel I like my magazine would attract the niche audience I am targeting it at, from the use of my models, my language and the content of my magazine.

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

18. The technology I found most difficult to get to grips with was Photoshop, although through experimentation and watching tutorials online I was comfortable editing my magazine. In Photoshop, I was able to use many tools to create a professional looking magazine. I experimented with things such as; Smudge Tool Magic wand tool Eye Dropper tool Cropping Layering Brightness/Contrast Feathering Tool Cutting

19. I used PB works, a blogging website to display and organise my coursework I found this site very frustrating, as when I was uploading my work it would take very long to upload, Although it was useful for when my and my peers wanted to comment on each others work. I used the internet to create and maintain my work I also used the internet to download fonts off “urbanfonts.com”, when I was constructing my magazine, to make it look more attractive and appealing. This process was fairly easy.

20. Other technologies I used: Publisher helped me create some of my flat plans for my magazine, which overall helped me in deciding what my magazine should look like. Excel was very useful in creating my graphs when I was analysing my questionnaire results and helped me see what my target audience preferred clearly. Digital Cameras and Memory Cards I used these to capture the images for my magazine and also to upload them on the internet

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

22. I feel I have Improved a lot in the progression from my preliminary task to my main task. From looking back on my preliminary task I can see clearly what I could have improved on, as my skills in Photoshop and analysing and applying the forms and conventions of other magazines to mine have developed I was able to produce a more professional and attractive product for my main task

23. My communication skills have also improved from my preliminary. For my preliminary I used a lot of open-ended questions in my questionnaire, whereas for my main task I used a lot of closed un- flexible questions so I could get definite answers and apply what my target audience liked to my magazine. I have a wider media knowledge and a wider knowledge of the print industry I have researched two media industries in detail and focused on the social grading system in the UK which helped me gain a wider knowledge of the print industry From analysing other magazines I can clearly recognise the forms and conventions other magazines use and distinguish why they use them.

24. Overall I feel after analysing different music magazines, the media industry and experimenting with Photoshop I have improved vastly and am a more capable media studies student