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

The ways in which my media product use forms and conventions of real media products is by it being similar to other music magazines like kerrang, NME, DJ magazine and top of the pops. My magazine is similar to NME because they are both in your face with basic block text and its got a big font. Also the colours are similar by using light blue as backgrounds and this challenges the forms and conventions of this magazine. Also my Magazine challenges the forms and conventions of DJ magazine as they both have the same type of target audience as people of a young age especially 16-25 enjoy listening to Dubstep and drum and bass that DJs are likely to produce. Also my music magazine develops on the masthead of DJ magazine because my masthead it bigger and uses brighter and more attractive colours and its more noticeable. Also my magazine develops from the cover lines on DJ magazine as mine are in more detail and to the left of the magazine front cover so the reader will have more insight of what is in my magazine compared to DJ magazine.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product which is a music magazine represents particular social groups by some of the language used on the front cover. Such as the strap line ‘Complete Dubstep Madness!’. Social groups between the age of 16-25 would be mostly interested in Dubstep the genre of my magazine. My magazine represents people In this age group because the style and tempo of the music is fast and very energetic like people in the age groups of late teens and young adults. Dubstep is seen as a good genre for music in nightclubs etc where you are most like to find young adults so it represents these social groups. Dubstep can also represent people from working-class backgrounds as it’s a popular genre of music and has established itself in the charts and anyone from any class can listen to it.

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

The kind of media institution that might distribute my magazine would be IPC Media, as it is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the UK. IPC Media distribute many different magazines such as NME which is a music magazine similar to mine. IPC Media would distribute my magazine because it is a music magazine with a young target audience and they are located in the UK. As my magazine is I the UK and my target audience are based in the UK it is relevant for IPC Media to distribute my magazine. Also as this institution is known in the UK and sells over 350 million magazines a year and there headquarters is based in London. They may also distribute my magazine because my music magazine could turn out to be very popular in the UK and IPC Media would want to distribute it because it will help there business and they can make profits.

Who would be the audience for your media product ?

The audience for my media product would be people between the age of 16-25 as music can have a big influence on people in this age group. My magazine is targeted at this age group because of all the bright appealing colours used and the price of the magazine is £3.99 which is affordable for people in this age group and the price doesn’t automatically put people of the magazine. Also the bright colours attract people especially at a younger age as they are bright and would stand out on a magazine shelf. Also most people into Dubstep would be in this age group as its not really an old genre of music so is more modern and keeps up to date so this age group, which is my target audience will be more likely to buy my magazine.

How did you attract/address your target audience ?

First of all I addressed my target audience by producing a questionnaire about music magazines and asked for opinions in the questionnaire and what my target audience wanted to see in my music magazine. By using my questionnaires to address my target audience, I gained knowledge of my target audience by the answers given in my questionnaire and this would help attract my target audience because it would include content they want to see. I attracted my target audience by the colours and language I used in my magazine. The strap line ‘complete Dubstep Madness’ attracts the target audience because it’s a high pitched tone and its full of energy like young adults are so it can compare to them.

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

I have learnt how to use different technologies such as Microsoft publisher and fireworks. I have learnt that certain technologies in constructing my magazine really help to edit text and images like how I’ve learned to blur photos, add saturation and brightness. I found this relatively easy to do which was a surprise for me as I thought it would be a lot harder for me to edit photos and text. This has made me realise that actual music magazines use these types of programs to make there magazine a lot better and even use more advanced technologies like Photoshop etc. Also by using programs like fireworks I felt they wasn’t really that time consuming as everything was easy to find and the program was fast and easy to use and I had no difficulties using the program.

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

In the progression from my preliminary task to my full product I feel I have learnt how to analyse different magazines a lot better than I could while doing my preliminary task. This is because during my preliminary task I analysed different school/college magazines which didn’t have that much detail and wasn’t actual published magazines. However in my main task I analysed different published magazines such as Kerrang, Top of the pops and DJ Magazine. By doing this I learnt how much more detail there is in music magazines than college magazines and how much more professionally they are laid out. I have also learnt how to take pictures better for my music magazine compared to my school/college magazine. For my preliminary task I took a few pictures around school for it without really focusing on the detail in pictures such as composition and the persons body language in a picture.

In contrast for my music magazine I focused on taking pictures for it in a lot more detail and got my model to stand in many different poses so I could pick out which was the best pose so I could use it for my magazine. I have also learnt how to use better programs for my text and images. For my preliminary task I used Microsoft excel which limited me to use certain text and I couldn’t really edit any pictures in detail compared to fireworks which I used for my main task and this program enabled me to edit my pictures in a lot more detail than excel.

Preliminary task …

My front cover and contents page