My media products follow the forms and conventions of real media products for various different reasons.

Firstly, the layout of my magazine cover, content page and double page spread all agree with that of other, real magazine covers, TOC’s and DPS’s. The use of an eye-

catching magazine title is clear on the cover of my magazine which matches the portrayal of the title on other covers. The magazine title is short and snappy which allows the magazine to be memorable to the target audience, meaning when they walk into a shop, they will buy my magazine because they know well the name of the magazine. The title is big and bold with bright colours that stand out from the background allowing it to be clear to people in shops and other distributors making people notice it out of other magazines.

The fact that the artists face on the cover of the magazine is clear and eye-contact is clear allows the

reader to be engaged with the magazine. This concept develops the conventions of real media

products because it shows the artist in close contact with the camera allowing the reader to clearly

see the artist and it also gives the reader an insight to what the magazine is about which will attract

more readers. This is because, if big, famous pop artists are on the front of the cover, it will entice

people to read it and find out more about that artist. The use of bright colours on the front cover also

follow the conventions of real pop magazine covers allowing it to eye-catchy and it matches the

target audience of young girls aged 14-17. The use of bright colours make it stand out compared to

other, darker more formal layouts of other magazines that may be on the shelf in stores. There is also a

buzz word on the front cover which attracts the readers attention because it informs them of

something that may be included inside the magazine. This also challenges the use of eye-follow of real

media magazine because real magazines normally show buzz words in the top right corner of the

magazine meaning people will see it first then will chose to carry on reading he magazine. I di d this

because I felt that if I placed the buzz on the top right, everything would look to quashed together

meaning everything would be placed on top of each other.

Edited images were paced on my front cover and double page spread as a way of presenting the artists to the reader. The image on the front cover was edited as I changed the curves of the photo. I did this because it made the photo stand out more because it increased the exposure and brightness of the image. This was effective as it

was the main image on the front cover and by making the image brighter, it matched the theme of bright colours on the cover. This also meant that my skills could be emphasised of what I had learnt from lessons about photo shop.

Original image Edited image

The edited image that I inserted on the double page spread was

edited by also changing the curves. This made the images exposure

darker making it stand out more, and also increased the brightness.

Changing the curves meant that I was changing the output of

colour and the input. I also changed the colour balance by

decreasing the “magenta” meaning the image turned slightly pink

meaning it matched the background of the double page spread.

The media product as a whole agreed with all of the forms and conventions of a real media product as I researched what specific aspects are included in real magazines. I included headlines on the front cover, images of artists, a magazine title and side stories, matching the conventions included in magazines that are published today. The content page also consisted of conventions seen in real media products such as the use of columns allowing the reader to clearly see aspects of the magazine and what they can expect from the content inside of the magazine. I did this by inserting pictures that matched the content of each page and placing a page number next to it allowing the reader to choose a particular part of the magazine they choose to read. I also added a banner at the bottom of the page which matched other magazines making the magazine appropriate and eye-catching for the reader. In some ways this challenges the forms and conventions because some magazines portray the banner at the bottom as photos or “posters” that are included inside the magazine. However, my media product shows an explicit thing that is inside the magazine; “WIN 1D TICKETS INSIDE!”

After research from my questionnaire, I was able to find a

target audience of young girls aged 14-17, allowing me to

aim the magazine at that specific social group. My media

product represents this by the artists that I included in the

magazine, being a girl group, a young “teenage” male

singer. I did this because it allowed me to match content

with the ideas that are normally portrayed in pop

magazines.

I also made the colours bright and eye-catching meaning

the target audience could easily notice the magazine from

the shop. This meant that the magazine cover was easy to

read. The text on the cover was clear and there was not

too much text allowing it to be easy to read.

Also the idea of the banners telling the reader of the “pop”

news attracts the readers attention and shows the content

that is convenient to this specific social group.

Also the price being £2.50 allows the social groups to afford

it because it is quite cheap compared to other magazines

available and young girls will not own a lot of money.

After researching different pop magazines and institutions that they are part of, I was able to decide that Immediate Media was the best choice because they distribute Top

Of The Pops music magazine which is popular with the target audience matching the same target audience that my media product was aimed at.

“Immediate media is a combined publishing house, combining the former assets of Origin Publishing, Magicalia and BBC Magazines. It was created in late 2011 following the clearance by the Office of Fair Trading of the purchase of BBC Magazines from BBC Worldwide by Exponent Private Equity. It publishes over 50 magazine titles including 23 BBC Worldwide titles under long-term licence as well as over 30 websites. It employs 750 staff in its offices in Hammersmith, London and in Bristol.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immediate_Media_Company

Immediate media allows my magazine to be distributed with other various magazines that portray the same type of content, eg: pop music. Immediate media is a popular in the industry meaning the company can earn the highest profit possible.

The price of the magazine was also considerable of the audience because teenage girls do not have a high wealth income, therefore I priced it at £2.50 so that young girls would be able to purchase it. The NRS social grade of teenage girls would be an E because they are students and are unemployed or casual workers.

This target audience would also be classed as aspirers in terms of psychographics because teenage girls are interested in fashion, they seek status and are orientated to image and appearance and persona. Therefore, including boy bands, girl groups and other pop artists and fashion ideas would be useful when creating the media product aiming it at teenage girls.

During the planning section of creating my media product, I did a survey where I was able to find a specific target audience. This helped me aim my magazine at young teenage girls, aged 14-17. I did this by including artists that teenage girls show interest in, like girl groups, boy bands and a teenage singer. I also chose to pick colours that are bright so that they stand out and this makes the magazine less formal meaning it is more relatable to my target audience.

I also included “pop” news that teenage girls show an interest in because this means that the target audience will buy the magazine because they will enjoy the news and content that is included inside.

I also included an interview with the girl group on the DPS which gave the target audience ideas of what real girl groups do which can inspire the readers.

The language included on the media product was not explicit or over detailed. I did this because the target audience will not sit and read a lot therefore pictures and short interviews are more appropriate for younger girls because it will be quicker, and not so formal.

During the process of constructing my media products, I have improved skills on different technologies. I have developed skills on Adobe Photoshop like how to edit images, increasing and decrease exposure and brightness, changing curves on images and removing backgrounds from the images.

Using blogger was also a huge part of the construction because I updated progress I was making whilst constructing the media product. I learnt how to create a blog, choose the layout that I liked the most and then how to upload different documents and pieces of work and progress of my media product.

Finally, I used slideshare as a way of sharing the power points I had created during the construction and planning stages of the media product.

From my preliminary task, I have learnt lots of different skills on Photoshop such as editing photos. When creating the media product in my preliminary task, I did not edit a lot of my photos because I did not know how to change the exposure, brightness and saturation of photos. However during the construction of my real media product, I researched how to change different elements of the images. I was also able to share my research and progress and get feedback which helped me create the best media product possible for my target audience. Overall I think my real media product was much better than the preliminary task because I put a lot more time and effort into researching other media products and what content and layout makes a real pop magazine. I also think the main task was completed with a lot more thought because I created three drafts before the final draft was complete, therefore I was able plan a lot before the final product was completed.