2. My Magazine I have created a music magazine cover, contents and double page spread called Sound. I thought this would be best to do after both preliminary tasks were done and I enjoyed the magazine cover and contents more than the short film. I also found it easier to use Photoshop other than Imovie. I also thought it would be best to do something where I can use my skills learnt on Photoshop to a high standard. I was inspired by a range of popular music magazines such as Rolling Stone, NME, Kerrang, Vibe and Blender. I bought some magazines and used pictures from the internet for others. I tried to incorporate typical music magazine conventions when making my magazine. This was to appeal to the target audience and meet their needs.
3. In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My final media product is a music magazine, I tried to include many typical conventions of a magazine when designing and creating it. These certain features I put into my magazine which are also included in a typical music magazine are; masthead, headlines, sub-headings, images, associated signifiers, dates, prices, barcodes and contents. Columns, images and headings are all traditional features of all magazines and I have used them in my magazine. This isn’t breaking with tradition, this is following established rules and codes that work to communicate with audiences. Real Magazine. My Magazine.
4. How does your media product represent particular social groups? I feel as though my magazine represents the idea to the audience that anyone can become something from nothing, you just need to be given a chance. Whilst researching for my magazine I came across different demographics that can be expressed through aspects of my magazine. I have used a variety of effects that would appeal to many, but mainly pleasure seekers. I tried to include the demographics I became interested in into my cover page, contents and double page spread. Throughout the magazine pages, languages, fonts and colours I have tried to use codes that would appeal to the social demographics of the pleasure seekers. When taking this picture, I wanted to incorporate the idea that she was constantly in the spotlight. This indicated the idea of trajectory. I also liked the effects that were added, like the high contrast and bright lighting. This makes it look as though she is looking into the sun which brings the demographic of a pleasure seeker into the image.
5. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? My media product would probably be distributed in the usual media institutions you would find magazines. These would include small independent shops such as corner shops, large supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s, petrol garages such as bp, stationary shops such as WHSmith, but especially popular music stores such as HMV and Zavvi due to the obvious connection of music. Online shops could also distribute the product. This is because my magazine covers a wide audience and they would happen to shop in at least one of these stores regularly enough to get the monthly issue of the magazine. The magazine content should match the distributor in some way, this could be the genre of the magazine meets that of the contributors.
6. Who would be the audience for your media product? I am aiming for my magazine to meet a particular and distinct demographic. My main audience are pleasure seekers and creative people. They are usually party people, seen to have indie, rock and drum and bass characteristics. The colours, fonts and styles used should appeal to this specific audience. The audience will probably be in their teens, from 16 years to 22 years old. They will also be mainly female although I tried to make the magazine attract both male and female. This media product is not aimed at just one race, it is made and aimed to appeal to many different races and in different countries. Hence the use of other artists with different origins, such as Beyonce. She appeals to everyone due to her iconic music and performing, no matter what her race is.
7. How did you attract and address your audience? My music magazine has a various amount of images and signs. The style of these are to appeal to the demographic and the party people. The colour scheme of this magazine is to appeal mainly to the female audience. The colours I have tried to use throughout the magazine are pink, black, white and grey. This gives a very good look to the magazine and really stands out. I tried to use a range of fonts to give it a more appealing look. I used plain, simple text for the main writing parts with bolder, brighter words to make them stand out. I also tried to use fun and fancy fonts for the front cover to attract the audience. The sizing of the words and images were also thought about carefully to make them stand out to the target audience. I wanted them to match the demographics. This is the font and style I used for the title of my music magazine. It is bold and stands out but is also distressed to appeal to the target audience.
8. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? The technology I have used has made me realise how much time and effort goes into making and producing a magazine to make it stand out from the crowd. The equipment I have used has shown me the better quality that can be achieved. I have learnt many new skills during the construction of this media product; - I have learnt how to use a DLSR camera and the different techniques that can be placed to give different effects. - I have learnt how to use Photoshop on the Apple Macs properly and have built up my skills. - I have also learnt how to use new websites such as 1001fonts.com where I got my title from.
9. What has been used? I have used several different pieces of equipment to make my magazine cover, contents and double page spread. I tried to make it to the highest standards to meet the needs of the consumer. A range of music magazines were used as a guide to see what was included in them and should be in mine. The camera was used to take the pictures, Photoshop was then used to put it all together on the Apple Macs.
10. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? Looking back at the preliminary task you can see that I have learnt so much more about codes and convention, demographics, technology skills, editing skills, target audiences and appealing factors for the magazine. As you can see just by looking at the difference in quality between the contents page of the preliminary task and the contents page of the full product, I have come a long way and learnt a lot of new skills. There is so much more detail and creativity in the full product contents. I am very pleased that I decided to learn more about the equipment and programmes since I last used them for the preliminary task. I feel it has helped me majorly to create a better quality piece of work.
11. Progress in Photoshop In order to achieve the best quality for my magazine, I used a program called Photoshop. By using this I can edit and improve my photos, and change and experiment with fonts. I looked at other magazines while creating it to try and match the professional levels of them. I have also created layers of the magazine to make it easier to improve when it comes to it.
