2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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