2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My media product is one that follows and uses many conventions of a conventional magazine. The barcode is conventionally placed at the bottom right of the front cover with the date of the issue and price. The masthead is in large font so that it stands out on the shelf in a shop where it will be sold, furthermore my model has been asked to stare directly at the camera to make eye contact with the buyer making them feel drawn into my magazine; as done in most magazines. My magazine uses the convention of ‘free items’ when you buy the magazine to persuade the buyer to purchase my product as they are getting more for their money. Conventionally my front cover is also covered in features and information about what's inside the magazine in small punchy captions, this is to help the buyer of my product know what they are getting and also lead them to thinking they are getting more for their money, furthermore, my use of a large number on the front cover consolidates the idea of my buyer getting more for their money. Unconventionally, my masthead has a unique font and a unique collage of headphones, a mic and police tape which develops the conventions of real media products as it gives an insight to what's in the magazine and also the target audience. I have also adjusted the font on the names stated on my front cover to portray what that person is all about; for example Skepta, ghetts and synikal are all out to make a statement so they are in bold stencil lettering whereas frisco and stuttas’ font shows them as free flowing and creative. My contents page consists of two pictures to the left hand side followed by ‘this months features’ to the right as used in a conventional magazine. The masthead of my contents is incorporated with the name of my magazine as my magazine is called ‘true grime UK’ and my contents is called ‘true contents’ which is another conventional property of my magazine. The title of my double page spread uses conventions of real media products as it entices the audience into reading more as it makes a ambitious statement which my article follows up. My double page spread is laid out conventionally as an interview with a medium shot photo to the left and the writing purposely placed around the photo. Furthermore the language produced is slang to adapt to my target audience. Unconventionally, the interview is spread out, this is to also consolidate the idea of the buyer getting more for their money.
3. How does your media product represent particular social groups? My media product does not follow the ideas portrayed from the media institutions such as teenagers being referred to as ‘hoodies’ and criminals, my product highlights the many teenagers who have ambition, creativity and do not follow medias stereotypical teenager so that they can be appreciated and heard. On the other hand my product shows teenagers speaking in modern English slang and follows the stereotype of teenagers speaking unconventionally to punctual English, nonetheless my audience is not shown as outrageous and ‘thug like’ but clever and independent. The imagery used shows my models as serious but on other occasions relaxed and in good spirit. The body language of my features is always positive to help influence the buyers and audience of my magazine that no matter where you live, how much money you have or how hard your life is, there is better times to look forward to in the future. My product also represents everyone equally; all ethnicities, music genres and location of house. My product is institutionally published as portraying everyone as equal so that my audience can understand that everyone has equal opportunities to become successful. I have used modern English slang as the language used in my product to build trust and relation with me the producer, and the audience. The layout and language is adjusted so that everyone can access it no matter what level of intelligence. Furthermore, the body language of my models shows the audience that there is always hope and a way to succeed, you just need the desire and heart to do so, and do so the right way without breaking any laws or becoming stereotypical.
4. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? I chose the European major, Bauer, to distribute my media product as they produce many big label names but also focus on magazines with niche audiences and core audiences which my product will fall under as the music genre of UK grime does not have an audience large enough to compete with magazines such as Americas VIBE magazine. Bauer is German and has a German owner. I also chose Bauer to distribute my magazine as they are known to incorporate multi-media platforms such as online magazine versions, mobile updates and obviously magazines; therefore I felt that Bauer would be the best institution to distribute my product as they use many mediums to attract and address the target audience and deal with distribution to niche and core audiences. I decided not to chose the world major, IPC, which is owned by time-Warner which is currently merged with Warner brothers as they deal with magazines with mass audiences and global distribution which my magazine does not qualify for yet. I was also deterred by the idea of an American company trying to incorporate American rap in my product as it is sourly a UK edition with a small American features. Therefore in conclusion I felt Bauer was the best media institution to publish and distribute my magazine to ensure a high readership of my product.
5. Who will be your audience for your media product? My audience for my media product is a niche audience but could also be seen as a core audience as it is specialist magazine about UK grime. The age range of my product is between the ages of 16 – 24 which to maximise the readership of my magazine yet be realistic in who will read my product as if my age range was any larger it would be unrealistic. The sexuality of my audience is mainly heterosexual but isn’t prejudice towards any sexuality. The specific gender is aimed at males as the theme of my magazine is UK grime which generally appeals to males yet female features such as fashion will appear some months to draw in a wider ranged audience. There is no specific ethnicity my product is aimed at but it includes a dominant appearance of black Caribbean males as UK grime is dominated by black males with a few white male appearances. The location of my audience will be based in the city of London and around London as most of my viewers will be local to the London area therefore my product will be marketed regionally but as my product begins to gain a high readership I am hoping to distribute my magazine in America to give Americans an insight to UK grime rather than their traditional USA rap scene(territorial). The lifestyles my audience live are either late school/college life or hardworking 9 to 5 jobs. My audiences lifestyles aren’t easy, but hard as they don’t have much money but are ambitious and on the way to making money the clean way by living an honest life. The standard occupational classification of my audience is C1, C2, D and E as these economical classes are more less fortunate and on the rise to success but just not there yet.
6. How did you attract/address your audience? I attracted my audience in many ways throughout my product. The publishing company Bauer will have a colossal role in attracting my audience as they are able to use different forms of medium such as the internet and radio to entice my audience into purchasing and subscribing to my magazine product. I attempted to attract a larger mass audience by steering clear of any representational issues. Furthermore I have included fashion specials to address females as my product is mainly male orientated. My use of language I believe is accustom to my audience and attracts them as they can relate to the language used in my product (street slang). I have also laid out the information in my product in small captions to make my product more accessible to all viewers. I have represented females in my magazine as elegant, loyal and respected as females shouldn’t be seen as anything less merely because of a few individuals which consequently address’s my female audience. I have also avoided the stereotype of teenagers as only a few follow their stereotype and I have focused on the ambitious and well behaved teenagers so that their success and hard work can be seen. My music genre of UK grime was chosen as there are few if any magazines on this genre, therefore an entire audience ready to be accessed which would grow relatively vastly. My music genre attracts my audience as UK grime is growing but currently there is nothing to keep the viewers interested updated. The image used on the front cover attracts my audience as the model is starring directly into the viewers eyes causing them to feel special as if the model was personally addressing them, enticing the viewer to purchase the product.
7. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? I have learnt from the process of creating my product that technology is far from 100% reliable. I concluded this as throughout constructing my product I had to endure a lot of irritation due to technologies failing me such as the colleges hard drive had been wiped and contained my entire magazine product which inevitably resulted in me having to re attempt the task of constructing a magazine from scratch. From this I learnt to always save my work in multiple places such as on a USB to ensure this scenario doesn’t repeat it’s self. Furthermore, as I was typing up my evaluation of my product, the laptop I was typing my work on ran out of battery therefore I lost hours of typed up work. To avoid this happening again I now save my work around every ten minutes to ensure I do not lose any work, or if I do it is only ten minutes worth. I have also come a long way since my preliminary task as I had no idea how to use ‘in design’, and now I have successfully produced a magazine by using it. I understand the use of the three columns and can efficiently use all of the tools on ‘in design’. I have also mastered ‘Photoshop’, as I can edit my self generated images using the magic wand tool and zoom tool and also edit the tone, shade and style of writing. I can also use layers effectively. I have learnt to use Google a lot more than I use to use it as it showed me many different ideas and techniques for creating a magazine front cover, contents and article which I could incorporate in my product. I also learnt that the internet has so much information ready to be accessed but doesn’t always have the answer. As I had to produce self generate pictures I had to use a professional camera which was complicated at first but simple to understand in the end. I learnt how to use the brightness controls, flash, zoom and also contrast to ensure I produced the most effective pictures possible. Finally, PowerPoint wasn't a program I would normally use on a computer but has turned out to be extremely useful and easy to use. I can now add slides, create text boxes, add pictures, edit the background and be creative with the layout and font; and I can do all of the mentioned extremely efficiently.
8. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final product? I have learnt a lot during the progression of my product. I have learnt the angle at which a photograph is taken will hugely effect the interpretation of the image and the affect created, for example a photograph aimed upwards towards a person shows that the person featured is superior, whereas a photograph aimed down on a person shows that they are venerable and inferior. I have also learnt how to use in design and Photoshop efficiently and can produce creative front covers and magazine pages without any misunderstanding whereas for my preliminary task I did not understand how to use either of them and found the task very difficult. My preliminary task also took me a considerable amount of time to do even the simplest of tasks but now I can work much more quickly and productively. Referring back to the time period when I done my preliminary task, I had no knowledge on the publishers of magazines and how they came into circulation with such a high readership but now I understand media institutions for example Bauer use multiple forms of medium to promote a magazine such as radio and TV which automatically boosts readership and popularity of the magazine. When readership is considerably high, they may consider introducing a TV channel, brand clothing and items as they will undoubtedly make profit. The language I used in my preliminary task was well spoken English, but as I researched other magazines I realised they all use language according to their target audiences, therefore, for my final product the language I used was English slang as I felt this would most relate to my audience. In my preliminary task my models where represented as stereotypical teenagers, with their hoods up, making hand gestures and slouching around but as my research on media progressed to my final product I decided to uncongenially represent teenagers as the young people of the future as the stereotype for teenagers is only in place due to a small minority of youths. Finally, during my progression from my preliminary task to my final product I began to construct an idea of my audience which inevitably gave me major ideas of what I will include in my final product as in my preliminary task the theme of my magazine was not clear therefore my magazine was not successful.
