Audience FeedbackBrett Tinnion

Question 1 – In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products

• There are many conventions for music magazines, for instance on the front cover there is always a mast-head which is the biggest text on the page, there is always a main image in the middle of the page with the main cover story at the middle with a catchy description, there is normally a house style in which only a certain of colours are used, there are cover lines on the right and left of the page. Finally, underneath the mast head there is a slogan for the magazine.

• On the contents page the title of the magazine is predominately at the top, with the date and issue number, the image of an artist is normally in the middle of the page with a description of an article. The most conventional thing on the page is the ‘subscribe now’ at the bottom. Normally on the right hand side there is articles and there page numbers with a pull quote or a description

• Finally, on the two page spread more than likely there will be an image of the left hand side of the page with the name of the artist and a pull quote with on the left hand side there will be the title of the article with a pull quote and then an article underneath, describing the artist

How does my magazine follow or challenge conventions?

• My magazine follows conventions, but however does challenge conventions for instance on my front page it follows conventions by it has a big mast head that stands out the most, it only has one image which is associated with my cover story, another convention followed is that of the slogan underneath the mast head, the cover lines are all around my page which is used in magazines such as NME and Q. The front page does challenge conventions by it has lots of bright colours whereas normally there are just a few colours used, by having bright colours I thought it would be more appealing for my target audience which are teenagers.

• My contents page is very conventional, the title of the magazine is at the top of the page with the date and issue number which is used in nearly every music magazine, also the image and description of the article is used in my contents page is conventional as it gives the reader a ‘teaser’ of the magazine. The most common convention on a contents page is the ‘subscribe now’ this is used in nearly every music magazine and it normally colourful so people will look at it and hopefully subscribe. The artist index and the features and news of the magazine follow many other music magazines, they are easy to navigate around with a colour for the page number and a plain black sans serif font for the article and a description or a pull quote. My contents page is the most successful as it follows all the conventions.

• My two page spread is less conventional to my contents page, this is because although it has an image on the left page and a artist title and pull quote and main text body on the right, it is very colourful which is not necessarily associated with music magazines, it is colourful so it follows my house style. The image on the left is conventional because it is an artist which is associated with my target audience, having a pull quote is used by many magazine makers because it offers an slight insight to the article and makes people want to read more

• Overall, I believe my magazine follows the conventions of music magazines well but however challenges it when it comes to colour schemes and the house style

Masthead, conventional

Slogan for my magazine

Main Image

Cover lines, conventional for them to be all around

Main cover story

Title for magazine is used in many magazines on contents page

Cover lines with a brief description and page numbers, very conventional

Main image with a description on the article Subscribe now is

probably the most conventional part of my coursework

Artist index a technique used in some magazines

Title for the article

Pull quote a technique used in most magazines

Main text body

Title of the magazine , my house style. A technique I got from NME

Pull Quote

Question 2 – How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents media products in many different ways because although it is predominately targeted to teenagers I believe it can be associated with young adults who enjoy music. Socially, I believe I target to a vast audience, for instance I target to a teenage audience by using artists associated with the age group for instance Kanye West and Jay Z. I believe my audience is for all social classes, but especially middle class, as these are the social class who are associated with the genre pop, as they normally have daughters or sons who can afford to buy these magazines as they have more disposable income. I have focused essentially on the female audience by using an image of a young girl in contemporary clothing on my front page, also by using font colors such as pink and purple these are the colors that are commonly used to promote a female audience, on my image the mise-en-scene I have used has helped my construct a specific social group, as the artist is wearing youthful clothing and I have edited the picture so it looks more youthful and makes the audience interact and associate with herThe language I used throughout my magazine is informal this so so it appeals to my specific social group and target audience, teenagers often just want to read something informal rather than having to read a article which is formal, so this helps me appeal to my social groupI have been able to do construct these social groups by my research and analyses for instance each magazine I research has a different social group targeted for instance NME is for rockers and teenagers, Billboard is for the popular crowd and teenagers. So by doing the research I have got a solid understanding on my social group and how best to represent there specific social group.

Question 3 – What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

• I believe my music magazine could be distributed by Prometheus Global Media, which is a subsidiary to a media conglomerate called Nielson Business Media. The companies CEO is Richard D. Beckham. They produce magazines such as Adweek, Back Stage, Hollywood Reporter and the music magazine Billboard. The companies headquarters is in Lower Manhattan, New York.

• Prometheus would be an ideal company to distribute because their other music magazine Billboard has the same target audience as Beats so therefore has a solid knowledge of the audience and would be able to make my magazine better in appealing to my target audience. Also, they would be ideal because there conglomerate company is a media company that specialises in distribution and marketing so they would be able to get my magazine out to the world.

• I believe Prometheus Global Media would distribute my magazine because it is in relation to Billboard so the magazine carries on with there mission statement of catering for young adults, Billboard is an American music magazine so having a British magazine will open up there market even wider and make there profits higher, as they would be able to advertise Billboard in Beats and vice versa so make the two magazines a worldwide success. I believe they would agree to my magazine because they only currently distribute one music magazine so having another magazine that is specifically for music will allow them to make more money and grow as a company. The companies main goals are to deliver excellence, service, and value for money. I believe Beats magazine fulfils the companies goals and aspirations, so Beats and Prometheus would be a brilliant fit and work in partnership to make increased revenue and make Beats and Billboard become a worldwide force in the music magazine industry.

Question 4 – Who would be your target audience for your media product?

• My main target audience for my product is teenagers and young adults, with a flair for music and fun. I have decided to have an audience similar to myself because it would allow me to know what the target audience wants, as I would know because I am part of the target audience. I also chose this target audience because it is convenient for me to do this because I would easily be able to address my target audience by using people my age. Also, I chose this target audience because the magazines I evaluated are all magazines that have this target audience so it would allow me to take there ideas and combine them with my own so it completely associates with the target audience. Many young people like to just look through a magazine and read only a few articles, Beats gives this opportunity because the ratio between text and image is about the same, like NME.

The type of audience I would be targeting too, young adults and teenagers

Question 5 – How did you attract/address your target audience

• I have targeted my audience by using a young girl wearing contemporary clothing as this would allow girls and boys associate with her. I also used bright colours as these are the colours that are associated with the younger generation, the ordered layout is also used because after doing my questionnaire and asking my peers they said they preferred a ordered layout because it is easy to read and navigate around, they also told me to use sans serif font, these fonts are also used in music magazines that have the same target audience like Q and Billboard.

• The artists used on my cover lines also help me attract to my target audience, artists like ‘Jay Z and Kanye West’ are artists that are associated with the younger generation. I also talk about issues that youngsters want to read about for instance the line up of summer festivals, many young people like going to festivals so they want to know who will be there, so having this in my music magazine makes people want to read it and find out more. The main way I attract my target audience is the models I use, they look like everyday youngsters so it allows my readers to associate with them. In my two page spread I talk about issues that youngsters want to know about for instance ‘Is Aimee really dating teenage sensation Justin Bieber?’ this is a technique used by many music magazines; there main focus is music but however they do integrate other areas of teenagers life

• I also use informal language throughout my magazine so teenagers can easily read them and also keeps it open for a broader audience as many teenagers want to read some informal and fun rather than reading formal language as this could be very monotonous for them and boring, so I decided to do this because it will keep my magazine fun.

Question 6 – What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt a lot about technologies from the process of constructing this media product, for instance this was my first time using a video camera, which allowed me to create my first movie, which I edited using the programme iMovie, I had never used this programme before so I benefited greatly from this experience and it will allow me to have a solid basis for improvement in the future. Also I improved my Mac skills, before taking media at AS level I had never used a Macbook, so now after completing my preliminarily task and my main task I have a solid basis of knowledge and skills on the Mac, after using the Mac, I have decided to purchase one myself. Also, I have improved in technologies through the use of the blogger format, I have never blogged before in my life, so after media AS I can now upload pictures, embed links to the blog to make it look a lot better and help improve my grade and performance. I have also improved in my viral technology because I used viral techniques like Facebook and Survey Monkey to get feedback about my media product and also get a knowledge and understanding about what they want in a music magazine, which allowed me to improve my media product and my use of viral media. Another technology I have improved is my use of Microsoft Publisher, before making my media magazine I had never used publisher so it was a good experience getting to know what to do like contrast the picture colour, crop photos and download fonts from www.dafont.com because without this website I would of only been able to make a magazine using Microsoft fonts which are not very professional. To conclude, I have improved greatly and learnt a lot about technologies from the process of constructing this product, it has gave me a solid basis to improve in my media studies career.

Question 7 – Looking back at your preliminarily task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the main construction

My main task was very basic, there was just one main image, with a main cover story, with a mast head, and only one cover line. The colors used were also very basic, there was only 3 colors used, burgundy, blue and black. The image was also ‘as it came’ there was no editing, which did not make it look professional. My contents page basically just had a cover stories with a page number and a message from the editor. Overall, I believe my first task was very poor as it did not look professional and was very basic. I believe I have made significant progress from my first task, I used a variety of colors throughout my magazine, to make them stand out and look more professional, as this is a technique used in many magazines like NME and Billboard. My contents page looked the most professional I believe, I got the knowledge from my first task to make it a good looking contents page as it has the ‘artist index’ images ‘subscribe now’ area and the name of the article and a brief description of pull quote. I edited my images in my main task to make them look more professional, I changed the contrast of black and white, added more colors. I believe my first take gave me the knowledge and basic understanding of magazines to make the best possible music magazine I could of, it gave me a solid basis to improve

To conclude!

• I believe my magazines follows conventions of normal music magazines in a lot of ways and sticks to my target audience and appeals to them a lot. Prometheus Media group was the company I would chose to sell my magazine to as they would be able to help my magazine with there advertising and marketing schemes. I have learnt a lot about technologies doing this take for instance how to use iMovie and the Macs. Finally, I have improved greatly since my first task and have made my magazine look very conventional and professional

Brett Tinnion