1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The layout of my magazine has been based, and designed in the same way as a big selling magazine such as Q, NME, Kerrang and VIBE. The layout, images, and language are all similar to top selling magazines, in order to make mine look as conventional as possible. This will ensure my audience recognise my product as a music magazine. My magazine has been mostly based on ‘KERRANG!’ magazine as it targets a similar audience that I was aiming to target

Similar font used for the masthead, and the same style ‘eyebrow’ to make it look professional.

Used a quote from an interview on the front cover to engage the audience.

Advertising a good deal to persuade people to purchase magazine.

Similar main image shot, cover line Layout & barcode to make the

magazine look professional and standout.

Bottom of the magazine that shows what other artists you are expected to see in the magazine.

I have followed the layout and design of music magazines very closely, as I wanted to create the most accurate style and form of magazine I could. On the front cover I used a similar style font to ‘KERRANG!’ as they where the closest magazine that targeted my audience, and I felt their

masthead represented ‘rock/indie’ music the best. The eyebrow is also a similar style as this makes it look professional .The image I have used on my front cover portrays the images I have seen used in other music magazines such as ‘NME’, ‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang!’. These images motivated me to go out and take a similar style picture that I could edit to benefit my own work. The shot I took was a medium shot, with eye contact with the audience, to entice them further. The fact that on the T-shirt there is another set of eye, staring directly into the camera, reinforces the importance of catching the audiences eye and creating eye contact. I also edited the photo to make certain aspects brighter, and blended the image into the background to keep the professional standards. When looking at other music magazines, I noticed that the cover lines where short, and to the point. This is to capture the audiences attention in accordance to the pictures. Because of this I made my main cover line, the biggest writing on he page and simple. The other cover lines where made smaller yet where still short blasts of information to promote what would be expected to be on the inside of the magazine. The use of consistent colours and fonts where important, as it keeps the audiences attention, and keeps it looking ‘neat’ and professional. To carry this out onto my magazine, only 4 colours where used, and 2 different fonts. The colours chosen where in keeping with the ‘house colours’, which are red, white and black.On some magazines, ‘freebies’ and special promotions are offered to help persuade the audience to buy it as they think they are getting their moneys worth. I thought that this would be a good convention to use on my magazine as it would capture more attention and help it sell.One of the first thing people see on a magazine is the name. This is potentially one of the most important things as it attracts the audience, and makes them understand the entire genre and theme of the magazine. I decided to keep the name simple and precise. The name ‘SOUND’ shows that it is specifically a music magazine, and gets straight to the point. The images and cover lines help promote the genre of the magazine. The overall layout , a main image with a main cover line, other cover lines and promotions with ‘snippets’ to show what inside, show that my magazine uses and develops conventions of other real media products.

Introduction of magazine on contents page. General information about the magazine

Including the word ‘SOUND’ carries on the theme of the magazine and makes it look more professional.

Eye catching design for top of contents page to make it eye catching. Used the same font as the front page to keep it uniform.

Similar layout for articles and main features.

Add more info in different ways to keep readers attention

Similar ways of numbering

pages.Similar layout and design of other main

stream magazines.

A contents page is the page which navigates the reader around the magazine, and ultimately, is a preview to what they can expect to find inside. Creating my contents page was hard, as I wanted it to continue the theme and over all style of the front page . In order to do this I studied many different contents pages and I picked out what I thought made them interesting, and professional. There was one contents page I thought was interesting from the ‘DRUMMER’ magazine. I feel this had a good layout and kept the readers attention. Even though it wasn't a typical music magazine, I took most of my inspiration from this magazines layout. The images I have used on my contents page are all very different and contrast. The main image was inspired by looking at other images featured on the contents page in other magazines. I found a consistent pattern of having one big image, with other small ones surrounding it. I found this to be a very important aspect to include in my magazine as it makes it look professional, and keeps it looking interesting which keeps the readers attention. Choosing these images was hard as they had to in keep with the ‘rock\indie’ genre and look appealing. The main image represents a band, the second represents an individual artist and the third represents a musical instrument. This demonstrates the diversity I was trying to show on the contents page. I also edited the images by changing the colours and making them look brighter and sharper to make it look more professional. The numbering on top of the picture is big and bold, with 2 different colours to make it stand out, and make these particular pages seem more important which will persuade the reader to go to them. When looking through other popular music magazines, I noticed the way they used text changed very slightly. For the headings, which are ‘features’ or ‘articles’ where usually the biggest pieces of text on the page, except for the title. The subheadings and page numbers usually look the same size, however I noticed that there is a slight change in the size of the font used. Usually the number is one or two sizes bigger than the text next to it. Also the colours of them change, the numbering one colour, the text another colour. I thought this was an important aspect to carry through to my magazine as it makes it look professional and brings the layout of the page together. The font used underneath the subheading is describing what will be found at each page. Although it is short, simple sentences, it sums up what is on each page which gives the reader all the relevant information, which is important for the contents page of my magazine. The reason I added a ‘News’ box was to make the layout look more interesting. Ultimately, it is a continuation of the contents page, navigating the reader to certain pages, but I felt it was important to change the way some of the text was shown. This was a simple, yet effective way of doing this as it looks good, makes the page more diverse and keeps the readers attention.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social group represented in my magazine are people ranging between the age of 16 – 25 , which means that they would all be in different social groups such as, college students, university students and young employees. However this magazine is particularly focusing on the ‘indie/alternative rock’ theme which means they would have to be interested in this type of music, to fit this magazine in with their lifestyles. My media product represents the age range as the person on the cover image is young and clearly represents rock due to the clothes he is wearing. The type of music features on the front cover, contents page and double page spread shows that it is all one theme. Including artist such as ‘Oasis’ and ‘The Klaxons’ instead of ‘N-dubz’ and ‘Bashy’ shows that is only has one music genre, and does not venture out into other genres such as grime or Rnb. The language used in my magazine informal. Occasionally ‘slang’ will be used but it is not commonly used throughout my magazine. I felt that a informal style of language was best for this type of magazine as it would fit in. Rock culture doesn't really tend to use slang, instead they swear, and maybe shorten some words, otherwise the style is quite casual. Its casual, but not too casual as this may cheapen the productWhen people think of the ‘rock/indie’ culture they usually associate it with sex, drugs and violence. This is because all of the negative things about it get exploited, and it seems to be what people like to read. So when taking my picture I had to decide

Whether to incorporate generally negative pictures, or positive ones. For my media project I decided to try and keep positive connotations between the pictures and the writing. Although the house colours are dark and gloomy, I felt it would be best to balance this out by using no negative images. This may not be an accurate review on the social groups it is intended for but as other magazines such as ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘NME’ take this approach, I thought it would be better to represent and show youth culture to not be all doom and gloom.

3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? Distributing my media product is one of the most important aspects of the media institution. In

order to give my magazine a chance of selling I would have to get help from other big media institutions. The two biggest media institutions are Bauer and IPC. They are massive publishing institutions that advertise in cross media using TV, radio, magazine and websites. In order for my media product to get maximum publicity I decided to have Bauer media advertise and sell my magazine. By including a major media institution the theme of the magazine has to match, so the house colours used in my magazine are the same as ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘Q’ who are also advertised with Bauer publishers. I decided to use Bauer instead of IPC and as I believe that it would be a better idea to ‘join forces’ with magazines such as ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘Q’ rather than compete with them. If I was to attempt to compete with such similar magazines my audience wouldn't be attracted to my magazine. Instead, I would now be competing with other music magazines such as ‘NME’. As ‘NME’ includes general music, it would be easier to find my targeted audience as it is only one specific type of genre that they would have to be interested in. This also means that competing with them would be hard but would be the most efficient thing to do. If my magazine wasn't included in other publishing, the funds to make and advertise it would cost too much, if done independently. Using big publishing company's helps reduce the cost and would ultimately increase profit. Because my magazine is a music magazine it can be distributed almost anywhere. It can be sold in music shops such as ‘HMV’ and in other general shops and newsagents. When sold in newsagents and posts offices it will target the audience intended to as these shops are usually located around schools. It can also be sold in ‘rock/indie’ type clothes shops and areas such as Camden town and other comparable urban areas, as it would target most people in these areas. Not only will it be sold in shops but online subscriptions and orders would be placed and advertised on my magazines own website and Bauer publishers website, which would defiantly increase interest and sales in my magazine.

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4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media project is quite specific and it was important to identify them at the very beginning of this project. The social grade for my target audience would be people between the social grade of A-D. Its would be targeted more towards the people in the C-D band as it is relatively low cost 0f £2.99 which means its made more for them and their price range. People in C-D would be young adults, who have just left education or are still in it, so they cant really afford a very expensive, good quality magazine. However it also means that people above this social band can easily purchase this magazine if they wanted to, but it is not specifically targeted towards them.The gender of the targeted audience would probably be male dominated. The cover image is a male, which means other males would relate to him. The dark colours and language used probably speaks out more to males. This doesn't mean that the magazine is not created for female readers, it just means that its more likely to appeal to males.

Because my music magazine is aimed at a specific audience and has a specific genre of music it is most likely that they would be the only people interested in this magazine. Sometimes people of different sub cultures mix and attempt to interest each other in their own styles of life, which includes the music they listen to. However finding a cross over audience for this magazine would be very hard as the sub culture that the people it is targeted to are in, usually don't move out of there own ‘rock/indie’ culture.

The targeted audience for this magazine has a low number of people compared to other targeted audiences for magazines. Other magazines that include a mix of different music genres, appeal to more people and have a wider rang of audiences. As this has one specific ‘indie’ genre the audience is limited and quite small. However this isn't a very big issue as every reader that we get would be loyal and consistent. I believe that the reader value for this magazine is much higher than the circulation, but this is probably a better situation as we have loyal, frequent customers.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?Attracting and addressing your target audience isn't hard as long as you understand their culture and lifestyle. This means what they like to listen to, wear, how they talk, and the general ‘attitude’ of your audience. For me, targeting my audience wasn't hard, as it was simple to understand the basic appeals of ‘rock/indie’ culture and to present this in my magazine. The first thing that your audience will see is your front cover page. This means that my colour scheme and image had to be attractive and stand out. I used bold colours, in stead of bright colours to keep it looking more adult, compared to looking childish. As well as the colour scheme, the font of the masthead is bold and unique, but the font for the rest of the cover lines are simple and kept constant. This is so that it looks neat and is not viewed as ‘messy’ and childish. On the front cover I tried to dress the main image model in bright clothing that matches the colour scheme of the magazine to make it seem more professional. I also wanted him to wear typical ‘rock/indie’ clothes which usually means one piece of clothing is worn to ‘make a statement’. On my model, he is wearing a T-shirt with wolf making eye contact with the camera. This is very appealing and draws attention to the magazine. I wanted to keep it simple so I didn't over complicated the image and make it look messy. Attracting the audience on the front cover is getting the eye contact from the main image which then attracts them to the rest of the magazine. The importance of eye contact was big for me, so I felt that it was very important to keep it throughout the magazine. This is why on the contents page all of the images of people have eye contact with the camera as well. Another good way to attract my audience was to use a promotion or a freebie of some kind. As it is a new and upcoming magazine, engaging the reader at the very beginning is important to create loyal customers. To help do this I included a free CD with the magazine. To reinforce the importance of a free CD, it is mention twice on the front page, once on the eyebrow and once again next to the main image. The actual CD is also shown at the front, in a jewel CD case, to show that the promotion is legit and reasonable, which also shows what kind of CD it is. This is a very good way of attracting my target audience. The title of the magazine attracts and addresses the audience it is intended for. The broken style of the writing links it to the ‘rock’ culture as it looks rebellious and bold. The name SOUND also clarifies that it is a music magazine and nothing else. The pricing of the magazine is important as it can often be the deciding factor when purchasing a magazine. If the price is to high it is likely for the customer to easily be put off, despite the quality of the magazine. If it is too low they may expect poor quality from the magazine and decide its not worth buying. The price ,£2.99 seems to be in the middle of pricing magazines. Its not too expensive for my audience of 16 to 25 year olds to afford, whether they are in employment or not. The contents page is also a very important part of my media product. It primarily navigates you around the magazine and shows how the theme is continued throughout the magazine. I also included ‘snappy’ titles on the main pages of the magazine to engage interest and encourage them to go and view those particular pages.To address the audience I wanted to relate to them referring the language that I used. I wanted them to feel comfortable, and as if I where talking to them personally. In order to achieve this the language used had to be informal but structured in order to maintain the professional standards.

6) What have you learnt about technologies for the process of constructing this product?

The technologies used in constructing this media project have all been different. Some hard to grasp and understand how to use, and some simple things that I used in my everyday life. Some of the initial technologies used, where mainly for research and for making the magazine.•The research consisted mainly of using search engines. A popular and efficient search engine that I always used was ‘Google’. In order to use it efficiently I had to adapt the questions in order to get the information that I wanted. This shows my abilities to understand and adapt information quickly and precisely. Here are just a few of the URLS links that I have saved that helped me with some research:•http://www.last.fm/ - helped me see what artists are similar so I could include them in my magazine. •http://www.kerrang.com/ , http://www.nme.com/, www.rwdmag.com - some of the website I looked at to help compare and contrast different magazine. •http://www.bauer.co.uk/ http://www.ipcmedia.com/ - different institutional publishers, that helped me decided the themes and colour scheme for my magazine. Another aspect of creating my magazine was taking photos. This, for me, wasn't a very challenging aspect of making a magazine. I chose to use a standard digital camera, as I could carry it around with me, and take a photo whenever it was needed. I had the option of using a professional, school camera but I didn't feel like it would effect my final product that much. Taking the actual photos wasn't that challenging. I thought about the lighting issues and the backgrounds, what you could and could not see, and I tired to make them look as professional as possible. I took a range of photos, most of people, and some of musical instruments, using different angles, to add variety to the magazine. Photoshop and InDesign where the only two programs that I used to create the magazine. I was advised to use Indesign to create the front cover and contents page, however I chose to try and master Photoshop. At first, it was a big challenge as I had no idea how to navigate myself around the program, and would take hours to conduct a simple task. However, the more I used it, the better I got, and soon I became sufficient in using it. Once I understood how to use it, making it look professional was easier. Photoshop was defiantly the right program to use for the front page and contents page as most of it was based around the images. I chose to use Indesign for my double page spread as I thought it would be easier to use as most if it is text. I didn't find it that hard to use as it was quite simple. Slideshare is the website that allows you to upload and share your work with other people. I found this website very hard and confusing to use as uploading your work consists of finding codes and inserting them in certain areas to get your work their. As it is not something I use daily, I tend to forget how to use it, which makes using it a challenge.Overall the technologies part of making this media project has been hard and challenging, as allot of it is new to me. Never the less, I think I picked it up easily and learnt how to use it all efficiently. When I need to use these programs and techniques for my next pieces of work I shall find it allot easier.

7) 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 my preliminary task I feel I have learnt a lot, as I think I have produced a creative piece of work that shows understanding and conviction of what a media magazine should look and sound like. My knowledge of using Photoshop and Indesign where very basic, which means I could only do the simply tasks of putting up pictures, and inserting writing. When doing my preliminary task I knew the basics of the language used, representation and targetingaudiences. When making my music magazine, my skills developed drastically and I was

able to make it look professional. I was capable of using different effects, adjusting the fonts, editing the photos, making shapes and many other things. I learnt that planning was a very important aspect to creating a magazine. I used my preliminary task as a ‘mock’ of my front cover as it included the basic assets needed for making a magazine. To make my contents page I created a ‘mock’ contents page. This showed the basic layout, however this changed when making my official contents page as the design was hard to create. Although I changed it, the mock was still useful as it showed me the important aspects that I needed to include. I have not just learnt new practical skills, as I now know more about media institutions, language and audiences. Media languages are very important as they attract and address your target audience . On my

Preliminary task

Front page

‘mock’ contents

Preliminary task I included the basic information needed to inform students of what was inside the magazine . On my music magazine the language I used is more specific to the social group I was targeting, and more precise. This shows that I understand what my audience want, and how to attract them. Representation is another aspect that is very important. On my college magazine my image doesn't really represent students or a school environment. I learnt from this, and made sure that my music magazine had images that represented the target audience. I learnt that all media is mediated and not necessarily what is real. This means that people tend to generalise, and there can be false or real representations of people. I tried to avoid this in my magazine, however trying to target certain audiences means that certain stereotypes needto be used. Because of this people can get effected, and feel as though they need to ‘live

up to’ the representations. Overall I have learnt many new things from progression from my preliminary task to my full media product. I learnt to keep it simple and basic yet include recognisable traits to address your audience and attract them. I also learnt how to use Photoshop and Indesign to create professional looking pieces of work, and what you should and shouldn't do to enhance your work.