Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final product?

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final product?

When looking back over my preliminary task, I am able to see some big advances in the way I have both structured and design my magazines from colour to content. Starting with my front cover page, from making my first front cover to my last I feel that I have learnt a lot about imagery. My images in my preliminary task are very basic and boring, they have not been edited and have been taken at a simple and standard angle. The font of the magazine is quite bold and blocked and the overall colour scheme for the magazine is large, there are lost of different colours shown on my preliminary task and this makes it difficult for the reader to focus on one particular thing. However, when looking at my final product we can clearly see that I have progress and learned new skills that I was able to apply to my music magazine. There is a big difference between my preliminary task and my final product, the style of the imagery is very different. The images that I took for my final product were taken in a very professional way as I used an over the shoulder shot in order to capture the attention of the audience. I really liked the overall outcome of my magazine and the professional look of it. I think something key that I have learnt in the progression of my magazine would be about how to create a magazine cover professionally and with the appropriate conventions featured. When making my final product I thought a lot about the conventions that would be used in a music magazine and tried hard to follow and use these conventions, I like this meant that my magazine was able to look professional and look as though it should be on the shelf's.  I feel that overall my skills in editing have progressed massively since my preliminary task as I did not use and editing techniques for the photos that I took for my school magazine, however when I was adding images to my magazine I used simple air-brushing and Photoshop techniques which allowed me to enhance the model and change her appearance if needed. I also used a range of filters on the images I took which I had not done before and this meant that my images were given a whole new look that would fit into my magazine.

Looking at my contents page for my final product and I can see that progress has been made with the overall content and style from my preliminary task. There is a big difference in the type of fonts and texts used in the final product and I think that this had a big impact on the overall outcome of the page. The contents for my preliminary task was very empty and basic with minimal text, this is massively different form my final product which is filled with text but organised text with columns and bullet points. I learnt that to make my contents page more appealing I had to include a range of colours that would compliment each other such as red and green, which i have used in my final task contents page. In my preliminary task I had a very small target audience being school children, this I think was more difficult than making my final magazine attract a bigger selected audience. For my preliminary piece i found it difficult to accommodate my magazine to such a small target audience due to the fact I could not alternate and be as free with my design, content and layout.

We did not make a double page spread for our preliminary task so having to create a double page spread for the first time taught my how to present large amounts of text in a way that was user friendly but also appealing to the audience and conventional at the same time. For the images that I used on my double page spread I used some quick editing and airbrushing to fix and blemishes and the makeup of the models and used the same filter over the top of both images.  I think a key skill I learnt when making my double page spread was how to make a good layout of the page and why this is important to the overall look of the magazine. Having the text laid out in columns  meant that the text was easy to view and the text was moveable and I was able to play more with the layout of the page.

Overall I think that I have learnt a lot about what and how to make a good magazine. My preliminary task was quite basic and cluttered, that meant that when first looking at it the audience were able to tell that I wasn't very experienced in making a magazine that was conventional and appealing to them. However when looking at my final product we can see that I have learnt from the mistakes I made on my preliminary tasks and took new skills that I have learnt and applied them in our to make a professional and conventional rock music magazine.

 

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

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

When I began to make and plan my magazine I learnt that technology was very important to the process and success of a magazine of any kind. I learnt a great deal about what technologies were appropriate to use in the process of making a music magazine and what technologies were not appropriate to use.

For my music magazine the first step for me was to take photos that I would use in my magazine and to do this I used a Canon 60D digital camera, this enabled me to take high resolution pictures at a professional level which would look appropriate on my magazine. It was important that my images for my magazine looked professional as this would help to bring in the target audience that I wanted. I found when using this camera that I was able to learn quickly how to take the best shots with the equipment that I had access to. I learned quickly when using the canon camera how to focus the lens on what I wanted and how to use it's features to my advantage. In the process of taking my photos I used spotlight which enabled me to take photos with professional lighting which were able to capture the overall look of the 'model'. This was important as it meant that my photos were able to be given professional lighting which would help the images to keep with the professional look and this would keep me further on in the editing process.

This is an example of a photo that was used in my magazine, this was the unedited version that was taken directly from the camera. As you can see the spotlights made a massive difference when taking the photos and had a create effect on them by enhancing the models and creating shadows which added to the overall effect on the image. After taking my photo's I needed to edit the in order to make them look the way I wanted them to in my magazine. In order to do this I used a website called Picmonkey. On Picmonkey I was able to perform simple airbrushing and Photoshop techniques which enabled me to keep the professional look to my magazine . Picmonkey was a relatively easy sit to use and this meant that I was able to edit the photos to the best of my ability. Another website I used was Pixlr, I used this as for some of my photos I needed to remove the green screen background that was in the image and add a new background colour of my choice.

When I began to put my magazine together instead of using Microsoft publisher which was what I had used originally and found that the overall product was not what I had expected, so therefore I decided to use a website called Canva. Canva helped me to create and construct a very professional looking magazine by providing me with a selection of templates which I was able to get inspiration from and work form in order to create a magazine. Something I learnt about Canva was how to layer images, text and symbols over a background image. This helped me to keep continuity throughout my magazine as it meant that I was able to create a similar look for each of the pages which meant that my magazine looked real and flowed well together. I used Blogger in order to keep up to date with my work and posting in online for people to see. Using blogger meant that I was able gain feedback from my peers and teachers about my magazine and how it could be better. Having used blogger to upload my progress from last years tasks I therefore new how to use blogger and how to change the layout, style and overall look of my blog in order to keep it in the theme of my task. When I came down to blog posts I already knew how upload images, videos and Prezi's onto my blog in order to make it more interesting and allow me to present my work in different ways.

Overall I think when comparing this product to my previous product and preliminary task there is a big difference in the success of the look and the overall feel of the magazine. It is clear from the final product that I have learnt how to use technologies efficiently and correctly in order to create a professional and genre appropriate magazine that grasps the target audience that I was hoping for.

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

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

I aim to aim my rock magazine at a mass audience as this will allow my magazine to get the target audience that I aimed for. I tried to appeal to the interests of teens and young adults who share a love for rock music and the genre itself.

A media institution I think might be interested in distributing my music magazine is Bauer. Bauer is a widely known publishing company and is used to working with popular music magazine such a Kerrang!. As my magazine like Kerrang! is a music magazine I feel that they would be interested in publishing my magazine as it is a conventional magazine in that it has conventional aspects to it's appearance and content but my magazine brings something new to the rock music magazine brand. Bauer publisher a wide range of magazines meaning that they would be able to promote and distribute my magazine to a larger audience and get me the mass audience that I aim to receive.

I have also looked at other publishing companies that perhaps have a smaller scale such as Imagine Publishing. Imagine Publishing is a UK based publishing company that mainly base their magazine om technology and knowledge/science. I think that Imagine publishing might consider distributing a music magazine as it could help to expand their target audience of their company and could bring a new form of magazine to their company. As their current magazines are manly technology and science, distributing my magazine would mean that my rock magazine would be the first music magazine that they were to publish and this could become a bug marketing opportunity for them which could big in new customers and subscribers. Anther publishing company that I looked at was Blaze Publishing. Blaze Publishing are on of the largest independently owned publishing company in the shooting sector. The reason that I think that Blaze Company might be interested in distributing my rock magazine is that they have recently began to distribute music magazines and create live music events. I think that this would be perfect for my music magazine as not only would they be able to distribute my magazine to a audience that are appropriate for my magazine, this company would be able to organise live music events such as festivals which could become a massive marketing opportunity for my magazine and could gain a new interest in my magazine.

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

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

I think that the media product I created both uses and develops the conventions of music magazine. This allowed me to create a very professional and real looking music magazine that would interest and entertain my target audience. However, in order to give it a feel o it's own I decided to challenge some of these conventions such as the use of a main image of the double page spread and this has allowed me to create a magazine that fits the convention of a rock magazine. I am very happy with the result.

How does your media product a particular social group?

How does your media product represent a particular social group?

What is a social group? A social group is a collection of people who share the same social relation. This could be age, gender, class etc.

When looking at my music magazine there are many ways in which my magazine represents a particular social group. The artist that is featured on the front cover of my magazine is a female and around the age of 18. This artist fits perfectly into my target audience as they are in the age bracket of teens to young adults and by being female this immediately appeals to a female audience as well as the stereotypical male audience. This artist helps to show the audience that the artists featured are going to be new and current artists that they can relate to as they are in the same age bracket. I think that the fact there is a young artist featured on the front cover helps to represent the target audience of this magazine and helps to inform the audience on whether this would be something that they are interested in.


Another way that I think my magazine represents a particular social group is through the tone that I used in the text. The content and text in my magazine is informal and I think that this would appeal to some socio-economic groups more than others and this could reflect on the audience that I receive. \I think that the informal text represents those of middle/working class more than those of an upper class as stereotypically they would prefer something perhaps more formal and that spoke about issues more formally. Another way that I think my media product represent a particular social group is through the clothes that my 'artists' are wearing. The clothes they are wearing are very fashionable and in style however show the artist as quite laid back. For example, on my double page spread one of the band members is seen wearing band merchandise of another band. This would be something that appeals and connects more with an audience from the middle/working class as they are able to relate to as this may be something that they commonly wear. Some of the camera angles may help to represent a particular socio-economic group. For example, all of my photo's were taken from the same level as the eye contact of the artist, this meant that the audience were able to relate with the artist and they were able to feel on the same level of the artist. 

How did you attract/address your audience?

How did you attract/address your audience?

After establishing who my target audience were I was able to think about the ways that I could attract them. I decided to look at existing examples in order to analyse how they attracted their audience and this would therefore help me to understand how to appeal to my audience correctly and what features I need to think about including.

I think that I succeeded in attracting the attention of my intended target audience and this was by creating a magazine targeted at teens and young adults. I did this by using a colour scheme, layout, font, images and the overall content that is included in the magazine.

Who would be the audiecen for you media product?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

When thinking about who the target audience for my magazine would be I began some research into existing music magazines and what their target audience's were. I looked at Kerrang! magazine which also fits into my genre of magazine and began to look at what their target audience was. I found that a similarity between Kerrang! and other music magazines was that the majority of these magazines were aimed at teens and young adults. This was clear when we looked at the age groups that bought Kerrang! magazine and the age group that had the highest sale rate. This was the age group 15-25. When I began to create my music magazine I needed to think about what age group my magazine was aimed at so I could create a design that would appeal to them. I decided that I would follow magazine such as Kerrang! and NME and aim my music magazine at teens and young adults as they seem to have the highest intake rate of music magazines and this meant that I was able to design a magazine that would appeal to them. Rock music is also becoming more popular with teens and young adults in the current music culture as the music is evolving and becoming more appealing to this generation of people.

After age I thought about what gender my music magazine would be aimed at. I decided that although I would not aimed towards a specific gender, stereotypically it would be the male gender that my rock music magazine would appeal to most so therefore I had to think about creating a magazine that would appeal to the male gender and about what stereotypically would appeal to them in a magazine and what features I could include and maybe alter that would make the magazine also appeal to the female gender as well. Another factor that I had to consider would be my audiences interests and what type of audience that could attract. I decided to look at existing magazine in order to analyse what they had included and what effect that it had on the audience of the magazine. I made the decision to include current bands and artists rather than older musicians as this was most likely to appeal to the target audience that I had planned and meant that the magazine would be up to date and relevant. I will be able to gain feedback from the magazine and from that will able to understand more of what my audience want from the content of this magazine and this will allow me to expand my audience further.

The last factor I decided to think about was the Socio-economic class of my audience and this I felt would not be a very important factor for me. I decided that when looking at the audience of my magazine that socio-economic class would not have a massive effect of my audience as it relies more on their interests as a person than what class they are in. After preforming some quick research around socio-economic groups and their interest in magazines I found that there was a wide range of groups that showed an interest in reading music magazines. This supported my decision to not aim at a particular socio-economic group, however things such as the tone and style of the writing can have an impact on which groups show a stronger interest.