7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

 

Looking back at my preliminary task, I can see various things that I have learnt while constructing my main task. The main thing I have learnt is how to effectively use Photoshop, when I began this task I didn’t know how to use Photoshop at all, but after creating the magazine and watching tutorials online, I now know how to work with several aspects of the program and would be able to use them confidently if I needed to in the future. For example, to make certain pieces of text more prominent, I know how to add an outline or a drop shadow to them. Also, I know how to change the brightness/contrast of an image to make it colour of the picture improve. 

Another thing I learned is about taking photos. Without good lighting, pictures look very unprofessional. When I did my preliminary task, I didn’t really know this. But as I completed my final task I realised this and planned my photo shoot accordingly.

The camera I used to take my images.

Whilst on my photo shoot in Central London with my models, I encountered some problems regarding lighting. In my brainstorm, I stated that I would use high-key natural lighting, but when I took some of my pictures, it was too dark. I knew that pictures in magazines had professional lighting and that pictures were usually bright and clear so readers could easily the focus of the image (in this case, the band members).

Picture with bad lighting

So to rectify this problem, I moved my models to a different location, where the lighting was more suited to my camera. 

Picture with better lighting.

 

Despite learning a little about photography and taking good photographs for my magazine, I think the thing that I have learned most is about the use of desktop publishing, prior to this task I hadn't used any professional software before, and now I am confident of my skills when using such a program.
 

6. What have you learnt about technologies from constructing this product?

While planning/creating the product, I used various programs that I had never used before. Such as:

Photoshop Elements: While at school, I used this program to create my magazine, by using this, I gained basic skills in image manipulation. This program was good to use because it is a simple form of a very complex program that is aimed at beginners, so I think it was useful for me to begin creating my magazine on this as I hadn't ever used Photoshop previsouly. Once I'd gotten to grips with Photoshop Elements and how to use it, at home, I moved on to a more advanced form of the program. 

I moved onto using this program at home, it was beneficial to me to move on to this version of Photoshop because it is more detailed. It was easier to be more precise with my magazine with things such as image positioning.

When I began creating my magazine on desktop publishing program Photoshop, I didn’t know how to use it properly. I knew from research that most magazines cut out their bands from the original image and place them on a different background. So, to overcome not knowing how to use Photoshop to do this, I watched a Youtube video which tutors you on how to carry out the task. Before I researched, I created a front cover without using this skill, but once I learned how to do it I created another. And I feel because I did learn how to do this, my overall product benefited from this.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience my audience by making the readers feel as though the people in the magazine are just like them. The clothes that the models are wearing are very casual and something that the readers themselves could wear. I have portrayed the band as being very similar to my target audience. This will make the audience more likely to connect with the people in the magazine and therefore buy the magazine.

Another way I attracted readers was by displaying a competition on the front cover. Download Festival is one of rock’s most coveted festivals and many people would love the chance to perform there. By giving people the chance to win a once in a lifetime experience such as this, people would be likely to pay the small price of the magazine to possibly get the chance to win. 

Also, by listing the other bands that feature in the magazine, if people don’t know/don’t like the main band, they have several alternatives to read about. Offering alternatives broadens the choices so that people aren't excluded if they don't like the featured band.

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

 Target Audience

My target audience is teenagers (both males and females), between the ages of 16-21, and of socio-economic groups C1, C2 and D. They are my target audience because after asking people of various ages whether they would want to read a music magazine of the rock/indie genre, these are the ages who answered affirmatively. They are my target audience because they are the age group that are most likely to enjoy this type of music. 

This is an example of my target audience, her name is Becky she is 16 years old and she lives in the centre of London. At Sixth Form she studies Art, History, Sociology and Geography, she enjoys listening to music and her favourite bands are Paramore and Foals. She often goes out shopping with her friends and she loves going see her favourite bands in concert, having seen Paramore, Drums, Florence and the Machine and 3OH!3 she is a prime example of my target audience.

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

IPC Media

IPC Media (formerly International Publishing Corporation), a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc. is consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies every year.

Notable magazine: NME

This company could publish my magazine. IPC would be good company to publish my magazine as it already successfully publishes NME. Also, it has no direct competition for my magazine, as my magazine is aimed at an audience who listen to slightly heavier music than those who read NME. If my magazine were to be distributed by this company

Bauer Media  

The Bauer Media Group (Bauer Verlagsgruppe) is a large German publishing company based in Hambugh, which operates in 15 countries worldwide. Since the company was founded in 1875, it has been privately-owned and under management by the Bauer family. It was formerly called Heinreich Bauer Verlag KG, abbreviated to HBV and usually shortened to H. Bauer Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Group’s magazine titles amounts to 38 million magazines a week. 

Notable magazines: Kerrang!, Mojo, Q

 

Despite Bauer Media’s success I wouldn’t use it to publish my magazine. This is because it already publishes Kerrang!, Mojo and Q Magazine, and these magazines would be competition. But on the other hand, because they have had success at marketing these similar products, it would mean that they could do the same for my product, potentially making it as successful as Kerrang, one of the highest-selling music magazines in the UK. Also, as the company also owns Q TV, 4Music, Kiss TV, Kerrang! TV, The Box, Magic TV and Smash Hits TV. This means that they could easily use cross-media promotion to make more people aware of my product, using Kerrang! TV and Q TV specifically as those channels are more likely to be watched by my target audience.

 

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

My magazine is representative of young people, who are aged between 16-21 years of age. More specifically those who enjoy rock music, going to concerts, and enjoy reading about rock musicians and the goings on in contemporary rock music.

The people who might read my magazine would wear clothes which aren't overly expensive. For example, band t-shirts, skinny jeans, eye-liner and trainers. I have represented this type of person in how I have dressed the members of my band on the front cover of my magazine. The clothes that they were are all from high street stores that can be accessed all over the country by members of my target population.

I am going to compare a picture of Becky from my magazine to one of Sierra Kusterbeck of the band VersaEmerge.

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

Magazine

Title of the magazine: For my magazine, I chose the name Amplified because his relates to live music, and using amplifiers to make the music louder. Live music is a big part of rock music and its culture, so it was a fitting name for a magazine of this genre.

Amplifier definition

In electronics, a device that takes a small electric signal and converts it into a large one. Amplifiers are used in stereo systems, electric guitars, and loudspeakers.

For rock music, playing live shows is a very big part of the culture and is something most people who like this type of music will be familiar with. And although it is not something very specific to this genre, amplifiers make the music played by instuments louder and rock music is a genre that is known for being loud.

 
Background/Colours: The background of my magazine cover is white, this is very conventional of rock music magazines, many of these magazines choose one block background colour and then use 2 or 3 other accent colours. I complied with the convention because it is used so there aren’t too many colours that pull focus from the cover star(s). Another way in which I have followed conventions is by using a bold masthead. It is a simple font (name of font) and is the colour black . Various existing music magazines such as Kerrang’s masthead (see below)  is also black on a white background.

Kerrang! logo

People: However, I challenged conventions of this genre putting a band with 2 females and only one male on the front cover. Rock music, and therefore rock music magazines, is a male-dominated industry and rarely feature bands with more females then males.  I decided to challenge the conventions in this aspect to make my magazine unique and different from the others on the market. But the models are slightly younger than many in real bands, I made the decision to challenge this convention because it will appeal more to my target audience as they can relate more to those who are of the same age as them.

Costume and props: The costumes that I have used throughout my magazine are conventional. This is because the band used in my magazine arewearing jeans, trainers, eyeliner and t-shirts.These items could be found in professional music magazines as well as on people who enjoy this type of music.

Written content: I followed the codes and conventions of music magazine articles. Although some magazines do publish simple question/answer articles, many others publish articles with quotes embedded in them. I decided to do this because from the magazines I analysed, as of late, this style of article has become more popular. The style of language used is a mix of formal and conversational. I chose this style because it is a style that the target audience would find easy to read without getting bored. Also, the mode of address used in the editor's letter is very conversational, similar to all of the music magazines that I analysed. So in that respect I have followed the codes and conventions of the magazine genre.

"We make casual chit-chat after I enter the room, the band and I bonded over music (Vampire Weekend to be precise), and I began to ask them about the year they’ve had. Bassist Natalya Urie is quick to answer, ‘It’s been amazing. We didn’t expect any of it, it’s crazy. I mean, we wrote these songs in my garage two summers ago and now we’re playing on the Main Stage at Reading [and Leeds Festival].’” - Extract from my features article