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

question 1

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

On the left is a picture from an existing magazine, and on the right is a photo from my own photo shoot. I think my photo represents rock music fans quite well as it has a sense of attitude. I used red lipstick, messy hair and made the model wear a leather jacket so she would look like a typical rock band member and would draw teenage readers in. I also used a bold, eroded font which would appeal to the target audience as it makes the magazine cover look edgy. Both magazines have the same style and rebellious look and I think my model represents teenagers, both male and female, who have an interest in rock music.

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

question 3

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

Here are some photos of the target audience for my magazine.
They have the same type of style as the music artists in my magazine. I chose both male and females as music magazines generally always appeal to both genders.
Their preferred type of music is indie/rock music and they buy music magazines and attend music gigs regularly.
I think my magazine would appeal to these people as it is a weekly rock magazine like Kerrang and would keep them up to date with the latest music news.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

question 5

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

When making my magazine I used a number of different programmes. Photoshop was an essential part of making my magazine cover. I used it firstly to edit the photos I had taken and then to design my magazine cover and contents page. As my photoshop skills developed and I learnt how to use things such as strokes and shadows, my magazine gradually became more professional looking.

Another programme I used was Microsoft Publisher. I used this when making my double page spread as I thought it would be the most convenient programme to use when dealing with text. Publisher allowed me to create columns for my interview text to go in. I also learned how to create a dropcap which was a good feature to put into my double page spread.

To take the photos for my magazine I used a digital camera. This was another extremely essential tool when creating my magazine as it allowed me to take as many photos as I needed so I had plenty of variety to choose from, and uploading them was a very quick process.

I used dafont.com to find the font for my magazine. 'Dafont' has a wide variety of different font categories such as 'eroded' and 'destroy' and so I easily found one suitable for my music magazine.

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

Since making my pleminary task, I have learned to research into the target audience and consider the style of magazine they would prefer. To do this, I created a questionnaire to get an idea of the types of things my target audience would prefer in a music magazine. I feel my magazine has developed to looking more realistic since developing my skills on photoshop, and now targets the audience a lot better than my pleminary magazine did.
This is the feedback I got from a student about my final music magazine:

Double page

This is my double page spread. On one side I have a large image, like the magazines had in my research, and on the side of the interview, I have added smaller images from my photoshoot around the edge, and I put a white border around the images. The font I used for the interview was arial as I thought it was the clearest small font. I used a dropcap for the first letter of the interview as I found that existing magazines use these quite a lot, and I also pulled out a quote from the interview to grab the readers attention like magazine interviews usually do. I used a grey background so that the page would have a grungey look.

Double page spread

This is one side of my double page spread. I made it on photoshop and then imported it to publisher. Underneath the heading 'Lola Mars', I wrote a mini introduction to give an insight into what the interview would be about. For this page I used a new font as I felt it needed to be different from the cover.

"Have your say" box

For my double page spread, I have made this "Have your say" box. I took pictures of some students so I could then write their opinions Lola Mars next to their pictures. I made the box red and yellow so that it would stand out from the rest of the page.

Double page spread - Research

These are examples of existing double page spreads. I have noticed that on both of these there is a large image on one side and text on the other, which seems to be quite a common layout for double page spreads. I like the simplicity of the top spread while I like the images on the bottom one. I think I am going to model my double page spread on these examples.

Contents Page

This is my contents page. I decided to use a simpler font for most of the text on this page and kept the colour scheme simple. I have shown small previews of some of the posters that would be inside the magazine at the bottom, and, like Kerrang, I have a bar across the middle saying 'RIFF! this week'.

Subscribe box

I made this subscribe box to go at the bottom of my contents page. In most of the music magazines I have looked at, there is a subscribe box showing the website somewhere on the contents page. I chose a bright yellow colour so it would jump out at the reader.

Contents page - so far

This is my contents page so far. I have added headings to the bottom and I am also going to use columns like the Kerrang contents page I looked at. I'm using the same font and colour scheme I used on the cover so the magazine looks consistent. I have added strokes to headings to give them an outline and make them bold.

Finished magazine cover

This is my final magazine front cover. I have added more text to the front to show more of what is inside. I found that in existing Kerrang magazines, there are usually pictures on the cover to show who is being interviewed inside, so I added a picture of 'Lola Mars' to my front cover. I also added a bar code and the date to the side of cover.

Selecting the best images

Here are some of the best photos from my photoshoot. I like the poses and facial expressions in these photos and think they're the most suitable for my magazine. As I am going to base my contents page layout on the Kerrang contents page I looked at in my research, I am going to use one of the photos from this photoshoot to go across the top of my own contents page:

Photoshoot for double page

Here are the photos I took for the double page spread. I wanted a grungey look so I went outside and found brick walls and alley ways that I thought would be good backgrounds for the images. Like my front cover photoshoot, I made her wear simple grey/black clothes so she looked like an alternative/grunge artist.

Contents Page Research

This is a Kerrang contents page. I like the layout of this page and how there is a picture across the top. Headings have been used such as 'NEWS', 'GIG GUIDE' and 'LIVE REVIEWS' to break the page numbers up. This page sticks to a colour scheme and mainly uses the same fonts throughout, changing the size and colour in places but not too much. I like the bar across the middle that says 'kerrang! this week' and I would like to do something like this in my own magazine. I think I will follow the layout of this page when making my own contents page.

To break the front cover up like Kerrang does, I have added a box to show the new albums, and I have also put a yellow box around the word 'exclusive' to make it stand out from the rest of the cover; from my research I found this is a common feature on Kerrang front covers:

I have varied the font types and sizes so that the cover looks more appealing.

Front cover - so far

For the front cover I have enlarged the image so that it creates more of an impact and cut around the top of the model so that the title sits behind the image while still being visible.
I have also created a bar along the top to show the poster special and a 'PLUS!' bar along the bottom of the cover like the Kerrang magazine usually has to show the bands that will be inside. I am going to use a red, black and white colour scheme.