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

From making my magazine I have learnt a lot about the different types of processes involved in creating a magazine such as the software and programmes used to create the media product. From my preliminary print project I became more confident with using Adobe Photo Shop and Quark Express, which were the programmes that I used to make my magazine cover, contents and double page spread. I was not very confident before when using photo shop but became more accustomed to using the tools as I worked through the production stage. I became more familiar with how to use the different layers to create my pieces and how to move things around the cover. This really benefited the magazine, I think, especially my front cover as I worked out how to emboss my heading and how to create a coloured box for extra information.












I also became more confident when editing my photos as this time i was more precise when using the magnetic laso tool to cut out my photo and defining the colours to make my picture look brighter.





I definately also became more confident using quark express. I struggled with this programme during my preliminary but having to do the double page spread this time, i had to become more familiar with the tools, and i found that the programme was not as difficult as i thought it had been. I was able to easily post in the pictures that i wanted to use and could have a clear layout that would be more easy to read. The use of this proffesional software made my task much easier to complete.

Also i had to use a digital camera to attain my pictures to upload on to these programmes. Using the digital cameras gave me a good clean image to use.

From these technological adavnces it gives amateurs and media students the means to produce magazines that look modern and professional. Being able to use programmes like photoshop and Quark allow to to create a cover page with all the features of established magazines such as proffesional looking pictures and the large masthead with coverlines around the outside of the page.

Using new technologies like the internet helped me as from this i was able to do my research and planning and get a good look at what proffesional magazines look like and incorporate these with my own ideas. As well as this i was able to access sites like youtube, from which i was able to get examples of work and also post my preliminary video task and embed it into my blog. By using the interent i was able to use blogger to create my blog in order to keep track of all of my work an dmy progress. We all started using blogger when we started the course, which meant that we had all of the old research and our preliminary projects to look back at. I found that this really helped as all of my work was in the same place and could be clearly shown and accessed. Also by using blogger i feel that all of my work, like my research and planning and evaluation, has been displayed neatly and in a way that is easy and clear to see. It has also allowed me to post images that back up my research and help to present all of my work.

(5) How did you attract your target audience?

In order to attract my target audience (as specified below) i incorporated many styles that I thought would make them aware of the magazine and keep engaged once reading it. On these images i picked out things that I included to make sure that i attracted and held the attention of my targeted reader so that they would buy and enjoy the magazine (to ensure repeated sales).

To attract your target audience, the front cover must be eye catching and engaging as this is what the reader makes their decision on, when deciding to buy the magzine. The coverlines must be intersting and exciting to persuade them to get it.

As well as the points analysed i also included things like 'screamers' which are eyecatching and attract the reader because of the use of exclamation marks. I did this at the very top of my magazine just above the masthead, making it look dominant on the page and grabing the readers attention. Also the strong hard black used makes it stand out against the white background, however it does not over shadow the larger mast head.






I also used features such as 'a main selling point' making the featured image and the largest cover line about the same thing which encourages the audince to buy it because of the story used.

The main tool that i used to attract my target audience was the image used. 'Chantelle' is from a girl band that is aimed at the same audience as my magazine so my readers would be interested in her. Also she is shown as being very glamorous, indicated by the mise-en-scene used and the fact that she is shot in medium long shot, so you can see her confident and dominant 'hand on the hip pose' and highlights what she is wearing. The shine of my jewelery makes the page eyecatching and the reader can see that she is stylish and exciting. The use of this image is used to mainly attract young girls, higlighted also by the colour schemes used, but could also be used to attract young boys who may find her attractive or who are folowers of the magazine and are deicated to buying most issues. The girl featured is also around the same age as the target audience so and is looking directly at them. She is pretty and looks to lead an aspirational example of the 'good life'.

To also attract my reader I used direct address in the coverlines to help the reader to connect with the magazine and to make them think that it is aimed at them, and that the magazine understands you. I also used artists that the target audience would be interested in.

In order to attract my target audience further I could have used a 'puff' like 'the best download magazine of 2008' which i was originally planning to include but out of fear of it looking to cluttered, i decided not to. I could also have used more 'pulls' such as freebies to persuade the reader nd advertise the magazines features. I could have done this by the use of coloured circle in the middle of the page. Lots of magazines use this in order to entice their readers.









I also got some anonormous responses from the other members of my media class. These responses were very important as they were from people that were the right age for the magazine and i could see wether or not i had succeeded in attracting them. The girls seemed to like the magazine and as i expected the boys did not identify with the theme, tone and expression of the magazine. Some of the comments that I got back stated that most people liked the overall look of the magazine; including things like the layout and my use of images. They thought that my images were well taken and edited, especially the one on the front cover and the numerous ones on contents page. Lot of responses also said that it was the cover and the double page spread were clear and eay to read. I was a bit worried about the responses to the contents page, but the majority of them came back positive as people said that they liked that it was 'busy' and that the pictures linked to the articles. which hopefuuly made it easier for the target audience.

However many people found my use of colour off putting and suggested that it promoted a very limited target audience as it was very girly. ALso i lot of people said that i should not have used only a purple, black and white in the cover and contents as it made it look 'dull'. Though some people commented that they liked this touch as it made it look really professional.

But from these responses I can see if i managed to attract and engage mainly my target audeince, which were the girls in my class as they are the appropriate age. I think that i was able to attract the girls as on a whole they liked the colour scheme and identified with the coverlines and one person added that from the cover my magazine 'looked interesting, fun and intriguing to read'.

There was a big variation in the 15 or so responses that I had. I think this was because my target audience liked and connected with the magazine and the others didn't. As a result of this i think that the ones that disliked a lot of things e.g. the colour scheme were mainly boys.

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

The target audience of my magzine would be:

o 15-20
o Predominantly young girls
o Likes going out, having fun
o Loves music; sees music as fun, an escape
o Downloads music to iPod, MP4 player, Phone
o Students
o Hedonists/Materialists
o Glamorous
o Doesn’t go far outside the mainstream
o Not a rebel or individualist follows the standardised way of life
o Listens to commercialised dance, pop and RnB; feel good music
o Listens to Radio1, Kiss.
o Watches 4music, MTV One, e4, itv2

I think that my ideal reader would love chart music like Lady Gaga, Girls Aloud, Akon, all chart toppers signed to major record labels. They are not individualists in the type of music that they listen to and don't like things that are too different. They like safe music that you can listen and party to, like Adorno said; music to depoliticize the masses, that has no real meaning.

They will also be quite materialistic people, who are hedonists and enjoy having fun. However this does not mean that these are the only things that they care about. I see my typical reader as someone who cares about looking good, having fun, and aspiring to be glamorous like the celebrities that they read about. But they know that this is not the most important thing and like listening to music as a way to relax or have fun to.

I would say that the audience will be around B, C1, C2 & D on the Jicnars scale as beind teenagers and students they will not have very much money, just from a part time job, though will probably rely on their parents for expensive gifts such as the iPods featured.

Ideal audience:




This is an image of my target audience. She is a young, fashionable girl, around 17 years of age, who cares about her self image and is interested in modern, commercial chart music. She probably gets most of her music off of the internet and regulary goes out. She most likely listens to radio one, galaxy, brmb, kiss.fm and watches shows like one tree hill, skins, the hills and 90210 on e4 and other shows on itv2 aswell as music channels: mtv one. The reader also probably attends college and has a fair amount of money from a part time job.

The reader, being youthful, will also be full equipped in the digital age and know how to use the Internet to download music and most likely share it with their friends on social networking sites like facebook, or instant messaging on MSN.

You are... fun, friendly, dressed to impress, go out and download music for on the go.
You like... chart music you can have fun to, going out on the town and looking your best.
You need... the latest tunes and the best places to download music.
You watch... and follow music thoroughly.
You want... the hottest new tunes directs to you.
You care... about music but just want something that you can listen and have fun to.

Audience Reactions

I filmed two people, who were both around the specified age group for my magazine; one male and one female. By doing this i hoped to find out what two people of differing genders thought about the style of the magazine and which one would find it more engaging ans wether or not i had succeeded in engaging and attracting my Target audience and to discover what they liked and disliked about my magazine.




The first peron that i filmed was a 16 year old, male, college student who liked the magazine and clearly identified the target audience. He said that he liked the magazine but wasnt really the type of thing that he would read as the issue seemed quite girly however saw that it could be quite easily adapted to suit a more male audience in another issue, as many magazines have different colour schemes when a featured artist has more to do with one gender than the other.




The second video shows a 17 year old girl who very clearly identified with the magazine as she is the ideal targeted audience. She also picked up on the point that this was a predominately female issue but could be changed to suit a wider uni sex audience. She seemed to like the overall magazine and had few complaints about what she was looking at. She correctly guessed the age group that the magazine is designed to and thought that it worked well to attract it, showing that I had been able to successful promote my target audience.

When I asked somebody over the age of targeted audience they correctly guessed that they were not the target audience and also agreed that it was aimed towards 16+. This was predominately because they did not associate with many of the artists on the front page and do not own an iPod/ mp4 player so would not be able to download music.

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

As stated in my research and planning I think that the best kind of publisher for this magazine would be one that has other magazines on the UK market but does not have one of similar style and one approaching the same target audience. To publish my magazine I chose ‘Dennis Publishing’ as they have lots of magazines on the US and UK market. Many of these magazines are successful and very dominant in UK stores nationwide. They currently publish some music magazines in the UK but only one that focuses on independent music from independent labels and producers. They have more mainstream magazines in the US. Magazines that publish are: IT Pro, Mac User, Maxim, Auto Express, Computer Shopper, Custom PC, PC Pro, Viz, Fortean Times, Poker Player, Monkey, Bizarre, The Week, Octane magazine and Evo Magazine. I picked ‘Dennis Publishing’ because it does not have a music magazine aimed at this target audience, in the market and they want to launch one so they can hold a larger proportion of the UK market.

In regards to where my magazine will be distributed I think that the most ideal locations would be in supermarkets, news agents and high street stores like WHSmith. Supermarkets like Tesco, Morrisons and Asda would be good locations as they will be placed near to housing estates where teenagers would not have to go far to get their copy. Also these are places that young people usually have to visit anyway so they can easily get it. Also high street stores are a good idea as teenagers are always in town, in large groups with their friends. This way they will be able to get the magazine whilst shopping and also promote ‘word-of-mouth’ advertising which might get their friends interested as well.









As the magazine is aimed at those of 15-20 in age, they are fully equipped to use the internet to buy the magazine. It could be available online at sites like Amazon, or could be brought through membership on the magazine’s own web page and sent to their homes by mail. Or you could just pay to read the magazine online, which would be more environmentally friendly. Also many students could read the magazine allowing it to be sold in university campuses or in news agents of local towns. Because the magazine is mainly low-order and aimed at young adults it probably would not be available to buy in stores like Waitrose or Marks and Spencer or House of Fraser as these are higher class stores and my magazine only targets those who are lower than a B on the Jicnars scale.

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

I aimed to target specific people with my magzines and by doing this i showed different the different social groups which exist within our society. I showed them by the style in which I adopted and the images that i used. These social groups were things like gender, disability, teenagers and the law.





These images for example could construe the ways in which my magazine represents gender. This Power Point presentation shows how my magzine represented these groups:

AS MEDIA COURSEWORK EVALUATION

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MEDIA COURSEWORK- EVALUATION: (1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My magazine has some typical features of a published magazine as it includes the similar ideas of only including one main photo on the cover and follows the same conventions of typicallayout with the large masthead and coverlines to attract and entice the reader so that they want to buy the magazine. It also has straplines to convey the features of the articles promoted, aswell as as barcode and the price and issue number.

The price of the magazine at £2.90 is fairly reasonable for this type of magazine because it has a teenage audience so I thought that it would be a good idea to have a price that is between the price of a child's and a adult magzine. Magazines like 'Q', 'Rolling Stones' and 'Mixmag' are generally all around £3. However as this magazine is for teens that are just slightly younger the price reflects the destined age group. I included the website, which most music magazines actually advertise, as it reflects the digital age in which we live in. Also 'Input' is a download magzine and a lot of the articles feature online conventions, and the readers are encouraged to go online for further information and the free downloads as publicised on the cover.

My magazine cover also has only a few colours, which is one of the things that I decided to encorportaed from my reasearch and planning. I chose to use purple as I wanted this issue to be quite girly as the image used and the featured artciles are more inclined towards a female audience, and the colour chose exagerates this. However purple can be construed as not being entirely girly and some males might want to buy the issue if they are a dedicated reader.

Aswell as these features, the language used is also quite conventional as it modern and reflects the style of similar magazines on the market. However it is adapted to suit its teenage audience. Also the language is suited to fit in with the download theme such as '... on your Ipod'. The tone is calm and fun which I tried to ashow throughout the fonts used. I chose a bold font for the masthead and the coverlines and then a slightly thinner font 'Arial Narrow' for my coverlines so the whole cover was not in a hard font.















The contents page and double page spread also incorporate conventions as the layout is again similar; including pictures with captions and images with numbers to relate to the featured article. On the contents page the text and images are split up and segreagated to differnt sides. It also has the month of issue and the contents heading.The language is also modern which attracts the target audience and is reminiscent of magazines aimed at this market. The double page spread has a large heading to attract the reader about features, which all magazines include.


Another typical feature used is on the double spread there are page numbers and at the top is a sign saying 'INPUT EXCLUSIVE'. This feature is adopted my most magazines on the market. I decided to put these boxes in as it makes the spread easy to find and gives it a professional look and also emphasises the importance of the spread to the magazine to the reader as it is an 'Exclusive'. At first i did not plan on putting one of these in, but the idea came to me when i thought that the background looked to boring and that there was not enough colour on the two pages. When i first put this in, i made a mistake and put it on the wrong side of the first page. I then had to quickly change this which meant that i had to re-do the stars. However I think that it improved the overall look of my double page spread.









The double page spread on a whole probably took the most time to complete as it was the biggets task. The language used was modern and remiscent of magazines today.

It is similar to existing magazines by means of the layout and the heading used. When compared to this spread from a real music magazine you can see that the overall conventions are realistically the same, though the style and content are very different. The one side is mainly taken up by the picture with the text separated to the other page. However there is alot less text but obly one colour is used again.






Aswell as being similar to magazines that are already on the market it is different in the following ways; the front cover has aplus box which has a coloured box as the background. This feature is not very common on music magazines and is mainly used in other themed magazines. Also there is a plain white background and no other images used.




Also on the contents page the text and the pictures are separated by a purple box splitting the page into. This also makes the magazine have a younger feel to it as it makes it easier to navigate around.

On the whole my magazine does not really challenge any conventions of modern, existing magazines. Though it has slight differences and changes and develops certain points it follows the same mainstream layout, choice of images and headings as this is what generally makes a magazine sucessful and attractive to its audience.

When i first started my magazine I had lots of ideas on how i wanted it to look and how i wanted to design it, based on existing magazines. I took the points that I had gathered from looking at my research and planning and used them to formulate the structure and content for my magazine. However many of my ideas changed as i started t produce my magazine. At first i planned to have a higher target audince and I designed my entire front cover to suit this. I decided that i would also have a female group on the front. But i changed this because in the end i only wanted one person on the cover to be the featured artist and i then felt that the style of my magazine would be better suited for a slighlty lower targeted age. These changes were based on evidence from existing magazaines featured in my research and planning.

MEDIA COURSEWORK: Production, front cover

I have just finished producing my front cover. It is slightly different than I originally wanted it to be as I had decided that I wanted it to feature an image of girl band however I changed it so that it has an image of a female artist.