Creative critical reflection

A Level Media Studies 9607

Introduction

I have chosen to create a new music magazine for my Media Coursework. The genre which I have chosen to focus on is Sufi Rock. In doing my research I discovered that there are no Sufi Rock magazines on the shelves of Pakistans stores. This leaves a great gap in the magazine market which my product could fill. I also think my magazine will be popular because Sufi Rock is a popular genre of music and ever growing. Below is a list of some artists based around this genre.

1. Abida Parveen

2. Ali Azmat

3. Sketches

4. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE OR CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS AND HOW DOES IT REPRESENT SOCIAL GROUPS OR ISSUES?

The social groups that are represented in my magazine are the readers which you would expect to see buying a special genre related magazine. Which is most likely the younger generation of people.My magazine would be for these types of people:YOUNG GENERATION (AGES 14 – 35 odd)8. TEENAGERS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN MUSIC9. MAINLY FEMALE GENDER10. PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN SUFI/ROCK MUSIC11. ETHNICITY DOESN’T MATTER, THIS MAGAZINE IS FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN THIS TYPE OF MUSIC12 ANY PERSON FROM ANY CLASS CAN BUY THIS MAGAZINE, THEY WOULDN’T GET JUDGED

The genre which I chosen to base my magazine upon is Sufi Rock I chose to focus on this genre because I like this kind of music and I knew I would enjoy creating the unique images and editing to fit with the genre.

I also chose to focus on Sufi Rock because when I did my re-search at the beginning of the project and found that there is no Sufi Rock magazines being sold and so there is a gap in the market. And as I found my target audience was 16 to 35 year olds I could start to develop my product for that age range.

I have used many typical magazine conventions in my final product. Below is a list of my front cover, contents page and double page spread and the conventions I have used;

Front cover

oMain heading ‘dhun’ as in Rhythm relates to the genre i have chosen. The font is bold and big which makes it standout and draws in the eyes’ attention . From the results of my questionnaires I have realised that I could have made mytitle stand out more. Below are the comments made about my front cover title:

“The title colour could be brighter for more attention”“The title would stand out even more if it was brighter”

oOne main picture of my model. The age and appearance of the boy reflects the age and stlye of my target audience.The picture stand as it shows the Sufi Look and makes it more clear about the specific genre it has .

Below are some of the positive comments I got back from my questionnaire:“The mise-en-scene against the dull background looks professional”“It interests me because the picture is different and interesting, it also looks Interesting and Attractive“The picture looks professional how it is fitted onto the page and how the writing overlaps”

oFeature articles are all items that I think are interesting and appealing to the market which I have chosen. These willentice the reader into buying the magazine.oWebsite address to show people there is more than just the magazine www.sufirock.com’

ContentsoPictures to reveal who is featured in the magazine. Andmaking the background to give it more spiritual and as wellas more musical look. Below are some of the comments I gotback from my questionnaire when I asked about my contentspage;

“The pictures make it interesting”“The pictures are different and interesting”

oPage numbers and interesting titles which I thought thereader would want to flick to.

Titles

Background image

Images

Double page spreadoPictures of the featured artist Sufi Model’ to show the reader who is been interviewed andto make them want to read on. Below a comment I received from my questionnaire on thepictures I used:

“The pictures make you want to read the article and see who it’s about”

oBold and big fonts to make the writing stand out more.

oPhrases which the interviewee have said which are funny/strange/stand out-Here are someof the comments I received from the questionnaire about the phrase I made stand out fromthe rest of the interview:

”The quotes make you want to read on”“The quotes are interesting and catchy”

oInterview written in a journalistic way to make it seem genuine, below are two comments Igot back, one positive and one negative:

“Really well written article, good journalism”“The article seems more of a story rather than an article, explaining every little detail”

HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE WITH AUDIENCES AND HOW WOULD IT BE DISTRIBUTED AS A REAL MEDIA TEXT?

Why is it good to have a target audience?

The reason why it’s good to have a target audience is so that their interests arefulfilled in the magazine. So what they like listening to and who they like going to seeare featured in the magazines. So a 70 year old wouldn’t be likely read a magazine on‘Drum and base’.When looking for my target audience I had to consider many factors. One of thembeing age. My age category is from 16 to 35 years old. That doesn’t mean to say thatpeople out of this age group aren't suppose to read it but I produced a questionnaireat the beginning of my project and saw that all the young people would like to see anSufi Rock magazine on the shelves of stores. I think my magazine is largely targeted ata loyal niche audience AT THE MOMENT. But with new artists such as Atif Aslam andThe Sketches Sufi rock is becoming more and more popular and may help the sales ofmy magazine.

I believe that my magazine will have a secondary audience because it’s a mix ofSufism and Rock. So people who are into Classical music are likely to read my musicand people who listen to Classical Rock are likely to read it so I will have a mix of twoaudiences reading it.

Main heading Which I got from the

word ‘Rhythm’ and as it’s based on

Music thought it would be a good

idea to use it. I got very good

feedback about the title of my

magazine and helped people work

out what genre the magazine was

based on.

Feature articles to entice the

audience in. Features such as

“The Music Of Life” will

persuade people who are

interested inTrue Musicand not

necessarily Sufi Roc to read

the magazine.

My main picture

who is the singer

and Model for my

magazine” is quite

different from what

you would usually

see on a magazine

cover as its shows

the traditional

culture of Sufism.

This has been

done to attract the

audiences

attention..

For my contents page I have choseninteresting feature articles so to interestmy reader. My first featured article is‘Salmans journey to Sufi kingdom’ Whichcreates suspense for the ready as Ihaven’t said what the interview is about.The reader therefore will probably beintrigued to see who they are even if theydidn't want to read that article anyway. Ihave also included “Lets start the festival”in my contents page as this is one of mymain features of the magazine, so manypeople will most likely be buying themagazine for that one article and want toget to it quick and easy. I have also useda big picture of one of mosque to reflectthe Poetic side of this music’ andchanged it into a cutout effect onPhotoshop which will attract my targetaudience as it is very artistic like.

For my double page spread I have used

the title; the spiritual journey this is

because it gives the readers an

attractive heading for the poetic and

musical article and it is then clear to

audience who the article is about and

what they’re called. I have used a typical

paragraph structure for my article which

makes it easy to read. I have also written

on a image from my shoot to establish

link between he reader and the article

.Instead I wrote mine more like a story

than an interview.. I think this will

attract my audience as it isn’t a typical

interview and they wont get bored. have

used quite a large picture on my double

page spread. I think this attracts the

audiences attention as it’s the first time

we have seen them up close.

HOW DID YOUR PRODUCTION SKILLS DEVELOP THROUGHOUT THIS PROJECT?

Blogs: Before beginning my practical project I had to create and account on https://wordpress.com is an online blog which can be easily accessed in and out of college. I found this resource very helpful, as it allowed me to upload recent developments in my magazine, including pictures, blog entrees and PowerPoint's.

Research: To get to my final product I had to carry out research on many different aspects of the media. Once I had decided on the genre of magazine I was going to create, I researched the Web for similar magazines to that genre. I also looked for layouts of magazines on Google images. I found this a really easy way of finding information about magazines, and I think it is so much easier than going out and buying a magazine from the shelves as you don’t always have a big selection to choose from.

Creating my product: To create my prelim task and front cover I used an advanced programme on the windows called ‘Adobe InDesign ’and Photoshop. This is where I pieced my product together, adding writing and pictures. I found it quite easy to get the hang of this programme as ive worked on it before..

Taking my photographs: For both my prelim task and magazine I had to use a. DSLR I have my own DSLR and known how to use it for years now so this task wasn’t a problem for me.

Editing photographs: After uploading my photographs onto the computer,

i had to open the ones I wanted into a programme called ‘Photoshop’. This programme allowed me to do pretty much whatever i wanted with my photos. I changed the colours of my photos, cut them out from the background, created film strips. I was very impressed by what I could achieve on this programme.

To sum up I believe all of the technology which I used to create my product was highly advanced and I am very proud to now know how to use some of this.