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

My media product (music magazine) is a hip-hop/grime genre. The conventions of my magazine are things such as colorful clothing, preferably baggy, hoods or hats are quite big in this genre and a cocky or confident look should be provided. I had to use these conventions/elements so that my magazine would look like a grime genre’d magazine. I stuck to the convention so that my audience would know that it is grime styled magazine and not get the wrong idea of what genre it is. Even though I stuck to the genre I think that is vital to include something new to keep my magazine individual and fresh, this way my magazine will stand out from others. However my magazine still looks like an everyday magazine which is good so it wont look too different and unfamiliar to what audiences are used to. My magazine contains a big, bold title at the top of the page to display the name of the magazine and make my audience instantly recognize my magazine. I have also got a slogan underneath my header. I have one main star which fills up most of the page and dominates the front cover so audiences will know what my magazine is all about. My star is in a medium shot and is also looking at the camera which brings in direct address. I then have a leading caption which is fitted in with my star and the name of there new single which attract audiences to something new and interesting. At the bottom left of my page I have subheadings which are well known to my audience and they will instantly see their name and know what my magazine is about and want to read about their favorite stars. Finally I have strap lines at the bottom of my page to keep readers interested as mine contains a competition they can compete in. Overall my magazine looks like an everyday magazine so audience wont be scared to try it out but it also has a new look which keeps it fresh and vibrant and easily displays the genre of hi-hop/grime.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents certain social groups through the text, colours and mise en scene. I have done this through everything in my magazine. I have used a star at the age of 17 so she fits in with my primary audiences age range. Typically girls in this age are respectable and matured but I have gone against the represented image set by adults and turned her into a rebellious young girl who loves her music and wants to stay young and enjoy her childishness. This is portrayed through her posture and body language and well as the clothes she is wearing. Her clothes include baggy jeans and a hoody - with the hood up -. In all of my stars pictures she is outside next to a brick wall. This represents young people and youths as ‘hoodies’. I have used natural lighting in my pictures to create a naturalistic environment.

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

I think that the media institution that would distribute my magazine would be ‘RWD’. This is a world-wide hip-hop/grime magazine industry. They are extremely popular with young people and know exactly what they want in a music magazine. I think they would be happy to fund my magazine because my magazine is very similar to theirs and would fit in with their genre perfectly but what makes my magazine different from the other in their industry is that it is original and has a fresh look with all of the colours mixing together well and the way I have laid out my magazine keep the audiences interest and makes they want to read on. ‘RWD’ also likes interviewing big stars and stars that have the right look for the genre and I think my star has got it all, from the looks to the appearance. I think ‘RWD’ would make a big profit from my magazine as it is very similar to the other they publish so it wont look unfamiliar to their audiences, they have the same audience as I have and the way I have laid out my magazine fits in with the style of magazine thy publish.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My primary audience is young groups of people ranging from the age of 15 - 21, both male and female but more towards the male sex. However I have a secondary audience of criminals, music stars and dance groups. I have done this through everything in my magazine. I have used a star at the age of 17 so she fits in with my primary audiences age range. My magazine is aimed at young people of all ethnicities and mainly middle to lower class people as most young people have this status. Another trait I am aiming at is fans of other popular grime stars and young people who hang around in groups or who go to social groups, weather youth groups or even dance/drama groups. The audience I have chosen is a very good audience for my magazine as firstly it is a huge group, who are mostly into young, mainstream music and even though they don’t always have a lot of money, my magazine is fairly cheap and affordable for young people, plus young people don’t have a lot to spend they money on so my magazine can soon be the new best-selling young person magazine when advertised and published.

How did you attract/address your audience?

There are many ways in which I have attracted my audience. Firstly my title is ‘Studio.’ This gives off the idea of professionalism and new-modern equipment which is what young people like. The key image on my front cover is a picture of my star who is wearing all the latest clothing which again is what every young person wants, a cocky yet confident look which is what young people are interested by and finally my female artist is very good looking which as we all know, is what young boys are interested in. The use of my storylines, content and language style will attract my audience very well as it is a young trendy type of text (graffiti like). My storylines are big and bold and interesting to a young audience as they contain well known stars and something new to read and get involved with not to mention the competitions involved in my magazine. This is continued throughout the whole of my magazine. In my contents page my captions have a little topic which is much similar to a joke, this will give my audience a laugh and keep them interested to read more captions. The pictures I have included in my article page are all similar but all show a different side to my artist so this will keep my audience thinking about my artist which will also help when they are reading my article as it is about my artist so they can think back to the pictures and have an idea of what she means in the article. I have also used yellow writing which makes it more exciting to the eye as its not plain and dull.

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

There have been three main programs that I used to create my magazine and to get through my coursework. Indesign was the main program I used to design my magazine, I used Microsoft word to create all of my questionnaires and I used Blogger to post all of my progress on the internet. At first I had never used Indesign before so I though this was going to be quite a difficult task to create my magazine but it turned out to be fairly easy as it was easy to get used to. My questionnaires were created in Microsoft word and these made it possible to get some audience feedback. The final main program I used was www.blogger.com. This let me post all of my progress and get through my project very easily. I also used other programs but not as much such as www.dafont.com - which I used to get the fonts I used in my magazine, www.rwd.com - which I used for research on my genre of magazine.

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

Looking back ay my preliminary task I do think that my recent magazine cover is a lot better than my first original one. The first main difference you can notice is how much more professional it is. You can tell this by firstly the layout of the front cover. Both images are medium shots which is the best shot for a magazines front cover and they both use direct address. My fonts are much bigger and bolder so they stand out more to the audience and I have used much more block colours so again it catches the audiences eye.

Conclusion…

In conclusion I think that my magazine was a success and I thoroughly enjoyed designing it. I think the main strengths of my magazine were the layout of the magazine throughout along with the colours as together they both display professionalism and tell you the genre of the magazine from start to finish.The weakness’s of my magazine would have to be the amount of extras I used such as editing in Photoshop to make my photo’s look more professional as I didn’t have the amount of time needed but other than that I don’t feel that I have any other major weaknesses and I am very pleased with my magazine and think it comes very close to looking like a real everyday magazine. I also think that my article is just as good as a real article with a professional star. Overall I am extremely pleased with my magazine as a whole.