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

Conventions/rules that are generally understood and accepted when producing a media product, several of these conventions are as follows, Masthead or title, cover lines, colour

schemes, fonts, style of photography and writing styles. My media product uses several of the conventions of a magazine. I made sure that I followed the important conventions so that my media product would look as professional as possible, I did not want it to look at though it was part of a media task. I did this by using the following conventions: I used the

layout of using columns in my double page spread article so that it flowed and looked sophisticated, I also continued the convention of using page numbers and I kept a colour scheme going throughout my magazine so that it all linked together. I decided that my magazine will be a monthly

issue as this is one of the conventions many magazines follow. On my cover I used a studio photo that my model posed for, I had her dress in clothes that were modern and that my target audience would like, as my magazine was based towards female teenagers I wanted her dressed in fashionable clothing that were not expensive but

from the high-street. I developed the key concepts by adding and changing conventions such as instead of having my model behind my title on the cover I kept my title above the model,

however I changed the font I used once I had my image- mainly because the font I had before did not stand out against the image I used, and is not the look I wanted for my media product. I wanted to challenge some of the conventions so that my media product would be

one that was completely different from anything that has ever been done before. I challenged the convention of having a close up image of my model and instead had a semi close up one, I wanted the model to be off to the right so that my cover lines could fit and

not look out of place. Overall I wanted the front cover to look sophisticated and not childlike. Which through my research into other magazines I have found happens a lot. Most of the

pop magazines I looked at had very bright colours and looked like they were aimed towards a younger generation. They used language such as ‘Wow’ and ‘Amazing prizes’ which to me seemed to be quite childish. Therefore in my magazine and throughout my writing for the

article I made sure to use language that fit with the audience of my magazine and that had a formal register. Instead of words like wow and amazing I used exclusive. I feel my product

challenges the conventions usually used in media products like mine, as I came up with what I feel are original ideas that haven’t been used in this style of a media product.

On my double page spread I used bold and italic on my font to distinguish who was who between the interviewer and interviewee. Unlike the example I did not highlight any of my font, I didn’t highlight any of my questions as I feel it looks less sophisticated then having it in just bold.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents a specific social group that relates to my target audience. With my target audience being older

teens mainly girls, I tried to include things that would interest them. I used a teen model that they would find pretty and that would appeal to them in a way that would make them want to buy/read the magazine. The clothing that I put my model in is very modern and can be found in the high streets which I have

included on my double page spread. I did this as the readers may be interested and want to buy what she is wearing. I had her in a

pose that will catch the male gaze and entice the reader. I included ‘plugs’ on my cover that included free prizes and advertised a competition that teenagers would be interested in. I think my magazine appeals to my target audience as I have designed my layout around popular magazines that are already out and

that have been successful in the teen market. I chose to use a female model as I thought it would appeal to both genders. I concluded that having a male on

the cover would take my magazine in a different direction whereas by having a female on the cover made my magazine work for both genders as I feel that both genders would buy the magazine- boys for the male gaze and appeal.

Females would be more likely to buy a magazine with a female on the cover. I used my cover lines to help sell to my target audience by including ideas of

exclusive stories and free gifts. I found that in other magazines that having free gifts is a common thing therefore I thought that it worked well with the theme of my magazine. By using bright colours over black and white I thought that it added a certain appeal to the cover that would catch the eye of the reader. I carried on the colour scheme inside my magazine so that it all links together. However I didn’t carry on the black and white theme as I feel by just having it on the cover made my media product individualised unlike the others I had seen I used colours that my social group would approve of. I chose certain fonts that appeared modern to appeal to my social groups, but I also made changes when I relooked at my front cover for example, I later decided to

change from my original font to a different one as once the front cover was finished I found that my original font did not work with the finished concept.

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

After completing my media product I decided that Bauer media would be the best to distribute my media product. I found that Bauer has yet to have a

media product like mine and I feel that mine would fit into the company. Bauer media connects over 19 million consumers every week with the most

influential brands in the UK. Bauer media has a unique position to be able to deliver consumer insight to media professionals. They have more marketing

brands across a wider range of markets than any other media owner. Bauer is a good media institution for my product as it has lots of other products that are aimed towards women which are similar to mine, such as Closer which has a

very similar audience to my magazine.

I feel that Bauer would distribute my media product because they have yet to cover the teenage pop culture with a suitable magazine, which mine would fit

straight into, I feel like they would be able to distribute my media product globally in both the UK and America as it has features that appeal on a national scale not just subjected to one area of the public. My media

product offers a wide range of features that a both appealing and exciting for a teenage audience. I feel that

Bauer would make a substantial amount of money from my media product which would benefit them. I thought that Bauer would be a good institution to distribute my media

product as they are a global company and have great marketing campaigns for each of their media products.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product would be teenagers between the ages of 16 to 18. This was decided by the results of my questionnaire. My target audience will be focused on the female gender with a secondary focus of

males. I decided to focus on females as my magazine would most likely appeal to them. I appealed to the female gender by using a colour scheme and

features that would appeal to a female. I wanted my media product to appeal to my audience therefore I made sure to include features that would interest them. With my target audience being in the teenage age range I wanted my

product to be modern and be age relevant therefore I did not include any features that would be found in a magazine such as ‘We love pop’. This

magazine has an audience of a much younger age and targets them to buy their product by using things that will appeal to them in a specific way, such as

the latest boy bands and ‘freebies’ that would appeal to their audience. Whereas in my magazine I aimed for my features such as competitions and

interviews to appeal to my specific audience of older teens. Therefore I did not include anything that would seem ‘childish’ instead sticking to things that

would make my audience want to read my magazine. I created a reader profile for my magazine after doing my research which described the perfect audience

for my magazine this helped me a lot.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience by using a sophisticated and modern layout that was both eye catching and interesting. I used a black and white cover for my image

but had my font in different shades of pink to make the cover stand out. I decided to do this as I felt that it made the font stick out against the image and gave the overall cover a ‘cool’ look and I think it made the cover look original as I did not see many pop magazines do this sort of layout for a cover before

whilst doing my research into other magazines that have already been published. I found that most pop magazines seem to be aimed towards the younger generation so and included features that were definitely aimed at attracting their attention. From this I decided that my magazine would be

aimed at older teenagers therefore the cover would need to appeal to that audience and have things that teenagers would be interested in. I made sure

that each element of my magazine interested the audience so I made sure each element of my media product did this. I made sure that my masthead was bold and bright enough to get the attention of my readers. I also made sure to include free prizes and competitions that would make my readers invest their time and money on my final product. I chose the colours pink and grey for my colour scheme as they are quite feminim colours and are very relatable to the

female gender. I used grey to contrast against the pink as I wanted to appeal to both males and females therefore made sure to have different shades of pink throughout my magazine. I used darker shades of pink as I feel that the darker shade is not a feminine as a pale pink, I did this so that my magazine didn’t just

appeal to females but also males. The images used throughout my magazine were done to attract the gaze of my readers and interest them. I used a teenage model so that the readers would relate to her as they are also

teenagers. By having her dressed in stylish clothes that are off the high street would be related to teens as they might have seen or have the same clothes. On my double page spread I included a synopsis of where the clothes were

from and gave a price I thought they were most likely to be. In my magazine I used a specific lexis that was easy to understand, I used terms that young

teens would understand. I made sure not to use words that the readers may not understand instead sticking to a simple lexis. I made sure that the ratio of

text to images was equal as I found that my audience prefers more images then text.

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

I have learnt a lot about the different technologies I used in the process of creating my magazine as I came across new ones that I have never used before. I discovered lots of

different editing techniques and ways to create shadows when taking pictures. I learnt how to use the studio to my advantage, I enjoyed using the studio and all its equipment to take

my photos as it gave them a cleaner look in the end. By using the backdrop it helped me edit my images a lot more and give them a professional feel. I found that when using the camera

I had to make sure it was on the correct setting and that the lens was focused or I would have blurred images.

I discovered new programmes/ websites such as Blogger and Slide share which came in useful as all my work needed to be on Blogger, I used Slide share to upload my PowerPoints to my blog. I often found that sometimes my blogger did not work so I had to double check everything was on it. We also used survey monkey which helped me a lot with my research into magazines, I found that this technology was very helpful as it aided in my decision on

audience and what features to use in my media product. I used PowerPoint for most of my work but often found that if I had done some work on Microsoft Word that I had to transfer

it onto power point. I used a lot of hardware such as cameras, computers and memory sticks. The computers helped me a lot with my media product. I used a memory stick to keep all my work together but also saved some of my work to a file on the computers in

case I lost any work of the memory stick. Luckily this did not happen. Internet explorer was a great help to me throughout the process of my work as I used it in several different ways. I

used the internet to help my with my research and any questions I may have had about certain things. I also used the internet to help me with my research into different media intuitions such as Bauer. A good thing about using the internet is that you can research

anything you might need.

Photoshop was a big influence to my images as it helped me edit any rough patches in my images. I used photoshop to help edit my images for the cover and for my double page

spread as these were the images that were the largest therefore you could see any blemished or red areas. I used the patch tool to fix these.There are some positives and negative to using these technologies such as being able to download images quickly. Although there were some negatives as well such as it cannot always be relied upon.

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

Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I have learnt how to develop an idea and make it as successful as possible, I discovered this from doing my first front cover which was plain and not very good to doing my cover for the magazine. The differences between both are very clear and vast. For instance the cover for my ‘college’ mag used a font that was already available in the options for font whereas the font I used for my music magazine was downloaded from a website, which offered a wider range of options. Also the photo I used for the cover of my college magazine was done with no planning and was not a close up. It also lacked editing. In the end my college magazine was unplanned and did not look professional or sophisticated this may have been because it was rushed and I spent very little time on it, whereas my music magazine had substantially more planning put into it and I had researched into music magazines beforehand. This helped me create original ideas that would all work together to create an excellent final piece of media work.

By looking back I feel like I have learnt different skills when editing and when coming up with ideas and solutions to problems that may have arisen in the process, such as models dropping out and being late. The solution to this came in the form of arranging a different time to take the photos. I also found that the model I used did not seem to be that focused on the task at hand and had to be encouraged to proceed with the activity. I found that I got stressed with my model and had to take a step back in order to calm myself and get the job done. In the end however I got some good shots that were eventually used in my media product. The skills I feel like I have developed include using the patch tool on the photo to get rid of spots or redness. I used this tool on the photo that went on my cover; I got rid of any blemishes to give the picture a sense of airbrushing and to make it magazine quality.

Throughout the project I discovered how to use my time wisely even though I sometimes fell behind I tried to do what I could, I also found that when something was not going right that I had to leave that task till later as I would end up spending most of my time doing one thing instead of completing more tasks.

Throughout the task I found that the editing process was the most stressful as it took the longest, it took me a while as I wanted all my images to be edited and look professional. In the end though I feel like the task was a success and that I achieved my goal of completing my magazine. I would however have liked to have my magazine in a different layout or at least have made a couple of changes but in the end I had no time. Therefore my magazine was rushed and I would have liked to spend more time on it to make it much more better than it is at the moment.